River Lane

chapter 37

Chapter 37

Beep beep beep beep….

            The sound of my alarm clock was enough to drive me insane, I must have drank more last night than I remember. Reaching my arm out to hit the snooze button, I was confused at the tug on my arm and the sharp pains that shot throughout my body. Struggling to open my eyes, I noticed the scratchy hospital gown and the tubes all over me. I sucked in a deep breath, feeling the first signs of panic, before a felt a pair of warm hands encircle mine.

            “Hey, hey its alright, you’re ok”. I glanced up quickly  and instantly relaxed a little when I realized it was Garrett sitting next to me. The red imprints on his face told me he had been sleeping in the chair, with his face on the bed next to me. I instantly felt guilty.

            “Why am I here, what happened”? His eyes looked sorrowful.

            “You left the bar with Pace—“ he hesitated. All the sudden the night came back to me in a flash: The dancing, Pace throwing me in the truck, telling me he loved me the hectic driving. I sucked in deep breath beginning to hyperventilate.

            “Oh my gosh, what happened, how long have I been here, where is Pace?” Garrett instantly wrapped me up in his arms. The smell and security of his arms securely around me, calmed me down a little, but it wasn’t enough to make me relent on the questions. “What happened Garrett? I need to know.” He nodded his head in assent.

            “When you went outside with Pace, Brady and I panicked. We jumped in the truck and went after you. Pace was driving all over the road, going crazy fast. We almost lost you. Then we seen the truck fly off the road and roll down the hill,” his voice choked up. His hand fumbled a little as his thumb stroked the back of mine. “ We jumped out of the truck and ran down to you. Brady managed to pull you out of the truck but-“. I understood the hesitation, but I hoped I was wrong.

            “But you didn’t get to Pace.”

            “I tried Nayvee I promise I tried. The truck slid down of the rocks and into the canyon. We couldn’t get to him.”

            “But he’s ok right? Tell me that he’s hurt but he’s ok!” Garrett looked at me with pleading eyes.

            “He didn’t make it Nayvee. The doctors say that he was gone before we even got you out of the truck”. I had killed him. I was going to be sick. Pulling the tubes from my face and ripping the IV out of my arm, I stumbled out of bed into the tiny bathroom. A few minutes later Garrett came in, soaked a rag in the sink to wipe my tears and my mouth and wrapped me into his lap to cry out my sorrows.

            A few days later I was released from the hospital. I was covered in scrapes and bruises but nothing was broken. My head had hit the window so hard they were afraid of the effects that it could have on my brain. Apparently my head was harder than they expected. Pace’s funeral had been held while I was still in the hospital. As guilty as I was feeling, I was glad I didn’t need to find an excuse not to go. The police had taken my statement and Pace’s family had visited me in the hospital. They hadn’t realized how far Pace’s obsession had gone until they went through his things. He had been following me before I had even known who he was. Pictures of me, property outlines, descriptions and pictures of people I spent time with were pinned on walls, plans of the future and figmentations of our time together had been written in a journal, and his entire plan for kidnapping mapped out on paper. His parents spent their time apologizing to me for what Pace had put me through, and all I could do was apologize for killing him. I had never meant for it to happen, but I couldn’t deny the relief I felt at knowing he couldn’t do it anymore.

            I returned to the ranch and everything had returned (mostly) to normal. Everyone knew the best thing for me was to pretend nothing happened and go back to living. The ranch couldn’t run itself. Garrett and I had started going riding again. He believed it was too soon and I was going to make myself hurt more, but he had the ultimatum of going with me or staying at the house while I went alone. He sucked it up and came with me. We were sitting on the edge of the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It had became our spot together ever since the first time he had stumbled upon it.

            “It’s kind of nice getting things back to normal now. Not having to worry about something starting on fire or breaking down or worse,” I said, trying to start conversation.

            “It does make it a little easier to sleep at night.” He chuckled.

            “You don’t have to pretend you want to marry me anymore either, I’d hate to take away from your wild rodeo dreams” I continued with a wink. His expression got very serious and he turned to face me. Putting his hand softly against my cheek, his fingers trailed along my jaw and into my hair, pulling my lips to his softly, pulling back just enough to whisper, “I wasn’t pretending”, before kissing me harder. I pulled back.

            “What do you mean you weren’t pretending?” I was flustered. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small ring with a solitaire diamond on it.

            “I wasn’t pretending. I was very serious. You are worth everything in the world to me.” I stared at him speechless, tears pooling in my eyes. “It doesn’t have to be today, or tomorrow or even next year, but I hope you know how much I love you, and that you love me enough in return that you’ll agree to be with me forever.” Lifting my hand he slipped the small band around my finger before kissing it, looking up at me through his lashes with pleading eyes.

            “There’s no one in this world I would rather be with.”

Ok everyone this is the end of our little story :) There won't be another part to it as i lost my ambition halfway through this one and had a hard time finishing it. Thank you for taking the time ro read it and especially those of you who voted. you are seriously the only reason i ever made it all the way through!