She got no response from Emma. Not even a little squeeze of her fingers. “Did you know tomorrow’s the Fourth of July? You never miss the Fourth. The park is all decked out. The fireworks are ready to go. There’ll be a parade of bicycles. All the kids will decorate their own at the booth you started a few years ago. Crepe paper. Flags. Playing cards on their spokes. And the donuts, Em. Everyone loves them. They were your idea, too. Everyone’s asked about you. Everyone misses you. So, you really have no choice here. Can you hear me?”
Doctor Callonet stepped through the sliding glass door with Emma’s chart in her hands. She reached for Aubrey’s. “Hi, Aubrey. How’s she doing?”
“I was going to ask you that question. How is she?”
The doctor glanced at her charts for a moment. “The good news—her vitals are all good. She’s breathing well. Her oxygen is good. Her levels are all pretty much where we’d want to see them. She made it through the surgery with flying colors. We had hoped she’d be waking by now, but she’s still in a coma. We’re not sure why.”
“And if she doesn’t wake soon?”
She hung the chart at the end of the bed. “We’ll be moving her out of the ICU tonight and bringing her to a regular room. After that, she’ll be heading to a rehab facility.”
“A rehab facility? But if she’s not awake, how can she rehab?”
“Let’s not go there yet. It’s only been a few hours since we lifted the sedation. Let’s see what happens.”
Aubrey nodded because the alternative wasn’t something she could even contemplate right now.
“Your aunt has a lot going for her. She’s young, fit, and a fighter. You need to try to stay positive for the both of you.”
“Doctor, tell me the truth. You’ve seen patients go through things like this before. Do you think she’ll be okay?”
Dr. Callonet sent Aubrey a gentle smile. “I try to never second-guess the powers that be. But I always try to err on the side of hope.”
When she’d gone, Aubrey sat beside Emma again and pressed her forehead to the back of her aunt’s hand. “I’m right here. Can you feel me? Please. Hurry back.”
*
Perhaps this wasall just a dream,Emma thought as they arrived back at the hospital parking lot after a heart-thumping, breath-stealing ride back with Connor. All of this was beyond her imagining. The longer she was separated from the world she’d known, the less she found herself bound to it. For heaven’s sake, she’d just flown halfway down the coast with an angel! Perhaps this was the way it happened. The going. Little by little until the loss wasn’t so shocking or too great. Until the alternative seemed not so terrifying.
Maybe he’d agreed to humor her because he knew she was almost there. Or because she’d realized, somehow, that Aubrey would survive without her. Her niece had her own angels he’d told her, and she guessed that much was true. If nothing else, this time with Connor had taught her that she was truly in control of nothing but her own happiness, despite imagining the opposite for most of her life. It was exhausting, trying to control everything. She’d never realized just how exhausting it was. How futile.
She felt so far away from the woman lying in that bed upstairs. So disconnected. But every moment that passed with Connor brought her closer and closer to some indefinable end she knew she wasn’t prepared for. Whether she lived or whether she died, whether she woke or not, this man beside her would disappear from her life. And it made her heart ache.
How ridiculous. How perfectly ironic that at Death’s door, she’d found herself falling in love with her guardian angel—a soul mate she could never have.
After I’m finished here,he’d said to Elspeth not an hour ago about ascending to the Council, whatever that was. After he’d finished with her was what he’d meant. Finished resolving wherever she was heading. And then, they would be over.
As if they were a “they” at all. Yes, he’d kissed her on the dock and, of course, there had been that angry kiss in the hospital. But all of that, she realized, was just his process of letting her—and Violet—go. He’d said as much when he’d first met her.
And now, with his hand in hers, they walked through the parking lot—a metaphor, of sorts, for her life—still not knowing what lay ahead. Which was, she supposed, for the best. Because she wasn’t sure anymore what the right decision for herself was.
Ahead, she saw Jacob—Aubrey’s Jacob—exiting his car. She wanted to run to him, to throw her arms around him. Thank him for being there for Aubrey. She’d underestimated him. He was good for Aubrey, and she had chosen well. She wanted to tell him all of those things, but, of course, she couldn’t.
She checked her emotions, rising at the thought that she might never get the chance. She shouldn’t have been afraid to go. Not now. Now that she knew what her gran had known all along. That angels existed and she’d never be truly alone.
Connor squeezed her hand as another car pulled up near Jacob, and Aaron Pleasure got out. The midday sun cast long shadows around them.
“Hey, you’re Emma’s friend, aren’t you?” Jacob asked, reaching a hand out to him.
Aaron smiled. “I am. Aaron Pleasure. And you’re…?”
“Jacob. I’m Aubrey’s…boyfriend—for lack of a better term. I saw you here the other day, didn’t I? To see Emma?”
“Yeah. I was just coming back to check on her. They won’t tell me anything on the phone. How’s she doing?”
Jacob rubbed a hand across his mouth. “No change yet. Unfortunately. They took her off the heavy meds, but so far, she’s not waking up. They don’t really know why.”
Maybe I’m not ready to. Maybe I don’t know how any of this works.Emma flicked a look at Connor, who was watching the two men intensely.
