“We are going to have to agree to disagree on that, but I do want to hear about your life after that day.”
“Well, when we met I was on vacation with my boyfriend. We had only been dating for six weeks and he wanted to get me away from my mom’s influence so he could convince me to sleep with him. When I refused, he left me on the beach and threatened to abandon me in Miami if I didn’t come to the room with him right then. I wandered the beach until I went to that club and found you.
The next day, I went home to Atlanta and back to the bar where I worked cleaning after hours while going to school. George and Liz own the bar called George’s and trained me to be a bartender when I turned twenty-one. When I found out I was pregnant from our night together, I tried to search for you on the Internet, but it got me nowhere. I think I was hoping that maybe you had been on the news or in a magazine and I would find a picture.
I waited until I was six months along to tell my mom and she kicked me out, so I moved into a studio above the bar. When Alex was nine months old, they sold the building and moved to a new location. I wasn’t prepared to live on my own and pay high rent. Jerry had been hanging around for a few months and had asked me out a few times. He was very nice to me at first, so when I needed some financial help, he convinced me to move in with him. Everyone warned me not to, but I didn’t see what they saw. When Alex was fourteen months old, Jerry started to be more aggressive with me then punishing Alex for stupid things. I refused to take our relationship to an intimate, physical level, so he blamed Alex for looking like you and me for pining over you. He began to hit me when he was angry, so I left him and went into hiding after the first time he hit me in front of Alex. That is the last two and a half years in a nutshell.
“What happened on the mountain?”
“After Jerry shot you, he took me to that place. He was going to keep me there as a prisoner and try to get me pregnant. He felt that if I had his children, that I would love him too.” I tell Alexander every sordid detail from the rapes to the beatings and my escape from the cabin. I know I will need extensive therapy, but in a way, this was therapy as well.
“Hearing you tell me I was safe happened to be the most calming moment of my life. I will never be able to thank you for saving me that day. I think Jerry would have killed me once he realized I was on the Depo shot and could not get pregnant. Oh no, Alex, I was supposed to have that shot last week. So much has happened that I forgot about it and I need to call and make an appointment to get it.” I glance at Alexander and his expression changes slightly; I hope he doesn’t think I did that on purpose.
“Do you need it?”
He was so quiet I almost didn’t hear him. “It is the only birth control I have.”
“What if we decided to add to our family?”
I don’t even know what to say so I just stare in shock. We had one night together two and a half years ago and we have been searching and yearning for each other since then. I don’t know if I loved him at first sight or if I grew to love the idea of him, but since he found me and has taken care of me, I know I love him more now. I never expected him to return the feelings so soon. I at least had a piece of him with me for our time apart. He only had a memory. “Are you saying that you want to have another baby?”
“I’m saying that I love you and I want to marry you and grow our family. If you get pregnant right away, there won’t be a huge age gap between and Alex and his little brother or sister. I have missed out on so much. Not that having a baby will make up for lost time, but I want to spend my life with you. I don’t want to wait another wasted minute to have everything I have dreamed of for two and a half years. Marry me, Beautiful Girl. Let’s spend the rest of our lives making it up to each other.”
“I love you, Alexander Troy Savage and nothing would make me happier than for Alex and me to be Savages too.”
He laughs, grabs and scoops me up to carry me to our bed where he proceeds to show me what my life with him will be like.
Chapter Seventeen
Home:
*the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a household.
~Savage~
As we fly into Boston, Derek and Ren are there to pick us up and the second Alex sees Serenity he starts running.
“Wen, Wen. Daddy gets me cabs.”
Ren looks to me for clarification, so I mouth crabs, but the look on her face just shows more confusion. Derek laughs and adds his stupid input.
“That sounds like a personal problem to me.”
I mouth “Dick” to Derek but turn to Ren since she is the
