Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Milo
As long as I stayed perfectly still, I could pretend my brain wasn’t jumbled inside my skull, though I still had the headache from hell throbbing with every beat of my pulse.
When Libby ushered Eden into the room, however, I sat up so quickly I burst into a coughing fit from the smoke inhalation.
As soon as it subsided, I pulled off the oxygen mask.
“In case you wondered, he’s a terrible patient,” Libby muttered under her breath.
“I heard that,” I replied, bracing my hands on either side of my body as Eden hesitated just inside the doorway.
Whether it was the concussion or my relief that she was unharmed after rushing into a burning building to save my ass, a fresh wave of dizziness hit me at the sight of her.
I held out one hand. “Come here, beautiful.”
She approached slowly, like she was afraid I’d change my mind.
I caught the look Libby and Mark shared behind her and understood immediately—she’d been a wreck after the store was vandalized, and now I was lying in a hospital bed.
My determination to get her in my arms ballooned.
As soon as she was within reach, dizziness be damned, I reached out and tugged her onto the bed beside me.
My mother made a choked sound, then suddenly there was an exodus of family members from the room, leaving me alone with Eden.
“Look at me,” I said quietly.
When she did, her eyes flitted across the bandage and the bruising. Under the harsh fluorescent lights, those sweet golden depths filled with tears.
“I love you,” she said, choking on a sob as she face-planted against my chest.
Careful of the IV in my left arm, I clasped her against me. “I love you right back. It’s going to be okay.”
“Your store,” she whimpered.
“Yeah. It sucks, but we’re okay. You’re okay, even if you ran into a burning building to drag me out on your own, you reckless, incredible woman. Next time, though I sincerely hope there will never be a next time, there’s a fire extinguisher behind the checkout counter.”
She sniffled against my shoulder, shoving a palmful of tissues against her face, then lifted her head to glare at me. “Are you serious?”
Though I burst out laughing at her expression, I took a moment to appreciate all of it—the scowl, the adorable pout on her lips, the solid, reassuring feel of her cradled against my body. This night could have ended very differently for us both.
“You are precious to me,” I whispered, kissing her lightly on the mouth. “The most precious thing in the world. You could have been hurt.”
“You were hurt,” she shot back as she scowled at me. “What the hell happened?”
“Remember that statue you were admiring the night the window broke? Let’s just say I regret stocking those suckers.”
She blinked. “That’s what you got hit with?”
“Yeah. They said there’s no fracture, but I already have a real bastard of a headache.”
“I’ll take care of you,” she whispered, dropping her head back to my shoulder.
“Eden, I need you to listen to me, because this is important—none of those things were meant for you.”
She jerked in my arms. “What?”
“None of it was directed at you. Not the flier, not the brick, not the phone call. I was the target the whole time. The woman who hit me was ranting about my game nights corrupting innocent minds. She didn’t so much as mention you or your shop.”
Eden drew back slightly, frowning again. I reached up my free hand to rub a finger between her eyebrows. For a long minute, we just stared at one another, then she slumped against me again.
“Do you know who she was?”
“Not a clue,” I replied. “She looked vaguely familiar, but not enough for me to identify. She posed as a customer, asked me to look at an action figure, then she clocked me with the dragon statue.”
“A girl came to the back door of my shop to warn us. I wonder if it was her daughter?”
I pressed my lips to the top of her head. “Maybe. If so, she saved my life.”
A shiver ran through Eden as her fingers tightened in the cotton hospital gown I’d been forced to don upon admission. It was another moment before her breath hitched and she curled in on herself, even though she was already half on my lap.
“Shh, we’re safe now,” I murmured into her ear.
“What if she comes back to finish it?”
Her tortured whisper struck an even harder blow than the dragon statue. Ignoring the IV line, I captured her face in my hands, ready to tell her we were leaving on vacation first thing in the morning, but she flinched when my finger brushed the back of her neck.
“Eden,” I growled, tipping her head forward so I could look at the burn on her nape.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“Libby? You all still hovering out there?” I called. “Eden needs this burn checked out.”
My sister-in-law popped her head in quickly enough to confirm my suspicion. “Ready when you are, Eden. Unless you want me to flag down Dr. Thorne. I’m sure he’d be willing to add you to his roster next time he comes to check on Milo.”
Unsurprisingly, Eden’s scowl didn't fade, but she flopped back against the raised head of the bed and muttered, “Fine, go ahead.”
“Who’s the terrible patient now?” I teased.
Eden tilted her head and held out her arms one at a time while Libby assessed the damage. After dabbing some kind of burn cream on Eden’s neck and carefully placing a gauze bandage over it, she leaned in to kiss my cheek, then Eden’s forehead.
“You’re both terrible patients and you deserve each other. Visiting hours end soon, so I’m going to send the family in and go arrange for Eden to stay with you tonight.”
I felt Eden’s relief as clearly as my own. Her grip on the hospital gown eased and her body relaxed against my side.
“You’re stuck with me,” I whispered in her ear.
“Oh no, anything but that.”
I was still grinning when my parents, Maverick, Carter, and Mark all spilled into the room. Carter’s eyes, big as saucers, landed on my bandages and the poor kid flinched. Then he looked at Eden and his lip quivered.
“I’ll make you a new dragon painting,” he vowed. “Better than the other one.”
Eden held out her hand and my nephew immediately moved toward the bed. With her arms around him, Eden murmured in his ear until Carter nodded, straightened his shoulders, and smiled at her. Not even a teenager yet and the kid was already a charmer.
Mark and Maverick came to my side as my parents spoke to Eden. For a second, the two of them just looked at me, but I knew what they saw on my face.
Relief. Comfort. Peace.
I had been a mess from the minute I was closed in the ambulance until Eden finally came through that door. Everything felt easier now that she was at my side, from breathing to keeping my eyes open again.
“Holding up okay, bro?” Mark asked.
“Yeah. Better now that she’s here.”
Maverick smirked. “Not surprised. She have any hot nurse outfits in that shop of hers?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but of course Eden had overheard. She tried to muffle a laugh, which turned into a snort, which sent both her and Carter dissolving into giggles. My mom held out another half second before joining in, then my dad started chuckling.
My brothers and I stared at the lot of them—not with irritation or surprise, but with warmth.
With love.
I’d never been so grateful to have my family nearby, to see them open their arms and their hearts to the woman who meant everything to me.
Though Eden had slapped one hand over her mouth, the other rested on my knee.
I laced my fingers through hers and she squeezed them so tightly, I knew she was grateful, too.
The situation wasn’t amazing, but we’d get through it, just as we’d gotten through everything else. Even if Eden had seemed afraid I was going to blame her when she first got to the hospital, at least she wasn’t bolting.
Hopefully, I’d finally convinced her of what she had in me, showed her that she’d found exactly what she’d been searching for.
Family.