When She Remembers

by Hope Jones

  “I don’t care,” she murmured, rolling onto her side and snuggling into my chest, nuzzling the hair between my pecs.

  “You don’t care?” I parroted, confused.

  She shook her head in the negative and I pulled back to look at her face. She looked at me in annoyance and wrapped her arms around me to pull me back against her.

  “I remember us talking about having a baby, I remember doing everything for the nursery. I remember our first date and I remember when you proposed. That’s enough for me, Graham. I know regardless if the rest of my memories come back or not, you’re the one. I want my life back and that includes the plans we had before my accident.”

  I lay in stunned silence, relishing her words. She was ready for our life to go back to how it was, regardless if she actually remembered how it was.

  “Okay,” I told her simply.

  “Are you going to sleep?” she asked nonchalantly like we were discussing the weather.

  “Probably not.”

  “Okay, wake me in thirty minutes. I need a nap before I call Tuesday and tell her I’m coming to see my niece tomorrow.”

  Laughing, I kissed the top of her head and agreed.

  “I love you,” she mumbled into my chest and a weight I hadn’t realized was there lifted.

  “I love you more than words, baby,” I replied.

  Chapter Ten

  Henley

  I KNOCKED ON TUESDAY’S front door, slightly nervous about seeing my niece for the first time in almost a month and the first time since I regained my memories of her. Looking back at Graham, he gave me a confident smile and reassuring squeeze to my shoulders.

  The door flew up and my arm was tugged hard enough to fling my head backward.

  “Bitch, why are you even knocking?” Tuesday said with a chuckle.

  Figuring her question was rhetorical, I quickened my footsteps to keep up with her as she dragged me through the house and into the living room where the cutest two-year-old I had ever seen was sitting on the couch with her daddy watching some show about talking pigs.

  Her head snapped our way when she heard our shoes shuffling on the hardwood floors.

  “Auntie Hen!” she squealed, leaping down and running at me full force until her body knocked into mine causing me to go back two steps.

  “Hey, Tar,” I mumbled, squatting until I could wrap Tarryn in my arms, squeezing as hard as she would let me.

  Like I told Graham, a part of me felt like I hadn’t seen Tarryn in years and I missed her as if she were gone.

  “Do you wanna play wif me?” she asked, pulling away from me long enough to look at my face with pleading eyes, eliciting a giggle from me.

  “Yeah, we can go play.”

  “Yay!” she screamed, tugging me along.

  Gazing back at my husband, I gave him a soft smile and followed Tarryn into her bright pink room.

  She sat down on the rug and started pulling Barbies out of a toy box. Next, she pulled a large dollhouse out and set all her stuff up in it.

  Tarryn handed me the Barbie and we started playing Mom and baby with them. She giggled when I would say something in a funny voice.

  After a while, she looked at me with innocent eyes and asked, “How come you didn’t come see me for a long time?”

  My heart split in two, worried she was thinking she did something wrong. Her eyes held no hatred or understanding, so I was hoping it was a naïve question.

  “Well, baby, I got into a car accident a few weeks ago and hurt my head. I had to stay in the hospital for a little while so they could make sure I was okay.”

  “And you’re okay?” she asked back, a worried expression on her face.

  I nodded, stroking the strawberry-blond hair next to her cheek. “I’m better than okay now.”

  She beamed at me and went back to playing Barbies as if nothing ever happened.

  ***

  SEVERAL HOURS LATER, Graham, Tuesday, Sam, Tarryn and I sat around Tuesday’s large, dark wood dining room table, eating lasagna that Tuesday cooked from scratch.

  “This is amazing,” I moaned, leaning back in my seat and chewing slowly to savor every bite.

  “Thanks, boo.” Tuesday grinned.

  A touch came to my thigh, squeezing as if it were a warning and I peeked at Graham through my hair. He was staring at me intently, the sexual desire radiating off him in waves, I was shocked that Tuesday didn’t comment on it.

  Raising an eyebrow, I silently asked him to tell me what his issue was, but he simply stared at me for another moment then continued eating his food.

  Seriously, my husband could be an oddball.

  Sam chatted with me a little bit about my health, making sure I was okay and didn’t need anything. His concern warmed my heart, but I had a feeling a little bit of it had to do with the fact he was an EMT.

  I told him I had made an appointment with my doctor to see why I was having random, intense migraines all of a sudden and had made an appointment with a therapist to help me heal from the trauma of some of my memories.

  Graham was more than happy when I woke up and decided that my headaches were getting too hard to deal with and I needed to see Dr. Raven again to make sure everything was okay. He was even more ecstatic when I told him, in the same sentence, that I was going to start seeing a therapist once a week to help me deal with the anxiety that came with regaining my memories.

  Taking a bite out of the homemade cheesy garlic bread, I told Tuesday on another moan, “Holy shit woman, why didn’t you tell me you could cook like this?”

  “Technically, you kind of already know,” she told me shrugging her shoulders and taking her own bite of the bread.

  I looked at her sheepishly and apologized, Tuesday waving me off like it was nothing.

  Graham squeezed my thigh again, farther up my leg, his long fingers almost touching my pussy through my jeans.

  Clearing his throat, he said, “Excuse us for just a moment,” and stood from his chair, grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him, down the hallway until we reached the bathroom. Putting a hand to my stomach, he gave me a gentle shove, forcing me into the bathroom.

  What was with people tugging and pulling on me today?

  With his hands around my waist, he hauled me close to his body, bent his neck and slammed his mouth down on mine in a rough kiss. His tongue grazed the seam of my lips and I opened, allowing him access.

  Roughly pulling away, nipping me on the lip, he rested his forehead against mine, breathing harshly.

  “You drive me insane, Henley,” he told me.

  “I didn’t do anything,” I replied, attempting to catch my own breath.

  Graham grabbed my hand while saying, “Those noises you were making at the dinner table tell me otherwise.”

  The hand he grabbed moved until it connected with his hard cock and my mouth ran dry with the thought that I turned him on that much with a couple of noises.

  Graham made me feel powerful.

  Like I was the end all, be all for him.

  “I can stop making the noises,” I told him, lifting on my toes to wrap my hands around his neck and lean in for a quick, innocent kiss.

  “That’d be great for now. When we get home, it’ll be a whole different story,” he growled, kissing me again before pulling away and opening the door and allowing me to walk through.

  The rest of dinner was uneventful except when I sat back down at the table and Tuesday gave me a cheeky grin with a wink. Despite the blush that stained my cheeks, I smiled back.

  Graham and I left a couple hours later, after watching a Disney movie with Tarryn and hugging everyone bye.

  ***

  THE SUN WAS JUST setting, casting an orangey-red glow on my house. The beautiful hue was a welcome sight, but my car was not.

  My brand-spanking-new car was smashed to freaking bits. There wasn’t any glass left on it that wasn’t broken.

  My brand-new car!

  The fear I felt when I came home to find it v
andalized was nowhere in sight.

  All I felt was white-hot rage.

  I was livid.

  I was sick and tired of making plans, executing those plans only to have them destroyed. It was down-right outrageous.

  I wouldn’t stand for it anymore.

  If I had to hunt my sister down myself and hand her over to the cops, I would.

  Whatever it took to stop this foolishness.

  I hated that she was given up for adoption. I hated that she didn’t get to grow up with our parents, but I had not one thing to do with her adoption. Hell, I wasn’t even born yet. If she had an issue, she could have acted like a respectable adult and emailed, called, or even shown up on Mom’s doorstep and sat down with her.

  Instead, she was tearing my shit up, making me lose five years of my life and continued trying to take from me.

  No more.

  “This is going to end,” I growled to Graham, noticing the white-knuckled grip he had on the steering wheel. He seemed just as angry as I was.

  “Stay in the car,” he snapped, flinging the car in park and flying out of the truck, slamming the door shut with a sickening thud.

  As much as I loved my husband, I was not going to sit idly by while he handled the mess my sister created.

  Huffing, I hopped out of the truck so I could inspect the damage to my baby. My windshield was smashed, the back window gone, the mirrors all gone. On the passenger’s doors, in red spray paint “I’m coming for you” was written. My eyes narrowed on the red letters. I hoped she did come for me. I doubted she expected a fight, but she was going to get one.

  “I thought I told you to stay in the car,” Graham rushed out, coming to my side and trying to shield my view of my car.

  “And you’ve known me long enough to know I don’t listen. Now, move, please,” I sassed, trying to shove his body to the side.

  He grunted but didn’t budge. “You don’t need to see this, Henley. Stop.”

  “I’ve already seen it, for one. Second, I’m a big girl and this is my sister.”

  Graham blew a frustrated breath out, but ultimately stepped to the side, clearing the view to my car.

  My anger resurfaced and I had to clench my fists, my nails digging into my palms, so I didn’t snap and go on a hunt for this sister of mine.

  And I used the term sister lightly, considering no real sister would do this to her own flesh and blood.

  “Call the cops,” I fumed to Graham.

  ***

  GRAHAM AND I WERE laying in bed two hours later. The cops came, took our security footage, canvased the area and left an hour before. Because of the angle of our camera, the only thing we could make out was blond hair blowing in the wind. We had good cameras, Graham paid for the best, but it was like my sister knew where they were and knew how to hide from them.

  The thought of her knowing the placement of my camera pissed me off even more, because she had to have been watching us, from up close.

  There was no way you could spot the cameras unless you already knew where they were.

  Which meant Lacey was staking our house out.

  We gave this information to the police and they began hunting through the woods behind and around our house. They came back twenty minutes later and told us there was no sign of her camping out anywhere nearby.

  I was hoping it would be as easy as catching her in the act of stalking my house, but no such luck.

  After the cops left, Graham took me upstairs and showed me just how much he enjoyed the noises I was making at Tuesday’s house. He used his mouth, his fingers, and his hard dick to express his pleasure in the sounds.

  “If you keep giving me that treatment when we get home, I’m never going to stop moaning in public,” I told him, rubbing a hand up and down his defined chest.

  “You little minx,” he joked, winding a tendril of my hair up and then dropping it and moving to a different strand.

  Laying in the bed, humming with satisfaction, I asked Graham. “Did we pick out baby names yet?”

  I wasn’t sure why I was okay with having babies after having just a few memories of Graham. Something in his soul spoke to my soul. I knew, no matter what, that we’d be together till we died. Regardless of my memories.

  I didn’t need my memories to know he was my soul mate.

  “No, why?”

  “I didn’t want to change anything if we already had them picked out. If we don’t though, I have a name in mind for a girl,” I said, turning to face him fully so I could rest my chin on his sternum.

  “What’s that?” he asked

  “Wednesday. A tribute to Tuesday. I feel like it’s only fair considering she named her daughter after me. But, if you don’t like it, we don’t have to,” I mumbled, suddenly feeling shy and shrugged my shoulders.

  Graham moved my hair out of my face, sifting it until it set on my shoulder and then stroked the apple of my cheek.

  “I like Wednesday, baby. What if we have a boy though?” he mused, smiling at me thoughtfully.

  “How about Wyatt?” I replied.

  “I like Wyatt,” he whispered, leaning in and kissing me softly, leaving me breathless.

  “I love you, more than life,” I whispered, hoping he could see the truth of my words in my eyes.

  Graham grinned. “I love you, more than the universe.”

  Snuggled up to each other, we fell asleep, not realizing that it might be the last time we would.

  Chapter Eleven

  Graham

  THE NEXT MORNING, I woke Henley up, kissing her on the cheek and moving to her ear.

  “Baby,” I whispered, drawing the word out playfully.

  “Mmm,” she mumbled, smiling but not opening her eyes.

  “Wake up.”

  “I don’t wanna,” she groaned, turning away from me.

  “I have to leave, babe. Need a kiss before I go.”

  “Wait,” she said, sitting up straight, the sleep void from her beautiful face.

  Her demeanor put me on high alert, and I sat down next to her. “What is it?”

  “Holy shit!” she exclaimed, lifting the covers and launching herself at me.

  I had just enough time to catch her before we fell off the edge of the bed, Henley landing on top of me, her knees on either side of my hips.

  “Oh my God!” she yelled again, bending to pepper my face with kisses.

  “What the hell?” I growled, grabbing her hips and lifting at the waist until we were in a sitting position.

  “Graham,” Henley whispered, taking my face in both her hands and looking at me as if she saw to my soul.

  “What’s wrong, baby?”

  “Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” she told me, a deep smile on her face.

  “If nothing is wrong, why are you throwing us off the bed?” I laughed, tucking the hair behind her ear, incredibly happy to see her as happy as she was.

  “I remember it all,” she mumbled, staring at me.

  My back straightened, my hands tightening on her hips. “You remember?”

  Henley nodded her head furiously, tears of joy trickling down her face. “You really did mean what you said in your vows,” she told me, her hand going into the hair at the nape of my neck and grasping the little bit of curl there.

  “What part?” I asked, we wrote our own vows and mine were long, in retrospect.

  “In sickness and health. You wouldn’t leave me if the tides tore us apart,” she told me, repeating a line from our vows word for word.

  “There isn’t a thing in this world that could tear me away from you, baby.”

  Henley’s laugh had tears in it, but it was one of pure joy. She bent and kissed me, touching her tongue to my lips before I opened and took control of the kiss.

  My lips still locked on Henley’s, I stood up, laid Henley on the bed and kissed every bit of skin that was bared to me. There wasn’t an ounce of her that I didn’t want seared with the touch of my lips.

  Lifting up, Henley raised her arms, i
ndicating that she wanted her shirt off. I obliged, groaning at the sight of her bare breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra and my mouth watered to taste her nipples.

  Although we had sex last night, I couldn’t get enough of my wife and from the dark, seductive look in her eyes, she couldn’t get enough of me either.

  I hoped this never changed. I hoped we were crazy for each other until we died.

  I knew the look of pure love she had on her face would never change. My wife was crazy about me.

  What she didn’t know was that love she felt was tenfold for me. I felt everything for her.

  ***

  LATER, WE WERE LAYING in bed, and I hated to do it, but I had to go into work. Jim was by himself, one of our techs was out, and Olivia never showed. Jim called me last night and told me something was off with the payroll, but he had no idea what it was since he wasn’t usually the one doing the numbers.

  I needed to go in, figure out what was wrong with payroll and then do the job that my tech normally did, but wasn’t there to do.

  I hoped things would start slowing down since we were coming out of the hot months, but it was still a busy season.

  I wrapped a handful of Henley’s hair around my fingers, tugged until her face was gazing up at mine and gave her a light touch on the mouth. “I hate to do this, but I really have to go into work, baby.”

  She shook her head and waved me away. “You go ahead, I’m going to get Mom to come over and FaceTime Tuesday with me so we can figure out what we’re doing for Thanksgiving.”

  Pressing my mouth to hers one last time, I stood from the bed, tugging my jeans back up and throwing my shirt on.

  Henley lay on her side, an elbow on the bed and her head in her hand, watching me with lazy eyes.

  She looked like she wasn’t moving anytime soon.

  I tucked my wallet and keys in my back pocket and moved to the door.

  “I love you,” I told her vehemently.

  “I love you more than words,” she smiled back.

  And I walked out the door, not knowing the next time I would see her, she wouldn’t be smiling and I wouldn’t be gazing into her lazy eyes.