When the doctor finally emerged from the operating theatre, the words that came out of her mouth barely registered. “Alive, but it will be touch and go. She may not wake up.”
It was the news I’d hoped for and dreaded all in one sentence. I’d sat my ass back down on the chair and waited some more. Hours, and then the day slid by, and at some point, a kind nurse had taken pity on me and found a clean pair of scrubs for me to change into. I’d already refused to listen to their suggestions to go home and get some rest. I didn’t want it. I knew that Rowe and Liam had Heath’s back, but Tori had no one. I wasn’t leaving my best friend. Not when she needed me more than ever.
They moved her to a private room on the morning of Heath’s court case.
She still hadn’t woken up. The same nurse who’d brought my clean clothes now came to get me and take me to Tori’s room.
“She’s hooked up to a lot of monitors and she lost a lot of blood. Don’t be scared that she doesn’t look very healthy.”
I nodded, and the woman let me walk in alone.
Tori was almost child-sized in the huge bed covered with white linen. Her dark hair hung in stringy clumps around her face, her arms resting on top of the covers.
She was too still. Her chest rose and fell, but it didn’t seem like enough. The color had drained from her cheeks, replaced by a sickly white. She’d already been so underweight, this couldn’t help. I picked up her hand and squeezed it tight between mine. “Hey, Tor.”
She slept on. The doctors had promised me that she wasn’t sedated and could wake up at any time.
Or she may never.
I desperately needed her to. “Tor? I really need you to wake up, okay? Isaac is safe with the guys, but he needs you. I do, too.”
I studied her face for any sign of change, but there was nothing.
Exhausted, I lay my head down on the bed next to her arm. I needed to close my eyes, just for a minute. But I wasn’t going to stop trying to convince her to come back until sleep dragged me under. “You might be thinking about going to Jayela right now. I know you miss her. And I’m sorry I didn’t understand how much. I wish you guys had told me. I understand why you didn’t…but, Tor? I need you more than she does. So if she’s standing at the gates to Heaven right now, can you tell her I love her but she has to wait?”
“She tried to bribe me with Pop-Tarts and candy, but I told her I’d have to take an IOU.”
I jerked up, not entirely sure the scratchy voice belonged to Tori, even though it came from right there in the bed.
Her big eyes followed my movement, and a tiny smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
I burst into something that was half tears and half laughter and tried to hug her. She laughed, too, but then groaned. “Oh my God, that hurts so bad. No hugs. Can we get a refill of the drugs, please?”
I pulled away laughing, while tears streamed down my face, and grabbed the buzzer that alerted the nurse. “We’ll get you all the drugs you want.”
The nurse came in, a huge smile appearing when she saw Tori was awake. She put her hand on my shoulder. “And that’s why I fought for you to get in here. Sometimes, they just need to know someone still needs them earthside.”
I stood and hugged her, since I couldn’t hug Tori, and then stepped back and let the nurse do her checks. A doctor was called, and soon the little room was so full of people I was pushed to the edge.
“Hey, she’s awake?”
I glanced over, surprised when I saw Perry’s mop of familiar auburn curls. “What are you doing here?”
She shrugged, pink spots appearing on her cheeks. She held up a little bouquet of flowers. “I was worried. I wanted to check on her and bring something to brighten her room, but this is obviously not a good time. I can come back.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. There was two hours until Heath’s trial. “Actually, it’s great timing. Because I have to leave. Will you stay with her? I don’t want her to be alone, but Heath’s court case is today.”
“Of course. I can stay as long as she wants me around.”
I kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you. For everything.”
She waved me off. “I’ve got my fingers crossed for Heath today.”
“Me, too.”
Excitement built as I hurried down the stairs and out to the front of the hospital where there was a taxi. I could have called one of the guys to come pick me up, but this would be quicker. I didn’t even have my purse, but I could pay when I got back to the cabin.
I sat in the back seat, impatient for the miles to fly by. This had to be it.
The driver pulled up outside the cabin behind Liam’s and Rowe’s cars. “Just wait, someone will be back to pay you.”
The driver nodded, and I thanked him before getting out.
Inside the cabin, a flurry of activity all stopped when I walked in.
“Mommy!” Ripley yelled, racing down the hallway, arms outstretched.
Oh, how my heart had missed him. “Hey, sweetie.”
Rowe and Liam both appeared from the bedroom in suits, Isaac in Liam’s arms.
I nearly swooned at the sight of them.
Or maybe that was just the exhaustion talking.
But either way, they looked damn good. Liam with a baby did all sorts of wonderful things to my insides.
“You’re home,” Liam yelped. “Tori…”
“Is awake and talking. I left her with Perry.”
They both breathed a sigh of relief, and Liam gazed down at Isaac. “Hear that, little man? Your mommy is nearly all better.”
Rowe went to pay the taxi driver, while Liam set Isaac down in a rocker I hadn’t seen before. He dropped a kiss below my ear as he passed, pausing only long enough to whisper, “I want one.”
Warmth spilled through me. Because I did, too. Once upon a time, with another man, in another life, those words might have made me feel inferior. But Liam knew me. And I knew him. And when he said I want one, he didn’t mean he wanted me to carry his child. He knew I couldn’t. When Liam said I want one, he meant he wanted a child with me. No matter whose genes that baby was made of.