Don't Fight It

by Samantha A. Cole

  None of the children had been harmed, but many of them would probably need to talk about what happened with counselors. The school was already arranging to have some come in and speak with them as a group to see if any needed some one-on-one counseling.

  Hopefully, when Paige woke up, Lane would come to realize he’d saved her life, even though he’d hurt her in the process. Shane didn’t blame him and didn’t want his friend blaming himself either.

  When Paige woke up . . . He had to keep thinking that way. Under no circumstances was he going to think “if” instead of “when.” They’d just found her. She was supposed to spend many long years loving and being loved by Shane, Tuck, and Ari. They couldn’t lose her.

  On his next pass across the room, a woman in a white lab coat walked in. “Paige Merritt’s family?”

  “Here.” Shane rushed over. “How is she?”

  “I’m Doctor Dobrynski from Neurology. Are you her husband?”

  “Fiancé,” he replied since he and Tuck were going to put a ring on her finger soon. They’d been talking about it this morning after she’d driven Arianna to school for the field trip. “This is all the family she has; her parents are gone. Is she awake?”

  The doctor shook her head, but at least she didn’t look grim about it. “As you know, she took a hard hit to the side of her head. It’s an injury we often see with football players. We did a CT-scan and there’s some moderate swelling and minor bruising on the right side of her brain. The left side is okay. As of right now, there's no evidence of any clots, so we don't need to operate, but we’ll see how the next few hours go. She’s still unconscious but breathing on her own, and we’re monitoring her closely.”

  “When will she wake up?” Shane’s mind was going in fifty directions at once trying to absorb everything he’d just been told.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t answer that. It’s an injury I’ve seen in people who never lost consciousness and in others who were in comas for several weeks.”

  “But she will wake up, right?” Tuck asked desperately.

  The doctor hedged, clearly looking for the right words of comfort which didn’t offer false hope that Paige waking up was a surety. “We’ll have to wait and see. I wish I could give you a better answer than that, but I can’t.” She scanned the faces of those standing in front of her, and smiled at Arianna who was in Lila’s arms, resting her head on her aunt’s shoulder. “Someone looks like she needs a good night’s sleep. There’s nothing we can do but wait right now, so why don’t you all go home and get some rest. I promise we’ll call you if there’s any change.”

  “Thanks, Doctor,” Shane replied. “Is it all right if some of us stay? Can we see her?”

  “Yes, certainly. I’ll let the nurses know. They’ll be able to let two people in at the top of the hour for only a few minutes, but, I’m sorry, the little girl can’t go in.”

  “I understand. Thank you.” When the physician left the room, Shane turned to the group. “Y’all can head home. I’ll call if there’s any news.”

  As the others began to collect their things, Nicole stepped forward, glancing between Tuck and Shane. “If you both want to stay, we can take Arianna home with us. The girls will probably sleep better together tonight.”

  Tuck cleared his throat. “Um . . . thanks, but I’m going to take Ari home. I think she should sleep in her own bed tonight.”

  Shane’s eyes narrowed. Those had been the most words Tuck had strung together in hours. He’d barely said a word to anyone since they’d gotten into the truck to drive into the city, and even then, it’d only been to answer a direct question with the shortest possible response.

  “Then I can take her back to your place and stay with her,” Lila volunteered. “You stay here with Shane.”

  “Thanks, sis, but I’ll take her home.”

  Putting a hand on his husband’s arm to get his attention, Shane tilted his head toward the door. “Let’s talk outside for a minute.”

  He could see it was the last thing his husband wanted to do, but fuck that. Shane strode out the door once Tuck nodded his acquiescence. But when they reached the hallway, there were a few people standing around. A quick check of the other doors revealed one was a linen room. Grabbing Tuck’s arm, Shane dragged him inside the small space and shut the door behind them.

  “What, Shane?”

  He shoved Tuck against a tall linen cart and got right up into his face. “Don’t do it. Don’t you dare fucking do it. You’re shutting down. I’ve seen it before, and, damn it, I’m not going to let you do it again.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Are you serious?” Shane asked incredulously. “You have to fucking ask? You shut down when Sarah died, Tuck. Hell, you started shutting down before she died. And it was okay. I could deal with it. We both dealt with her dying in different ways. I came to terms with it before you did, and that’s okay.” He grasped the back of Tuck’s neck and touched their foreheads together. “It’s okay. But now . . . I can’t do it alone this time, babe. I can’t be strong for everyone on my own. I need you out there. In private, you can break down, you can ask me to fuck you into oblivion, hell, you can even use me as a punching bag. But out there, with Paige, with everyone else, I need your help. I’m not strong enough this time. We could have lost both Paige and Ari today. I’m barely holding on by a thread here. I want to go ballistic and beat the hell out of those two dead punks and the one that’s sitting in jail. I don’t want to think about a world without Paige in it. I can’t. If we lose her . . .”

  Tears rolled down his cheeks as he choked on the words he couldn’t say. Tuck cupped his jaw and kissed him hard. It was then Shane realized he wasn’t the only one crying. Tongues danced as each man tried to soothe and draw strength from the other. Their five o’clock shadows rasped together.

  A noise in the hall had them pulling apart but not letting go. Tuck’s thumbs brushed away Shane’s tears. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I was pulling away from you. You’re right, we can’t lose her.”

  “We won’t. We’ll both be here when she wakes up—and she will wake up. Let Nicole take Ari home with her and stay with me. Please. Ari will be fine there, and if she needs to talk to us, Nicole can get us on the phone. Tomorrow, I think it’s important she goes to school to meet with the counselors and be with her friends. One of us will drive back and take her. You can do it if you want, then bring back a change of clothes for me. We’ll take turns going back and forth. You know Lila, Seth, and Nic will help any way they can. But we need to do this together.”

  “We will.” He brushed his lips against Shane’s once more. “I promise we will. And when Paige wakes up, we’ll take her home and put a ring on her damn finger and spend the rest of our very long lives with her.”

  Shane wanted that more than anything and was thrilled Tuck was back on the same page.

  Chapter Thirty

  Tucker sat next to Paige’s bed as the monitors beeped steadily. He held her hand in his and caressed her wrist. It was Saturday afternoon, and she’d been unconscious for about forty hours so far. Another CT-scan yesterday afternoon had showed the swelling of her brain had decreased a bit. The neurologist had said it was a positive sign, but she still had no idea if and when Paige would wake up. However, Tuck was determined to take it as a move in the right direction. The doctor had approved her being transferred to the step-down unit this morning since all her vitals had remained stable. While they were still keeping a close eye on her with the telemetry monitors, she was now in a regular room instead of a small cubicle, so Shane and Tuck could stay with her all day if they wanted, instead of a few minutes at the top of each hour.

  He glanced at the clock. Shane would be back soon. Tuck had offered to stay while he went home to check on a few things. They’d gotten a hotel room across the street from the hospital, yesterday, after spending the first night in the ICU waiting room, which had left them both with cricks in their backs and a severe lack of sleep.
If they were going to be here for Paige, they needed their rest too. The staff knew how to get in touch with them if there was any change, and the two men could be back here in a heartbeat if needed.

  Tuck thanked God they had an amazing bunch of workers. Between the office staff and ranch hands, Triple-R was being well taken care of in the absence of its owners. His parents had also arrived and were staying in the guest bedroom at the house, doing what they could to help out. Tuck’s mom loved cooking and had appointed herself the head chef until further notice. His dad was helping Seth with whatever needed to be done in and around the house. Lila and Gavin had joined them for dinner last night, and when Tuck had gotten a call from his parents this morning, checking on Paige, they’d said they approved of the man their daughter was dating. He’d been glad to hear it. Lila deserved to be happy as much as anyone else in this world. He just hoped he’d be introducing Paige to his folks soon. He’d been praying that Sarah was watching over all of them and would somehow find a way to help Paige come back to them.

  Yesterday, Tuck had gotten home in time to take Ari to school. True to their word, the school board had arranged for counselors to meet with the children. Their parents had been warned the kids might not show PTSD symptoms for days, weeks, or months, and were given a list of things to look out for. Not one, but two substitute teachers were brought in to temporarily fill in for Melanie Dwyer while Clem recovered from what was, thankfully, a mild heart attack. The subs would be able to keep a closer watch on the first graders to make sure none were struggling in the aftermath of the kidnapping. So far, it appeared Ari was faring well, her only concern being her inability to see and talk to Paige.

  Prayers, get-well wishes, flowers, food, and offers to help with whatever needed to be done had been pouring in from all over Hazard Falls. Word had spread quickly about how Paige had thrown the little boy out of the line of fire, and many were calling her a heroine. Some people who’d turned their noses up at her before, due to either her relationship with Tuck and Shane, the media shit-storm that’d descended on the town weeks earlier, or the fact her ex-husband had been a criminal, were seeing Paige in a different light. She was now officially one of Hazard Falls’ own. This time, when the media had rolled into town, the interviews were filled with accolades for not only Paige, but for Nicole, Melanie, and Clem too. Not a bad word had been said about any of them—at least not any that’d ended up in the news articles. There were still members of the community who would look at Paige in disdain—that was life in a small town—but that number was far less than it’d been.

  Betty Lou had called a little while ago to check on Paige and fill Tuck in on some news. The media had descended on Bridget’s house this morning, just before 8:00 a.m., after a reporter had learned of her eighteen-year-old daughter’s relationship with one of the now-dead kidnappers. The feeding frenzy now had a new target, and from Lou’s chuckling, Tuck had a good idea who’d dropped that side of beef in the shark pool. He highly doubted she would’ve done it if Brooke’s father hadn’t insisted his seven-year-old daughter stay with him for the next few weeks, away from the chaos, where she’d be out of the spotlight. He was also planning to see she received some counseling. Meanwhile, Bridget had, apparently, left town until she figured out a way to regain her status among the snobbish elite of the county, leaving her parents and Brenna to deal with the media. Again, it was clear where the woman’s priorities lay.

  Paige’s arm twitched, as it’d been doing occasionally, for a few hours now, and Tuck leaned forward. “Hey, beautiful. I’m still sitting here waiting for you to wake up. Shane should be back soon, and I know he’d love to walk in here and see those gorgeous eyes of yours. You have no idea how much we love you. We were all set to tell you the other night. I never thought I’d fall in love with another woman ever again. I thought it would just be me and Shane raising Ari, and I was okay with that. But then you came to us and showed me . . . showed both of us what we were missing. You filled the holes in our hearts that we never expected to be filled. We love you, baby. I love you. And I need you to come back to us so I know you heard me say the words.”

  There was no response from Paige, but a hand squeezed Tuck’s shoulder. He glanced up to see Shane. “No change?”

  Tuck shook his head. “She’s still making some involuntary movements, like they said she would, but nothing else. Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. The bodyguards Quinn hired replaced the hospital’s security guards outside the door. He’s headed to Hazard to spend some time with Ari. Graham’s got two patrol cars at the entrance to the ranch to deal with the media, and the hands are keeping an eye out for anyone trying to sneak onto the property. I told Nic and Hank to stay in the empty cottage with the kids until everything calms down. Seth and your folks are holding down the fort with no problems other than the house phone ringing incessantly.” The media hadn’t only gone after Bridget, Brenna, and the kidnapper’s families, they’d been trying to get interviews with everyone else involved. It’d been national news that Paige Merritt-Winthrope had gone from being the wife of a convicted Ponzi-schemer to a small-town heroine who’d risked her life to protect a child. Shane’s cousin had also flown in yesterday for a few days. Quinn felt he needed to be there for Paige and had ended up taking over her private security detail after two tabloid reporters managed to gain entry to her room late last night. Both men were now sporting black eyes, courtesy of Shane and Tucker, and were in police custody for trespassing.

  Rounding the bed to the other side, Shane sat in another chair and gently took Paige’s left hand. “Hi, sweetheart. I’m back. I heard everything Tuck said, and he’s right. We love you so much and need you to come back to us. Ari wants to come visit, but she’s not allowed until you’re awake. We miss you—your smile, your laughter, making love to you, all of it. Tuck can’t wait to introduce you to his folks, and they’re anxious to meet you too.” He paused, and then his gaze met Tuck’s. “Tell her. Don’t ask, just tell her.”

  He knew what Shane meant. His husband had been the one to propose to Sarah, and he was now declaring Tuck should be the one to propose to Paige. Would she hear him?

  Bringing her hand to his lips, he gently kissed her knuckles. “Paige, baby, this isn’t how I thought we were going to do this. I figured there’d be a little romancing first, then both of us making sweet love to you together, then asking you to marry us. But things change. I’m not asking, Paige. I’m telling you to come back to us and marry us. We belong together, you, me, Shane, and Ari. You’ll be a wonderful mother to our little girl and maybe someday we can give her a brother or sister. We want to spend the rest of our lives with you, so wake up and say yes, Paige. Please.”

  The only thing breaking the sudden silence in the room was the beeping of the heart monitor. Tuck’s gut clenched, and his head dropped forward. What if she didn’t wake up? How would either of them or Ari live through it if Paige left them?

  “Paige?”

  Tuck lifted his head at the surprise in Shane’s voice. “What?”

  “Paige, honey, did you just squeeze my hand? Do it again.”

  Seconds passed. Her hand twitched in Tuck’s. No, wait. It wasn’t a twitch. Her hand closed around his. His gaze shot to her face, then to where she and Shane were connected. She was squeezing his hand too.

  Shane brushed her brow. “Come on, baby. Wake up. Let me see those beautiful, blue eyes of yours.”

  Her eyes remained shut, but her mouth opened. “So . . . bossy,” she murmured. “Love you too.”

  As she fell back asleep, relieved smiles spread across both men’s faces. Their woman wasn’t going to leave them, and they’d get that ring on her finger as fast as they could. Paige Wilson had a nice sound to it. Reaching across her torso, Tuck grasped his husband’s hand, completing the circle between the three of them. He sent up a silent thank you to the woman who’d once been their wife and who would forever be their guardian angel.

  Epilogue

  “Here, Mom. There
’s eighteen of them,” Ari announced as she brought a basket of eggs from the hen house into the kitchen. It was one of the“jobs” Shane had given her for the summer that she’d insisted on having so she could earn her own money to buy the baby a present. The new addition to the family was three days overdue, and Paige wished she’d go into labor soon. Her feet were swollen—at least she thought they were since she couldn’t see them—her back was killing her, and she felt like one of the pregnant heifers out in the fields. Ari had been hoping her new baby sister would be born on her own birthday last week, but when that hadn’t happened, she admitted it was probably better if they didn’t have to share their big days.

  After she’d been released from the hospital thirteen months ago, Tuck and Shane had proposed to Paige again, since she’d apparently been unconscious the first time they’d done it. After she’d gotten home, Tuck’s parents had stayed through the summer months to help her around the house, letting her ease her way back into a routine as she slowly recovered from her ordeal. After returning to Arizona, they’d come back to Kansas for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and just recently again for the birth of their second granddaughter. This morning, following breakfast, they’d taken Paige’s SUV to run a few errands.

  Tuck and Shane had moved her into their bedroom for good her first night home, and she’d fallen asleep between the two of them every night since. Of course, that’d meant she needed to wake one of them every night over the past two months because the baby was taking up space where her bladder normally did. Her men assured her they didn’t mind at all. They were always attentive, but during her pregnancy, their overprotective natures were obvious to everyone. Paige couldn’t remember what it was like to sleep without them. She’d never thought in her wildest dreams—well, maybe in her really wildest dreams—she’d fall in love with two men and be in a full ménage relationship. But it felt right, and nobody would ever make her feel ashamed for loving Shane and Tuck.