Noah runs out holding his grandmom's hand, followed by my dad and brother. Liam glances back once more with a small smile before shutting the door with a soft click.
Once they're gone, Wendy exhales a bit in relief, but her face looks stressed still. Her eyes flick back and forth around the room, and her bottom lip is caught between her teeth.
"What's wrong?"
She shakes her head, "I don't know, I just... feel kind of weird to not be able to do anything. Or to have anything to do. It feels almost wrong," she huffs a laugh, and I gently ease myself on the bed next to her, near her good hip.
"All you need to do is focus on healing," I tell her, gently brushing a ginger curl from her face. "I'm going to handle everything else. Dad already has work covered for the next two months, I'm all yours."
"I know..." she says, but her face is still pinched.
"Hey," I say, gently cupping her cheek. My eyes trail over the faded bruise on her temple, the small cut that's healing above her eyebrow, and I smile. Healing. The physical sight of her healing makes me hopeful and happy.
"You've taken care of all of us for so long by yourself—I know you had help," I say, gently cutting her off as she opens her mouth to no doubt protest, "But still, Wendy. You managed ourhousehold on your own. Now it's my turn, and after this, you won't be doing things on your own ever again."
"The accident really messed up my plans," she huffs, shaking her head. "I had this whole idea in my head to get the papers and to give them to you after dinner, and to go upstairs and pack your things and bring you home."
"While I would prefer you not have been hit by some careless shithead," I growl, before continuing. "I'm glad the outcome is still the same. You're a little sneak for that."
"I just wanted it to be special."
I snort, "Baby, you could have snarled at me to get my ass back home now, and I would have run home barefoot with a smile on my face."
Wendy giggles, snuggling into my hand on her face, pressing a kiss to the palm.
"I love you, Atlas. I'm so grateful you found your way home."
"I'll always find my way home, baby," I lean forward pressing a long, sweet kiss to her lips. "My home is where you are."
Chapter Forty-Five
Atlas
"How the fuck did she do this every single day?"
It's about ten at night, the boys are in bed, Wendy is sleeping, and the house is finally clean. I can finally collapse into the very comfortable lounge chairs Wendy picked out for our deck next to Silas, who's smoking a cigarette.
My brother grins in amusement at my exhaustion as he lets out a stream of smoke.
He doesn't smoke as much as he did, especially after Carrie's death; he was up to about a pack a day. He said it was a bad habit he picked up in the military, since it was just something to do and take the edge off. He stubs out the cigarette before turning to me.
I'm drained completely. It's been just a week, and I never knew how fucking exhausting it is to manage the house.
Making sure the boys' lunches are packed, their breakfasts are made, their homework is done, making their meals, cleaning up after making them, doing four people's laundry, and arranging for someone to drop the boys off and pick them up from school.
Thankfully, Bonnie has volunteered to drive Liam to school since she also drops off Birdie, who hates the bus, and Noah usually gets dropped off by Silas. Noah always feels so cool riding in his uncle's Camaro.
My Dad has been covering the garage for me and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, while also running the other locations himself, so he's stretched a little thin right now.
Mom has been running backups with the boys, helping me clean up around the house if I fall behind on something.
This help allows me to be Wendy's full-time caregiver, which I know she would prefer over hiring an aid. And I prefer it to.
But fuck—it's been hard, though the most rewarding things are.
I've had to keep track of Wendy's meds, feed her, help her to the bathroom, get her changed, carry her back to the bed, and settle her.
Then I help her with at-home physical therapy and schedule her follow-up appointments.
