Judged Love Page 9

  Matt didn’t see Ben enter the room till he heard him yell at him and right behind him came in Annabelle. “They think he had a heart attack but they are not for sure yet. Sarah is back with the doctor giving his medical history. She said to tell you to wait here till she come and gets you.”

  “What she wants me to sit here while my dad could be dying is she crazy?” Ben was hysterical at this point and was still yelling. Annabelle came up beside him and grabbed his hand.

  “Ben he is in the best of hands. Take a deep breath, if it is that bad they will come and get us. Trust me okay.” She pulled his hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles. They felt like they waited forever but it was only five minutes before Sarah came out to join them.

  “He is fine and awake. The doctors think his sugar level fell to low and he passed out but he is just fine now. They are going to admit him for the night but think he will go home tomorrow. Ben you and Annabelle can go back now.” Sarah held the door open for them to go back to where Senior was.

  As Ben passed Sarah he placed a light kiss on her cheek and then said quietly. “Thank you sis. Go ahead and head home I’ll take care of him from here.”

  “You’re welcome Ben but we will stay till he is moved upstairs. Now go see your dad before he starts hollering for you.” She placed a hand on his shoulder as he walked past. Ben had a tight hold of Annabelle’s hand like it was a life line for him. They walked to Senior’s bed without saying a single word.

  “Annabelle get in here and tell these doc’s I can go home now there was nothing to worry about.” Senior yelled before the even made it around the curtain area he was in.

  “Dad you just be quiet and do what the doctors tell you. And no fighting to go home before they say you can.” Ben said as the came into the area. Once Ben saw his dad was alright his grip on Annabelle’s hand loosened. Once they moved Senior up stairs Matt and Sarah left the hospital and Annabelle left shortly after. Ben remained at Senior’s side for the night.

  Chapter 12

  Annabelle knew leaving the hospital she needed to go relieve Mary and Todd so they could go home. So she just drove out to Ben’s house without even thinking to take care of Benny. She didn’t even realize she didn’t have a change of clothes with her and was still in her evening attire. The only thing that kept running through her mind was the fact that Benny still didn’t know what was going on with his grandfather and she needed to get to him to tell him what was going on. Benny needed her now more than ever. Once she was at the house she let Mary and Todd know what was going on and sent them both home. She went up to Benny’s room to see how he was doing and she found him still asleep. Annabelle didn’t want to wake him so she went to Ben’s room to find something to sleep in. Once she was out of her dress and was comfortable she heard a noise at Ben’s door. She opened the door to find Benny standing there with tears sliding down his cheeks.

  “What’s wrong Benny?” Annabelle scooped him in to her arms on the small sofa next to the door.

  “I had a bad dream. Where’s Daddy and Pa?” Benny asked while rubbing his cheeks with his fists to get rid of his tears.

  “Oh honey Daddy is with Pa at the doctors but they will be home tomorrow. It’s just you and me tonight; did you want to stay in here with me?” Benny just nodded to answer her. “Alright let’s get in the bed and get comfy. Okay sweetheart.” She and Benny got comfortable for the rest of the night.

  ~

  Ben could only think of the fact that things could have been a lot worse than just a minor heart attack and he could have lost his dad tonight. But only by God’s grace was Dad left here for another day and he was going to make sure he spent as much time with his dad as he could. He also was having thoughts about the fact that life is too short to wait any longer to bring Annabelle into the family. He already knew Benny loved her and Senior would love to have her around all the time. He knew he loved her but did she feel the same way about him. Would she move out on the ranch with them? Was she even ready for that next step? He had a lot to think about before the morning came and at least the hospital has a pull out bed in the room with his dad because Ben knew it was going to be a long night. Ben got very little sleep through the night with all the noises in the room, but at least Dad got enough sleep.

  Senior was released first thing in the morning and Ben was thankful that Matt had showed up early to retrieve his pickup from the Hilton. Once Ben got Senior in the house and comfortable in his bed he went upstairs to check on Benny. Ben didn’t find him in his own bed and figured he slept in his bed because he wasn’t there. When he walked into his room he found the most glorious site he had ever seen. In his bed was his small son and the woman he loves curled up sleeping. With the sun rays coming through the window over them reminded him of angels sleeping. He realized at that moment he didn’t want to live another moment without Annabelle with him. He didn’t want to disturb them so he went to the closet to get some jeans and a shirt to finally get out of his tuxedo. Upon heading out of the closet Annabelle was starting to stir. She pulled away from Benny without disturbing him when she saw that Ben was home.

  “Annabelle would you like some coffee?” She nodded to answer him since they were being quiet to not disturb Benny. “Honey Sarah gave me your change of clothes you had in your locker.” He nodded toward the sofa to let her know where they were. “I’m guessing she figured you would come here last night. I’ll give ya a few minutes to get dressed and I’ll make that coffee.” He left the room with his change of clothes in his hands and went to the spare room to change to give her a moment to get dressed.

  Once in the kitchen he got the coffee going and sat at the table to wait for her to come down. He knew now was the perfect time to ask her to always stay with him he just hoped he would get the right answer. Ben was in his own thoughts he didn’t hear her enter the room till she spoke softly. “Is the coffee ready?”

  “What? Oh ya it’s ready I’ll grab us a couple of cups.” Ben moved about the kitchen getting everything they needed for they coffee. Ben was sending up silent prays the entire time he was away from Annabelle that she was the one to complete him and hoped she would give him the answer he needed to hear. Once back at the table he sat down with his coffee but still hadn’t said a single word.

  “Ben is Senior alright? Are you alright?” Annabelle asked with a small smile on her face trying to bring him out of his own thoughts. She could only think they were very important thoughts since he was telling her anything.

  “Yea dad’s fine just as hard headed as before.” Ben started running his hand through his hair and never touching his coffee. Annabelle knew Ben was nervous because he only did the hand thing then. “Annabelle I need to ask you something but I need you to wait to answer me till I’m done with what I have to say. Can you do that for me?”

  “Yes” She answered almost in a whisper almost afraid of what he was going to say.

  “Alright” Ben nodded to her and then took a deep breath to try to harden his spine up for what his was hoping would be the life changing answer. He has never been this nervous in his entire life not even when he asked Veronica to marry him. “Belle I love you with all of my heart and I don’t see my future without you in it.” With that he stood and started to pace across the kitchen he knew what he had just said probably came out corny as hell but thought it sounded really good when he had the thought. He turned in his pacing and almost ran over Annabelle. She was standing directly in front of him smiling up at him.

  “Ben I love you too and in my future I see only you.” She was glowing with the happiness of hearing him say those words to her and was hoping for him to continue.

  “Will you marry me Belle?” Ben felt like it took her forever to answer him but it wasn’t even a second.

  “Yes” was the only answer she gave before she was in his arms and they kissed to seal the deal but it didn’t last more than a second for Benny burst into the kitchen with the energy only a four year old could have.

 
“Did she say yes?” He asked while jumping up and down. When he dad nodded his answer to him Benny then surprised them both by yelling at the top of his lungs. “SHE SAID YES!!” They only had to wait a second to find out why he was yelling because every door that entered the kitchen flung open and in walked their entire family. Sarah, Matt, Mary and Todd walked in from the living room area and he thought he heard them saying it’s about dang time. The back door was opened by Derek and Kate and all he saw from them was the largest smiles he had ever seen from them and Kate went to the stove to start more coffee for everybody. And last but not least his dad came from the hall entrance from where his room was. His dad walked over to them and gave a giant bear hug engulfing both of them.

  “Glad to hear you two are finally going to be happy. Now when is the wedding?” Senior said while backing away from them.

  “Soon very soon.” Annabelle answered before Ben had a chance to even think. She then turned to Ben and asked, “How do you feel about having the wedding here and say in six weeks? We don’t have to do a lot of the normal stuff since most of the wedding guests are already here.” She smiled up at Ben with a mischievous smile on her face like she was almost thinking let’s run down town and get married today. But she knew everybody would be upset with her and she would be upset later on if she didn’t do this right.

  He smiled at her knowing she was thinking of running down town but didn’t let on and just simply answered, “Anything you want my soon to be wife.”

  They spent the rest of the day as a family all of the extended family stayed for the rest of the day helping plan the wedding and just having a good time.

  Chapter 13

  It was a beautiful sunny day six weeks later at the ranch and Annabelle, Mary and Sarah were upstairs in one of the guest rooms getting Annabelle ready for today. It had been a flurry of activities these last weeks getting everything ready but they were able to pull it off. Now Annabelle stood in front of a full length mirror were her wedding dress, a simple white sun dress style that went to her ankles, her white heeled sandals and the girls had done a beautiful style with her hair. They had left most of it down and had a simple braid going around her head with small white roses in the braid. She felt she was the most beautiful bride even though it was all a simple but elegant affair.

  Mary broke the silence in the room first, “Annabelle are you ready for this?” Annabelle nodded to answer because she was so happy she wanted to dance around the room but tried to contain herself. “Good now let’s head down and see if they are ready for the bride.” With that Mary and Sarah picked up the three bouquets of flowers they were each to hold during the ceremony. Everything about today was simple the flowers were all white roses with small white bows around them and she knew the front porch is where she and Ben would be standing with the minister. This wasn’t the wedding most young girls dream about but it was the wedding of her dreams small with all the people she cared about surrounding her.

  She and Ben had a hard time through the ceremony paying attention to the minister lost in each other’s eyes and hearts but at least they were able to say ‘I do” when the time came. After the y became man and wife they enjoyed a full Kate barbeque which included a side of beef on the fire and enough trimmings to feed a small army. This was Kate’s gift to them enough left overs for two days and she and Derek were taking Benny and Senior over to their house for those days. Everyone showed up for her day including Dakota and the party went till the sun went down. Once everyone went their separate ways Ben finally had Annabelle to himself and was going to take advantage of it.

  “Shall we call it a night Mrs. Walker?” Ben asked her with a grin on his face like he was the cat that got the cream. She just grabbed his hand and headed for the stairs.

  ~

  The following morning the sun shone into their bed room, it was still hard to think of this as her room also now, looking at the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She loved this man with all her heart even with all his quirks. She was brought out of her admiring him when he spoke without even opening his eyes.

  “What are you thinking Belle?” She watched as a small smile spread across his face. She then knew he had been awake for a little bit already and knew she was watching him.

  “I’m thinking I’m the luckiest woman alive.” She then started to kiss that smile from his face and they had a repeat of last night.

  Epilogue

  Five years later:

  Annabelle watched as her family showed up to celebrate Senior’s sixtieth birthday and her twin girls fourth birthday. Mary and Todd showed up with Mary carrying their one year old daughter Alexandra and Todd leading their three year old son Keith. And Mary was three months pregnant with their third child. They were married about a year after Annabelle and Ben.

  Sarah and Matt showed up next with their two adopted kids from Vietnam. They found out for sure that they would never have kids after Annabelle’s wedding and decided to adopt. They were the most loving parents to those two kids, Jack was seven and Fallon was four. Mary and Sarah headed in her direction as soon as they spotted her sitting on the porch and she stood with one of her sons in her arms.

  “Mary, Sarah, thank you for coming today.” Annabelle smiled at them.

  “Alright where are Beth and Jessie? And how my little Dominick doing today?” Sarah asked taking her son from her arms.

  “Well the girls are with grandpa and Benny and in case you forgot his brother Joshua is with Rose. Thank god for nannies.” Annabelle was tired again with four year old twin girls, two year old twin boys and being five months pregnant again with twins. She was getting all she wanted in life a large family but she sometimes wished they would come a little slower and not two at a time.

  Just at that moment Joshua ran by them and Dominick demanded to get down which Sarah gave into. Ben came walking up behind Annabelle and wrapped his arms around her getting larger by the day belly. “How is the prettiest bride doing?”

  “Fine” At that moment Dakota showed up and headed in their direction. He leaned in and kissed Annabelle on the cheek before saying a word. “It’s about time you showed up, but I know always fashionably late.” Annabelle giggled with always knowing how Dakota would be.

  Acting all indignant with Annabelle but not doing a very good job. “And miss my god daughters’ birthday? Let’s not forget that hunk of a man he calls his dad.” Ben’s eye brows shot up to his hair line with surprise because to this day Dakota still keeps him guessing. “I’m just kidding don’t look so worried Ben.

  “Well let’s get this party started I saw Derek and Kate in the kitchen so everyone is here.” Ben said before leading everyone over to the crowd of children surrounding Senior as he told a story to all of them loving every one of his grandchildren even though some were not his by blood. He had the thought everything worked out the way God intended the healing of hearts and the growing of families even if not with blood but by hearts.

  Thank you for enjoying my first book and I hope more will follow. I drive a truck cross country for my day job and had always wanted to write and now have the chance. I call Nevada home but have been all over this country so my stories may show different areas of the country.