What truck did I step out in front of? Lacey wondered as pain shot along her left side. She moved, blinked and saw a figure standing beside her.
Vaguely she registered that the figure was calling her name, telling her to wake up.
“Don’t want to,” she muttered. Or thought she did. Her tongue felt funny.
Water. She desperately wanted something to drink.
Something cool and wet pressed against her lips and she swallowed, feeling the slight amount of water soothe her throat.
She wanted more.
She blinked again and felt the rest of her senses kick in. She sniffed. A hospital.
Her fingers twitched and moved, feeling the sheet. And a bed. She was in a hospital bed. Why?
“Mom? Come on, Mom, time to wake up.”
Bethany called her. She had to wake up, her daughter needed her.
That last thought was enough to force her eyelids up and open.
And there stood Bethany.
It all came back to her in a terrifying rush.
“Bethany,” she whispered.
“Hey, Mom.”
“You’re okay.” Something wet splashed on her hand.
“Don’t cry, Bethany, I’ll be fine.”
“Umm, that wasn’t me.”
With a start, Lacey realized the water had come from the other side. She rolled her head on the pillow to come face-to-face with Mason.
His hands gripped hers and he gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. He blinked and she saw the moisture there.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey.”
Bethany stood. “I’m going to go down to the cafeteria and tell Grandma and Grandpa you’re okay.”
Her daughter leaned over and gave her a gentle hug, avoiding contact with her left side. Lacey snagged her hand. “You’re really here? You’re all right?”
“Yeah, Mom, I’m fine.”
“Okay.”
Bethany exited the room leaving her alone with the man she’d never fallen out of love with.
He looked haggard, worn out. And oh, so good.
“I almost lost you again,” he stated in a hoarse voice.
“Aw, I wasn’t going anywhere,” she tried to joke.
It fell flat.
“You almost got yourself killed.”
“But Bethany’s fine, so it’s all good.” She grimaced.
“Who shot me?”
He sighed. “Janice’s gun went off when you tackled her, so technically Janice did.”
“What happened to Janice?”
“Daniel shot her. She died at the scene.”
Lacey gasped, then winced at the pain in her side. Tears welled for her old friend, for the girl she grew up with, not the woman she’d become. “I’m so sorry.”
“She let anger and bitterness rule her heart for so long that eventually there wasn’t room for anything else. I’m not going to let that happen to us again.” He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I love you, Lacey,” he whispered. “I always have. I was a fool to believe Daniel over you.”
Emotion clogged her throat. How she’d longed to hear those words from him. “I love you, Mason, I really do. Can you forgive me for keeping Bethany from you? For making you miss the first fifteen years of her life?”
“I already have. Can you forgive me for being an immature jerk who wouldn’t listen?”
“Yeah.” She blinked at another onslaught of tears. “I can do that.”
Mason leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips. “As soon as you’re better, will you marry me?”
She couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. “I’ll have to ask Bethany, but if she says it’s okay, then I would love to.”
“Bethany says yes.”
Mason and Lacey jerked their gaze to the girl who stood in the doorway with a sheepish look on her face. “Sorry. I was coming back to get my purse and couldn’t help but overhear.” She gestured to the small bag and Lacey shook her head.
“How in the world did you manage to hold on to that thing all this time?”
A serious expression crossed Bethany’s face as she walked over to pick up the purse. She opened it and pulled out a picture. Turning it around, she showed it Lacey. Stunned, Lacey realized it a picture of the two of them taken at the beach two years ago.
“Because the only way I could stay strong was to look at this and remember why I was running. Why I had to stay away from you.” Tears started to drip down her cheeks, and Mason grabbed a tissue from the box by the bed.
He handed it to her then offered her a hug. “You did good, Bethany. You did real good, okay?”
“Yeah,” she whispered. She stepped back from his embrace and in a more chipper voice, asked, “So, what’s my role in this whole wedding thing?”
Mason took her hand and smiled down at her. “Daughter of the groom.”
Lacey motioned them next to her, then moved closer and she took Bethany’s other hand. “And daughter of the bride.”
“The missing piece of the puzzle?”
“No way,” Mason said. “The last piece of the puzzle. The piece that makes the picture complete.”
She grinned at her parents. “I like that.”
They all did.
* * * * *