Read Everyone Deserves a Second Chance Online
Authors: Alyssa Shannon
"I told you he was a
winner." Marcus said with a grin as she came around to jump
again. Marcus leaned his elbow up against the fence and watched
as she took the jump again and again.
"One more time."
She said as she saw Marcus starting to get bored. She headed the
horse for the jump.
Marcus nodded and
shifted. The fence board under his elbow gave a crack and fell
from the rail. Marcus saw it all happen as if in slow motion. The
horse spooked in mid air. It twisted and fell on the jump, tried
to get up and spooked again at its own fall and the impact its
legs made against the jump poles and standard. All he could hear
was Lindsey's screams as the horse thrashed on top of her.
Marcus didn't even
remember leaving his place along the rail, only that he was
grabbing the horse's reins and pulling it off of Lindsey with
strength he never knew he had.
"Lindsey!" He
shouldered the horse away from the destroyed jump and knelt as
Lindsey continued to scream in terror.
"Lindsey! Lindsey
are you all right?" There was blood everywhere, all over her
pants and shirt.
"Oh god Marcus! Help
me!"
"Are you okay? Where
are you bleeding?"
Lindsey's screams broke
into sobs. "The baby Marcus! I'm loosing the baby!"
It took an eternity for
the ambulance to arrive. The doctors said later that it was too
late from the moment the horse fell spooked and fell on top of
her.
She was in the hospital
all that week and several weeks after. She broke three ribs and
her thighbone, but in the end it was the baby that saved her
life.
"If you hadn't been
pregnant you would have died." The doctor told her as he
came to sign her release forms for her to go home that rainy fall
day. Marcus squeezed her hand where he sat beside her hospital
bed. She'd been eerily quiet since the baby's death and only
talked when directly spoken to. She wouldn't even look at the
doctor; instead she had her head turned away from both of them.
"Will she be able to
have children again?" Marcus asked and his voice cracked
against his will. He swallowed to try and get rid of the thick
feeling caught in the back of his throat.
"You're both young
and strong. You shouldn't have any problem having more children.
Although I suggest you wait a year or two before you consider
trying again."
"We weren't trying
the first time." Marcus said with a sigh. "It just
happened." He felt young, far too young to have his own
house and a fiancé who'd lost their first child together.
"Yes well I suggest you make a concerted effort that it
doesn't happen again until she's fully healed." The doctor
signed the release form and handed it to Marcus.
"You take good care
of her, you hear?" The doctor ordered.
"Yeah, yeah I will."
Marcus said.
The entire ride home she
cried looking out her window. Marcus let her cry; it was the
first time she'd cried since they'd told her she'd lost the baby.
Even when Connie and Rick her mother, and their other friends
came to visit she hadn't shed a tear. Now she cried for all
they'd lost and he let her cry.
When they pulled up to
the house she sat in the car, not ready to get out.
"Come on Lindsey,
I'll make you something to eat." Marcus hopped out of the
car and came around to help her out.
"I'm not hungry."
She told him as he helped her out. She wouldn't even look at him.
"You have to eat
somethi—"
"What is he still
doing here?" Her voice shook as she spotted the gray gelding
grazing in the paddock across from the barn.
"He's your horse
Lindsey."
"Get rid of him."
"Wait a minute. Get
rid of him? Are you serious?" Marcus caught hold of her arm
as she tried to move away from him.
"Didn't you hear me?
Get rid of him!" She spun and walked purposefully towards
the house.
"Who in the hell in
cattle country is going to buy a fifteen thousand dollar show
jumping horse Lindsey?" Marcus screamed after her. The front
door slammed in response. He was wasting his breath for his words
were falling on deaf ears.
"Lindsey!" He
called as he walked into the house. She stood slowly from the
couch and headed for the stairs.
"Don't you dare walk
away from me Lindsey!" He followed her as she got to the
second floor and then started for the third.
"You have to snap
out of this. The baby is gone Lindsey. Getting rid of the horse
isn't going to bring our daughter back." Marcus caught the
bedroom door as she tried to slam it in his face.
"It's all your fault!" She screamed at him. "It's
all your fault you bastard!" She tried to hit at him but he
caught her arm and held it still.
"That's not fair. It
was no one's fault. If you want to blame it on anyone blame it on
the God dammed horse!" Marcus felt a splinter in his heart
at her words. She blamed him for the accident.
"Get away from me. I
don't want to look at you!" She screamed jerking her arm out
of his hold and turning her back on him.
"We're not getting
rid of the horse Lindsey. You're going to get better and you're
going to ride that damn animal! Do you hear me?"
Lindsey's sobs filled the
air. "I didn't love her enough Marcus. I didn't love her
enough. I'm never going near that animal ever again! I'd kill him
myself before I ever touched him again!"
Marcus swore and caught
her in his arms as she cried. "I know you loved her Lindsey.
Nothing you ever say will make me think any different. We'll have
other children. We'll get a second chance. I swear to you we
will." Marcus kissed her and she responded to his body. As
they made love their tears mixed for the loss of their child.
Lindsey woke early the
next morning. Her heart ached for the absence of life that she'd
felt in her stomach since that sunny afternoon on her birthday.
She looked at Marcus sleeping so peacefully beside her and her
heart ached all over again.
In her mind she knew that
it was her fault. That it had always been her fault. She hadn't
wanted this child like he had. She had only turned twenty and she
was soon to be a mother and that scared her. It scared her like
nothing ever had before. In her mind she knew she'd killed her
own child. She hadn't wanted it. She hadn't wanted it when she
got on Mercury's back and the guilt she felt now that she'd lost
it was worse then not wanting it.
But Marcus, Marcus had
wanted this child. Marcus had wanted it as much as she didn't.
Now it was gone. Lindsey turned away from him. She closed her
eyes tight as the tears threatened to come. She could never live
with herself knowing she'd killed their child, that she'd allowed
herself to fall off the horse when he'd spooked. Slowly she got
up and quietly got dressed. Her tears spilled down her cheeks as
she placed her engagement ring on his dresser where he would see
it.
When the cab arrived she got in and told herself she'd never come
back. She could only imagine Marcus's reaction when he woke up
and she was gone. Her heart broke at the look she knew would
cross his face when he found her clothes and suitcase missing and
her ring sitting on his dresser. She loved him enough to leave
him for a better woman. A woman who would come along and pick up
the pieces she'd never be able to mend—a woman who could
give him a child.
"Mommy?" Garrett shook Lindsey by the shoulder. She
winced and then slowly opened her eyes.
"Garrett? What's
wrong honey?"
"I thought I heard
daddy." He sat in her lap shaking.
Lindsey wrapped her arms
around the little boy and held him close. "It's okay
Garrett, daddy isn't here." She paused. He wouldn't think to
look here would he? Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she
set Garrett aside and quickly got up.
"Stay here baby,
okay? I'm gonna go talk to Marcus." She ruffled his hair and
kissed his forehead. "When I get back I'll make you
breakfast. What do you think about that?"
Garrett nodded and curled
up under her blankets where he started to doze off.
Lindsey padded down the
stairs and into the kitchen. Marcus stood in front of the coffee
pot, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out the window. He
already had his gloves on and sweat plastered the back of his
shirt. Working always helped him think things through.
Lindsey stopped a few
feet away from him and surprised he hadn't heard her come down.
He only did that when he was lost in thought.
"Marcus, I wanted to
tell you—"
Marcus turned, only it
wasn't Marcus. Lindsey took a step backwards and bumped into the
kitchen table.
"Hello honey."
Kurt raised his coffee cup to her. "Like my hat? I rather
like it myself." He pulled at Marcus's cowboy hat with one
hand. "I thought I might as well look the part when I came
back to take you home."
"What are you doing
here Kurt?" Lindsey asked, her voice shaking. Her face was
still a mass of colored bruises and she ached all over from his
assault the day before. There was no way in hell she was going
back to him.
"You have the nerve
to ask me that? After you left me, again. People at work are
starting to wonder about your sanity darling. I may take their
suggestions and admit you to a loony hospital. Then I'd be able
to raise Garrett like a real man."
"You're never going
to lay a hand on my son again." Lindsey hissed, stepping
back behind the kitchen table when he came forwards. That's when
she saw the gun and her eyes went wide in fear.
"We'll see about
that." He tapped the gun to his temple. "You see, I
brought along insurance this time." He smiled and his black
eyes twinkled. "You'll do what I tell you to from now on
our. You wouldn't want that little bastard kid of yours to have
an unfortunate accident one day now would you? You know how kids
and guns are… they get curious; accidentally shoot
themselves in the head when they're looking down the gun barrel."
Kurt grinned and took another step towards her as she took a step
back.
"Kurt, Garrett is
your son." Lindsey said as her whole body shook with fear.
"You never were good
at lying Lindsey." Kurt lunged for her.
Lindsey screamed and
raced for the stairs. She took them two at a time as she heard
Kurt laughing down the steps behind her.
"Lindsey!" he
called up after her. "I've already scoped this house out
from top to bottom. I know the only way out is the first floor.
You see, these country bumpkins don't even lock their doors when
they leave the house. Its really convenient." His footsteps
sounded as he came up the stairs behind her. They came faster and
faster as she raced for the third floor.
Lindsey ran straight to
the window seat. She pulled up the bottom of the seat, took the
shotgun from its place and cocked it with a cuck-chick. When he
pushed open the bedroom door he laughed at her and the shotgun
barrel aimed level at his chest.
"Now, now honey.
That won't do you any good. It's not loaded. Marcus himself said
he never keeps those babies loaded. Besides, last time he used
that I was in his closet and he took the shells out after he
nearly killed his cat." He shook his gun at her.
"Stay away from me
you bastard!" Lindsey cried as he took another step closer.
"I swear to God I'll shoot you!"
"You didn't hear
anything I said did you? Maybe I can knock some sense into you,"
his eyes flashed with anger and he lunged for her.
The blast of the shotgun
rattled her teeth and knocked her backwards. She sat down hard on
the window seat and the windowpanes rattled behind her. Kurt's
eyes went wide and his gun fell to the floor. Kurt looked down at
the bloody stain spreading across the front of his gray t-shirt
in horror.
"You killed me you
bitch!" He screamed and blood flew from his mouth as he
lunged for her.
Lindsey screamed as he caught her throat and bashed her head into
the window. Her vision went dark as he hit her head again and
again and cut off the air to her lungs as he strangled her.
"You fucking bitch!
I'll kill you!" His screams sounded faint to her ears as her
vision swam black and she clawed at the hands around her neck in
effort to breathe.
And then she was pulling
in air, gulping gasping breaths of air as his hands fell from her
neck and her lungs struggled to replenish her oxygen supply
before she completely fainted.
"Lousy son of a
bitch." Marcus grumbled, letting the handgun fall back to
the floor. "Good thing he's got awful aim." His eyes
met Lindsey's and glazed in pain.
"Took my goddamn hat
also. What a creep." Marcus pulled the hat from his corpse
and put it back on his head with a groan. His one hand was red
where he had it pressed to his side.
"You okay?" He
asked Lindsey who sat still dazed and trying to recover her
breath.
She nodded.
"He even looks like
me. No wonder everyone thinks Garrett is mine." Marcus
winced as he came over beside Lindsey and took a seat.
Lindsey's breath caught
in her throat. She couldn't tell him even if she wanted to,
unless... Instead she painfully cleared her throat and said, "I
guess we should call for an ambulance."
Marcus nodded. "As
long as they get here before I bleed to death, sounds good to
me."
"Momma?"
Garrett voice shook with worry.
"I'm coming
Garrett." Lindsey stood and hurried downstairs to their son.
"We
should get married some day." Garrett said to Lauren as they
sat on the pew together kicking their legs back and forth.
"Eww! No, that's
gross!" Lauren hit him on the shoulder and he rubbed at the
spot until it stopped stinging. "We're gonna be like cousin's
now. We can't get married." Lauren said matter of factly.