by M. W. Muse
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you,” Adin said. “What I am saying is you’re done.”
“I won’t allow that.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Neither does she.”
She heard enough to understand what the topic of their conversation was—her.
“Stop fighting,” she breathed as she turned her head to Adin and opened her eyes.
He straightened in his chair, stroked her head, and looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t.” She looked over at River. “Be nice.”
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
She looked at the ceiling and slipped both her hands from theirs.
“What are you doing?” Adin asked.
She didn’t say anything, she just stretched her arms over her head, stretching her back and pointing her toes. She winced.
“Okay, that’s good,” Adin said.
“No.” She shook her head. “How do I get the bed up?”
“Here’re the controls. This one’s up, and this one’s down. Just be careful.”
Adin and River both stood up and watched her face as she set the bed in a more upright position, leaving it slightly reclined. She winced a few times, and they both put hands on her shoulders. She took a deep breath.
“Adin, I can barely lift my legs.”
“That’s because you’re still sedated. You’re not supposed to get up right now.”
“I’m not trying to get up. Can you just move my legs around for me?”
“Sure,” he whispered.
Adin stuck his hands under her blanket and lightly grabbed her ankle with one hand and put his other hand under her knee. He moved her leg back and forth and around in circles. Then he did the other leg. “Is that good?”
“Yes, thank you.” She yawned and blinked, but didn’t open her eyes.
“Legacy?” River asked.
She heard him, but didn’t have the strength to answer.
“Don’t,” Adin said. “Let her sleep.”
“Do you think we should put the bed back down?”
She wanted to stay just like this. She felt like she hadn’t moved since she’d been here, and this new position was wonderful.
“No. Just leave her be,” Adin told him.
Good. Adin knew what she wanted. Then she fell completely under.
The next day came quickly. As she opened her eyes, Adin and River were there with Lissa and Calli. She was asleep every time Lissa and Calli had been in here yesterday, so she was happy they were here when she woke up this time.
She saw Lissa standing beside Adin with a determined look in her eyes. Right. She remembered she had to get out of bed today, and it seemed as if Lissa was thinking there was no time like the present.
“Legacy, how do you feel?” Lissa asked.
“Better.”
“Good. We need to get you up and move you around. Are you ready to try?”
“Sure.”
The bed was still in the same position she put it in yesterday, so she only had to move a little to sit up completely. Adin and River had their hands behind her shoulders in case she slipped back. Adin put the arm rail down so she could slide out.
“Calli, make sure I’m not flashing everyone. Okay?” she tried to joke, but was too weak to laugh.
“Of course,” she said with a smile, came to her side, and made sure her gown was securely fastened. Adin wasn’t watching her, and she knew River wouldn’t watch either.
After she was done, Adin stood right in front of her. He put one arm around her back and the other on her waist, and he gently pulled her out of the bed while she struggled to push. Once her feet were on the floor, she held onto his arms. She felt woozy, but tried to take a step. She stumbled slightly, and Adin grasped her tighter. She heard someone rushing around the bed.
“I’ve got her,” Adin said curtly.
She looked over, and River looked panicked.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “I’m just dizzy.”
River nodded and sadly stepped away. He didn’t go back to his spot, though. He stayed far enough away to give her some privacy, but close enough he could probably reach her if Adin’s grip slipped.
Calli followed them with the I.V. stand while she took the first few steps. After a few more steps, she was doing better. She had been watching her feet, but she felt comfortable enough to lift her head. She looked at Adin’s face, and he was watching her feet as she walked. They started to make a circle back to the bed, and he glanced at her face, probably to make sure she wasn’t hiding any pain. When his gaze met hers, she smiled.
“Does this count as dancing?” she joked.
Adin almost laughed, but with the condition she was in, he wasn’t going to. “I’d be holding you much closer if we were dancing,” he murmured.
She loosened her grip on his arms and slid her hands up to the tops of his shoulders. She wanted to wrap them around his neck, but she knew she couldn’t stretch up on her toes, and there was too much space between them for her to reach anyway.
As they circled the room, she saw a lot of flowers in here. One table had many different arrangements, and another table had several different vases filled with a dozen roses in each. There wasn’t just one color of roses either. Each of the rose arrangements contained a dozen roses dedicated to a just one color. There were a dozen red roses, a dozen white roses, and several other dozens of other colors. She smiled and sighed.
Adin froze and looked at her face. When he saw that she didn’t sigh in pain, he relaxed. “What are you smiling about?”
“All the flowers.”
“Oh.” He smiled back, and they started walking again.
“Who are they from?” she wondered. Though, she had a pretty good idea who brought the roses.
“Everybody in here. My mom, Lissa’s co-workers, and Ellen and Kate sent you some too.”
She glanced over at Calli, and she shrugged. Legacy should have known Ellen would use her near death experience as an opportunity to kiss up.
“How many roses are over there?” she whispered. She didn’t want to include everyone in the room. It felt too personal.
“Seven dozen,” Adin whispered. “One for each day. I didn’t want to throw out the old ones. I remembered the last time I tried to do that.”
She chuckled, and he smiled.
“I remember when you gave me a bouquet of colorful roses. Do you know what each of these colors represents?” she asked, glancing back at the table full of roses.
“Umm, yeah.” He looked at the table and described them from left to right. “Peach is for innocence and purity. Pink is for elegance and grace. The purple ones identify love at first sight. Yellow is for familiar love and everlasting joy. White is for everlasting love. Orange represents the fire of passion and desire. And red is for true love—those are my favorite to give to you,” Adin murmured.
“Wow,” she whispered. “I’m not sure if I can remember all that.”
“You don’t have to. I explained each one in the cards attached to them,” he said, glancing back at her. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Once they made the circle back to the bed, she hesitated.
“I think that’s good,” Adin said.
He stepped closer to her to help her back in the bed, and she slid her hands off his shoulders to the tops of his arms. But instead of taking her hands off him to grasp the mattress, she wrapped her arms around him, laid her head on his chest, and weakly hugged him. His breathing changed as he gently wrapped his arms around her back and barely squeezed. He held her gingerly for several seconds before kissing her on top of her head.
“I love you,” he murmured.
And she knew that his love was all she would ever need.
Chapter Twenty
Since Lissa’s SUV was too tall for her to comfortably climb into, Adin drove her home from the hospital that night. He held her hand an
d watched her more than he watched the road. He didn’t speak. She figured he was hoping she’d sleep since he’d walked her all around the hospital before she was released.
She didn’t sleep, though. She thought about everything that had happened over the week. How she’d gotten hurt and the things she’d heard in the hospital—things from her mom, Lissa, and River. She needed to tell Adin, but she was worried how he’d take everything. Mainly, she was concerned about his reaction to River. Adin seemed civil in the hospital, but now that she was out, she wasn’t sure if he’d tolerate River coming around.
Once they got to her house, Adin walked her in and up to her bedroom. Lissa had already arrived and had turned down her bed. She was in the kitchen on the phone giving someone an update on her condition.
Adin helped her into bed and tucked the covers around her—she was glad Lissa brought pajamas for her to come home in. He pulled her desk chair up to her bed and sat right by her, holding her hand. She felt as if she were about to fall asleep, but Adin looked almost zombielike.
“You don’t look like you’ve slept at all over the last week,” she mumbled.
“I haven’t really,” he whispered, rubbing the back of his other hand on her cheek.
“You can’t watch me twenty-four hours a day.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“You need to get some sleep.”
“I’m not leaving you. Please don’t ask me to do that.”
“I’m not.” She hesitated. “Why don’t you lie down with me?”
Adin caught his breath and stared at her. “Um, I don’t want to hurt you. I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t hurt me. I want you to get some sleep, and I’ll sleep better with you beside me. Please?” she breathed, shutting her eyes and feeling some tears starting to form.
Adin tilted his head and rubbed the back of his neck, deciding. Then he let go of her hand and walked around her bed. He climbed in, and staying on top of the covers, he propped himself up on his side to face her. It felt like he was being very careful not to touch her. She turned her head to face him and he smiled.
“Now, go to sleep, please,” Adin insisted.
She took the arm that was pinned to his side and pulled it over to rest on her waist. Adin relaxed and scooted over so that he was right up against her side. She lifted her head while she reached over and grabbed the arm his head was propped up on and slid it under her head. Now his arms were around her, his head on the pillow, and his face right in front of hers.
“That’s better,” she whispered. “I’ve missed you.”
Adin’s breathing became hitched, and he began to cry. Once he started crying, he looked away and took some breaths to try to stop, but his tears flowed. “I…was…so…scared,” he said very slowly and gently hugged her closer.
“I know.” She reached up and stroked his face while the tears that formed in her eyes started to spill over. He was hurting because she was hurting, and now she was hurting because he was.
Adin took a deep breath, but it was jagged. “Please try to go to sleep.” His voice was still thick with sadness as he leaned his forehead against hers.
They needed to comfort each other before either of them would fall asleep, and she knew how she wanted to do that.
“Will you kiss me goodnight?”
Adin’s eyes opened wider as he stared into her hers. She guessed he was trying to read her to see if that was what she really wanted. If so, he got the answer he was looking for. He leaned his head over and gently touched his lips to hers.
Adin kissed her softly, but it was too much. She started to cry, and he tried to pull away. She assumed he thought he was hurting her. He wasn’t. She turned on her side so that she was completely facing him—not just her head—threw her arm around his back, and clutched him to her as strongly as she could, though she was still pretty weak.
He kissed her passionately, but they both cried. She knew he’d been so upset, so worried over the last week, but he tried to stay strong for her. Now that she was safely home, he could let himself grieve for what she’d gone through, for what he’d gone through with her.
They fell asleep in each other’s arms, and it was the best she’d ever slept. She didn’t dream. She didn’t toss or turn. She woke up in the same position that had been in when she fell asleep.
When Legacy opened her eyes, she saw a blanket covering Adin. She figured Lissa covered him up after they’d fallen asleep. She was glad Lissa hadn’t made him get up. She was probably pleased, too, that he was sleeping.
Legacy wasn’t sure if Adin was still asleep when she awoke, so she shifted slightly—trying not to disturb him—to see how much pain she was in today. When she did, Adin lifted the arm he had wrapped over her, and she looked up.
“How long have you been awake?” she asked.
“About fifteen minutes.”
“How did you sleep?”
“I got to hold you all night,” he whispered while he stroked her hair. “It was the first time in my life that I’ve ever felt whole. I’m sad because of the circumstances, but it was still wonderful to be able to be with you like that.”
He looked better, so he wasn’t just saying that. He looked like he’d slept all night too. After an emotional week, they both needed last night to heal their souls.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“A little sore. Kinda achy. But the stabbing pain seems to be gone.”
“Good.” Adin smiled. “We need to get you up and around.”
“Yeah, I need to brush my teeth,” she said, making a face.
Adin chuckled. That was the first time she’d heard him laugh since their double date. It put a smile on her face.
He helped her to the bathroom, and she gave him one of the spare toothbrushes from the dentist’s office. He kept one arm around her while they brushed their teeth. He obviously didn’t want to take any chances with her falling.
Then she realized it wasn’t just her teeth that needed cleaning.
“Can you see if Lissa is here?”
“We can walk down together and see.”
“I know, but I want to take a shower. It has been a week, and I feel sort of gross.”
“Lissa and Calli took care of you in the hospital.”
“But I’ll feel better after showering.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Adin said softly while stroking her cheek. “You don’t need to be standing alone in a slippery bathtub.”
“Lissa can stay in here while I shower.”
Adin shook his head slowly and frowned. “I think it’s too dangerous in your condition.”
“Well, I can take a bath then. I can’t fall if I’m already sitting down.”
“I guess that’s true,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll see if she’s here. Do you want to stay in here, or do you want me to help you back to your bedroom?”
“Here.”
She stepped over to the bathtub, and Adin helped her ease onto the side of it. He went downstairs, and she heard two sets of footsteps coming back up the stairs. She figured Lissa must be here, so Legacy turned on the water so that it could start to get warm. Then she heard someone running up the stairs.
“Legacy!”
The bathroom door was open, so Adin ran in.
“What?”
He saw her sitting on the bathtub where he left her, but with her hand under the water faucet, gauging the temperature.
He shook his head but sighed. She guessed he thought she was going to try to get in without any help.
“How are you feeling, Legacy?” Lissa asked as she walked into the bathroom.
“Better. I’m still sore, and I want to take a shower.” She saw Adin’s face and corrected herself. “I mean a bath.”
“Okay. Take one of these, so it can get into your system.” Lissa handed her a pain pill. “I’ll go get you a change of clothes.” She left, and Legacy took the pill.
Adin stood against th
e counter watching her. “Please be very careful while you’re in there.”
She wasn’t so out of it that she completely lost her playfulness. “Hmmm…you wouldn’t let me get hurt. You could always take one with me.”
Adin chuckled, which was what she was hoping for. “You should have suggested that before I got Lissa.”
She laughed, and it felt good.
“What are you two laughing about?” Lissa asked as she came back into the bathroom with some clean pajamas.
“Oh, nothing,” Legacy said.
Adin left her alone with Lissa while she bathed, but she did turn the shower on while she washed her hair. No way was she washing it with dirty bath water.
Once she was out and dressed, Adin came back in and helped her get down the stairs. He already had some pillows and blankets ready on the couch. By the time she’d gotten comfortable, her medicine kicked in.
She fell asleep and was out at least a couple of hours. When she opened her eyes, Adin was sitting at the foot of the couch with her feet in his lap. He was in different clothes.
“Did you leave?”
“Yeah, I went to my grandma’s and showered after you fell back asleep and before Lissa went to work. She knew I’d be staying here all day, so she went to the office to catch up on a few things. She made some muffins before she left. Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
Adin went to the kitchen and brought them back some muffins and milk.
“I talked to Calli. She’ll be over here in about an hour.”
“Okay,” she said as she took a bite of her muffin.
“River is probably coming with her,” he mumbled.
She wondered if she should talk to Adin about River now. She had a lot to say about him and her mom. She figured she should start out slow and see how it went from there.
“Was he there the whole time?” she asked, looking down at her food.
“Most of the time. Yes. We were both there all day during visiting hours. We had to leave at night, but Lissa stayed with you. It was very hard for me to leave you at night, but Lissa promised me she’d call if you woke up or if there were any problems.”
“But they let you in when she called you that night I woke up.”