{Chapter 35}
The early morning sun shone through the windows and onto the kitchen table in the Dylan home. Erik and Toni were tired but awake and Erik had Sandy on his knee. Katie was asleep on Adam’s shoulder as he fingered the brim of his hat. Jay was asleep in Aubrey’s lap.
Aubrey herself had not slept all night. The doctor wouldn’t let her back with Wade for some reason she didn’t know, and it was starting to tick her off. She had a right to be with her husband, even if they didn’t think she could handle seeing him as bad off as he was. It had been a long, sleepless night full of nothing but worry on Aubrey’s part. She had comforted Jay for some of it, herself for the rest.
It was unacceptable that she couldn’t see her husband in her own house. They were overreacting, every one of them.
She looked up when Wilkinson came from the back room and walked up the hall. She would have jumped up if Jay hadn’t been in her lap.
“How is he?” she asked.
Dr. Wilkinson looked at the floor. When he looked back up, he was smiling. “He’s out of danger.”
A smile broke out over Aubrey’s face.
“It’s going to be a long road to recovery for him, but he’ll be just fine eventually.”
“Can I see him?” Aubrey asked.
Wilkinson nodded.
Finally!
Aubrey gave Jay to Toni and walked down the hall. She stopped at the door before gently pushing it open. Wade lay on the bed with a white bandage contrasted against his bronzed chest. He was asleep, but there was more color to him than the day before. Aubrey walked to stand beside the bed and sat in the chair that was pulled up. She placed a hand on his forehead and found that he was warm. That could be simply because of his injury, or he could be sick. Aubrey decided that if he had been critically ill, the doctor would have told her. She ran her hand down his arm to clasp his hand in her. He had a reassuring touch even when he was injured and asleep. Aubrey smiled, smoothing his hair off his forehead with her free hand. She leaned over and kissed his forehead while a stray tear slipped from her eye. She leaned back in the chair, still holding his hand in hers. Wade’s soft breathing for a time only broke the silence, and then Aubrey got up and went to the dresser and the bowl of water on top of it. Taking a rag, she wet it and twisted the extra water out of it.
Then she turned around to see Wade’s devastating eyes pinned on her and a faint smile on his lips.
“Wade!” She grinned and rushed to his side. “Hey, stranger.”
Wade’s faint smile grew wider.
“How are you feeling?” Aubrey asked.
Wade’s face contorted.
“Been better,” he whispered.
“Well, you just lay there and rest. You need to get your strength back,” Aubrey told him.
Wade nodded a little bit, his forehead creased in pain. Aubrey ran her forefinger down his jaw line and smoothed his hair off his forehead before placing the rag she had wet over it. Returning to her seat, she watched Wade close his eyes, but he didn’t seem to go back to sleep. She rubbed the back of his hand and rubbed his arm.
Then, she figured that she had better notify the doctor that he woke up.
“Wade, I’m gonna go get the doc right quick, okay?” Aubrey stood and started to head for the door.
Wade’s left hand clasped around hers and held her there. She looked back at him.
“Don’t leave me,” he whispered even quieter than before.
His eyes were like pleading sapphire pools begging her not to leave. It broke her heart. Instead, Aubrey sat back down and called for the doctor from where she sat.
Wilkinson came back and opened the door.
“He’s awake,” Aubrey told him.
“I see that. How are you feeling, Mr. Dylan?” Wilkinson asked.
Wade shot the doctor a look that no one needed words to explain.
“I figured as much. I’ll give you something for the pain. Wish I could stay, but I’ve got a patient to get back to. Mrs. Holloway went into labor today. It’s gonna be a long day for me,” Wilkinson said as he pulled a bottle of laudanum out of his bag.
“I hope it goes well,” Aubrey said.
“Eh, she’s a tough woman. After seven kids they tend to get easier.”
Aubrey smiled.
After the doctor had given Wade the laudanum, checked his bandages, and given Aubrey orders for his care, he exited the room and left them alone again.
Aubrey sat back down in her chair and sighed. Wade simply stared at her, too weak to speak.
“So do you wanna hear what the kids put me through while you were gone?” Aubrey asked him.
Wade smiled.
“I’ll take that as a yes…” Aubrey went on to tell him all that Jay and Sandy had done to her. His brow creased at some parts, and he smiled at others. She told him how she had missed him every night and looked up at the moon just like he said. She told him about how the coyotes continued to scare her and how she would snuggle his pillow just to be near him. Finally, she told him how Jay had picked her flowers.
“It was the littlest thing, yet it meant more than any words could say. He’s turning out to be just like you, Wade. I can honestly say that I don’t mind one bit.”
Wade's eyes seemed to smile at that.
“When you get strong enough, you’re gonna have to tell me all about your trip. Toni told be some about Mark and how you got shot, but I wanna know every little detail, because I plan to listen to your voice for good two hours. That ought to make up for a few days, don’t you think?” Aubrey grinned.
Wade squeezed her hand. After a moment, his eyes drifted closed and he fell asleep. The laudanum had that effect on people. Aubrey sighed and held his hand tighter.
Finally, she stood to flip the rag around so he could feel to coolness of the other side, and she ran her hand through his hair. How she had missed him.
Leaning down, she brushed a soft kiss across his lips.
“I hope you know that you mean the whole world to me, Wade Dylan. I don’t plan on ever letting you go again.”
After she left the room, the faintest of all faint smiled tugged at Wade’s lips. If only he could tell her just how much he had missed her, too.
**********
Erik swayed back and forth while Sandy slept on his chest, breathing softly. He had missed his little girl. Watching Toni with Justin in one arms and Jay on her lap made him smile.
His smile was interrupted when Aubrey came out of the back room with her fists clenched at her sides. It was not like Aubrey to get upset, so she must have been really angry with one of them.
“What I want to know is why I had to wait all night long before I saw that man? He needed me and I wasn’t there for him. He didn’t say that, but I could see it behind his eyes,” she stated.
“Aubrey, if you could have seen him last night, you would have understood. In the condition that Wade was in, you wouldn’t have been able to take it. He was pale and in pain for most of the night,” Erik answered her.
Aubrey rolled her eyes. “A woman’s got a right to be with her husband when he’s sick and hurting. What I saw back there nearly broke my heart, you know.”
“Precisely, Aubrey,” Toni spoke up. “He was worse last night.”
“It couldn’t have been worse than what I saw when he first came in,” Aubrey said as she crossed her arms.
Toni sighed.
“I can’t talk about this right now.” Aubrey motioned to Jay. “Come on, bud. You can see your daddy if you promise to be as quiet as a church mouse.”
Jay nodded. “I’ll be quiet.”
Aubrey left and the four adults sitting around the table stared at each other.
“That’s not like Aubrey at all,” Katie observed.
“She’s just stressed out,” Adam said. “I’ve seen this before. Had a married outlaw in the jail once. ‘Gringo Kid’ he called himself. He got shot and his woman nearly tore that jail apart. I was surprised it was still standing when she got through.”
Toni shook her head. “She’ll be over it soon, I’m sure. I don’t know if any of us could have handled her if she saw how bad he was last night.”
Erik shook his head. “That’s all behind us now. What’s done is done.”
Toni sighed and nodded. “Maybe some of us will find normalcy again.”
The four looked at each other, but all of them knew that was unlikely.
**********
Dear Mr. Morris,
I hope this finds you and yours well and happy. You probably remember me as the young man you watched very closely every time I was around Katie, or the annoying Deputy Adam Sterling. Since I remember well how you hated dawdling, I’ll get straight to the point. I would like your daughter’s hand in marriage. I’m not the man I used to be. I’ve recently gone through an ordeal that has changed my view on life and how fragile it really is. I realize that life means cherishing every second of every day. I want to cherish those days with Katie, if I have your blessing. I have a steady income, and I would build a house before we were married so I could have a roof over her head. Most of all, I’d like you to know that I hold your daughter in the highest respect. She is perfectly lovely in every way, just the way you raised her I’m sure. I’m a God-fearing man and fully believe in putting God first in any relationship of any kind. I will treat Katie right until my dying day. I hope we have your blessing.
Sincerely,
Adam Sterling.
Adam sighed and stuffed the letter in an envelope.
“Business, Deputy?” Mr. Judd, the postmaster, asked.
“Yep,” Adam answered. “Business of the most important kind.”
“Hey Adam?” Katie stepped into the post office. “Have you mailed that letter yet?”
Adam held up the envelope. “I was just about to send it.”
“Wait a second and put this one in with it, will you?” Katie gave him a letter of her own.
Adam took it skeptically and placed it in the envelope as well. He sealed the letter and gave it to Judd with a penny for the stamp.
“There we go,” Adam smiled, holding up his hands.
Katie held up her crossed fingers. “My toes are crossed, too.”
Adam laughed at her as they exited the post office.
Katie smiled and she fell into step beside Adam. It was a perfect day in Sundance, with the sun shining and the streets not especially busy. Three days had passed since that day at Aubrey and Wade’s home. Aubrey heard that Wade was slowly on the mend, but that it would take a while for him to fully recover.
Not a night went by that she didn’t kneel beside her bed and thank God for sparing her life that day in the woods with Alex holding her and Brant holding a gun to her head. She realized that Life was too short to let it pass by, and she was glad that there was a chance she could live it with Adam. Even if her father refused her his blessing of their union, she would love him until she died. While she could never forget Ben and the tender love they had shared for a brief time, Katie knew that life was constantly changing, but there was one force on earth that never changed.
Love.
Love was the most constant thing there was. More constant than even the sun.
Life moved at it own pace, not hers, and she had no choice but to cling to the one solid thing she could have.
Thanks so much for reading! Means a ton! So now we know that Wade doesn't die! (hanna can breathe now) One of the readers was right, I didn't have it in me. I love him too much!! :) Thank you guys for helping me through this story, because I only have 2 chapters left!