“Are you family?” she asks.
I’m about to tell her no when Mick slams his badge down on the counter.
“Official police business. What is her status?” he asks and just knowing he is here, I feel a little bit better knowing Lilah will be safe.
“She is in exam room number three. The doctor is in with her now, so you can’t go in there regardless of your business.” She looks at us over the rim of her glasses.
“You can’t do anything, you just have to wait,” Mick says to me, and I look around to see where Brenda is.
When I see her walk into the room with Lilah curled up in her arms crying, my heart stops.
“What’s with the tears, baby girl?” I grab her from Brenda, holding her close to me so I can feel her heart under my hand.
She curls her head into my neck. “Ackson, I scared. I want Momma.” She balls her little hand in my neck next to her cheek.
“I know, baby girl, but the doctor is just going to make sure she is okay. Momma wouldn’t want you to cry.”
She just nods her head as we sit in the waiting room.
What feels like forever, but is maybe twenty minutes later, the doctor comes out.
“Family of Bella Cartwright? Well, the good news is that she’s alive. The bad news is she’s got a long road ahead of her. She has four broken ribs, a broken wrist, a broken nose, a fractured cheekbone, and a concussion. Now we’re taking her for an MRI to see if there is any swelling on her brain. She needed some stitches for a contusion on the back of her head. Also, we think one of her eardrums was ruptured, but we will know more if she wakes up.”
“If she wakes up? What are you saying?”
“She’s in a coma. The next twenty-four to forty-eight hours will be important. I can’t tell you what will happen after that. Only time will tell. We’re keeping her comfortable, she’ll be monitored closely, but I don’t have more answers.” With that, he nods and walks away.
The quiet sobbing of Brenda makes me close my eyes. “Someone needs to call my mother.” I look over at Mick, and he nods his head, walking out of the room.
“She’s going to be okay.”
I look at Brenda, hoping against hope she’s right.
Mick walks in, saying, “Your mother is on her way. She wanted to know if you had any update on Adam.”
“I hope he’s dead,” I say, looking down the hallway that leads to the woman who has captured my heart. The woman who I want to make a life with, the woman who I would protect with my own life. The woman who is fighting to come back to her daughter. The woman who, I hope, after all this, is fighting to come back to me, too.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bella
I hear beeping, but I’m not sure where I am. The pain in my body is too much. It hurts to move. I want to open my eyes, but I can’t.
I hear voices. “It just takes time. Her body is healing.”
Who are they talking about? Is it Lilah? I want to open my eyes. I try to speak but nothing comes out. I feel the blackness coming again.
I feel my hand being kissed. “Please, sweetheart, just wake up, please. I need you. Lilah needs you.”
I try to squeeze his finger so he knows I hear him, but I can’t get anything to move.
The blackness keeps taking me in. I try to fight it, but it’s stronger than me. So I just go with it and let it take me away.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jackson
I sit by her bed, holding her hand. The machines beep all around us. I haven’t moved from this room in over a week. I haven’t left her side in case she wakes up.
Lilah comes every day. We sit and read to her. So she knows she’s okay. The sight of her curling up to her mother’s side while she looks at her books and talks to her is too much.
“Please, Bella, come on. You need to open those beautiful eyes for me. I have so much to tell you.” I place my head down next to her hand, closing my eyes, thinking about the hell of the past week.
The minute my mother found out Adam was alive, she rushed to the hospital. She came flying in, her face pale, tears streaming down it.
“Jackson, where is he? Is he here? Where can we find him? Where was he? Oh, Jackson, he’s alive,” she said while she clung to me, grabbing my shirt as she sobbed for her other son.
I couldn’t even think of consoling her. I said nothing until Mick came in the room. She took in the both of us, looking from one to the other.
“What happened? Why aren’t you with him? Oh my God.” She placed her hand on her mouth.
“He’s not dead.” Were the only words I could say right then.
“Mick,” she asked, stepping away from me, her hands falling from my chest, her arms hugging her stomach.
“Nancy, he’s being attended to. But you can’t see him right now.” He looked down at the floor. He knew he had to tell her. I couldn’t let him do it.
“It turns out Adam is Lilah’s father,” I said quietly. Her shocked gasp didn’t stop me. “We were at the fair when Bella went to the bathroom. He pulled her into an alley and was beating her to death.”
She shook her head, not wanting to hear the words.
“He is the one they’ve been running from. He is the reason she is so scared. He is the reason that little girl is afraid of closets.”
Tears fell down her face, but I didn’t know if they were for her son or the two women who’d come to mean so much to us.
“I want to see him,” she said. It was the last thing I heard before I walked out of the room, leaving her with Mick.
That was five days ago. I haven’t seen her since. Mick comes in every twelve hours and brings me food because he knows I won’t leave her.
I don’t ask him anything, and he doesn’t tell me anything.
He knows when I’m ready I’ll talk, so he does what I would do for him. He waits for me.
“It’s been seven days, angel. You need to open those eyes. Please.” The last word is a plea. The tears fall from my eyes, landing on her skin.
I kiss her fingers. Turning her palm over, I kiss her there. I make promises to her in my head. I make promises and say prayers, hoping someone answers them.
“Come back to me,” I say, hoping anyone is listening. “Send her back to me. Please.”
I fall asleep with my head resting on her bed while I hold her hand, hoping she takes my strength. Hoping what I have to offer helps to heal her. Hoping all of it is enough for her to find her way back to me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bella
Everything hurts. I can’t move my arm. It’s so heavy. Something is holding my right arm down. I want to yell out to Lilah. I want to yell out to Jackson so he knows I’m here. I’m right here!
“Adam, Mom, Adam did this to her.” I hear Jackson say. “My brother almost killed her. Your son almost killed her.”
What is he saying? Who is he talking to?
“Jackson, Adam is your brother. You can’t just turn your back on him. He’s sick, Jackson. This isn’t him.”
Wait a second, Jackson and Adam are brothers.
No, this can’t be. Jackson isn’t like him, is he?
I fight to open my eyes, fight with everything I have. I fight until I’m so tired. And the blackness comes to take me again.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jackson
When the door opens and my mother steps in, I know it’s going to end badly.
Her eyes go straight to the bed where Bella lies. Her face is pale and bruised, tubes all around her. A tube in her throat. Her blackened eyes are still swollen shut. The bruises are still so purple and angry looking. The stitches on her lip make her lip swollen.
Her casted arm lies on one side while I hold the hand on her other side. Her small frame looks even smaller in the bed.
“Jackson.” She enters quietly, trying not to make noise.
“She won’t wake up,” I say to her while I touch her cheek.
“She’s healing. The doctor said
this is her healing.”
I look at her sideways. “You spoke to the doctor about her?”
“Jackson, she’s my daughter-in-law. She is the mother of my granddaughter. Of course I asked about her.”
“They weren’t married,” I say through clenched teeth. She was never married to that bastard. He will never get close enough to her ever again.
“Adam, Mom, Adam did this to her.” The anger comes out of me. “My brother almost killed her. Your son almost killed her.”
She takes a step toward me, holding out her hand to hold mine.
“Jackson, Adam is your brother. For seven years, we thought he was dead. You can’t just turn your back on him. He’s sick, Jackson. This isn’t him. You know him.”
“I know I would’ve killed him with my bare hands. I know if they didn’t pull me off him, I wouldn’t have stopped until he was dead, brother or not.” I look at the horror on her face. “You should go. I don’t want to argue in front of her.”
“Jackson, please don’t shut me out.”
“Mom, I can’t do this right now. I can’t stand here and argue with you. I can’t stand here and listen to you make a case for him as if being sick was an acceptable reason to do this to her. I can’t do anything. I don’t want to do anything until she opens her eyes.”
She nods, turning around and walking out. The breath I was holding leaves my body on a harsh exhale.
The door opens again, but now it’s Mick, looking like he is fighting his own battles. “I need to know where your head is at,” he says, standing by the door like he is guarding it.
“What the fuck are you asking right now?” I let go of Bella’s hand, turning to look at Mick.
“Where the fuck is your head right now?” His stance sets off warning bells in my mind.
“Mick, cut the shit.”
“He’s gone. Slipped out during shift change. Cameras caught him walking out. Dressed in scrubs. Stumbling.”
My hands clench into a fist. The hatred makes my body shake, the anger making me see black. I start for the door.
“Your head better be on straight right now. You have one girl fighting to come back, and you have another girl hoping you bring her momma home, so lock that shit down. And lock it down now.” Mick doesn’t give me a chance.
“I want security on Lilah and Brenda. I want guards outside this door twenty-four seven. I don’t give a shit if I have to pay for it. No one touches her. No one gets close to her. NO ONE!” I yell out the last words.
I hear groaning coming from the bed, and we both turn our heads to Bella. I see her hand twitch.
I rush to the bed while Mick yells, “We need a doctor in here!”
The nurses rush in, pushing me away from her side.
“Bella, Bella, I’m here, angel.” I hold her hand while the nurses work around me.
The doctor walks in. “We need you to step outside, Jackson, just for a minute, okay?” Charlene, the head nurse, tells me.
I shake my head no, so she grabs me by my shoulders. “I promise you I will not let anything happen to her, but you need to let them do their work, for her.”
Mick grabs my shoulder, turning me toward the door. “Just let them work. We will stay right outside this door.”
My eyes never leave her as they close the door. My heart is pounding, hoping, praying.
I lean against the wall to hold me up for support. I can’t lose her. I can’t and I won’t.
I ask God or whoever is listening to not take her from me, to bring her back to me. I close my eyes, leaning my head back when the door opens and the doctor steps out.
“She’s coming around. She opened her eyes. We’re taking the tube out of her throat. It will be sore for the next couple of days. We are going to monitor her vitals for the next forty-eight hours. We will also start weaning her off the morphine. It’s a good day, Mr. Fletcher, it’s a good day.”
He turns and walks away, leaving me feeling lighter than I have in a week. She’s back. She’s come back to me. She’s come back to us.
I laugh finally, a nervous laugh mixed in with tears. “She’s going to be okay.” I look at Mick, where he just nods and smiles at me.
“Your woman is the strongest woman I know.”
I just nod in agreement. She is the strongest woman, she’s the bravest, and most importantly, she’s mine.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Bella
The light is shone bright in my eyes. “Ms. Cartwright? I’m Dr. Robinson. Can you hear me?”
I turn my head, trying to get away from the light, my throat burning. The movement of my head makes me groan out loud.
My head hurts. I gasped when they removed the tube from my throat but then I’m finally able to lick my dry lips.
The first thing I feel is the stitch in it. “Water,” I whisper hoarsely.
I raise my hand to touch my lip, noticing one arm with a cast on.
“Lilah?” I’m trying to get someone to answer me instead of poking and prodding.
“You’ve been through quite an ordeal, Ms. Cartwright,” the doctor says while continuing to examine me. “You have a concussion, and you were in a coma. Do you understand what I’m saying, Ms. Cartwright?”
I nod, the movement making me want to vomit. “Lilah? Please, my daughter?”
The nurse with the blonde hair looks at me. “Your daughter is fine. Your husband hasn’t left your side.” The minute she says those words my heart rate spikes. The machines start alarming.
“Ms. Cartwright, you need to relax for a bit. Someone get Jackson!” I hear the blonde-haired nurse say.
I see someone walking to the door, opening it, and saying something, but I can’t hear. The next second, I feel a hand holding mine.
Turning to look at him, all that plays in my head is the dream I had. Adam and Jackson are brothers. It isn’t a dream. It’s a nightmare.
“Angel.” He leans down, kissing my forehead. “You had us so scared. Don’t you ever do that to us again!” he says, trying to smirk at me, but my eyes are watching his.
The blue eyes that kept me safe all this time are the blue eyes I have to run away from again.
“Lilah. I want Lilah,” I ask him, closing my eyes, trying to stop the tears from falling for him.
“I’ll call Brenda, and she’ll bring her, okay, angel?” He leans in, kissing me on the lips, careful not to rip my stitch.
He steps back, taking the cell from his pocket. His eyes have circles around them. His face is rugged with a beard. He looks exhausted.
Was it all a ploy? Was it all a ploy to catch me? Was anything real? One thing is for sure. I’m not going back to hell. I made it back once. Except, this time, losing Jackson might just be something I can’t come back from.
Chapter Thirty
Jackson
As soon as I walked in, I knew something was wrong. Her eyes were void.
I sat next to her holding her hand while they did their work around us, waiting for Brenda to bring Lilah in.
The minute I said she was up, I heard weeping and keys jingling in her hand.
My thumb rubs the top of her hand, limp in mine.
I’m waiting for everyone to leave before I talk to her. There are things she needs to hear from me. Things we need to discuss. But all that will have to wait because at that minute the door opens up.
Brenda walks in with a big smile on her face. Her eyes are still wet with tears, her hand holding fiercely onto Lilah’s hand.
As she walks in, Lilah runs to me, and I catch her right before she jumps in my lap.
“Momma.” She looks over at her mom. Bella’s eyes open, looking at her.
Tears start pooling in her eyes. “Baby.” She tries to hold out her hands to take her, but she can barely get the strength to lift her hand, let alone hold her.
Placing Lilah on the bed next to Bella, I tell her to be careful of the wires and tubes all around her.
She curls up into her mother’s side, careful to not tou
ch anything.
Bella’s good arm holds her close. “I’m so sorry, baby, so, so sorry I left you.” She rubs her back while speaking with tears leaking into her pillow. “I promise to never leave you again.”
Lilah looks up at her, nodding.
I don’t even think she knows why she is agreeing, but just knowing her mother is here is good enough for her.
“I miss you, Momma.” Her little hand is lying on her mother’s stomach to not hurt her.
“I know, baby, I missed you so much.” She tries to bring her other hand over to hug her. “Did you have a sleepover with Ms. Brenda?”
“She sure did,” Brenda answers, coming close to the other side of the bed, taking her casted hand in hers.
“Thank you for taking care of her,” Bella says, looking at her.
“None of that.” She shoos away with her hand like it was nothing. “You scared me. You scared all of us,” she says, holding her hand in both of hers. Tears escape the side of her eyes, which she wipes away with her thumb.
“Jackson, why don’t we let these two talk? Little heart, I’m going to be right out that door, waiting for you when you're ready, okay? You can tell Mom all about the special dollhouse we just ordered.”
I follow her out of the room while I hear Lilah talk about her dollhouse.
Once the door closes, Brenda turns, her hands going to her hips. “What is going on? What happened? Is she sick? Why is she so vacant? That isn’t Bella in there. I know that look,” she tells me.
I haven’t had the full discussion with Brenda, but I have no choice but to do it now.
“Her ex, Lilah’s father, it’s Adam.”
Brenda pales. “What do you mean it’s Adam? Your brother ran away. We thought...” She doesn’t finish that sentence because we all thought he was dead. We just didn’t have the body.
“My brother did that to her. My brother is the reason those two are broken. Because of—” Before I can say more, Brenda holds up her hand.
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