Cynthia still hadn’t returned.
“When can I see her?” Jack asked.
“She’ll be in recovery for a while. It was a lengthy surgery with a lot of moving parts,” Dr. Gregory said. “A nurse will come get you when Nina’s ready.” He glanced around the room, and then took Jack into the hall. He quietly told Jack the grave news about what Nina had lost, and Jack grabbed his knees, breathing hard.
Jack Grey wept.
I’d never seen him cry before, not even a lip tremble. I waited for him to come back in and lash out at me, but instead he returned to the waiting room, took one look at me and took me into his arms.
I’d thought I couldn’t cry anymore, but Jack’s gesture of forgiveness—or whatever it was—was overwhelming. He squeezed me tight, and then held me away from him. “You have my blessing, Jared, if she’ll have you.”
Jack walked away, leaving me standing in the center of the room in shock.
I looked to my dad, confused.
“Shax’s book,” my father said. “Jack was sure that the girl in the prophecy was Nina. Her lineage, you being a hybrid. He was looking for a way to stop it, or a loophole, because he knew that with your burden of your Taleh being the woman you love, it was only a matter of time before you introduced yourself. And Jack knowing his daughter, it was only a matter of time before she fell for you. We took the book to save her, son.”
“From me.” My voice cracked.
“No. From her fate,” Lillian said. “The prophecy talks about the woman’s child being The Keeper of the Balance.”
My face paled. “So Jack gave me his blessing because now he knows the woman in the prophecy can’t be Nina.”
My mother touched my arm, her expression crumbling before tears fell. I walked backward, barely able to stand upright before falling to the empty chair behind me.
Beth stood. “What happened? Is Nina okay?”
“She’s okay. She’ll be fine,” Claire said, offering her best comforting smile.
I covered my face with my hands, wishing more than anything that I could turn back time so Nina would at least have the chance at her former life. If I was less selfish, I’d have kept my feelings to myself so Jack and Gabe would never need to save her from me. She’d love someone else, have a family. Be safe, happy. I’d ruined her life before she’d ever really knew me. Who knows what loving me would do to her?
Chapter Twenty-one
Nina
Was I supposed to cry? When they told me the news, when I learned that the choice to bear children had been taken from me before I’d ever really decided if that was what I wanted… I didn’t feel anything. Confusion, maybe. Numbness. But not sad. How can you miss someone you’ve never met?
And yet, a feeling was still gnawing at me, nagging, insistent that I recognize it. But that feeling stayed just beyond my grasp.
Of course, my mind had been preoccupied with trivial things like healing. My bones were shattered, broken, and put back together with pins and rods. The inside of me was still bruised, and some things had been torn from me forever. Still, I couldn’t cry. A far away voice kept saying that it would be okay, that all the pain and my fight to sit up, stand, and walk again would be worth it.
I looked across the room at the man I’d shared the cab with. He met my eyes for only a moment before looking down at the book he scribbled in every day.
“All good?” he asked, still writing.
I looked at the white board hanging on the wall just a few feet from the foot of my bed. My nurse’s aide was Cadee Connor, CNA, my nurse was Misty Horn, RN, my vitals were good, and it was my fifty-third day on the second floor of Rhode Island Hospital. I’d woken up on day three. Jared was in the waiting room down the hall, and once I’d agreed for him to visit, he’d been there every day since.
I pushed off my palms to sit up more. “I must’ve dozed off.”
“You worked hard today.” His voice was so calming. Deep, smooth, and masculine all at the same time.
I grinned. “It was ugly, but a first step is a first step.”
“Five,” he said, looking up at me with a smile. His blue-gray eyes softened. “You took five steps. It wasn’t easy. I’m proud of you.”
I tucked my hair behind my ear and pretended to look up at the television until the blush left my face.
“So, you go home tomorrow.”
I nodded.
“I was going to ask you,” he began, “if you’re up to it, that is. I was hoping to celebrate your emancipation. Would you be interested in dinner? With me? Tonight?”
I breathed out a laugh. “I can’t… I’m sort of stuck here until tomorrow.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I might’ve made arrangements down the hall.”
I pressed my lips together, trying not to allow the ridiculous grin begging to spread across my face to break through. “Are you asking me on a date, Jared Ryel?”
He nodded. He closed one eye, already cringing at what he was about to say. “I’d be honored if you’d join me for dinner.”
I looked down. “I don’t have anything to wear.”
“Beth has offered to help in that department. She said she’d stop by to help if you said yes.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve been plotting.”
His deep laugh filled the room. “Guilty. I was thinking I’d cook? Make all your favorites?”
I crossed my arms, ashamedly entertained at how nervous he seemed to be. I remembered the first time he smuggled in non-hospital food. A bag full of amazing sweet potato fries with all these interesting sauces that I hesitated to try until he asked me to trust him with nothing but hope in those beautiful blue-gray eyes.
I’d hoped that was a date, but every day I wondered when he’d stop feeling sorry for me and return to his life.
“You don’t have to do all that, Jared. Do you honestly think I’d say no?”
His eyes lost focus for just a second before he answered. “Maybe you should.”
My heart sank. Maybe it was the goodbye dinner I’d been dreading.
“Not that I want you to,” he clarified. “I just uh … we’ve covered a lot of ground this month. We’ve had a lot of time to talk and get to know each other, and I … feel like it’s time.”
“Time?”
“For me to officially ask you on a date.”
“This will be a date?” My heart banged against my chest so loud I was sure he could hear it.
“Yes.” His eyes softened. “And to talk … more. So, what do you think?”
“Jared,” I began.
He shifted in his seat, waiting for my answer. He was undeniably beautiful, as if he’d stepped out of a Banana Republic catalog and into my life. “We’ve spent a lot of time together. You saved my life. You’ve been here every step of my recovery. We’ve no doubt bonded over the accident we were in, but…”