Just Breathe Trilogy Box Set (130 page)

Today, Nathan and Jared are over at the house, sharing with me all the stuff they have planned for the wedding and revealing the beautiful, sky-blue fabric for the dresses Nathan’s making for Maggie and me. I have to hand it to them, even with all of the left-handed questions I throw their way, these guys have everything taken care of for their wedding. I shouldn’t be surprised. They’re both smart and they’ve enlisted help from people who can make things happen.

“So, are you excited?” Nathan asks, beaming from ear to ear as he holds Jasper in his lap.

Jared gives him a scolding look and I eye them both for a minute.

“About what?” I check.

“About Joe Jr.,” Nathan explains.

“Yes,” I say with a giggle. “I’m excited, terrified and so many other things which change from minute to minute throughout each day.”

“You’ll make an amazing mom, you know that, right?” Jared comments.

“Yeah,” I huff half-heartedly.

“You’ve had practice with Sadie and Jasper,” Nathan comments.

“And Jade, Rey and Jet,” Jared adds.

“Yeah,” I say. “But, dogs are different than kids.”

“True,” Jared agrees.

“Can you believe how fast little Gabby and Henry are growing?” Nathan states. “I can’t believe it. They’re just over a month old now and they look like they’ve doubled in size. I mean, I got worried when they lost a little weight at first, but Kim said that that’s normal for babies. I don’t remember Jade, Jet or Rey doing that.”

“You weren’t really around as much,” Jared reminds.

“True,” Nathan confirms.

“Do you have everything you need?” Jared inspects.

“For what?” I ask.

“For Joe Jr.,” Jared explains.

“Yes,” Joe confirms, entering the patio area. “We even have multiples of several things beyond clothes, diapers and bottles, just in case.”

“Hey, man,” Jared and Nathan greet at the same time.

“Hi,” Joe replies, hugging them both. “You guys staying for lunch?”

“Sure,” Jared answers.

The four of us hang out with Sadie and Jasper in the back yard, enjoying the warmth of the mid-September afternoon. Jared and Nathan fill Joe in about some of the wedding things they shared with me and their discussions go into other topics. They both stay well into the evening and end up having dinner with us too — not that I mind.

A few days later, as I’m having the staff assist with bringing in some of the last few items Joe and I purchased for Joe Jr., I’ve gone through buying and returning several items already, I get a call from an unknown number.

“Hello?” I greet, answering it only because it’s a local phone number.

“Hello,” the voice on the other end returns. “Is this Ms. Emma Peterson?”

“Who’s calling?” I press sternly.

“This is nurse Angela, from the UCLA Medical center in Santa Monica. I’m calling in regards to a Jared Welsh. You’re listed as an emergency contact for him,” she notifies.

My heart stops beating in my chest as my ears begin to ring.

“Hello?” the voice calls sluggishly. “Hello?”

“Yes,” I mumble. “Yes. I’m Emma . . . Emma Peterson. What happened? Is he okay?”

“Emma?” Joe’s voice calls in a low, muddied way.

My ears strain to hear the nurse’s response. “He’s okay, but you’ll want to come in. There was an incident. We tried calling his fiancé, Nathan, but we were unable to reach him.”

“Emma?” Joe calls again.

“I’ll be right there,” I answer harshly, clearing my throat that is suddenly dry. “I’ll be right there.”

“Emma? What’s going on?” Joe inspects.

“Jared,” I answer as my eyes glaze over.

“What about Jared? Is he okay? What’s wrong, beautiful?” Joe pushes for more information.

“I . . . I don’t know,” I mutter. “The nurse said that I need to go to the hospital.”

“The hospital?” Joe repeats. “Is he okay?”

“I . . . I don’t know,” I comment. “She tried to get a hold of Nathan, but couldn’t reach him. I’m not surprised. He had several big meetings today while Jared and Pop-Pop were working on some Naturally Me stuff.”

“I’ll grab our things and we’ll go,” Joe says, standing. “We can call everyone once we’re in the car.”

“Yeah,” I answer, but my body doesn’t move.

Joe coaxes me to step forward with his hand on the small of my back. As my mind races with all of the possibilities of what’s happened to Jared, I see Joe, Anna and the rest of our staff scurrying around to get things. A few minutes later, Anna, Joe, Sadie, Jasper and I are in the car and on our way. I sit in silence, holding Jasper while staring at the back of the seat in front of me when I hear Joe’s voice faintly.

“Emma?”

“Hmm?”

“Emma?”

“Yeah? What?” I say, snapping my head in the direction of Joe’s voice.

“I’ve left a message for Nathan, spoke with Pop-Pop and Henry, and they’re letting everyone else know,” Joe mentions.

“Okay,” I return.

“He’s going to be okay, beautiful,” Joe soothes.

“Mm hm,” I hum, not sure if what’s occurring is really happening.

An agonizing hour and half later we arrive at the hospital. This is one of the times I curse the number of people who live in the state of California and who all need to learn how to carpool. Once checking in at the main desk, a nurse leads Joe and myself through a few hallways back through the emergency room — Sadie and Jasper stay with Anna and a few of our bodyguards in the car. At the next desk, we’re informed that Jared’s been moved to his own room. Zig-zagging through more long, bleak corridors, we arrive to Jared’s room.

As I’m about to open the door, Joe takes my arm and tugs me back.

“What are you doing?” I ask heatedly.

“Emma,” Joe says with pain in his eyes. “You need to be calm.”

“I am calm,” I snap.

“Emma,” Joe calls lovingly. “He’s not going to look good from what the nurses said. You need to be prepared . . . the stress won’t be good for you or the baby.”

“I’m fine,” I challenge.

“Emma, you and I both know you’re not fine right now,” Joe debates. “Look at you. You’re angry at me for wanting to help.”

“I’m not angry,” I say through a clenched jaw.

“Before I let you in there,” Joe instructs. “You need to do some tapping.”

“Excuse me?” I question angrily.

“You heard me,” Joe says sternly.

I take a deep breath. “Fine,” I reply, not really wanting to acknowledge that he’s completely right at the moment. I go through several of the techniques quickly, wanting, no, needing to see Jared. I feel better, but I know that I’ll need to do more later to make the emotions boiling under the surface to go away.

My chest aches and tears flood my eyes when I see Jared sleeping in the bed as we enter the room. His lip is swollen, with a gash in it, his right eye is swelled and bruised and he has bandages along his arms. “Jared,” I mumble, scared to wake him and afraid to know what’s happened.

“Hey,” Jared greets, opening his eyes and attempting a smile for Joe and me.

“Hey, man,” Joe greets as I collect myself. “Heard you had to beat off some crazy fans.”

“What?” I gasp.

“He’s kidding, Emma,” Jared chuckles with a cough.

“What happened?” I inspect, realizing that if anything was said, I missed it in my haze.

“I got jumped,” Jared answers.

“What?! Why?! Who?!” I press.

“I’m not sure what,” Jared laughs. “The who? Don’t really know that other than in the why which is they were homophobes. I know that by what they were saying to me.”

“What were they saying?” I request.

“It’s not important,” Jared states.

“How is it not important?” I snap.

“Emma?” Joe calls.

I flick my hand in the air, dismissing his attempt to keep me calm while Jared shifts in the bed.

“Careful, Emma,” Jared teases. “If you get yourself worked up, Joe won’t let you stay in here.”

I glare at Joe, wanting to see if there’s any truth to Jared’s statement — I find a hint to it in Joe’s eyes.

“Relax,” Jared encourages.

“Relax?! Relax?!” I snap. “How the fuck can I relax knowing that my best friend, my brother, has just been jumped by a homophobe and is in the hospital because of it.”

“Three,” Jared states.

“Three? Three what?” I check.

“There were three of them,” Jared confirms.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No,” Jared returns.

“I have every right to be mad and not to relax since there was
three
of them,” I justify.

“Trust me,
Kitten
,” Jared says. “Relax. They’re worse than me.”

It takes a second for Jared’s words to sink in. “What?”

“They had nothing on me other than the initial element of surprise,” Jared comments. “Once I got my bearings, I handled them. I know how to defend myself, remember?”

“Where are they?” I press.

“What do you mean?” Joe checks.

“Where are the men who attacked you?” I search.

“They’re here . . . somewhere,” Jared reveals.

Venom spreads throughout my veins. “Where?”

“Settle down,
Kitten
,” Jared coaxes. “Like I said. They’re a lot worse.”

“Hi, kids,” Pop-Pop greets, walking into the room with some coffee.

“Hi,” Joe and I reply at the same time.

“Did you know they’re here?” I ask, looking to Pop-Pop.

“Emma,” Joe calls sternly.

“Them. They guys who did this to Jared?” I continue.

“Emma,” Joe calls more authoritatively, distracting me enough to where I’m suddenly turned on.

“What?” I snap.

“If you can’t get a hold of yourself, we’re going home,” Joe declares.

“Back off,” I snap.

“Trust me, Emma,” Pop-Pop begins, “Jared did a number on the four guys who did that to him aside from what the bodyguards eventually did when they got to help.”

“Four?” I say, raising my voice and looking to Jared. “You said three.”

“Did I?” Jared answers with a grin.

I wipe my hands over my face and then move to sit down on the closest chair. “How many really?” I inspect.

“Four,” Jared confirms.

“Two are still in ICU, if that makes you feel any better, Emma,” Pop-Pop shares calmly with an erie smile.

A pleased chuckle and a small smile emanates from me at Pop-Pop’s news.

“Have you heard from Nathan yet?” Pop-Pop checks.

“No,” Joe verifies.

“Where were your bodyguards?” I snap.

“They were with me, just not right there when it all first went down,” Jared shares.

“He put up a great fight,” Ryan, one of Jared’s bodyguards states, who’s been sitting in the far corner of the room the whole time. “We barely had to do anything once we realized what was happening.”

“Why the fuck weren’t you there?” I sneer, glowering at him.

“Emma,” Joe calls.

I ignore Joe’s plea.

“I was in the bathroom when it happened, Emma,” Jared defends. “They don’t go in with me when I need to pee, you know.”

I shake my head in disbelief, hoping that this is all a dream.

“Stephan heard the commotion first and radioed for us the minute he saw what was happening,” Ryan states. “Apparently, Jared had two of them almost completely knocked out.”

Within two hours of getting to the hospital, the rest of our family, including the Nelsons and all of Maggie’s family are with us. Jared’s in a private room, which gives us a little more flexibility to have more people than are really allowed all together with Jared — we’re beyond the capacity limit. Sadie’s allowed into the hospital since Joe remembered to bring her service dog vest. Maggie hands Jared the babies when he claims that he’s capable of holding them. Jade assists as Rey and Jet play on the floor with Sadie. As everyone seems distracted, I turn to see if I can sneak out to find where the attackers are to get a look at them.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Joe asks, scaring me as I round the first corner down the hallway.

“I need to pee,” I lie.

“Right,” Joe muses. “You really think I don’t know you, Emma?”

“What?” I say.

“I know you,” Joe repeats. “I know that you want to get a look at the guys who attacked Jared. That you want to see how badly he hurt them defending himself and . . . possibly, if you can or will do something to seek revenge.”

“No,” I half lie.

“Emma,” Joe says, taking my hands. “This is Jared’s battle, not yours. You need to let him fight it on his own terms.” My mouth opens to speak, but Joe continues, “Jared can handle himself. He proved that tonight by taking on four grown men who, if he didn’t know how to defend himself, could could have killed him.”

My throat tightens at the thought.

“But, he’s not,” Joe states. “He’s alive and well. A little beat up, but nothing he can’t recover from. He’s come a long way, and the way in which he’s handling all of this just goes to show how much influence you and your friends and all the family he has in that room have impacted him. He’s not phased by what happened. You need to let him do this on his own unless he asks for help or accepts it when you offer it.”

“But, he’s my family,” I challenge, choking back tears.

“I know, beautiful,” Joe soothes. “He knows that. Give him time. Let him do this himself. Okay?”

Looking down, I nod, knowing that Joe is right.

“I need you in one piece,” Joe comments. “Not just your body, but your heart, your spirit and your soul . . . not just for me, but for Joe. Jr. Okay?”

I nod.

“Hey,” Joe calls, coaxing me to look at him.

My gaze hesitantly lifts to find his face. “Okay,” I mumble.

An hour later, Nathan shows up after calling Joe back as soon as his meetings were over and is already on his way. The anger and sadness in Nathan’s face hits me pretty hard, making me want to seek out the attackers again. Joe has to keep a strong hold on me to make sure I don’t go wandering, looking for trouble until we eventually leave to stay at Nathan’s.

Jared is released the next morning since his wounds are minimal other than a few cuts and bruises. The doctor just wanted to monitor him to make sure he didn’t have a concussion. Most of our family stayed in the area, waiting until it was time for Jared to be released. Joe insisted on not going back to the hospital and instead help Pop-Pop and Joanna at the condo to prepare for Jared’s return. Pop-Pop and Joanna are in the kitchen half the time, only letting me help a little, making food and setting it out on the large dining room table once everyone starts to show up. Jared’s in good spirits overall, not showing any signs of distress or trauma by how he acts. I study him speculatively, not completely convinced.

By the evening time, some of our film crew arrive and Jared preps to go live on video. I try talking him out of it, even Maggie agrees with me that it’s too soon, but he won’t listen. He dresses nicely, as he always does, but he won’t allow the team to put on any makeup to cover his bruising. It suddenly dawns on me what Jared’s really planning.

My friends, family and I sit patiently and nervously, watching from the sidelines as Jared receives the signal that he’s live.

“Good evening,” Jared greets his distant audience. “For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jared Welsh and I’m one of the main people with Naturally Me, an online wellness blog my best friend Emma started a few years ago.” He pauses for a brief second. “You might be wondering what tonight’s impromptu broadcast is about, especially since it’s last minute and many of you have just found out from our posts on social media.”

Jasper whimpers softly, catching my attention enough to realize that he wants to be let down. He sniffs the area for a few moments and then gradually heads toward Jared.

“Hey, Jasper,” Jared greets happily, picking him up. “The reason why I’m here with you is because this is a message that can not wait. Last night, while I was hanging out with some friends . . . friends I haven’t seen in a while . . . I was attacked.”

Ian shows me the computer screen and my eyes widen as the number of viewers for this broadcast is well over six million.

“Let that sink in for a minute folks,” Jared says after several long seconds. “That’s right. You heard me correctly. I was attacked. Jumped. Ganged up on.”

Joe’s hand squeezes mine in reassurance. My gaze goes to him briefly, returning to Jared as soon as he starts talking again.

“It happened when I went into the men’s room and is why I have these marks on me.” Jared turns his head slightly from side to side and rolls up the unbuttoned cuffs of his shirt. “There were four perpetrators who tried to hurt me . . . well, I guess you could say they did, to some extent physically, but that’s it.”

Maggie squeezes my other hand, indicating she needs some support herself.

“Mentally and spiritually I am fine. I’m walking away from this experience in a way I didn’t expect. And . . . I forgive each of those men who did attempt to do me harm. I hold no ill will towards you . . . you are human just like me. We make mistakes. We act out in ignorance. And, we act out in fear . . . which is why you attacked me.” Jared takes a deep breath. “In light of this situation, I wanted to speak out to everyone who has been attacked for being different . . . regardless if it’s based on gender, religion, sexual orientation or any other beliefs or ways of living. Because of this, I choose to only reply back with love, kindness and compassion. I do not proclaim a war on hatred. I call for more love . . . peace. May you find your way and allow others to do the same, regardless if you agree with them, their actions or their choices. With that being said, I hope to have influenced and encouraged someone . . . perhaps you, to lead with love. To forgive, which doesn’t mean to forget, only to live through your heart. Remember to treat others the way in which you would want to be treated. If you do that, I bet you just might make more friends.” Jared takes a moment to collect himself again. “Because of these events, regardless of the fact that I am a celebrity, no one should have to endure such hatred . . . even the men who did this to me.”

Jasper wiggles in Jared’s arms and ends up licking Jared’s chin.

I feel Joe Jr. kick and I do my best to settle my emotions.

“I don’t have it all planned out just yet, but Nathan and I are working on a project to help others who have gone through a similar experience. Our goal is to provide a safe, loving environment . . . the details will take some time, but everyone will know what we’ve got planned once we start to take action. In the meantime, Nathan’s and my wedding will still take place. We will continue to live our lives with love and hope to lead as a positive example. Thank you to everyone who has sent loving support. It means a lot. But, I ask you do the same to the people around you . . . the ones who may be dealing with something similar or worse, but aren’t aware of it. Treat each other with kindness, love and compassion. You just might need it in return one day.” Jared takes in a deep breath and lets out the heaviness weighing inside him. “Thank you and goodnight.”

Everyone’s phones are buzzing the minute the team signals that they are done recording. Joe’s family calls both of us, Jared’s getting calls from friends who aren’t with us and the list goes on with other supportive friends and family.

Once the energy in the place cools, Jared and I chat off to the side. “I’m really proud of you,” I comment, acknowledging his strength. “Who knew you could be so wise?!”

“Ha ha, you’re funny,” Jared jabs back.

“Seriously, though, I’m really proud of you,” I state.

“I know,
Kitten
,” Jared replies. “I really appreciate everyone’s support. I meant every word that I said.”

“I believe you,” I say. “What made you respond this way? Not that I’m judging or disagreeing or anything, I’m just in shock, is all. At first, I didn’t think you were telling me the truth about being okay with what happened, but after seeing you and hearing your speech, I know that you meant every word of it.”

“Seeing what Dr. Callahan has been able to help you with, I got a copy of his book on my iPad right away and started using it awhile back,” Jared explains. “So, as soon as we left the restaurant and went to the hospital, I had Greg come here to get my iPad since it wasn’t with me.”

“Really?!” I say, more pleased with what he says than questioning it.

“Really,” Jared confirms. “Some of the techniques were a little tricky because of the bruises, but I’ve managed. I still use it from time to time when something pops up, but overall I’m good.”

“Good,” I comment, relaxing more.

“Besides, Nathan, you, Maggie and our family . . . soon to be family,” he shares, touching my belly. “I want to be a good example for them, you know?!”

“Yeah,” I confirm, sniffing back tears.

“Yeah,” Jared agrees. “I knew that I needed to fix this myself and needed to be strong for Nathan and for everyone else.”

I smile and nod as tears roll down my cheeks.

“Don’t cry,
Kitten
. Don’t be upset,” Jared coaxes.

“I’m not,” I return. “It’s just hormones.”

“You sure?” Jared checks.

“Yeah,” I say meekly.

“You okay, beautiful?” Joe inspects, handing Jared and I each a drink.

“Yeah,” Jared verifies. “Just hormones according to her.”

“You did great, man,” Joe praises, hugging him.

“Thanks,” Jared accepts.

“Everyone’s really proud of you,” Joe informs.

“I know,” Jared says, smiling confidently.

“Over fifteen million views now,” Ian reveals. “It’s only been an hour and they’ve doubled.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some calls for interviews,” Nathan comments.

“There’s only one person I would interview with,” Jared says with a smirk.

“Who?” inquires Joanna.

“Ellen DeGeneres,” Jared reveals.