I wake up leaning against the old oak tree in Kevin's favorite spot. I look around confused and slowly get to my feet and start to walk around.
Where the hell am I? How the hell did I get here?
When I turn back towards the oak tree, I look on the ground. The gravestone that was once there is now gone. Disappeared into thin air.
Where did it go?
"Laney Lou." I freeze when I hear the voice.
I look around frantically to find him. He is leaning against the oak tree. He looks just like I remember him. Tall with brown hair and green eyes like mine. His dimples show on his cheeks as he smiles at me.
"Kevin!" I squeal and run over to him, jumping into his arms. I cry, and cry until I can't anymore. "I miss you." I sniff.
"I miss you too, Laney." He says wiping my tears. "Don't cry, sis. I am okay. I promise." He says giving me a heart warming smile. I've missed that smile so much.
I can't help but think of all the times I would have given anything just to see his smile again. Hear his laugh. And now I'm standing here right in front of him. Only this time, I don't want to let him go. I'm terrified that if I do, he'll disappear.
"Where am I?" I ask looking around at his favorite spot, refusing to let go of him and holding his hand in mine.
"You are in what we call the in between." He replies.
"In between? Am I dead?" I ask in confusion as I look around. It doesn't look like the type of place the in between would look like.
"Not quite. We don't have much time though, Laney. I just wanted to see you." He states sadly.
"Why?" I ask.
"I wanted to tell you a few things." He smiles and I give him a wary look but nod.
"Your daughter is beautiful, Laney. She looks just like you and has Ryan's sandy blonde hair and gray eyes. I promise I will look after her. Mom is helping me too." I stand there silently and listen to him, more tears are pricking my eye's.
Paisley's been with him and he's watching out for her. Mom too. That is the most comforting and heart warming thing I've heard in a long time. I've always wondered if they were all together.
"I love you, Alaina. It was never your fault. Don't ever think that. And don't you ever think of wishing you would have been the one that died. Do you understand me?" He states firmly and cups my cheeks in his hands.
"I understand and I love you too, Kevin. I miss you. I don't want you to go again. Please don't leave me." I cry hugging him tighter, refusing to let go.
"I'm always with you. So is Paisley, she wanted me to tell you she loves you and her dad." He says rubbing my back, giving a small kiss to my forehead.
"Tell her I love her, Ryan does too."
"I have to go Laney Lou. I will always be with you. I love you, sis. Oh, and tell Ryan I do approve of him, he always wonders if I would." He says and smiles, backing away from me.
He hugs me one more time and when he lets go, backing away from me. I feel the darkness start to surround me.
"Wait! Please! Kevin, I don't wanna go back! I wanna stay with you, Kevin! Please!" I scream and reach my hand out for him as he starts to fade away.
"It's not your time yet. You have to go on without us. We'll always be with you." His voice is practically a whisper and he finally vanishes.
And just like that, the meadow is gone.
[*]
I gasp and open my eye's. I sit up and notice I'm in the back of an ambulance.
My head aches and I reach up to feel a huge goose egg on the side of my head. I immediately wince when I touch it.
What the fuck happened?
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand up. Nothing hurts but my head so this is a good sign. I feel like I have a hangover from hell.
Nothing seems to be broken, as I pat my legs and arms over. I thought surely I would have more than a bump on my head.
I jump as an EMT opens the door. He is on older looking man. He stands there in shock as soon as he see's me standing.
"Ms. Stokes you shouldn't be getting up." He looks like he's seen a ghost.
"I'm fine, my head hurts that's all." I say. "Are you okay?"
He looks like he is getting paler by the minute.
"You were dead. Your heart stopped, you had no pulse. We finally managed to get your heart to start beating again five minutes ago." I look at the man in shock.
So I actually was dead for a moment.
"How can I almost die from a little hit to the head?" I ask bewildered.
"With a hit like you had, I don't know how your even awake, let alone alive to be honest. We didn't think you were going to wake up... For a long time..." I stare at him wide eyed.
"Just let me out of this damn ambulance please and let them know I'm alive and kicking!" I snap. He slowly nods and agrees.
He recommends that I go to the hospital to be looked at after giving me some heavy duty pain pills. I take one instantly.
I have no doubt Ryan will make me go get checked out before we leave for home.
Where is he? I begin to wonder.
He wouldn't leave me like this would he?
I walk out to the arena and bull riding is still going on. Ryan is no where to be seen.
I decide to go back and see if he's with Rebel. Sure enough he's there, sitting in the corner of the stall. He is crying? I can hear his sobs as I open the door.
"Leave!" He growls.
"No!" I reply. His head shoots up to meet my eyes.
"Alaina?" He gasps getting to his feet, grabbing me tightly in his arms as if I will disappear.
"Sshh.. It's okay. I'm here." I whisper rubbing his back.
"You were dead, Alaina. I saw you... I fucking saw you!" He sniffs. "They were shocking you, your heart stopped... I-I just couldn't watch it. I couldn't watch you die... I thought I'd lost you." He sobs.
"Never. I'm not going anywhere." I reassure him and caress his cheek in my hand.
"Please don't leave me. Please. I lost you twice now, I can't do it again." He begs.
"I promise. I won't leave." He put my hands in his and kisses me.
"I love you, Alaina. So much." He says putting his forehead against mine.
"I love you too." I smile at him. "So, how did I score?" I giggle trying to break the sad mood. He just chuckles and puts his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply as he tries to relax.
"Come on. I want you to see for yourself." I give him a weird look but follow him.
Did I do really bad or what?
Shit. I'm just glad to be alive at this point.
He leads me to the final scoring board. I about pee my pants when I see my final score. Today I got a score of 95.2.
Holy fuck! This has to be a joke. Now my score total for the past three days is 276.3.
Holy shit! I look at Ryan wide eyed. I can see a look of pride show in his face.
"Holy shit!" Are the only words I can say making him crack up. I look at Ryan's score and he has a score of 267.3.
"Alaina?" Ryan says quietly and I know by the tone in his voice what he wants me to do.
"I know Ryan and for you I will." I mumble answering his unanswered question.
"How did you know what I was going to ask?" He says turning me towards him. The look on his face shows he is surprised.
"I just do. I know after what happened to me, you want me to stop riding, and for you, I will." I tell him stroking my finger on his cheek. He smiles from ear to ear and hugs me, spinning me around.
"Thank you." He says kissing me deeply.
"Your welcome and stop spinning me. I just took a hit to the head for Pete's sake." I grumble and he sets me down. "Now lets get ready to sign some autographs." I say smirking and he groans. I can tell he is going to pout about this the entire time.
"Just so you know, after this is all over, I'm taking you to the hospital and getting your head looked at." He states and takes my hand, pulling me to follow him.
"Fine." I sigh defeated. I knew he was going to anyways. "Let me saddle up Rebel so we can get going."
"Why?" He asks.
"The little kids like him. I let them get pictures with him." I shrug and he smiles.
[*]
There are screaming girls all over. Giggling and smiling at all the decent looking cowboys around. I have to laugh at some of the married men. They all look uncomfortable trying to put as much distance between the women and themselves as they can.
Ryan is being bombarded by them too and looks very annoyed. He is scowling almost the entire time. I haven't seen him smile since this all started. I can't help but find it all amusing. Andrew is soaking up all the attention he can get and I'm sure getting as many phone numbers as he can and shoving them in his back pocket.
Some of the girls come over to me and I sign a few t-shirts and take some pictures.
I seem to attract lots of little kids, but I absolutely love them. I think I've put over thirty of them on Rebel's back.
The men on the other hand seem to gather around after the kids disperse, and I take picture after picture with them. I am nice and smile when I really want to smack some of them so hard and knock their teeth out!
Most are a little to touchy feely for my taste. Some of them are even slowly trying to grab my butt as indiscreet as possible. They have no shame at all. After about an hour the crowd begins clear out and everyone starts begin packing up there stuff and head home to their families.
I walk towards my truck, and get ready to hook up my horse trailer. I scream when I feel two strong arms wrap around my waist. I relax instantly when I hear him laugh.
"Ryan! Dammit! Quit sneaking up on me!" I demand trying not to laugh. He has always been so good at being quiet and stealthy. And he's always been good at scaring the living shit out of me.
"Sorry, old habits never die I guess." He says chuckling. I can sense something is wrong in his voice and I turn to look at him.
"Are you okay?" I ask as I look into his eye's.
"Yes. I just don't like all those men touching you. It drives me crazy. I want everyone to know you are mine." He states kissing me on the lips.
"I am yours. Always. I love you." He smiles and hugs me tight.
"I love you too."
"Come on. I need to load up Rebel for the ride home tomorrow." I say taking his hand.
"I'm coming with you." I look back at him with wide eyes.
"To Texas?" I ask.
"Yes. Wherever you go, I will follow. I have been away from your for three years. I won't do it again." He states firmly.
"Is that your way of saying you wanna move in?" I ask with my hands on my hips, trying to look serious. He gives me a worried look.
"Er... I mean, only if you want me to." He says rubbing the back of his neck.
"That's fine." I say laughing. "You really thought I wouldn't let you?"
"Why you little..." He says and starts chasing me, and I squeal running away. I don't make it more than twenty feet before he catches me in a hug.
"Lets go home." He says kissing my head and I can't help but smile.
Home... Our home...
I think I'm going to like the sound of that...