Epilogue
Ally
1 Year later
Life had been hard for so long it was hard to comprehend how I survived. I never gave up. I had not just Sam to fight for, I had me. It took me a long time to realize that I was indeed worth fighting for. We prayed every night for God to send us a hero to save us. When in reality, we were praying for love. For family. For a chance at life. We prayed to not be alone anymore.
Tom had nearly killed me this time. I knew it would happen just as sure as I knew I needed air to breathe. We had come so far. God and Grams had put people in our paths, giving us the family and love we so desperately needed. How could I let that monster hurt them? I couldn’t. The choice in the end was simple. Them or me. It had to be me. I gave myself, so they would live.
It took me a long time to heal from that night. The road was hard and painful but I woke each day blessed to have Sam, Jonah, Frank, Frannie and so many more that I got to call family to help. Being surrounded by love, kept me fighting and striving to get better each day. I did it. My mind, body and soul were healed.
As I watched my husband, Jonah practicing baseball with our son, Sam, I was reminded to never take for granted the moments in life that seemed simple or unimportant. Every moment counted. Every. Single. One. Everything could be taken from you in the blink of an eye. Grams taught me that. She taught me what perseverance meant. “Never give up my girl, things will always get better if you can just hold on through the rough patches.”
I had many heroes in my life, in different forms and ways. All of them special and unique. I thanked God for them every single day. I knew if we could just hang on, the rough patches would be behind us.
I didn’t want to die that day and I refused to. I had my son and I had finally found my hero. My Mr. Dreamy Eyes. I still got butterflies just thinking of him as mine. Jonah was mine. This beautiful man never gave up on me and I still had no idea why. He had taught me so much about love, trust and what it was to be a family, that I could never thank him enough.
Jonah and I were married six months after I left the hospital. I didn’t want a big lavish wedding, that just wasn’t me. Shayla, Jonah’s sister, begged me to let her handle the details and promised to keep it small and special.
We were married on a beautiful evening the day before the Wordly Homecoming, right in front of the carousel. Yep, that’s right, the scene of our first date. Shayla knocked it out the ballpark. It was the wedding of my dreams. Afterwards we all had pancakes with lots of syrup, cotton candy, corndogs and snow cones. It was anything but traditional but it was amazing and I would never forget it.
I made a new friend too, a kindred spirit. Michelle had been through her own hell and she opened her old wounds to help me though mine. We talked endlessly and spent many evenings watching movies and eating popcorn. I was pretty sure she had a crush on Jonah’s brother, Shane, but she won’t give in. Her wounds run deep and she hasn’t learned to trust another with her heart. Oh, but she would. I knew she would. Shane came off cocky and full of himself but the look I saw in his eyes when he looked at her, took my breath away sometimes. I prayed that Michelle would find a way to let him in. She deserved to have a good man in her life. But she was determined to put Shane in his place at every turn.
She told me once when I mentioned it, “Hell No! He is not my type!”
I always laughed when I watched Shane trying to be all macho in front of this badass, female alpha. He certainly had his work cut out for him.
I was now Ally Bradford and proud of it. Sarah was still there, but she had been through so much that I put her to rest. Sam and I had new lives with so much joy, we decided that we didn’t want to go back to the old names. We had been happy with these names and they were us in every way.
Frank and Frannie decided they were too old to get married. Frannie declared to me that they would live in sin and didn’t give a damn what people thought of it. I just laughed and hugged her. A piece of paper didn’t change the way you loved someone but something told me Frank wanted to make an “honest” woman of her as soon as he could get her to say yes. I loved these people so much.
“Hey baby? What are you smiling about over there?” Jonah asked walking up to me all sweaty and grinning.
“Oh, not too much really. Just sitting here thinking about how good life is and how thankful I am to have found you. Oh, and I have been timing my contractions. They are just about six minutes apart so I think you might want to go get the car so we can all head to the hospital now,” I said tilting my head and smiling at him.
Jonah stood there with his mouth gaping, eyes as big saucers. He was in shock. I started laughing.
“Holy crap! What the hell are you laughing at woman? Sam and I are over here running around like crazy, playing baseball, while you sit here in labor? Why didn’t you say anything?” he roared at me turning red.
Jonah yelled for Sam to come because Mom was about to have the baby in the middle of the field. He proceeded to pick me up and started running towards the car as if the hounds of hell were chasing him. I looked over his shoulder to see Sam scrambling to grab my lawn chair and our cooler of drinks. Then he was off running after us.
“Good lord, Jonah. I am not dying ya know. I’m just in labor. The way you are bouncing me around, may make the baby come more quickly. So, chill out, mister!” I had to yell to be heard.
He stopped suddenly, thinking about what I said. “My God, Ally. I am so sorry, you’re right. What the hell is wrong with me?” he then slowly walked me to the car as if I was as fragile as glass. Men! Ugh!
My labor was hard and fast. Pain was nothing new to me, so I handled it well. Jonah on the other hand hyperventilated more than once. Shane came in at one point dressed as a doctor, scrubs, lab coat, mask, hat and even rubber gloves and said he needed to evaluate the patient. That did it. Jonah took off after him and the chase was on. As I tried to breathe through a tough contraction, Michelle walked in with a question in her eyes after seeing them running down the hall.
“Why is Shane dressed like doctor and running like a little girl screaming from Jonah, again?” she asked me.
I couldn’t help it, even with the pain, I started laughing and couldn’t stop. I loved Shane so much. He could take any situation and make me smile no matter how bad I felt. He was truly one of a kind. I had to work on Michelle. They would be perfect for each other. She needed Shane.
“Shane was just being Shane of course. He takes any opportunity he can to piss his brother off. I wouldn’t want it any other way. And I don’t think Jonah does either,” I told her smiling and I knew it was time.
“Go get them now, Michelle! Hurry it’s time! Go, go, go….” I couldn’t help but scream that last part because of all the pressure I suddenly felt.
Shortly after that we welcomed our daughter, Haley Francine, six pounds, four ounces into the world. She had a beautiful head of red hair and her daddy’s beautiful, blue eyes. And as they handed her to her father to hold, my big brave SEAL sat down, held her close and began to cry.
Yes, our life was wonderful.