Chapter Thirteen #2
Another nurse entered, this one younger, with a no-nonsense expression. “We’ll be taking you down in about ten minutes, Mr. Leahy,” she announced, checking the IV line. “Dr. Patel’s already in OR One getting things ready.”
When she left, Knight’s grip on my hand tightened almost painfully.
I met his eyes, those strange, tattooed eyes that probably should have terrified me, but I knew it for what it was.
He’d needed to transform himself in order to fit into the new life where he’d been forced.
Freaking people out was a good thing where he’d come from.
“Lavender,” he began, his voice dropping to that low register that seemed to vibrate directly through my bones. “There’s something I need to do before they take me.”
A flutter of anxiety passed through me. “What is it? Are you having second thoughts?”
“Christ, no.” His vehemence startled me.
“Never about this. About saving Brynn. But there’s something…
” He paused, his free hand moving beneath the blanket covering his lower half.
“Something I should have done a long time ago.” He extracted a small, velvet box from somewhere within the folds of the hospital blanket.
The sight of it made my breath catch, a sudden understanding dawning.
“I got this the week before the FBI kicked in my door,” Knight said, his tattooed fingers looking strangely delicate as they held the tiny box.
“Had it all planned out. Dinner at that Italian place you liked, the one with the string lights in the garden. Down on one knee like a proper gentleman.” A bitter smile twisted his lips.
“That didn’t exactly pan out.” I stared at the box, unable to form words.
“The FBI took most of my shit, but my sister got to this first. Kept it in a safe deposit box all these years.” He opened the lid to reveal a simple diamond solitaire on a slender gold band, the stone catching the light in brilliant flashes.
“It’s been waiting for you. Just like I have. ”
“Knight,” I whispered, my throat suddenly tight.
“Marry me, Lavender,” he said, voice rough with emotion. “I should’ve given this to you years ago. And I know it’s crazy timing, but fuck, if today has taught me anything, it’s that we can’t waste any more time.”
Tears blurred my vision, hot and unexpected. “You carried a ring into the surgery area?” I laughed through my tears, the absurdity and perfect rightness of it overwhelming me.
“Had to bribe the nurse to smuggle it in from Ada this morning,” he admitted, a hint of that old mischief lighting his eyes. “Well? You gonna leave me hanging here? Not exactly in a position to get down on one knee.”
“Yes,” I said, the word escaping on a sob. “Of course, yes.”
His smile transformed his entire face, softening the hard edges, making him look momentarily like the young man I’d fallen in love with so many years ago.
He removed the ring from its box with fingers that trembled slightly -- something I’d never witnessed from him before -- and slid it onto the third finger of my left hand. It fit perfectly.
I leaned down, careful of the wires and tubes, and pressed my lips to his. The kiss tasted sweet and so full of promise. Knight cupped my face, his thumb brushing away tears I hadn’t realized were falling.
“Been wanting to do that for eleven years, Lavender,” he murmured against my lips before kissing me once more.”
A discreet cough from the doorway broke us apart.
The older nurse stood there, a knowing smile playing at her lips.
“Got someone who’s going to see you before you go into surgery, Mr. Leahy.
” She pulled the curtain next to us aside and Brynn looked over and smiled.
Then her eyes widened as she spotted the ring on my finger, the diamond catching the fluorescent light.
Even groggy from her pain meds, nothing escaped her notice.
“Wonder’d if he’d finally grow a pair,” she muttered, her voice slurring slightly with medication but her gaze alert. “Guess I don’t have to pick one out after all.”
I glanced at Knight, who looked simultaneously proud and sheepish. “You were going to ask Brynn to help you pick a ring?”
Knight snorted. “No. She told me it was time I quit pussy-footin’ around and told you I was marryin’ you.” His roughened voice softer than usual. “Wanted her input. Turns out she gave it to me whether I wanted it or not.”
“Mom cried,” Brynn observed, her lips quirking in a small smile. “Your eyes are all puffy.”
“Thanks for pointing that out, sweetie,” I said, brushing my hand over her blue hair. Despite the smart remark, I could see the medication beginning to pull her back under, her eyelids growing heavy.
Knight reached out from his gurney, his tattooed hand somehow looking gentle as he touched Brynn’s arm. “Hey, kiddo. You doing okay?”
She nodded slowly. “They gave me the good stuff. Said I won’t know anything until I wake up with you guys with me.” Her gaze drifted between us, something vulnerable breaking through her usual armor. “That’s probably good, right?”
“Probably,” I agreed, my voice catching. I stood in the narrow space between their gurneys, one hand on each of them, creating a physical link between father and daughter.
The moment felt surreal. My small family together on the edge of a transformation none of us could fully comprehend both elated and terrified me.
In a few hours, part of Knight would be inside Brynn, keeping her alive.
The poetry of it wasn’t lost on me, this physical manifestation of what parenthood truly meant.
Giving pieces of yourself to your child.
“Are you scared?” Brynn asked suddenly, her question directed at Knight. The medication had loosened her tongue, making her more forthright than usual.
Knight didn’t hesitate. “You bet your ass, I’m scared. Though not of the surgery. Of not being there when you wake up.”
She nodded solemnly. “Me too.”
“I promise you, honey, I’ll do everything I can, bully any person I need to, to be the first person you see after your mother once you wake up. No matter how groggy I am.”
“I’ll be there,” I promised them both. “Right between you. First faces you see.”
The older nurse checked Knight’s IV line once more. “It’s time,” she said gently. “Dr. Patel’s waiting.”
I felt panic rise in my chest, sharp and sudden. This was it. The moment we’d fought for, and yet now that it had arrived, I wanted to freeze time, keep them both here where I could see them, touch them, know they were safe.
“Knight,” I began, not sure what I wanted to say, just knowing I needed to say something.
“It’s okay, little flower,” he murmured, using the nickname that still made my heart flutter after all these years. “We got this. All of us.”
Knight’s nurse adjusted something on his IV stand. “Time to go. Ms. Calloway, you can stay with your daughter until we’re ready for her. Let someone know if you need to swap out with anyone else. Shouldn’t be long.”
“He’s not gonna be in the same operating room, is he?” Brynn asked with forced levity. “‘Cause that would be weird. I don’t need an audience.”
Knight chuckled, the sound rumbling deep in his chest. “Different rooms, smartass. Different surgeons. Same game plan.”
“Language,” I admonished automatically, though without heat.
“Sorry,” Knight said, not looking sorry at all. “Different rooms, smart aleck.”
Brynn rolled her eyes, but I caught the smile she tried to hide. This banter, this forced normalcy in the face of something so monumental. I thought they’d finally found their way of steadying themselves with each other. And that trust was worth everything.
“I love you, Knight,” I said, leaning down to kiss him gently. “So much it hurts.”
Knight kissed my hand. “I love you too, Lavender. Always have. Always will.”
Brynn glanced at Knight, hesitation evident in her expression. Knight saved her from whatever internal struggle she was having. “It’s okay, kid. You don’t have to say it.”
“I know,” she replied, her chin lifting slightly. “But… I do. Kind of. Love you, I mean. Even if you’re a pain in my ass sometimes.”
Knight’s face transformed, eleven years of loss and longing momentarily visible in the softening around his eyes. “Love you too, Brynn. More than I can express.”
The nurse cleared her throat gently. “We really need to get going.” Behind her was a second team of nurses for Brynn.
“I thought Knight would go first,” I said to the same nurse, my voice wavering ever so slightly.
“He is. But the second team is ready for Brynn. They like to take some extra prep time to make sure everything is as they expect before the actual organ removal.”
I nodded. “After everything we’ve gone through the last twenty-four hours, that extra work is much appreciated.”
“Which is why we’re doing it.” She leaned in and gripped my shoulder. “I promise, we’ll take good care of both of them.”
Brynn’s gurney began to move, and Knight’s orderlies positioned themselves to follow. I stood frozen between them, suddenly unsure who to follow, who to touch last, what final words to leave them with.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” Knight said, his voice steady despite the emotion I could see in his eyes. “And then you’ll have to put up with both of us being insufferable while we recover.”
“Mr. Leahy, we need to move now,” his orderly said.
I leaned down and kissed him deeply, not caring who was watching. When I pulled back, his black eyes were warm with love.
I watched as they wheeled him toward the door, following close behind as they pushed both gurneys down the corridor toward the operating suites. By some coincidence, or perhaps the nurses had done it on purpose, Knight’s gurney caught up with Brynn’s at the intersection of two hallways.
For a moment, they were side by side, father and daughter, about to give and receive the most profound gift possible. Knight reached across the space between them, his tattooed fingers curled into a light fist.
“Hey,” he called softly. “I want a rematch on that game when we’re back on our feet. You hustled me on that last round.”
Brynn turned her head toward him, that familiar half-smile spreading across her face. “I’d be happy to kick your ass again,” she replied, reaching out to fist bump him. “Anytime.”
“Language,” Knight and I said in perfect unison.
Brynn actually laughed, the sound echoing in the hallway. “You two are already annoying as a team.”
Then the moment was over. The gurneys separated, each heading toward different operating rooms. I stood at the intersection, watching them both being wheeled away from me, feeling physically torn in half.
The last thing I saw before the doors closed was Knight’s hand raised in a final wave, and Brynn’s blue hair splayed across her pillow.
I pressed my hand to my mouth. Now came the hardest part. The waiting, the hoping, the desperate prayer that I would soon have them both back, forever changed but forever mine.