Page 22

Six Months Later…

“How you doing today, my girl?” my coworker who had basically became my only friend asked as I walked in and put my bags down. We weren’t friends in the traditional sense, but we made sure we checked in with each other often.

I’d started a new job at the hospital working as a labor and delivery nurse. I was starting to enjoy the freedom making my own money gave me. It felt good to come and go as I pleased. I’d never had that kind of independence.

After having Tyson tell me how hard it would be to get into the field after never using my license, I started to believe him. It took me being completely on my own to realize I could do anything I wanted to do.

“I’m good, girl. Every time I come back from a session with Dr. Rich, I feel a little bit closer to finding myself again.”

“I meant to ask you how therapy was going, but I’m glad to hear it’s working out for you.”

“It really is. You know, I never thought I’d be one of those girls who advocated for therapy, but it has truly changed my life. I knew I had some things to work through, but sooo much has come up.”

“That’s how it is. You go for one thing and find out it’s something completely different that you need to work on before you work on the thing you went for.”

“Exactly, but it’s worth every penny.” I smiled before getting settled at my station for the day.

I’d been seeing a therapist since a little after Brian took me from Solo’s house and dropped me off at my own. I struggled with the fact that I didn’t even get to tell him goodbye. It hurt more because I didn’t know if that was the way he wanted it, or it was just how things worked out.

When I got back, the house I shared with Tyson no longer felt like home. Every room reminded me of some kind of trauma. The room reminded me of where he last hit me and the kitchen held memories of the anniversary dinner he came home to after spending the night with another woman. There was no amount of redecorating I could do to erase the years of pain I experienced there.

Tyson was all over the news for weeks after his death. Hearing about his murder being unsolved didn’t move me at all. I felt nothing about him being gone. The days after his death and up until his funeral was a blur. I felt like I was simply going through the motions of being the grieving wife because I wasn’t grieving, and I had long stopped seeing myself as his wife.

I allowed Tyson’s mother to take over the arrangements because although I wasn’t as hurt, she had lost a son. She deserved to say goodbye to him and mourn in whatever way she saw fit. Besides, I was only there physically because my mind had never left Solo.

Our last night together plagued me, because I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Solo had made the decision to separate from me. I understood what we had wasn’t conventional, but that didn’t make it any less real. Those were the things going through my mind as I laid my husband to rest.

After the funeral was done and paid for, I paid off the house and gave the rest of the insurance money to his mother. Despite raising a man like Tyson, she had never done anything to me, and I could tell the money was life changing for her. She couldn’t even believe someone would do something like that for her, which told me I’d done the right thing. I didn’t want anything from Tyson, and she deserved everything.

I was proud to hear she used the money to get away from her own husband. I never knew we’d been going through the same thing until she left. She had put up with Tyson’s father beating on her for forty years, but because she didn’t have an education or no money of her own, she put up with it to survive.

Although life alone hadn’t been great, I would be lying if I said it was all bad. I was gaining my independence and learning I could do hard things. I should have been happy with the life I created, but most days, it just reminded me of the one thing I didn’t have—the one person.

I was free both mentally and physically, but there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of what I’d lost. Rebel was off fighting for his country, and I had no idea what Solo was doing these days. All I knew was that he wasn’t checking for me.

“Paging Natasha Reigns to the emergency room. Please get here as fast as you can. Paging Natasha Reigns to the emergency room.”

Hearing my name over the intercom pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Oh my God. I wonder what’s happening down in emergency.” No matter how many times I got paged, I would never get used to the nervous feeling that filled my stomach. Getting a page meant someone’s child was in danger and that was something that always made my heart drop from my chest to my stomach.

“I don’t know, girl, but hurry. Go now. I’ll take care of your patient up here.”

“Thanks, girl. Make sure you pay extra attention to this one.” I handed her the chart for my special patient before rounding the nurse’s station.

“I will. Don’t worry, just go.”

I was all the way on the fourth floor monitoring one of my infants, so I had to take two elevators and run down countless hallways to get to the emergency room. I was happy I’d worn good running shoes because I refused to be the reason some family lost their newborn.

I hadn’t lost a patient since I’d been there, but I’d witnessed others lose them, and it was always the saddest thing. We were taught not to get too close to patients, but that was almost impossible when it came to babies. It was hard to watch a newborn in pain.

When I made it to the emergency room, the sight shocked me. Solo was standing in front of the receptionist desk looking as fine as ever, holding roses in one hand while the other was in his pocket. Tone was standing to his left while Rebel was on the right. My brother was dressed in his military uniform, and Tone was carrying rose petals that he’d clearly sprinkled from the door to where they were standing. There were even some sprinkled around Solo’s feet. The idea that men had thought of something so simple but perfect was cute.

I couldn’t help but smile as tears formed behind my lids. With all the time that had passed since the last time I laid eyes on Solo, I thought he’d forgotten about me. The fact that he was standing in front of me now proved he hadn’t.

Solo stepped closer to me before he spoke. “I know it’s been a while since we spoke, but I wanted to drop by and ask if you would marry me.” He said it so casually, his question almost didn’t register until he got down on one knee.

“Natasha Reigns, trying to be without you these last few months has been hell on earth. I don’t know how I lived all those years before I laid eyes on you, but I don’t want to figure it out. I’m tired of trying to.

“I wanted to give you time to come back to me, but you taking a little too long, baby. I want to wake up with you next to me every morning. I don’t want to ever fall asleep at night without getting some of that pussy.”

“Pause,” Rebel said from behind him, causing me to laugh.

“My bad,” Solo apologized before turning back to me. “But like I was saying, I want to wake up to you every day. I know you’ve been figuring your life out, but I want to help with that. Please say yes.”

“Of course, I’ll marry you.”