Keith looked up as soon as they came into his room. Even though Simon had obviously annoyed him with the handcuffs, he still only had eyes for Iris.
“Iris! I can’t believe they let me sleep so long. I even dreamed I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” Iris said, kissing him softly on an unbruised spot on his cheek. She climbed into bed on the side where his arm was free and snuggled up against him, loving the way he automatically put his arm around her.
Simon unfastened the cuffs.
“Glad you’re feeling better,” he said brightly.
“Thanks,” Keith said, turning to look at him now. “You’re a good friend. Never handcuff me to anything again.”
Simon shrugged.
“No promises,” he said, and left.
Keith just held Iris for a few minutes, letting her cuddle up against him and breathe him in. The bleached cotton hospital gown and all the strong, astringent hospital soap meant that he smelled a little different, but underneath it all, it was still him.
I was right the first time I met you,she thought, resting her head against his chest and listening to the reassuring thump of his heartbeat.I was wrong about what it meant, but I was still right. You really are perfect.
Finally, Keith said softly, “I heard Seraphina left this morning.”
Since he didn’t ask if Seraphina had said goodbye to her, Iris was willing to guess that Simon had already told him she hadn’t. He just didn’t want to rub salt in the wound.
She exhaled. “I don’t think she wants to see me right now,” she admitted. “I guess I can’t blame her.”
To her surprise, Keith said, “I can. You saved her life.”
“And helped kill her husband.”
“Who was trying to kill her. And us. And who’dalreadytried to kill you.”
It was exactly what Iris had been thinking too, even though she knew it wasn’t fair. She was probably obligated to push those kinds of resentments aside, but she was secretly glad she had Keith there to air them for her.
“I know,” she said, “but family’s not a switch you can turn off that easily. They were together a long time.”
“Yes,” Seraphina said, coming into the doorway, “and we’d be together forever indeathif it weren’t for the two of you.”
Iris almost jumped out of her skin. She thought about asking how much of their conversation Seraphina had overheard, but she guessed it didn’t matter much. The gist of it had been clear enough.
It was safe to say that Seraphina’s reaction hadn’t been quite what she’d expected.
“It was mostly Iris who saved you,” Keith said quietly. “She’s the one who realized you were still in the house, and she’s the one who found you. I just had a hard enough head to beat our way out.”
“I’m very grateful to you both.”
Seraphina’s usual gracefulness had been stripped away from her, and her superficial calm had turned brittle. She wrung her hands, like she could somehow squeeze the right words out of herself. It was a feeling Iris knew well.
Keith apparently knew it too. With his voice just as soft as before, he said, “Do you want to talk to Iris alone?”
“Don’t get up or I’ll have Simon handcuff you again,” Iris said immediately. “Seraphina and I can go back to my room.”
“No, please,” Seraphina said, holding up her hands. “I don’t want privacy. I want to say this to both of you. Iris, you’ve spent so long without someone in your corner that the last thing I want to do is separate you.”
It was certainly a lot easier to deal with big, difficult conversations when she had Keith’s arm around her. She was relieved that Seraphina recognized that.
She said, “I’m sorry about Blake.”
“Don’t be,” Seraphina said, looking in Iris’s eyes so Iris could see how much she meant it. “He hurt you, and he lied to me.” She sat down in the visitor’s chair very abruptly, like her knees had gotten weak. “And,” she added in a rush, “I haven’t loved him since he made me get rid of Sunbeam.”
