I wasn't sure what I was touching, but I could feel her soft skin. She was still warm.
"Be careful!" the medic said.
"America? Can you hear me? It's Shep. I'm here."
"Shepley?" a small voice called from the vehicle.
The paramedic pushed me out of the way. "She's awake!" he yelled to his partner.
The activity of emergency personnel around the car increased.
"Shepley?" America called, this time louder.
An officer picked me up off the ground and held me back.
"I'm here!" I called.
A small hand reached out into the rain, and I fell on my knees, crawling toward her.
I grabbed her hand before anyone could stop me. "I'm here, baby. I'm right here." I kissed her hand, feeling something sharp on my lips.
On her ring finger was the diamond I had planned to propose to her with--again--this weekend at her parents' house.
My bottom lip trembled, and I kissed her fingers again. "Stay awake, Mare. They're going to get you out of there soon."
I lay on the ground, holding her hand, for a few minutes until a firefighter brought over a hydraulic tool to pry open the door. The officer pulled me out of the way, and America reached for me with her fingers again.
"Shepley?" she cried.
"He's going to stand back a bit while we get you out of there, okay? Sit tight, ma'am."
The same officer from before patted my shoulder. It was then that I noticed he had bandages on his head.
"You're Reyes?" I asked.
"I'm sorry, sir. I tried to get us out of the way. It was too late."
I nodded once.
Chief approached. "You should let me take you to the hospital, Reyes."
"Not until she's out," he said, staring at the firefighters positing the tool.
With a single handle, the firefighter positioned two metal pincers near the door. The high-pitched whine of the hydraulics melded with the loud drone of the fire trucks.
America cried out, and I lunged toward the cruiser.
Reyes held on to me. "Stand back, Shepley," he said. "They'll get her out faster if you stay out of the way."
My jaw clenched tight. "I'm right here!" I called.
The sun had set, and floodlights had been positioned all around the cruiser. Covered bodies were lying in a line along the sidewalk, barely one hundred yards away. It was almost impossible to stand there and wait for someone else to help America, but there was nothing I could do but let her know that I was still close. Waiting for them to free her was the only option.
I covered my mouth with my hand, feeling tears burning my eyes. "How long?" I asked.
"Just a few minutes," Chief said. "Maybe less."
I watched them cut and pry the door off the cruiser, and then they worked to free her leg. She cried out again. Reyes's grip on my arm grew tighter.
"She is a firecracker," he said. "She wouldn't take no for an answer. Insisted on riding with me, hoping she would find you."
Chief laughed once. "I know someone like that."
The paramedic reached in with a neck collar, and once he stabilized her neck, he pulled her out, inch by inch. Once I saw her face and her beautiful big eyes looking around in shock and awe, the tears fell.
I stood a few feet away while they stabilized her on the stretcher, and then I was finally allowed to hold her hand again.
"She's going to be okay," the paramedic said. "She's got a small cut on the crown of her head. Her left ankle is likely broken. That's the worst of it."
I looked down at America and kissed her cheek, feeling relief wash over me. "You found the ring."
She smiled, a tear falling from the corner of her eye and down her temple. "I found the ring."
I swallowed. "I know it's a traumatic situation. I know that you hate that Abby asked Travis after the fire, but--"
"Yes," America said without hesitation. "If you're asking me to marry you, yes." She sucked in a breath, tears streaming from her eyes.
"I'm asking you to marry me," I choked out before kissing the ring on her finger.
Once the paramedics loaded America's stretcher into the ambulance, I followed Reyes into the back with her. She winced when we went over bumps, but she never let go of my hand.
"I can't believe you're here," she said softly. "I can't believe you're okay."
"I never stay lost for long. I can always find my way back to you."
America breathed out a small laugh and closed her eyes, letting herself relax.
America
"It's beautiful," I said, looking around Travis and Abby's new home. "Did you say four bedrooms?"
Abby nodded. "Two downstairs, two up."
I lifted my chin, looking up the stairs. They were lined by white wooden spindles and covered by newly laid taupe carpet. The wood floors were sparkling, and the new furniture, rugs, and decor had been placed perfectly.
"It looks like it's straight from Better Homes and Gardens magazine," I said, shaking my head in awe.
Abby looked around with a smile, sighing and nodding. "We've been saving for a long time. I wanted it to be perfect. So did Trav."
I twirled my wedding ring around my finger. "It is. You look tired."
"Unpacking and organizing will do that to you," she said, walking into the living room.
She sat on the ottoman, and I sat on the sofa. It was the second thing Travis had purchased since he'd met Abby.
"He's going to love it when he gets home," I said. "They should be here soon."
She looked at her watch, absently twisting a long caramel strand. "Any minute actually. Remind me to thank Shepley for picking him up from the airport. I know he doesn't like to leave you alone these days."
I looked down, running my palm over my round belly. "You know he'd do anything for you and Travis."
Abby rested her chin on her fist and shook her head. "It's hard to believe yours will be Jim's fourth grandbaby. Olive, Hollis, Hadley, and now ..."
"Still not telling," I said with a smile.
"C'mon! It's killing me not to know! Just tell me the gender."
I shook my head, and Abby laughed, only half-frustrated with my secret.
"It's still our secret--at least for three more weeks."
Abby grew quiet. "Are you afraid?"
I shook my head. "Looking forward to not being a waddling puffy incubator, to be honest."
Abby tilted her head, sympathetic. She reached over to the end table to straighten a frame that held a black-and-white photo from their vow renewal in St. Thomas.
I touched my belly, pressing in on whatever baby part was stretching against my ribs. "In about six months, you're going to have to move your breakables to higher ground."
Abby grinned. "Looking forward to it."
The front door opened, and Travis yelled across the foyer, his voice carrying easily into the living room, "I'm home, Pigeon!"
"I'll let you guys catch up," I said, positioning myself to scoot off the sofa.
"No, stay," Abby said, standing.
"But ... he's been gone for ten days," I said, watching her saunter across the room to meet Travis in the wide doorway.
"Hi, baby," Travis said, slipping both arms around his wife. He pressed his lips against hers, breathing her in through his nose.
Shepley sat on the sofa next to me, kissing me and then my belly. "Daddy's here," he said.
The baby shifted, and I sat up, trying to allow for more space.
"Somebody missed you," I said, running my fingers over Shepley's hair.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Good," I said, nodding.
He frowned. "I'm getting impatient."
I arched an eyebrow. "You are?"
He laughed once and then looked up at his cousin.
"Where you goin'?" Travis asked, watching Abby leave for the kitchen. She came back with two helium balloons on a string and a shoebox. He chuckled, confused, and then read the top of the box. "W
elcome home, Daddy."
"Oh my God!" I screamed before covering my mouth.
Holding the box, Travis looked at me, then Shepley, and then back at Abby. "It's cute. Is it for Shep?"
Abby slowly shook her head.
Travis swallowed, his eyes instantly glossing over. "For me?"
She nodded.
"You're pregnant?"
She nodded again.
"I'm going to be a dad?" He looked at Shepley, his eyes wide, a huge goofy grin on his face. "I'm going to be a dad! No fuckin' way! No way!" he said, a tear falling down his face. He laughed, a bordering-on-crazy high-pitched laugh.
He wiped his cheek and then took Abby in his arms, whirling her around. Abby giggled, burying her face in his neck.
He set her down. "Really?" he asked, cautious.
"Yes, baby. I wouldn't joke about this."
He laughed again, relieved. I'd never seen Travis so happy.
"Congratulations," Shepley said, standing.
He walked over to Travis and hugged him. Travis grabbed him, obviously crying.
Abby wiped her eyes, just as surprised as the rest of us at Travis's reaction. "There's more," she said.
Travis let go of Shepley. "More? Is everything okay?" he asked with red blotches around his eyes.
"Open the box," Abby said, pointing to the shoebox still in Travis's hand.
He blinked a few times and then looked down, carefully tearing the brown paper it was wrapped in. He lifted the lid and then looked up at Abby. "Pidge," he breathed.
"What? Show me! I can't move!" I said.
Travis pulled out two tiny pairs of gray linen baby shoes, pinched between all four fingers.
I covered my mouth again. "Two?" I shrieked. "Twins!"
"Holy shit, brother," Shepley said, patting Travis's back. "Way to go."
Travis choked, overwhelmed with emotions. Once words came to him, he guided Abby to his recliner. "Sit, baby. Rest. This house looks amazing. You've worked hard." He knelt in front of her. "Are you hungry? I can cook you something. Anything. Name it."
Abby laughed.
"You're making me look bad, Trav," Shepley teased.
"Like you haven't made a huge fuss over me this entire time," I said.
Shepley sat next to me, hugging me to his side and kissing my temple.
"Grandbaby number five ... and six," I said, beaming.
"I can't wait to tell Dad," Travis said. His bottom lip quivered, and he pressed his forehead against her belly.
"This ragtag family has done okay," Shepley said, touching my belly.
"We've done fucking amazing," Travis said.
Shepley stood, disappeared into the kitchen, and then returned with two open beer bottles and two bottles of water. He handed a beer to Travis and then the waters to Abby and me. We held up our drinks.
"To the next generation of Maddoxes," Shepley said.
Travis's dimple sank in when he smiled. "May their lives be as beautiful as the women who carried them."
I lifted my water. "You've always been good at toasts, Trav."
We all took a sip, and then I watched as Travis, Shepley, and Abby laughed and chatted about how amazing life had become, our impending parentage, and what life would be like from now on.
Travis couldn't stop smiling, and Abby seemed to be falling in love with him all over again while watching him fall in love with the idea of being a father.
For people who had struggled for every step forward, we didn't have one regret, and we wouldn't change a thing. Every wrong turn had led us to this moment, proving that every choice we'd made was right. We had cried and hurt and bled our way to happiness, the kind that couldn't be stopped by fire or wind.
However it had happened and whatever it was, we were something beautiful.
THE END.
Something Beautiful is my seventeenth published work. Just six years ago, I sat down to write Providence, and life is so different in the most wonderful way. The overwhelming support and loyalty of my readers have played a major part in allowing me to write seventeen novels and novellas in six years, and for that, you have my sincere thanks.
Thank you to my dear friend Deanna Pyles, who helped me mold Something Beautiful from page one. You'll never know how much I appreciate your excitement and enthusiasm.
A special thank you to Sarah Hansen, Murphy Hopkins, Elaine Hudson York, and Kelli Spear for helping me package the Something Beautiful ARC in time for Vegas. I was certain my last-minute idea was going to fall apart, but you dropped what you were doing and worked late hours under tremendous pressure to make it happen. You made one hundred readers very happy. Thank you is not enough!
As always, thank you to my husband and children for your endless patience and support. It's not as easy as it sounds to have a wife and mom who works at home, but you have to pretend she's not there. We've perfected our process, and I love you more than words can say for rolling with my strange schedule. I couldn't do this without you guys. I wouldn't want to.
Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.
Jamie paved the way for the New Adult genre with the international bestseller Beautiful Disaster. Her follow-up novel, Walking Disaster, debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Beautiful Oblivion, book one of the Maddox Brothers series, also topped the New York Times bestseller list, debuting at #1. In 2015, books two and three of the Maddox Brothers series, Beautiful Redemption and Beautiful Sacrifice, respectively, also topped the New York Times.
Novels also written by Jamie McGuire include: apocalyptic thriller and 2014 UtopYA Best Dystopian Book of the Year, Red Hill; the Providence series, a young adult paranormal romance trilogy; Apolonia, a dark sci-fi romance; and several novellas, including A Beautiful Wedding, Among Monsters, Happenstance: A Novella Series, and Sins of the Innocent.
Jamie lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, with her husband, Jeff, and their three children.
Find Jamie at www.jamiemcguire.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Tsu, and Instagram.
Jamie McGuire, Something Beautiful
(Series: Beautiful # 2.60)
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