Living Chances (Unexpected Series Book 3)

by Schiefer, S. L.

  “Oh my God! No, you won’t!” It seems like all I do is shake my head at him. He does make me smile with all of his nonsense.

  Finally finding a parking spot. We get out and head inside. I put Jayden in charge of the cart, in case he gets dizzy or something he has something to hold on to. He follows dutifully behind me. Every aisle we go down, I grab random things to throw in the cart. And every time I turn to put something else in, there is something I didn’t put in there,like a whole bunch of chocolate things, cereals, and ice-cream. Yeah, I didn’t put those in there.

  “You can pick out whatever you want.” I say, smiling sweetly at him.

  “Uh huh! Yep, thanks.” I stopp walking, but he doesn’t. He just keeps going. Rolling my eyes I follow after him.

  Such an interesting trip to the store, when all we needed was a few things to make spaghetti. I sure hope he isn’t this high strung while he’s supposed to be chilling. We’re going to have problems if he is. I will find things to do outside of the house, without him, to just get away from him. Maybe I can push him off on Jonah, make him deal with him for a while. Actually, that sounds like a great idea.

  Finally making it home, we both head inside. His mom and dad are still here, Jonah too. Josh must be napping in his crib, which is a rarity. I’ve been co-sleeping. Don’t judge me I needed someone in bed with me. I got used to having another warm body. Looks like Josh is about to be awake, Jayden headed up the stairs.

  I went to the kitchen to get started on food. After I have the pans on the stove and the bread warming, I head back out to the living room.

  “Can you guys stay for dinner?” I ask all three of them. I get nods in return.

  “What are you making?” Jonah asks, licking his lips. Weirdo.

  “Spaghetti and garlic bread, nothing special, but it’s what he wanted.” I smile at the look of disappointment that fills his face.

  I laugh, and so do his parents. “Don’t like spaghetti I take it?”

  Just then Jayden comes down the stairs with Josh. I’m glad he wants to make up for lost time, but he better not make waking him while he’s sleeping a habit or I will cut a bitch. He sits on the floor with him in his lap. We’re all watching him curiously, almost holding our breath to see what he’s going to do. He just sits there and looks at him. We all look at each other, while Jayden in his own world. Simultaneously, we stand up and retreat to the kitchen to give him some space…to do whatever it is that he’s doing.

  Annie kicked me and Josh out of the house today. She has Brandy coming over, said she needed a girls’ day. She said she was sick of me hovering around her all damn day. I don’t have any idea what she’s talking about, but she sure can be bossy. She’s always had an attitude, but this is something new. Bossy and sassy. I smile at that thought. She is definitely sassy, she gives me lip all the time, over everything. It could still be hormones, but I’m not saying a single word to her about it. I would like to keep my cock right where it is, firmly attached to my body.

  I decided to head to base, to figure out what is going on with the whole Brooke thing. See if there is anything else I need to do to make things go easier. The quicker something is done about her the faster Annie and I can move on.

  I feel like it’s been years since I’ve been on base. Plus, this is the first time I’ve been out of the house with Josh without Annie. I’m still a panicked mess. At every stop I turn around to check on him. If he was crying at least I would know he’s still alive back there. I waited until right after he ate to leave, so he’s probably passed out back there.

  Pulling through the many check points, I finally get to the offices. I need to track down who is in charge of the case. With my statement they had enough to charge her, and apparently my case isn’t her first. In other words, she’s in deep shit.

  Grabbing the car seat and diaper bag, I start towards the building. What I’m not prepared for, is everyone I know stopping me to see the baby. Some of the toughest people I’ve ever met were reduced to baby talk. I would have laughed, but I’ve seen these guys fight. I’m not that stupid.

  After a million stops of everyone wanting to see Josh, I finally make it to my destination. I find the Sergeant Major and harass him to have a word with me. I follow him to his office. Stepping into his office is like stepping through a time machine. Pictures line the walls, starting from when he must have just joined. Each picture tells a different story. I’m sure he keeps them up as reminders.

  “What can I do for you, Miller? I can’t believe you’re even in here with everything that happened. And you brought your baby in. The woman want you out of the house or something?” He chuckles Knowingly, probably having been kicked out of his house many times over the years.

  “Or something, I’m pretty sure you know why I’m here.” I tell him. I keep my hand on the car seat rocking it back and forth, trying to keep him asleep.

  “Well, after you gave your statement, things moved forward with her trial. It was very cut and dry. Having prior complaints on her record, she dug her own hole. She will be dishonorably discharged, and she is serving fourteen months at Leavenworth.” He leans back in his chair and it creakins with age.

  “That’s it?” I ask incredulously. I’m sure my eyes are half bugging out of my head.

  “You don’t know what was in her file. With the blood results and her admission to doing it, it was very easy to put her away.” He’s so…nonchalant about this. I’m really excited to hear all of this, don’t get me wrong, but I thought there would be more? Maybe they do it quick and discreet to try to keep it out of the media. I’m sure they didn’t want to deal with that shit storm. That’s fine. I really didn’t want to deal with it either.

  I come home to a drunk off her ass, Annie. Which is comical, except she looks like she’s about to puke. I don’t do puke. Nope. I’ll vomit too.

  “Annie? Sweetheart, you awake?” I grin while I push the hair away from her forehead.

  “Nuhhhhh, goesh way.” She tries to bat my hand away, but she misses by a foot..

  “Listen baby, I need you to stay with me so I can move you upstairs. I don’t want to have to throw you over my shoulder.” I poke her shoulder, trying to rouse her. Then I hear her soft snores, which makes me raise my eyebrow. Looks like the shoulder it is. I get her up to a sitting position and ready myself to carry her.

  I get her all settled in bed, leaving her on top of the covers, in case she has to make a quick escape to get to the bathroom. I wonder what time Brandy left? I wonder how she got home? Shaking my head, I let those thoughts go. Going back downstairs, I get Josh out of the car seat and pull his swing to the couch. Sitting down, I get him comfy and turn it on. His eyes flutter closed again. I think the poor kid thought he was getting fed.

  I suppose I could watch TV, try to get caught up on some shows I’ve missed being in the hospital. Picking the first thing on the DVR, I settle back on the couch. I must have gotten too comfy, because I don’t remember the first five minutes in the show.

  I don’t know how long I napped for, but the worst sound I’ve ever heard wakes me up. Josh is screaming in his swing, face contorted in an expression of pain. His legs are kicking furiously back and forth, arms flailing about. I jump up and pick him up, trying to comfort him. I place him up on my shoulder and start walking around the living room rubbing his back and shushing him.

  This is not an “I’m fucking hungry” cry, this is something completely different. It’s horrifying. Doing everything I can think of, I try to calm him down, unsuccessfully. I didn’t want to have to wake Annie up, but I think I’m going to have to.

  Practically speed walking upstairs, I go to our room and don’t even have the door open and Annie is up. The look on her face would be funny if there wasn’t something going on.

  “What’s wrong with him?” she asks, eyes wild. Reaching her arms out, she takes Josh from me and starts to do all the things that I just did.

  “I don’t know, I fell asleep and I woke up to his screamin
g.” Running my hands through my hair, I add, “I didn’t know what else to do, so we came upstairs.”

  “Maybe we should call your mom and see if she can come over and check him out. Since she’s had two babies, she might know or have an idea what’s going on.” She tells me.

  I fly out of the room and go back downstairs to find my phone. Fumbling around the couch cushions I finally find it wedged between the back of the actual couch and cushion. Unlocking it, I hit the speed dial for my mom.

  “Jayden, what a nice surprise.” Her voice filters through the speaker.

  “Momma, I need you to come over right now. Like ASAP.” The panic is clear in my voice.

  “Son, what’s going on?” Mom’s voice sounds immediately concerned

  “Josh is screaming, and we can’t figure out why. He woke up like this. We can’t get him to calm down at all.”

  “Jayden, just pack him up and head to the ER. I will meet you guys there.” With that she hangs up. FUCK! What the fuck is it with the God damned hospital? I run back upstairs, getting ready to break Annie’s world, again.

  “Sweetheart, Momma says to just take him to the hospital and she’ll meet us there. She didn’t even try to talk me through anything.” Oddly she stays calm through all of this. Like she’s shutting down, only letting in what she needs. Keeping all of the unnecessary bullshit out.

  For the third time since I came home, we’re on our way back to the hospital. You would think, that at some point God would give us a break. All of this has been in less than a year. Despite what the big guy thinks, there is only so much I can fucking handle. I’ve reached my limit man, just a FYI.

  The drive feels like it takes hours longer than it actually does. Everything feeling like it is in slow motion. Parking in the first open spot I see, we hop out of the car. I reach in and gra a still crying Josh, car seat and all, out of the backseat. Annie grabs the diaper bag. We practically jog inside. As soon as the doors open, the reception nurses jump up and ask us what’s going on. After telling them, they push us past triage and take us straight to a room. A few other people follow us in the room. Thankfully, a doctor is among them.

  She’s very no nonsense. She instructs me to lay him down on the bed, holding his arms up above his head. She goes about prodding around his belly. A couple pushes on his abdomen make him scream louder, if that’s possible. She then tells the nurses they need the ultrasound machine right away and sends both nurses scrambling out of the room.

  Turning to us she says, “I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I’m fairly confident that he has a bowel obstruction. I want to do to the ultrasound to confirm that or to find out what it is. Once we find out for sure what is going on, we’ll go from there for treatment.” Grabbing the chart off the counter, she proceeds to start jotting down all sorts of notes. I pick him back up and walk over to where Annie sat down in a chair. Handing him to her, she snuggles him into her neck, while he continues to cry.

  “There is nothing worse than feeling totally helpless to your child. There is nothing either of us can do to calm him down. He can’t tell us what’s wrong. He just continues to cry to us to figure it out.” I see tears welling in her eyes.

  Crouching in front of her, I place my hands on her knees, but don’t say anything. There is nothing I can say that will ease the worry. I just try to show her through my actions that I’m here, that I’m in this with her. No matter what.

  The nurses return with the ultrasound machine, wheeling it in quickly. The doctor has us lay him down again. She puts a glop of liquid on his belly, places the wand gently on his tummy and starts moving it around. Looking at the screen, I try to make out what anything is. Clearly lacking medical knowledge, I don’t know what a damn thing is. After just a few minutes, we know exactly what’s wrong. He does have an obstruction. A simple procedure will be needed to fix it.

  After giving little man a shot of pain meds to help calm him down some, the doctor pages the doctor that will be doing the procedure. That way he can explain everything he’s going to do. Hearing that they will be using an enema to remove the blockage. He’ll be lightly sedated for it, that way there aren’t any complications from him moving around or anything.

  Momma made it up here right when they came to get him to take him up to the OR. She has a look of fear on her face, so we quickly explain what the doctors told us. He will feel instant relief, is what sticks out in my mind. We’ll have to stay in the hospital overnight, just to be on the safe side.

  I look over to Annie, and she is staring off into space. I feel so horrible, after losing her parents the way she did. Now going through all of this the past year? I can’t believe she hasn’t broken down yet. I’m sure she will, I just don’t know when.

  A nurse comes in the room to take us to the outpatient waiting room. I gather up all of our things, hold my hand out to Annie and pull her out of her chair. We follow the nurse to the elevator and to a waiting room. I glance back at Annie once we make it to the room, but she is staring curiously at the nurse. So I look back at the nurse, thinking she must be either doing something strange or being weird. But nothing. I drop all of our things on one chair. Turning around I give my fiancé a strange look.

  “Excuse me?” I ask the nurse. I’m so shell shocked right now. This woman looks like my mom. I mean, she does but she doesn’t. But the same shade of brown hair, the same facial features, but there is also something odd about her. Something I can’t place.

  She was busying herself around the little complimentary coffee and snack cart, cleaning it up from the apparent mess the last people left. At my prompting, she turns around and faces me. I search her face for anything that may clue me in.

  “What can I do for you, honey?” She smiles a genuine smile at me. And Jesus, everything around me fades away. That smile. I remember seeing that smile everyday growing up. But, I don’t understand. My mom was an only child.

  “What’s your last name?” Part of me wants her to say Bishop, but part of me doesn’t, because everything would change. What I knew my whole life would be a total lie.

  She furrows her brows, “Well, it’s Parker. Why?”

  Disappointment makes me sag in defeat. “You just looked so much like my mom. I lost her a few years ago, but I didn’t think she had a sister. You just look so much like her.”

  That really grabs her attention. “Are you Annie?”

  Shocked, I stutter. “Yyyes, I am.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” She holds her arms out for me, wanting a hug. “I am your aunt. There is a really long story that goes with that, as to why I never met you.”

  I walk into her arms. I have family left. I have someone with a connection to my parents. I savor the feeling of being wrapped in her arms, she isn’t my mom. But she’s the next best thing.

  “After Josh is released from the hospital, we’ll have to get together and have lunch. That way I can explain everything.” She tells me.

  “I can give you my number before we leave. You can come to my house and Jayden or I can cook for you.” I tell her, excitement coursing through my veins. I have family.

  Just as the doctor expected, Josh came through the procedure with no complications. And after he had his first poopy diaper, they let us leave. It’s been a couple weeks since that day at the hospital. I still have yet to be able to get together with my aunt, Tracy. That still sounds so incredibly weird.

  I’ve been so caught up in everything else around me, that I haven’t been paying much attention to dates.

  “Sweetheart, what do you have planned tonight?” Jayden asks.

  “Uh, nothing?” What the hell?

  “I have it on good authority that you like Italian food.” Okay?

  “Yes, yes I do. Why?”

  “You have one hour to get yourself ready. Momma is coming to stay with Josh while we go out for your birthday.” He laughs at my expression. “In the closet, you will find a new dress and heels. Wear them. And leave your hair down in curls.” He winks at me. Wel
l isn’t he a demanding little shit right now?

  “Okay, pretty boy. How long have you been planning this?” I stand up from the couch, leaving my Kindle behind as I start towards the stairs. Jayden is close behind me, Josh in his arms. I was hoping to not have him wanting to be held all the time, fat chance of that happening with Jayden around.

  “My secrets will never be found out. Just go get ready, woman.” With that he turns back towards the living room.

  I run up the stairs to my bedroom, heading straight to the closet, wanting to inspect the new dress. He’s never bought me clothes, so I’m a little worried. Jerking open the door, my eyes immediately go to the black garment bag on the end of the rack. I grab it and slowly slide the zipper down. The glitter stands out at first, but when I get the bag completely off, I’m met with the most gorgeous dress I’ve ever seen. It’s an all-black halter style, with a slit that goes up the side. Turning it around, I see the nonexistent back. It’s cut really low. Like, I probably shouldn’t wear panties kind of low. This dress is sexy as sin. The heels are all black too and match perfectly.

  I hang the dress back up and start ripping my clothes off, eager to get this night started. I hate surprises, but the suspense is killing me. Taking nearly the whole hour to get ready, I’m walking down the stairs with two minutes to spare. Jayden is standing in the kitchen in a black tux, with a blood red shirt on underneath. We’re going to be a striking duo tonight.

  “Are you ready, m’lady?” Raising my eyebrow, I place my hand in his outstretched one.

  “Why, yes, kind sir. The lady is ready.” I say in my best British accent, which sounds horrible.

  “Well, let’s be on our way then.” I see Janey and Jim in the living room with Josh in his swing. They stand and each take a turn giving me a huge hug.

  “Happy birthday, Annie.” They both tell me, anding me an envelope. I thank them on the way out of the door, as Jayden drags me behind him. Laughing, yell to call if they need anything.