A Humble Heart (Hollywood Hearts 1)

They were suddenly pulled down to the ground. Dana was pulled away from him. He struggled to go after her. Girls were holding her down and attacking her. He saw girls trying to kick her in the stomach. She instinctively rolled over into a ball.

“Get away from her!” he roared. He pushed girls off him roughly and pushed through the crowd, throwing girls to the side. He grabbed the girl that was kicking Dana by the back of the neck and pulled her off, throwing her to the ground. He bent down and picked Dana up. She was bleeding from the mouth.

“Oh shit. Baby, are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. I blocked the kicks.” He held her like a baby in his arms. They were moving back towards them. “Get away now!” he yelled.

They continued to move. “Back off now!” a man suddenly yelled. Edward turned to see several officers pushing their way through the crowd. They pushed the screaming girls to the side until they reached Edward and Dana.

“Come with me!” the officer yelled over the girls' screams.

Several hands grabbed onto him again, making him stumble back. An officer turned around and had the presence of mind to hold out his arms. He grabbed Dana and carried her to safety. Edward fought against the holds. Several officers entered the theatre carrying riot shields and night sticks. It disgusted Edward to think it came to this where he couldn’t take his future wife out for a movie without getting attacked.

An officer gripped his arm and pulled him out of the theatre. It took several minutes, because the girls refused to release him. They were still screaming his name when the door shut behind him.

He looked around for Dana and found her standing in front of an ambulance, being cleaned up. Edward made a bee line for her. He dropped to his knees in front of her and pushed up her shirt to reveal her stomach. He ran a trembling hand over it.

“I didn’t let them kick my stomach, Edward. The babies are okay,” she said, soothing him. She ran a hand through his messy hair. Edward pressed a kiss to her stomach and stood up, taking her into his arms.

“Sir, we need to talk,” an older officer said. He realized this was the officer that carried Dana out.

“Thank you for taking care of her,” Edward said.

“Not a problem,” the officer said and then his face softened. “I’m a huge fan of your books, ma’am.”

“Thank you, officer, for all your help,” she said. Edward felt her shaking against him.

“With your level of fame, your impending nuptials, and her pregnancy not to mention more children at home, I’m going to suggest that you hire security. Neither one of you should be in public without it, especially this young lady.”

“I couldn’t agree more, sir,” Edward said. “I’m going to arrange for it immediately.”

“I would say two security members should be enough. Check their training thoroughly before you hire anyone,” the officer said.

“Thank you, sir.”

A young officer ran towards them carrying a crushed phone. “Is this yours?”

“Yes.” Edward reached out and took the phone. “Well, it was.”

“Look, I need to get you two out of here, because those girls in there are still hysterical,” the young officer said.

Edward nodded. He put his arm around Dana and led her to the car. They received a police escort home. As soon as they were in the house they called the parents that were watching their children, making sure the kids were okay. Thankfully the paparazzi weren’t interested in the kids at the moment.

Dana sat on the couch and closed her eyes while Edward made phone calls. He called Eric who promised to hire security for both of them, because they decided to do the movie. They had three days to go through the script.

She heard Edward walk into the room, but didn’t open her eyes. He placed a tray of snacks he made on the coffee table. Edward picked one of her favorite movies from their collection and popped it into the DVD player.

He sat down near her and gently pulled her down so that she was on her side with her head resting on his lap. The movie began and Dana fell asleep with Edward gently rubbing her back.

She snuggled into his leg. Edward watched her for a long time. This beautiful woman was sticking by him. She gave him a family, love, and understanding. From day one she treated him like a regular guy. It made his heart swell.

If possible he loved her even more. She was carrying his children and sticking by him through everything. Neither one of them would ever lead a normal life now. It was impossible, but they were staying together. It made this situation livable. He promised himself their children would lead normal lives. Exhaustion finally caught up with him. He let his head drop back and allowed himself to drift off.

Dana woke up when she heard a strange sawing noise. She looked up to see it was coming from Edward. She sat up and stretched. Her stomach rumbled and she realized she hadn’t eaten since that snack she had when she was cleaning earlier.

The snacks Edward fixed looked good, but she wanted something heartier. She quietly moved through the house towards the kitchen. One look at the clock had her sighing. It was only ten thirty at night. The last couple of days, hell, weeks had been so exhausting. Poor Edward, he was taking the brunt of everything on his shoulders.

He was taking care of her, the kids, the house, moving by himself, plus his usual hectic schedule. Since he came home he hadn’t had a guy's night out. She was going to change that. Tomorrow night she was pushing him out of the house. He needed that, deserved it.

She looked at the calendar. Tomorrow was Friday, a good day for him to get out and unwind and then he could have the guys over sometime this weekend for a game. She was sure there would be a game on of some sporting event. She wrote up a list of food to pick up. She would make a huge spread for the guys and take the kids out to a water park or something with Deana’s help and hopefully some security.

The phone rang. She ran over to it, wishing it to quiet down so it wouldn’t wake up Edward. “Shh, I’m coming,” she hissed at the phone. She picked up the phone on the third ring to the sound of a little girl screaming in the background.

“Hello?” she answered, wondering if it was a prank call.

“Dana? It’s Jim.”

“Hey, Jim, is everything okay? Is Cole okay?” Dana asked. Clearly Jim’s daughter Beth wasn’t okay from the sound of it.

“I’m afraid Beth got a little scared when the cat ran under her bed. She thinks it was a monster and we can’t convince her otherwise. Poor Cole is being such a good sport, but we’re thinking we should bring him home. Beth isn’t going to calm down anytime soon.”