Southern Sunshine by Natasha Madison

Chapter 7

Reed

"We’ve been hit." I heard the screaming all around me. “We’ve been hit." Opening my eyes, I was on my back. The sky above me was filled with gray clouds.

"Is everyone accounted for?" I mumbled as I tried to get enough energy to keep my eyes open. I heard a buzzing in my ear as I turned my head, feeling the blood drip off my forehead.

Shards of glass were all over me, and when I lifted my hand, it was covered in blood. "Fuckers are shooting." I heard the commotion around me as my guys tried to get to shelter.

"Cavalry is five minutes out," I heard someone say, and I dragged myself to the side of the building. Looking around, I saw the little girl in the corner. She sat with her back to the wall, hugging her knees to her chest. She held out her hand to me with tears streaming down her face.

"Cover me,” I said, trying to get up, but the guys wanted to stop me. I took one step toward the little girl before I heard the click, and everything blew up.

My eyes fly open, and I see the darkness again. I raise my hand to my face and see that it’s clean. My chest heaves, and I make it just in time to vomit in the trash can by the bed.

I climb out of bed, walking to the bathroom. My body and head feel numb from reliving the dream over and over again. After rinsing out my mouth, I slip on shorts and walk to the kitchen to make coffee. Seeing it’s a little after five in the morning, I grab my coffee, walk outside, and sit down, looking ahead.

Sunday is the day I finally get to see everyone. I mean, I’ve seen a couple of people since I’ve been back, but mostly, they’ve been giving me my space. Grabbing my running shoes, I walk over to the gym and get on the treadmill, replaying what I did yesterday to bring on the nightmare. I was going on two days without having that fucking dream, so the only thing I can think of is that I didn’t work out hard enough.

I run on the treadmill for a couple of hours. My head goes over lists and lists of things for me to do. It also comes up with excuses for me to leave early.

When I get dressed later, in jeans and a white shirt, I decide to walk to my grandparents’ house. Prolonging the inevitable, I can see the people as soon as I get closer. It never fails, and for the first time since I’ve been here, I actually smile. I spot a couple of kids running toward me and see Ethan’s son, Gabriel, with Tucker, Chelsea’s son. "Hey, Uncle Reed," Gabriel says. “My dad said you would be later because he pushed you so hard yesterday that you wouldn’t be able to walk."

I grab Gabriel around his neck, teasing him. “Is that so?" I joke with him and pick him up. The sound of him laughing gets me.

I put him down and bend to pick up Tucker, who I’ve met through fucking FaceTime. “You look like your dad,” I say, and he smiles.

“I’m going to be strong like him,” he says, and I laugh. I walk with my arms around Gabriel and Tucker all the way to the chaos that is my family.

"This one yours?" I look at Ethan, and he smirks.

"He talks a big game." I look at him. “You need to bring him into the gym,” I say.

"Nah," Ethan says. “He’s too busy trying to be a cowboy."

"Really?" I look over at him, and he smiles big. “You don’t say."

"I’m going to be rodeo king,” he says proudly.

"You think so,” I say, and he nods his head and crosses his arms over his chest very much like his father. "Well, I’ll stop by this week and see what you got."

"Uncle Reed." I hear my father talking and look over at him. “He was the best cowboy I’ve ever seen." Gabriel looks at me like he’s unsure. “If he stayed with it, I have no doubt he would have destroyed my record."

"That’s not exactly true,” I say, and he looks at me.

"Yes, it is. You were twelve years old and walked out after the best round anyone has ever seen and you were, like, done. Nothing could change your mind," he says, and I have to shake my head. The memory is now a little bit foggy.

"There you are," I hear Chelsea say, coming to us. “I have been looking for you all over the place."

"Is she talking to you or me?" I ask Tucker, who shrugs.

"I’m talking to both of you." She comes over and gives me a hug first. “Asshole," she whispers so no one can hear and then stands back and punches me in my shoulder.

"Mom," Tucker says, laughing.

"That’s for not calling me back,” she says and then punches me again. "That’s for not coming home in six years." She pulls her hand back again, but Mayson grabs her around her waist.

"Easy there,” he says, putting his hand on her stomach. “Leave the man be."

"Yeah." I place Tucker in front of me holding him as a shield, in case she tries to hit me again. “Leave me be."

"Auntie Savannah," I call to my aunt, who is sitting with my mother. She gets up and rushes over to me.

"You little shit,” she says softly as she puts her head on my chest. “You’re too skinny,” she says, and I laugh now.

"Chelsea hit me,” I say, putting an arm around her shoulder, and she shakes her head. “Twice." I hold up two fingers. “Tell her, Tucker."

"Don’t you," Chelsea says to her son, and he laughs at her. I’m about to say something else when I see my brother, Quinn, walking in. His little girl, Grace, is on his hip as she looks up at him and tells him something. Willow is walking beside them.

Quinn looks around the yard, and when he spots me, he points in my direction, and she smiles. Another kid I met through FaceTime. He walks over to us. “Here he is. Uncle Reed,” he says, and I scrunch my nose up to her.

I hold out my hands to her, and to my surprise, she comes to me. “Want to go pet the horses?" I ask, and she nods.

"Where is Amelia?" Chelsea asks, looking around, and I see her waddling in.

"She looks pissed,” I say and then look back at the group. “Why does she look so pissed?"

"She’s almost overdue," Chelsea says, laughing, but then turns her face when Amelia glares at us.

"She should blame her husband," I tell the group. “He put her in that state." I look back down at Grace. "Let’s get away before she comes over."

"She needs to wash her hands," Willow says, “before she eats."

"She’s fine," Quinn says. “Reed has her."

I turn now and kiss Grace’s head. “When did you get so big?" I ask, and she points with her finger.

"Horse,” she says, and I laugh.

When we get to the barn, I put her down and hold out my hand. “Ready, girl?" She nods her head and walks with me. "Show me where your horse is," I say. She pulls my hand toward her stall, and sure enough, her name is out there.

She doesn’t stop talking for five seconds, and when my father comes into the barn an hour later, she runs to him. “Grampy," she says. “Uncle Reed said a bad word."

"One time," I tell my father. “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone." I walk to her and tickle her stomach. She tries to push me off through her giggles.

"It’s good to have you home," my father says with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, it’s nice." I surprise even myself when I admit it as I follow him out of the barn.

Kids are running around everywhere, and I see Christopher talking with Harlow. "Feels just like it always did." I laugh now. “Except another generation."

"It’s amazing to see," my father says. “When Dad started this tradition, it was only Ethan."

"Now there are five hundred of us," I joke. My father puts Grace down and holds her hand.

"I heard you pushed it in the gym,” he says, and I nod.

"Yeah, it’s been good,” I say. “I have an appointment on Tuesday with the same doctor Ethan used to talk to."

"He’s good," my father says, and I nod. My father played a big part in Ethan coming back home. "Came highly recommended back then, so I can only imagine now."

"I have about three more weeks,” I say, and he smiles, and then you see the sadness in his eyes.

"I missed you,” he says softly.

"We spoke all the time,” I say, the guilt starting to creep over me now.

"I know,” he says, and Grace lets go of his hand. “Go see Grammy," he tells Grace, and we watch her walk toward my mom. "But having you here," he says, “I just realized how much I missed you.” He puts his hand around my neck like I did to Gabriel not long ago. “Even your shitty attitude.”

I laugh. “I never had a shitty attitude,” I say, and his hand comes up to slap his stomach as he bursts out howling with laughter.

"It was close," he says. “I thought I was going to have to knock you out at one point." I look over at him. “You need to thank your mother and your grandfather for saving your life."

I shake my head. “You didn’t even know you were being a little shit." My father looks at me. “You were miserable, completely and utterly miserable, and the minute you told us you were leaving, you were a changed person."

"I didn’t know that you knew,” I say softly, feeling bad about the way I acted without even knowing. “I thought I hid it."

"Maybe to the people who didn’t know you or have to live with you," my father says. “But to anyone who knew you." He shakes his head. “It was your grandfather who called it." My eyebrows pinch together. “‘Set him free,’" he told me. “He’ll come back." My father looks toward Quinn and Harlow, who laugh at something. “The hardest thing in my life was having you leave, knowing in my heart you would never come back." I see the tears form in his eyes. “Keeping strong in front of your mother was the second hardest thing." He smirks, turning and slapping his hand on my shoulder. “You’ll never understand until you have a child,” he says. I want to hold up my hand and tell him that it will never happen. "Why don’t you do your dad a favor,” he says, “and come spend the day with me tomorrow?"

Seeing my father so open with me shifts something inside me, knowing he knew how unhappy I was and that he struggled with it just as much as I did. Today is a good day, I think to myself. Today, for the first time in six years, I’m happy to be here. I say the word that shocks both of us, not knowing just how much my life is going to change. "Okay."