Calder traced a design on the back of my hand. “I think it’ll help him to see you awake.”
“How long was I out?”
A shadow passed over his eyes. “Almost a week. The last couple of days, you would wake up and were breathing on your own, but you weren’t lucid. Hads, your heart stopped—” Calder’s voice broke, tears slipping out of the corners of his eyes. “I almost lost you.”
I lifted a hand and placed it over his heart. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. You know how stubborn I am.”
Calder slid a hand along my jaw to my neck. “I’m so damned glad for that stubborn streak.”
“Me, too.” I stared into eyes I knew almost as well as my own. “I love you.”
“Always have, always will,” he finished for me.
Something on my hand pressed against Calder’s chest caught the light. I sucked in a sharp breath.
“What is it? Are you hurting? Should I get a nurse?”
Everything hurt, but I didn’t give a damn about that at the moment. “What’s on my finger?”
He lifted my hand off his chest, holding it up to the light. The diamond glittered in the sun. “It was my grandmother’s. I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to ask you, and then this happened. I needed it on your hand. Something to tether you to me…forever.”
His gaze met mine. “Hadley, marry me.”
Tears slipped from my eyes, falling down my cheeks. “Yes.”
For the first time since my eyes opened, Calder smiled fully. “How about tomorrow?”
I laughed and immediately regretted the action, the wound on my chest sparking with pain.
“Shit, don’t laugh.” He pressed a button on my bed, and something beeped.
I laced my fingers through his. “One month. Enough time for me to get my sea legs back.”
“One month.” Calder brushed his mouth against mine in the barest of touches. It wasn’t nearly enough, but we had forever for more.
My eyes flutteredagainst the light. It still felt like a battle at times to get them open again. The room came into focus, and I saw a figure sitting by my bed.
“Mom,” I croaked.
“Here you go.” She lifted the cup of water for me to take a sip. “How does that feel?”
“Better.” Tears burned my eyes. What was it about being sick or hurt? The only person you wanted was your mom. I didn’t think that would ever change. “Mom—”
She cut me off with a shake of her head. “I’m so sorry, sweet pea.” She set the cup down on the table and took my hand. “I never dealt with it—your sister being taken. Not in the way I needed to. I’m seeing that more and more. Dr. Kensington is helping with that.”
Tears glistened in my mother’s eyes. “I love you more than breath. All my babies. I just want to keep you all safe, protected. Instead, I was the one who hurt you. God, Hadley. I’ve died a thousand deaths this past week. The thought that I might lose you, that our last encounters would have been ones of anger and frustration.”
My chest burned, and it wasn’t the stitches this time. I wanted to believe that we could make a fresh start. That I could have the mother I’d lost and missed like a limb since Shiloh was taken and everything changed. But there was so much hurt there. Piled up and left to fester.
She trailed her fingers over my hand the same way she’d always done when I wasn’t feeling well. “We’re going to get you healthy and home, and then you and I will have lots of long talks.”
“I love you, Mom.” That had never changed, even amidst the pain and strife.
“I love you more than life, sweet pea.”
There was a commotion at the door.
“Don’t give me a bunch of shit, Hayes. I wanted to make sure she had the flavor she wanted,” a familiar voice griped.