Bad Luck or Fate?

Chapter 78

I wiped my hands on the chair before I grabbed her hand as she went to walk back to the vanity. I stopped her in her tracks and carefully turned her towards me. "Who said it isn't our time, Breckyn? I thought we agreed a long time ago that we weren't going to do bad luck anymore. You're right. This is our time and its what we make of it. Sure, we've been through more than anyone else but no matter how horrible all of those things were for us, they brought us here. Every single one of them brought us to where we are right now and they will carry us to the moment where we're standing in front of our family and friends, declaring our love to one another, promising to spend the rest of our lives together. This trip to Chicago is just another moment we have to get through but I know that we can. Lord knows we've been through worse and we've come out the other side still intact. It's going to be hard, I'm not denying that it wont be. This is going to be one more thing we have to fight through but at least we'll be fighting through it together." I squeezed her hand softly and looked up at her lovingly. "As long as you'll still agree to be my wife after all this." Breckyn's shoulders fell and she instantly knelt on her knees in front of me.

"I'm not that girl that walks away at the first sign of struggle, James. I wont break your heart and believe it or not, no matter how angry I get at the situation, I wont make you choose between what you love to do and me. I'm not cold. I'm not reckless. I love you more than anything. I will kiss you when you feel like you're at rock bottom. I will clean you up when you get hurt. I will stand by your side until you decide otherwise. And even then, I'll still love you, James. With all my heart. Nothing you could ever do or say would ever make me want to walk away from you. Trust me when I say that the only thing I long to do is to become your wife. You're right, we don't do bad luck anymore but that doesn't mean I don't think being cautious wont do some good. I'm not superstitious but I'll cross my fingers, knock on wood, wish on eyelashes, fallen stars, and birthday candles. I put a ridiculous amount of faith in a lucky t shirt and my favorite pair of jeans. Those are silly things to do, to hold your breath when you drive past a cemetery or to only pick up a penny if its face up. I don't believe in those sort of things but I do believe in the fear that consumes me when I think about the possibility of losing you. And if believing in luck at all and having something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue means that I get to spend the rest of my days with you, then its worth all the trouble."

I was wringing my hands together when she finished talking. I looked up at her and she smiled at me. It was the first genuine smile I had seen on her face since I told her the news about Chicago. I nodded and returned the gesture as I closed my fingers over the bandage on my hand. Breckyn noticed what I was doing and softly opened my fist. She looked down at the blood starting to seep through the bandage and brought her eyes back up to mine, the worry and frustration starting to radiate from her. "How is it?" I shrugged nonchalantly and moved my hand from side to side so she could see it. "I'll live." She gave me the look that told me she wasn't buying my tough act. "Right, well will you let me look at it?" I pursed my lips at her in defiance for only a moment before she raised an eyebrow as if she were challenging me. I sighed and nodded. "Not like I have much choice." I said, my tone thick with defeat. She softly chuckled as she began to unwrap my palm. "No. No you didn't because I was going to look at it regardless but I'm glad you chose the easy way to go about this. I would have hated to have to sit on you."

"Oh well, I should have held out a little longer then." I bit my lip and looked up at her as she tended to my palm. She looked up briefly and rolled her eyes at me before slipping the rest of the bandage off. She closed her eyes at the sight and swallowed hard before opening her eyes, shaking her head. "Oh Jimmy..." She gingerly moved my hand to where it was in the light falling through the window from the sunrise. "It looks like you don't have any glass in it, thankfully. This is deeper than I thought it was, though. We should probably call Drew and see if she can come out here a little earlier than she was going to. I know you don't like it, but you probably need stitches. If I ask nicely, she might do it for you here instead of having to go to the hospital." Breckyn palpitated the skin around the gash and I leaned back, my other hand squeezing my thigh to keep from showing the pain. "Does that hurt?" Too late. Of course, Breckyn would notice. I'm not even sure why I tried to hide it. She stopped moving my skin and looked up at me. I tried to smile as naturally as I could. "No. It's fine." She frowned slightly and pushed on the skin once more. I leaned forward and bit my lip. "Ahhh. Okay, fine, yes it hurts but.." I looked up into her eyes and softened my posture, letting my body relax and lean towards her as it naturally did at all times. "Not nearly as bad as not talking to you last night, not holding you, not saying I love you. This is like a paper cut compared to that."