I had lived my worst nightmare all over again.
And the next second, a nurse friend told me that he was at the hospital. I’d only paused to call my mother in the middle of the night to come look after my sleeping children. She thought I was dying or something and began to panic on the other end. It took her hugging me for a minute straight when I opened my front door to make her see I wasn’t having a stroke.
Then I bolted for the hospital, putting every thought out of my head except for one.
I am in love with Forrest and needed to tell him that.
“I love you. God, I love you. You’re an idiot, but I love you,” I blurt it out, touching his face frantically before his lips come down over mine.
Our tongues do the intricate dance of lovers, and my heart, which I formerly thought was irreparable, beats anew.
“Mr. Nash, we have your bed ready.” The nurse addressing Forrest clears her throat, and we break off awkwardly.
Sheepishly, I smile at her as she wheels him to the room he’s been admitted to.
“How long will he need to stay? Is there something wrong with him?” I ask, wanting all the facts.
She shakes her head as she helps Forrest into the bed. “I’m sorry, I can only address family.”
“She is family. My wife,” Forrest says.
When I turn my head to him, I expect a small smirk to be playing at his lips. But my heart rockets into my throat when I see he’s completely serious.
The nurse tilts her head in an obliging manner. “Your husband has some deep bruising to his throat, and he’s broken at least three of his knuckles. Must have been one hell of a punch you threw there, Mr. Nash. He also has a broken wrist, possibly a broken rib, and a few cuts that are going to need a stitch or two. But from what I’ve heard about the scene, he’s lucky to have escaped with those minor injuries.”
My mouth hangs open. “What the hell happened to you?”
Now Forrest chuckles, patting the bed next to him. “Let me get my first dose of pain meds, and then I’ll tell you all about it.”
The nurses work on Forrest as he begins to talk, starting at the beginning with the case he was handed from his captain. I can’t believe that someone would do something like that, stealing from the hardworking people of this county in such a slimy manner. It turns out, Forrest had found connections to his brother’s businesses, that the thief had been hacking into their accounting software and siphoning funds.
He has to pause in the middle of the story when the orthopedist comes in to set his wrist, most of which he screams through and then promptly hits the button to his IV for more pain meds.
As he slips into the next part of the story, Forrest starts babbling about me and the kids and threats. He’s exhausted and drugged up, and I smooth a hand over his forehead.
“Relax, babe. Sleep, please. You can tell me when you wake up.”
He kisses my thumb as it passes his lips and in another instant, he’s asleep.
I sit by his bedside, just holding his hand and thanking God he wasn’t blown up in whatever madness happened.
“Oh, good, for once I won’t have to listen to him talk.”
Fletcher walks into the room, a bandage wrapped fully around his forehead. I can see a nasty row of stitches peeking out from the bottom of it, right over his eyebrow.
“How are you doing?” I stand, hugging him to me.
Fletcher pats me on the back and then releases me. “I’m fine, just a big scratch, nothing more. Worst thing was taking the stitches without pain meds, but hell, once you’re sober, you’re sober.”
I admire him so much at this moment, but I also want answers. “Can you please tell me what happened? Your brother passed out before he could finish the story.”
Fletcher sits down in a recliner across from Forrest’s bed, his elbows on his knees. “He’d probably be the best to tell it, but where did he leave off?”
“Something about me and the kids and a threat?” My own voice sounds confused to my ears.
Fletcher nods. “He was working this case for a while. Couldn’t get any breakthroughs. Had found out about the stolen funds from Bowen and Keaton’s businesses, and then the creep sent him an email. It had all of these surveillance photos of you and the kids as if someone was watching you. That’s why Forrest ghosted you because he was trying to protect you. In the end, he found Corey trying to comb through the police database to set him up for something. Corey was the one who did all this; apparently, he got pretty damn good at hacking in the army.”
Suddenly, it all clicks. Corey coming around after Travis died. The way he was always trying to ask me out. His aggressive behavior toward me the night I kicked him out of my house.
“But why steal the money?” I ask, confused.
“I’m not sure if anyone knew this, I only found out because Ryan did more digging. Corey was dishonorably discharged after Travis’ death. I’m not exactly sure why, but he can’t collect anywhere near his earned benefits or pension. He was sinking, could barely afford to live. That’s why he started stealing small sums … that then added up to a nearly five-hundred-thousand-dollar payday.”
“Jesus Christ …” I trail off, my mind blown.
My brain is spinning as if the rug that holds my world view is pulled so sharply from under me that I don’t know if it will ever be righted.
“Corey, is he dead?” I almost don’t want to hear the answer.
Fletcher doesn’t look at me, but nods. “Forrest, the dumbass he is, went over there by himself. Was mad-eyed and stubborn, wanted to … I don’t know, avenge you? That crazy bastard loves you.”
I glance at the sleeping man whose hand I’m holding. “I know.”
“I woke up in the middle of the night, from a dead sleep. I just knew. It’s fucking freaky, this twin thing. And then all of a sudden, my phone started ringing.”
A realization hits me. “Ryan called you.”
Fletcher confirms it with a slight tilt of his head. “That’s why she was staying with him, to help him crack the case. He wanted it done, over. Forrest wanted you safe.”
Everything that’s happened in the last two weeks suddenly makes sense. The lingering feelings of abandonment are still there, but they mix with the understanding that Forrest was really only trying to protect my family.
“That fucker came to destroy, though. Corey … he pulled the pin out of a grenade. I thought we were going to die. By some act of God, we were basically blown out the front wall of the house. We’re so fucking lucky.”
We sit in silence, digesting the events of the last day. If I think too much about it, I’ll curl up on the floor in a ball.
“A few months back, I had to tell him to leave my house. He’d brought dinner over for the kids and then got aggressive with me.”
Forrest’s jaw tightens. “If that motherfucker wasn’t already dead …”
“I should have known. I should have sensed it. Corey was always lurking around, trying to emulate Travis. Shit …” I bite my fist, trying to think of all the ways I could have prevented this.
Fletcher rises from his chair and walks over to me. “There was nothing you could have done. Someone like that, they’re lost in their own madness. And besides, Forrest is going to be okay. He did this for you, so that you two could have a future.”
Every ounce of love in my body pumps straight to my heart, and I turn to watch Forrest in his peaceful slumber. I’d once questioned if he could ever truly put others before himself.
Forrest Nash has proved, in spades, that when it comes to me and my children, he’d sacrifice his own life for us.
Now I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I have a partner who would protect me as much as I protected him.
It was all I’d ever asked for.
38
Forrest
Three days later, the doctors, nurses, and my friends at the police department finally allows me to be discharged from the hospital.
“I want you to take it e
asy, you hear me?” Captain Kline is scolding me like I’m some kind of disobedient puppy.
He’s already thoroughly chewed my ass out for going to confront Corey alone. I can’t say I blame him, it ended with a dead body and my ass almost fried.
If I’m not super sensitive about the death of a resident of Fawn Hill, it’s because he threatened everything and everyone I hold dear. Honestly, the world is a better place, and I don’t have to worry about what he might do to Penelope every other moment of the day.
That might be callous, but no one has any illusions about my hero status blotting out the arrogant asshole in me.
“Got it. But, if you have anything that comes in—”
Kline silences me with a look. “You’re on leave, Nash. You already bit off more than you could chew … but, thank you. You helped out a lot of people with this one. Get some rest.”
Penelope jumps in, “Don’t worry, Captain. I’ll make sure he doesn’t go rogue again.”
“I like this one.” Kline claps me on the shoulder and leaves my hospital room.
The woman I love is packing away the sparse amount of items I came in with, and the things I’d requested, namely a laptop and clean underwear, that Fletcher had dropped off from my house. She looks more well-rested than I’ve seen her in days, and her hair gleams in the sunlight streaming in the windows. I finally made Lily drag her from my bedside yesterday, gave her best friend my credit card, and told her to bring Penelope to the spa.
She came back looking like her old self, the brazen spitfire I know and love. And she even brought the boys by to lift my spirits. Ames had a blast drawing on the short cast on my right arm, while Travis and Matthew challenged me to game after game of Pokémon on the old-school Gameboy Color Penelope had bought them.
Spending time with them, and with their mother, makes me long to go home to a house that is filled to the brim with their loud, tiring energy. I don’t want to return to my bachelor pad, scheduling time in my calendar to see Penelope when she has a free night here or there.
“I’m kind of going to miss this place,” I start.
She looks at me like I’m still high on pain meds. “Yeah, okay, weirdo. What, you going to miss the Jell-O?”
Shaking my head, I take the sweatpants she’s folding out of her hands and set them on the bed. “No. I’m going to miss the staff referring to you as my wife.”
The bow of her mouth turns up in a small smile. “It was nice to play pretend for a while. I feel very wifely, packing your suitcase.”
“It’s something I could get used to. And the boys … I want to be able to see them every day.”
“Be careful what you wish for, or you’ll end up with an instant family.”
“Good thing, because that’s exactly what I’m going for. Let’s get married.”
A minute passes. And then another. The room is so silent, I’m afraid time has actually stopped.
I swear, Penelope’s eyes are about to bug out of her head. “Are you fucking crazy?”
“Well, actually most people would say I’m just highly intelligent and use my brain to—”
“Enough, smart-ass. Really, though, are you drunk? Or on drugs? Because you can’t be serious right now.”
My eyes fixate on hers, and I take a mental snapshot of this moment. I’ll never forget it anyway, what with my photographic memory, but I want it to be at the forefront of my brain until I take my last breath.
“P, I’ve spent a lot of time wasting time. I’ve been cocky, foolish, moronic, and we’ve both kept this a secret for way too long. I love you, more than I’ve ever loved or will ever love anyone else in my entire life. The boys, I want them to have a father. I want to be that man … which is so fucking crazy that I want that. But I want them almost as much as I want you. I want to be your partner, I want to take some of your burden. We can share it. I’ll put up with your obnoxious, cheerleader attitude, and you can put up with my know-it-all personality. We’re a perfectly odd match, but hell if I don’t love you more for it.”
Penelope is tearing up, ever the maker of an emotional moment even more emotional. “I’ve already done this once … and I lost him.”
I take her face in my hands, trying to transfer the depth of my emotions from my flesh to hers. “I promise you, I’m not going anywhere. You’ll have to wake up with me every day. You’ll be forced to kiss me good morning, make love late into the night so quietly that the kids can’t hear, celebrate every holiday together and much more. You won’t be able to get rid of me. That’s how in love with you I am.”
“You promise?” she whispers, and I can tell she’s thinking about how much she was hurt last time.
“One hundred percent.”
She licks her lips. “But I don’t want a wedding.”
I nod emphatically. “Good, because I hate that shit. Say yes, and we’ll go down to city hall right now.”
“Right now?” The woman I want to make my wife swipes at her cheeks. “But I’m all red-faced … and I don’t have anything to wear.”
“Wear jeans for all I care, that’s what I’m doing. So, is that a yes?”
A beat passes, and then she’s throwing her arms around my neck and burying her runny nose into my shoulder.
“It’s a yes. My god, I can’t believe I’m marrying Forrest Nash. Who would have thought?”
I smile, for once keeping my boastful mouth shut. I thought, that’s who. All those years ago, I knew it would happen someday.
All I care about is that I’m finally going to make Penelope a Nash.
Fishing my phone from my pocket, I call Fletcher. “Hey, Fletch? Meet me at the municipal building in ten minutes. Bring Lily if you can swing by the library. And call the others too, if they aren’t too busy. Oh, you want to know why? I’m getting married.”
And with that, I hang up.
“This is insane.” Penelope laughs, a hysterical kind of mania to the pitch of her giggle.
My palms come up to her cheeks. “Nothing about our relationship has been conventional, so why start now? Do you love me?”
“More than I ever thought I could.” She nods solemnly.
“Good. Because I’d give my life for you. But instead, I’d rather just join it to yours. Okay?”
“Okay.” She goes for my mouth, leaving me with a brief, but searing kiss. “But we have to swing by my house on the way.”
Thirty minutes later, we’re standing in front of a judge, with Lily standing to Penelope’s right and Fletcher standing to mine. My sister-in-law is uncontrollably sniffling, tears leaking from her eyes as she smiles like a lunatic. Fletcher keeps making lewd gestures to Penelope’s sons, who sit in the front row of the courtroom, giggling at their foul soon-to-be uncle.
Ames was the one who picked Penelope her bouquet, which is made up of six dandelions to be exact. Travis sits tall, and I know he’s feeling especially dignified since I asked him for his mother’s hand in marriage fifteen minutes ago. The boy took the job seriously, as the man of the house, and I told him we’d work together as co-heads moving forward. He was so proud that I asked, I could see how much love he has for his Mom. And Matthew, he hasn’t come out and said it, but I hope he’s excited.
I hope they’re all excited, and hopeful. The hell if I know how to be a parent or raise children, but I’m going to try my fucking hardest for these boys, and for Penelope. And … maybe cut down on the cursing.
It seems like the word got out pretty quickly about our nuptials, since my mom and Penelope’s mom rushed into city hall chambers just moments ago, looking flustered but happy. Even Marion, Penelope’s ex mother-in-law, is in attendance. My brothers are scattered throughout the courtroom, and a bunch of other people come walking in, waving at Penelope.
“How did I know that even with half an hour, you’d draw a crowd.” I wink at her.
“It’s the wedding of the century, or didn’t you hear?” She shuffles her sandal on the carpet, both of us in jeans and T-shirts.
�
�You know we’ll have to do this again in three days, right?” The judge, one of Penelope’s mom’s friends, asks us.
We know that, but want to do this right now anyway. It feels right, and we’ve got the excitement, our relatives here. We’ll come back in three days to sign the paperwork, but this spur of the moment commitment ceremony is exactly the right thing.
“We know.” She nods at him.
“Okay.” He shrugs. “Then we’re all ready?”
I take her hands, ready to quickly say our vows so we can get to the Penelope-becoming-my-wife part. “I’ve been ready for a long time.”
Ain’t that the truth. The first time I saw her, I was a boy, and she was way out of my league. That’s probably still half-true, but my arrogance would never let me believe I didn’t stand a chance.
With a little bit of luck, a whole lot of dirty sex, and almost getting blown up … she’s finally agreed to let me love her forever.
39
Penelope
“I don’t ever want to hear that we rushed our weddings ever again.”
Bowen holds up his beer bottle, giving a surly, Bowen-esque toast at our makeshift wedding reception.
“Talk about a shotgun wedding.” Presley whoops, amusement dancing in her eyes.
“You’re all fucking up this toast, thoroughly.” Fletcher raises his glass of Sprite. “To the bride and groom. I couldn’t think of a more annoying, obnoxious couple … but there is no denying it. You two are absolutely perfect for each other, and we all friggin’ love you together. Congratulations!”
The group of our friends … wait, no. This is my family now. I’m now in, if not by blood, then by marriage.
We all raise our glasses and clink them, my three boys hooting and hollering as they chase each other around the bar. The lot of us are drinking at eleven a.m. on a Wednesday, with children running around an establishment known for late-night hookups and drunken socializing. I wouldn’t have my second wedding any other way.
Flutter: The Nash Brothers, Book Three Page 18
