The smell of the place was enough to turn his stomach. He needed to get her out of there fast before there was any lasting damage to her and his child.
He sat on the side of the bed and gently shook her. Amy jerked awake immediately at his touch and sat up, her eyes round with terror.
“Oh, thank Goodness it’s only you Lucas,” she said to him as her breathing came under control.
He wondered who she thought it may be and then thought back to the clerk and could see why she would’ve been scared.
Her happiness of having it be him and not the desk clerk was quickly forgotten as she realized that Lucas was sitting in her room.
“How did you get in here? How did you know where I was?” she questioned him.
“There is tracking on your car Amy and before you start shouting about me spying on you, there’s tracking on all of our vehicles. It’s a safety precaution in case any of them are stolen,” he held up his hand as he tried to delay the fight.
“I know you have a lot to say to me about what you think’s happened, but I’m really uncomfortable with having you and my child in this unhealthy environment. I’ve already reserved a suite at the Valley River Inn, which is only a few miles from here. Let’s head over there, get some food and have our talk,” he said with his usual calm, commanding voice.
He didn’t wait for Amy to say anything. He just gathered up her things, which was pretty easy considering nothing was unpacked. He walked her bag out the still open door and placed it in the rig.
When Amy still hadn’t said anything or budged, he walked into the room, scooped her up in his arms, as if she weighed nothing at all and then gently deposited her in the front passenger seat of the car. He placed a couple more hundred dollar bills down on the nightstand with a note that said ‘for the lock,’ and then quickly pulled out of the slum motel’s parking lot.
Lucas programmed the hotel address into his GPS and was at the Valley River Inn within ten minutes. There was hardly any traffic that night. Amy said nothing to him on the drive over. She sat in the passenger seat with her head turned away from him and her arms crossed.
Amy had so many emotions running through her at once and didn’t know what to focus on. The emotion on the forefront was love. She loved the man so very much. Her life without him seemed so endless and empty.
She loved him far too much too be able to sit back while he had affairs with many different women. She knew the redhead wouldn’t be the last. He was vibrant, handsome and every woman’s dream. Look how quickly she’d fallen for him.
They reached the hotel and she obediently followed him in. She was far too exhausted to fight him anymore that night. She would just have to rationally explain to him she wasn’t the type of woman who would sit back while her husband slept around.
They entered the beautiful suite and her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. He hadn’t spoken to her since he’d whisked her out of that disgusting room. She wasn’t sorry to see that place go.
Maybe after they talked he would let her stay in her old apartment until the baby was born. He knew she was on strict orders to not be working right then as it could cause harm to the baby.
She would never do anything to hurt her child. Her hand caressed her stomach as she sat down on the couch and waited to see what he had to say.
Lucas stepped over to the phone and placed an order for some food and then sat down next to her on the couch.
“Amy, I’ve never been as terrified as when I realized you had left me. How could you not realize what you mean to me?” he began speaking. She opened her mouth to respond, but he gently shook his head and then pulled her into his lap.
She knew she should struggle but even though he was the reason she was in so much pain, she wanted the comfort that he was offering her. He began rubbing her back in slow circles and she had to fight off the tears that wanted to fall again. She didn’t see how there was a single tear left in her body.
“Look at me, please,” he pleaded with her. She finally turned to look into his eyes. They seemed so filled with love and sincerity. “I love you,” he simply stated.
She finally lost the battle to hold her tears in and they fell freely down her cheeks and her body shook gently as she was finally hearing the words she had wanted for so long.
“I love you and only you,” he said again as he gently wiped away her tears. “What you saw today was not me clinging to another woman. She is an ex-girlfriend who was trying to get me back. If you would’ve stayed a moment longer, you would have seen that I pushed her away from me as soon as she made her move and had security remove her from the premises. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he finished with a sheepish grin on his face.
She stared at him, starting to feel a ray of hope. He was saying he loved her and maybe she really had jumped to conclusions. “Why would you think I would cheat on you? Making love to you is the best sex I have ever had in my life. It’s so much more. I can never get enough of you. Why in the world would I need to go to another woman when I have you to myself every night?” he asked with confusion.
“It makes more sense to me that you would want a woman like her. I’m not sophisticated, or gorgeous. You got trapped into being with me because of the baby. It just makes more sense than you actually being able to love me,” she broke off on a sob and could say no more.
Lucas lifted her chin up and placed his lips on hers, cherishing the feel of their soft touch. She immediately responded to him as she always did at his lightest touch. He pulled back before things could get out of hand, which was so easy with her, as he couldn’t get enough of his wife.
“Amy, I admit we didn’t start out the best way, but none of that matters anymore. All that matters now is how we feel about each other and how we feel about our child,” he said while running his hand over her stomach.
“I love you so much. I’m sorry I’ve been such a fool. I was afraid to give you my heart because you already own me in every other way. I would walk through fire for you. I would hunt you down to the edges of the universe. I can’t and won’t live without you. You and our child are my reason for survival. Without you both, there is no joy or passion in my life. There is no meaning,” he said.
She believed him. He loved her.
He loved her!
She’d never in her life felt such tremendous joy as at that moment, sitting on her husband’s lap with his arms wrapped tightly around her. She could see the love on his face and feel it in his body. She knew everything would be all right. She knew they were going to be the couple that beat all the odds.