She handed his small, lifeless body to me, and my hands shook while I held him. Chest heaving, I climbed out of the hole and carried him to the paramedic’s gurney.
Parker was at my side a moment later, clutching Nox’s hand and crying, while the paramedic got to work. We’d worked together for years, and if anyone was working on my kid, I was glad it was Laura. Ruthless and methodical, she was completely dedicated to her job.
I watched as she attached leads to Nox’s chest and felt for a pulse, all without blinking an eye at his age or the size of his body.
Silence.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
I counted in my head, hoping that my heart didn’t stop while we waited for her to say something. Anything. The entire time, Parker squeezed my hand so tightly that I heard the bones crack.
“I’ve got a pulse.”
Parker sobbed, dropping to her knees next to the gurney. Her cries were the cue that everyone else needed. Behind us I heard gasps and clapping, shouting and whispering. People celebrating the fact that Nox was alive.
“He’s alive.” I picked Parker up and took her into my arms. “He’s alive, Parker. Nothing else matters.”
She nodded, her eyes never leaving Nox, and together we climbed into the ambulance with him.
“Bring Daisy,” I barked behind me. I didn’t care who did it. I wasn’t leaving Nox or Parker.
I didn’t give two shits that there was only supposed to be one other person in the back of that ambulance, something Laura must have recognized because she didn’t say a single word about it.
I thought the drive to the cemetery had been the longest in my life. But watching Nox, with his eyes closed and his heart barely beating, shaved twenty years off my life in the two-minute drive to the hospital.
The doctor and nurses forced us to stay in the waiting room while they took Nox back for evaluation.
“I’m his mother!” Parker cried out when they wheeled him away.
“Parker,” Laura said her name gently. “That’s the way it has to be. They can’t work on him while explaining everything to you at the same time. Let them help him.”
Parker collapsed into my arms, and all we could do was sit and wait for an answer.
“I called Nox my kid,” I told her quietly as the minutes slowly turned into an hour without an update.
Our families started to filter in, with my mom and Rose keeping everyone else at bay, giving us the distance we needed.
“My family’s spent too much time in a hospital.” Her voice broke on family. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Remy. I know you’ve lost Cassie, and with everything that happened to Casper, because of Joel. Why does Birch have so many crazy people?”
I chuckled, unable to stop myself. “Something in the water, I bet.”
Parker snorted, her eyes never leaving the waiting room doors.
“We should buy stock in the hospital.” She squeezed my hand again.
Her change of subject, from Nox and me to the hospital, sent a chill down my spine. For a moment, I panicked, worried that she didn’t want her son to have a bond with me. She couldn’t still be thinking of leaving me, could she? Then I snapped out of it. We’d literally been through hell in the last twenty-four hours, and Parker deserved more than my doubt.
“Did you hear what I said about Nox? About thinking of him like he’s mine?”
Parker sniffled, nodding her head against my chest. “I heard you. I just don’t see why it’s a big deal. He’s yours, has been for a while. The way he mimics you, matching your clothes, eating the same food, and following you around… That’s something he’s never done with anyone else in his life. He loves you, Remy. I love you.”
Parker left me speechless, which was probably a good thing since the doors swung open and Susan marched into the room, furious.
“Parker,” she snapped.
We were up and crossing the floor to her immediately.
“Did someone shoot the bastard that hurt Nox?” The bloodthirsty growl that came from the usually mild-mannered physician caught me completely off guard.
“No,” Parker answered. “Is he going to be okay?”
Susan’s face changed, and the smile she gave was comforting and motherly at the same time.
“Yes. Yes, he’s going to be fine. He was given a benzodiazepine, most likely Xanax. Thankfully, whoever did it was an idiot and didn’t give him enough to overdose him. Nox is going to sleep for a while, but it most likely saved his life. Children need less oxygen than adults do anyway, and when they sleep, they use even less.” She looked at the dirt and blood on our hands, from digging him out. “You did good, guys. You did real good.”
Parker sobbed, her tears returning in force. “Can we see him?”
“Yes, of course.”
I turned around to see Linc, Rose, Emma, and Robert all standing there with scared expressions on their faces. More than fear, there was real, unbridled dread written clearly in the harsh lines of their eyes, and the pull at the corners of their lips.
“He’s alive,” I told them a little louder than I needed to. “He’s going to be okay.”
Rose clutched her husband’s arm, and then Mom was there on her other side. Kennedy and Casper appeared at Linc and Emma’s sides, and they moved away.
“Linc.” My voice broke on his name. “Can you go to the house to get us and Nox some clothes, please? I don’t think we’re going to leave for a while.”
He nodded, and then Kennedy grabbed his arm. She led him away with the strangest expression on his face that I’d ever seen.
“He’s in for it,” I muttered. “I don’t know what’s going on there, but I think shit’s about to hit the fan.”
When we were sitting in Nox’s hospital room, freshly cleaned up in the attached bathroom, I watched them both. Parker didn’t take her eyes off Nox, and I couldn’t blame her. Together we watched him sleep, monitors reassuring both of us that he was breathing and alive. There, safe, I finally felt a little bit of peace. Just a sliver, barely enough to keep the panic at bay, but it was there all the same.
“Mom? Remy?” Nox’s sleepy voice was the only thing that could make it better.
We were at his side immediately. “There was a crazy lady. She took my medal. Did you get my medal?”
“I got it, buddy.” I took Danny’s Purple Heart from my pocket and handed it to him, laying it in his palm when he couldn’t quite lift his hand to take it.
“I poked her with it.” He yawned. “See you in the morning.”
He closed his eyes again and the last weight on my chest was gone, just like that. While I watched him sleep, I fiddled with the faded bracelet on my wrist. The one Parker gave me as a kid, that I’d given her back so she’d know that I lied, and the one that I truly thought brought us back together. I looked down at Parker’s wrist to see that she was wearing hers, too.
Parker looked up at me with shining eyes. For a moment I thought she was sad, but not my girl. No. She smiled, and the entire world shifted on its axis.
“Thank you, Remy. For saving him.”
I shook my head and shrugged slightly, kissing her forehead.
“I love you. It might have taken us forever to get here, but we’re here now. You should know, you make me go balls to the wall, Parker Jane. It’s all or nothing with you, it has to be, and I’m all in. I’ll destroy anything that tries to take you and Nox away.”