Chapter 29 - Maria
The guards let a man into the house whom I’ve never met before.
I snap at him, demanding to know what he’s doing here.
“I’m the doctor, Joe called me,” he says defensively.
“The doctor?” I ask, confused.
“They are…”
Tires screech outside, and men shout orders to each other. I run to the front door and see Misha helping Ben get Artur out of the back seat.
“What happened?” I yelp, running out to them. They’re too busy and can’t answer me.
I stand back so that I’m out of the way as they carry Artur inside.
The doctor runs after them to the living room, where they place him on the sofa.
I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I hear another car arrive and run to the front door to see who it is.
Joe and Kaz storm through the door. “Is he here?” Joe demands.
“They took him to the living room,” I whimper. “Is he…is he okay?”
Joe drags me into a hug. “He’s going to be fine, Maria. We’re going to make sure he’s fine. Wait here, okay? Just stay here. I’ll call you when we’ve got him stable.” He releases me and runs through to the living room with Kaz.
I stand bewildered, staring at my brother, who is the last person I would expect to find with my four husbands.
“Did you do this?” I blurt out through my tears.
“No,” he says defensively.
“You’ve hated them since the beginning. You’ve been trying to get to Artur and hurt him since you ended the friendship!” I say. “What did you do to him!”
I shove my brother in the chest, and he takes an unsteady step backward, but doesn’t fight me. His lip is cut and bruised.
“Did you fight with him?” I demand, pushing him again.
“No, Maria, stop. I helped him.”
“Liar!” I scream in panic and desperation.
Misha grabs me, and to my surprise, he pulls me into a hug.
“He’s going to be okay, Maria,” he says gently. “We got him out of there, we brought him here. The doctor is going to help him.”
I melt into my brother’s arms, sobbing and terrified.
“What happened?” I cry.
“Paul set a trap in his villa. All the exits were rigged with explosives. One of my contacts in the city found out and told me when he heard the Pakhans were planning an attack. I got there and found the place already burning, and I managed to break down the front door. But the ceiling collapsed on Artur…” his voice fades.
I pull away from him to look at his face. “You really helped them?” I ask, confused and bewildered.
He sighs and lets me go.
“I helped them,” he shrugs.
“Why?” I mutter.
“Because I saw how much they loved you. I realized that I’m not the only one who loves you…and I realized that if anything happened to them, it would break you,” he sighs.
“But you thought Artur was beneath you?” I murmur, unsure if he’s being honest. But when I look into my brother’s eyes, I don’t see any of that old resentment or anger.
He pushes his fingers through his hair and shrugs.
“Maria, I just don’t want to lose you. I can see that if I keep fighting this, that is exactly what’s going to happen.
You’ll choose them, and you’ll be forced to give me up.
They were trying to connect with me, to smooth things over, and I was the one unwilling to budge. ”
“So…what now?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.
“Now…you live here, and you live a happy life. I go home. And we’re still family.”
Fresh tears spill down my face as I run to hug him again. I wrap my arms around my brother’s waist and hold him tight.
“Maria?” Kaz calls my name.
“Is Artur okay?” I blurt out, turning toward him.
“You can come see him. We moved him upstairs. He’s stable,” Kaz says.
“Stable? What does that mean?” I huff.
“I’m going to head out,” Misha says. “I’ll come see you next week…let me know how Artur is,” he mutters. I nod, then turn to run upstairs to see my husband.
Kaz follows me.
Artur is lying on his back on his bed. There is an IV in his arm and a weird thing attached to his head beneath a bandage that is soaked with blood.
“Art?” I whisper, walking to the side of his bed and taking his hand in mine.
“He’s in a coma, baby bird,” Joe explains.
“The doctor has stabilized him, and there is a drain on his head to make sure the swelling stays down. The doc is returning now with more equipment to monitor his progress and make sure there’s nothing else wrong, but for now, all we can do is wait for him to wake up,” Joe sighs softly.
“Art?” I call his name, and there is no response at all. Not even a flicker across his closed eyes.
Sitting on the side of his bed, I slowly lay down on the bed next to him and stroked my fingers over his cheek while I talked to him softly.
My tears are soaking the pillow, and my voice is shaking.
“Let’s give her some time with him,” Ben says, gesturing for the others to leave.
Alone with Art, I hold him close, careful not to move him.
“You have to be okay, Art. You aren’t allowed to leave me. I never knew what love was until I met all of you, and I don’t know how I will survive with you. I love you. I love you endlessly, and I will never give up on you,” I whisper against his ear.
“Please don’t give up. Fight to come back to us. Fight to come back to me.”
The doctor does come back that evening and uses a device strapped to Art’s head to scan his brain. He reassures us that he’s okay and all we can do is wait.
So I wait.
I wait, and I sit with him, and I speak to him.
I tell him what he means to me and that I can’t live without him.
I talk to him every day for two days, terrified that he will never wake up.
At the end of the second day, the doctor removes the drain, explaining that there is no more swelling, which is a good sign.
“But he’s still in a coma?” I whimper.
“We have to wait,” he tells me again.
I bite my lip, wanting to scream at him that I’ve waited enough, and I just want Artur back. But it won’t do any good.
When I’m alone with Art again, I tell him a story about a princess who met a prince, and he taught her about love. I told him he is my prince and he’s the one I love. And I will never stop loving him.
I fall asleep on his bed with my hand on his chest because his breathing reassures me. The soft rise and fall of his chest is the only sign that Artur is still here with us.
It’s very early morning when my eyes flicker open in a dark room.
I swear I just felt him move.
“Art?” I mutter quickly. Sitting up, I flick on the bedside lamp.
“Art?” I say again, not willing to accept that I imagined it.
“Baby bird?” he murmurs, his words dry and scratching.
“Art!” I yelp, every cell in my body screaming with relief.
He chuckles, then groans and touches his head.
“You were in a coma,” I blurt out.
He touches his throat. “Sorry, water, yes,” I mutter, grabbing the glass of water on the bedside table and lifting his head slowly so I can press it to his lips. He takes three small, slow sips, then rests his head down again.
“A coma?” he whispers, closing his eyes. He breathes softly.
“Are you okay? I never left your side. I was so scared,” I tell him.
“I heard you, princess,” he smiles.
“You could hear me?”
“I heard everything.”
He takes my hand and holds it against his chest as he slowly draws more awake. “I heard everything, and I love you too. I never want to lose you either,” he whispers.
Woken by my voice, Ben, Joe, and Kaz hurry into the room to see what’s going on.
“He’s awake!” I say, tears of happiness streaming down my cheeks.
“Help me sit up,” Art tells Ben.
Ben lifts him and helps him shift higher up the bed.
“Dammit, my head hurts,” he chuckles.
I wrap my arms around him and hold him close, kissing his lips over and over again. “I love you. I love you so much.”
I turn to the other three men, grinning and watching us. “I love all of you. Not just…I mean…I really, truly love you. I fell in love with all of you,” I try to explain while I stumble over my words and my emotions.
Ben scoops me into his arms and holds me close. “I love you, too, baby bird. Truly, deeply, love you,” he says.
Joe takes me from him and kisses me. “I love you, too, baby bird. I’m so happy we found each other.”
Kaz pulls me from Joe and sits on the edge of the bed with me on his lap. “I love you, too, Maria. We all do. It’s impossible not to love you.”