My chest burns; it burns so badly. I don’t even attempt to stop the tears that are rapidly falling down my face. I don’t even notice Cohen squirming to get down until Maddox pulls him out of my hold. It isn’t until I feel his weight leave my body that I drop to the floor with a howl of relief so loud I swear the windows shake.
I quickly pick myself off the floor and keep my eyes locked on the hospital bed my wife is lying on still. When I see Melissa’s beautiful blue eyes staring sleepily back at me, I rush to her side, pressing kisses all over her forehead and sobbing like a baby.
The next thirty minutes are a rush of activity. Doctors and nurses run in and out of the room. Her vitals are checked and rechecked. They move cords, unhook machines, and give her more medication. The whole time, her eyes never leave mine. I can see the worry, fear, and confusion all rolling around behind her eyes. I want to hurry to her side, but I keep my feet rooted to the floor where the doctor demanded I stand.
I nod my head when they explain to me what is going on, I grunted when answers are demanded, and the whole time I keep her gaze. I never leave her line of sight; it is just the two of us in a room full of chaos.
“Greg,” she whispers, her voice low, gravely, and unused.
I can tell it caused her pain to even talk, so I move quickly to her side, grabbing her hand and dropping my head against the bed next to her hip.
“I’m here, Beauty. God, I’m here. I love you. I love you so damn much. Thank you for coming back to us.” My body is shaking with the force of my emotion. I can feel her fingertips lightly moving against my cheek. Even though her body is drained of energy, she’s still trying to fight through the darkness to comfort me.
There is no way in hell I deserve this woman.
“Babies,” she rasps again. “My . . . bab—”
“Shh, now. The girls . . . God, the girls are perfect. Just like I knew they would be. They look just like you, Beauty. Just like you. Perfectly perfect.”
Tears leak from the corners of her eyes, sliding silently down her face. She smiles weakly before she closes her eyes and her breathing deepens.
I frantically look around before my eyes settle on a young nurse standing at the foot of her bed. Her eyes are wet, and she’s holding her hand against her chest like she’s in pain.
“Please! Help her! She can’t . . . Why isn’t she awake?! Help, please!” My panic is starting to consume me, and the little burst of joy that just flooded my system is dying.
“Daddy, Mommy is just taking a nap now. Doctor said so. He said Mommy would be tired and her body needed more sleep. That’s silly though because Mommy’s been asleep for a million days!”
“She’s okay, brother. It’s time to release that breath you’ve been holding for a million days.”
I laugh when Maddox stops talking. I laugh for the first time in weeks. It sounds rusty, and I’m sure I look like a complete fool. But I laugh. I keep laughing as Cohen climbs into my lap and laughs with me.
And then I take that breath that I’ve been holding since this all started.
I take that breath, pull my son close, and let the floodgates fly open. Every ounce of fear I’ve had consuming my body comes rushing to the surface so that the joy I’m feeling has room to take its place.
CHAPTER 14
Cohen
Mommy is awake now.
I’ve been really scared, but I’ve been a big boy and didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want anyone to know.
But I used my magic and sang Mommy her song and it worked.
It worked!
Now it’s time to use my magic on my girls.
I just know it’s going to work too, because my girls know. They know that I’m their big brother and I’ll never ever ever let anything hurt them.
“Daddy. I need to see my girls now. It’s time.”
Daddy looks at me with a really funny face. I’ve never seen him do that face before, but it’s really funny. It’s the face that Uncle Axel always makes when Dilbert is running around in those really tall shoes that Aunt Dee wears. They look like they hurt really bad, but Dilbert is always running around like a funny man. Uncle Axel makes that face, kinda like he swallowed a fly and he doesn’t know how to get it out.
“Daddy. We need to go now.”
He looks at Mommy again and then up at Maddox Locke before he looks back at me. “Right now, C-Man?”
“Yes, Daddy. Right this minute.”
“All right then. Let’s go see if we can get them to open the curtain for you.”
I don’t like the sounds of that. I don’t want to look into the curtain anymore. I want to touch my sisters so they can feel my magic, but I guess I can figure out another way.
I jump down from Daddy’s lap and hold my hand out for him. He shakes his head, and I smile when he holds my hand, stands, and gets ready to leave.
“You’ll find me if she wakes up before we get back?” he asks Maddox Locke.
“Yeah.”
I turn back and look at Maddox Locke; he smiles big and winks at me. I smile back, really big, because Maddox Locke doesn’t smile a lot, but when he does, it’s really cool.
“Cohen, what are we doing?”