A Tragic Hero

Chapter 24

Sky stared out the front window of Ryder's truck at the open road ahead of her, her hands tightly folded together in her lap. She didn't know what exactly she should do. Ryder drove in silence, his hands loosely gripping the steering wheel as he hummed lightly in his seat.
She could see out of the corner of her eye that he was smiling.
She had fallen asleep on him. After crying for quite a while, a massive wave of fatigue had crashed over her and she had fallen asleep. How long had she been asleep? She didn't know.
The embarrassment of how fast she had pushed away from Ryder and almost toppled over with her seat to the ground had almost been unbearable. She had just been...very surprised to open her eyes and see him staring down at her, inches away from her face. But then, when it had all come back to her, the relief that had started to fill her was too much and she had began laughing.
And then, after accusing him of not being funny, she had watched in wonder as his eyes had begun to glow, that wickedly handsome grin still on his face. He had let out a long stream of laugher that had seemed to have been locked away in him for a long time.
They had just kept laughing and laughing, and at one point, ended up hugging each other again.
"I feel...I feel renewed,"she had spoken up while in his arms.
"Like I could do anything I wanted to now and not have any doubts at all about it."
"Yah,"he had answered back, his clear eyes still glinting with a hint of something more.
"I know exactly how you're feeling."
They had stared at each other for a second longer before he had stepped back, reaching out his hand for her to take.
"Come on," he had then said.
"It's gonna be midnight soon and Ella and Wendy are starting to get a bit fussy that we aren't back yet."
"How fussy?"
"Extremely fussy."
She had sighed, then had clasped his waiting hand with hers.
"Wonderful. I guess I'm not getting a wink of sleep tonight."
"Not on my watch,"He had responded confidently, sending her a warm smile.
"You'll be fine."
After checking on her sleeping son and planting a kiss on his head, they had headed out to his truck, their hands still intertwined.
As she now sat in Ryder's truck, she realized that truly, the once crushing weight, was gone. She could breath again. And it felt amazing to do so.
"What's that lovely smile for?"
She turned to look at Ryder who now glanced at her with a curious look in his eyes. The road was empty on either side, so he was able to continue staring at her while he drove on with one hand skillfully. 
"It's gone,"she replied, turning her body slightly to face him.
"What's gone?"
"The weight of it all, it's just...gone."
Ryder said nothing, just continued to smile dashingly. He slowly took one of her hands in his, letting them rest between them. She liked the feeling of his palm against hers.
"Now, all we need is Jake to get better,"She said after a calming silence.
"He will."
Ryder gave her hand a light squeeze.
"He's just gonna have to work hard to get his abilities back, especially walking. I have a feeling though that he'll be back on his feet quicker than the doctors think."
Sky willingly took Ryder's words to heart, feeling them assure her of her worries for her son.
"Tell me about Jake."
She cast a glance back at Ryder, seeing he was focused once again on the road.
"Well, okay,"she said, leaning back against her seat.
"Anything specific?"
"No,"Ryder shrugged his shoulders,"just any little thing about him."
"Umm,"she mumbled, shuffling through her mind, trying to choose a precious memory to share with Ryder about her son.
"Jake was 6 months old when he said his first word."
"And what word was that?"
She chuckled some as Ryder sent her playful smirk.
"What."
"His first word was what?"
"Yep,"she nodded her head slowly,"What, what, what, what. That's all I ever heard out of his mouth for a couple of weeks. It was cute the first couple of times he screamed it, but after two days , it was...pretty annoying. I just couldn't get him to stop!"
"That's hilarious," Ryder chuckled softly, the vibration traveling to his hand and continuing through her arm.
"It was definitely not hilarious,"she scolded him.
"I told him one morning,'Jake, please, I can't take this much longer. Say something else. I'm begging you boy, anything else.'You know what he said?"
"I'm guessing...what?"
"Yes what! Then, he gave me this laugh, like he knew exactly what I was asking him to do, but he liked seeing me pulling my hair out."
"Smart boy you got there. A Wiz from the start."
Ryder eased on the brakes as he approached an empty intersection.
"Maybe too smart for you at the time."
"He definitely had his moments back then,"she agreed,"and I knew he knew what he was doing, those being on propose 99% of the time."
Ryder pressed down on the accelerator then gave her another look.
"What else?"
"About Jake? Well..."
Sky bit her bottom lip, thinking.
"He has always been the positive one in any situation we ended up in. A couple days after he turned 4 years old, we got locked out of our car on a really hot summer day at the supermarket. We had to wait for a long time for someone to come and open the car back up. All the while, whenever I started to show any signs of sadness, he would say,'it's okay, momma. We'll be okay'. He gave me countless hugs and kisses that day. I couldn't hold back my laughter and smiles whenever he made a silly face at me to make me happy. The time flew by with him by my side, and when the guy came to open my car, Jake saw that he looked pretty down and made the guy crack a smile too by telling him jokes that didn't really make any sense. But, he did try and it did work."
"Sounds like you've done a great job raising him up alone this far."
Ryder's compliment made her eyes well up with tears.
"Thank you,"she caught his eyes once more.
"You're welcome."
They keep to themselves all the way until they reach Ryder's moms house.
"Home sweet home,"Ryder muttered under his breath, still wearing a tiny grin.
Sky smirked to herself as she released his hand and clicked her seat belt off. She reached out for her door handle, preparing herself to face whatever Ella and Wendy had come up with while home alone.
"Sky?"
Ryder's gentle voice made her pause her exit. She turned her gaze back to him.
"Yes?" She questioned him, studying his now cautious expression.
Something in his eyes had shifted, sending a quick shiver down her back. He was staring intensely at her now. She felt her face begin to flush. She was simply unable to stop the heat from creeping onto her face. His mouth parted slightly and his hand that had been holding hers was twitching, like it was holding itself back from clasping onto her hand again.
"Sky,"he started up again with a deep and enticing etch in his low, captivating voice.
"Sky, I-"
The front door swung open, the glaring lights from inside Ella's house shining out and onto Ryder's parked truck.
"Are you two just gonna sit in that car all night?" Ella's smooth voice called out, reaching both of their ears at the same time. Wendy stood beside her mother, grinning from ear to ear as she stared at them.
"We should head inside."
Sky glanced back at Ryder, watching him turn away from her and open his door in one quick motion. He had hid his face from her gaze, but not fast enough for her to not catch the deep rose color blooming onto his cheeks.
By the time he came around and helped her out of her seat and onto her feet, he had fixed his face and was now wearing his usual soft grin.
"Come on."
She followed behind Ryder submissively, still wondering if she had just imagined his extremely embarrassed looking expression.
"What took you so long?" Wendy purred as they stepped inside Ella's house. Ryder ignored his pestering sister and continued into the house.
"I have to use the restroom. I'll be right back."
Sky watched Ryder as he rushed away from them. What was up with him?
"Man, he's got it bad," Wendy chuckled lightly as she glanced back at her with a wide smile displayed on her clear face.
"He's probably just exhausted and wants to freshen up some," she tried to put in, but knew with one glance between both Wendy and Ella that they didn't believe her.
"Freshen up? Of course," Ella waved a hand at her, a glint of disbelief in her gleeful eyes.
"So, did Ryder help at all?"Wendy questioned, wrapping an arm around her.
"If you mean if helped me stop worrying, then yes, " She answered her  back honestly.
"He could always be the one to help you stop worrying. All you have to do is snap your fingers honey, and he's all yours. Well, he kinda already is yours."
Ella laughed behind her as Sky stared at Wendy's face in surprise. This lady was way to brazen with her words!
"Oh, don't give me that look,"Wendy smirked back at her,"I know you two have already figured this out. Now, you're just waiting for him to move, right?"
She didn't dare respond.
"Well, I think that he is waiting for you to move."
Ella wrapped her arm around her other shoulder. She was trapped.
"You have our blessing darling. Just reach out and grab hold of your... well, of your obvious blessing that's standing right in front of you."
"For once, could you two just cut it out?"
Ryder's tired voice made all three of them spin around. He walked into the room, heading straight for Sky who was still in between thing one and thing two.
"Let go of her."
The seriousness in his voice instantly made Ella and Wendy let go of her. A look of shock and respect planted onto their faces, making Sky hold in a sudden burst of laughter. This was the first time she had seen them silent when Ryder was around.
They hurried off into the next room, not even casting a quick glance back at her.
Ryder kept coming, right until he was standing directly in front of her.
He gazed down into her eyes, then slowly, a charming smile appeared on his lips.
"Didn't think that would work."
Sky  giggled quietly, thankful once again for the man standing inches from her.
"I thought I was toast for sure this time."
"Never will I understand those two."
She laughed louder, just happy to be...happy again.
Ryder leaned in closer, putting a finger to his lips, shushing her lightly.
"Hey, we don't want them to think we are talking about something serious or else they will definitely barge back in here."
"I bet their eavesdropping right now from the other room."
Ryder shined a loving grin back at her then took her hand in his.
"You're probably right."
She walked beside him, still letting out a laugh here and there, each time being gently shushed by Ryder again, all the way to her guest room.
Stepping in, she breathed in deep and smiled. Even though Ryder's family could be a bit too much to handle, Sky smiled as she saw that Ella and Wendy had freshened up her room and left some steaming food on a pull out table beside her nicely made bed. Her clothes had been taken out of their trash bags, nicely folded, then placed very organized in her borrowed dresser. Her torn up wedding album was sitting on her bed, untouched and unopened.
"Well, that's a first."
Sky turned back around when she realized that Ryder was still standing outside her half shut door.
"What were..."she stared up, pausing only when Ryder grinned again at her. She swallowed down her fears, not knowing if she was really ready to hear the answer to this question, but never the less, was curious to know.
"What were you going to say to me before your wonderful relatives took over?"
Ryder stared back at her, not moving a muscle.
She wondered then if she had even asked him something. Her eyes were beginning to droop and her mind was drifting off to unknown places as she gazed into Ryder's brilliant eyes. Man was she exhausted.
When she finally caught the admiration in Ryder's gaze, she straightened up.
"Nothing."
He took a few steps in past her door towards her, stopping once again when he was just a couple of inches away.
"Goodnight Sky."
The inches became centimeters, and before she could even react, Ryder closed the space between them and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.
Her eyes widened and her heart went into instant over drive. She placed her hand over the very warm spot and blushed deeper, watching frozenly as he gave her one last smile and simply....walked away.