Surviving the Pain (A Baby Saved Me Series Book 1) (20 page)

“My boy, sweet girl, what’s been said on my grandson.” He asked the minute he reached us.

Ember looked up at him in confusion. Even though the timing wasn’t perfect, he needed to get his mind off all the thoughts that are spinning in his head. So, he decided to let her in on the path his life has gone down in the time they weren’t together.

“Remember before when I told you to trust me on the fact that he wasn’t the way I thought he was?” Ember nodded her head. “Well,” He started, but decided to change tactics. “You know how shitty parents that Donna and Collin were, right?” She nodded her head and let him continue. “Well, a few years ago, I was adopted by Rufus. My last name is no longer legally, Jacobs. It’s now Tortelli. He saved me. He’s been the father to me I wish I had, that I had in your dad until that night. His name is a force to be reckoned with, and he’s not the by the book kind of man… But this man is an incredible person and will be a wonderful grandfather to our son.”

She stared at him for a few moments. It was long enough that he worried she looked at him differently for all this. Nothing was worth losing her, but nothing was worth losing his family either.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I never knew the right time. Everyone is quick to judge him when they don’t really know him.” Sage looked around the room. “He saved me when I would certainly have died. Rufus protected me. He’s never steered me wrong…”

“The minute I saw him, I knew he was my answered prayer. After losing my Tilly to a drunk driver, I never thought my heart would ever care again. I had left for a business trip – this was when I was on the straight and narrow – and my, at that time wife, beat her to death. I’ll never be able to replace my daughter, but when I saw Sage, I knew part of me had returned. He’s not my flesh and blood, but he is to me. That little boy, you my dear, and all of you are all important to me now because you are to him.”

There was long tense silence that filled the room. Looking at the guys over the top of Ember’s head, Sage could see the fury in Grey’s eyes, but there was also compassion. Ember moved from his arms, drawing his attention away from Grey’s glare. He watched as his soon to be wife moved from his hold into his father’s. Rufus looked at him with tears dancing in his eyes. Rufus understood what that one simple act meant, and he held it for all it was worth. More of a testament that the man was not what his image was made out to be.

There was another knock, and everyone in the room seemed to suck in a breath. But again they all deflated as the girls came running in. Ember had remembered to add them to the list at the last minute. To be honest, Sage wanted just their parents in the room. He wouldn’t deny the people that have been there longer than he had been to be in the room though.

The girls ran directly to Ember and she moved to their embraces. Stepping back, Rufus stepped closer to Sage. His father gave him a hug and Sage soaked it up. With Rufus, he knew he didn’t have to be strong. Yet still, he couldn’t break down yet. Ember needed him. She was breaking with each passing second that they had to wait in this damn room for news, answers, something.

“I’m so sorry son. This is no way a parent should have to spend any of their time.”

Nodding his head silently, he watched Ember cry as her father held her again. “What did you find out?”

“It was a gray, beat up, Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra that hit him. He was near a tree and had got up to get a football that had landed there when the car struck him. He was hit from the side and flung up and over the windshield until he hit the ground behind the car. The car sped off. The sick part is that it took five long minutes for anyone to come help him. And my men have been over and over the video, but we can’t tell where that damn football was thrown from. There are no kids outside. What the hell was he doing outside?”

They both watched as Ember walked back toward Sage and he enveloped her in his arms. She looked both men straight in the eyes. Sage could see the determination in her eyes.

“Whoever did this to my little boy, to our family, I want them to pay and if I can do that I’d really thank you both.”

Leaning down he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “We’ll find out who did this, baby, and they will not like the results with what happens when you fuck with a Tortelli.”

“Or a Watson,” Ember’s father said as he stepped in front of them. “I want in on whatever it is you all have cooked up. This is my grandbaby. I watched him grow on the ultrasounds, was there for his birth, and every birthday. Whoever this is… I’ll gladly go to jail to have a piece of them.”

Just as Sage was about to correct his father-in-law, the door opened with a knock, and a doctor finally stepped into the room. No one in the room even dared to breathe at his entrance. The doctor looked around the room for a moment.

“Wow, we got a house full,” he smirked.

Sage slammed his hand down on the table. “This isn’t time for damn jokes! My son was hurt badly today. Do your fucking job and tell me what the fuck is going on!”

The doctor blanched at his sudden outburst and Ember squeezed him tighter until he looked at her. Pressing a soft kiss to his lips, she whispered for him to calm down for a bit. Returning a sweet kiss of his own, he turned his attention back to the doctor and apologized.

“It’s quite all right. It was in poor form of me to make a joke at a time like this. If you’ll all take a seat, I’ll update you.” He waited until everyone had sat down. “My name is Dr. Swiss. I’m the doctor overseeing your son’s care. He’s out of surgery now. Though he’s made it through that, he’s far from out of the woods. The accident cracked his skull, lacerated his liver, punctured several organs, broke his arm and leg on the side of impact. He also broke all ribs, and that punctured his left lung. I’m going to be honest with you. The possibility of him being able to walk again is not very high. We aren’t sure the amount of brain damage that has even been inflicted at this point. He will be kept in Pediatrics’ Intensive Care Unit until further notice. I know you all want to be there for him, but provided the small confines of his room, I’m only asking that the parents stay with him overnight. You can visit all day long, but I urge the only overnight guests are his parents.”

Everyone in the room just stared at the doctor. Tears fell from all eyes. Hudson was as bad off as he feared. If his son survived this, that boy was meant for bigger things than bringing a hot-tempered young man down to earth.

“When…” Sage cleared his throat and tried again. “When can we see him?”

“He’s still being settled in. When he’s ready, a nurse will come down here to get you.”

A few moments later the doctor excused himself and left the room. The minute the door shut, Sage picked up his chair and broke it against the wall, the drywall crumbling in the process. His whole insides felt like they’d just been ripped out and he struggled to control anything. He heard a phone ring, but he couldn’t tell who’s it was. Anger, sadness, and utter terror ran through his body.

“Who!” Rufus roared, and it was enough to get his attention.

The conversation continued on. From the one sided conversation that he could hear, they might have figured out exactly who it was. The minute the phone call ended, Sage was next to Rufus ready to listen to what happened.

“Tell me, damn it!” He roared when Rufus said nothing but looked around the room.

“It was a contract for warning. It was to get a message to…”

“To me, right?” Sage’s heart died in his chest. “It’s my fault my son is in there, isn’t it?”

“No, it was to Ember. Honey, can you tell me what this means? It might help us find out who did this.” She nodded, but tears started anew down her cheeks. Sage moved next to her and held her tightly. “The message read, ‘we told you that you hadn’t heard the last of us. This is only the start bitch.’ Do you know who might have said that?”

Ember howled in pain and fell to the floor. Sage was down next to her in minutes. He didn’t know what to do. Honestly, Sage wasn’t sure if either of them could survive on the pieces that were left of their hearts. Somehow, though, he needed to be able to keep Ember together.

“It’s Donna and Collin. They told Ember and me that day that she’d not seen the last of them. We haven’t heard anything in years. How did they know about Hudson?”

“My donors! They fucking did this to my son!” Sage stood from the floor and made his way for the door. Holden and Aspen stepped in front of him, halting his exit. He was going to kill those worthless sons of bitches. “Move it, or I’ll move you,” he growled.

“You don’t want to act right now. You need to see your son, first. What will Hudson think when he wakes up and finds out that his father didn’t even wait to see him?” Holden said standing his ground even as Sage knocked him on his ass in one punch.

Ember
watched as Sage pulled his fist back again to swing on Aspen. She knew she had to do something to stop his break down. This whole time in this small fucking room, Ember knew he was just barely holding it together. She just couldn’t bring herself to tell him to cry with her. Ember wouldn’t want someone telling her how to deal with this kind of moment. Telling Sage how to handle it would never happen. However, she couldn’t let him do something stupid.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to try and calm him down, there was a knock on the door, and everyone froze in spot. Aspen moved out of the way, and Holden picked himself up off the floor. Sage walked back next to Ember, and she was grateful because suddenly her legs weren’t sure if they’d support her or not.

“Would you like to come up and see your son now?” The nurse asked taking in the room.

Everyone nodded and followed the nurse out of the room and to the elevator. The elevator was crowded and it made the ride up to see her little boy even harder. Sage still simmered with rage next to her. Ember was trying to think of something to keep him in check and where he was needed, but she wasn’t sure what she could do.

As they were walking down the hall, Rufus’s phone rang, and he stayed behind. The nurse pointed to the room that their son lay in, and Ember’s feet suddenly wouldn’t move. Her whole body began to shake, and she lost all coherent thoughts.

“Baby, look at me,” Sage whispered, and she felt his rough hands on her face. When her eyes met his, she saw the devastation in them. “We need to be here and see our son. He needs us, okay?”

Nodding her head, Sage laced his fingers with hers, and they walked into the room together. There lying in the big bed, was their little boy. He was bandage everywhere. Where there weren’t bandages, there was some kind of wires, tubes, or something.

A sob escaped her. “My poor baby boy. Mommy is so sorry. If you come back to me, I’ll teach you at home. You’ll never have to be away from me again. Please come back to me.” She rested her head on the bed next to his head and cried. She could hear Sage and Rufus having a very heated conversation in the back of the room. Suddenly, he cursed loudly and made for the door.

Grabbing his hand before he got out of the room, Ember begged him to stay. She pleaded with him with everything she had. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure she could stand without his support. He couldn’t leave her and their son, not right now.

“I’m going to take care of this shit once and for all,” he hissed.

“We’ll get your par…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Sage roared. “They aren’t going to sit back and think that they can do something like this and get away with it. I’m not going to let my son lay in that bed and fight to live while they are probably sitting back having some kind of party and enjoying their life. It’s not fucking happening, Ems! I won’t have it.”

He ripped his arm from her hold and took off out of the room. She ran after begging and pleading for him to stay with her. That she needed him. He said that they needed him to do this. Finally, Ember had no choice. She had to tell him now, even though it wasn’t the right time at all.

“I’m pregnant, Sage!”

Sage
stopped in his tracks. He wasn’t even sure he heard her right. Turning slowly, his eyes searched her face.

“Repeat that?”

“I thought this was going to happen so differently. I had it all planned with Hudson on how we were going to tell you, but then this happened.  I’m pregnant, Sage. We’re going to have another baby. Please don’t make me do this all on my own again. Please.”

He ran to her and enveloped her in his arms. The minute she wrapped her arms around him, he broke. There was no holding it back any longer. Ember lowered them both to the floor as he lost the fight in staying strong for her, for their son. He should be happy that he’s going to be a dad again. But while he was, he also worried that he was having another baby as he was losing the other. That was something that he just couldn’t handle. Nor did he ever want to cross that bridge. Sage would make damn sure that Hudson came through this and was the same happy, rambunctious, exhausting boy he was before Hell met Heaven.

Sage also knew that Donna and Collin would pay and so would Nadine. They would all pay, and it won’t be pretty. They didn’t deserve the easy way out. His son was suffering. For every day, every hour, every fucking minute Hudson suffered they would suffer double. Sage would make sure of that.

When he looked up, he saw Rufus and Everett standing there. Pulling back from Ember, he rose to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes, clearing his throat in the process.