Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
That launched into a retelling of the stubbornness of both Ellodie and Harvey.
“Two peas in a pod, those two.” Hall sighed in exasperation, then launched into a story about Ellodie as a baby.
I took the seat next to Ellodie and caught her leg and placed it on my lap.
She sighed and stretched out her toes, causing me to catch them with one hand and squeeze.
“Or, how about that time Ellodie told her first grade teacher she could speak a foreign language?” Hall laughed in delight.
I looked over at her with a raised brow. “You can speak a foreign language?”
Ellodie’s cheeks flushed. “Actually, no.”
“I feel like there’s a great story here,” I teased.
“It was the greatest,” Harvey admitted. “So, when she was younger, I used to curse. And when I would curse, I used to tell her to excuse my French.”
I started to snicker.
“When the teacher asked if she could speak a foreign language, Ellodie excitedly tells her yes. Then proceeds to spit out every curse word she’d ever heard Harvey say.” Hall’s eyes danced. “It was, by far, the funniest phone call I’d ever gotten from her school.”
“I can imagine,” I winked at Ellodie. “Looks like I can speak a foreign language, too.”
“I…” she started, but stopped when my phone rang.
I pulled it out, hope flaring in my chest, and saw it was Dad’s name on the screen.
I answered it on speakerphone by saying, “Tell me good news, Dad.”
“Great news,” Dad confirmed. “As of seven minutes ago, both men were apprehended at a gas station on the way to Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Darron Simpson resisted arrest, and he was shot three times in the forehead by three different cops. Dr. Brewn caught a round to his spine. He’s alive, but he can’t feel his legs.”
“Woo hoo!” Hall cried out, throwing her hands into the air. “Wish that man would’ve gotten shot in the balls first, though. Maybe suffered a little bit more.”
“Same,” Ellodie replied.
I winked at her, then said, “Keep me posted, Dad.”
“Will do,” he agreed. “Take care, y’all.”
Then he was gone.
I looked at Harvey to see him turn away, dropping his head to his chest, and placing both hands on the sink in a bracing position.
I turned my eyes toward Ellodie to see mirth shining in her eyes. “It’s over.”
“Damn right it is,” I confirmed. “Now we can get married, have a baby, and live happily ever after.”
“Now the only thing we need to figure out is how we’re going to be balancing two very demanding careers with a newborn.” She winced.
I squeezed her toes. “Let’s get you healthy, and the baby here, before we worry too much about that.”
She met my eyes and said, “Deal.”
Mental stability? In this economy?
—Ellodie to Quaid
ELLODIE
4 months later
“I’m just going in for half a day, Quaid Carter.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“You were literally just released from bed rest yesterday.” He groaned, crossing his own arms across his chest. “This isn’t a race.”
I narrowed my eyes.
I was, mostly, back to one hundred percent.
Or, at least, my new one hundred percent.
I’d found, over the last four months, that there were certain things that I wouldn’t ever be able to do again.
One was making a tight fist with my left hand.
It’d been shattered after Dr. Brewn had stomped on it. Though the bones were repaired, and all the tendons and muscles were about as good as they’d ever be again, there was still a lack of mobility.
Luckily for me, it was my non-dominant hand.
Also, lucky for me, I could move it. I could use it. I could grasp things with it.
The only thing I couldn’t do was use the same kind strength when using it.
Sure, that sucked pretty bad, but the physical therapist had been pretty sure that, over time, I would get some of the flexibility and strength back.
Until then, I did what I could.
Another issue I was having was the physical ache of my head.
I’d suffered a pretty awful brain contusion when I was kicked in the head. The headaches hadn’t subsided, though they were getting a lot better, and I could manage them a bit by listening to my body. And not forgetting that I was still healing.
The doctor insisted that it could take up to a year for my body to get back to normal.
Until then, apparently, I just had to deal with the headaches.
“Are you even listening to me?” Quaid grumbled.
“Yes,” I promised as I slipped my feet into my Clouds. “I am.”
“Feels like I’m talking to a brick wall,” he grumbled.
“Hey, losers!” I heard called from the other room.
My brow rose. “What is that?”
Quaid shrugged, looking slightly sheepish.
Hollis burst in, her baby in her arms, and handed her over.
Little Darlia cooed.
She was literally the sweetest baby in the world, and I just loved her to death.
“Where are you going?” Hollis asked, confused. “I thought we were going over…”