32. Huntley
Chapter Thirty-Two
HUNTLEY
River was here.
Maybe I was more injured than I thought and my eyes were deceiving me. That or the pain meds were making me hallucinate.
God I hope not.
For a minute I watched as tears poured down my girl’s beautiful face and my mother tried to soothe her with a few words, but didn’t attempt to touch her. The air in the room shifted and River had looked like she’d seen a ghost. Something was going on.
I couldn’t handle seeing her so upset, it killed me.
“Sweetheart, I can’t stand to see you sad. Please come here and talk to me.”
I sounded desperate and pleading, but I didn’t care. Because I was both of those things. It felt like forever since I’d seen or touched her.
River’s tear-filled eyes came to mine and then she was moving to my side. I turned my palm facing up on the bed and she placed her small hand in mine. Just that tiny touch soothed my battered body and soul .
“Hey, baby,” I whispered.
“I-I’m s-so s-sorry,” she said, her breath hitching with each broken word. “I w-was w-wrong.”
My focus was on my girl, but I could still feel my mom’s eyes on me, taking in the scene. There was something going on with the two women that meant the world to me, but I didn’t have a clue what it could be.
“Honey, there is nothing to be sorry about. I’m just so glad you are here.”
Before I could say more or she could respond, the door opened and a nurse walked in. “We have your room ready so we’re going to move you upstairs in just a minute. Your mother and fiancée can follow us up.”
With her free hand, River frantically swiped at the tears that still shimmered like crystals in her violet-colored eyes and gave me a sheepish look. I wasn’t sure how the fiancée bit got started but boy did I like the sound of that.
I smirked. “That has a nice ring to it, don’t you think, fiancée?”
She did the River thing and bit her bottom lip.
I glanced at my mom, then my beautiful girl. “Seems like we have a lot to talk about.”
“I’ll be right back to get you moved,” the nurse said before walking out of the room.
A tad calmer now, River shifted on her feet, nervously. “Ruby did it to get me in.”
I gave her a wink. “Remind me to thank Ruby later.”
River’s lips tipped up a teensy bit at my words.
My mother moved around the bed to the other side of me and the two women looked at each other. Then my mom looked down at me.
“You’re engaged?”
“No,” River said at the same time I answered, “I hope we will be soon. ”
With wild, unbelievable eyes, River sucked in a sharp breath “You can’t mean that.”
I brought our still clasped palms slowly to my mouth so as not to cause too much pain and kissed the back of her hand before resting them back on the bed once again. “Of course I do, but I know we have things to talk about and work through. I also want to ask you right one day.”
River looked like I was blowing smoke out my ass and insane. But I also caught the wistful look that flashed across her face. She may not have completely believed me but I damn sure planned to show her how serious I was.
My mom’s hand came to rest on my arm. “I can’t believe this is the amazing woman you’ve been telling me about.” Then I heard her sniffle.
Oh shit, I wasn’t sure I could handle both of them crying.
Once again the door opened and two nurses bustled around the room getting me ready to move while River and my mother stood back in silence, watching.
They began to move me and I felt panic set in. “You’re coming right?” I asked River. I didn’t want to lose sight of her.
“Of course. I don’t plan on leaving you ever again.”
Relief coursed through me and I had to clench my jaw and press my lips together to keep from blurting out the three words I was dying to say. I needed to do that in private, just the two of us.
River moved ahead of us, going out the door first. I looked at my mom and raised a brow in question.
“It’s her,” she said softly.
For a minute I was confused and then my mom added, “It’s the beautiful soul I met that night on the bridge.”
I knew then exactly what she was talking about. I’d been away in the military, but my mom had told me all about that night. It was one she never forgot and talked about often. She wanted so badly to bring the young girl home.
River had been on the bridge that night.
Thank God my mother had come along.
Because I couldn’t imagine my life without River in it.