Caught Looking (Hot-Lanta Series) (40 page)

Was she supposed to be alone for the rest of her life? No, Luke was still
alive, he wouldn’t leave her behind like this. He only had a couple more years left in the army. He wouldn’t leave her like this, by herself. He knew she didn’t have any family and that he was it. He would never do this to her.

Molly thrust her head up, she knew she wasn’t pl
easant to look at but she didn’t care. Her eyes were burning and her head was pounding like her brain was trying to break through her skull.

“Y
ou guys didn’t look hard enough. Take me there I will look for him.” Molly yelled.

The taller soldier patted her arm. “Ma’am I know this is hard for you but the government has an account set up for you that Luke left in your name.”

“You think I give a fuck about money right now? You fucking bastards!” Molly said while she punched them in the chest. “I can give two shits about money, I want Luke back, I want my life back. I want my family back!”

The soldiers just looked at each other perplexed. “Ma’am we understand how you feel, we have
lost our friends too, it doesn’t go away the pain you are feeling you just learn to live with it.” She cried into the soldier’s shoulder while he handed her a letter. “Luke wrote a letter to you just in case something like this happened. We were instructed to give it to you.”

Molly looked down at the envelope in her hand and started to cry even more when she saw Luke’s hand writing.

Molly looked at the soldiers and said, “Thank you, please leave I would like to be alone.” She could not have these men in her house anymore, they were two big and the house seemed like it was closing in on her. She needed them out of her house, now.

The soldiers got up and before they walked out the door they asked if they could call any family for her, all she said in return was, “I don’t have any.”

Molly slammed the door, threw her back against it and slid down so she
sat on the cold tile in the entry way. She had never felt so much pain before, not even when her parents died. It was like her heart stopped working and her body functioned purely out of spite. Did she want to read this letter? It was the last connection she had to Luke, the last time she will ever hear from him. She was not ready to say good bye but she needed his comfort. She wished he was here. Why did he leave her? She opened the letter and started to read in the middle of her sobs.

Dear Molly,

When I saw you for the first time in Deuces, I knew you were going to be a hellion but I was going to make you my hellion. You were the hottest girl in the bar by far and I was honored that you chose to dance with me that night. When
I held you in my arms, I knew I was holding my wife. I just had to convince you of it.

You were a hard one to wrangle in, but I knew I had you after
the first time we made love. The look on your face that night was incredible, it was something I will never forget. You gave me love I never thought I could have and I will die a happy man knowing that.

I am so sorry I let you down and have left you alone. Please do not shut people out. I know I am your family and have left you but do not forget you have so many other people who love you. So many people who will take care of you and make sure you get through this. I don’t want you to shut down your life and lose your spirit that lightens the room when you walk in.

You are strong baby, you can get through this. I want you to live your life and move on. You have a long life ahead of you. You are going to make another man the happiest man on earth and you are going to make a beautiful mom one day. Live life to its fullest and never forget me but don’t live for me. Live for yourself, baby.  

You are the most beautiful woman I
ever set my eyes on and I am so grateful you chose me to spend part of your life with. Thank you for your love, your kindness, your body and for being my heart, soul and pillar. I will love you forever, baby.

-Molly’s Man

             
                                                                     
***

Jane was supposed to meet Molly at the florist for some final touch ups for the wedding but Molly missed the appointment. That was never like Molly. Jane was a little confused.

Jane and Brady decided to meet for lunch at
Mossimo’s. Brady had the afternoon off and wanted to celebrate a big client Jane just booked. Jane waited outside of the restaurant when Brady grabbed her by the waist turned her around and kissed her senseless. She loved this man so much.

“Hey handsome, that was quite a display of affection.”

Brady grinned down at her. “I’
m in love and everyone needs to know about it.”

Jane swatted his arm. “You’
re so corny, you know that right?”

Brady just shrugged his shoulders
as they went to go sit down at their table. Brady pulled her chair out for her, grabbed her crutches and laid them on the ground next to their table, out of the way so no one tripped on them.

“How was your workout this morning that hamstring starting to feel better?” Jane joked,

Brady gave Jane a smirk and said, “Oh yea, the hamstring is feeling much better it really has loosened up these past days.”

Jane knew exact
ly why it loosened up. Brady had not left her side and had not let her leave bed. All the muscles in his tensed up hamstring were relaxed pretty quickly the first couple of hours they were together again. Jane blushed just from the thought of the things they did in bed since they got back together. Brady interrupted her day dream.

“What are we having today
, gorgeous?”

“I’
m not sure. I do have a craving for you though.” Jane said as she wagged her eyebrows.

Br
ady chuckled, “And you think I’m the corny one? How was your meeting with Molly and the florist? Did you tie up all the loose ends and make the perfect arrangements?”

Jane quirked an eyebrow at him and joked, “Have you been hanging out with Albert a little too much?” Brady laughed. “Ac
tually Molly didn’t show up. I’m a little worried, she never not shows up. Most likely she lost track of time either packing or shopping for the upcoming honeymoon. I’m going to send her a text to make sure she is ok.” 

Jane p
ulled her phone out and sent Molly a text message.

Jane: Hey, is everything ok? We missed you at the florist.

Brady just sat in his chair and grinned at Jane. Jane shook her head in embarrassment. “Are you just going to sit there and stare at me all lunch?”

“I might, do you have a problem with that?”

“I might, you know there are other things you can look at that might be of more interest.”

“Are you crazy? No, you are by far the most interesting thing here.” Brady said kissing Jane’s hand. “Hey
, did you talk to Michael? I talked to him the other day and he still sounded a little bitter about everything. I don’t know if he will ever get over you.”

Jane felt awful. She knew what happened between her and Michael not only hurt their relationship but it also hurt Brady and Michae
l’s relationship. She called Michael a couple of days ago and he never answered the phone. She left him a message and a couple of text messages, it wasn’t until the team returned back home when she went to his house and knocked on the door until he answered that she finally spoke to him.

“Yes, I went to his hou
se and we talked, well if that’s what you want to call it. It was extremely awkward and uncomfortable but I apologized for everything. I’m not sure he really accepted my apology even though he said it was ok.”

“It’
s going to take some time for him to get over everything, babe. You are going to have to be patient and persistent. Just continue to make sure he knows you still want to be friends.”

“I will
. I’m just not sure we will ever be friends like we used to be. I’m sorry your friendship got messed up over this as well.”

“Don’t sweat it babe, guys get over things fast when it comes
to their friendships. We aren’t like girls and hold grudges against each other.” Brady said with a smirk.

Jane playfully swatted his hand. “Not all girls are conniving bitches, just blonde busty ones that try to go after people’s boyfriends.”

“Aw touché!”

They put their order in when Jane’s phone beeped back. She opened it and her heart instantly dropped to the floor
and she felt like she was about to lose all the contents that were in her stomach. Brady noticed Jane’s sudden change in appearance and grabbed her hand.

“What’s wrong sweet thing? Is everything ok?”

Jane could not even talk. She just shook her head and cried. What was she supposed to do? She turned her phone around so Brady could read what Molly sent her.

Molly: Luke is dead.

Epilogue

Molly got home from Luke’s memorial and sat on the toilet while she held the bag she got from the store. She had thrown up every morning for the past week but she thought it was because she was so upset about Luke. It wasn’t until she realized she missed her period that she considered the fact that she might be pregnant with her dead fiancé’s child. She opened the box that held the home pregnancy tests and peed on a stick.  

Jane,
Albert, Brady and Michael had been more than supportive ever since they found out the news and Luke’s parents told her to visit whenever she could but Molly could not face them, she barely knew them. They were Luke’s parents, they were not her family.

She was able to shake Jane and Albert off
of her for the afternoon but she knew they would come back later tonight. They had been up her ass ever since they found out about Luke. She appreciated their support but she just wanted to be left alone. She did not want to talk to anyone, see anyone or think of anyone.  

Molly crawled into Luke’s army shirt, the one she
wore ever since the worst day of her life and she laid on her empty bed with the test on the night stand. What would she do if she was pregnant? How could she raise a baby without Luke? Luke was the one who really wanted kids. He would have loved this child so much. He would have been an amazing dad. Damn it. She couldn’t be pregnant. She could barely live and take care of herself, let alone take care of another human being, a baby none the less.

Every couple of minutes Molly’s phone would go off, someone else just making sure she was ok. She wanted to scream into her phone saying
, no she was not fucking ok. She just needed to be left alone, she wanted to be with Luke and there was only one way to do so. If she ended her life she would no longer have any more pain, she would be with her parents and Luke and she would not have to worry about the loss of any more loved ones.

Molly stared at the picture of Luke she kept on her nightstand. It was his army issued photograph. He looked so handsome i
n his dress blues. He was supposed to wear them on their wedding day but instead of their wedding, she had a memorial service for him, her dead fiancé. She couldn’t even bury him because they had no body. She had no real grave to visit and no way of reconnecting with the person who made her feel whole again, who made her feel loved and cared for. Now she felt alone and she slowly slipped into a dark abyss.

It had been a couple of minutes; the test results should be ready by now. She had a very large bottle of pills next to her and water
ready to be taken after she saw the results. She thought about ending her life and not even finding out if she was pregnant or not, but she thought she owed it to Luke to let him know when she united with him once again. It was the moment of truth. She looked over at the test and saw the results.