She chuckled. “No.”
“It just pisses me off. I bet I know who started them. That fucking douchebag, Tilney.”
Ceci
Ceci propped herself up on one elbow. “What is it with you two? Do you guys have some kind of history?”
He drew a deep breath before he spoke. “Do you remember when we went karting and I told you about Naomi and her brother?”
She nodded.
“That douchebag that was such a dick to her and who I raced down the mountain in Aspen was Tilney.”
“Tilney?”
He nodded. “But I can’t lay all the blame at his feet. None of it would have happened if I hadn’t done what I did.”
“You are not responsible for Naomi’s death.”
He gaped. “Death? Naomi’s not dead.”
Ceci blinked. “She’s not?”
“No. She’s in med school at John Hopkins.”
“But you said you were too late.”
“I was.”
“You said she was gone.”
“Well, yeah. I mean, she left school. But it was more than that. Shewasgone. Wasn’t herself. It took her a while and a lot of therapy to get herself back.”
Ceci felt a flutter in her chest as though something had taken flight. Her face broke out in the kind of smile that takes over your entire body.
Naomi is alive and attending John Hopkins. But Niles.
“What about Niles? Is he still paralyzed?”
“No. Not anymore. But it took him a couple years of hard work to get there.” Clarke narrowed his eyes. “Are you laughing?”
She clamped her hand over her mouth and shook her head.
“Take away your hand,” he said.
Reluctantly she removed it. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny. I’m just relieved. Not just for them, but for you.”
“The fact that they’re doing well now doesn’t undo what I did. It’s like a heart attack. Maybe the person survives and the heart can still function. But the damaged area that’s replaced with scar tissue isn’t as strong or flexible as it used to be. The scar tissue makes the heart weaker and more vulnerable.”
Sofia and Beatrice were right.
She kissed him lightly on the lips before laying her head on his chest.
“Sir Galahad,” she murmured.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she purred, hugging him tightly.
