Chapter 40 WESTLEY
Aurora has her head resting against my shoulder, her hand wrapped in mine, with her injured arm clutched to her middle, as we sit in the emergency room waiting to be called through.
Maevyn texted me Aurora’s medical details so I could get her through triage without having to wait for her, and the nurses offered some mild pain relief to take the edge off.
“Aurora Day.” A nurse in navy blue scrubs with bright tropical flowers on them stands beside the triage desk with a smile.
“Come on, sweetie.” I squeeze her hand, not letting go as we both come to our feet.
Aurora keeps her weight against my side as we approach the nurse. “Her mother is still on her way,” I say.
The nurse nods. “That’s okay, we’ll make sure she finds you. Follow me, please.”
We’re taken through to another ward, a curtain separating the beds lined up against the wall. I rub my thumb over Aurora’s hand as we give the nurse a rundown of what happened. She inspects her arm, checking for swelling, mobility, and any sign of a fracture.
“I think we might need an X-ray,” she says, writing notes against her clipboard. “I’m going to ask the doctor to come in and assess. She had pain relief when you came in?”
“Yes.” I nod.
“How is the pain at the moment, Aurora?”
“It’s okay. Better than when it first happened. I feel really tired, though.”
“Probably the adrenaline of it all wearing off and a bit of that pain relief.” She tucks her pen into the pocket of her scrubs, her head tilting in that reassuring way all nurses seem to have.
“You can lie back and rest until the doctor comes in. Dad, just hit that button next to you if she needs anything.”
It feels like my heart goes into overdrive when the nurse calls me Aurora’s dad.
I squeeze my thigh to stop my leg from bouncing, and I glance over to the little girl resting beside me, preparing myself for her reactions.
Laugh it off? Make some smart little quip like her mother might do?
But Aurora just shifts onto her side, facing me.
Brown eyes, like her mum’s, stare back at me, with that same guarded hope.
When the nurse walks away, I twist in my seat, crossing my arms over the mattress.
“How are you really doing, kiddo?” I whisper.
“Okay.” She rubs over her arm. “It kinda feels like an annoying throb.”
“How mad do you think your mum’s going to be?”
That gets me a smile. “She’s definitely going to be freaked out.” Aurora looks away, watching where her hand sits over her arm. “Don’t get mad, okay?”
“I’m not mad at you, sweetie. I feel terrible that you got hurt on my watch.” My stomach was in my throat when she came down. Time seemed to move in slow motion. Seeing her in pain is probably up there as one of the worst things I’ve ever felt.
“I mean, don’t get mad at mum if she loses her shit at you. She’s…protective.”
I smile. “Of course she is, you’re her daughter. Parents never want anything bad to happen to their kids.”
Aurora’s fingers squeeze around mine as she shuts her eyes with a sigh.
Emotions bubble to the surface. The way she holds onto me feels so much like her mother, like they’re reaching for a lifeline.
I don’t know how they decided I could be that person for them, but a sense of purpose and fierce protection courses through my veins with every passing second I feel Aurora’s hand around mine.
I will give these two everything. They need me.
They need me to be the strength and stability that grants them the freedom to be reckless and explore that beautiful sense of adventure they possess.
And I need them to take me along for the ride, because ever since they came into my life, that’s what it’s been—wild and illuminating.
They’ve shown me a whole new way to live, and now, I can’t do it without them. Both of them… they’re mine.
My thumb strokes over Aurora’s knuckles just as frantic footsteps come bounding through the ward. “Aurora?”
“We’re here,” I call out, just as Maevyn rushes past our bed. She doubles back, and the second she sees Aurora, her face falls, pain twisting her features.
Maevyn rushes to her daughter’s side, pushing her hair back as she places a kiss on her forehead. “Hey, Superstar.”
“Hi, Mama,” Aurora murmurs.
“Are you okay?” Maevyn speaks softly, scanning the length of her daughter’s body as she continues to run a hand through her hair.
“They gave me some stuff for the pain. I just feel tired now.”
“Doctor should be here soon to assess her. Nurse thinks she might need an X-ray,” I add. Maevyn nods, but her eyes don’t leave her daughter.
“You can sleep, baby. Mummy’s here now.”
Maevyn hasn’t looked at me since she laid eyes on her daughter. Every passing moment, the silence between us grows thicker until it feels as though I’m paralysed.
I want to reach up and grab her hand, but I can’t reach with one hand still being held by Aurora, and I refuse to be the first to let go.
“Mae,” I whisper, and she shakes her head.
I can see the tears filling her eyes, her chin quivering as it fights the emotions threatening to break her.
“Mae, I—”
“Thanks for getting her here, but I’ve got it.”
My heart squeezes. She wants me to leave?
“I’m staying.”
When she looks up at me, the tears are there but the fear is gone, replaced with resolute fight. “She’s not yours to worry about. She’s mine.”
My eyes flick to Aurora, noting hers are closed, but that doesn’t mean she’s not listening. Reluctantly, I ease my hand from her grasp and stalk around the bed to the other side where Maevyn stands. Gripping her bicep I spin her close against me.
“And you’re both mine to worry about. Let me be here for you.”
“Hi, guys,” a new voice interrupts, forcing us to break apart. A doctor who looks around my age steps up to the end of Aurora’s bed with a smile. “I’m Dr Bryce. Are you Mum and Dad?”
“Just Mum.” Maevyn steps around me, sucking up the hurt and giving the doctor a calmer version of herself. A closed-off one to what I know she’s really feeling. “Westley was just leaving.”
I know she’s pushing me away because she’s scared. I remember what she was like when Aurora was sick a few months back. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling now, but I hate that she’s going back to the woman I first met. The one who was guarded, who I couldn’t figure out.
I know she has something in her past, something that makes her walk around her feelings instead of blazing straight through them.
What the hell kind of life has Maevyn had before she ended up here? And how can I get her to open up to me completely, so I can convince her there’s nowhere safer she can run, other than straight into my arms?