Evelyn was so blinded by grief and fear that she didn’t see the family that had formed around her. Aja and Janae thought of her like a sister. My mother felt she was like a third daughter. Mr.Beauhart was constantly singing her praises, and Gerard and William would take a bullet for her any day. And me? I wanted to live in this woman’s skin. I didn’t want to go a day without seeing her smiling face or her rolling her eyes at something silly I said.
I wanted all her mornings and her evenings. I wanted to be her safe place and her calm during the storms. As long as I was breathing and she would have me, I would never let her walk this Earth alone again.
I put all my effort into getting my body to cooperate, needing to show her that even now, she wasn’t alone.
I managed to squeeze her hand weakly, but she felt it.
“I’m here, baby, I’m here,” she said as she pressed kisses to my hand.
I awokewarm with a throbbing pain in my side and a nurse checking my bandage as I blinked my surroundings into focus. She moved quietly through the room, returning to the computer in the corner to make her notes before leaving.
The source of warmth was coming from the body next to me. Her hair was splayed across my chest, tickling my nose. At the sound of the door closing, she jolted awake, lifting her head to look for the source.
“I didn’t take you for a rule breaker,” I said through a yawn.
Evelyn’s head shot up, her tired eyes meeting mine. “I refused to leave you. I don’t think the staff is happy with me.”
Her face was bruised, and bandages covered her. Looking at her, I remembered everything that happened before I passed out. Charles shot Sheriff Strauss, and all hell broke loose. All I remembered was the cold barn floor and the way he wielded that knife on Evelyn.
“How?”
She laid her head back down on my chest, curling her arms around me, careful not to disturb my bandage.
“I thought I lost you.” She sniffled. “Seeing you lie there while Charles taunted me, something broke in me. Giving up wasn’t an option. I wanted to live. We fought, and the gun went off.”
“We’re here together because you fought for us,” I said, stroking her head.
“I killed him, Parker,” she said, sitting up to look at me. I didn’t miss the wince when she straightened. Evelyn was in pain and probably too stubborn to listen to any of the doctors or nurses. Her eyes were tired, but I didn’t see guilt. I’d become familiar with that look, the look she had when we first met.
“It was either him or you. I, for one, would rather have you here than that piece of filth.” I grunted out as I tried to adjust myself in the bed. Evelyn stood up, unsteady but determined, fixing the pillow behind me.
Turning towards the table, she poured us both cups of water. “That’s the thing. I don’t feel bad. I don’t know what kind of person that makes me. When Danny told me he was really dead, I felt like I could finally breathe.”
She kept her eyes hidden from me as she handed me the cup.
“You chose life and a future. He was a terrible person who used the one life he was given to hurt people. You’re a survivor, you haven’t done anything wrong.”
Evelyn filled in all the blanks, giving me a play-by-play of the night. I knew she was strong, but her determination and perseverance left me in awe. I owed her my life. Hearing that Danny and Mr. Morales were here brought me comfort. We had all made it through this ordeal mostly in one piece.
The next time a nurse came in, she scolded Evelyn and insisted on taking her back to her own room to rest. When Iasked about my family, she told me they went out for a bite to eat but said they would be back.
Knowing that Evelyn wouldn’t get the rest she needed if she were fussing over me, I insisted the nurse take her back to her room. That earned me a glare, soon replaced by a pout as they wheeled her away.
Giving in to my fatigue, I dozed off.
The sun blindedme as I woke up.
My side was sore, and the cast on my leg was starting to itch. I thought I would have had a chance to speak with the doctor last night, but I had fallen asleep before I could ask if they were in.
The sound of light humming takes me away from my thoughts. She always hummed a Psalm when she was worried.
“I’m fine, mama,” I muttered as I tried to sit up.
My mother jumped up and began fussing over me at the sound of my voice. When she was finished fluffing my pillows, she grabbed my face and planted a kiss on my forehead.
“You gave us quite the scare, son.” She sighed, sitting down in the chair beside the bed.
“If Dad were here, he’d probably say I was playing the hero again. Joke's on him. Evelyn saved the day.” I let out a bitter laugh.
