Chapter 23 #2
“You’re not dreaming, Lils.” I leaned into his touch while he cradled the side of my face with tenderness. “But if we were, I’m just glad we’re in this together. I love you so much.” He rested his forehead against mine. “I’ve never been more scared in my entire life then when I found you—”
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus.” A female’s voice gasped, cutting off Jaxon’s train of thought. “I haven’t even had my morning coffee, and yet, there’s already a full moon in effect.”
“Mom?” Jaxon looked back over his shoulder to see both his parents standing in the doorway.
I barely turned my head in time to see Camila grab a blanket off the empty bed beside mine to drape it over Jaxon’s back. “Son, you’re flashing everyone who walks by this room.”
Laughter bubbled up from within. The release felt good despite the sharp ache it elicited from under my ribcage and the sudden awareness that my fine motor skills were in desperate need of refining, as evidenced in my clumsy attempt to cover my mouth with my hand to stifle my amusement.
“You think that’s funny, Lils?”
“I do.” I blew out a jagged puff of air. “I really do.”
“Then it was worth it, anything to see your beautiful smile again.”
“I guess neither of us should be surprised,” Brock spoke, looking at his wife before turning his attention back to us.
“When we checked in with the nurses’ station, they said that we’d find you here.
Heard you pretty much demanded they move your bed in here, but I didn’t expect you to be sharing one. ”
“Wait, what?” When his mom covered him up, I saw the hospital gown, but it just didn’t click as to why he was in it. My head was too foggy. “Did I get you sick? Is it safe for you all to even be near me?”
“Your labs have been clear for the last sixteen hours; it’s safe for visitors.”
“When I saw the doctor, he said . . .” My sentence died along with my thought process. “I-I can’t remember. It feels like there’s a blank space in my head, a dark cloud blocking the answers. What day is it?” I asked.
“That’s likely because of the medication. Your body needed the rest.”
“What happened? How did I even get here?”
“Do you remember anything from the night we planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day?”
“Ah . . .” I tried to think back. “I texted you once I got to the lake, I think?”
“You did. You said you were going to shower, and I told you I’d be there soon.”
“Right.” Pieces of that night slowly began to slide back into place.
“I remember now. I fell on the stairs, and then everything went downhill—” I drew in a shaky breath recalling what happened next.
“My mouth was dry, and no matter how much water I drank, it only got worse. It was a weird feeling. I thought I could push through, fight through the exhaustion, shower, and then rest my eyes before you got there . . . but that’s it; that’s where my mind goes blank. ”
“When I found you, you were passed out on the floor in the shower. It wasn’t until we got to the hospital that I started feeling what you just described.”
“But you’re okay? You’re going to be okay, right?”
Please, God, he had to be okay.
“Yes. My exposure was considered secondary. We suspect the poison transferred from skin-to-skin contact when I held your hand in the ambulance, but it wasn’t nearly as advanced as your case.” My brows pinched. “Which meant I responded faster to treatment,” he added, helping me follow along.
“I’m so sorry. I have no idea how this happened,” I released a heavy breath.
“Nothing to be sorry for my love. Hindsight aside, I wouldn’t have acted differently.
I still would have done everything in my power to get to you.
As for how this happened, we don’t know yet how you came into contact with the poison.
Was it at work, or somewhere else? The typical onset of symptoms after exposure is roughly between ten and twenty minutes max.
Taking that into consideration, you shouldn’t have been able to make the forty-five-minute drive to the lake from work. ”
I tucked my lips between my teeth to help ward off my tears, but it was useless. I just felt so guilty that whatever I’d been exposed to had affected him, too.
“Everything is going to be okay, I promise.” He tried to reassure me.
“But how . . . How did this happen? None of this makes any sense.”
The heart monitor beside me started going off, and I knew it was likely my blood pressure spiking.
“Lily, dear,” Camilla said as she rubbed my shoulder. “Don’t worry about those details right now. Just focus on getting stronger each day, okay? We’ve missed you so much and are so happy to have you back. We don’t want anything to get in the way of that.”
“I’ve missed you both, too,” I said with a sincere smile.
“Besides, these beds aren’t made for someone as tall as my son, and I know he’ll stay as long as you’re here.”
I knew she was trying to distract me and playfully lighten the mood, but it didn’t erase any of the guilt weighing on my heart.
“If Jaxon keeps putting on a show, the nurses won’t want him to leave anytime soon,” Brock said with a chuckle.
Camilla shot her husband a quick, amused glance. “On that note, we’ll just be down the hall if you need anything at all,” she said, leaning down and giving us both a hug, while I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more behind her words that she wasn’t saying.
“Thank you.”
“Thanks, Mom, Dad.”
Once we were alone, Jaxon adjusted our blankets, and I tucked myself into his side as best I could with his help, grateful to be off my back as tears slipped over the bridge of my nose and onto his hospital gown.
“Just rest. Everything will work itself out and be okay, I promise.”
Even though Jaxon tried to reassure me, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that things were far from it.
But with his arm wrapped around my back, holding me close, I allowed the steady sound of his heartbeat to be my lullaby.
It was music for my soul as I closed my eyes and let sleep claim me, allowing myself a temporary reprieve from everything that was outside of my control.