Page 14 of Save You
“He left her a handsome sum of money, then disappeared without saying goodbye or thanks for the fumble between the sheets.” He shakes his head, now looking a little angry, which is a strange expression on this life-loving man. “Me ma was left heartbroken and pregnant. Like you, she fled from her family home, because back then, they probably would have thrown her into a ‘home’ for getting pregnant out of wedlock. So, she came here and used the arse’s money to buy this place.”
“Does that mean Sadie is only your half-sister?”
“Sadie isn’t my sister, biologically, that is. She’s my cousin.” My mouth drops open in shock because the way they look wouldn’t ever have had me questioning their relationship unless he had told me so. “Ma’s sister fell pregnant a few years later, but when her husband died, she also found herself with nowhere to go. She came here to live with me and Ma. Alas, she died during childbirth.” I instantly bring my hands up to my mouth to cover the shock of his and Sadie’s sad background. “So, my mother, being the way she was, God rest her soul, decided to bring the wee one up as her own.”
“Does she know...Sadie, I mean?” I whisper, just in case, prompting him to smile and place that warm, large hand over mine again.
“Yes,” he nods in affirmation. “To the outside world, Sadie has always been my sister, but Ma always wanted her to know who her true mother was. My point is, Rose, Ma took a lot of flack from a lot of people, simply because she fell in love with the wrong man. You are in an even shittier position because you never asked for any of this. I can’t stand by and let someone go through the same abuse Ma did because she decided to stand up for herself and her baby. Not on my watch!”
He then crosses his arms defiantly at me, making me feel small and like I’ll agree to anything.
“But, Tom, think about the bigger picture,” I try to reason with him, “you obviously have relationships with women.” He merely scoffs at my argument, which is apparently a weak one as far as he’s concerned. “And you might want to, you know, marry one day. What happens then?”
“First off, my relationships are casual, shall we say. The women I see are usually already married and come to me for something a little more exciting than their overpaid husbands can offer. What can I say? I have a healthy sexual appetite.”
He shrugs at the same time as I blush over his blasé attitude toward what he does, though he takes no note of it. Tom obviously has no shame over these relationships, and I would hazard a guess that if anyone else did, he wouldn’t care in the slightest.
“Secondly, I don’t want to settle down,” he says, holding up his finger to silence me as soon as I open my mouth to argue again, “and thirdly, if pigs started flying around in the sky and I decided I had found someone I wanted to marry, then we could sit down and discuss it. Right now, however, that is not a problem for our little setup.”
“I don’t know…” I twist the ring he gave me around on the table, still too anxious to give him an answer either way.
“I’m not suggesting any funny business; you can still stay in Ma’s room. Sadie has already agreed to go along with it, and I even know someone who can falsify a wedding certificate, plus get a new birth certificate for you. From now on, you are Rose Eleanor Hunter, daughter of Fred and Lily Hunter, born in Texas, USA, on the third of September 1954. Your parents moved over here when you were twelve years old!”
He winks, then rocks back in his chair, looking thoroughly pleased with his well-thought-out and water-tight plan. He then remains silent, as if in waiting for me to give him the right answer. However, I take a few more minutes of twisting the ring around on the table while I think about the implications, for both him and my baby.
“I guess if this makes things easier for everyone…and you don’t mind?” I look at him and he shakes his head, all the while looking dead serious. “Then, I suppose I would love to be your fake wife.”
Upon my answer, he turns his serious expression back into a wide, self-satisfied grin, and I melt a little.
“Well, a husband and father-to-be, all in the space of ten minutes!” He grabs my hand and kisses the back of it. “I never thought I’d be that good. Congratulations, Mrs Taylor!”
Beth, now
The beach finally comes into sight, and I feel my anxiety levels begin to drop almost instantly. The water is flat calm, a stark contrast to the nerves still bubbling around inside of me. The smell of salt on the gentle sea breeze has me melting over Bodhi’s tense form as he weaves in and out of Friday night traffic. I have no idea where he’s taking me, but the feeling of the sea being this close to me has me feeling nostalgic for better days; days when my life wasn’t under threat of being stolen away from me. When I wasn’t officially on the run. Bodhi’s beach shack and the road I would turn into for my house, have already flown past us as he continues driving toward a location of which, only he knows. I don’t care though, so long as he brings me to Xander, that’s all that matters. That and my mother’s safety. As far as I know, she’s still here, in my home, in the place I know Oliver will look for me first.
We pass through the town and out the other side of it, with artificial lights flashing before my eyes as Bodhi tries his best to maintain the speed with which we had escaped Oliver’s mansion. I cling a little tighter as he swerves around corners and accelerates over hills and past the ocean. We drive for what feels like hours and anxiety begins to rear its ugly head again, even though I know this must be all part of some predetermined plan. Bodhi said Doctor Sawyer had spoken to him, but had they already planned on rescuing me before he got to them? The other question playing on my mind is whether Doctor Sawyer told them of my current condition? Does Xander already know I’m pregnant with his child?
I would like to believe that it wouldn’t change Xander’s feelings toward me, but how can it not? Ever since he’s met me, his life has been flipped upside down. Now he’s going to be on the run and expecting his first child, all at the age of eighteen. How fucked up is that? I guess it takes two to tango, but he thought I was safely on the pill, all protected, and ready to go. What if he thinks I’ve cheated on him? What if he thinks it’s Oliver’s?
Before I have a complete meltdown on the back of Bodhi’s bike and end up flinging myself all over the road, he comes to a skidded stop behind some palm trees. It’s enough to snap me out of my spiraling fears and shake off my anxiety, if only for the moment. My breathing is still erratic when I spy two faceless figures leaning up against a small, black Honda; a tall one and a much shorter one. The ocean is crashing gently in the background, though I cannot see the water beyond the swaying palm trees.
The tall figure reaches me first with his much longer strides, just as I manage to swing my leg around to dismount the bike. I yank my suffocating helmet off before the tall figure, who I can now see is Xander, throws his arms around my chest and spins me off from the ground. I whimper with relief from seeing him, and nuzzle into his neck, inhaling his familiar and intoxicating scent. He breathes heavily and forcefully before pulling back and clutching at my cheeks between his large, warm hands.
“You’re lucky I love you, Beth Taylor, because I’m so fucking mad at you right now!” he gasps, trying to sound angry but then kisses me hard. It’s not sexual, it’s a declaration of ownership; I’m yours and you’re mine. “Don’t you ever let that fucker take you again, do you hear me?”
I can’t even answer him, so I just nod my head, still clasped between his hands, with tears streaming over my cheeks. I feel only relief to be back inside of his arms.
“You guys better get going,” Annie says with a strong tone of urgency, “it won’t take long for Oliver to find you, so go, now!”
She hugs me tightly but swiftly before doing the same to Xander. When Bodhi reaches me, he looks so serious, it makes me want to tickle him just to see him look the way he usually is; the carefree, happy-go-lucky surfer who took me under his wing when I had no one else. Instead, we look directly into each other’s eyes for a moment or two, silently saying fair well while telling one another how much they mean to us. His lips curl ever so slightly into a hint of a smile, just before we fall into a fierce hug.
“Take care of that little water baby,” he whispers in my ear, making me lean back and eye him with caution.
“Does he know?” I whisper back, gesturing to Xander, who is now walking toward us with a hint of panic in his eyes. Bodhi shakes his head with a now definite smirk on his face, allowing me to let out a long breath of relief. I know it’s only a short-term reprieve before I eventually have to break it to him, but now isn’t exactly the right time to inform your eighteen-year-old boyfriend that you’re knocked-up with his kid and about to go on the run. Bodhi’s slight nod tells me he is in complete agreement with this decision, then leads me over to the awaiting car where I’m tucked inside. The two men, my favorite two in the whole world, eye one another before finally shaking hands and slapping one another on the back in typical guy style. It’s enough to have my eyes glazing over as I watch them finally break apart.
With one final wave to Bodhi and Annie, as they mount his old wrangler, the trusty steed that had saved me from Oliver for another day, I watch as they speed off down the road. When I lean back, suddenly exhausted from it all, Xander places his hand on top of my thigh and smiles. It’s a relieved ‘Thank fuck, we’re together and safe’ kind of a smile.
“Sleep, baby,” he whispers, “I’ve got you now.”