Learning to Breathe Again (40 page)

Bayleigh woke up, her head pillowed on Jack’s
chest. She felt his hand rubbing up and down her back. She could
still hear the storm raging outside and burrowed closer to
Jack.

“
You okay?” he asked, his
hand stilling in its soothing motion.

“
I’m fine, just a little
cold,” she admitted and he immediately pulled the blanket higher,
tucking it in around her shoulders.

“
Better?”

“
Just being here with you is
better,” she snuggled in closer. “Where do we go now, Jack?” she
asked, her voice soft.

Jack sighed and his arms tightened around
her. “Where do you want to go?”

Bayleigh knew what he was asking and for the
first time in a long time, she wasn’t afraid to give the answer in
her heart. “I don’t want to go anywhere anytime soon,” she assured
him. “I’m obviously going to have to make some trips back and forth
to Nashville, once I sign that contact. But I want to make my home
here, with my family close to me.” She tapped his chest with one
finger, letting him know she was including him in that last
part.

“
I’d like that,” he
admitted, his voice low. He shifted and grabbed her left hand with
his right, sliding something over the knuckle of her ring finger.
“I had this in my pocket that day I tried to surprise you in
Austin. It’s probably why I was so ready to think the worst of
you—all that baggage I carry around from before, I guess. My
therapist said my sub-conscious has been waiting for you to ‘betray
me’ I think was how she put it. Even though I knew you would never
do that, that part of me I keep buried is always waiting for the
ones I love to leave me hanging.”

Bayleigh gasped as she looked down at the
biggest emerald she’d ever seen and blinked back the tears swimming
in her eyes and making it difficult to see. She bit her lip and
looked back up at Jack. “Jack…”

“
Don’t say no, Bayleigh.
Tell me you need to think about it, tell me you need to talk to
Jason. Tell me you need me on my hands and knees begging you, but
please don’t say no!”

“
I can’t say anything right
now,” she told him. She felt him tense and a shuttered look came
over his face as he steeled himself for rejection. “Because you
haven’t asked me anything yet, Jack!” she whispered, her hand
coming up to stroke his cheek. “You have to ask to get an answer,”
she prompted as his eyes lit up and he smiled at her.

“
I saw you that night in the
bar before you took the stage, and I knew what it took for you to
get up there to sing that song. I swear, all I could think was that
it should have been me sitting there, building you up and waiting
for you to get offstage so we could celebrate. Instead it was a
group of your friends, who were intent on keeping me away from you.
And I let them, and not just because your two self-proclaimed
bodyguards have concealed weapons.” Jack sighed and his hand
stroked over her cheek. “I know I fucked up, Bayleigh, but I swear
to you, I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

Jack picked her left hand up and kissed her
knuckles, his thumb rubbing over the ring finger. “Bayleigh Morrow,
I will thank God every day of our lives that you came back and are
willing to give me a second chance. One I’m sure most women will
tell you I never deserved. And I sure as hell don’t deserve a woman
like you. But I love you. You make me complete. Will you do me the
honor of becoming my wife?”

Trying hard to stop the flow of tears,
Bayleigh managed to whisper “yes” between sobs. “I love you, too,
Jack. I was miserable in Nashville,” she whispered as he wiped the
tears from her cheeks.

“
God, Bayleigh, I was
miserable here. I was so afraid I’d lost you,” he whispered,
rolling her to her back and leaning in for a kiss.

“
You can’t lose me, Jack.
I’m here to stay. Besides, if you try to run now, I’ll hire Brian
and Rick to haul your ass back to me,” she threatened with a
smile.

“
Same goes, baby. Same
goes,” Jack assured her.

“
We need to tell Jason and
Nicole. And the rest of the family,” Bayleigh reminded him between
kisses.

“
Power’s out. I can’t find
my car keys in the dark. Cell phone died, can’t charge it,” Jack
muttered as he kissed her shoulder.

“
Think they’ll buy
it?”

“
I don’t really care, do
you?” he whispered, covering her body with his and sinking into
her.

And Bayleigh found she didn’t really care,
either.

Three days later, Jack and Bayleigh returned
from Vegas, wearing matching smiles and wedding bands, much to
their family’s delight.

Kelli grew up all over the East Coast but her
family finally settled in Cincinnati long enough for her to finish
high school and college.  She has always loved to read books
and write her own stories. In high school, she used to pass around
the latest chapter of the story she was writing for her friends to
read. There is more than one high school teacher out there that can
probably remember telling her to put the book down and pay
attention to the lectures.

Graduating from the University of Cincinnati
with her BS in Nursing, she left Ohio for Texas and the U.S.
Army.  She received a medical discharge for a knee injury, but
was able to meet the man she'd one day call her husband
first--thanks to some mutual friends who insisted they would be
perfect together.  And what do you know--they are!

She continued to read books by the dozens and
write her own stories. And then one day, a friend dared her to
enter a contest. She didn’t win, but the feedback she received from
the judges convinced her that maybe people were interested in the
stories she wanted to tell.

She still lives in Central Texas, with her
husband, two children and 2 dogs.