Chapter 43
Parker
The sound of hushed voices let me know that I’m not alone. My eyes feel heavy. I try to open them, but it's like they’ve been wired shut.
“Rejoice, don’t be ridiculous. There is still a chance I could win the race. The community will understand once they hear the whole story.”
“Jon, the fact that you are in our only son’s hospital room speaking about the mayoral race…”
“I am here. I am with my family despite everyone’s ungrateful behavior. The world has not stopped spinning because we are here.”
“Leave. Right now, Jonathan. Shame, shame on the man you’ve become.”
I recognized the voices of my parents. I wanted to ask them what was going on, but my tongue felt like lead in my mouth.
I was so damn tired.
I must’ve dozed off because different voices surrounded me.
“She’s demanding that we bring her in here. The doctors are saying she needs to rest, but I don’t think she will until she lays eyes on him.”
“It can’t hurt. If this is what she needs, then why keep them away from each other?”
Footsteps shuffle around the room, and then silence.
The sound of wheels grinding against the linoleum was followed by the door shutting.
Suddenly, my hand was encapsulated in another. The warmth of it calms my frantic heart. The last thing I remember is following Sheriff Strauss to a farmhouse out in Brenton. I don’t know how I got to the hospital or what happened to me.
When I slept, I dreamed of her, then I woke up hoping I wasn’t too late.
A warm breath caresses my hand, followed by the feather-like feeling of a kiss.
“I didn’t get to say it back. I need you to wake up so I can say it back, Parker.”
Evelyn.
Hearing her voice is like a balm on my soul.
She squeezes my hand tightly as if she’s afraid I’ll disappear.
“There's been nothing but trouble at your door since the universe decided to push me into your life. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. If I never got you involved in all of this, then your family wouldn’t be out there worrying about you.”
I felt the tremor of the hospital bed as Evelyn shook, as her sorrow consumed her.
She didn’t get it. I couldn’t blame her, though. She thought she was alone in the world for a long time. It would take her time to believe that had changed.
Evelyn was so blinded by grief and fear that she didn’t see the family that had formed around her.
Aja and Janae thought of her like a sister.
My mother felt she was like a third daughter.
Mr. Beauhart was constantly singing her praises, and Gerard and William would take a bullet for her any day.
And me? I wanted to live in this woman’s skin.
I didn’t want to go a day without seeing her smiling face or her rolling her eyes at something silly I said.
I wanted all her mornings and her evenings. I wanted to be her safe place and her calm during the storms. As long as I was breathing and she would have me, I would never let her walk this Earth alone again.
I put all my effort into getting my body to cooperate, needing to show her that even now, she wasn’t alone.
I managed to squeeze her hand weakly, but she felt it.
“I’m here, baby, I’m here,” she said as she pressed kisses to my hand.
I awoke warm with a throbbing pain in my side and a nurse checking my bandage as I blinked my surroundings into focus. She moved quietly through the room, returning to the computer in the corner to make her notes before leaving.
The source of warmth was coming from the body next to me. Her hair was splayed across my chest, tickling my nose. At the sound of the door closing, she jolted awake, lifting her head to look for the source.
“I didn’t take you for a rule breaker,” I said through a yawn.
Evelyn’s head shot up, her tired eyes meeting mine. “I refused to leave you. I don’t think the staff is happy with me.”
Her face was bruised, and bandages covered her. Looking at her, I remembered everything that happened before I passed out. Charles shot Sheriff Strauss, and all hell broke loose. All I remembered was the cold barn floor and the way he wielded that knife on Evelyn.
“How?”
She laid her head back down on my chest, curling her arms around me, careful not to disturb my bandage.
“I thought I lost you.” She sniffled. “Seeing you lie there while Charles taunted me, something broke in me. Giving up wasn’t an option. I wanted to live. We fought, and the gun went off.”
“We’re here together because you fought for us,” I said, stroking her head.
“I killed him, Parker,” she said, sitting up to look at me.
I didn’t miss the wince when she straightened.
Evelyn was in pain and probably too stubborn to listen to any of the doctors or nurses.
Her eyes were tired, but I didn’t see guilt.
I’d become familiar with that look, the look she had when we first met.
“It was either him or you. I, for one, would rather have you here than that piece of filth.” I grunted out as I tried to adjust myself in the bed. Evelyn stood up, unsteady but determined, fixing the pillow behind me.
Turning towards the table, she poured us both cups of water. “That’s the thing. I don’t feel bad. I don’t know what kind of person that makes me. When Danny told me he was really dead, I felt like I could finally breathe.”
She kept her eyes hidden from me as she handed me the cup.
“You chose life and a future. He was a terrible person who used the one life he was given to hurt people. You’re a survivor, you haven’t done anything wrong.”
Evelyn filled in all the blanks, giving me a play-by-play of the night. I knew she was strong, but her determination and perseverance left me in awe. I owed her my life. Hearing that Danny and Mr. Morales were here brought me comfort. We had all made it through this ordeal mostly in one piece.
The next time a nurse came in, she scolded Evelyn and insisted on taking her back to her own room to rest. When I asked about my family, she told me they went out for a bite to eat but said they would be back.
Knowing that Evelyn wouldn’t get the rest she needed if she were fussing over me, I insisted the nurse take her back to her room. That earned me a glare, soon replaced by a pout as they wheeled her away.
Giving in to my fatigue, I dozed off.
The sun blinded me as I woke up.
My side was sore, and the cast on my leg was starting to itch. I thought I would have had a chance to speak with the doctor last night, but I had fallen asleep before I could ask if they were in.
The sound of light humming takes me away from my thoughts. She always hummed a Psalm when she was worried.
“I’m fine, mama,” I muttered as I tried to sit up.
My mother jumped up and began fussing over me at the sound of my voice. When she was finished fluffing my pillows, she grabbed my face and planted a kiss on my forehead.
“You gave us quite the scare, son.” She sighed, sitting down in the chair beside the bed.
“If Dad were here, he’d probably say I was playing the hero again. Joke's on him. Evelyn saved the day.” I let out a bitter laugh.
My mother and I hadn’t spoken much after dinner. If I were being honest with myself, I was still angry with her. Maybe angry wasn’t the right word. Perhaps it was more disappointment.
“You’re angry, and it isn’t misplaced. I know I let you all down.”
“Ma, do you know how many times I wished you would step in?”
“At first, I wanted to. But you would’ve left anyway. You didn’t want this. The money never appealed to you. I let myself believe you were better off. Every time we spoke, you seemed happy. That’s all I wanted for you.”
“Happy Ma? I was working myself to the bone trying to earn the approval of someone I thought was a decent man. If I worked hard and succeeded, then maybe he would finally see I made the right choice.” My eyes stung as I thought about all the nights I spent staring at my phone, hoping he would call.
We’d talk like we used to, and he would see my point of view. He never called.
“Oh, sweetie,” she said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “You are enough the way you are. I have never been prouder of the man you’ve become. Please forgive me.”
“I made my peace with how I left things. I've had years to come to terms with it. I even accepted that our family may never be what it was again. What I can’t accept is allowing the twins to go down the same path.”
“You’re right. I can’t change the past, but I can still try to fix the damage that’s been done to them.
” Shaking her head, she looked towards the window, her face turned downward in a frown.
This was the first time, I noticed her hair wasn’t perfectly coiffed, and she was dressed in a Spelman sweatshirt and jeans.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in jeans.
“Your father kept a lot from me. But there was a lot in plain sight that I didn’t want to see.
The late nights, the strange meetings, and new friends.
He was changing in front of me, but I trusted him unquestioningly.
I was quiet when I should’ve been reminding him of the promises we made to each other. ”
It was hard not to lump my mother in with my father's misdeeds. Her silence made her complicit in all of this. But I couldn’t be too hard on her. After all, what did I do to help?
Looking at my mom, I felt like I was seeing her undone, or perhaps this was the real her. The rest was all just for show.
“I want my family back, Mom. He won’t be able to keep me away anymore.”
“And I won’t let him. I’m going to fix everything as I should have from the start. I’ll make things right, P, just give me some time.”
Only time would tell.
The door opened, and a fair-skinned woman with short brown hair walked in, trickling in behind her were Aja and Janae.
“Mr. Woods, we’re happy to have you awake and chatting with us.
Just in time for your new roommate. She’s been causing quite the stir.
” The woman stood at the computer, clicking away.
“I’m Dr. Linden. I want to talk to you about the care and treatment you received.
Are you comfortable speaking in front of your family? ”
A nurse wheeled a smiling Evelyn into the room and got her settled into the bed hidden by the curtain next to mine.
“Yes, they can stay.”
“You’re very lucky to be alive, Mr. Woods.
You came in with significant blood loss.
We were able to remove the bullet. The bullet didn’t hit any major organs.
The bones in your right leg were severely damaged.
We had to put several pins and plates to stabilize the bone.
With a fibula fracture recovery, you’re looking at anywhere from six months to a year of recovery time.
It’s going to be tough, but with physical therapy, you should be up and walking soon. ”
I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
I kept my mind busy with everything else, not wanting to think about what an injury like this could mean for my career.
There were a few things I knew for certain about my future at this point: I wanted my family back, I was never letting Evelyn go, and I was meant to be a firefighter.
“We’re going to keep you for a few days to keep an eye out for infection and monitor your vitals.”
Looking to my left, I admired the woman I had fallen so hard for over the past few weeks.
She was smiling at something Aja was showing on her phone, bruised and bandaged, but smiling.
The woman that I first met thought she was broken, damaged.
Not for one moment did I ever agree. I saw her quiet strength and the way she showed up every day despite wanting to hide away.
She had saved my life in more ways than one.
Whatever came next, we would survive it, together.