Crushed Page 17

  We both laughed

  Suddenly the smile left Alex’s face

  “I know you are with him Emmalyn, and I know that Ryan and I are working on our friendship, I love hanging out with you guys but I just need you to know something.”

  I opened my mouth to interrupt him but he just held up his hand to stop me

  “I am always going to love you. Ryan and I are both in love with the same woman that is never going to change. I had a few chances to be with other women the last few months and I couldn’t do it. Every time I tried it was your face that I saw. It was you that I wanted. I am not telling you I am going to be single for the rest of my life because I can’t do that. I need to move on and be happy too. But it will never been true happiness, I can never love anyone in my life the way that I love you. I know I messed up a lot, and I jumped in too hard with you when you were not ready. I prayed to God for weeks that I could go back in time and be the one to meet you first, I know that you would have been happy with me, I would have made you so happy.”

  His voice cracked but he continued

  “I just want you to know, I’m always going to love you and I am always going to be here, and if for some crazy reason Ryan ever fucks it up again. I will be here for you in a heartbeat. I will always be there.”

  “Thank you Alex, that means a lot.” Tears beginning to fall down my face “I love you too. I don’t want you to be unhappy, and I am sorry if this is hard, but Ryan and I have Josslyn, and we made vows, I wish it were easier for you but I do care about you too.”

  He didn’t say anything else because Ryan came back in holding the baby. He handed her to me and he and Alex walked outside to talk about Seth. Alex looked back over at me and Josslyn on the couch and with a smile and slight wave, he walked out the door with Ryan behind him

  Chapter 42

  Six months. That’s all we had. Six months with our daughter together as parents.

  Ryan had quit his job. He didn’t really need to work he had more than we could ever spend in a bank account. He spent every waking moment with Josslyn and I.

  When he wasn’t with us, he was with Alex and the club and working with the 2 undercover FBI agents who were working to help take Seth down. I was filled in a bit more.

  Ryan and his dad had been talking, he was going to bring his dad the money that he wanted in exchange for Seth agreeing to never bother Ryan or our family again. In reality that is all Ryan had wanted all along, but Ryan now had damaging proof on his side.

  Ryan was able to record his dad saying that he got Holly to run me down. He was able to get Seth to say that he had been working with a drug cartel and was behind a number of murders since he had been released from prison.

  Now all the FBI needed was to see an exchange of money and get Seth in an open place because he had been hiding out for some time.

  Two weeks later everything was in place. Warrants were signed and Ryan was kissing Josslyn and I goodbye to head out and nail his dad so that we could spend the rest of our lives together and not worrying about Seth.

  He was supposed to be back at noon.

  One o’clock ticked by

  Three

  Six

  At seven pm Alex was at the front door

  I opened it, I had been worried, but I figured there must have been a snag and Seth didn’t show up when he was supposed to.

  But seeing Alex’s face, I knew something was wrong

  “Emmalyn, you need to sit down I have to tell you something.”

  I did as he said. Grabbing the video baby monitor to look in on Josslyn and saw that she was sound asleep, I had just laid her down for the night

  “Ryan and I reached the park at 10 as agreed with Seth. When we got there Seth was there. He was talking shit to Ryan, but Ryan was doing a really good job at ignoring him. Ryan asked him what the money was for after he handed it to his dad. His dad laughed and said it was to take care of a few people who fucked him over.

  We didn’t think anything of it when a man came out from behind the trees and Seth handed him the money. Then Seth looked at me and said “that’s the bastard whose dad locked me up.”

  Alex paused and looked down

  “And that’s my piece of shit son who let him.”

  He stopped again

  “All of a sudden the guy pulled out a gun and shot Ryan. Before they had a chance to aim at me, the FBI agents rushed out and shot the gunman dead.”

  I... What?

  “He borrowed money for his own son to kill him Emmalyn.”

  I couldn’t breathe. The air was trying to enter my lungs, but it couldn’t. I was gasping. I couldn’t even cry. Nothing was working. I felt Alex grab me and pull me to him. I felt him whisper in my ear but I couldn’t hear him.

  The pain in my chest was worse than anything I had ever felt. Was it the lack of oxygen?

  No, it was my heart. My heart breaking into a million pieces in my chest at the realization that my husband, the father of my child, the love of my life was dead. I was never going to see him again. I was never going to hear one of his jokes again. I was never going to listen to him crank the radio in his Escalade and scream sing along with Kings of Leon with the windows down, driving down the high way. I would never see him hold his daughter again. He would never see her first steps, hear her first words beat up the boys who tried to take her out on her first date.

  Ryan was dead.

  I just got him back, and now he was gone. This time for good.

  Suddenly... Everything went black.

  Damn breathing.

  Epilogue Three Years later

  “Happy birthday Josslyn” the party goers yelled.

  I watched the smiling face of my three year old daughter as she blew out her birthday candles on her larger than necessary giraffe birthday cake.

  Her pre-school friends were surrounding her as she moved in to stick a finger into the cake

  “Baby you need to wait until we serve everyone” I laughed

  She looked at me and smiled, with the same smile I had seen on a familiar face very many times.

  Josslyn was amazing. She was growing as she was supposed to, she had no physical delays and only a slight speech delay with the pronunciation of some of her words. She was perfect. I thanked God every day for her for the last three years.

  I had decided to donate the five million dollars that my dad had left to me, to the early intervention services that helped to deal with children below the age of 5 who dealt with learning and developmental delays. I was lucky enough to be able to afford the services without help, but I had learned during my days at the NICU that a lot of the parents struggled to afford the services. The money went towards improving the services, research and paying for sessions for select families who were without medical insurance to pay for the help for their child. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I never wanted to spend my dad’s death money on myself. I wanted to use it on something that meant something. Something that would help others and I knew that this was it.

  I felt her little hands on my belly before I noticed that she had moved, removing me from my thoughts.

  “Do the babies want some cake momma” she asked

  She giggled as one of the babies kicked at her hand. She loved when they did that

  I was 8 months pregnant with twins. At first it was a shock, I wasn’t sure I wanted more children after everything that happened with Josslyn, but the surprise when it finally happened was welcomed.

  “They do want some cake, do you want to go and have Stella cut me out a piece, and I would love one with a spot on it”

  She smiled and ran to tell Stella what she wanted.

  I was thankful for Stella. She became like a mother to me while I went through the hardest time of my life. She would come over and take care of Josslyn while I sorted everything out. She would cook and clean and answer phone calls. And she would stay late at night to rub my back and tell me that everything was going to be okay.

  When I was
allowed to go to the hospital she stayed with Josslyn

  Ryan didn’t die that day.

  Alex never actually said the words “Ryan is dead” but I had assumed with everything he had told me, that my husband was gone.

  In actuality Ryan was not fatally wounded, but he was shot. Alex didn’t see that in front of Seth he was pronounced dead, but brought to the hospital and kept in a type of witness protection, while the FBI could work on another angle to grab Seth.

  Ryan was hurt, and he was in the hospital for over 2 weeks before I was told anything. Alex didn’t even know, until his father told him and he shared the news with me. I wasn’t allowed to see him until Seth was behind bars. Instead I was forced to plan a fake funeral so that his father’s little minions would see what was happening.

  It was revealed earlier that Seth only had 5 men willing to work for him. After news of the FBI tailing him again 3 of them cut ties and walked away. The other two were brought in on attempted murder for what happened with Ryan and Alex.

  When I was finally able to see Ryan, it was very emotional for both of us. There was lots of tears, lots of hugs and kisses and “I am so sorry” from Ryan.

  He tried to call. Of course there wasn’t much he could get past the guards he had. He wasn’t in trouble but it was all about our safety so after a while he realized that he just had to wait it out.

  A week after Seth was arrested, the hospital released Ryan and he came home to Josslyn and I. He couldn’t hold her because of where he had been shot, but he sure tired. He mostly leaned in on the couch when I had her, and would nuzzle his lips against her little head. She was almost 8 months old now, and learning to crawl and she was sitting up. But she loved to lay on the couch in her dads lap while they watched cartoons. The nearly 2 months away made their bond that much stronger.

  The trial for Seth was quick. He had no one willing to speak on his behalf, so he ended up pleading guilty to a number of charges. He was put in a high security prison for 65 years. He was already 50 so he would never see the light of day again.

  After that our lives got back to normal. Ryan and I would argue over letting Josslyn stay up late, over where she would go to college, over having more babies. It was never anything serious. I think we both had enough drama for one life time.

  Alex was still coming around. Ryan and I agreed to make him Joss’s Godfather. He still hadn’t met a girl, and I wasn’t really shocked, I think he was destined to be a bachelor for the rest of his life and the idea certainly didn’t bother him.

  Lacy and Jason finally got married. After being together for years Jason finally told Lacy that if she didn’t marry him he wasn’t going to clean the pool again. She loved swimming too much to not agree. Not that it was a hard bargain. However, his methods for making her cave have become one of our favorite ways to tease her.

  When I found out I was pregnant, Lacy freaked out, she was so excited. When we found out that we were having both a boy and a girl, she freaked out even more. I was so happy to finally have my sister back. I never lost her, but we didn’t really get to spend a lot of time together for that first year that Josslyn before Josslyn was born and before she came home. I needed her. She was my best friend.

  Katie Williams was a washed out star now. She did a little jail time for what she did to Ryan, and when she came out no one wanted anything to do with her.

  Ryan decided to try his hand at producing. He was amazing at what he did. He didn’t have to work as much as he was when he was in front of the camera and I think he was even happier than he had been when he was acting. This time he had nothing to prove to anyone. No evil father who thought he was nothing, just a wife and daughter who loved him no matter what he chose to do.

  Ryan came over and wrapped his arms around my waist, leaning in and laying kissing on my neck, “You are the sexiest pregnant woman alive, have I told you that?”

  “Yes, but it’s always nice to hear it.” I replied leaning back against him

  “I cannot wait to get all these people out of here and take you up to bed I have wanted you all day long.”

  I laughed. “Ryan we had sex 2 hours ago before all her friends got her.”

  “Yeah.” He exclaimed, but that was 2 whole hours ago. I have needs woman.”

  I laughed. Looking out at our daughter who was playing with the new race car that her dad got her

  “Ryan.” I said

  “Yeah?” he replied looking at Josslyn playing

  “I think we need to go.” I whispered

  “I was kidding babe.” He leaned in kissing me again “I can wait another hour, but that’s the most I can promise you.”

  “No Ryan, seriously. My water just broke.”

  He looked down at me, fear in his eyes and then a devilish smirk took over his face “Yes”! “Let’s go have some babies”

  Ryan told Lacy and Jason it was time, they were going to stay behind and help Stella with the party. Stella was going to keep Josslyn while we were in the hospital so that she could sleep in her own bed and come and visit during the day

  Ryan was holding my hand as he helped me into the car, throwing my hospital bag into the back seat. The smile never leaving his face

  When we got into the car, he turned down the music “Do you think Joss will care if her brother and sister are born on her birthday?” he asked

  “I don’t think so, but I have a feeling that she might not really have a choice.” A contraction hitting me.

  “Shit I am kind of glad I didn’t have to feel all of this the first time, it fucking hurts” I gripped his hand hard

  “It’s okay baby, we are almost there just hold on.”

  We arrived at the hospital around 6pm. In the delivery room we waited around. The contractions were every 4 minutes, and I was dilating but the babies were not coming as fast as it felt like they were going to.

  Finally at 11:59 pm baby one made her way into the world wanting to share a birthday with her big sister. Her little brother was born 4 minutes later clearly not happy about leaving his warm home of the last 8 months.

  We named our 2nd daughter Sophia Grace and our little boy was named Maxon Alexander after his uncle.

  Josslyn loved the babies. Once we got home she would help to get diapers and put their laundry in the baskets. After a few weeks she seemed to get bored with them which Ryan and I kind of expected.

  We were happy. We had a beautiful and perfect little family. We were safe. Our babies were happy and healthy all 3 of them.

  Life was exactly as it should be.

  And we truly lived happily ever after. Just like in so many of my favorite books.

  The End.

  Authors Note

  Thank you so much for reading my first story.

  I am a huge fanatic of reading. It’s pretty much all I do in my free time. I know that this book was flawed, I know that it lacked in some areas. However it is my very first book. One that I have done all on my own.

  As a reader, I have read some pretty epic books. I always knew that I wanted to try my hand in writing. It might not be for everyone, but I know that I had to try.

  I really appreciate you taking the time to read this.

  I plan on writing more, so please leave me honest reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. I look forward to reading them all!

  Big thanks to K.N for reading it first and pointing out all the crazy mistakes and then crying and raving while you did.