Heather London - The Hardest Part

“Two men will be by her door at all times until he’s found. Only doctors and nurses will be allowed to come in and out.”

“What about me?” I asked, my eyes squinting into a glare.

“You and Lexi have also been cleared,” Detective Palmer said.

WHEN I got back into Emily’s room, she was awake, and her bed was raised into a sitting position.

Both Emily and Kim looked at me. Emily’s eyes met mine as she smiled softly before quickly turning away.

“Well, I’m going to get out of here and let you two visit. Just make sure you get some rest tonight.” Kim gave Emily a pointed look.

“I will.” Emily nodded and stole another quick glance at me.

The nurse left and then I took my seat beside her bed again.

“Is everything okay?” Emily asked. “You look like something’s bothering you.”

“I’m fine. The detectives just wanted to clear up a few things up.”

“Have they… found him yet?” she asked.

My chest ached, knowing I was going to have to lie to her.

“They’re working on it,” was all I said. It wasn’t a complete lie, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that Jake had gotten away and was nowhere to be found.

She pulled in her bottom lip and bit down. The fear in her eyes was evident.

“Hey, nothing’s going to happen. There are going to be officers here at all times, guarding your room, and I’m not going anywhere. You don’t need to worry about him.”

She nodded as she leaned her head back against the bed. “I know about the baby, Reed. I—I can’t believe it. I don’t know how it happened. I mean, I know how it happened, but it wasn’t supposed to happen, not like this.” She stared at the ceiling, refusing to meet my eyes. “I didn’t believe it when the doctors told me earlier. When I just woke up, I figured it must have been a dream, but then I asked the nurse and she said it is true. It’s crazy. What if something would’ve happened to the baby in the accident? I would have been responsible.”

“Nothing happened.” I grabbed her hand. “You’re okay. The baby’s okay. We’re going to be okay.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked, her voice breaking. She still refused to meet my eyes. It killed me not to know what she was thinking. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel embarrassed, remorseful, or guilty.

Taking her chin softly in my hands, I forced her to look at me. “We’re going to make sure you get better. That’s the most important thing right now. Don’t worry about anything else. We’re going to be okay. Everything will be okay.”

She still didn’t look convinced.

“Emily, over the last few days, I’ve had so much time to think. It killed me to know that you may never wake up and never know how much I care about you. I love you, Emily. I will do whatever I can to protect you. I promise. It’s all going to be okay.”

Her eyes grew glossy. I didn’t mean to make her cry. I just wanted her to know the truth. I’ve come too close to losing her to not tell her everything when I had the chance.

“I love you, too.” She smiled and took in a deep breath. I wrapped my arms around her and we held each other for a long minute. When I finally let go, her head rested back onto the bed and her eyes remained closed. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking of exactly, but I didn’t want her thinking about Jake or worrying about anything. I needed to get her mind off it.

“Lexi’s here, but the doctors are only allowing one person in at a time. Would you like me to send her in?”

“Yes.” Her eyes opened and grew bright. “I would love that.”

While Lexi visited with Emily and hopefully took her mind off Jake for a while, I called Robbins to see if he had an update for me. I also wanted to fill him in on what Detective Palmer and Detective Wallace told me about one of Jake’s men being an FBI informant. I didn’t know if Robbins could find out the man’s name, but I wanted to try everything I could to get in touch with him.

Robbins had been sitting in front of the casino for hours and there was still no sign of Jake anywhere. There had been police coming in and out of the casino all day, but other than that, it was quiet. He was going to call around to a few people in the FBI to see if he could pull some strings and get me a name. I knew it was a long shot, but I was feeling desperate. Each second that passed and Jake remained free, I grew more afraid that he was getting farther and farther away from being caught or, even scarier, he was getting closer to coming for Emily again.

I kept Brandon company in the waiting room until Lexi came back out. He had been a great friend to Emily and an even better boyfriend to Lexi. She was lucky to have him. I was lucky to have him, too. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done if I had to watch out for both Lexi and Emily right now. It made it easier to leave Lexi, knowing she had someone to stay with her at a time like this.

“She looks good,” Lexi said when she came back. “It’s so good to see her awake and talking.”

“Yeah, it’s a huge relief.” I stood up and pulled her in for a tight hug. “Why don’t you and Brandon head home and get some sleep? I’m going to stay with her tonight.”

“Can I get you anything before I leave? I don’t think you’ve eaten today.”

I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’ll get something later.” My stomach was such a mess nothing sounded good anyway.

When I returned to Emily’s room, she was asleep. The moment the door closed, her eyes fluttered open.

“I’m sorry I woke you. Close your eyes. You need your rest.”

She closed her eyes again and smiled. “It was really good to see Lexi.”

It wasn’t long before she was asleep again.

EMILY

"WAIT JUST a second and I'll come help you," Reed said. He jogged around the car, but by the time he got to me, I was already walking toward the trunk to get my things. The valet was back there as well, pulling out my boxes of stuff and a couple of suitcases. I knew Reed was trying to be nice, but I’d been doted on the last few weeks in the hospital, and I was ready for a little bit of my independence back.

"You were supposed to wait for me." He smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"If I can't get out of the car by myself, I'm in worse shape than I thought." I grabbed my purse before the valet could put it on the cart with my other things. After three weeks in the hospital, being poked, prodded, and cared for many times over, I was ready to do as much as I could on my own, or as much as Reed and Lexi would allow me to do anyway. It did feel nice to have so many people care about me—I couldn’t deny that—but I had been so independent for most of my life that I was ready to have a little bit of that back, too.

"Come on, let them take care of it. I want to get you upstairs." Reed gently pulled me toward the front door. "I have a surprise for you."

I gave him a sideways glance. "What kind of surprise?" He’d already done so much for me. I couldn’t think of what else there was left for him to do.

We walked into the condo. Everything looked the same as always, except for a few minor changes. A picture I had purchased when I first moved to New York was hanging on the wall near the kitchen, and a plant I had in my living room was sitting next the small couch that had been in my apartment. The couch looked out of place among Reed's nicer furniture.

"What is all of this?" I asked, looking over at him.

"I want you to live with me. We can call it temporary, see how it goes, and then make a decision from there."

We had discussed moving in together at the hospital, but I wasn't sure that was what I wanted. Well, more than anything, I was nervous it wasn't what Reed really wanted. I thought he was just scared because Jake was still out there or that he felt some sort of obligation to take care of me.