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“He was here,” she said in a raspy voice.
“Your brother.” It wasn’t a question.
A sob escaped her. “Y-yes.”
“He wasn’t, Lilac.”
“He was!” The door to her room opened and she shied back with a cry.
“Is everything all right in here?” A harried-looking nurse walked in. “We heard a scream, but we had an emergency down the other end of the ward. Lilac? I’m Grace. Are you okay?”
An emergency? Or a diversion so he could get to her? She wouldn’t put it past Stefan.
He was sneaky like that.
“Lilac had a nightmare,” Tanner explained. “But I’m here. I’ll take care of her.”
“All right. If you’re sure, Lilac?” Grace asked.
“Y-yes.” She didn’t want the nurse here to witness her losing her mind. Abby must have gone home sometime during the night.
After her nap, she’d woken up to find that Raid had dropped off a bag of her clothes. Tanner had helped her put some panties on. Which was just as well, since she’d been wheeled away for an ultrasound soon after.
By the time she’d returned to the room, it had been dinner time. Then she’d fallen asleep watching some reality show on TV.
“Tanner, he was here,” she whispered after the nurse left.
“Baby, he wasn’t here, I promise. It was a dream. I’ve been here with you the entire time.”
“Are you . . . are you certain?” she asked. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe him. But Stefan could be tricky.
Tanner drew back the blankets and then lifted her onto his lap. Taking hold of the top blanket, he wrapped it around her as he held her tight.
Ooh, okay. This was nice.
She felt so much more secure.
“I’m certain, baby. I wouldn’t leave you. I promise. I’ve been right here. I haven’t gone anywhere.” He rocked her gently back and forth. “It was just a nightmare.”
“It felt so real.” She sobbed. It was hard to believe that he really wasn’t here.
“Please stop crying, baby,” he murmured. “I hate listening to you cry. I don’t like that he infiltrated your dreams. You should only have happy dreams.”
Yeah. She wished.
The only time she had happy dreams was when they were about him. Reaching over her, he grabbed a tissue and wiped her face clean. Heck, he even wiped her nose!
Yikes.
But she simply lay there and let him take care of her. Maybe he was right. Perhaps she would benefit from giving him control. At least for a short time; she wasn’t sure she could do it as a lifestyle. But to not make decisions, even simple ones like what to wear or eat, could be freeing.
“I hate seeing you like this, baby. Will you talk to me about it?”
She swallowed heavily. “I, uh . . .” Shoot, her throat was dry and scratchy. How much screaming had she done?
Hopefully, she hadn’t woken up anyone else.
“Wait a second.” After shuffling her so she was sitting up straighter, he reached over and poured her a glass of water. Then he lay her back against his arm and held the glass to her lips.
