Hell, I had no fucking clue.
My brain wasn’t working correctly.
“Don’t leave me,” Sierra whispered again.
I leaned down so that my breath fanned over her face. “I won’t. I’ll never leave you. Not even when you want me to.”
Things happened fast after that.
Officers arrived. Chaos ensued. And I forced my way into the ambulance despite the paramedics not thinking I should come.
“I don’t fucking care,” I growled. “Now drive.”
The young woman looked pissed that I was forcing her hand, but I didn’t fucking care.
The ambulance doors shut just as I saw Sammy’s truck rocket up to the curb.
But before he could get out, the ambulance was hurrying away.
The truck followed behind us.
I looked back at my girl.
She somehow looked even worse with the white sheets as a backdrop instead of the dark black of the asphalt.
“You’re going to be back here, you need to stay out of my way,” the pissy medic growled.
I didn’t bother answering her.
I was in the far back corner of the ambulance and leaning over Sierra’s poor, battered face.
Her eyes were swollen shut so badly that I knew she wouldn’t be opening them for a while.
Her nose was broken. There was blood coming out of her ears, and her front tooth was chipped. She had multiple contusions, bruises, and cuts spotted all over her face as well.
That was only the injuries I could categorize.
Hell, she likely could have way more underneath all the things I could see. Like a broken cheekbone or a cracked skull.
“Don’t let me go,” Sierra whispered.
Her voice sounded ragged and raw. As if she’d been screaming for help for a very long time.
“I won’t, baby,” I said, placing my lips to her cheek, just under a cut that was bleeding.
I wiped away the blood from my lips and pressed the side of my face to her head, hoping that I wasn’t hurting her in any way.
But I knew that she needed me close. She needed to feel me since she couldn’t see me.
“I hurt,” she whispered.
I looked at the medic. “Can you give her anything for pain?”
“I’ve given her what’s safe for the baby.” The medic looked apologetic now instead of pissy. “I can give her more but…”
“No, don’t,” Sierra said. “Don’t.”
I closed my eyes and counted to ten in order not to keep the mournful cry from leaving my throat.
“Talk to me,” I whispered. “Stay awake.”
“About.” She breathed hard. “What?”
“Tell me about the letter, baby,” I ordered. “One of the last letters that I got from you said that you had a dream,” I murmured, smoothing her blood-wet hair back from her face and trying to get her to stay awake.
She smiled then, cracked lips and all.
“About you.” She sighed. “It was about you. You and me. Married. With babies. Lots and lots of babies.”
That sounded like heaven.
“What’s lots and lots?” I asked. “Tell me how many.”
“Ten. Lots and lots,” she whispered.
“I can’t wait to see our baby,” I whispered. “She’s going to be so beautiful.”
Sierra turned her head toward me, as far as the collar around her throat would allow. “When I chose, I made sure that the baby looked like you. You were the one I was thinking of when I was looking. Though, I have to admit, Mr. November also played a huge part in me choosing what features, too.”
I dropped my forehead to the cot beside her head and forced back the tears.
• • •
“She’s losing the baby,” the doctor, Zach, said, looking from me to Sierra’s parents and back. “The trauma to her abdomen, back, and lower extremities were too extreme. The fetus couldn’t survive that kind of trauma. I’m so sorry.”
I felt my stomach drop out of my body and land somewhere between my feet.
“Is she okay?” Mercy asked, her voice a rasp of emotion. “Is she going to be okay? Will she be able to have more babies?”
Zach looked hopeful then.
“I do believe that’ll be the case,” Zach confirmed. “She’s a strong, healthy woman in her prime. She’ll recover from this.”CHAPTER 20Are they bad habits if I like them?-Malachi to SierraMALACHISierra,
Today you can’t open your eyes.
Today, you can’t read this letter. But tomorrow, you’ll get there. Tomorrow you’ll see all the love that I have for you.
I know that it’s hard right now, hearing things—all these really bad things—but know that I’ll always protect you. I’ll never fail you again.
I love you,
Malachi Gabriel Gnocchi
• • •
“Malachi.”
I jolted from a semi-sleep at the sound of her voice.
My feet dropping down to the ground on either side of the uncomfortable recliner, I leaned forward and pressed my head to the unbattered cheek that I could now see thanks to the blood being cleaned off.
I heard other people start moving around the room, but it was only me that was as close to her as I was.
“Sierra,” I said as I picked up her battered hand. “I’m here.”