Protect Me: Oakville Series:Book Three (25 page)

My heart is beating a mile a minute. The excitement is building inside to the point I may explode. I just want to see her. Suddenly, I hear this loud fast-paced whooshing sound. My breath catches in my throat and tears form in my eyes. Looking over at the doctor I ask, “Is that the baby’s heart beat?”

“It is. It sounds perfect and very healthy,” he replies. It does sound perfect. The most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. Then, I see the most beautiful sight ever. My baby. I can make her out perfectly. Her little hand keeps moving to her face. Her little legs kick out every few seconds. It’s wild seeing her kicking on the screen and feeling it at the same time. I went with Amber a couple times to the doctor when she was having ultrasounds. It was amazing watching hers. But this…this is beyond words. Tears are streaming down my face and I can’t stop smiling, even if I tried.

From the corner of my eye, I see Ray rush out of the dark living room. I’m so mesmerized by the screen and the loud whooshing of my baby’s heartbeat, I don’t give him much thought. I just assume he’s tired of watching someone else’s baby. It’s fine with me. I don’t want to be sharing this moment with him. Paul should be here with me. Oh, how I wish he were here, experiencing this right along with me.

I hear a commotion in the foyer, but I’m still too enamored with the sights and sounds of my baby. A hand grabs mine. At first, I assume it’s Ray. As I start to pull my hand from his, I feel it. That spark of electricity I only feel when Paul touches me. My heart speeds up and the tears are flowing harder as I look up and catch sight of the man I’ve been praying will save me. His eyes are glued to the screen, watching in complete awe.

Softly, he whispers, “I’m here, doll face. Everything will be okay now. I promise,” never taking his eyes off our beautiful baby.

S
LEEP ISN’T
possible. Every time I close my eyes, I see Holly. I try to imagine what she looks like with a swollen belly. Hot as shit, I assume. Kyle always said Amber was even sexier when she was pregnant. I’m guessing Holly will be the same. Her belly big and round because she’s carrying our little girl.

I glance out the window just as we pass a
“Welcome to Fern”
sign. My heart starts to race in anticipation. I need to get that woman in my arms. It’s hard to breathe without her. Needing and wanting her so much is something I never imagined possible. Every bit of pain I feel when I’m not with her is worth the enormous amount of pleasure and happiness I get when I am.

Liam pulls the van into a long driveway. The house is bigger than I had imagined, beautiful really. You never know what kind of horrors can be hidden inside a home that looks so normal and happy on the outside. My house as a child was that way. A beautiful house with a perfect lawn in a perfect neighborhood. No one would ever suspect the house belonged to a monster capable of beating his wife and child on a daily basis.

“Are you okay?” Amber questions, a worried expression on her face. Her question pulls me from the thoughts turning my stomach. I give her a tight smile and a nod.

“I’m okay. I’m just worried about what we’ll find in that house. What kind of shape Holly will be in.” Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself. Thinking about what he might’ve done to her infuriates me. “If he hurt her, it’s all my fault. That letter sat for weeks because I was too busy moping around like a little fucking brat.” Amber grabs my shoulders and turns me to face her. Her nostrils are flaring and her eyes are looking into mine.

“Now, you listen to me very carefully, Paul Walters. You are not to blame for any of this. She left with him. She didn’t trust us enough to help her.” She stops and looks around. Every eye in the SUV is on her. Is she really going to blame Holly? She holds her hand up, stopping me from speaking and continues. “She is not to blame either. She did what she thought was right. I may be upset and disagree with how she handled it, but I love her for wanting to protect us. The one to blame is Ray. One day, he’ll pay for everything he’s done to hurt her.” I nod at her. I see what she’s saying. I can’t say I disagree. I wish Holly would have come to me instead of leaving with him. He is the one who frightened her so much she felt she had no other choice. Ray is the one to blame. I get some satisfaction from knowing I’m about to walk in that door and take her from him. Take her back to where she belongs: with me.

We all file out of the SUV. Before we can get to the door, it opens and a very angry Ray storms out. The second I see him, my fists begin to clench, just itching to beat the piss out of him. Liam whispers to me, “I’ll take him. You go find your girl.” He goes straight to Ray and takes hold of him. I run through the open front door, my need to get to Holly urgent.

Just outside of the living room, I’m stopped in my tracks by a sound. I remember hearing the same whooshing sound when we went to one of Amber’s ultrasounds. My legs become weak as the realization of what I’m hearing hits me. That’s my baby’s heartbeat. Slowly, I move forward into the dark living room. Joyful tears fall from my eyes as I see my baby as clear as day on a huge seventy-inch screen. I pull my eyes from the screen long enough to see Holly laying on the couch. I go to her side, still unable to fully take my eyes off the screen. I crouch down next to her and whisper, “I’m here, doll face. Everything will be okay now. I promise.” She reaches out, grabs my hand, and squeezes it. Both of us are silenced by the vision of our baby. Our beautiful baby.

“Would you like to know the sex?” The man, who I assume is a doctor, asks. He has a very confused look on his face as he watches our interaction. He says nothing, though. I suppose that’s what you do when someone probably paid you a boat load of money and has the last name Marconi. Holly looks up to me, waiting to see what my answer will be.

“I do if you do, doll face. I know it’s going to be a girl,” I tell her. She giggles.

“I think so, too,” she laughs, nodding her head to the doctor. He moves the wand along her belly a little more.

“Well, you’re both correct. Congratulations. It’s a girl,” he says. He moves the wand some more and types something on the keypad. “All done. Sonya can you turn on the lights, please?” He hands me a small stack of photos of our baby girl as the lights come back on.

I turn to show them to Holly and as soon as I see her face, the air is knocked out of my lungs. My body is trembling. A sharp pain radiates through my chest. Her face is swollen and covered in bruises. Her eye is unable to open it’s so swollen. The range of emotions I’m feeling threaten to break me. I’m angry, most of all. That son of a bitch.

“Paul, it’s okay. I’m okay. Our baby girl is okay. That’s all that matters right now. Please, just take us home,” Holly pleads as she takes my hand and rubs it along her swollen belly. She knows me so well. Knows I’m about to explode. Knows if I get my hands on Ray, I won’t stop until he takes his last breath.

I gently take her battered face in my hands. Softly, I place kisses on every cut and bruise I see. On her forehead, her nose, each eye, both cheeks, and finally her lips. As soon as my lips touch hers, both of our bodies’ shudder, sobs overtaking us.

“I’m so sorry, doll face. I didn’t protect you like I promised,” I cry.

“No. You have nothing to apologize for. I didn’t give you the chance to protect me,” she says, looking into my eyes. She’s silently pleading with me to forgive her. There’s nothing to forgive. Just having her here in my arms is all I need to forget everything. “Please, just get me out of here. I want to go home,” she begs.

“As you wish,” I reply and pick her up off the couch. Cradling her in my arms, I carry her outside. As soon as we walk out, Amber sees Holly and gasps, throwing her hands over her mouth. The boys all follow Amber’s gaze and I see the anger in their expressions. I glance around, looking for Ray. Liam has him pinned against a car by his throat. That explains why he’s not running his mouth.

Amber opens the back door to the SUV, allowing me to put Holly inside. I kiss her lips gently. “There’s one thing I need to do. I promise it will only take a second,” I tell her, hoping this won’t piss her off. I can’t stop myself, though.

I walk over to where Liam has Ray pinned against the car. Liam sees me coming and when I get close, he lets him go. I really don’t know what Holly saw in this guy. Compared to me, he’s scrawny. Ray stands up straight and lunges toward me. Does he actually think he’s gonna hurt me? I pull my arm back, ball my hand into a tight fist, and slam it right into his nose. There’s a loud crack and blood goes everywhere. It looks like his nose explodes. A huge smile crosses my face. Damn, that felt good.

I walk over to where Ray landed. He’s rolling around, moaning in pain, and holding his hand to his nose. I wish I had a camera. Reaching down, I grab him by his shirt. “You’re lucky my girl wants to go home. I could use your face as a punching bag all day. You deserve it after what you did to Holly’s face.” I take a deep breath. Thinking about what he did and having him in my hands is making it difficult to walk away. “Stay away from Oakville and Holly. She doesn’t want you. You’re getting off easy this time, you won’t be so lucky if you cross me again,” I threaten. I stare him down until he looks away first, then I shove him. He bounces off the car and falls to the ground. I give him one hard kick to his ribs before walking back to the SUV. I couldn’t help myself. He’s getting off way too easily. But I have everything I want and need smiling at me from inside the car.

This time, the plane ride seems way too quick. Having my girl curled into me, as if that spot was made just for her body to fit against…I don’t want this moment to end. She fell asleep the second we were in the air. She probably hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks, worried about that asshole and what he might do if she let down her guard. I need to stop thinking about it if I want to keep my sanity.

I did, however, come up with a great idea while I watched the love of my life sleeping. Life is way too short. Anything can happen at any time. I realized something in those brief moments of watching her sleep peacefully with her hand resting on her swollen belly. I don’t want to wait any longer to be her husband. I asked, she said yes. So, tomorrow, we’re going to do it. I have it all planned out in my head. It’ll be perfect and if by some chance it isn’t up to her expectations, then we’ll have another one anyway she wants — as long as we are husband and wife tomorrow.

I catch Amber’s attention and motion her over. As quietly as I can, I whisper my plans in her ear. A huge smile spreads across her face as I finish. “Oh my God! That’s perfect, Paul,” Amber whispers excitedly.

“Can you make it happen? I’ll keep her busy until tomorrow evening. I don’t plan on leaving our bedroom,” I say with a wink that makes her giggle.

“Leave it to me. It’ll be perfect,” Amber promises. I believe it will. If there’s anyone who loves Holly as much as I do, it’s Amber. She’ll make this even better than I’ve pictured in my head. As she scurries over to tell Kyle our plans, I watch my wife-to-be sleep. I’m going to be a husband and a father. Two things I never imagined I’d be. I never wanted it. Now, I can’t imagine how I could survive without it.