Page 97 of You Can Make Me

“You did it.” Dane put a hand on my shoulder and moved beside me.

Kal joined us and shook his head. “You truthed him to death.”

I sputtered out a laugh, but there was no time to question what had just happened.

“Denny.”

I ran into the house, tripping on the step and bouncing off the doorjamb before stumbling into the sitting room.

Denny lay motionless on the gurney hooked up to an IV. A monitor beeped along with his heartbeat, which was erratic and sluggish. His blood pressure was low, his oxygen dropping.

“I’ve done all I can, son,” Charlene said, approaching. “He’ll either wake up or he won’t. There’s nothing else a hospital can do for him. I know that’s your next question. We can only wait and see.”

The other men filed in behind me, and I felt them at my back, willing their strength into me. Patience was not one of my virtues, and despair threatened to overtake my dwindling hope.

“You did what was necessary, and you know that’s the truth. You were the only one who could’ve stopped Evans from hurting any more people.”

I nodded. “But Denny’s the one paying the price.” I swallowed hard and waited for the tears to start up, but I had nothing left. “I feel him slipping away from me right before my eyes.” I put my hand on his chest, and though he had warming blankets on him, all I felt was cold.

Sniffles and whispered words behind me let me know that the others knew what I said was true.

I cannot lose this man. We cannot lose him. He’s too important.

Charlene pegged me with a look. “You willing to put up?”

I started to ask what she meant when there was a knock on the door. We all turned at the same time.

A strange man stood in the open doorway, wearing denim overalls with a dirty white button-up shirt underneath. He held a crushed hat between his hands and shifted his weight as his gaze darted between us. “Ma’am?”

Charlene stepped back from the table and shot me a look.

“Pokey.” Dane spoke to the man with surprise in his voice.

“You know who this is?” I asked.

Kal spoke, his piercing blue eyes boring into me.”He’s here for Denny.”

I held on to Denny’s unbandaged hand and squeezed. I wanted to scream and fight every one of these people. I wanted to rage at the heavens, unleash my wrath upon every being who’d been responsible for getting us to this place. My beloved was…

I was losing him. And these people expected me to make a decision.

“You should let Pokey take him,” Dane said gently.

“To the carnival? But…”

“They’ll help him like they did us.”

“But…you were gone forty years. And you?” I looked to Kal.

“Eighty years.”

A sob escaped my chest. I’d lost so much. I’d only just gotten Denny back, and now I was being asked to let him go?

“It’s that or forever, News Boy. Take it or leave it.”

I whirled around and pegged Charlene with a look that had been known to send people cowering from me when I was in a mood, but she just lifted her chin.

“Your choice. Let them care for him, or take the chance you lose him forever.”