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Gunner was holding a bag of ice to his head.
When he pulled it away, he already had a huge black eye.

“Stupid bastard passed out and hit his eye on
the table,” Garrett said as he threw his head back and laughed his
ass off.

Gunner turned and looked at him.

“Thanks, Gramps, thanks a lot.”

“Okay, boys that’s enough. Gunner get in that
truck with Ellie.” Emma said. She turned to Heather. “I called
Grace and Jack, and they’re leaving from Austin and will meet us at
the hospital.”

After we got Gunner in the truck, Jeff and I
jumped in.

Ellie turned to Gunner. “Are you sure you’re
okay?”

Jeff looked over at me and smiled. I’d never
known Gunner to be nervous or scared of anything. I thought back to
when I’d gone into labor and how Jeff reacted. Jeff reached across
and grabbed my hand.

I turned around to see that Ellie had her
head on Gunner’s chest. He was softly singing to her. My heart
started pounding. Ellie was about to have the baby she so
desperately wanted.

As Jeff drove to the hospital, I looked out
the window at the beautiful country side. Then, I thought about
Heather.

Something was very wrong, and I needed to
talk to her as soon as possible. Right now Ellie and the baby were
my main concern.

“Gunner, will you please stop singing?” Ellie
asked.

“Sure, baby, but I thought you loved it when
I sang to you.”

Jeff and I looked at each other.

“You’re driving me fucking nuts with that
song. Just please stop.”

I let out a giggle. Jeff smiled as glanced at
Ellie and Gunner in the rearview mirror.

He reached over and turned his iPod on. Keith
Urban’s “A Better Life” came on.

“Yes! I love this song.” Ellie called
out.

Jeff looked straight ahead and let out a
small laugh.

“Let the fun begin,” he said as he squeezed
my hand.

CHAPTER
SIXTY-ONE

GUNNER

Ellie seemed to be so much more relaxed after
they gave her the epidural. My mom and dad made it, and they were
in the waiting room with Gramps and Grams.

Of course, Gramps and dad laughed their asses
off when Gramps retold the story of me passing out and hitting my
eye on the table.

I tried to explain many times that I’d
tripped and got knocked out when I hit the table, but it didn’t
matter. Gramps changed the story every time he told it, and he’d
already told three nurses, a doctor, and one intern.

A young guy walked into the room with one of
the nurses. I smiled at both of them while they walked up to Ellie
and looked at me.

“Mr. Mathews, Mrs. Mathews.”

“Please call me Ellie.”

“Ellie, it is,” The young guy said.

He couldn’t have been but a few years older
than me.

“Gunner,” I said as I reached out and shook
his hand.

“I’m Dr. Johnson.”

Ellie let out a laugh. “Hey, that’s my maiden
name!”

I took a step back. “You’re the doctor? Like
as in the doctor who’s going to deliver little bear?”

“Little bear? Is that what we call the baby?”
Dr. Johnson asked.

“How old are you, dude? Have you ever even
delivered a baby before? Are you even out of medical school?”

“Gunner!” Ellie said as she gave me a dirty
look.

Dr. Johnson let out a laugh. “Well, Gunner,
I’m thirty-three years old with three kids of my own. Yes, I’ve
delivered my fair share of babies. And I’ve been out of medical
school for five years now.”

Ellie shot me another look.

I sat down in the chair and just stared at
the doctor.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with
me. You just look really young. Please forgive me.”

He let out a laugh and looked at the
monitor.

“Ellie, can you feel the contractions at
all?”

“I can feel pressure.”

“Okay. Well I’m going to take a look to see
how you’re coming along, okay?”

Ellie nodded her head.

After a few minutes he stood back up and
smiled.

“Ellie, are you ready to get this show on the
road?”

Ellie smiled. “Yes.”

“Then, let’s get little bear out and into the
big world, so he can meet his mommy and daddy.”

I jumped up. “What? Now? We’re going
now?”

Dr. Johnson looked at me as he took a few
steps toward me. “Dude, it’s going to be alright. Take deep breaths
and just be there for your wife. I’ve got the baby part down. I
wouldn’t want you to pass out again.” He winked at me before he
turned to the nurse and started talking to her.

Damn it, Gramps. What? Is he just walking
around telling everyone?

***

For the next three hours, I stood next to
Ellie while she exhausted herself from pushing. Finally, at two
minutes after four, I heard the first cries from our baby.

“Well, your little bear is a girl.
Congratulations, y’all.” Dr. Johnson said as he held up our baby
for us to see.

When I looked at Ellie, she was crying. I
felt the tears rolling down my face as I looked over at little
bear. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my
life.

Dr. Johnson asked, “Mr. Mathews, would you
like to cut the umbilical cord?”

Speechless, I just nodded my head with a
smile.

***

A nurse took the baby over to a table to
clean her up. While the doctor was fixing up Ellie, she kept
looking around him to watch the nurse was doing.

After the doctor was done with Ellie, he
helped her to sit up.

The nurse came over, holding my sweet baby
girl.

“Dad, your daughter would like to meet you
face to face.”

I held out my arms as the nurse placed my
little bear gently in them. She looked up at me and yawned. My
heart was pounding hard in my chest. I couldn’t take my eyes off of
her. Her beautiful blue eyes embraced me heart and soul. She was
just staring up at me. In that moment, I knew that she would always
trust me to take care of her and to love her unconditionally. I’d
die before I’d ever let anyone or anything hurt her.

Ellie was now sitting up all the way, and I
looked over at her. She had tears running down her face. I turned
and slowly put our baby girl in her arms.

They just stared at each other, like they
knew what the other was thinking. I was in awe of the exchange. The
baby didn’t even cry. She just stared up Ellie.

“Hello, Alexandra Eryn Mathews. I’ve waited a
long to time meet you, baby girl,” Ellie said.

Ellie looked up at me and smiled.

Then, she turned to the nurse. “When can we
all go home?”

“We want you to stay at least overnight. If
all is going well and she’s eating enough, y’all can go home
tomorrow.”

***

Later that night after everyone had finally
left, Ellie and I sat on the sofa with Alex sound asleep in my
arms.

“I didn’t think they would ever leave!” Ellie
said with a laugh. “I’m exhausted.”

“Are you hungry, sweetheart?” I asked.

I continued stroking Alex between her eyes
and down her nose. She must have liked it because it put her to
sleep fast.

“I’m starved, but you’re not going to find
anything open in Fredericksburg this late at night. Oh wait!
McDonald’s! I could really go for a Big Mac…and large fries…oh, and
a giant-ass sweet tea.”

I laughed and leaned over to kiss her. I
stood up and gently put Alex down in the bassinet. Then, I turned
and helped Ellie up and back into bed.

“You got it, baby. One Big Mac and large
french fries coming up.”

I turned toward the door to leave, Ellie
called out,

“Sweet tea! Don’t forget the sweet tea,
Gunner!”

CHAPTER
SIXTY-TWO

HEATHER

By the time we left the hospital, it was well
after midnight.

Ari called Jenny to let her know we were on
our way back. Jenny begged Ari to let her and Aaron keep Luke all
night.

“I don’t know. I’ve never had him gone
overnight before. You promise to bring him home first thing
tomorrow morning? Okay, I guess it’ll be kind of nice to sleep in a
little in the morning for once.”

When Ari hung up, Jeff expressed his
happiness. “Hells yeah baby, we’re having sex all night long. Don’t
worry, Heather, I’ll find some ear-plugs for you.”

Ari and I both laughed.

I pulled up, and Jeff jumped out of my
car.

“Jeff, can you give me and Heather a few
minutes, please?” Ari asked.

“Sure, baby, y’all take your time.”

Ari and I got out of the car and headed
toward the house. We walked up to the porch and sat down.

“What happened?” Ari asked.

Heather sat back and let out a sigh. “Josh
and I had a fight.”

“About?”

“Lynda. What else? Ugh, Ari, she is something
else. She won’t leave him alone, and he feels like he owes her
something. It drives me crazy.”

“Have you talked to him at all since you got
here?”

“No. When everything happened with Ellie, I
forgot about it. He was supposed to go to some Christmas party at
his mother’s law firm. I was supposed to go with him, but then we
started fighting, so I came here instead. I tried to call him from
the hospital, but it went straight to voicemail. I sent him a text
telling him about Ellie and the baby, but I guess he’s pissed. He
must have turned off his cell phone. Every time I try to call, it
goes straight to voicemail.”

“It has to be hard for him. Baby, you know he
loves you. He told Jeff that he’s moving to Fredericksburg next
month.”

I looked over at Ari and smiled. “Yeah, I
still can’t believe he’s going to move his whole business just to
be with me. He’s doing so well. I hope this doesn’t cause him to
lose any business.”

“It won’t, Heather. Don’t worry. He loves you
and wants to be with you. Don’t worry about Lynda either. After
Josh is out of Austin, she’ll see that he’s truly yours, and she’ll
move on.”

“God, I hope so.”

Just then, Jeff walked out onto the porch and
looked at Ari and me with concern etched on his face.

Ari jumped up.

“What’s wrong? Luke! Is Luke okay?”

I slowly stood up. Jeff was looking at me.
Something was wrong.

“Ari, Luke is fine, baby. He’s fine.”

“Jesus, Jeff. What’s wrong then?”

“I just got a phone call from Josh’s mother
Elizabeth…”

My heart started pounding.

Just then, my cell phone went off, I must
have gotten a signal right then. I pulled it out of my pocket to
see I had three missed calls…from Elizabeth. She must have called
when I had no signal, and they just now all came through.

I looked up at Jeff.

“Heather, Josh has been in a car
accident.”

I took a step back and fell into the chair.
All the memories of my parents’ accident came flooding back to
me.

“Baby girl, I’m going to drive you into
Austin, okay?” Jeff said.

I nodded my head and looked at Ari, who was
kneeling down next to me.

She looked up to Jeff.

“How is he, Jeff?”

Jeff cleared his throat.

“He’s in critical condition, and, um…he’s in
surgery right now.”

I jumped and ran to my car. I had to get to
Josh right now.

Jeff came up behind me and grabbed me.

“Let me go, Jeff!” I screamed, kicking and
pushing for him to let me go.

“Heather, calm down. Let me drive you to
Austin.”

“Let me go! Oh my god!” I fell to the ground
and started crying.

Jeff held on to me as I cried
hysterically.

Ari dropped to the ground next to me and put
her hands on my face. “Heather, look at me, sweets. Let us take you
to Austin. It’s going to be okay.”

“I can’t lose him. Oh god Ari… I can’t lose
him, too.”

Jeff picked me up and put me in the backseat
of his truck.

Ari jumped in next to me and held on to me.
She just kept repeating herself. “Baby girl, everything’s going to
be okay. It’ll be okay.”

It was my parents’ car accident all over
again. Images of me in the backseat of my uncle’s car while Ari
held me flashed through my mind. Even then, she did the same thing,
telling me everything was going to be okay.

But it hadn’t been okay. My parents had left
me.

If I lose Josh…I’ll lose my whole world.

EPILOGUE

HEATHER

It was just supposed to be another day at the
lake. I knew he was bringing her. Ari told me. I watched as they
laughed and kissed each other.

Each moment that passed, I died a little more
inside. Every now and then, he would look at me. I tried to smile
when he did, but it took every ounce of energy I had to smile at
him and act like I was happy that he was with her. When I did
manage a forced smile, he would give me a weak smile in return.

***

As the day went on, I hated her more and
more. She did this. She knew that he was mine, but she went after
him with everything she had.

She won.

When I walked up to the bon-fire, Ari reached
out and grabbed my arm.

“Maybe you and I should take a walk,
Heather.”

“Why? It’s getting cold, and I just want to
sit by the fire.”

Ari looked back over at the fire. I followed
her eyes and saw Josh and Victoria hugging. My stomach turned, and
I wanted to throw up.

Then, it happened. He dropped to one knee and
held out a ring box. Victoria’s hand flew up to her mouth as she
let out a small scream.

My eyes moved from looking at her to looking
at Josh. When he glanced over at me, I wanted to scream no.

I couldn’t move.

The next thing I knew, I felt my legs going
out from underneath me, and all I heard was Ari calling out my
name.

Faithful

Coming Summer
2013

Stories from those touched
by Fragile X