She Used To Be Young (The Twin Hearts Saga)

Prologue

Twenty-four hours passed in a blur. People wandered in and out of my room to check on me, but I didn’t know why they’d come.

I was hurt.

Pain radiated through my body, assuring me of that, but I couldn’t make sense of where I was.

Or why it felt so much like home.

The sweet scent of sugar cookies baking in the oven filled the air. The warmth of a golden sun touched my face. And my mouth watered at the taste of strawberries.

But then, I choked on blood.

It pooled in the back of my throat, and I rushed to sit up, needing to get it out.

I heaved violently as gentle hands rubbed my back. Someone held a bowl under my mouth, and a stronger grip pressed down on my shoulders, easing me onto a bed of pillows.

As blankets tucked in tightly around me, soft curls tickled my cheek. A shaky shushing noise filled my ears. Although it was too muffled to hear, something about it felt familiar.

It soothed me back to sleep.

Sometime later, I woke up again.

A stethoscope pressed against my chest, and a tight band squeezed my bicep. When warm liquid ran down my chin, a cool rag wiped it away. I squinted, my blurry gaze catching hints of red on white cloth before it disappeared beneath my shirt.

Wrinkled eyes in my favorite shade of blue-green watched over me. A caring voice promised to take care of me, reminding me I was a good…something.

Everything seemed so far away. I wasn’t sure if I dreamed the word whispered in my ear or the soft touches over my skin, but I held onto what was said, believing it.

I was good…

I was safe now.

The quiet reassurances filled my chest with emotion, and when the soft voice shook over a clearer word, my heart clenched.

“…love…”

I liked the way it felt to hear it. In my life, the word so rarely followed “I” and came before “you.” And I wouldn’t forget, beneath the pain, how much it meant to feel it.

When it became too hard to stay awake, I fell back to sleep with a smile on my face.

That was all I remembered.

Before I saw her.