Saving Us (17 page)

Every night we would check the internet for news on the police finding Rick, but nothing was ever there.

It took us about a week, but we were able to get an appointment to see a local doctor. It was the same
obstetrician that Van used, so Amy took having to switch doctors better. It wasn’t like she had a good relationship with the one at home anyway. Aside from her initial appointment, she hadn’t been to her again.

They decided to do a sonogram right away, which was exactly what we were hoping for. I was dying to learn the sex of the baby and Amy just wanted to make sure that our baby only had five
fingers on each hand. I told her it was a joke, but she said after I had told her that story, she dreamed that our child had six fingers.

I don’t know who was more nervous when the doctor rolled the device over Amy’s belly. She was hooked up to a monitor that let us hear the heartbeat. Just knowing that it was our baby’s heart, almost brought tears to my eyes. I held onto Amy’s hand while we waited for the doctor to tell us what we were seeing on the monitor.

She pointed to the screen. “This is the head.” She moved the device to another position. “Arms and fingers.”

While we were watching we could see the baby moving it’s fingers. It was amazing.

She repositioned again. “Did you all want to know the sex?”

“Yes,” We both said at the same time. I looked at Amy and laughed with her.

“Just give me a second. This little one is being secretive. He or she has their leg in the way.”

The poor woman tried for a good five minutes, but our baby had its legs tucked in a way that made it impossible to see what was between the legs. “I’m sorry folks. This little one doesn’t want me to see.”

Sure, it was disappointing. Amy really wanted to know so she could start decorating the nursery. I just wanted to know.

In the next month Amy talked to her father on a day to day basis. She had convinced him to come visit whenever the boys got out of school. Amy’s belly really started to pop out and luckily she was able to wear the maternity clothes that Van had grown out of. Since they were only about a month apart, they spent a lot of time together. Plus, I think Amy used little Christian as her practice baby. She had no real experience with a newborn and seemed to be getting more and more nervous about it.

It took us both a while to finally feel like we were safe. Amy and I moved into my mother’s old room and started working on the nursery. We picked a neutral set that would be fine for a girl or a boy.

Colt ordered double the amount of cattle since he had an extra hand. It meant double the work, but the pay would be worth it. Since we were able to live rent free, I was banking every paycheck. I had to put the construction of the North Carolina house on hold and seriously considered backing out of the whole plan. Amy seemed content where we were. She loved to sit outside at night and take walks out to the old willow tree.

All the ladies had their own card night and they even started reading the same books just to have things to talk about. I loved seeing her smile most of all. When I came home at night, my dinner was on the table, but unlike her past relationship, I paid her with passionate kisses and even washed the dishes.

We were living like a real couple would and everything felt so right about it. Being with Amy made my life make sense.

One night, after a long day, I came in and washed my hands for dinner. Amy was just setting the table and I could smell meatloaf through the whole house. I’d no sooner sat down at the table when my phone started ringing. I ignored the first call, but after the third, I had no choice but to see what could be that important.

The number was unlisted, but I picked it up anyway.

Hello?

Conner, it’s Heather.

What do you want?

We need to talk.

I’m listenin’.

I can’t tell you over the phone. Listen I am in West Virginia. I think there is something here you might want to see.

Like what?

More like a who. I found Rick’s ex-wife. I have a feeling that she didn’t leave him like he said.

Why?

Can you get here or not?

I guess. I’m going to need to get Amy on board. Can we come in the mornin’?

Yeah. I will text you the address of where we can meet.

Amy came in and sat the meat down on the table. She stood up straight and looked right at me. “What was that about?”

I took off my hat and sat it down on the floor. My mother never let me eat a meal with a hat on my head. “That was Heather.”

Amy sat down and looked right at me. “What did she want? Did something happen?”

I held up my hands. “I don’t really know. She said she found Rick’s second wife and asked if we could get to West Virginia.”

“Well what did you say?”

I passed her my plate and watched as she filled it with hot food. “I told her we couldn’t get there until tomorrow.”

“So, now you want to trust her?” She handed me back my plate and gave me a weird look.

“I don’t trust her, but if she knows somethin’, I think it is important for us to find out. She wouldn’t call unless it was somethin’ crazy.”

“What if it’s a setup?”

“You want me to go alone, Blaze?” I knew she didn’t. Just thinking about me being with Heather made her cringe.

“No. Look, Heather is running from Rick too. I know she wants to get back to her life. It isn’t like she had a big old ranch to go live at.”

She had a point, but after not hearing from Heather on the night she literally disappeared, she wasn’t exactly earning our trust the old fashion way. “Here is how I see it. For the past month everything has been great for us. We can either stay here and not go out to meet Heather and never find out
or take the chance of figuring out exactly what has this dude so fucking crazy. Wouldn’t you like to never have to deal with him again? I know I would. I don’t want to have to watch my kids back the whole time they are growing up, Amy.”

“Then I guess we can leave after dinner. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”

We got on the road about an hour later. We could have just waited until morning, but the anticipation of knowing was killing the both of us. I think Amy just wanted a way out. By law she had to be legally separated for at least a year before filing for divorce. I wasn’t beggin’ her to jump into another marriage, but it would be nice for her to have the same name as me and our child.

Halfway there, I could tell she was nervous. “I should have left you home.”

“I wouldn’t have let you. This is too important!” She was going to argue with me every day for the rest of our lives. It was something that I was totally prepared for.

“We have another two hours to go. Do you need to get out and rest your legs, darlin’?” Amy was always holding her belly. She said the baby moved around all the time and it always made her have to go to the bathroom.

“Yeah, that would be good. Your child does not like car rides.”

“He will when he is sixteen. Did I ever tell you about the day I turned sixteen and got my license?” The st
ory was probably going to drive her crazy, but it was my past and it was an awesome experience that I wanted to share with her. We were pretty much past the jealousy, but sometimes, given the right mood, Amy would get all emotional. Still, she needed something to get her mind off of where we were going.

“No. Am I going to like this story?”

“Probably not, but I’m goin’ to tell you anyway.” I cleared my throat and grabbed Amy’s hand. I found that when I talked about other girls, she felt more confident when I was reminding her that she ended up with the grand prize. “So, the day I turned sixteen, my uncle Mitch took me out to get my license. We took this old ass beat up Chevy that barely ran. I managed to pass, so after we got my picture taken and waited for my license, my uncle let me drive back to the ranch. When we got back he decided he was going to send me out to pick up a load of hay. I jumped in the truck all excited about havin’ a real license. I’d been drivin’ around illegally since I was fourteen, so it was a big deal. While on the way to pick up the hay, I decided to stop by this girl’s house. She lived like ten miles down the road and her Daddy raised pigs. I remember how bad it always smelled when you pulled up to her farm. Anyway, so I pull up in this big ass truck and she comes out. For the first time neither of her parents were home. We snuck up to her room and started getting’ it on.”

“Conner, I don’t want to know.”

I laughed. “Just listen. So anyway, we’re messin’ around and we hear this truck startin’ up. I look outside and saw her Daddy walking toward the house. I got my pants pulled up and heard him comin’ inside. He yelled up to me to warn me that I was as dead as the animals mounted on his walls. I climbed out the window and made a runnin’ jump to the back of the truck. I woke up in the ambulance as they were drivin’ me to the hospital. You see, her Daddy knew I would run from him, so he climbed in my truck and moved it. When I jumped, I just assumed I would land in the bed of the truck. Instead, I landed on the hard ground. I broke my leg, knocked myself out and busted both of my elbows wide open. Needless to say, I got my ass punished, my license taken away and I was never allowed to see that girl again.”

Amy started laughing. “That is hilarious!”

“So, I am just sayin’, I think our kid will learn to like car rides.”

“That story had nothing to do with driving a vehicle, Conner.”

I squeezed her hand and made her look at me. “Maybe not, but it sure as hell was funny.”

I kept telling Amy stories until we arrived
at the little restaurant where Heather told us to meet her. When I turned off the truck, Amy and I just sat there for a minute. “Let me go in and make sure she’s alone. You hang onto that phone. If I don’t come out in ten minutes, you call the cops and keep the doors locked. If it seems okay, I will come out and get you.”

She nodded and leaned over to kiss me. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Stop worryin’, Blaze. I ain’t goin’ to let anything happen to you.”

When I got out of the truck I waited for her to lock the door before I proceeded into the place to locate Heather. I had no idea what to expect, but I feared the worst, just in case.

Chapter 21

Amy

Driving all this way to meet someone that we didn’t even know if we could trust, wasn’t exactly how I had planned my evening. Things were going so good for us. We had settled into living in Kentucky. Each day of my pregnancy was spent preparing for the baby’s arrival. I thought it was going to be a girl and Conner insisted that it was going to be a boy. I was certain that, as long as it was healthy, it just didn’t matter.

I actually enjoyed living in Kentucky. It was so beautiful and aside from girls Conner’s age, everyone in town was very welcoming. Colt’s mother and Van took me to a salon one day and introduced me to a couple of the stylists. They were very kind and said that if I decided to go back to work they would rent me out a chair.

I think just knowing that if I wanted to work I had a job set my mind at ease. We didn’t have a house payment, since the house had long been paid for. Conner was able to save almost everything and I never worried that he wouldn’t be able to provide for our family.

We’d bought all sorts of things for the nursery, but couldn’t agree on a theme. Conner wanted all John Deere stuff, but without knowing the sex, I couldn’t decorate in the boys green and yellow, or the girls pink version.

There wasn’t one single day that past that I didn’t wonder when Rick was going to come along and spoil my happiness. Each moment I would feel overwhelmed in bliss, I always had to stop and wonder just how long it would last.

One thing that I really enjoyed was how close the family was. I’d seen Ty and Miranda interacting with his parents, but this part of the family was exactly the same way. We still had dinners together and before each meal we prayed. For some reason, ev
ery single time I saw Conner fold his hand and close his eyes, my heart fell in love with him even more. My rough cowboy had a passionate side. He knew what his life stood for and he appreciated what he had.

Conner seldom complained. He worked long, hard hours and then came home and spent time with me. Our routine was repetitive, but we liked things that way. I never thought I would get used to being with a farmer. Now I thought it was the perfect job. Conner was always somewhere close. He never had to ask permission to do things. I knew that when our baby came, he was going to be by my side the whole time.

I was starting to get scared about the delivery part. It didn’t help that Miranda reminded daily of how bad it hurt. Knowing that she had survived such a terrible labor didn’t exactly make it easier not to worry. I had faith that everything was going to be okay.

As I sat outside waiting for Conner, I was more nervous than ever.

Conner came walking out a few minutes later with Heather walking behind him. She had cut her hair even shorter and kept it a dark brown. When they got up to the window, I rolled it down. Conner leaned inside of it. “Here’s the plan. Heather is goin’ to ride with us to another place. She wants us to believe that she is here alone.”