“Hadley.” I broke on her name, my shoulders shaking with silent sobs as tears tracked down my cheeks. “You can’t leave me. I just got you back. We haven’t had nearly enough time. I want to watch your hair get gray and laugh lines crease your face. I want to watch our girls grow up and make their own lives. I want to make babies with you.”
I shifted in my seat, pulling out my wallet. I fumbled for that little compartment in the center, pulling out my grandmother’s ring. I took Hadley’s hand, careful not to dislodge the oxygen monitor. “I love you. I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to ask you to be my wife. I waited too long. But there’s no one else I could ever give this ring to.”
I slid the gold metal onto her finger. “You’re it for me, Hads. You, and you alone.”
I leaned down, pressing my lips to the place where the ring rested. “Come back to me.”
51
Hadley
I could hear voices,but they all seemed so far away. As if they were on the other side of a long tunnel. I tried to shift, to move towards them, but I couldn’t.
“Hadley?”
That was clearer now. And so familiar. That rough, sandpaper tone as comforting as coming home after a year away.
“Is she waking up? I’m going to get a nurse.”
I knew that one, too. Something in me recognized it.Mom.
A hand slipped into mine. “I’m right here, Hads. Come back to me.”
I strained to open my eyes, but I couldn’t quite get there. The black started pulling at me again, and I slipped under.
I felta light touch tracing my hand. Lips pressed to my palm. So warm.
Everything hurt. My head, my chest, even my legs ached. I tried to open my eyes. My lashes fluttered but didn’t quite make it all the way to open.
“That’s it. You can do it, Hadley. I need to see those ice-blues.”
Light danced across my vision as I finally succeeded in cracking my lids. A face came into focus in front of me. Dark hair, dark eyes, his scruff the longest I’d ever seen it. “Calder.”
His name came out more like a croak, and he instantly reached for a cup next to him. He placed the straw gently between my lips. “Nice and easy, just a small sip. You had a tube in your throat, so you’re going to be sore.”
The liquid felt like heaven as I drank. When Calder pulled the straw away, I blinked a few times, taking in the room. Hospital. “What happen—?”
I couldn’t even finish the word before memories assaulted me. Calla grabbing Sage. Addie going down. The crack of a bullet. The hot, searing pain. My breaths came faster and faster.
“Hey, now.” Calder’s hands were on my face in an instant. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”
“Birdie and Sage? Addie?” Oh, God, nothing could happen to them.
“They’re all fine. Addie was a couple of floors down nursing a concussion, but she went home a few days ago. The bullet just grazed her.”
My heart slowed a fraction. Safe. We were all safe. “Calla?”
Calder’s expression blanked. “She didn’t make it.”
I went numb. I didn’t know how to process the words that had slipped from his mouth. Relief, I realized. And, hot on its heels, shame for that relief.
“Baby.” Calder leaned down, pressing his face against mine. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t get there fast enough. I should’ve been with you.”
I gripped his arms, holding on for dear life. “No. None of this is on you. It’s on her.” But I wasn’t sure if that was even true. Calla was obviously sick, her mind twisted. “Toby,” I whispered.
Calder straightened, taking my hands in his. “He and Jinx have been here every day. He’s torn up.”
“It’s not his fault, either.”