“She has to wake up, Rory. She has to. I need her to wake up.” I know I’m being irrational. The doctors have assured me that they are keeping her asleep with sedation. However, I still have this deep-rooted fear that she might not wake up. What if decreasing the medicine doesn’t work? What if I never get to look into her eyes and tell her I love her?
My dad steps forward and places his hands on my shoulders. “You fight for her, Conrad Riggins. Do you hear me? You fight for her. You hold onto the magic that is your love for her, and you fucking fight.” Dad’s voice is stern, but there is an underlying sadness to his words. “She needs you to be strong. She needs you to be her strength in all of this.”
Wiping at my eyes, I nod. “They’re uh, they’re putting her in a room. Third floor, room 3098. The nurse said there’s a waiting room just across the hall.”
“Come on, let’s get up there so when she’s settled, we can all take our turn going in to see her,” Mom instructs.
That’s when it hits me. I turn to look at Aurora. “Your parents?”
“They’re on their way,” Grant answers for his wife.
“Good.” With that, I turn and make my way to the elevator. I don’t bother looking to see if my family is behind me. I know they are. Just like they always have been and always will be. She has the Riggins clan in her corner, her sister, and her parents. We are her family, and we will fight for her. Fight with her, to see her through this. There is no other option.
Chapter 30
Aspen
I can hear Conrad, but I can’t see him. I feel the press of his lips to my forehead and his whispered words of love, but I can’t see his face. I want to see him, but my eyelids feel heavy, and I’m just too sleepy to try any harder. I need to tell him I love him too. I need him to know I’m done running. I’m done fighting our love. I just want to wake up and be in his arms. I want to tell him I’ll move in with him. I want to tell him he’s my magic. I need to tell him he made me a believer.
I just want to open my eyes.
I need to tell him.
I’m fighting, Conrad.
I love you too.
Chapter 31
Conrad
Five hours. That’s how long I’ve been sitting in this chair, praying that when they bring her out of sedation she comes back to me. I’m terrified the doctors are wrong, and I’ll never get to see her open her eyes again. I refuse to leave her side. I can’t. What if she wakes up and I’m not here? The doctor said it would take a little while for the sedation to wear off once it’s been stopped. Our limit is two at a time, but we’ve been pushing that to three. I refuse to leave, and her parents, mine, as well as my brothers and their wives, have all taken turns coming to see her. Marshall is sitting with me now; I can feel his stare, but I don’t take my eyes off Aspen.
“You really believe in the magic?” he asks.
“I didn’t use to,” I confess.
“How did you know?”
“Know she was my magic? Know that I loved her? What are we talking here, Marshall?” I ask, turning to look at him.
He shrugs. “All of it.”
“You meet someone?”
“Nah, but I’m the last holdout, and it seems as though I’m the one missing out.”
I nod. “You are.”
“One woman for the rest of your life,” he says.
“The right woman. It makes all the difference. I wish I could explain it to you. It’s as if nothing is bright unless I can share it with her. She’s the first thing I think about when I open my eyes and the last before I close them at night. Hanging with her watching television is more fun than any night out at a club.” I shake my head, smiling. My eyes go back to Aspen. “My heart isn’t my own anymore. She has her hands around it, and I hope she never lets go.”
“Damn,” he mutters.
“One day, Marshall, you’re going to find a woman who will bring you to your knees, and then you’ll understand. It’s not something I can explain to you. It’s something you have to feel. That you have to experience all on your own.”
“Knock, knock,” a man’s voice says. Glancing up, I see Dr. Haroldson, the doctor who took over for Dr. Black and has been taking care of her since she was admitted. He looks to Marshall and then back to me. “May I speak freely?”
“Yes, this is my brother Marshall.”
The doctor nods. “The radiologist just read her most recent X-rays, and her lungs still look good. We’re going to extubate her and start to bring her back from sedation.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means that we’re going to wake her up. Her vitals are strong, and despite the smoke, her lungs look great. She’s going to have a sore throat and possibly a cough. I have full reason to believe she will make a complete recovery.”
My shoulders relax, and I feel as though a thousand-pound weight has been lifted. She’s going to be okay. Pulling her hand to my lips, I kiss her palm. “You’re going to be okay,” I tell her. “I love you,” I say, feeling my throat get tight.
She’s going to be okay.
“Now,” Dr. Haroldson says, “I’m going to have Dr. Connor come up and do an ultrasound to check on the baby. However, with Aspen’s vitals and recovery, her lungs being clear, we have full reason to believe that your baby is safe, and she should be able to carry to full term.”
Wait.
What?
“Baby?”
“Yes, it says here that Aspen is expecting.”
“Are you sure?”
Dr. Haroldson looks up from his tablet in his hands. “I’m sorry, were you not aware?”
I shake my head—a baby. We’re having a baby. Standing, I lean over the bed and place my lips next to her ear. “Aspen, we’re having a baby. I don’t know if you knew that or not. If not, I wanted to be the one to tell you. I love you. I love you both so much.” I press a kiss to her temple.
“Right, well, I’ll send Dr. Connor up right away,” the doctor says, and then he’s gone.
“Did you hear that, Marsh?” I ask my little brother. Reaching out, I gently place my hand on Aspen’s belly. “I’m having a baby. I’m going to be a father.”
Marshall is on his feet and pulling me into a hug. “Happy for you, brother.”
“Thanks,” I say, getting choked up this time from happiness, not fear. “Listen, can you not tell the others? I don’t think she knows, and I want her to find out first. Then we can tell everyone together.” I glance down at my future wife. The mother of my child. “When she wakes up, we’ll tell them together.” No way would she have known about this and not told me. I feel that deep in my soul. She would have told me.
The last two hours have been a flurry of activity. I sent Marshall to the waiting room to give our families an update about her progress, minus the baby. I had him tell them that there were no visitors allowed while they were extubating her, other than me—they knew I refused to leave. It’s true. No way am I leaving her, but it bought me some time for the OBGYN to come in and see her and our baby.