Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“She fits in great.” Shiloh exclaimed from my side.
I held my arm up, and she fit her body into mine, encircling her arms around my torso. “Yep. Knew she would.”
“Me too.” She joked.
“Who’s next?” Elliott asked the group.
“Next as in next to have a kid... or next as in next to get pregnant?” Blaine clarified.
“Pregnant. Gabe already knocked Ember up. So she doesn’t count.” Elliott quipped.
“That would be me. Found out this morning. Congratulations, honey.” Blaine said mirthfully.
Elliott paled. “Oh, shit.”
Champagne was uncorked, and a celebration commenced. Not only for the newest member of Free, but also for the members to be. I was glad that my children had this to grow up around, because they would always have the love and protection of any one of the people in this room, no matter what.
A person needed that, regardless of age, and I valued it for what it was.
Happiness.
***
Present day
“Janie Allen, our salutatorian, graduates with honors with thirty two college semester hours, a 3.97 GPA, perfect attendance, and will be attending the University of A&M in College Station, Texas.” The principal called through the microphone.
At the mention of Janie’s name, our entire group roared. Shiloh was up on her feet, standing on top of the bleachers, stomping and yelling for all she was worth.
“That’s my girl!” Shiloh screamed.
I smiled, hooking my arm around Shiloh’s waist just in case she decided to slip off the bleacher and break her arm for a fifth time.
And yes, I do mean fifth. She not only did it one more time since she was kidnapped, but twice, once at the beginning of her pregnancy with Rebel, and once at the end.
The fifth time she broke her arm was the night she’d gone into labor with Rebel. Emmaline was my baby. She was ten years old, and our last child. We’d originally planned to try for more, but sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
The memory of the day Emmaline, AKA Rebel, was born was still ingrained in my mind. Like a hot brand that would forever be a reminder of a time in my life that I literally felt like everything was falling apart.
***
Ten years ago
October
It was Halloween.
The day I dreaded the most out of any day of the year.
For some reason, this was the night that every single irrational person in the small city of Kilgore decided to let their crazy out to play. I’d been introduced to the night three years ago when I’d started with the Kilgore SWAT team, and each subsequent year got worse and worse. Somehow topping the year before it.
I’d managed to get out the door with the kids dressed in their matching Raggedy Anne outfits, and even to the first house before my pager went off.
I’d left a very pregnant Shiloh in the hands of her brothers, Cheyenne, and my mother, before jogging all the way back home, hopping onto my bike, and arriving at the station, only to turn around and head back home. It’d been a false alarm, and I was annoyed with damn near everyone who crossed my path.
I didn’t want to leave Shiloh, not with her four days past her due date and walking around the city. Before I’d left the station to head back home, I’d informed the Captain that I would be taking my leave effective immediately.
When I got home, I’d checked with Sam, and met back up with the group at a very old home that was one of the oldest in our neighborhood.
It was the type of house that you had to practically climb up a hill to get to the front door.
Cheyenne had Janie in front of her, and her youngest child’s hand in one of hers while the other held the hand of Scout. Sam was sandwiched between the twins, and Shiloh followed up in the rear.
Just as Shiloh approached midway down, two teenagers came barreling down the steps with the entire bowl of candy from the house, with the owner yelling at them about their rude behavior.
Instead of avoiding our slow moving group, they’d decided to plow straight through them. I watched in horror as the two teenagers blasted through them, causing not only the kids to fall, but to my utter horror, Shiloh as well.
Where the kids had been lucky, having the parents right there to catch them, Shiloh hadn’t been as fortunate. The massive weight of her belly altered her balance, and she teetered forward, and then backward before her heels slipped out from underneath of her.
She’d managed to control her fall somewhat by throwing her arm out and maneuvering her body to the side so she didn’t fall on the children, but endangered herself more in the process.
She’d hit the rock pathway first, causing the same arm she’d broken so many times before to break like like a match stick. Then she rolled down the steep slope until she came to rest at the very bottom in a crumpled mess.
It all took no less than thirty seconds, but in that thirty seconds, time felt like it slowed down to a crawl.
I’d watched in dismay as she fell, and I’d moved, but there was nothing I could do but witness the entire ordeal.
She’d been in a lot of pain once she came to a standstill and covered from head to toe in blood. In the ambulance, she’d coded twice, and as soon as she was rushed to the hospital, I was informed that the placenta had detached from the uterine wall during her fall. She was rushed into surgery ruthlessly fast in a vain attempt to save the baby’s life, even though nobody was optimistic, not even myself.
I’d collapsed into the closest chair that allowed me to see the operating room they’d taken her into, and waited for over an hour before I was given any news.
A nurse was the first to exit, and in her arms, she held a precious bundle of pink swaddled closely to her chest. She deposited the baby into my arms before telling me the outcome.