Shelter Me(79)

Lucy squeals in delight and walks over to pick up her bag. She grabs hold of Luke’s hand as Jen picks up Zoe. We all get into our separate cars, planning to meet up at the beach.

The ride to the beach is short and we are able to find parking spots close to each other as it is still early in the morning. Getting everything we need out of our vehicles, we walk out onto the already warm sand and lay everything out.

As soon as I have sunscreen on Lucy, Bubba and Luke walk her towards the water while Jen places Zoe out of the sun. Sitting there listening to the laughter in my daughter’s voice as she plays and swims in the water brings so much joy and happiness to me that I completely forget about how scared I truly am.

At the end of the day, Lucy is completely wiped out. The three of us ended up spending most of the day at the beach even though Bubba and Jen left after a few hours because the sun was too intense for Zoe.

Luke pulls up to the house and parks, then gets Lucy out of the back seat of the car and carries her inside, where he lays her down on the couch. After taking all of our wet clothes and getting them into the wash, we take turns taking a shower. When Lucy wakes up, I give her a bath and heat up leftovers for dinner.

We spend the rest of the evening outside lying in the chairs by the pool. Luke shows Lucy a few of the stars in the dark night sky. The last thing I remember hearing either of them say before I fall asleep is Lucy giving her Daddy her hug and a kiss and a secret.

I wake up in the morning not even remembering how I got into bed, only that I fell asleep outside the night before. I hear Luke softly snoring. I roll over and quietly get out of bed, dressing myself in a pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt and then I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

Just as I am about to bring the toothbrush up to my mouth, the smell of the toothpaste instantly makes me feel like I am going to be sick. Dropping the toothbrush, I rush to the toilet and empty the contents of my stomach.

I lean back against the wall trying to gain back my depleted strength when Luke walks into the bathroom and sees me sitting on the floor. He rushes over to me, pushing the hair back away from my face.

“Baby, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am now.”

“What the hell happened?”

I explain, telling him I feel like I am coming down with something.

“Maybe you need to go see a doctor?”

“No, I will be fine,” I say, placing my hand on his cheek. “I am a nurse, remember? I think maybe I just got too much sun yesterday. Do you mind taking care of Lucy this morning while I go back to bed for a little while?”

“Of course not. You don’t even have to ask.”

Lifting me up off the floor, he carries me back to the bed and lays me down, pulling the covers over me. I fall back to sleep instantly.

I am starving when I wake up. I look at the clock and see I have slept for nearly four hours. I climb out of bed and take care of my business in the bathroom, then go downstairs in search of Luke and Lucy. I find them outside playing baseball, so I go into the kitchen and cut up some fruit and cheese, grab a few bottles of water, and place them all in a small basket I find in the closet. I carry everything outside. Lucy notices me right away and runs up to me.

“Are you feeling better, Mommy?”

Placing my things on the ground, I lift my baby girl up and give her a light squeeze.

“I feel so much better, baby. I brought us some food, do you want to sit down and have some?”

Luke joins us and the three of us eat our light lunch as Lucy goes on about her party on Saturday, how excited she is that Sierra and Erin are moving here, and that she can’t wait to see her new friend Heather again. Both of us sit there and listen to her for well over an hour. Cleaning up our mess, we return to the house and spend a quiet afternoon together.

Later on in the evening, Luke pulls me aside and says he can’t wait to show Lucy her room. Trying to convince him to wait is next to impossible, so I give in rather easily. Luke finds Lucy and tells her he has a surprise for her. She starts to bounce up and down and Luke lifts her onto his shoulders and carries her up to her room.

When we open the door, Lucy screams so loud with excitement I swear they hear her all the way in town. When Luke puts her down on the floor, she heads right for her new bed where her dolphin is now sitting on the pillow. Picking it up, she takes it with her into the adjoining bathroom where she squeals again as she sees all the matching pink and white towels and accessories on the counter.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she says as she runs into his arms. The look of joy on Luke’s face brings tears of happiness to my eyes.



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The next three days seem to fly by faster than I thought they would but I get so much done, finding a doctor, checking with the schools, and doing all the things you need to do when you move. Luke and I have been able to get everything we need for Lucy’s party and I have called a few old girlfriends from high school who I have not seen or talked to since leaving for Texas. There have been no more threats or phone calls from Ben or his people, but that hasn’t stopped both Luke and Bubba from calling at least twice a day to check on both Lucy and me.