“Once you’re home, we’ll schedule weekly follow-ups at the Clinic to track what permanent changes have occurred with the OBS. It’s possible that this crisis was due only to your heat triggering when you weren’t stable enough to weather it. With the new medication combination we’ve developed while here, you could possibly enter the remission your prior bloodwork showed was a possibility.”
Hope springs between the four of us, especially Cole. His eyes are wide.
“Really?”
Dr. Faulks nods. “It won’t reverse anything that’s happened, and we won’t be able to let you go through a heat cycle until it’s confirmed, but with everything I’ve seen the last week and themost recent month of bloodwork from Dr. Wales, I won’t take it off the table. Remission could be very possible.”
They leave soon after with instructions to try and eat something. The nurse is all smiles as she makes sure Cole’s comfortable.
“The day nurse will be here in another half hour. I believe it’s Jacob today. If you have any concerns, grab us from the desk like always.”
Marcus nods, and then she’s gone, too, closing the door behind her and dropping the curtain so we have privacy.
Cole shudders in a breath. “I’m so?—”
“Absolutely not.” I press a finger to his lips. “No apology will change what’s happened. We love you. We’re going to weather this with you.”
The tears fall down his cheeks as he nods. Charlotte wipes them away and then traces her healed bond scar.
For the first time in a week, I can breathe without it feeling like jagged shards of glass. Charlotte relaxes, laying her head on his thigh, and Marcus keeps tight hold of his hand. In the quiet, we slowly find the equilibrium we had the weekend we signed the paperwork. It’s more muted, but it’s there.
I pull my phone after a while and send Riley an update.
I think it’s time I fill out the paperwork for an extended absence. He’s going to need me at home for a while.
Absolutely. I’ll get it together and bring it up after I clock out in another hour.
“I…” Cole clears his throat like it hurts.
Marcus grabs the water and holds it for him. Cole squeezes my hand before letting it go and threading his fingers through Charlotte’s hair.
“I love you,” he whispers.
Forty-Five
COLE
Marcus kisses my cheek as he returns from opening the front door to the townhouse, holding my trembling hand as I slowly climb each of the five steps that lead to our home. Even after two weeks, stairs are difficult to navigate—and nearly impossible on my own, especially after the morning walk we’ve just taken. Marcus doesn’t say a word, a quiet pillar beside me. Even in the bond, all I feel is the quiet, steadfast love that’s become the calm in this entire storm.
Charlotte’s bag is gone from the entry table. A pang of sadness hits under my sternum at the realization I didn’t get to see her at all this morning. It’s only a couple weeks until her fall season opens, and rehearsals have gotten longer every day. I know she won’t be back before it’s nearly dark outside, probably after dinner.
“Are you all right?” Marcus asks once the door is closed.
I nod. He grabs my chin, forcing me to focus on him.
“Really, I am,” I say. “Just sad she’s gone already.”
A soft smile curves his lips.
He kisses me, soft and slow and deep. I melt against him, apple swirling around us both, and he laughs. Then he sighs, and the elephant is back in the room with us.
Today’s the first day he’s going back to his office since the crisis. He won’t say it, but I’ve felt his nerves, his fear that something bad will happen again once he’s gone.
“Megan’s here,” I remind him, slowly starting toward the kitchen.
He’s quick to shadow me, helping me sit in one of the barstools and grabbing the yogurt I’d planned on eating once he was gone. He sets it in front of me, his eyes locked on me, soaking me in.
“Marcus,” I say. “Megan’s here, and my markers have been steady.”
