Finding My Forever (Beaumont 3)

I close my eyes and pray for help to arrive. He’s going to hurt my family, not me. He’s going to take away Jimmy and Eden, leaving me broken and empty.

“Say good-bye, Jenna.”

“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Jimmy yells. I hope his voice carries loud enough into the house. We need help.

“She’ll come willingly. I won’t have to force her,” Damien says calmly.

“Jenna doesn’t love you.”

“Of course she does. Don’t you, Jenna?”

I don’t answer, he knows. He knows I don’t love him. If I did, I would’ve stayed and taken the beatings.

“DON’T YOU?” he pulls out his gun and points it at Jimmy. He marches closer, just a few feet from us. Eden starts to cry, but we can’t do anything to help her.

“Damien, please stop.” I let go of Jimmy’s hand and step in front of him. He stops me. “Just stop. I’ll come with you, but you have to let them go in the house. The baby, she needs to eat and you don’t want her to starve.”

“I don’t care about that bastard child. Put her on the ground.”

“NO!” Jimmy yells.

“PUT HER THE FUCK DOWN BEFORE I SHOOT HER!”

“NO!” I scream and step in front of Eden as Damien points his gun at her. The gun fires and all time stops.

I sit on the floor, playing with Eden. Her hair is an odd color, but it’s completely unique to her personality. It’s still dark, but with natural red highlights. It’s definitely a combination of Jenna and me. I still like to put it in a Mohawk with a bow, just for a bit of fun. It drives Jenna nuts, but she never changes it. Lit

tle One is rolling over now. She thinks it’s fun, until she gets stuck and can’t get back to where she was. She screams. I say she’s saying daddy, but Jenna assures me she’s just making noises to get my attention. The minute her little yelp is out of her mouth, I’m always there to help her. Eden knows that I’ll never leave her.

It’s been two months since the shooting that changed our lives. I felt guilty first, but now there’s a sense of relief knowing that Jenna’s ex won’t be able to harm my family ever again. When the gun went off I didn’t know what to do. I froze and so did Jenna. I was afraid to put Eden down, but I had to find out where Jenna had been hit. When she looked at me with tears in her eyes, I thought for sure that I had lost her. But the telltale sound of someone hitting their head hard caught our attention. Everything was in slow motion as we turned and saw Paul Baker standing in front of us with his gun pointed at where Damien was standing.

That day my eyes moved so slowly until they landed upon Damien on the ground, eyes closed and blood dripping from his mouth. I knew instantly that he was dead. What I didn’t know was how Jenna was going to react. He was her first love and people don’t forget that.

The back door opens. The sound of keys being thrown onto the kitchen-top echo through the house, it’s a bad sign.

“Mummy’s home,” I say to Eden whose legs shake wildly. She loves her mum and gets most of her attention these days, but I’m okay with it. Eden’s hard to compete with, but I guess that’s what happens when you have a baby. Jenna dotes on her, and so do I.

“Hi, wifey,” I say loud enough for her to hear me.

“Hi.” I look up at the sound of her voice. She’s leaning against the doorframe and has a piece of paper hanging from her fingers.

“What’s that?” I nod to the paper.

She holds it up, as if she’s going to read it. “A letter from Damien’s parents.”

I sit up suddenly and put Eden in her vibrating chair and place her tiny fingers around her favourite monkey to keep her occupied. I stand up, walk over to Jenna and pull her into my arms.

“Do you want to me to read it?”

She shakes her head. “I thought we could read it together. Anything they have to say they need to stay to the both of us.”

“Okay.” I lead her over to the sofa. I sit down first, and pull her onto my lap. I rest my head on her shoulder and wait. Jenna clears her throat, but before she can start Eden lets it known that she’s missing out on cuddle time.

Jenna gets up and takes her out of her seat. She hands Eden to me and thankfully resumes her spot on my lap. This is another moment that I want to capture, sans the letter that has my wife so upset, so I can remember it forever.

“Dearest Jenna,

When Damien brought you home for the first time we knew that he had met his destruction, we just didn’t realize we’d lose our son in the process. The way Damien looked at you, the way he spoke about you and the way he moved around you, you owned his heart. We were so happy when you married and couldn’t wait for you to start a family.