Chapter Chapter Fifteen

Luka lifted me from the ground as my body shook from rage, hurt, anger, love and pain.

“Tobias! Let me fix your nose” Lindsey gasped as he chuckled as my eyes darted to his with a small smirk.

“There she is” He smiles as they all look at me with worry, but I can feel their gazes lighten at the thought I was smiling.

“Bed time girly” Taylor says as Lukas carries me upstairs with Taylor in tow as they plonk me by the bathroom so I can wash up.

“I don’t want to be alone” I mumble as I stand in my pyjamas by the bed.

“You won’t be” Savannah comes into the room.

“We thought it would be best Jayden didn’t come in tonight.” Savannah said.

“Does he hate me?” I ask.

“Of course I don’t hate you kitten” Jayden says from the doorway.

“You should…” I look to the floor.

“I would never hate you and I will wait until you are ready, until the ends of the earth. I love you kitten” He says with a worried smile.

“Thank you” I sob as Savannah takes my hand an squeezes it tight.

“Goodnight kitten” Jayden says as the others leave me in the room as Savannah climbs into the bed next to me.

She begins humming a lullaby and stroking my hair motherly as I fall asleep by her side, tears falling from our eyes. We’d missed each other too, she was my brother’s wife, but one of my best friends too.

“Layla! Can you grab Samuel for me?!” A voice shouts waking me from my dreams.

“Yes uncle Shaun!” Layla shouts back with a giggle.

“Who the fuck is Samuel?” I murmur as I hear Savannah snicker beside me.

“Elise and Shaun’s kid…Quite the handful for a six-month-old” She answers.

“I…Shit…I forgot she was pregnant…” I murmur as she hugs me tightly.

“It’s ok. It will take time to get used to things again.” She says as we climb out of the bed.

“Mummy” Cody groans wiping his eyes from the bed in the other corner of the room. I had woken several times in the night and just watched him. His eyes were getting brighter like his father’s and I couldn’t help but be mesmerised by them.

“Hi baby boy” I said as I picked him up as he smiled and cuddled into me.

“Samuel! No!” Shaun shouts as I hear a crash.

Savannah opens the door and we creep out the room and down the stairs as we watch the hilarity unfold as Layla is chasing after a crawling six-moth-old little boy as Louisa is running around half naked.

“Louisa! Why aren’t you dressed?!” Savannah calls out as Louisa giggles at her mum and runs off.

“So we have a crazy six-month old, a naked five-year-old and an eleven-year-old chasing the others while my two-year-old child is perfectly happy and behaving in his mothers arms” I smirk as Savannah gives me a dirty look.

“He’s been known to cause trouble too, just you wait” She smirks.

I walk down the stairs and manage to snatch up Louisa as she runs past as she giggles in my arms.

“No!” She screams, laughing as I pass her over to Savannah.

“Thank you” Savanah takes her and stomps up the stairs to get her dressed.

“I want to get down now mummy” Cody says kissing my cheek as I let him get down.

“Samuel! Come on!” Layla shouts as she struggles with the cute little boy.

“He’s a pain just like the woman he was named after” Shaun grumbles as he wheels himself out of the lounge as I raise a brow as he notices me.

“And who was he named after?” I ask with a smirk.

“Oops…” He blushes.

“You can’t be serious…You guys named him after me?” I laugh as I help Layla pick the little guy up and place him on his father’s lap.

“Of course we did.” He smiles “Good morning Sam, I see you’ve met our son Samuel” Elise comes out of the kitchen with a smile.

“Cody! No! Not my hair!” I hear Layla scream as she storms out of the kitchen with banana mashed into her hair.

“I told you” Savannah comes down the stairs as she laughs passing Layla who was rushing to the bathroom to clean her hair.

I walk into the kitchen to find Cody sitting with a huge grin on his face as he’s smashing banana everywhere.

“Cody” I say sternly as his grin disappears.

“Mummy! Want some banananananannaan?” He says holding out a piece as I laugh, unable to keep my straight face.

“You need to say sorry to Layla when she comes down again. You can’t put food in peoples hair” I urge as he frowns.

“Sorry mummy” He says and goes back to eating.

“Trouble, just like his mother” Lindsey laughs kissing my head as she continues to cook eggs on the stove.

“How did you sleep?” Grandpa asks as I sit between him and Cody.

“On and off all night. I found myself watching Cody, he has this affect of chasing the bad dreams away” I answer as I smile at my little boy.

“Cody go RAWR at bad dreams and they go away! Daddy told me!” Cody smiles.

“That’s right little man, we go RAWR at a bad dream and show them we aren’t scared of them and they run away” Jayden walks in and kisses Cody’s head, smiling faintly at me, pride in his eyes at Cody.

“Jay” I smile.

“Come for a walk?” He says and I nod, following him out onto the deck out the back as we shut the door behind us.

“I know everything has happened so quickly and you’ve been through so much. I was so scared I lost you. But last night made me realise something. Proposing to you may not have been the greatest idea so soon. You don’t want to feel owned and I never want you to feel that with me. I never want you to feel trapped, so if you want to say no to it, right now, then it’s ok, I can wait until things are better or you decide you don’t want to be with me. I’m here for you, always” he says in a rush looking down.

“Jay…Look at me…This past year I was owned by Hayden, he caged my heart, he destroyed me piece by piece. But, just being home, I’m going to get there, with all of you. I do need time, but I’m not taking this ring off…Not ever…” I say as his eyes light up with a smile.

“You still want me?” he smiles.

“Of course I do. But…But…There’s part of me that’s scared that when you find out everything he did…You won’t want me” I say as he slowly reaches for my hand but pulls it back as I take it slowly myself.

“Don’t do that. No matter what I am here. I don’t care. I love you Samantha, you are my one and only” He says as I smile and squeeze his hand.

“Baby steps” I say as he squeezes back.

“Anything for you” He smiles and leads us back indoors, our hands entwined together.

“Sammy, would you mind coming to work with me today? I just want to get you a proper check-up” Lindsey says with a knowing glance.

“Is something wrong?” Jayden frowns, his eyes looking over my body.

“She’s been through a lot Jayden, things take a toll, I just want to make sure there was no lasting damage” Lindsey answers.

“It’s ok Jay, I’ll come. Better to be safe” I smile at Jayden. If I was pregnant with Hayden’s child I still had no idea what I would do.

“I’m coming too. Doctor wants to look at the scarring today anyway” Taylor adds as I notice him sitting up at the bar, his fingers interlinked with Damien’s.

“Why do I feel like there’s more to this?” Jayden asks.

“Sammy will tell everyone when she’s ready Jayden” Lindsey gives him a stern look as he sighs and nods, releasing my hand and helping to clean Cody’s face.

The house was so busy of my family coming in and out, wanting to check on me, wanting to spend time with me, that I was glad to leave the house with Taylor, Lindsey and Damien.

Taylor and Damien went off to their appointment as I followed Lindsey into an ultrasound room.

“Hello Samantha, I’m Doctor Traver, I’ll be looking at you today. Lindsey gave me a brief history. Said you’ve been through a lot recently and wanted a quick check up. First, we will do an ultrasound and check everything out internally and then we’ll look externally quickly.” The doctor said shaking my hand as I was led to the table, Lindsey taking my hand in hers.

“Thank you” Is all I said as he began his search.

“So, looks like you’ve got a little scarring, have you been in some fights?” He asks.

“Yes” I answer.

“Ok, so there may have been a tear and it healed, it looks ok, but we’ll take another look in a few months. Now, the womb, lets take a look” He says as he moves the probe down as I close my eyes.

“Ah, have you been sexually active?” He asks.

“Yes” I squeak out nervously.

“Well it looks like you’re pregnant” He says as my eyes dart to the screen to see a little blob of a baby on the screen.

“Shit, no, no, no” I cry as Lindsey squeezes my hand.

“Excuse me for my forwardness but was this a rape case?” the doctor asks.

“Yes, but the man is no longer alive, so police are not needed” Lindsey pipes up as the doctor nods.

“Although I should report it, I won’t this once. But please, get some help. I can see the scars Samantha, there’s more to this. I’m guessing you know it all Lindsey” The doctor sighs as she nods.

“We’ve got her” Lindsey answers.

“Ok. But please come see me, for anything Samantha if you need it” he says as I nod.

He prints off a photo of the baby scan and continues to check me over.

“Your body seems to be healing but I can hear a little fluid in the lungs so I’m going to get you some medication for possible infection. Have you had trouble with your lungs recently?” He asks.

“I…Yes” I answer.

“I need the truth I need to know what this could be”

“I was drowned, several times…By the babies father…It was punishment” I said quietly.

“Lindsey…” He says sternly, giving her a look of annoyance.

“You trust him?” I ask Lindsey as she nods.

“What the bloody hell is going on?” He asks as I tell him everything, I let him in on everything from when I was younger to now as he sits there in shock.

“So, now you know…” I finish.

“You should be dead…Your body shouldn’t be able to cope with that amount of stress… How…Why… From now on you come and see me personally, understood?” He says wiping his hand over his face in shock.

“I have no idea how she does it Felix, but she’s strong and comes home to us every time” Lindsey smiles.

He continues to talk to us and talk falls to the baby as my heart is split on what to do.

“At the end of the day, it’s your choice. But by the sounds of it Samantha, your child is your life and this one could be everything to you. No matter who the father was. It’s still your child” Felix says.

“I’m keeping it…I just don’t know how Jayden’s going to take it…We were going to work on our own kids before this happened…We knew it would be difficult for me to have another as it was and now I’m pregnant by Hayden…” I stammer as a tear falls.

“Jayden loves Cody as his own…He’ll love this child just as much” Lindsey says with a smile.

“Yeah…He’s a great dad” I say with a smile, he really was a great dad and he loved Cody with all his heart. It wouldn’t be easy with this little one, but maybe we would make it work too.

“Well thank you Felix, Taylor and Damien just messaged me that they are done. So they’ll take you home.” Lindsey stands.

“Samantha, take my card. If you need anything, call me” Doctor Traver, Felix, gives me his card as I smile with a nod.

“Thank you, I will” I smile as we leave the office.

“I think he’s taken a liking to you” Lindsey laughs wiggling her eyebrows.

“He’s old enough to be my dad! Plus, I have Jayden” I laugh.

“Yes, Jayden’s been so good. But, he was terrified the day you went missing. Savannah took over looking after Cody for a while as Jayden scoured for you for weeks before he finally came home when Tobias ordered him back. Your Grandpa and Tobias gave him a stern talking to and he focused on Cody, he became the father Cody needed. They both were torn by your disappearance and built each other back up.” Lindsey says as we walk towards the entrance.

“I’m so lucky to have him” I sniffle.

“You’re lucky to have each other. Finding love, isn’t easy, but the love you two have, it’s for life. Hold on to it. Don’t let this past year hold you back” She puts a hand on my cheek and hands me the baby ultrasound photo.

“Do you really think he’ll be ok with this?” I ask looking at the photo.

“He’d do anything for you. You have to be honest. You have to become yourself again. One step at a time” She smiles as she peers around my shoulder and I turn to see Taylor and Damien heading out of the hospital.

“What’s that?” Damien points to the photo.

“Oh shit…You really are pregnant…” Taylor gasps.

“What?!” Damien exclaims.

“You didn’t tell him?” I ask Taylor.

“Not for me to tell Sammy” He shakes his head.

“Tell him” I say as he takes Damien’s hand and veers him off to a bench to explain everything as we wait. Damien’s eyes flicker over to me as he runs over and hugs me to him.

“You went through all that?” He whimpers.

“Yeah…But I’m home” I cry.

“How many others know the full story?” He asks releasing me from his grip as he cuddles into Taylor’s side.

“You, Taylor, Lindsey, Rueben, Tobias and Grandpa” I answer.

“Jayden doesn’t know?” He looks at me wide-eyed.

“I’m going to tell him today…All of them today…” I say, biting my lip with nerves.

“Wait until tonight. I’ll gather everyone and get them home together. We’ll do this together. You’re not alone in this” Lindsey says as I nod.

Taylor, Damien and I decided on going for a drive together to help calm my nerves as we rode our motorbikes around. I noticed something familiar as I signalled for them to follow as we stopped near a huge building.

“What is it?” Damien asked, removing his helmet.

“That’s where I was kept” I answered.

“What? You were so close to us this whole time!” Taylor shouts.

I get off the bike and head towards the building.