Yearning Absolution (Yearning Series) (14 page)

His hand left her belly and she
felt him tugging on the button of her pants. His hand slid over her hip,
pushing her pants down. A loud sob ripped from Gwen’s throat before she could
hold it back. Instantly her face was slammed hard into the wall by the hand in
her hair. “Bitch, you owe me for making me wait so many years. I’m gonna take
part of my reward for my patience right here, right now. Don’t you dare even
think of fighting me or I’ll make for damn sure you lose that little babe. Do
you want me to do that? You know I’ve done it many times in the past for you.
Just another thing you were ungrateful for. Saved you from having to raise
little brats. Do you want me to help rid you of this little one as well?”

“No.” Gwen gasped. She’d wanted to
scream. She silently begged for someone to see them. As much as she wanted to
get away from here, she knew he wouldn’t let her escape him again. She had to
let him just get off and then she’d have more opportunities to escape. “I won’t
fight. Just get it over with. Leave my babies alone.”

“That’s my girl.” Richard breathed
into her ear. He ground his hips into her ass. She could feel the hard press of
his erection. By now he had pushed her pants past her hips and they were pooled
around her ankles. He slid his hand into the front of her panties as he once
again ground his hips against her. Bile rose in Gwen’s throat when he tried to
push his fingers into her, she couldn’t do this. Not at any cost. She wouldn’t
be his victim again.

“Help! Someone help me!” Gwen
screamed at the top of her lungs. Richard punched her in the face before he
pulled her hair back so hard it yanked her knees out from her. She fell to her
back in the dark filthy alley. He was on her instantly. His fist bashed into
her face in rapid succession even though she was slapping at him and trying her
best to kick him. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, but that didn’t
stop him, didn’t slow him.

“You fucking bitch. I should’ve
just killed you when I had the chance. But you were begging me to fuck you
first, weren’t you?” Richard pushed to his feet. Gwen tried to curl up on her
side away from his angry blows, her arms wrapped around her belly. He kicked
her hard in the back. Her spine arched as a blood curdling scream escaped her
lips and she rolled onto her back. Pain was rolling through her back as he
landed another solid kick to her side.  

“Stop, please. Stop!” Gwen repeated
as loud as she could. Just make the pain stop. Anything to make the pain stop. She
had forgotten what it felt like when he was angry with her. Somehow, she had
forgotten what it was like when he rained blow after blow down on her. How had
she forgotten this pain? But he didn’t hear her pleas over the obscenities he
was yelling at her. His foot connected with her stomach over and over. She
couldn’t scream any more, she couldn’t think any more, all she could think
about was trying to force air into her lungs. She coughed and blood flowed from
her mouth. The pain was too much for her to handle. She fought as hard as she
could but she just couldn’t handle more of the pain that he was pounding into
her body, her belly. Her babies.

She closed her eyes and couldn’t
force them open. Her mind went blank. Everything went black as she passed out.

Gwen slowly blinked opened her
eyes. All she could see were dim, long, slim bulbs in the ceiling above her.
Where was she? She tried to move her head to look around, but her head was so
heavy it wouldn't move. She could hear noises but none of them made any sense
to her. Nothing made sense. The last thing she could remember was walking down
the street crying after the fight with McKayla. She tried to remember what
happened after that but it wouldn’t come to her. The dim bulbs she had been
staring at were gone from her view. Something dark and blurry had moved into
her view blocking the lights. She couldn’t seem to get her eyes to focus on
what the object actually was though.

She closed her eyes again. She was
so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. When she opened her eyes again there
was a bright light coming from one side of the room. It took so much effort,
but she was finally able to turn her head towards that bright light. It was a
window. Not a window she was familiar with though.

Gwen didn’t recognize anything in
front of the window. There was an empty chair that looked horribly
uncomfortable and ugly curtains hung from either side of the window. A
scrapping sound came from the other side of the room. Gwen made the painstaking
effort to turn her head all the way to the other side.

Her eyes landed on a familiar face.
It was someone she recognized standing next to her, but try as she might, Gwen
couldn’t remember their name. This person was speaking but it wasn't making any
sense to her. There was movement behind the person as a couple more people
entered the room. She just stared at them for a moment before closing her eyes
and going back to sleep.

After yawning, Gwen opened her eyes
again. She blinked a few times and realized that she could feel her hands. Had
she been able to feel them before? She couldn’t remember. Where was she anyway?

A friendly looking lady walked in
the room and sat next to Gwen. She held Gwen’s hand while just looking at her
for a moment. “Hi.”

It took a moment before Gwen
understood what she had said and a few more before Gwen could remember how to
form the same word. “Hi.”

The woman started speaking faster
this time, but Gwen just looked at her. Those blue eyes and blonde hair looked
so familiar. Gwen knew that she should remember this person but she didn’t. She
swallowed a few times then opened her mouth again. “Where?”

“Where?” The woman repeated it back
to her. Another woman entered the room and spoke to the blonde that was holding
her hand. The two left the room together, leaving Gwen alone. She didn’t mind
though. She was tired again. Why was she so tired?

Living through the incredible
tiredness only to wake with hours or days lost continued for an endless period
to Gwen. She had no concept of time passing or how much time had passed between
each time she woke.

Each time Gwen woke she found she
had gained a little more of herself back. Slowly her words started to come
easier. She could move her hands a bit and she was able to stay awake for
almost an hour at a time, finally. She still had no recollection of who the
blonde was or the handsome man that was around a lot of the time. They hadn’t
spoken much to her. But, she could hear them murmuring to each other when she
was sleeping.

The doctors had come in and told
her that she had been in a coma for three weeks. She had a couple broken ribs,
broken nose, and internal bleeding, which they had stopped while she’d been in
the coma. She had taken damage to her head, which is what had caused her to go
into a coma. They’d said a few other things but she didn’t understand it all.
Just that hopefully her brain would continue to slowly piece things together.
The doctors had told her that things would slowly start to come back to her
hopefully with her memory and ability to control her body. They had also said
it may not, only time would tell.

When Gwen awoke this time, the man
was sleeping with his head on the bed. Both of his hands were clenched around
one of Gwen’s hand. She looked down at him as he slept. She reached across her
body to touch his hair, which awoke him instantly. Green eyes slowly opened to
lock with hers. He sat up slowly.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” Gwen spoke softly. “What is
your name?” She didn’t want to ask but she was hoping maybe it would help her
remember more. Her throat was sore still from the breathing tube they had
removed when she had started to show signs that she was coming out of the coma.

“Cole. I am Cole. Do you not
remember me?” Cole spoke slowly. Gwen shook her head softly. She watched as his
eyes filled with tears, but they didn’t escape down his cheeks. He closed his
eyes for a moment before looking at her again. “It’s okay. I was hoping you
still remembered me but couldn't vocalize it.”

“I don’t remember anything.” Gwen
sighed. “I’ve tried. Last thing I remember…” Gwen thought back. She’d been in a
fight with someone. The blonde. “I was fighting with the blonde woman.”

“McKayla.” Cole supplied. Gwen
nodded.

“McKayla. Then I remember waking up
here. Everything is foggy before that and after that.” Gwen laid her head back
and closed her eyes. "I'm sleepy."

"That's okay, baby. Just
sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." The man said as he ran his fingers
over her cheek.

The next time she opened her eyes
it was dark in the room again. Cole wasn’t by her side anymore. There was a
nurse fiddling with something on Gwen’s stomach. “What are you doing?”

“Just changing your dressing, dear.
I’m almost done.” The nurse spoke softly, but didn’t take her eyes off what she
was doing. As she moved items around, the scent of blood hit Gwen. With that
scent, memories came rushing back over her. She remembered being held captive,
the fight in the alley, the babies.

“Wait. WAIT.” Gwen yelled when the
lady paid her no attention. That got her attention. “Why do I have bandages on
my stomach? Are the babies ok? Why hasn’t anyone said anything about the
babies? WHERE ARE MY BABIES?”

“I’m sure someone has mentioned it
by now.” The woman finished what she was doing and picked up her items and
quickly left the room before Gwen could piece together her next thoughts.

Gwen fought sleep. She was tired
and just wanted to go back to sleep but she needed answers. She HAD to get
answers. Her hands tenderly moved over the bed until they rested on her
stomach. Her flat stomach. Memories washed over her of Cole touching and
kissing her little bump. She remembered seeing the babies on the ultrasound,
hearing their little hearts beating so quickly. They were gone. She didn’t need
anyone to tell her. She could feel their missing presence.

She had lost her babies. She’d lost
Cole’s babies. They were gone. Gone. Tears poured down her cheeks as a loud sob
ripped out of her mouth. The movement shot pain through her broken ribs and
through her chest, which only made her cry harder. It was a vicious cycle. The
more she cried, the more her body hurt. The more her body hurt, the more she
cried. But she couldn’t stop. She’d lost someone she loved. Two children that
she loved more than anything. The only people in the world that would love her
no matter how horrible her past was. Her surprise wonderful gift had been taken
by the same horrible man that had already taken so much from her. 

She was crying so hard. Sobbing and
wailing in despair that she didn't even notice as the nurse returned. The nurse
had a syringe in her hand. She connected it to a line that was connected to one
of the many IVs in Gwen's arms that she hadn’t even noticed until now. Before
Gwen could ask what it was, her eye lids grew too heavy to keep open and she
fell back into sleep.

Gwen blinked her eyes open and was
met instantly with a pair of green eyes. She had been moved so she was laying
on her side and Cole was sitting right by her head. Just seeing his face made
her tears start up again. “Cole.”

“Sh. Baby. It’s okay. You need to
stay calm or they’ll come back in and sedate you again.” Cole brushed his
fingers over her cheek as he spoke. “You were gone a while that time. Scared us
all a bit.”

“How long?” Gwen asked.

“You had been waking every few
hours but this time you were out for 3 days.” Cole brushed her hair off her
forehead. “The nurse wasn’t sure exactly what had set you off, just that you
were upset and she didn’t want you to hurt yourself. Even when the sedation had
worn off, you didn't wake up.”

“The babies… are gone.” Gwen
couldn’t help but let a small sob out as she spoke the horrible words. She
could see understanding flood Cole’s face.

“Yes, they are. The doctors tried
to save them but it just wasn’t possible.” Cole rubbed at his eyes, trying to
keep his own tears at bay. “It’ll be okay. We will be okay. We can try for
another pregnancy when you are better. The most important part is that you are
here. That you are okay.”

Gwen only nodded. She couldn’t find
any words to say. Tears just rolled down her cheeks even though she tried to
hold them back. Cole rubbed her head and held her hand while long moments
passed and Gwen cried and cried. Eventually, Gwen fell asleep again.

“Gwen, baby, can you wake up for
me?” Cole’s voice entered Gwen’s mind and she fought to push open her eyelids.
It was hard, but she managed. “There you are. Baby, there is someone here who
wants to see you.”

“Who?” Gwen croaked. “Water,
please.” Cole instantly grabbed a cup and put the straw to her lips so she
could take a tiny sip.

“McKayla would like to see you.”
Cole set the cup down on the table. “I’ll be right here the whole time, okay?”

“Okay.” Gwen lightly squeezed his
hand. McKayla moved up next to Cole.

“Hi.” McKayla spoke softly.

“Hi.” Gwen repeated back to her.

“Do you remember me? Cole said that
you didn’t remember either of us but you have seemed to be picking up a few
memories. So I was hoping...” McKayla reached for the hand that Cole wasn’t
holding. Gwen pulled it back.

“I don’t remember you at all. I
mean you look familiar but I don’t know why. The only thing I remember about
you is that we were fighting.” Gwen felt bad as hurt passed over McKayla’s face
when Gwen had pulled her hand back. But she didn’t know who this person was
besides that she looked familiar. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m sure the memories
will come back. I can wait. I am willing to wait for you.” McKayla smiled a bit
then turned and left the room. Gwen hadn’t missed the tears in her eyes though.