Chapter 39
Lark
“Tristan,” I croak, looking around the room, completely confused. I had a tube down my throat when I woke, and they removed it after I started freaking out.
They explained quickly that I was okay, that I was injured and to just rest.
I have no idea how long ago that was, because I must’ve fallen back asleep before waking again.
“He’s coming, sweetheart,” my mother’s voice says.
“Momma?”
“Yes, baby, I’m right here.”
I open my eyes slowly, the light so bright it actually hurts.
There’s beeping and movement all around me.
Dear God, my head is pounding.
I move my arm up to my temple, pulling on a tube in my hand.
“Easy there, Lark,” a soft male voice says. “I’m Dr. Siesler, and I’m just going to take a look at you, make sure everything is all right.”
I let out a whimper because nothing feels all right.
The doctor shines a bright-ass light in my eyes, moves my arms, and tests my muscle movement.
Being careful since my head is throbbing, I let my lashes flutter open, taking in the scene. I’m clearly in the hospital. My parents are standing on the right side of the bed, my mother wrapped in Daddy’s arms. On the other side is who I’m assuming is the doctor, based on the lab coat.
Before I can ask my parents anything, the doctor speaks: “Now that you seem a little more awake, can you tell me what you remember?”
I close my eyes, needing the small respite from the light. “My head.”
“We’ll get you some medicine.”
Medicine would be good.
“I’d really like if you could try to tell me anything of what you recall.”
Right. He did ask that.
“Momma made breakfast. I wasn’t hungry, but she had me eat anyway. Then, I went…I think I worked,” I say, my head feeling heavy and my body tired. “I don’t know.”
“Good, all of this is great. Can you keep going?” the doctor asks.
“Tristan?”
“What about Tristan?” Daddy asks.
Oh, God, I just said that out loud.
I close my eyes. “Sorry, I…don’t know what I mean.”
The doctor gently squeezes my wrist. “I know you’re tired and this is a lot right now, but do you know how you came to be in the hospital?”
I run through the rest of the memory. I went out to the barn, worked with two horses, and then I saw her.
Sadie.
My eyes open, and I stare at the doctor. “Sadie? Her horse? I fell. I remember I was riding and something happened. I think…I think there was a snake, and the horse spooked so fast. I was flying, and I knew.” I suck in a breath. “I knew I was going to hit the ground hard.”
The doctor nods. “Anything else?”
“It hurt. I hit…my head…I think…a few times.” The memory is so fuzzy after that. I must’ve passed out or something, because I don’t remember anything after that.
Momma comes to the side, taking my hand. “Yes, sweetheart, you hit your head and called for help.”
“I did?”
“You did, the way you teach all your kids to do.” Her smile is wide, and I see the pride in her eyes.
“How long have I been here?” I ask.
“Four days,” Momma answers.
Four days. Oh God. “Momma…I…”
She laces her fingers with mine. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Lark Elaine, not a thing, you hear me?”
I can’t help the small smile that comes from her stern voice. “I’m sorry, Momma.”
“Oh, honey, don’t be sorry. You did all the right things, and you’re here. You woke up and you’re here.” Tears fill her eyes, and one falls. “Now we’re going to let your brothers come in and see you, okay?”
My brothers.
But not Tristan.
I don’t know why I’m even remotely surprised or sad. He and I are nothing, and how the hell would he even know? Not to mention, his coming here would mean the freaking explosion of my family.
Still, my heart wants what it knows it can’t have.
Him.
“Can we wait a bit?” I ask. “I’m just…tired.”
“Of course, honey.” She looks up at the doctor. “Is it okay if she sleeps?”
He smiles. “Yes, it’s a good thing she wants rest.”
“Let me in!” I hear someone screaming from the hallway.
“Sir, you have to stop. You can’t go in there.”
“Lark! Lark! I’m here!”
My eyes go wide. “Tristan?” I ask, barely audible.
“Oh Lord, that man,” Daddy mutters.
“He loves her,” Momma says with a smile. “We’ll head out before you have to have security come get him.”
I glance at them both as they slip out of the room, wondering what the hell happened while I was out. Tristan is here? Why? How did he know? Why is he back?
All these questions swirl as I stare at the door while the man I love strides toward me with unshed tears in his eyes.
“Lark,” he says my name on a breath, and then he’s across the room, cradling my face in his big strong hands.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
His brown eyes are filled with so many emotions. Hope, relief, fear, and most of all…love. “Don’t ever leave me again. Don’t even think about a world where you’re not mine.”
“What?” I breathe.
Maybe I’m still in the coma and this is just a really vivid dream. My parents were here. Then he was in the hallway—screaming. Now my parents are gone, and he’s touching me.
Yeah, nothing makes sense.
Not. A. Thing.
This is a dream. A really good one where he’s saying the things I’ve dreamed of hearing, so I’m perfectly fine with not waking up.
“I’m yours?” I ask for clarification.
I figure dream Tristan will totally say I am. Which will be really nice to hear.
“Yes, and I’m yours,” he says before kissing the tip of my nose. “God, I…fuck, I’ve never felt fear like I did when I found out you were hurt.”
Okay, so apparently in my dream-coma state, I’m living in a partial reality. “You were?”
“Of course I was, sweetheart. Hell, I’ve been in agony. I was sitting at your bedside, begging you to wake up every day.”
He was?
I mean, I would’ve dreamed he was here, because I would want that. But if this is a dream, would I dream of him in my dreams?
So much to consider, and my head is still pounding.
I rest my palms on his wrists. “I’m not following any of this. You’ve been here? You were in agony?”
I shouldn’t ask him to refute me, but I probably have a better shot at him saying something I want to hear in my dream.
He rests his forehead against mine. “Lark, I love you. I was so stupid. So fucking dumb to think that if I pushed you away, maybe my heart would come back to me. But you have it. It’s yours and…
I promise that every day, I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make things right between us.
” Tristan pulls back, his brown eyes not leaving mine.
“I’ve been here, beside you, talking to you, since you got hurt.
I’ve had it out with your brothers, parents, and my family.
I’ll make a town-wide announcement if that’s what you need for me to prove that I don’t want to love you in the shadows anymore. ”
My lip trembles as I hold back the tears. “Can you pinch me?”
He pulls back, his hands falling, and confusion flashes across his face. “What?”
“Pinch me or something because I’m pretty convinced that I’m dreaming or still in the coma or something, because none of this makes sense.” I get out my words with shaky breath.
The beeping from the monitor grows faster, and both of us look up before he rubs his thumb against my cheek. “Relax, don’t get worked up. I’m sorry I’m laying this all on you.”
I blink a few times as the reality that this isn’t a dream finally sinks in.
Tristan is here, he loves me, and he told everyone about us and how he feels while I was in a coma.
Okay.
I look at him, my heart feeling stronger than it ever has. “I should make you work for it.”
He grins. “You should.”
“I should make you make that announcement.”
“And I will.”
I shake my head with a smile. “It took me having a head injury for you to come to your senses. Make that make sense.”
“It doesn’t. All I can say is that I knew before the injury. I knew the minute you rode off. I was…terrified. I didn’t want to love you because I was afraid of what would happen if I ever lost you.”
Man, he’s making me all gooey inside, but along with that, I want to know he’s serious. That this isn’t just him making a decision out of fear because I could’ve died.
Thankfully I didn’t, but none of them knew I wouldn’t.
“Tristan, you realize that this isn’t going to be easy.”
He lets out a half laugh. “I’m very aware. Between your brothers and my sisters, yeah…we’re in for it.”
“What about Sadie?”
His warm hand cups my cheek. “Sadie is more than happy with the prospect of us being together.”
I try to hide my smile at that but fail. “I swear, before…before I rode Cloud, she was trying to set us up.”
“Oh, I know. She did it the day I brought her home from camp,” Tristan confesses.
That’s a bit of a surprise, but one that warms my heart. I like that she likes me. I adore her. I’m really hoping I can be a part of her life, in whatever way she’ll have me.
Thinking of her right now causes my chest to constrict. “Oh, God, Cloud? What happened?”
Tristan’s jaw tightens before he releases it. “When you didn’t come back to the barn for a while, she waited, and then Cloud returned without you, and the saddle was askew. She ran to me, told me everything and was sorry she lied.”
She lied? “I don’t understand. What did she lie about?”
“She knew she wasn’t allowed to work with that horse. She knew, and she went behind my back—and you almost died because of it.”
Oh boy. I have a feeling this is going to be a fight, and right now I’m way too tired.
“That’s not what happened, but we can argue later.”
The air pushes from his lungs, and he leans in to kiss me softly. “Rest, sweetheart. I’m going to let your brothers come in. I pretty much fought my way here, and they’re worried.”
I nod, my eyes closing. “Okay.” As soon as he comes in to kiss me again, I grab his arm. “You’ll come back?”
“Yes, love. I’ll be back. I promise. I’m not leaving you again.”
It’s as though my next breath is the best one I’ve ever drawn. As though all my worries left me with that one promise.
I don’t know how we got here. And I really don’t care how. We just are.
He brushes my hair back. “Rest. I’m not leaving you.”
And I let the peace wash over me, and I wait for my brothers to come in.