Chapter 34
For the second morning in a row, I woke to a beeping sound.
It was far softer than the last one I’d heard.
Far less urgent and annoying. I felt so groggy as I listened to the constant melodic beep, and even the thoughts that rose to the surface of my mind were sluggish.
I couldn’t seem to remember where I was.
I couldn’t recall how I’d fallen asleep last night.
I so easily could have drifted back to sleep, and I had to fight toward wakefulness. My eyelids were heavy, and my body felt numb, but I gradually blinked open my eyes.
The room was bright, and the beeping noise only sounded louder now I was more awake.
There was something on my face, but I could also feel a weight on my legs, and as I glanced down the bed, I found Noah sitting in a chair beside me, his head resting on the bed as he slept.
His skin was pale, and his clothes were rumpled.
He looked exhausted, and I couldn’t understand what he was doing in my room.
Why he was asleep in a chair when he so clearly needed a bed of his own?
I dragged in a breath and felt the pinch of plastic across my face once more.
I lifted a hand and was met with the hard shell of a mask beneath my fingertips.
I drew in another frantic breath as I tried to work out what was going on.
Why was I wearing a mask? My heartbeat quickened.
Where was I? I started trying to pry the mask from my face.
“You need to leave that on for now.”
I turned to the voice and saw Matthew sitting in a chair on the other side of my bed.
He looked just as exhausted as Noah. His hair was a mess, and his usual pristine shirt and smart pants were covered in grime.
There was even a smudge of dirt on his face.
I’d never seen him look so disheveled, and my confusion only grew.
What was he doing here? Where were we? And why was Noah here too?
I was still so drowsy, and I was struggling to think clearly. Perhaps if this room wasn’t quite so bright, I could focus. My attention caught on a transparent bag hanging at my bedside, and my gaze followed a tube that snaked away from it to meet my hand.
“You’re in the hospital,” Matthew said softly.
“What hap—” My voice was completely hoarse, and the words came out a rough whisper.
“There was a fire,” Matthew replied. “But you’re okay. You and your mom are going to be okay.”
The memory of the fire slammed back into me, and my eyes widened as I glanced around in a panic. “Where is she?”
I felt like I was choking on smoke all over again, and a nurse rushed in as the monitor at my side started beeping wildly. I clawed at my mask. I needed to get it off. I needed to get out of this bed. I needed to find my mom.
“Your mom’s okay,” Matthew repeated. His hands rested on my shoulders. “She’s still in the ICU, but she’s okay. You need to take deep breaths, Isobel.”
Then Noah’s face was above me, and he lightly touched my cheek. “Matthew’s right. You need to breathe slowly,” he said. “Copy me. In and out.” He breathed. “In and out.”
I stared into Noah’s eyes, and as I mimicked his long, slow breaths, I found I was able to breathe more normally again. “My mom’s really, okay?” I finally managed to croak.
“She will be,” Noah replied.
The nurse took my father’s place at my side as she checked me over, but I was still so addled and confused.
It was only the sight of Noah, of his reassuring smile, that grounded me and made me feel like everything would be okay.
The nurse was saying something to my father, and I wanted to listen in.
But I was still fighting my exhaustion, and my eyelids felt so heavy.
Her words grew increasingly distant until sleep pulled me under once again.
Time lost all meaning as I fell in and out of sleep.
The next time I fully opened my eyes, the lights overhead had been dimmed and the mask was gone from my face.
I felt far less lethargic than the last time I’d awoken, and the confusion that had clouded my mind was no longer there.
I recalled everything that had happened in the fire with crystal clarity, and more importantly, I remembered Matthew insisting my mom would be okay.
It didn’t stop my heart from beating a little quicker though.
I didn’t think I’d be able to relax until I saw her with my own eyes.
“You’re awake.” Noah’s deep voice drifted over to me, and I tilted my head to where he was still sitting in the chair next to my bed. A relieved smile brushed his lips as he shuffled slightly closer.
“My mom?” My voice was still so rough, and my throat felt like it had been rubbed raw by sandpaper. I sounded nothing like myself.
Noah nodded across my bed, and I turned to find we weren’t alone in the room. My mom was asleep in the bed beside me. For the first time since before the fire, I felt like I could truly breathe.
“How is she?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes from her.
“It was touch and go when we first arrived at the hospital, but she’s doing well,” Noah said. “She woke up a few hours back, but she’s been resting like you ever since.”
“How long have we been here?”
“The fire was early yesterday morning. Now it’s Thursday evening. You’ve been in and out of sleep for over a day.”
I nodded, but I struggled to believe I’d been asleep so long. That I’d been passed out while my mom’s life was hanging by a thread. She looked so peaceful as she slept, but her skin was all too pale, and I hated seeing the oxygen line on her face and the drip connected to her arm.
“I’m really glad you’re finally awake,” he added.
I glanced back at Noah, and as my eyes landed on him, I noticed a bandage around his arm. “Are you okay?” I nodded toward it.
Noah lightly ran a hand over the bandage and shrugged. “Just a small burn from the fire. But it’s fine.”
“You got burned?” Panic, guilt, and sadness whipped through me in equal measure. He wouldn’t have been injured if he hadn’t raced into the building to rescue me.
“Like I said, it’s not serious. I’m fine.”
I shook my head. “This is all my fault.”
“You didn’t start the fire, Isobel. You’re the last person I’d blame.”
It didn’t reduce my feelings of guilt. “I can’t believe you ran into a burning building for me.” I shook my head. “You saved me, and saying thank you doesn’t feel like enough.”
He gave me a hesitant smile. “You waking up was all the thanks I need.”
My cheeks flushed, but I didn’t have to reply because the door opened and my dad walked in.
When our eyes met, Matthew let out a relieved breath and came to stand at my bedside. “How are you feeling?” He looked much better than when I’d first woken up in the hospital. He’d clearly showered since then and changed into a set of fresh clothes.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m more worried about my mom.”
“She’s going to be okay,” he said. “I’ve flown in a specialist doctor to treat her. She’s in really good hands.”
Of course, he had. If there had ever been a time where I was grateful for my father’s ridiculous amount of money and privilege, it was now. I just wished that my mom would wake up so I could hear her voice and see she was okay.
“How did you both get here?” I asked Noah and my father while mom continued to sleep. “How were you in Rapid Bay?”
Their expressions seemed troubled by the question. Given the way they hesitated, it felt as though they were both in as much shock as I was over what had happened. They found it just as hard to think about the fire as I did.
Noah was the first one to speak. “After we talked on the phone, I called Matthew and asked for a ride here on his plane.” His voice didn’t sound quite as husky as my own, but it had definitely been affected by the fire.
“He was planning to leave for Rapid Bay the following day, but I told him what you’d learned about your mom and that I wanted to be there for you.
He agreed we shouldn’t wait, so he came to get me, and we left for the airstrip straightaway. ”
“We arrived early that morning,” my father said. “We knew the café wasn’t open yet, but Noah insisted we go straight there. He said you always woke first thing in the morning, and he wanted to be there when you did. We were pulling up out front when Noah spotted the flames…”
I shook my head in disbelief. “What were the chances you would both arrive here at the right time? Just in time to rescue us?”
“I keep asking myself the same thing,” Matthew said. “I just wish we’d arrived sooner…”
I glanced at my mom once again. If they’d gotten here sooner, perhaps they would have made it to us before Mom inhaled too much smoke. Perhaps she’d be sitting here smiling with us now instead of lying in a bed with all these wires attached to her.
Matthew’s phone started to ring, and he glanced down at the screen. “I should take this,” he said before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
“So, how are you really doing?” Noah asked.
I tore my gaze from my mom to look at him. “By some miracle, we’re all still alive, so I’d say I’m doing okay.”
He was looking deep into my eyes as he nodded. “I can’t tell you how terrifying it was to see you collapsed on the floor in your apartment. And then you begging me to take your mom…” He shook his head. “That might haunt me forever. You honestly thought I could just leave you in there?”
“She needed help more than I did.”
“I still don’t think I could have left you. It was like you were asking me to leave my own heart to be eaten by the flames.”
The emotions between us were too intense, too powerful, and I glanced away, unable to bear them. They felt too big for me, like I couldn’t contain them and they might soon burst from my body. I didn’t know how I could have denied their existence for so long.