Bless the Broken Road that Lead Me Straight to You

Chapter 23

Erin drifted into consciousness early the following morning, before the sun even had a chance to rise. Before she even opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that she had a splitting headache. She also discomfort in her ribs, but the soreness there was nothing when compared to the sharp pains searing through her skull. It was unbearable.

She knew right away where the headache was from. It wasn't from the trauma, it wasn't related to her bruised eyes, and it had nothing to do with the large scabs beginning to form on her jaw.

It was the Percocet. She had taken six Percocet yesterday, and she hadn't had one in the several hours she had been asleep. She was already withdrawing and her body was already craving more.

But then, when she opened her eyes and allowed them to adjust to the darkness of the room, she noticed a second thing. She noticed where she was, and who she was with.

She was lying on her back, the position she had been directed by Will to sleep in. Maddie was sleeping soundly, her body curled up against her body, her head lying in the curve between her neck and her shoulder. Her hair was splayed over her face, blocking it from view. Her little arms were wrapped tightly around Erin's right arm, a compromise after Jay had explained that she needed to be careful with Erin's ribs.

Erin looked down at Maddie's hands, at the pink glittery nail polish Erin had painted on a few days before. Her hands were so small, gentle, and loving, and even spread out wide, they barely covered the handprint marks left on her arm by Mr. Knight. Instead, they stood in stark contrast to the bruises that lined her skin.

One the other side of Maddie, was a lightly snoring Grace.

And on the other side of Grace was a sleeping, smiling Jay.

Jay, with no physical injuries, was laying on his side. His long, muscular arms that Erin loved so much were draped over Grace and Maddie, and were resting lightly on Erin's hip. His arms - the ones that completely turned Erin on, the ones carried his daughters from the car - now they served a new purpose. They encompassed them, connecting the four of them, all together, as a family.

Erin inhaled deeply, allowing the scent of Maddie's strawberry shampoo to combine with the smell of Jay that was always present and wafted from these sheets. I am stronger than my pain. It would be her new mantra.

Because nothing was going to get in the way of this. Not a few rib fractures, not a few bruises, not a few pills. Nothing.

She closed her eyes again, and in an effort to try to stave off the headache, she allowed her thoughts the drift back to last night.

She had been completely shocked by Grace's words.

Grace had been talking to Jay. "So wait, if you're going to be my Daddy, and Maddie is going to be my sister," She had paused here, and Erin had sucked in her breath, not allowing herself to believe where she was going with it until she actually said the words. "Then does Erin get to be my mommy?"

She hadn't been able to move. Or breath, for that matter. She just looked at Jay. He had been looking at Grace, but after she asked the question, he looked up at her.

His reaction had been to try to gauge her reaction. Which was unhelpful, because she had been looking at him to search his reaction. She needed him to give her some sort of hint as to what she should say. What she could say.

Because what she wanted to say was Fuck yes, that is exactly what that means. But then, that wasn't a reasonable answer. Aside from the fact that fuck yes wasn't exactly an appropriate response to a four year old, she also couldn't actually agree to be Grace's mother without the permission of Grace's father.