It’s Friday afternoon and that’s usually our busiest time. You know, when all the dickheads around town let off work for the weekend, get wicked drunk, and make stupid decisions, they end up here. Don’t get me wrong, there’s always something to laugh about, but for the most part, I make a point of not being here on a Friday night. Hell, if I can avoid the hospital all weekend too, then that’s a bonus.
Autumn cuts across the ER after spending the majority of her day with Dr. Terrace completing an assessment, and while I didn’t exactly need to hand-deliver this pile of paperwork down here at exactly four in the afternoon, I made it my business to.
As if sensing me across the room, Autumn glances up, and the smile that lights up her eyes tells me everything I need to know. She killed it, but of course she did. She’s incredible at what she does. She’s going to go far in her career and I can’t wait to watch her fly.
With Dr. Terrace right behind her, she makes a point of not coming over to me, but it doesn’t matter. Seeing that look on her face makes the whole trip down here more than worthwhile. Besides, I’ll be taking her out to dinner to celebrate the second we both get out of here and that will more than make up for it.
Dr. Terrace ushers her into a meeting room just off the side of the ER to discuss her results, and I watch her through the window, taking in the way she responds to everything he says, taking on board every critique and soaking up everything he has to say like a sponge. She laughs and smiles proudly, making me wish that I could be a fly on the wall in the room, but she’ll tell me all about it tonight.
We’re just about to reach the three-month mark together, and so far, the whole journey has been incredible. She’s the light in my life that I’ve been missing for all these years, and I can’t wait to make her mine.
Just the thought of it has the ring burning a hole in my pocket. I can’t wait to slide it onto her perfect finger and ask her to be mine for the rest of our lives, but I have to wait. Autumn deserves so much more than a rushed proposal. She deserves it all. It has to be big and perfect, and everything she’s ever dreamed of. So, until I can get in KC’s head and figure out the exact scene that Autumn has been dreaming of all her life, then the ring will remain in my pocket.
Some might say that I’m crazy for wanting to propose so soon, but sometimes you just know when it’s right, and me, I knew the second she came into my life. Because of that, this ring has been patiently waiting for the past two months.
I can’t wait to see her walking down the aisle, coming right for me. She’ll have that dopey little grin on her face, and she’ll roll her eyes, wondering why she’s getting so emotional. But when she reaches the end of the aisle and takes my hands, she’s going to forget all the people standing around her, and it’s just going to be us, just the way it was always supposed to be. But it’s what comes next that’s the real prize. Building a life with her, buying a home together, and starting a family. Now, that’s the ultimate goal.
Fuck me, to see her walking around our family kitchen with our children running around her feet and her belly swollen with my child. That’s an image I will never be able to get past.
Not wanting to distract her as she talks with Dr. Terrace, I turn on my heel and go to start making my way back up to the maternity ward when the familiar sound of the opening Emergency Room doors has me turning back.
My gaze snaps straight to the door to find a woman barely able to keep herself on her feet.
My eyes widen in horror and I sprint across the ER, desperate to get to the woman who is quickly becoming my most important patient.
Ashleigh sinks to her knees, cradling her swollen stomach and I catch her just before she collapses to the ground. The nosey people in the waiting room watch on in horror as they take in the blood matted in her hair, the torn clothes, and the deep bruising covering her skin.
“You have to help me,” she cries, the tears streaking down her face and mixing with the dirt that’s pressed into her skin. “My baby … he … he … My husband found me.” Not a second after she gets the words out, she passes out into a heap on the floor, my arms just barely around her.