Nick
It had been over an hour. Almost two.
Why weren’t they telling him anything? Where was the doctor? And why—
“Nick?”
He spun around so fast he almost hit Stephanie, who’d come up behind him.
“They won’t tell me anything.”
“I know.” Her voice was gentle. “Come here.” She held her arms open, but Nick shook his head.
He couldn’t relax. And he definitely couldn’t let himself seek comfort. Not when he didn’t know whether Charlotte was going to be okay or not. She was in there because of him. It was his fault she was fighting for her life right now. Sure, Billy had pulled the trigger, but Charlotte never should have been there by herself. She never should have been running from him. The fact that it was his lie that made her leave, that had driven her right into Billy’s trap, made him sick to his stomach.
No.
He wouldn’t rest until he knew she was okay. And if she wasn’t—no!
He wouldn’t, he couldn’t let himself think that way.
“Nick?”
“No.” He shook his head. “She needs to be okay, Steph. She has to be. I can’t lose her.” He looked at his friend. There was nothing but kindness and understanding reflected back at him. “I love her, Steph.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t know. I love her,” he said again. “So much. More than anything in the world. It’s different with Amelia—I love her, too. But...”
“Nick?” Steph put her hand on his arm. “I know.”
He stopped and looked at her. “You know?”
She nodded.
“Like you know it’s not just for show? That somewhere along the way I fell for her?”
“Besides the fact that you already told me?” She grinned. “Yes. I knew. Right at the beginning,” she said with a small laugh. “I think you fell for her the first time you met her. But yes, I know. I think everyone knows.”
He let his lips curl up into a small smile.
“She’s going to be okay, Nick. She will.”
“She saved Amelia.” He dropped his head, at the memory of what he’d seen. How he’d found her like that. Unconscious, with the baby protected and loved. She’d gone to her. “Can you even imagine, Steph? What it must have taken for her to go to her?”
Steph shook her head.
The police had told them that Charlotte had obviously been in the altercation with Billy at the upper cabin before making her way to the main lodge—and Amelia. “What if she hadn’t have been there? What if she couldn’t have gotten to her?”
“But she did.”
He nodded. She did. “But how could she have—”
“Mother’s instinct.”
Mother’s instinct?
Yes. That made sense. She was the only mother Amelia knew. And now she might not be okay. All the doctors told him was that she’d lost a lot of blood. Maybe too much.
She had to be okay. And not just for him. But for Amelia. That kind of love…that was a mother’s love. Amelia needed Charlotte, too.
“Mr. Newton?”
Nick spun on his heel to see the doctor in a white coat with a clipboard.
“You’re Ms. Davis’s fiancé?”
“Yes. I am.” Nick didn’t hesitate. “Can I see her? Is she okay?”
Behind him, Steph murmured something about getting the rest of the family and she disappeared.
The doctor nodded slowly. “She has a long way to go,” he said. “And she’s lost a lot of blood. We’ve given her a transfusion and done surgery to repair the blood vessel and remove the bullet. She’s a very lucky woman. If the bullet had been even a fraction of an inch over, it would have hit some vital organs as well, and…” The doctor shook his head. “I don’t say this very often, Mr. Newton. But your fiancée, with the wound she had and the amount of blood she lost…she shouldn’t have made it. It’s a miracle that she pulled through.”
A miracle.
It was all Nick needed to hear, but the doctor was still talking. At some point, Jeremy and Charlotte’s parents arrived and were standing next to him. “She’s a fighter, that’s for sure,” the doctor said. He repeated what he’d just said to Nick for their sake, but Nick could only focus on two words. Pulled through. She was going to be okay.
“She’s sedated now,” the doctor continued. “But you can see her. She should be awake soon. But she’ll be very tired. So keep your visits short.”
He ached to see her. To hold her hand in his and tell her exactly how he felt about her. For real. Not because she was helping him out or they were just being casual, with no expectations. No. He was in absolutely, completely in love with her. With his whole body and mind. More than anything else in the world, he wanted to put his eyes on her and know for sure that she was okay.
But he needed to do something first.
“You go,” Nick said to Charlotte’s family. He didn’t miss the way Jeremy clenched his hands into fists, and he didn’t blame the man for being defensive of his sister. But he’d prove to him, to them all, that he was worthy of her. “I have something I need to do. I’ll be back.”
Charlotte
The pain was excruciating and she was so tired. But she was alive.
The last thing Charlotte remembered before passing out was holding Amelia. The baby was safe. That’s all that mattered.
It was the first thing she’d asked her mother when she opened her eyes.
“Yes,” Darlene said through tears. “The baby is fine. And you’re fine, too. You’re going to be okay, honey.”
Charlotte tried to nod, but it was too much. She closed her eyes and fell back into sleep.
The next time she opened her eyes, the pain was lessened. It was more of a dull ache. Her mother was still at her side, and her dad, too. “Dad?”
“Char.” He took her hand. “You gave us quite a scare, kiddo. But you’re going to be okay.”
They kept saying that.
“I’ll kill him, Char.”
Jeremy?
Her brother appeared behind her parents. “Who?” she said. “You’ll kill who?”
“Billy.” Jeremy spoke through gritted teeth. “If he ever gets out of jail. I’ll kill him for what he did to—”
“He’s alive?”
Jeremy exchanged a glance with her parents and nodded. “He is.”
“I didn’t…”
“No.” Jeremy chuckled. “You didn’t kill him. But according to the police, you knocked him pretty good. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
She managed a smile. “I’m pretty tough, you know?”
“We know, Char.”
Was it her imagination, or was that a tear in her brother’s eye?
“I’m really glad you’re okay.”
“We all are.”
Nick.
She couldn’t move quickly. Everything hurt too much, but slowly, she turned her head to the other side of the bed, and Nick.
“We’ll be out in the hall, Char. We won’t go far.”
She didn’t turn as her family made their exit. She was one hundred percent focused on the man in front of her.
He looked exhausted. His hair was rumpled on the top of his head. Behind his glasses, his eyes were rimmed in red. The scruff of a beard on his chin. If she wasn’t so weak, she would have reached up and grabbed it.
As it was, it was all she could do to lift her hand and drop it back down on the bed again. “Hi.”
“Hi yourself.” He took her left hand in his and threaded his fingers through hers.
His touch felt so good. Instantly, she felt stronger.
“Char, I’m…I just don’t know…”
She managed a small smile. “I’m okay.”
“But you almost weren’t.” His head shot up, his eyes intense as they locked on hers. “And I don’t know…well, I do know.”
She blinked.
“Char, I’m so sorry I lied to you about Amelia. It’s just that…I thought I could stop it. I thought I could…well, I didn’t think I’d have to tell you because I didn’t think it would happen and… I should have told you the truth right from the start,” he finished. “I’m so sorry that I betrayed your trust like that and—”
“Shh.” She held a finger to her lips. “Don’t apologize anymore.”
“But I need you to know that I’m sorry.”
“I know.” She didn’t have much strength, but with the little she had, she squeezed his hand. “I know you did it for Amelia because you love her. You’d do anything for her.”
He nodded.
“I know because I’d do anything for her, too.”
He laughed. “You definitely demonstrated that. You almost died, Char. You lost so much blood.”
“It was worth it.” She meant it. She’d do it again if she had to. But she sure as hell hoped she didn’t have to.
“She’s safe now,” Nick said, the laughter gone. “You both are. Jessica and Billy are both in custody, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure they stay that way.”
He squeezed her hand again and she looked down at their fingers twined together. For the first time, she noticed the ruby ring was gone. A tear slipped from her eye.
Nick quickly wiped it away. “Char?”
“I’m okay.” But she wasn’t okay. Her injuries would heal. But seeing her bare finger just made her realize that it was over. All of it. There was no more need to pretend to be something she wasn’t with Nick. That made her excruciatingly sad, because she wasn’t pretending and hadn’t been for longer than even she realized. She’d fallen in love with Nick Newton, just as hard as she’d fallen for his little girl.
“I need to tell you another secret,” he continued as he unwound his hand from hers.
“There’s more?” She couldn’t help but try for a small smile. “I don’t know if I can handle anything else.”
“Well, I hope you can handle this one.” He took a deep breath and pulled his shoulders back. “I’m in love with you, Charlotte Davis. Fully and completely. I think I’ve been in love with you from the first time I met you. I know it took me a little bit of time to—”
“What?”
“It took me a little bit of time to—”
“No.” She interrupted him. “Before that.” She blinked slowly. She needed to be sure she’d heard him properly and it wasn’t just the drugs playing tricks with her. “You’re what?”
He laughed. “I’m in love with you. Fully and completely. I may be slow to understand some things, but last night when I saw you and I thought…well, I couldn’t bear it, Charlotte. I couldn’t bear the idea of living this life without you. Not for one minute. I don’t know what I would have done if…well, the point is, I don’t want to ever know what it’s like to live without you. Because I am desperately in love with you, Charlotte, and I hope to hell you feel the same way.”
Fresh tears spilled unchecked down her cheeks. She nodded, but couldn’t find the words to speak.
“Does that mean that—”
“I feel the same, too,” she finally managed. “So much.”
She sniffed and swiped at her tears, but Nick just sat there with a smile on his face. “Oh thank goodness,” he said. “Because if you didn’t, it would make this next question really awkward.” He pulled out a ring box and flipped open the lid to reveal the ring.
The one she’d picked out before as the ring that would be her dream, her real ring. The oval emerald surrounded by tiny diamonds. The one she refused to accept unless it was for forever. She sucked in a breath as Nick started to talk.
“I’ve already spoken with your father and your brother.” She raised an eyebrow and he laughed. “Let’s just say that Jeremy and I have a few things to work out, but he wants the best for you.”
“And you’re the best?”
He smirked. “Hey, let me finish this, okay?”
“Okay.” She closed her mouth and tried not to smile—or interrupt—while he said what he needed to say.
“Charlotte Davis, you are the kindest, most giving person I’ve ever met. You’re braver than I ever could have imagined and the most loving, wonderful mother to Amelia. You’re talented and smart and sexy as hell.” He winked. “I am totally in love with every single part of you, and under no circumstances can I imagine ever wanting to spend my life without you by my side through it all. Will you please put me out of my misery and marry me for real?”
He held out the ring and she didn’t hesitate.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
He slid the ring on her finger, but it was the kiss he finally gave her that felt like home and promised forever.
I hope you enjoyed Nick and Charlotte’s story of coming together. However, there’s still one more surprise in store for this little family.
This bonus scene is exclusive to my newsletter subscribers. If you aren’t hanging out with me yet, click HERE to find out what happens with Char and Nick and their extra special surprise!
It’s finally time for Stephanie and Travis to come to grips with their relationship—or lack thereof. A decision to ‘just be friends’ simplifies things, but when a freak storm strands them together, it’s not only their willpower that will be tested, but their hearts.
Cherishing Happily Ever After is next!
And read an excerpt right after this!