Saved

SAVED

By Kelly Elliott

Copyright © 2013 by Kelly
Elliott

Smashwords Edition, License
Notes

This ebook is licensed for your enjoyment
only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
IF you would like to share this book with another person, please
purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this
book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use
only, then please return to seller and purchase your own copy.
Thank you respecting the hard work of this author.

Copyright 2012 Kelly Elliott at
Smashwords

Published by Kelly Elliott

www.authorkellyelliott.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/KellyElliottAuthor

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system without the written
permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in
a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Name,
characters, places, and incidents either are products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.

Cover photo take by Rutheah
Rodehorst
www.bluehousefotos.com

Cover design by Sarah
Hansen
www.okaycreations.net

Editor - Jovana
Shirley
www.unforeseenediting.com

ISBN- 13: 978-0-9887074-3-6
eBook

ISBN- 13: 978-0-988-707-4-3
Paperback

Thank you…

Arianna Niknejadi. You are not only being my
BFF, but you have supported me and helped me so much along this
journey. Thank you, Ari, for answering my endless questions in the
beginning about Fragile X, thank you for sharing your personal
stories with me, and most importantly…thank you for allowing me to
share a piece of your precious Logan with the world. Thanks also
for reading Saved and giving me your feedback. For yelling at me
when I was on Facebook and should have been writing or doing edits.
Thank you for helping me write the blurb when I was just stuck. You
truly amaze me in all that you do…from being a wonderful friend, to
an amazing mother. You rock you bitch!

Gary “Leo” Taylor –I swear I get at least ten
messages a day saying how you are the perfect Gunner. You truly
are…but you’re more than that. Your determination is awe inspiring,
your heart is genuine, your smile is infectious, and you might have
been told this before…but you take one hell of a good picture
cowboy. You’re a friend who I admire and can count on. Thank you
for just being you and always having my back and making me
smile.

Molly McAdams – As I write
this I’m having Molly withdraws ‘cause we haven’t had lunch in
like…
Two weeks!
Thank you Molly for
always
making me laugh. You have no idea how much I look
forward to our weekly lunches. You’re an amazing
friend…
a kick ass
author
…(Can I just say……oh my god I can’t
wait for Stealing Harper BTW) and a beautiful person inside and
out. Thank you for everyone! Love you girl! P.S. Gus, Rose, Fergie
and Pumpkin want another sleep over!

Sarah Hansen – Thank you for another
beautiful book cover. I’m so proud to say that you’ve done my book
covers. You rock and are the best!

Rutheah Rodehorst – You are an amazing
photographer. Your pictures have truly brought to life these books.
Thank you for allowing me to share your work on the cover of my
books.

Jovana Shirley – Girl…you
amaze me! You did a
fabulous
job on editing Saved. You made me smile numerous
times throughout. For that…I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Now on to Faithful we will go!

Kim Bias, Lisa Kane, and Denise Tung – Thank
you girls SO MUCH for your support. It means more to mean than
words could ever say.

Heather Davenport, Jemma Scarry, JoJo Belle,
Rosa Saucedo – Thank you so so SO much for helping with Saved. I
love you girls and I love how you have my back. I’m just so damn
blessed to have you Friends. Rosa my photo pimp….LOL! I love
you!

Amanda Orozco – I can thank Gary for bringing
you into my world. I’m so glad we have become friends. Thank you so
much for answering all of my questions about horse breeding. I love
you girl and would do anything for ya! Keep sending me those couple
pictures!

Sue Sunderlin – Girl you know I love you!
Thank you for being there for me….your friendship means so much to
me. Thank you for letting me use you and Mark as my inspirations
for Ari’s parents.

Alexandra Louk – Thank you for sharing your
story with me. Thank you for being my inspiration and teaching me
that it just takes touching one person’s life to make a world of
difference.

My street team, Kelly’s Most
Wanted- Holy shit…I don’t even know what to say to y’all. Thank you
will
never
be good
enough. I wish I could name each of you but you know who you are.
I’d be lost without you girls…please know that. I love each and
every one of y’all.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my husband Darrin,
my daughter Lauren, and my mother.

First I need to thank you
Darrin…for reading your first ever book and making that book mine!
I hope you see the bits and pieces of us together in these books
and smile. Thank you so much for supporting me in this journey,
even when it’s taken me so far away from you. (BTW I really am
listening to you talk…it just
looks
like I’m not) Thank you for letting me share a bit
of you also with the world. I love you more than life itself…always
have….always will. Thank you for yet another star wish too! LOL!
You are my true romancer Darrin. I love you
more.

Lauren – Oh. My. God. You’re growing up
before my eyes. I’m not gonna lie… some of our “adult”
conversations on the way to and from school…yeah they freak me out
just a little bit. You make me laugh, you make my cry, and you make
me mad as hell sometimes…but I look forward to your smile every
morning. Never change who you are to make someone else happy.
You’re a beautiful person inside and out…stay that way. I love you
so much Lauren and I am so proud of you.

Mom – I wish you were to see all of this. I
hope you would be proud of who I am. I miss you.

***

In this story you will meet a young man named
Matthew Peterson. Matthew is a very special little guy and is very
near and dear to my heart…he has Fragile X Syndrome. Matt was based
off of my best friend’s son, Logan Howard.

For those of you who don't know, Fragile X
Syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes mental impairment,
intellectual disability, poor eye contact, hand biting or flapping,
learning and behavioral challenges, sensory processing disorders as
well as anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. It
also happens to be the most common known genetic cause of
Autism.

Fragile X syndrome can range from moderate
learning disabilities, typically seen in girls, to very sever
intellectual disabilities typical found in boys but some girls as
well. It can cause physical features such as a long face, velvet
soft skin, large ears, hyper flexible joints, as well as connective
tissue problems, and seizure disorders. Children and adults with
Fragile X are visual learners and learn best from peer models. It's
imperative that they are exposed to typical social situations to
develop strategies for appropriate social interactions.

Fragile X syndrome is detective by a simple
blood test, screening for this is strongly recommended as 1 out of
260 females and 1 out of 800 males carry the FMR1 permutation gene
which can cause Fragile X syndrome. The genetic test is also
strongly recommend to those who have received a diagnoses of
autism.

Approximately 1 in 3600 males and
approximately 1 in 4000 females are born with Fragile X.

Carriers of the Fragile X gene can experience
Fragile X related disorders such as FXTAS (Fragile X –associated
Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome). The tremors have similar symptoms as
Parkinson Disease, FXPOI (Fragile X Primary Ovarian Insufficiency
Prevalence), which can cause early menopause and failure to
conceive.

The silver lining to all of this is that
children and adults with Fragile X tend to be loving and empathetic
with amazing senses of humor. They have a strong need to please
others and can light up any room when they walk in. They are great
with any visual technology such as tablets and smart boards. They
love to sing, play and laugh just like everyone else. Never under
estimate a child or an adult with Fragile X because they will
surprise you at every turn…

For more information on Fragile X
Syndrome:

Please contact the National Fragile
Foundation

www.Fragilex.org

or

800-688-8765

PROLOGUE

ARI

10 Years Old

I couldn’t believe my
parents were taking me away from all my friends.
I’ll never forgive them for this…..ever! I’m
never going to talk to them again.
They
totally ruined my life.

I’m just going to sit here and keep
sighing.

“Arianna, you’ll make new friends,
sweetheart. I know you will.” my mom said.

I rolled my eyes in the backseat because I
knew my mom couldn’t see me.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, Arianna!”

What? How does she do that?

“This is
so
not fair! You’re the worst mother
ever! Why would you take me away from all my friends?”

My mother turned around and looked at me.

Oh, I think I went too far that time.

“First off, young lady, I’m not the one who
is moving us to Austin for a new job. That would be your father
sitting right here next to me.” Mom looked over at Daddy who was
smiling.

“Second, if you ever talk to me like that
again, you’ll be very sorry because I… I...”

Daddy looked over at Mom and waited for her
to tell me what torture she would put me through. It seemed like he
was enjoying all of this.

“To quote the great Katharine Hepburn, ‘I
could peel you like a pear, and God Himself would see the justice
in it.’ I’ll do it, too, young lady, if you keep pushing me!”

Daddy laughed, and I just stared at her.

What does that even mean?
Why is she always quoting Katharine Hepburn?
Oh no!

She was going to make me
watch another one of her movies. Just great!
Why can’t I learn to keep my mouth shut?

“I will never meet another
friend like Katy, Mom. Never!” I closed my eyes and fought to keep
the tears from falling.
I will not
cry!

Turning off the main road,
we started to drive through our new neighborhood. It was cute,
really cute. There were all kinds of houses in different
sizes.
Thank God!
I hated our old neighborhood. All the girls were into English
riding, and they teased me because I liked to barrel race.
Ugh, and all the stupid tea parties I had to go
to! Yuck!

As we drove by one simple
looking house, with nothing extra special about it, I noticed a
girl who looked to be around my age playing with an older boy out
front. I sat up to get a better look.
Oh,
he’s cute!

“Mom, are we close to our house?” I
asked.

I looked out the back
window, watching the boy chase the girl around the yard.
God, I hope that’s her brother.

“We’re a few blocks away sweetheart. We have
twenty acres, so we’re at the end of the road.”

I turned back around and
smiled.
Perfect
. I
could ride my bike by their house. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here
after all. As I continued to think about that boy, I wondered about
what I should wear for my first bike ride through the new
neighborhood.

CHAPTER ONE

ARI

Jeff stood at the door of the hunter’s cabin,
I could tell he’d been crying, and my heart broke at the sight of
him. I couldn’t believe it, I just stood there and stared at
him.

He came for me.

“Ari, I know you told me not to come tonight,
but.”