only thing I can think of that might help. Getting to my knees, I grit out, “Hold onto my shoulders.”
Once she does, I move my hands to her legs and begin massaging. I have no clue if it’ll help, but I have to do something. It kind of freaks me out how hard the muscles in her legs feel. Like fucking stones or something. I add pressure and work my way up one leg and down the other. The longer I massage, the looser the muscles become. I don’t know if it’s me helping or if the spasms have run their course. Either one is fine with me. I only want my girl to be pain-free.
I move to her back next and find the muscles there tight as well. After a few minutes, the tenseness in her body starts to relax. I look up and find her panting, the pain in her eyes slowly being replaced with remorse.
“Is that better?” I ask through a tight throat.
She nods and swallows. “Yes.”
I massage her legs and back for a couple more minutes before I stand. I don’t give her a chance to take a step before I’m lifting her into my arms and turn to face the kids. They both look at Molly with questions and worry in their eyes.
“See? Mom’s okay. She just had leg cramps, but she’s better now.”
I see the doubt in Gray’s eyes, but thankfully he doesn’t say anything. Gemma still looks worried, but she accepts my explanation.
“Gray, grab the keys from my pocket and open Mom’s door, would you?”
After stuffing his hand in my front pocket, he pulls out my keys, unlocks the doors, and opens the passenger side. Molly looks exhausted when I set her down in the seat. While the kids make noises getting in their seats and buckling up, I take the opportunity to ask her quietly, “How’s the pain?”
“Manageable.”
I’ll take manageable over what she just went through.
Leaning in, I press a soft kiss against her lips before I close her door and walk to my side. As soon as I’ve got the car started, I reach over for Molly’s hand, needing to touch her in some way to keep myself calm and sane.
What in the hell am I going to do once she’s gone?
Chapter Nineteen
MOLLY
A big grin splits across my face as I read the last couple of lines in Anna’s latest journal entry.
Twins. A boy and a girl. And they are the most precious beings I’ve ever seen.
I am so incredibly excited for her and Jack, whom she married two years ago in her time. So much has happened in the two journals I’ve read of hers so far. I read as she and Jack fell in love. The worry over what her father would say when he found out. The surprise when he and her mother gave their blessing. Jack became sort of like a son to her parents over the year he was their gardener. So much so that Joseph, Anna’s father, after seeing how hard a worker Jack was keeping up the grounds, decided to hire him part-time at the factory he owned. It wasn’t long after that that he stopped working the grounds to work full-time at the factory. Seeing his dedication to the job, Jack was soon being trained for a higher position. At just over eighteen years old, he became a supervisor. The two years while Jack was living in the cottage, he and Anna fell in love. At nineteen, Jack approached Joseph about his feelings for his daughter and asked for her hand in marriage, never expecting to receive it. Anna and he made plans to run away together if her parents didn’t approve. Luckily, they did. As a wedding gift, Joseph informed them both that he would be training Jack to one day take over the company.
It was very uncommon back in the day for the owner of a company to pass down a legacy to someone other than a blood relative. But it was even more uncommon for it to be passed down to a female relative. Women’s rights were very much suppressed back then. It goes to show just how much he trusted Jack, to not only take care of his only beloved daughter, but to also ensure his company would continue to prosper.
After they married, Anna and Jack moved off of her parents’ property but stayed close enough for Jack to apprentice under Joseph and for Anna to see her family