Page 79 of Rescuing Josiah
Chelsea laughed. “We can't tell you much about what we were doing undercover, but technically, I am part of the family since Josiah and I haven’t gotten our marriage annulled yet.”
A growl rippled through him at the very thought of ending their marriage. It might not have started out real, at least on his part, but it had grown into the most real relationship he’d ever had. Chelsea was right, he had a lot of emotional work still to doto even come close to being the kind of man she deserved, but he’d do that work, no matter how hard it was because he wanted to be a man worthy of her.
A husband worthy of her.
“Married?” His mom clapped her hands in delight. “Thank you, dear. For bringing my son back to life. I thought I’d lost him, but now I have him back, and a new daughter-in-law as well.” Placing a hand over his and Chelsea’s joined ones, she squeezed. “Now do I get to help you both plan a wedding celebration?”
Josiah groaned, Chelsea laughed, and his dad clapped him on the back.
“I think you’d better go along with this one, son,” his dad said. “You owe it to your mom and your girl.”
Truer words had never been spoken. He had a lot to make up for. He’d let grief and guilt turn him into someone who had pushed everyone else away to survive. But for the people he loved, who loved him back, he was going to do his best to disassemble those walls.
May 20th
5:16 P.M.
“You going to tell me where we’re going?” Chelsea asked, eyeing Josiah somewhat suspiciously.
After they’d finally been discharged from the hospital—well after they’d insisted they were leaving either way, so a doctor may as well sign them out—he’d had someone bring his truck to the hospital and bundled her into it.
Although she’d asked him at least two dozen times in the last thirty minutes where they were heading, he was yet to crack.
Sneaky little thing.
He was up to something, she knew it, and she hated being left out of secrets. Well, this kind anyway. A surprise birthday was totally different, but she wanted to know why Josiah was all tickled pink.
It was so amazing seeing him this way. There was a spark of life in his eyes that hadn't been there before, a flicker of peace that she was praying continued to grow over the next days, weeks, months, and years.
Like she’d told him already, she didn't think that everything was going to be perfect from here on out. He still had major issues to work through, she had some unresolved trauma from their time undercover as well, coming that up close and personal with evil had changed her, but they had time. There was no rush, it was clear Josiah didn't want them to annul their marriage, and of course, she didn't either, but that didn't mean they had to act married until he was ready.
“Nope.” Josiah popped the p, and she tossed him a glare.
“I want to know where we’re going,” she told him. Not that she thought the answer would be anything bad, but she was dying of curiosity here.
“You pouting at me, Chels?” Josiah asked, amusement in his tone.
Tears stung the backs of her eyes. Seeing him this light and free made her so happy that she could hardly breathe. Which was a nice change of pace from the throbbing agony in her chest from her broken ribs making it so she hardly wanted to breathe. In fact, if she didn't have Josiah right beside her, and the hope of a happy future together, she might just give up on the whole breathing thing since it sucked to have to do it every couple of seconds and endure the worst pain she’d ever felt.
Okay, that was a lie. Chelsea wouldn't want to be dead either way, but this really did suck pretty majorly.
“Damn, Chels, are you crying? I can tell you where we’re going,” Josiah said, panic in his tone.
“No!” she yelled quickly. It was bringing him joy to keep this little secret of his, and she wanted that for him. “Happy tears, I promise.”
“Sure?” He cast his gaze away from the road, and it roamed her face, searching for the truth. He must have seen it because he nodded, and one of his hands moved from the wheel to rest on her thigh. “If this is too much we can go to your place, or Prey, or back to the hospital. Whatever you need.”
“Yuck for the hospital,” she said quickly. There was nothing they could do for her anyway, her broken ribs would have to heal on their own. Her place no longer felt like a home after everything that had happened to Ava and Teresa there. The apartments at Prey were fine, modern and spacious, equipped with everything anyone would need, but they weren't homey. Besides, she was intrigued to see what Josiah wanted to show her.
Josiah chuckled, and the sound had a few tears tumbling free. Which he noticed and his gaze quickly grew panicked again.
“Happy tears,” she reminded him. Honestly, she couldn’t even remember a time in her life when she’d been this happy. She’d had a great life, parents who loved her, good friends, her dream job, but something had always been missing.
This man right here.
He was the other half of her soul, and she’d recognized that the moment she met him even if it had taken him a whole lot longer to see the truth.
“I don’t want to go anywhere but wherever you're taking me,” she assured him. “I guess I'm just a bit of a pouter when I'm left out of things.”
