“I can do that.” Bruno grinned then. “I can definitely do that.”
“Um, Zach?”
I jolted, my eyes going to the nurse that had called my name softly.
Pru, Cheyenne’s daughter, was staring at me with a small smile on her face. “She’s asking for you.”
I gave Bruno a pointed glance, making sure that my position on the matter of her father was clear. At receiving the nod, I headed in the direction of the room where they’d put her for the time being until she could be transferred up to one of the overnight beds on the first floor.
When I passed the glass doors, it was to find her eyes barely open and staring at me.
I tried to grin, but I could tell by the look on her face that I didn’t quite accomplish it.
“I’m okay.”
I shook my head and walked right up to her, my hand catching hers.
“I don’t know about that,” I admitted.
She brought her hand up, and I could tell that even that had pained her.
I dropped down until I was in the seat beside her bed and then pressed her hand to my face.
“Don’t ever make me do that again,” I rasped, my lips brushing against her hand as I spoke.
She lifted her hand up and cupped the back of my head.
“I’ve already made a vow,” she promised. “I won’t ever run with headphones again. Next time, I’ll hear the cars and I won’t be surprised.”
I blew out a breath.
I knew that this entire thing was a fluke.
I also knew that I couldn’t hold this against her. She was a runner. She wouldn’t be happy running on a treadmill or around the track just so I could know she was safe.
Fuck.
“At least this way I won’t go through another pair of headphones that suck,” she tried to tease.
The joke fell flat, but I appreciated her trying to cheer me up anyway.
I also knew something else.
I wanted her. Forever.
If there was one thing that could scare me into forever, it was almost losing her.
When this happened with my girlfriend, I’d been freaked out. I’d been scared for her. I’d been mad.
With Crockett, she was in much better shape. I knew that she was going to be just fine. I knew that, no matter what, she would be walking out of here.
In all honesty, there was nothing to freak out about.
Yet, I felt like my world had just stopped turning.
When I’d gotten the call from Bruno, I’d stopped taking deep breaths. My chest still fucking hurt.
Crockett and Juniper were like night and day when it came to what they made my heart feel.
Crockett was, undoubtedly, my reason to breathe.
Juniper, although I’d cared for her, hadn’t torn me to shreds at the thought that she could possibly be taken from me.
Just the thought when it came to Crockett felt like someone had shoved their hands straight into my chest, grabbed my heart with two hands and squeezed.
“Marry me,” I ordered.
It was not a request, and she knew it.
“When?” she rasped, a small smile gracing those perfect lips.
No, ‘yes!’ no ‘oh my God!’ Just cool, calm, and collected Crockett. Even after everything that she’d just gone through.
“Tomorrow.” I paused. “Or, if you’re not out of here yet, then the moment you’re well enough to walk out these doors.”
Tomorrow was wishful thinking on my part. There was no way in hell after what she’d just endured that she would be walking anywhere tomorrow. Even if I wished for it.
“The moment I can walk out of here and stand for a good twenty minutes,” she agreed. “But you should probably go apply for a marriage license. I hear those take forty-eight hours to acquire.”
I pulled back so I could see her eyes.
They were shining with mirth.
“What?” I asked, feeling my heart start to swell at the look in her eyes.
She bit her lip and shook her head, seemingly refusing to answer.
“What?” I repeated, poking her in the side and causing her to giggle.
Then groan.
“Tell me,” I pleaded.
She bit her lip, then leaned forward so that she was close to my ear.
“I was thinking, ‘yay! The same penis forever!’” she whispered.
At that I burst out laughing.
“It’s not that it’s the same penis forever,” I teased. “It’s that it’s my penis forever.”
We were married forty-eight hours later, on the dot.
My parents were there. So was her coyote. As well as all of the family and friends we could fit into the room.
Her father wasn’t there.
I didn’t ask Bruno where he was. I didn’t want to have to lie to my wife later.
Instead, we all just blissfully pretended that he was in police custody, even though I knew that he probably was not.
Crockett’s siblings, however, were another story.
She hadn’t wanted to invite them.
Then again, even if we’d wanted to invite Rockett, she wouldn’t have been able to come. Not after shooting a man in cold blood.
She did, however, have a very good lawyer, Swayze.
I made sure of that.
The only real thing that was missing now was Zakelina. Though she hadn’t made it out of the hospital—yet—she would. And when she came home, she’d be coming to the home that Crockett and I now shared.
EPILOGUE
On December 29th, 1845, Texas allowed America to join it.
You’re welcome.
-Text from Crockett to Zach
ZACH
“Run, baby, run!” I cupped my hands around my mouth.
Even though it was likely nearly impossible for her to hear my bellow, I still yelled anyway.
A year and a half ago, when I urged her to follow her dreams of becoming a runner, I’d known that she would be a star.
I didn’t know that she would be quite this big of a star.
She was currently ranked fourth of all females in the United States. After her first marathon win, she qualified for the Boston Marathon. After her Boston Marathon second-place finish, she was officially sponsored by the shoe brand that she wore. A few weeks after that, she had to give up that sponsorship because she qualified for the Olympics.
And right now, we were officially running in the Olympics.
She was having a very good run.
I’m talking, the best that she’d ever had.
I grinned wickedly.
She was on her last half a mile, and I knew that she was about to take bronze at least.
That meant that she was third out of four hundred and eighty women.
Fucking. Third.
But she didn’t have it clenched yet.
She had a half a mile, now about one and a quarter laps, to go.
And there were about thirty women at her back running just as fast as she was now.
My heart was in my throat, and I felt vomit creeping up there right along with it.
My hands were shaking, and I was freaking the fuck out.
“She’s going to make it,” my dad promised.
“Yeah, Zach!” Zakelina screamed. “She’s gonna make it!”
I wish I had their confidence.
Seriously, I wish I did.
“She’s gonna make it!” my mother squealed, bouncing up and down with Zakelina, our newly adopted daughter, in her arms.