The Beginning of Us (144 page)

I knew I had seconds to make a decision. With no regard for my safety, I stopped blocking her and reached for the gun. It was at that very moment that she kneed me right in the stomach. It took my breath away and forced me to clench up in a ball.

It also gave her just enough time to locate the gun and aim it right at me.

I glanced over to look for Stosh and saw him punching on Rafe.

Ivy was still on top of me and I was staring down the barrel of the gun. Slowly, she climbed off of me, never taking her aim off of me. She stood up straight and smiled. “I walked in on you attacking our parents. We fought and struggled over the gun. It went off and then you just stopped breathing.”

I heard her cock it back and closed my eyes. “I always loved you, Ivy. I would have done anything for you.”

“It’s too late to be my friend. Nothing can save you now!”

I’m really not sure if he was already running toward me, but when I heard the gunfire, I kept my eyes shut and just waited to feel it taking my life away. Instead, I heard someone grunting and a loud crash next to me. I opened my eyes to see Stosh lying against the table. He was holding his stomach and blood was rushing out around his hand.

I ran toward him, while Ivy stood there in shock. She got down on the floor and tried to assess the damage. “Stoshua! Oh no! It wasn’t supposed to be you. No! Please, be okay.”

She let the gun fall to the floor and I picked it up. Stosh watched me, but said nothing as his eyes became heavy. “Stay with me, Stosh. Don’t go to sleep, babe.” I pointed the gun at Ivy. “Get your ass away from him! You just shot him and now you want to care? You’re done Ivy! You are so done!”

My stomach was on fire and I knew I had to get to a hospital as soon as possible. Not only did I have to worry about me and getting Stosh to a doctor, I also didn’t know if my parents were alive.

It was too much to handle for someone in my situation, but I was doing it. I was going to get us out of there.

At least, that’s what I thought, until I felt someone taking out my legs. I fell down to the floor in front of my sister. Rafe bent over and grabbed the gun off the floor, I turned on my back to see him lifting and aiming it directly at me.

I’d fought so hard to stay alive. I’d gotten the gun away from my sister and watched my boyfriend take a bullet for me. I heard a gunshot go off and wondered if my parents were even breathing. Now my fate was being sealed. With seconds left to live, I turned and looked over at Stosh. His face was going to be the last thing I saw.

He was reaching for me, his hands dripping with blood from his wound. His eyes were barely open and I could tell he was in terrible pain.

“Willow…” he whispered.

All of the sudden the door burst open and a gun went off. Rafe fell down on top of me. I could actually hear him taking his last breaths. I struggled to get away from him, but he weighed too much.

Loud voices filled the room and I felt someone removing the lifeless body that was keeping me pinned down.

Police officers rushed over and everything started happening so fast. I was carried out of the house. Medical workers ran inside, but I was to weak to talk. My stomach was hurting and I’d just felt someone die on top of me.

After a few minutes, I watched the crew brining Stosh out on a stretcher. While looking to my left, I watched a helicopter landing on my parent’s front lawn. They hopped out and lifted the stretcher into the aircraft before lifting up and flying him away.

I knew he was in serious condition if they were flying him to a bigger hospital. While trying to contain my emotions, I watched two police officers escorting my parents outside. Without regard for my own health, I hopped off the ambulance and went running toward them. I could see them crying even before I made it into their arms.

“Oh Willow, we’re so sorry.” My mother gave me a once over before hugging me again. “We had no idea what was happening. Stoshua came to the hospital and left the diary in my office. I never opened the envelope until tonight. When I drove him home, to show it to your father, your sister was here waiting. I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

“I thought she shot you.” It was all that would come out.

“We’re going to be fine. Your sister aimed the gun at your father, but she couldn’t go through with it. She shot the ceiling and ran downstairs.” My mother was crying so badly that she couldn’t continue speaking. My father pulled her into his arms and just held her.

Shooting pain sent me to my knees. It was the last thing that I could remember before waking up in the hospital.

Chapter 26

I can’t lose you.

Waking up in a hospital room and remembering how you got there isn’t exactly a peaceful thing to go through. It took me a few seconds to focus on the room. My parents were in a chair together and they were asleep. It was so good to see that they were there with me. Just imagining a life without them in it would be difficult. They’d never be able to meet their…my baby.

I sat up and looked around again, noticing that I had an IV sticking in my arm. A clear drip was being administered and I was desperate to know what was going on.

“Mom?” My voice was raspy. It felt so dry, like I hadn’t drank anything in days.

She stirred and rushed over to the bedside. “Willow, are you okay? Are you in any pain? Oh my God, this is all my fault. How could I have not known?” She started crying and buried her head into my father’s chest.

I shook my head, but placed my hands on my stomach. Fear overwhelmed me when I thought about my baby. I tried to sit up straight in the bed, but my mother kept me still. “Mom, I…”

“The baby is fine, Willow. Stosh’s parents called us from the hospital. They were so worried about you. We ran the tests ourselves and did a sonogram.” She lifted up the picture that happened to be in her hand. “I never would have forgiven myself if something bad would have happened to you or your child. We had no idea that Ivy was capable of such horrible things.”

I grabbed her hand. “Mom, the pain was horrible. I was sure I was having a miscarriage. You’re sure everything’s okay?”

“You went through something traumatic and were injured from fighting. I would imagine the pain would be unbearable. I can assure you that the baby is fine. It is still so small and well protected. Fetuses can be so resilient. Women have fallen down stairs and even been in accidents and still carried to term. Hang on a minute and I’ll prove it to you.” She stood up and messed with the monitor above my head. A thumping sound got louder. It sounded like a heartbeat, but was much faster.

“What is that?”

“That’s your baby. Their hearts beat faster than ours. We were afraid it would be too early to hear.”

“I’m around eleven weeks. I was four or five weeks when I found out. At first I didn’t know what I was going to do. You and dad thought I purposely had an affair with Stosh. You couldn’t have known that it was all some scheme of Ivy’s to steal my baby.” She started to turn the volume back down. “No! Please keep it on.” I wanted to hear it’s little heart beating. It made me think of Stosh and how we were finally going to be a family.

She smiled and kissed my forehead. “You should rest.”

“I can’t rest. I want to know about Stosh. I watched him get shot.” I rubbed my stomach. “He has to be okay. We have to be together. He wants this baby more than anything. We want to be a family.”

She looked over at my father and then back to me. “He’s in surgery. The bullet became lodged and they are working to get it out.”

I started to cry, becoming frantic. “Is he going to die? He can’t…I mean, he has to be okay. We can finally be together. He has to be alright.” I was crying so badly that the words were hard to get out.

I put my hands over my face and bawled.

My heart rate rapidly increased and my father stood up and came to my bedside. “Sweetheart, you have to relax. Worrying isn’t going to help him get better. You have to stay positive.” I hated him talking to me like I was one of his patients.

I looked at both of them and felt myself dying inside. Not knowing Stosh’s fate was killing me. I couldn’t raise a baby without him. He promised to be with me. He told me that nothing could keep us apart again.

“Ivy! Where is she?” I couldn’t remember anything. “Tell me they got her.”

“Your sister was taken into custody. Her accomplice didn’t make it. She isn’t going to hurt you anymore, Willow. We promise you that.” I could see the pain in my father’s eyes.  They were so disappointed. Who could blame them? Their own daughter had planned to murder her entire family for money and a baby that wasn’t hers.

What kind of human being could be that cold?

My mother patted my leg. “She’s being held at the county detention center until her arraignment. When we know where they are going to send her, your father is having her evaluated by someone he works with. Even if your sister would ever get out of jail, she’s going to be put away in an institution for a very long time. After talking to Stosh’s parents, we have a better idea of everything that’s been going on. We’re really sorry that we didn’t believe you. We just never thought your sister would be capable of such madness.”

“She wanted you dead. In fact, she wanted us all dead. I never had any idea how she felt about me. I trusted her and all along she’s been trying to ruin my life.”

My mother ran her hand through my hair. “Will you ever forgive us?”

I wanted to tell them that I was still angry; that nothing they said or did could make me forget that they’d turned their backs on me, but I just couldn’t. All I cared about was Stosh and our baby. “I’m not mad at you guys. We were all a part of Ivy’s scheme. None of us could have known she was capable of such madness.”

“Can we get you anything?” She asked.

“I need Stosh. Please, can you just find out if he’s okay? I need to know, Mom. I need to hear his voice. I can’t rest until I know he’s going to be fine.”

She looked over at my father. “We can go make some phone calls. Are you going to be okay here by yourself? I’m so worried about you.”

I nodded. “I’ll be fine as soon as I know he’s okay.” I rubbed my abdomen again. “We need to know.”

“You really love him don’t you?”

“I’ve loved him since the day he first walked into my life. I was just too afraid to tell him. Ivy took advantage of that and kept us apart. She told him I wasn’t interested and seduced him into thinking they slept together after prom. You read the diary. You know the truth.” I wiped my eyes again. “I can’t lose him, Mom. I just can’t, not after everything we’ve been through to be together.”

When my parents walked out of the room, I felt myself losing control of my emotions. My life had been threatened. My unborn child’s life had been threatened and their father had been shot. My sister was still ruining our lives, even from behind bars.

While Stosh fought to stay alive, she was probably sitting in a cell gloating about her accomplishments. I imagined bursting into the lock up room and shooting her for the hell of it. She made me sick and, for the first time, I accepted that she was no longer my sister.

I didn’t care if she was sick in the head. There were just some things in life that couldn’t be forgiven. I’d never forgive her for ripping out my heart and threatening my life and the people that I loved.

When my parents didn’t come back right away, I knew something had to be wrong. They didn’t want to burden me with bad news.

The problem was that I just had to know. I had to know if he didn’t make it.

I had to know if a part of my soul was going to be lost forever.

It hurt even more knowing that we’d missed so much time together. We should have been the ones that were married with little children running around.

All of the little things that Stoshua had done, while helping Ivy, seemed so small in comparison to a lifetime without him. I didn’t care that he’d lied to me, or hurt me. He did it to be with me, because he thought it was the only way it could ever happen. I think if the roles were reversed, I would have been desperate enough to do the same. My love for him had only grown stronger and the baby that was growing inside of me helped me to forgive.

The only thing that I wanted was to be able to feel his strong arms wrapping around me. I wanted to see him holding our baby when he or she was born. I wanted to lay in bed with our baby in between us, while looking into each other’s eyes.

He was everything to me and, even when we weren’t together, he always had been.

I waited another half hour before I sat up and started pushing the button for a nurse.

A woman, a little older than me came walking in. “Can I help you with something?”

“My parents? Have you seen them?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid my shift just started. I can look around for them.”

“Don’t worry about it. They probably went to get something to eat.”

After she walked away, I grabbed the telephone and dialed Stosh’s number. Of course, I should have known that he couldn’t answer. Maybe I just wanted to hear his voice when the message thingy came on.

This is Stosh. You know what to do.

I started crying harder, just hearing his recorded voice.

It’s me. I know you aren’t listening right now, but I need you to know how much I love you. No matter where I was in life, you never left my mind and my heart. It’s always been you, Stoshua Wheeler. I don’t care about the past or what we’ve had to go through. I just want our future. I want us to be together. It doesn’t matter where we live, or what we do, as long as we’re together. We’re a family now and I need you so much. Do you hear me, Stosh? I can’t lose you, babe. I can’t lose the one thing that I’ve always wanted. We’re so close. You have to fight. Please, just be okay. I can’t live without you.

If he did hear the message, I wasn’t sure he would be able to hear the last parts. I was too emotional. Thinking about the possibility of him not surviving was making it hard to breathe. I needed to know.

I had to call information to get his parent’s phone number. I called three times and nobody had answered. I didn’t know who else I could call or what I could do. Knowing that they were going to come back at some point, I didn’t call my parents. If they were staying away, it was for a legitimate reason.