Eric's finger reached up, and he placed it over my lips to silence me. He traced his thumb around them before bending down and kissing me softly on the forehead again. “I will always be here to save you. I will always protect you, even though you are strong enough to protect yourself.” His gray eyes deepened. “Do you hear me?”
I nodded, a single tear wetting my cheek. Eric swiped it before going over and grabbing the chair that my mom was sitting in and pulling it up to the edge of the bed. He sat down, grabbed a hold of my hand, and said, “Sleep, baby. I’ll even protect you from the nightmares, okay?”
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“I know you will,” I whispered, squeezing his hand before drifting back asleep.
“Okay, one more step,” Eric whispered into my ear. I smiled as I took one final step, and I felt him pushing me to my bedroom from behind.
“I can open my eyes now,” I sighed. “I just didn’t want to see where...” I couldn’t finish my sentence, not wanting to bring up anything dealing with what had happened a week prior in my dining room.
He nipped my ear, his hand still covering my eyes. “Nope. I have a surprise.”
My palm touched his wrist. “A surprise?”
“Mmhm.”
I heard the opening of my bedroom door, and the carpet was soft underneath my feet.
“Okay, you can open them.” Eric’s hands were gone, and my eyes flew open.
“Oh my God.” I giggled as my jaw fell. “When did you do this? When did you have time?”
Eric hasn’t left my side. Right after I was discharged from the hospital, I had my first therapy session. Eric sat in the waiting room the entire time as I awkwardly got to know my therapist and as we just barely touched base on everything that had occurred with my father and the rape.
Eric walked farther into my room, smacking one of the balloons—that took up my entire bedroom—out of the way before he smirked. “I didn’t do this.”
“Okay…” I said hesitantly. “Then who did? My mom?”
“Read the note.” He angled his head over to my desk. I slowly padded over, still trying to take it easy.
If Eric tries to take credit for this, he’s lying. This was all us. Welcome home, Madeline. We hope you feel better soon. We will save a seat at the lunch table for you.
Xo. Hayley & Piper
(Christian and Ollie helped too, but they won’t sign their names.)
“Don’t move,” Eric whispered. “Stay just like that.”
“What?” I half-laughed before I heard a snapping sound from his phone.
Placing the note back on the desk, I placed my hand on my hip. “Did you just take my picture?”
“I did.” He winked, his cheeks rising to show me a smile that I hadn’t seen in a while. “You looked pretty, all smiley. It’s very unlike you to smile.”
I thought for a moment before he came up in front of me, tipping my head back with a single finger under my chin. “Don’t do that. Don’t go to that dark place. You’re allowed to be happy, Madeline. It wasn’t your fault.”
I took the familiar feeling of guilt and shoved it in my pocket for later and looked out the window toward the driveway in between our houses. One thing my therapist said was that, in time, I would start to feel better. That I’d be able to come to terms with everything that happened, probably making my nightmares disappear too. But for now, I still felt…stuck. I just kept replaying my father taking the gun and shooting himself in the chest after he realized what he had done.
“My therapist said it was normal for me to feel guilty, but eventually, I would have to learn that it wasn’t my fault.” I looked into Eric’s eyes, and I could tell he saw right through me. I did think it was my fault.
“We will never know why he did it. Maybe he knew it was the only way he would keep you safe. Or maybe he just wasn’t in his right state of mind. Or maybe it was him who felt guilty.”
I shrugged, putting my attention back to the window. “Maybe.” I hated that I kept bringing it up. That I couldn’t stop feeling so overwhelmed.
“Hey,” he urged, gripping my shoulders lightly. “I love you.”
The coldness was washed away by warmth. I smiled, just barely, but I did. My hands wrapped around the sides of Eric’s face, and I brought his mouth down to mine. “I know. I love you, too.”