To Protect Serve and Betray: A BBW Romance

by Leila Lacey

  Seth lifted up his hand and caressed Alena’s cheek leaving streaks of blood on her face. “I love—you,” he sputtered while struggling to breathe as his eyes slowly started to roll back into his head.

  “NOOO! Seth, Seth. I love you too, baby. I love you too. Please, please don’t leave us please?”

  “Mommy?” Ajani called from the porch.

  Alena looked up to see Ajani standing on the porch with his favorite teddy bear in his arms.

  Then while hearing Ajani’s voice, Jeffrey somehow seemed to snap back into reality. He turned and climbed into the car that was parked a little ways from Alena’s house across the street.

  “Go back in the house baby,” Alena urged when she heard one last gunshot come from the car, Jeffrey just climbed into.

  Alena would later find out Jeffrey had put the gun into his mouth, pulling the trigger and taking his own life.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The paramedics tried to get Alena to stay out of the ambulance. She’d told them she was going with them in the ambulance or…on the back of it. She grabbed Ajani’s slippers and her keys before taking one last look at Jeffrey in the body bag being placed in the truck for the county morgue.

  Alena’s neighbors were terrified, all of them trying to figure out what was happening—on their quiet. peaceful block.

  The emergency room staff had made her wait in the waiting room with Ajani when they arrived. She didn’t think she could watch another man she loved die in this hospital. It’d been two hours since the paramedics brought Seth into the emergency room. Ajani was laying on one of the couches as Alena finally gotten him settled down and he’d fallen asleep.

  She’d called he’s parent on the way to the hospital. The scream that came from his mother had been heart breaking for Alena. She didn’t want Melissa to lose her someone because of her.

  After hanging up with her she’d called the Banners and told them what happened with Jeffrey. Listening to Hazel cry her heart out on the phone, Alena felt like she’d somehow failed her. “Hazel, I am so sorry!” Alena said with tears streaming down her own cheeks.

  “I know honey. It’s not your fault. Jeffrey’s demons just wouldn’t let him be. No matter how bad we wanted them to.” Then they discussed coming to get Ajani after they identified Jeffrey’s body. Alena knew Ajani was all they had left of their son.

  She intended to stay right where she was, because she wanted to be here with Seth and his family to pray for them.

  “Alena?” Melissa said walking into the waiting room.

  Alena stood up, feeling unsure if she should approach or what she should do. “Melissa” she replied. Her voice crackled from all the screaming she’d done.

  Sally and Steven must have sensed her conflicting emotions. They both walked up to her and embraced her.

  Alena broke down. She’d held it together as long as she could and she had no more strength left to give.

  The Hales both just held her in their arms. Even when their only son was probably slowly dying in the ER.

  Melissa took Seth’s rosary beads that he’d carried when he was an altar boy out of her purse and handed them to Alena.

  “No…No. I can take those!” Alena said trying to push her hand away.

  “Seth would want you to pray with them. You can give them to him when he’s better.” Melissa urged. She had told Alena once when they went to mass together that she’d kept Seth’s confirmation beads in a beautiful polished metal keepsake box with a pewter top with a dove accent and the words, ‘Confirmed in Christ’. Inside the box lay the pearl bead rosary and a verse card. The verse read:

  "Confirmation. By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit that He has given us”1 John 3:24

  Alena realized she hadn’t prayed since she arrived at the hospital. She’d pleaded for Seth’s life in the ambulance. But she hadn’t really given it to God.

  That’s something she hadn’t done with Marcus, she hadn’t really given him to God. She’d begged, pleaded, bargained but she hadn’t done the one thing God really needed. She hadn’t had…Faith. “Would you keep an eye on Ajani for me? I want to go to the chapel and pray,” she told them.

  “Of course! We will be right here,” Melissa replied.

  She marveled at the beautiful chapel in the hospital. Alena could tell the design had been made to be welcoming to all faiths. The stained glass created a spiritual outlook celebrated the wonders of the Lord in the form of mountains in different seasons and included elements of nature. It reminded Alena of the essence of life is change. Like the body itself, nature can renew and heal. Alena stepped forward and knelt at the worship table. She took out Seth’s Rosary beads and prayed.

  Alena prayed for Seth, Jeffrey, the Banners and the Hales, for once in her life, she genuinely had faith. As she stood up, she saw a light shine bright into the chapel window. As if the Lord was telling her, he approved.

  When she got back to the waiting room, she found the Hales and the Banners embracing each other. There seemed to be a genuine sense of peace between the two families. So much hurt and pain. Through it all, these two families had more in common than they’d ever imagined.

  “The family for Seth Hale?” a doctor asked, walking into the waiting room.

  As if it were déjà vu, the Hale’s stepped forward saying, “We are his mother and father”

  “Your son survived the surgery. The next forty-eight hours are going to be critical. With the size of the bullet holes in his chest, we didn’t think he would make it through surgery. Now, it’s just a waiting game” the doctor told the Hales.

  Alena breathed out a breath of relief

  “Ohm Thank God!” Melissa said while leaning against her husband.

  “Is he awake doctor can we see him?” Steven asked.

  “He’s awake and has already asked to see someone named Alena?” the doctor replied while looking around.

  “Oh, No! That’s me. But he should see his parents first,” Alena said.

  “No, No! He asked to see you. You are who he is going to see,” Steven Hale stated.

  “Come on miss, I will have a nurse take you back. He can have visitors for twenty minutes at a time, two at a time until he is out of the woods,” the doctor said.

  She wasn’t sure she deserved to be the first person to see Seth. Looking back at the Hales, the both egged her on. “Tell him we love him”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Seth had several monitors attached to various parts of his body, evaluating of medical stability. The nurse was doing an assessment of his cardiac status, breathing rate, and other medical things that meant nothing to Alena, unless they were going to say he was perfectly fine. Seth required an endotracheal intubation to help with his breathing, as all the blood that filled his chest cavity drained. With the breathing tube connected to a mechanical ventilator, he was unable to speak. But the nurses had given him a note pad and a pen to write with.

  When Alena approached his bed, Seth turned his head abruptly.

  The nurse smiled at her. “You must be Alena”

  “Ha! Umm—yeah I am,” she said smiling.

  Seth was trying to keep his eyes open, he was so medicated he should actually be unconscious. But he acted determined to see Alena.

  “Not too much talking okay?” the nurse said to Alena as she left Seth’s room.

  When Alena turned toward Seth again, he’d already written something on the pad. “Are you okay?” Alena read it aloud. “Yes! Honey I am fine. No need to worry,” she answered rubbing his arms. “Seth—I am so sorry!” Alena closed her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks. When she opened her eyes again, Seth had written:

  “Not your fault, please don’t cry!”

  She nodded and wiped her tears while she waited for him to write what else he wanted to say.

  “Alena I love you very much, please forgive me,” she read aloud again for him. “Oh, Sweetie!” She took his pad and pen from him as she leaned in to kiss the small part of h
is face that was not covered in tape. “Let’s not talk about that now okay. I love you…I forgive you. Now get better, so that I can yell at you…deal?”

  Seth blinked twice agreeing.

  Alena laid her head on the pillow next to his head, thanking God for letting him stay.

  Seth signaled that he wanted his pad and pen, acting desperate to tell her something.

  After a couple minutes of him writing, Alena took the pad and read. “I prayed for you to have peace. When I was in your driveway. I prayed for you to have peace. He answered my prayers,”

  Alena laughed through her tears. “Well, it only took a bullet in the butt to get you back on board again!” Shaking her head, she leaned in. “Whatever works right?” She kissed him gently.

  Seth was in the ICU for three weeks and in the hospital for six. While he was in the hospital, some of his old friends from the force came by to visit and apologize to him for not standing with him when he had turned Maddox in. Especially after what Maddox had done to Shawn.

  Shawn had been working undercover for the Attorney General’s Office to find out how deep the department corruption was. When Maddox had gotten out of jail and started back up again, with some of the other cops. Shawn agreed to go in with them to finally take them all down for what they’d done to his brother. Unfortunately, Maddox had found out about the investigation and killed Shawn.

  Then, the Russian mob that Maddox had been working for had killed him for stealing from them too. The police department was still finding pieces of him all around town.

  But as Alena’s grandmother had once said, “You live by the sword you die by the sword.”

  Alena had given the file Seth had sent her to her attorney who went about contacting all the press and filing several lawsuits that resulted in a lot of crooked officers losing their jobs and being brought up on charges. Marcus’ name was cleared in the press and in a very public way. Seth was hailed as the type of cop the force needed.

  Seth didn’t care about that anymore, all he wanted to do was live in God’s grace with his family.

  AUTHOR BIO

  Michigan Author Leila Lacey Excites Readers with Her Innovative Romantic Fiction Centering on Women with Curves

  Love comes in many shapes and sizes. Rising Michigan Author Leila Lacey writes from the heart about the trials and tribulations of love and romance from a curvy woman's perspective. With over 12 popular books on Amazon to date, she's steadily claiming her space as a new romantic fiction author to keep an eye on.

  Bow down to the curves. That's the philosophy that's motivated romantic fiction author Leila Lacey as she's wrote over a dozen popular books taking a hot and exciting look at love and adventure from a strong, curvy woman's viewpoint. The books have been received with enthusiasm, and it's clear the best is yet to come.

  “I think it's important to present strong, beautiful, curvy women that have amazing female to female relationships,” commented Leila, on what motivates her. “If we don't provide alternative role models for people, they could fall into the trap of not loving who is looking them back in the mirror. Romantic fiction should entertain, but it should also help build confidence and a great self-image. I'm trying to cover all these things and more in my books.”

  According to the author, Lacey had a quite unexpected entry into writing. Although always interested in being a writer she never explored her skills fully until being convinced to join a writing contest. Within 30 days she had finished her first novel, won the contest, and never looked back. An example of a woman with confidence proving to herself, and the world, what can be accomplished when dreams are pursued actively.

  Some of her most popular books include: Phoenix Rising; A Very Curvy Christmas; Dr. Black's Patient; Love's Legacy; Shelby's Awakening; and many, many more.

  Readers have responded to her work with enthusiasm.

  A.C., recently said about Phoenix Rising in a five star Amazon review, “Wow this book was an emotional roll coaster, but I loved each every twist and turn. I don't wait to give too much away because people haven't read it yet. Phoenix is a sexy plus size women who is smart, strong, and loving. I can't wait to read more about these guys. I give this book five stars and a must read! Keep up the wonderful work Leila!”

  Leila is available for interviews and media appearances.

  For more information contact Business Manager, Mesiah Uzoma @ Uzoma Management, Phone: 313-717-6462 or uzomamanagement@outlook.com