Page 75 of Yuletide Hero

Was Jay Turner armed? Was that why Adam and Jessica hadn't arrested him already? There were three of them to Jay’s one. They had the numbers, surely it wouldn’t be much longer.

Was Hayley in there or had Jay left her someplace else?

Or dumped her dead body in a shallow grave, or at the side of a road, or in a dumpster somewhere?

There was a light on in an upstairs window.

Hayley.

For some reason, Brian knew she was in there.

He couldn’t explain it, he just knew, he felt it, felt her. Just like he felt that she needed him. He had to go to her. Now. Waiting for Adam, Jessica, and Brady to finish doing whatever they were doing wasn't an option.

There was a trellis running up the side of the house underneath the window with the light on, he was pretty sure that he could make it up there relatively easily.

Spurred on by fear, he clambered up the wall as quickly as he could. It didn't take long, and when he reached the window, he shoved it open and climbed through. Then he froze.

He’d been right.

Hayley was inside the room.

She was tied, spread-eagled, to the bed. There was a plank of wood on her chest. On the plank of wood sat three bricks.

Hayley’s face was ashen.

There were small dots of foam at the sides of her mouth.

Her eyes were closed.

Her breathing was labored, harsh gasps, wheezing in and out of her mouth as her lungs were compressed limiting the amount of air that could enter.

She was dying.

Slowly and painfully.

His ability to move returned and Brian ran to the bed, grabbing the bricks and dropping them onto the carpet. With the pressure off her chest, Hayley’s breathing improved, but only slightly. Brian pressed his fingertips to her neck and felt her pulse fluttering weakly. At least she was still breathing. He’d gotten to her in time, but had he waited until the others had Jay Turner in handcuffs it might have been too late.

Pulling a small Swiss army knife from his pocket, Brian sawed quickly through the ropes binding Hayley to the bed. The second he had her free, he sat on the mattress and pulled her into his arms.

“Hayley?” he whispered, stroking her hair and rocking her gently from side to side. “Can you hear me?”

She didn't reply.

Just lay limply in his grasp.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he begged. He needed her to wake up. He needed her to be okay. Losing her would crush him just as certainly as those bricks had been crushing Hayley’s chest.

Tears brimmed in his eyes.

He loved this woman so completely. It might have taken him a while to realize what she meant to him, but now he knew. He loved her with the kind of love that could last an entire lifetime.

Losing Hayley wouldn’t just be losing her but losing everything they could have had together. It would be losing a wife, children, grandchildren, years of happiness and laughter. It would be losing his life as well as hers.

A tear splashed down and dropped onto Hayley’s pale cheek.

She stirred. Moved ever so slightly, a small, pained moan escaping her dry, chapped lips.

To Brian it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard because it was a sign of life.

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