Ok so i came up with this a couple of days ago but was too scared to post it haha cause it is sort of a different take. but i would love it if you would let me know what you think :)
My phone rang over and over again but I could barely hear it over my cries. I hurt so much emotionally that I had begun to writhe in physical pain. Finally I reached for my phone. Glaring at the name on the caller i.d. I answered. He had called 15 times already so it was obvious that he was hell-bent on getting a hold of me.
"What do you want?" I snapped.
"Are you ok?"
"What the hell do you think? I just had to tell my daughter- my daughter that I didn't want her! I had to lie to her face, break her heart, all because of a stupid contract!"
"Shelby," he paused, "I'm coming over."
"Oh so now you've started inviting yourself over places?" I asked incredulously.
"You need someone right now. Someone to cry to. Someone to hold you. I know you wont call anyone so I'm coming over." His voice was calm.
"I don't want you to hold me," I snapped but that was a lie. I wanted nothing more than for him to hold me and let me cry into his chest and play with my hair the way he always used to.
"Then I won't, but I'm still coming over. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"Whatever." He was going to come and get in no matter what I wanted, so I knew it would be futile to say no.
True to his word he was there fifteen minutes later. The doorbell rang but I knew it was only common courtesy and he was going to use the key that I behind the loose board above the door. I couldn't get up even if I wanted to. I was curled up in bed crying my eyes out. I felt ridiculous but I had seriously just lost my last reason for living. Slowly he made his way to my bedroom and over to my bed, he reached out to touch me and I flew backwards.
"Shell," he sighed.
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT! DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME THAT! This is all your fault!" I was even worse now and began throwing the pillows at him. He had added to my heartbreak by showing up. Just by the sight of his face. I felt like I was going to fall apart at the seams. Then I lunged for him and punched his chest over and over again as he tried to envelope me in his arms. "No! No! I don't want you to hold me! I don't want you to touch me! How could you do this to me? If you ever loved me-"my resolve immediately fell as he finally succeeded in wrapping his arms around me. The warmth of his arms, the safety, was still there no matter how mad I was at him. "If you ever loved me, how could you do this to me? How could you break me like this?" I cried into his chest. Suddenly the rage was back and I pushed hard against him but he wasn't going to budge.
"Shhhhh….. Shell, It's ok… It's ok." He whispered in my ear as he stroked his hand over my hair and onto my back. I cursed my body as a shiver ran down my spine at his breath on my ear. How could my body do this? If I was so angry at him, if I hated him, why was I still responding to his touch? Why was I still slightly aroused, even through all of the pain both physical and emotional? But I guess part of that is a lie. I don't hate him. I hate what he did. What they did. I still love him though, and that made me angrier! How could he do this to me? I loved him for pete's sake! That's the real reason why I haven't dated in more than three years is because no one I ever dated would, or could for that matter, ever touch what he had meant to me. Hell, if I still loved him after all that he put me through….. Ugh!
"Don't call me that!" I shouted as I managed to push away from him and move across the room looking very much like a frightened, cornered animal. "Don't call me that," this time it was barely a whisper.
"Why not?" graciously he had respected my space and stayed where he was.
"Really? Like you don't know," I spat and glared at him. He genuinely did look confused though. "That's what you called me when we we- when you loved me. Or, at least, when you said that you did." I looked down at my feet. The tears had slowed to a trickle but were still constant. In three large strides he had me against the wall, my face tilted upward to look at him. He cupped my face in his hands, softly running his thumbs across my cheeks collecting the tears there. There were tears in his eyes and I knew it. He was going to lie to me.
"I did. I did love you. I still do," he whispered.
"NO!" I pushed away yet again and stood in the middle of the room so he couldn't corner me again. "You aren't going to ruin this for me!"
"WHAT?" he was frustrated now, and I was slightly relieved that we were arguing. It was better, at least for my composure, to fight with him rather than him trying to hold me. "Just exactly what will I ruin? Your bad mood?"
"What's left of me! The one thing that has held me together the one thing that has kept Shelby Corcoran's supposed unbreakable heart from shattering! The lie that I finally mad myself believe! The lie that makes it hurt less!"
"And what's that?" he spat.
"That you never loved me." his face fell. "That you were only trying to comfort me in my time of need. Or that you had only convinced yourself that you loved me because I was carrying your child! I mean what man doesn't love the woman carrying his child? Does he even know, Hiram? Does Leroy know that she is really yours? Half-love child?"
"What is that supposed to mean 'half-love child'?"
"That is supposed to mean that I really did love you whether you did or not. I really fell in love with you. I still love you." I turned my face to the ground. "And you know what? That frustrates the hell out of me! First, you took Rachel away from me, I didn't even get to touch her! I didn't get to rock her, or even nurse her, once! Not even once! I was hurting so bad, and you had left me and you had taken her with you. I begged you to please let me hold her. But you didn't."
"I was trying to do what was best for you." I scoffed. "I didn't want you to get too attached."
"Oh and growing her inside my body for nine months didn't 'get me too attached'?"
"Leroy was going to drag you through every court until he got his way. I couldn't put you though that."
"Leroy? Leroy was going to put me through that? What about you, huh? You would have been right by his side!"
"I begged him, begged him, Shell, to burn the contract. To let you see her. To let you be her mother, we could all three raise her."
"Somehow I can't believe that. He always gave you anything you wanted."
"No, he didn't. He isn't this great man, Shell."
"Never said I thought he was."
"And then I begged him not to make you stop talking to her now. But he just b- he just said no. he wouldn't budge. Do you think that I would be here right now if I didn't care about you?"
I had nothing to say to that and he closed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms. I don't know if it was his tone of voice, his eyes, or my incredible trust in this man, but I believed him.
"C-can you stay the night so we can talk tomorrow? I have a pounding headache, I'm afraid I'll say something rude and make all of this worse." I whispered into his chest.
He chuckled slightly, "You always were a little snippy when you had a headache." I punched his gut but didn't move out of his arms. "Ouch! But yes, I'll stay."
"Thank you." I pulled away to look him in the eye. Then give him a once over. "Dang! Fifteen years has done nothing to you. Still as sexy as ever!" I joked but he grew serious and I was afraid I had overstepped the line. But at the way his eyes hungrily roamed my body, I knew that I hadn't.
"You too," he growled. "You know, I really did love you," he cradled my cheek and I failed at trying not to lean into it. "I still love you." I scoffed, and he pulled me closer. "No really, I think about you every night. How I used to hold you when you would have nightmares. How you smiled at me whenever I would tap your foot under the tables at meals. How we would make love when Leroy wasn't home. That week when he was gone and you barely let me out of bed for two days because your pregnancy hormones were going crazy. How cute you looked snuggled up to me. How gorgeous your voice was as you sang in the shower. The time when you were seven months pregnant and-"
"Huge," I deadpanned. He chuckled.
"No. The time when you were seven months pregnant and we took a shower together, and you let me bathe you because you couldn't really do it yourself. I remember how self-conscious you were."
I smiled through the new wave of tears that arose at the memories. "You kissed every inch of me, just to make me feel beautiful. Then you told me that I wasn't fat and that-"
"You had never been more beautiful because you were carrying our child."
"I assumed you meant yours and Leroy's and got hurt."
"You didn't show it."
"I didn't want to ruin what little time we had left."
"You know I meant ours as in you and me." I choked on a sob but quickly got it back down. "I was going to leave him you know? I was going to run away with you and Rachel."
"Why didn't you? Why didn't you ask me?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Of what?"
"Leroy. He would hurt me, Shell."
I gasped, "Does he do it now?"
"Not as often."
"Rachel?"
"No, no he wouldn't ever lay a hand on her, unless I told. He knows she's the only way he can get to me."
"My baby," I cried jumping up and grabbing some shoes.
"Where are you going?" he asked grabbing my arm.
"To get our baby, Hiram! Does he know you're here?"
"No I don't think so."
"I wouldn't underestimate him. He knew about us. He threatened to kill me if I kept seeing you. And I believed him."
"That's why-"
"Yes. He made it clear that you loved him and that I was never going to change that. He told me you were just being nice. That's why I wouldn't let you touch me that last month I was getting myself ready for the let down."
"And you believed him?"
"I was twenty! It wasn't as if I had ever done that before! Now, we have to go get Rachel. He probably doesn't know, but just in case."
"Ok but I have to do something first."
"What?" I whined getting inpatient. He stepped toward me and ran a hand around my neck pulling me in to a kiss. It was sweet at first but then escalated as he ran his tongue over my lips. I parted them eagerly and we couldn't get close enough to each other. The passion reignited within our bodies. Rachel. I pushed away slightly. "Rescue our daughter now. Make up sex later." I giggled as he brushed his lips against mine again, but suddenly fear gripped me. "Are you going to be here for later? Or are you going ba-" he cut me off with a kiss.
"You, Rachel, and I will make a great family."
"Won't that be weird? For her I mean."
"Maybe, but if we explain the circumstances," at my distressed look his lips grazed mine again, "We'll make this work. Now let's go get our baby." I nodded and we rushed to his house, in his car.
When we got there we heard a crash and the unmistakable scream of our daughter, followed by, "Dad! Why are you doing this? Ahhhhhhhhh!" another crash. We couldn't get the door open, a glance inside said he had barricaded it. "Daddy! Daddy, help me!"
"Your father is out, Rachel," he spat. "You want to know with who?" she whimpered and we busted through the window.
"Get your damn hands off my daughter!" I screamed lunging at him but Hiram got to him first. Tackling him to the ground, and causing him to drop Rachel. I quickly averted my path to her. I crouched down beside her and scooped her into my arms, rocking her back and forth. I dialed 9-1-1 and waited for someone to answer. I gave them the emergency and the address and hung up quickly picking her up and carrying her to the back corner of the room, pulling the recliner to block us from the men currently taking part in a rather bloody fight. She curled tighter into my chest.
"Mommy," she whimpered and I held her closer but not tighter, as I didn't know what that man had done to her. I prayed silently that Hiram would be ok and thanked God when I heard the sirens nearing the house. One last punch was thrown and you could hear the impact of fist with body and then body with ground. Crap, I thought because now they wouldn't be focused on the fight and there was no way to tell who had remained conscious. I shifted as best as I could putting her in between me and the wall but the girl held tight to my shirt so I turned and curled my body over hers. Gladly willing to take any beatings Leroy had for her, myself. He was not going to hurt my child.
The recliner moved and I braced myself for a fist but instead two very strong and very warm arms pulled me into their owner's lap. I broke down again as I laid my head on his shoulder, Rachel was still curled into me but snuggled under my chin so that she was snuggled into him too. He dropped kisses on to each of our heads whispering, "Thank God you're both ok," and "I love you"s over and over again until the police burst through the window.
"Police!" they shouted and Hiram pointed at the body lying behind the couch. The police quickly hand-cuffed him just in case he regained consciousness, and un-barricaded the door. The police took our statements and told us they would keep in touch. When they had left we were all still huddled together in the same way. I dropped a kiss to my daughter's head before leaning my head back to look up at the only man I had ever wanted to hold us. He kissed her head too before leaning over and kissing my lips softly.
"W-what are we going to do now?" Rachel asked meekly as she stared at the destroyed house around her.
"You guys are going to go pack a bag and are going to come sleep at my house." She looked up at me tears glistening in her eyes. "Oh baby, don't cry." I whispered wiping them away. "If you really want to stay here, I'm sure your daddy won't mind. I know you're probably still mad at me so I'll leave if you want, but I want you to know that I love you, more than you will ever know." I kissed her forehead, happy that she didn't pull away. When I went to move her, though, she threw her arms around my neck and gave me a bone crushing hug.
"I love you too, mommy," she whispered into my ear. My tear filled eyes met with Hiram's and he gently pecked my lips before enveloping the both of us into a huge hug.
"Well, I love the both of you, and I think it would be best if we slept at Shelby's house, honey." She pulled away and looked at us confusedly.
"I want to go to her house. I was just so happy that she offered." She quickly extricated herself from us and flew up the stairs to her room. "I'll be right back!" Hiram and I hauled ourselves to our feet and he wrapped his arms around me, kissing my lips, then my cheeks, then my forehead, and then my nose, before returning to my lips. He ran his tongue along the seam of my lips and I pulled away.
"Not so fast, slick," I chuckled, "go get packed." As he walked up the stairs I went to the kitchen to pack some of Rachel's vegan food.
Soon we were pulling into the driveway of my house. Rachel was out like a light in the backseat and Hiram carried her to the guest bedroom. We both tucked her in and kissed her forehead. He wrapped his arms around me from behind as we watched our not-so-little-girl sleep. "We make beautiful children," he whispered into my ear and I nodded.
"Mommy? Daddy?" Rachel mumbled from her bed and I crouched down to her level.
"Yes, sweetheart?" I asked brushing the hair out of her face, kissing her forehead.
"Can you guys sleep with me?" I looked back at Hiram and he shrugged.
"Yes. But your daddy is going to have to move you to my bed ok?"
He moved to the bed and picked her up, carrying her to my king-sized bed. I pulled down the covers and he laid her down. We changed into our pajamas, separately so as not to jump each other. I was back first and crawled into the bed behind her wrapping my arm around her stomach and kissing the back of her head. My heart screamed for joy as she shifted in her sleep and laced our fingers. I felt the bed shift again and Hiram wrapped his arm around us both hand resting on top of mine and hers. He kissed my neck before whispering in my ear, "It's only taken us fifteen years, but we finally have a family."
What did you think? let me know!
Lizzy
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