Chapter 43
Forty-Three
A silence, cloaked in a heaviness like a summer rain on a humid night, enveloped Asher as the door to Esther’s ICU cubicle snicked shut behind him. The hum of the machines on her IV pole and the hiss of oxygen coming through the mask on her face were the only sounds penetrating the stillness.
He stared at her, taking in her altered appearance. It had been a couple of hours since her surgery, but she was still pale, though no longer gray. Deep circles sat under her eyes, casting shadows on her pretty face. Her crowning glory, her beautiful coppery hair, had a dullness to it. As though it, too, knew her body’s resources were needed elsewhere and had sent all of its reserves to heal her organs and replace the blood she lost.
Of their own volition, his feet carried him across the room to her bedside. He touched her fingers with one of his, expecting them to be cold to match the icy tone of her skin. But they weren’t. Warmth seeped into his fingertip.
Asher perched a hip on the edge of her bed and picked up her hand. He brought it up and kissed the backs of her fingers. “Oh, Essy. I’m so relieved you’re alive.” Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he glanced away briefly, blinking to keep the tears at bay. “You shouldn’t be here.” His voice broke. “Shouldn’t be in this bed, hooked up to all these machines.” He sniffed. “Why did you have to jump in front of me? You have to know I’d rather take the bullet than have you hurt.”
He skimmed her knuckles with his thumb. “God, baby.” A lone tear trickled down his face, and he dashed it away. “This is such a mess. Lennox got away. Not scot-free. Audra and the others tracked down some doorbell camera footage of his car. I got a partial plate from it. I wish I could get more, but the camera was just too far from the road. Your detective friend, Stroud, has it now. I could have run it myself, but I needed a break.” He squeezed her fingers. “Needed to see you.”
Another tear fell, then another. Asher couldn’t stop them now.
They just kept flowing. He slid off the bed and into the chair beside it, then pressed his forehead to the mattress next to her arm. The warmth of her skin anchored him and kept him from completely spinning out of control. She was alive, and the connection reminded him of that.
It took several minutes for his tears to ebb, but eventually, his mind broke through the sorrow over what happened and that earlier determination reared its head again.
He squeezed Esther’s hand. “I doubt you can hear me, but just in case, I’m going to get him, Essy. I won’t let him get away with anything he’s done. So when you wake up, if I’m not here, just know I’m out keeping my word.”
Asher rose to hover over her and press a kiss to her forehead. “I love you, Esther. I need you to get better so I can say that to you while you’re awake.” He kissed her forehead again, then squeezed her fingers and stepped back. “Get better, Essy. I’ll be back.”
Spinning on his heel, he marched out of the room, knowing what he had to do.