Page 74 of Secrets That Bind Us

Dean

FOUR DAYS LATER

I kiss and hug my kids goodbye as Zoey takes them home from their visit at the hospital today.

Verity is finally out of the ICU but is now in a private room.

She was shot in the abdomen, the bullet going straight through, which is what caused her to bleed out so much.

She has a bit of damage to one kidney, but nothing that time and rehab won’t heal.

I’ll be there for it all. I glance up in time to see a grim Jason striding toward me. “Hey, man.”

He juts his chin to the door. “How is she?”

I motion for him to come inside of the room, and we each take a seat at the ends of the small couch they have in here where I’ve been sleeping next to Verity, not leaving her side. “Vitals are so much better. Just waiting for her to wake up. To get back to me.” I reply.

“She will. She’s done it before. She will again. Have a little faith.” He frowns, but his eyes travel from me to Ver and back to me. “I just came to give you a report since you weren’t answering your phone.”

“Yeah, I don’t usually have my phone on me when I’m with my kids.”

“That’s a good thing.” He assures me, clearing his throat. “I went to the property first. To make sure.”

I lift a brow. “And?”

He gives me one solemn nod. “Everything is ash. The fire reached all the way to the back of the property. Thankfully, by some miracle, my guys got there just in time before the fire spread to any other farm. Nothing else but the Huntington property was harmed.”

“The entire property?”

Jason sighs. “Nothing survived. Nothing is standing. It’s all gone.

I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s almost like there was an accelerant used all over the property, but we had no evidence of it.

It’s nothing more than a pile of ash. Not even a beam or pillar of that old house. The pond completely evaporated, too.”

Chills go down my spine, but then the biggest sigh of relief escapes me. I put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. “He almost took her from me.”

I can feel when he reaches over and then softly pats me on the shoulder.

“But he didn’t. And that’s what you have to concentrate on right now, okay?

I’m not telling you that you have to be strong.

If it were Maranda or my boys, I’d be doing the same thing– except I’d be bawling my eyes out every twenty minutes, begging her to come back to me. ”

“You think I haven’t been?” I sniff, as tears roll down my cheeks and splash onto the floor.

He chuckles. “I know you have. That’s why when I say y’all are gonna be just fine, I mean it. You hear me? You’re gonna go up North and never come back. You understand?”

I nod, face still in my hands. “Thank you.”

And he knows exactly why I’m thanking him. “You’d do it for me.”

And he’s right. I would do it for him. Oh shit. “Jace, the pond–“

“Evan took care of it.” He assures me as I walk him to the door. “Used his daddy’s old tow truck and took it to Mackey's junk yard. It’s been crushed. Nothing to worry about at all.” He turns and makes eyes at the bed behind me, and I suck in a breath.

Because when he leaves, and I turn around, caramel eyes are wide open and locked on me. Her brows knit together. Her lips tremble behind her oxygen mask, and her heart monitor spikes.

“Baby…” While the door’s still open, I call out to the nurses and Doctor Devi to make them aware.

But Verity doesn’t take her eyes off of me the entire time they work around her and on her.

The doctor talks to her, and it’s only then that she takes her eyes off me to pay attention to what she’s saying to her.

Verity nods along, listening to it all. Brows rising when they tell her everything.

I stand at the foot of the bed the entire time.

Doctor Devi smiles down at Verity. “I want you to know that the baby is also doing very well.”

Verity’s honey eyes connect with mine again, and I give her a small smile. “Apparently you’re about seven weeks along.”

Our doctor nods. “That’s what your HCG levels show. We had a sonographer come by yesterday to check out the heartbeat. It is small, but very strong. They’ll be by later again today, if you’re up for it?”

Verity nods enthusiastically.

“Perfect. I’ll let them know. For now, your vitals look good. We don’t want you to walk around just yet. But we do have you on a very low morphine drip, so I’m sure you’re feeling a lot of discomfort.”

When she opens her mouth to talk, it’s low and raspy due to the smoke inhalation. “No, I mean, I’d like to not have morphine at all. So if we can make it lower, that’s fine.”

Doctor Devi inclines her chin and starts heading out. “I’ll start to lower the dosage. For now, rest. We’ll try liquids today, solids tomorrow, and come up with a new plan. It’s going to be a good road to recovery, Miss Huntington.” She leaves, and we’re alone again.

Whiskey eyes lift to mine, and even though I know she’s angry, I’m so fucking happy just to see them again.

She moves her hands to her stomach as if protecting our child already, the engagement ring on her finger glinting in the light of the room.

My heart warms at both the sight and knowing we created something wonderful together again.

“You swore honesty to me. You put this ring on my finger and you promised me that.”

I can tell she’s doing her best not to scream at me even though I deserve it. “I did.”

She takes in as deep a breath as she can. “Start talking and leave absolutely nothing out, Dean.”

I sit on the edge of her bed by her feet and nod. “Okay.”