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“I have to trust that you won’t get out of this car, Mary. You have to swear to me that no matter what you see or hear, your promise to me is bigger and stronger.”
“I swear to you, I will stay in the car.”
He looked from Mary to Max; they locked eyes, and Mary imagined that Halo was sending Max a movie explaining his duties. Max’s whole body posture changed. His head swiveled to take in the interior, and he looked back at Halo. They were in agreement.
“Bloody hell,” Halo said. He reached out and cupped his cold hands around her face. “Mary, I love you. I need you to do this for me.”
“I will stay here with the doors shut. I don’t want you to worry about me. I need you safe. I very much love you, too.”
Halo paused. A grin spread across his face. He leaned in and gave her a kiss that seemed to seal their conviction. “Hell of a way to meet you, Mary. Shit, woman, I need you to be okay. And I need you in my life.”
Those words tasted sweet and flowed like warm honey in her veins.
Well, Mrs. V had said that three things would change in one single location; two of them were love and her life trajectory. So far, it looked like Mrs. V. had been right. “Be safe for me, Halo. Swear it.”
That man.
That man!
He astonished her with his capability and intelligence, with his gentleness and calm.
What had she put him through in the bog and the woods?
She’d ask him for details somewhere along the way. Mary had roused from her stupor, draped over Halo’s shoulder as he piggybacked her through the storm.
Where had the storm come from?
At first, she thought it was part of the nightmare.
Part of the snakes and the dragons, the sorcerers cast spells of retribution that anyone in that realm should find happiness in love.
When she woke up, Mary was partly embarrassed and partly amazed that she was being cared for and rescued from her circumstances. When had that ever happened before? It was so foreign to her that she’d fought with him in the woods. And was immediately contrite.
He had been right about his duty.
And perhaps not wrong to direct her.
Honestly, what would happen in the emergency department if a patient were incoherent and not fully clear about reality? Would the doctors follow a hallucinating patient’s decisions? As Halo would say, “Not bloody likely.”
Now, as the child clung around Mary’s neck, Mary’s hand patted the child’s back, and her other hand rested on Max.
Sweet, heroic Max with the golden sniffer that tracked the child’s path straight to the crash despite wind and rain.
The storm raged on.
***
Except for Mary’s racing thoughts, everything had been at a standstill in the car, cocooned by the sounds of the torrent.
And then the whirlwind began.
When the headlights blinked, and hazard lights flashed as Halo drove up beside them, Mary felt fully herself. Exhausted but fully back in her body, clear in her mind. The effects of the bog had worn away with time and distance.
Halo was at the door, pulling out the child seat, then slammed the door shut again. He arrived at her side of the car, leaning in, pressing an ardent kiss onto her lips. “I love you. Thank you for being right where I left you.”
Squatting by her side, Halo reviewed his plans for moving the mother, getting them tucked into the rental car, and driving them to the hospital. Did she agree?
“No comms yet? They can’t send an ambulance?”