“Oh.”I bite my lips, fidgeting with my sheets.I’m not sure I want to see them.I’m sure I’m not ready to see Kate.“What did you say?”
“I said no, but if you want to see them, I’m not going to fight you.”
“You’re not?”
“No.”
“After all this, why not?I would think you would be more adamant about me cutting all contact with them.”
“I don’t want you to feel so intimidated that you can’t tell me you want to see them.That’s one of the reasons you’re here—you not being able to talk to me about your family.The only thing I ask is that I’m there with you and they are not allowed near Jace.”
“That’s reasonable and understandable.So not like you.”
“I’ve learned a few things in the last month.”He brushes his thumb across my face.
“I’ll let you know if and when I’m ready to see them.”
“Let me know if or when you’re ready.”
“Where’s Jace?I woke up and he was gone, and so were you, I was a little scared.Then I heard your voice in the hall.”
“The nurses took him for tests.”
“Is he all right?What’s wrong with him?You should have gone with him.”I sit forward, nervous that something might be wrong with him.
“Nothing’s wrong, he’s fine.I went with him.”
I sink back on the pillows and close my eyes.I feel his hand brush against the side of my face.
“You okay?”
“I’m tired.I don’t know why, I’ve been in and out of sleep all day.”
“Your body went through a lot.It needs to heal.Sleep is good.”
I open my eyes and see him watching me intently, like he’s tracing every inch of my face with his eyes.I wait for him to speak, but he doesn’t say anything.I put my hand on his face and search his eyes for a clue to his sudden somberness.
“What’s wrong?”I say softly.
His Adam’s apple moves up and down, and in a raw, hoarse whisper, he says, “I was scared you wouldn’t wake up.”
His eyes turn to watery-gray pools.I put both my hands on the sides of his face and brush away the moisture under his eyes with the pads of my thumbs.This is new.I’m usually on the receiving end of this.
“Is my man crying?”I say with a smile and a hitch in my voice.I can feel a change in the room.The air around us is unmoving and quiet, waiting for us to take its cue.“My man doesn’t cry.”
“Yes he does; when he thinks he’s never going to see the only woman he has ever truly loved ever again.”Tears run down the side of his face.I wipe them away with my fingers, seeing a vulnerability in his eyes that tugs at my heart.“I’m crying for you.Everything I wanted, was so close to getting…and almost lost.”
“I’m here.I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise.Promise me you won’t leave me.Don’t ever leave us.This life is not a life without you, a life without you is where I will cease to exist.”Eyes locked on each other, my throat painfully constricting to stop my tears, his pleading with me with his forehead pressed against mine he implores, “Promise me—”
“I promise.”A sacred promise that won’t be broken.I press my lips against the tears of his distress, and with the tears he cried for me on my lips, I kiss each of his eyes and each corner of his mouth.I tell him with all the overflowing love I have in my heart and with a deep emotional conviction I have only begun to feel that threads through the fibers of my soul, “I love you.”
“I love you more than you will ever know.”He says it broken and weary.I can only imagine what he has gone through in loving me through this time of doubt and uncertainty.
Our lips come together in a soft, undemanding touch of a kiss, and I swear, in this moment, time stands still, with a promise spoken and sealed with a kiss.
The door opens, the air moves, and time is no longer still.Ava comes in.Seeing us, she quickly says, “I’m sorry I’m interrupting.I’ll come back later.”
