“It’s beautiful,” I rasped, overwhelmed by the direction this evening had taken.
He placed it on my ring finger; it was a bit big, but that could be easily fixed.
“When did she give this to you?” I asked in awe as I admired my new ring.
“When I was visiting,” he explained. “We talked about you, a lot. She knew before I’d even told her that I had someone to get back to,” he whispered, his voice deep with emotion.
I looked up at him with surprise. “You’ve had this ring since you got back?”
He grasped my upper arms, stooping low so he could meet my eyes. “I came back for you, baby, but, I also left for you, too. When I came back, I knew it was a forever thing for me. I just needed to make sure it was the same for you.”
“It’s always been forever for me,” I replied quietly.
He wrapped me up in his arms, my cheek planted on his chest and we swayed slightly, nearly dancing to a beat all our own.
I’d never felt happier in my entire life.
Chapter 20
“You look so good, Etts,” I told my friend sincerely as I sat by her bedside the next morning. Sal had driven us to the hospital and was talking with Mack in the waiting room.
“Really good,” Connie nodded in agreement.
All my girls were here, including Sophie who had driven over with Connie. We’d all embraced her like a pack of big sisters and she was slowly warming to us more and more every day.
Ettie was sitting up, her petite frame swallowed by the large bed. Her dark curly hair hung in the same chaos I always associated with her, and her eyes shone far brighter than I expected.
“Thanks,” she replied. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck, but it could have been worse. So much worse,” she grimaced.
“Do you feel ready to talk about it?” I asked quietly.
She bit her lip and looked out the window, a ponderous expression on her heart-shaped face. “Parker grabbed me from our driveway. Mack is so pissed because he was right inside. He ran in to grab something and I’d headed out to the car,” she recalled.
I winced at how much Mack must be blaming himself needlessly for that.
“Anyway, he threw me into the back of an SUV and put me out with something. When I came to, I was tied to a chair in some stockroom. It was pitch black.” Her chin quavered a bit and I reached over to grab her hand.
“They never came back,” she shook her head, looking down at the fingers twined in her lap. “And I know in so many ways that was by far the best case scenario. But more than two days in the dark made me nearly insane,” she admitted. “I was starving and so thirsty.” Tears started sliding down her cheeks. “And when our guys found me, I’d…I’d pissed myself,” she said quietly, her cheeks flaming.
“Oh, honey. I’m sure they didn’t even notice,” Scarlet cut in from her chair on the other side of Ettie’s bed.
Ettie nodded, still sniffling. Then she looked up at me. “Mack told me what you guys did to try to help, thank you,” she whispered.
“It was nothing,” I replied honestly. “I’d have done much more,” I assured her.
She smiled then, a genuine smile that lit her face and my heart settled a bit at the sight.
Scarlet gasped then as her eyes zeroed in on my hand. “Whatis that!” she exclaimed, standing up and moving to me, ripping my hand from Ettie’s and holding it up.
All the other girls gasped as well, and I blushed sheepishly. “A ring,” I replied. When they all continued to stare at me expectantly I held my hands up as though to ward them off. “Today should be about Ettie,” I tried to argue.
“Fuck that,” Ettie cut in, sitting up straighter and making a grab for my hand. “I’m sick to death of me.”
I laughed and squeezed her hand. “He asked me last night,” I shared, unable to contain my wide smile so big it nearly hurt. “It was his grandma’s ring,” I added.
“It’s beautiful,” Scarlet murmured, her eyes filling with tears.
“Oh, now, none of that,” I said.