Page 128 of Fierce-Matt

He hadn’t given her one when he showed up. Instead, he took charge and got them some answers, distracted her from her worry, and supported her.

She’d needed that more than she needed the comfort.

Now it was time for the comfort.

“I know,” she said. “I believe it.”

“You can let yourself go with me. You can cry.”

“Anya, don’t hold it in again,” her mother said. Amber had no problem shedding tears on the side of her father’s bed, but once she’d cried earlier, she hadn’t since.

It killed Anya to see her mother so emotional. There was something unsettling seeing the woman she looked up to her whole life falling apart.

She was staying strong because her mother was struggling to do it.

She was all her mother had to rely on.

One of them had to keep it together. She’d be the rock her mother was to her for years.

Then she looked up to see Matt’s eyes on her parents.

She had him to be strong for her.

“I love you,” she said. “Thank you for being here for me.”

“I’d be nowhere else.”

His arms squeezed her tight and she let him do it.

They admitted her father to his own room after almost four hours. He still hadn’t woken up, but he appeared stable.

They were told he’d need surgery but were scheduling it for tomorrow.

“I don’t want to leave your father,” Amber said, stretching her back. “But they told me visiting hours end at eight.”

Anya looked at her watch. It was six, but it felt as if it was midnight. Seven hours had passed and she was thankful her father got in a room rather than them all staying in the ER for most of the night waiting.

“Are you going to stay until eight?” she asked.

“I will, but I need to walk.”

“I’ll stay,” Matt said, “if you want to get some food with Anya.”

He was looking at her, giving her a wide-eye glance to urge her mother to eat.

“That’s a good idea,” her mother said.

She grabbed her purse. “We won’t be long.”

“Take your time,” he said. “Your dad and I are going to bond.”

Anya cracked the barest of grins. “You do that.”

When they were in the hall, her mother turned to her. “It’s nice having someone you can count on, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“I had that with your father for years. I’ve got to be that for him now.”