I wanted to run down the hall but figured that would be frowned upon. I walked as fast as possible to where everyone was waiting. For the first time in days, I smiled. “They are moving him out of the ICU. It’s a promotion!”
“When can we see him?” Storm asked.
“The nurse said thirty minutes, and they would come get us when we could go and sit with him.” I could feel some tension leave my body, which my heart replaced with a tiny glimmer of hope.
“I’m going to call the family and update them.” Storm walked away to make his phone call.
We all piled into his room when the nurse came and told us it was okay. I sat next to him, holding his hand. All his brothers sat around the room. The fact they had been here the entire time showed the depth of their love for their little brother. Nurses and doctors came and went. We spent another night keeping vigil over him. They told us he could wake up any time and that there was no reason his body wouldn’t allow it. Even though they said twenty-four hours, it could take days or even weeks.
The doctors made sure to tell us that there might be memory loss since he had a closed head injury. The extreme cold had kept the swelling down. There was damage to his kidneys and liver from a piece of metal buried in his back. These shouldn’t create long-term problems for him. He now had screws in his ankle and tibia. I could see that River’s entire body had bruises. He had a sprained wrist, broken fingers, a broken fibula, five cracked ribs, and a broken collarbone. He would have tons of rehabilitation and physical therapy, but theythought he would be okay. He was lucky Charlie found him when he did.
Sarah brought Charlie and Daisy to the hospital. Dragons were all considered service animals, so we only had to show our cards and keep them harnessed. Charlie had beaten himself up, more than he already was, when he went after River. He had torn and scraped more of his belly scales, the wound on his shoulder had opened and gotten worse, and he couldn't open his wing. Sarah had taken him to the vet. They wrapped his wing against his body, stitched up his shoulder, and gave us ointments for his scales. He would heal. I just needed River to wake up so they could heal together.
Daisy got on my shoulder and wrapped her tail around my neck. I set Charlie on the bed. The bond between the two of them was evident. Charlie cautiously stepped up River’s body and curled up on the pillow beside his shoulder. He put his head across his throat and rubbed the top of his head on his chin. It brought tears to my eyes. “Please come back to us.”
His brothers all nodded their heads.
After that, we all sat there quietly. We had run out of things to say. I didn’t feel much like talking anyhow. I put my forehead on the edge of the bed, my thumb running across the skin on top of River’s warm hand.
The only people I had ever felt so strongly about were Sarah, Rodney, and Tanner. There was plenty of room in my heart for someone else, and River filled it perfectly. I felt so lucky that fate put him in my life. “You are something special, River Barallo,” I said to the floor.
I felt his fingers move. I jerked my head up. Sitting across from me, Forest looked at me like I had screamed. “I think I just felt his hand move.” I’d been holding his hand for hours; this was the first time Ifelt anything. I looked at his face and tucked a hair behind his ear. I felt his fingers move again.
“He moved.” I looked around the room. They all moved around the bed.
I leaned over and kissed his temple. “Come on, sweetheart. We are waiting for you.”
His eyelashes fluttered a little. I held my breath. Charlie sat up, rubbing against his face and neck. His eyes opened, and my heart beat out of my chest as I watched him take in the world around him.
“I’m not dead.” His voice was raspy and quiet, but they were glorious words.
“You scared the shit out of us,” Forest said from the foot of the bed.
He turned his face towards me. “Hi you.”
“Hi you.” Tears streamed down my cheeks. He was alive, talking. All signs were he was going to be okay.
I looked around the room. I needed to say something even though I hadn’t wanted to do it this way, but I learned these last few days that you should never put off telling someone how you feel because you never know if they will be here to hear it tomorrow. If I was going to say it in front of people, these were the ones I would want to witness my words.
“River?” I looked at him, hoping he could understand what I was saying.
“No, you cannot touch my abs.” He chuckled. His brothers smiled and looked embarrassed.
I was confident he was aware enough to hear what I had to say. “I should have told you this before you left for your trip. I regretted it every moment you were gone, and I will not let another moment pass without you knowing.” Tears were running down his cheeks. I took a moment and wiped them away.
“I am hopelessly, completely, overwhelmingly in love with you, River.” It was the best sentence I had ever said.
He looked at me. “I guess you’re alright.” His brothers all snorted. “Aaron, I am hopelessly, completely, and overwhelmingly in love with you too.”
I kissed him, letting my tongue tease him just a little bit. I felt complete, knowing we had so much life to live together.
Chapter forty-five
Epilogue - River
Forty-nine weeks later
The vines in the vineyard were heavy with grapes. They were beautiful to see. About three hundred people enjoyed dinner from Delizioso. We told them we wouldn’t need a sit-down meal, but arguing with Mama was useless.
