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“I was drowning before you. So very lost. You put me back together.” My throat is sore from suppressing my tears, and my heart feels like dying. “You showed me how good real love could be.” Thinking of him holding me together in my kitchen sucks the life force out of me, and I sag. “You, my love, truly are the Jedi Knight of Nannies.” I brush my fingers across the top of his hand. “Oh, and I love you. I meant to tell you that.” Irrational anger bursts through me. “I should have told you that.”
The more I talk to him, the more consistent his heart beat is both in tone and across the monitor’s screen. My eyes squeeze tight, and I take a moment of gratitude. He’s here with me.
“I know you can hear me. Your heart gives you away.” My smile is wobbly like the tentative hold on my emotions. “It always does.” He’s probably worried about Isabel, so I need to set his mind at ease. “Isabel is physically fine. She’s missing you, but… You saved her life. Now, you have to save yours.” I clench my teeth because I know a wail is making its way up my esophagus and I need to stop it. “Please, we need you. I need you.”
Picking up his hand, I place his palm on my cheek. And close my eyes. “I’m imagining us kissing. You feel so good, like everything I always imagined I wanted when I was young. My very own Prince Charming.” I brush my mouth against his palm. “I’m your queen, so I command you to get better.” My voice is dressed in false bravado while my conviction is brittle.
He doesn’t move, but the strong tone of his heart monitor tells me he’s still in there, and brain injury or not, he can hear me. Better yet, he recognizes my voice. That’s what I choose to focus on, and a whisper of hope stirs inside of me.
“When you open those beautiful browns, I’ll be here waiting for you. I’ll be the one taking care of you for a change.” I enclose his hand with both of mine. “All you have to do is come back to me.”
Because if you don’t, I’ll be as good as a walking corpse. My heart might beat, but my soul will be empty.
Chapter 24
Ready For Battle
Mae
The soft knock on Remi’s door makes me jump. I’m not sure how long I’ve been by his side—a few minutes or a few hours. Time seems to stand still when a loved one’s life hangs in the balance.
I open the door and find a grim-looking Gram on Kiara’s arm. Shoulders hunched and bones fragile, she looks so different from the feisty showgirl I met just a couple of days ago.
She finds Remi right away, turning white as a ghost. I step aside so she can go to him, but she grabs my hand.
Kiara nods at the question in my eyes. For some reason, they want me to stay.
“My sweet boy.” Letting go of me, Gram circles the bed. Her weathered hands hover over her grandson’s prone form as if to assess the damage or find a place she can touch that isn’t bruised. “Oh, Remington, no.” Her body trembles, and her lips quiver.
Hot tears sear down my face, and my stomach clenches with hollow aches. The irony that I control every aspect of my life but I cannot do a damn thing about this doesn’t escape me.
“This shouldn’t have happened to you. Not you.” Granada chants, “Not you,” over and over, broken and frail. She wobbles on her feet, and I rush to her side and pull her to me. Kiara isn’t far behind, wrapping her arms around us both. Her sobs echo in the dark room.
“Gram, listen to me. He’s going to pull through. Please.” Kiara tries to hold onto faith for all of us. “He’s still here, breathing. I’m focusing on that.”
For the first time in my life, I feel like I have a true sister. It may be strange since I just met Kiara, but standing next to her in Remi’s corner is comforting. Almost as though our unified thoughts have power. As long as we uplift him and believe that he’s going to pull through, he will.
Layers of emotions ripple through me: sadness, gratitude, solidarity, but most of all … hope.
We all stay in the room until the nurse sees there are three in here and kicks us out. Remi needs his rest—that’s the only reason I’m willing to leave him for a few hours.
I need to check on Isabel. Guilt eats away at my gut. I should be with her. She had a traumatic experience today, witnessing something no child should. I grasp my hair, pulling at the roots. Jay’s taking great care of her, I know that, but I just need to hear her voice and I know she needs to hear mine. She is my strength.
Once we have Gram settled next to Cody and Jackson, Kiara pulls me aside. “I wanted to talk to you for a minute.” She has a look of disapproval on her face, and I wonder if she’s going to give me shit about being with Remi. I brace myself for a confrontation. “My parents are coming. I told them to wait until Remi wakes up because they will just add to the chaos. But my mother refuses.”
I nod, unsure of what she’s getting at. If that was Isabel laying there, a tsunami couldn’t drag me away. “I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do.” She lets out a long sigh. “My parents can be … difficult. I’m not sure how much Remi has told you about them, but my mother’s mental health isn’t in the best shape, and my father…” Remi already warned me about him. She shakes her head, her features tightening. “He’s an entitled asshole. He will come here, ranting and raving about his son, causing us all to want to kill him.”
My hollow stomach twists. “I can keep a cool head if that’s what you’re worried about.” This is not the time nor place to challenge his parents.
“That’s not it. He just might say some really … awful things. He hates that Remi lives here, and I know he’s going to blame me for Remi’s condition.” Her eyes search mine. “He might say something nasty to you too.”
I rear back. “He doesn’t even know me.”
“He doesn’t need to,” she replies. “He sees anyone who will keep Remi here as a threat. It’s not going to be pretty.” A deep frown crosses her features. “He hits below the belt, Mae. I can handle myself, but I don’t want you to take anything he says to heart.”
Not likely.
