"With my life." I did and I knew whatever he had in mind would be for the best.
"Kat, I"m going to keep you safe. I need to go. Stay inside until I get back. I love you."
"That will never get old."
"It better not. I"ve been practicing it in front of a mirror since I was twelve."
When we hung up I had a smile on my face.
I went from playing with B, coloring, and watching cartoons, to looking for more lawyers that could take me on right away. My urgency was more important every single time I looked into her little blue eyes. Her safety was everything.
I finally found one that would see me at four that evening. Brooks would be back and take me. Since I needed to get out of the room for some fresh air, I decided to take the phone book down to the front desk. We climbed in the elevator and I let her push the down b.u.t.ton. She got a kick out of thinking she was big girl.
The elevator doors opened and I saw him right away. Bobby was standing there with Dave arguing with the concierge. "I know she"s here. I tracked her by her phone. Now tell me what room she"s in. She"s got a baby with her and a soldier friend."
The woman was very kind, considering his tone. "I"m sorry sir, there"s no one here by the name you"re referring to, and even if there was, I can"t give out personal information."
"I ain"t leavin" here until you give me a d.a.m.n room number. This is my wife we"re talkin" about."
I hit the up b.u.t.ton and tried to move out of the way before he turned to see who was coming out of the elevator. Our eyes met and he came running toward us. I held on tight to B and pushed the close b.u.t.ton. Sheer relief came over me when I felt us moving up. The only problem was that I didn"t know if he"d be waiting for me. I hit the emergency stop b.u.t.ton and frantically pulled my phone out of my pocket. The service was c.r.a.ppy, but I had one bar.
I dialed Brooks back, hoping he wasn"t meeting with his boss.
"Sergeant Valentine."
"Brooks, he"s here at the hotel. B and I are in the elevator. I hit the emergency stop b.u.t.ton. He"s going to hurt me. You"ve got to call the police. Tell them he"s going to hurt me."
"I"m coming."
"No! I don"t want you hurt. Please, stay there."
"Kat, I"m coming and you"re not going to stop me. Whatever you do, don"t let that elevator start moving. You hang tight. I"ll be there in less than five minutes."
"I"m calling the police." After I"d hung up on Brooks I dialed the police. B was starting to cry because she knew I was upset about something.
"9-1-1 what is your emergency?"
"I need the police. My husband, who beat me up yesterday, got out of jail and came after me again. I"m at the Hartfield Hotel on Weston Street. Please hurry. I"m stuck in an elevator and he"s waiting for it to open. Please, I have a little girl with me."
The operator a.s.sured me that help was on the way. Once I hung up, I never took my eyes off of the control panel. If we started moving, I was going to hit the stop b.u.t.ton again.
It was difficult trying to calm B and knowing she was upset because of how I was acting. "I"m so sorry, baby. Daddy"s coming to rescue us. He"s going to keep us safe."
My phone started ringing again. "Brooks? Do you see him?"
"They already called the cops on Bobby. Him and his friend left right before I came in. I"m pretty sure he saw me, though. I saw a trucks brake lights as I pulled in. Listen, they"re going to start the elevator again. Hang tight and we"ll get you out of there."
It took them a few minutes. Once we started moving, the doors opened and I was greeted by Brooks. He wasn"t alone. Another soldier in fatigues was speaking to the woman at the front desk and a police officer. "We"re going to make a statement and get some papers drawn up. Are you alright with that?"
I nodded and let him lead me toward the officers.
"Kat, this is my commanding officer, Ferris."
I smiled, feeling stupid for having him know my business. It didn"t help that I had a lingering bruise on my cheek.
"It"s great to meet you, ma"am." He turned his attention to B. "You must be little Brooklyn. You sure do look like your daddy."
I smiled when I saw the look on Brooks" face. He held out his arms and she went right to him, laying her head on him as if she knew he"d lay down and die for her. "You need to go give a statement to the officer. I"m going to go up and get our things. I"ll meet you down here in a few minutes."
I smiled and started walking toward the police officer. The man turned around and had already written a bunch of information down.
It took longer than I thought, but after him being arrested and then coming after me in public, the officer a.s.sured me that I"d have a protective order against Bobby within the next seventy-two hours. I knew I wasn"t out of immediate danger, but it did give me a little relief.
When I met Brooks back in the lobby, he was standing there holding B while talking to his boss. Our things were at his feet. I walked up and B leaned in for me to take her. "What now?"
"We go back to the base. I"ve got to fill out some forms and then we"re going on a road trip."
"A road trip?"
"Yeah. I"ll explain later." He stopped right before we got outside. "Give me your phone."
I handed it to him and watched him break it in half. "The thing about cell phones is that they can be traced by anyone. Bobby had an app on his phone that told him where you were. The second you turned your phone back on, all he had to do was follow the d.a.m.n arrow."
I felt like an idiot.
The moment we stepped onto the base, I knew we"d be safe. Brooks held my hand and walked me inside of a building. We waited for him to fill out papers, and then the two men led us to a vehicle. We climbed in and were driving to the other side of the base. I saw Brooks" truck and knew we were where he lived.
Once out, his boss started to pull away. I stopped him before he could go. "Thank you, sir."
"It was my pleasure, ma"am."
I followed Brooks inside and watched him filling his bag with more clothes. We were in a room with two twin beds, but it was on a floor that probably housed several of the same type. "So where are we going? Am I not allowed to know? Is there something you aren"t telling me?"
He walked over to B and picked her up. "We"re going to my parents, and before you say anything you need to understand that your safety is the most important thing to me. I"ve got seven days before I need to report back, so I can promise you that it"s not forever."
All I heard was where we were going. The room started to spin, and I felt like I was going to throw up. How was I ever going to be able to face them, especially once they met B?
Chapter 40.
I couldn"t remember the last time that I was so angry with Brooks. It was obvious that he knew it too. We hadn"t said one word to each other until we hit North Carolina. "I"m getting hungry. Do you want to stop and eat soon?"
I kept looking out the window. "I feel like I"m going to puke. Just get something for you and B."
B had fallen asleep and I knew she"d probably sleep for a good few hours before she needed to get out and move around. It was starting to get dark out and I knew the silence was killing Brooks. He reached over and put his hand on my knee, but I refused to look at him. "Kat, you can"t be mad at me forever, you know."
"Yes, I can." I shoved his hand away.
"You"re being a baby. We were going to let my parents visit next week anyway. Stop acting like you don"t love me anymore, because I know it"s not true."
Brooks had made the plans without telling me, because he knew I wouldn"t go for it. What he wasn"t considering was how upset I already was. I felt like I was running away, because my life was in danger. That wasn"t something that was easy to deal with. Then he wanted to take me to a home where I knew I wasn"t wanted. "I can"t believe you"re making me do this."
Brooks pulled over the truck and put it in park. "Look at me."
"No!" I kept staring out the window.
He put his hand on my thigh and started moving it up. "Kat, look at me."
I turned and gave him an irritated look. "What?"
"They miss you. h.e.l.l, they miss us. I left too, you know? This isn"t easy for me, but they deserve to know that little girl in the backseat. They weren"t in the dark about my feelings, Kat. They knew how I felt and they probably knew how you felt. We were kids, who wore our feelings on our sleeves. I"m betting they weren"t as surprised as you think that we ended up in bed, several times. After all, it is where you belonged anyway."
I hated when he had a point. "I"m still mad."
He touched my nose. "No you"re not. You"re scared, but you"re not mad."
We started driving again, except I wasn"t done with what I wanted to say to him. "I don"t think I like that you know what I"m thinking. A girl"s got a right to some private thoughts."
"Get used to it. It"s never going to change."
I decided to give up on being angry. It wasn"t going to get me anywhere when he apparently knew me better than I knew myself. "I think we should stop for the night and drive the rest of the way in the morning. We didn"t sleep good last night and could both use the rest before we see your parents."
"I don"t know if that"s a good idea. I mean, when we go to hotels, you get pregnant. It"s scary." He started laughing at himself immediately.
I hit him on the leg. "I should have never said anything to you."
"You know it"s funny."
"What"s going to be funny is when I don"t get my period in two weeks. Then I"m going to watch you crying."
He looked at me. "I won"t be crying out of fear, beautiful. They"ll be tears of joy for me." Then he added. "So, are we stopping at a hotel, or are you scared?"
I covered my face with my hands, remembering what it was like to grow up crushing on Brooks and dealing with his sense of humor. It also brought me peace knowing that we"d gotten back everything that I thought was gone forever, even the sarcasm. Every second spent with him was as if no time had pa.s.sed. "I"m not scared of you."
"You should be. I"ll steal your heart and you"ll never get it back," he promised.
"I gave it to you years ago, and I don"t want it back." I replied.
Brooks reached over and grabbed my hand. He pulled it up to his lips and held it there. "No matter what happens when we get there tomorrow, we"re a team. If something bad is said, which I don"t see happening, we"ll leave together, as a family. I promise."
"I just don"t want to see the look of disappointment on their faces. I"m already feeling that about myself. Being reminded of it only makes things worse."
"I guarantee that when we walk in there, and they take a look at that princess in the back seat, everything will change. Look at how she"s affected me."
In a few short days I felt like everything in my life had changed. Not only had Brooks come back into my life, but he wanted me. I couldn"t have felt more complete knowing how happy he was to be a father, and how he"d somehow forgiven me. "I hope you"re right."
A few minutes later, we were pulling into a restaurant that happened to have a hotel right across the street. Brooks ran across to make sure they had vacancies, while I took B inside to change her diaper and get us a table. By the time he came back, we were seated and I was looking at a menu. "I got us a room. Since you"re scared of getting knocked up, I took a room with one twin bed. We can all share, right?"
I c.o.c.ked my eyebrow and looked at him, knowing he was full of s.h.i.t. "You can sleep on the floor, I suppose."
"I"m just playing. I got a honeymoon suite with a vibrating bed. Bug"s going to love it."
I shook my head and kept looking at the menu, while he played peek-a-boo with B.
After we ate, Brooks drove us across the street and we headed inside to our room. Low and behold, it was a standard room in a regular hotel. Neither of the two beds vibrated, as I"d been told. Brooks tossed his things down and went into the bathroom. I heard the shower come on and knew he was getting in. Since the lady at the restaurant was kind enough to fill B"s sippy cup. She"d have enough to last her through the night. I got her little toys set up on the bed and watched as she pretended with them.
Brooks came out of the shower glistening with water, only wrapped in a towel. I couldn"t stop noticing the tattoo, and smiling from ear to ear every time I saw it.
He"d catch me and shake his head, having gotten it years ago and been used to it. I didn"t know if I"d ever get used to him branding my initial on his skin. He sat down on the bed next to me, looking for his boxer briefs. Considering that we weren"t alone, he turned around, and pulled them up. Once he turned back around, he was decent enough to lean over and see what she was doing. "Hey, bug. What are you doing over here?"
"Pincess." She handed him a little princess doll.
"Where"s her prince?"
B looked around and finally spotted the prince. She handed it to Brooks. He moved them all around and then made them kiss. B started to giggle loudly, so he did it again. She laughed so hard that she fell back onto the bed. He reached up and kissed her tiny nose. "You may look like Daddy, but you act like Mama."
He turned to look over at me and she jumped into his arms. I could tell she"d hurt his bad arm from the way he made a face, but he didn"t move her off of it. He endured the pain to hold her. B touched his nose back. "Nose."
Brooks touched her nose. "B."
When she went to do it to him again, she paused. I climbed up behind her and whispered, "Who is that?"
She smiled. "Daddy."
I could see the world light up in Brooks" eyes as he heard her say it for the first time. To be honest, I was quite shocked that she"d understood already. Though their resemblance was uncanny, it was difficult to explain who someone was to a child. I still didn"t know if she understood that he was literally the person that helped create her, but it was a start.
After he practically made her repeat it twenty times, they both settled into bed next to one another. I almost wished that I had my phone so I could snap pictures of them. As I sat there watching the two of them looking at a book together, I wanted to cry. Those two people were my entire reason for living. I"d never thought we"d be a family, and here we were making it happen.
It took her a while to fall asleep, and when she did, he came over and climbed under the covers with me. I felt those strong arms reaching around me and closed my eyes. "Are you excited about tomorrow?"
I turned and looked at him. "Seriously? My stomach is all knotted up."
For a short time he sat there watching me looking at him. I wasn"t sure if he was thinking of something encouraging to say or considering leaving it be until morning. "Do you have anyone that can run by and check on things at your house?"
"Yeah." I was glad he mentioned it. "I can call my old boss at the diner I waitressed at. She never really liked Bobby much, so he won"t be able to influence her into thinking I"m a piece of s.h.i.t."
"A waitress sounds like a hot job for you. Woman, what else are you hiding from me?"
I giggled. "I wasn"t an exotic dancer if that"s what you"re thinking. There"s no way dirty men are going to see me naked."
"I"d pay an arm and a leg to see you dance naked." He raised his eyebrows a few times in a row.
I rolled my eyes. "If I could dance, I"d do it for free, but we both know I have two left feet."