He steps back behind the curtain and out the door. I slide off the table, plant my feet on solid ground, and attempt to get my bearings. I feel this subtle vibration deep in my core. I know this feeling. I’m coming down off the adrenaline. There is a weakness to my legs, but I refuse to show it on the outside. Nora needs me. By her side is where I need to be.
“Am I free to go now?” I ask one of the nurses in the room.
“We just need you to sign some papers then you may go,” she tells me, tapping on a clipboard that’s been placed on the small counter.
“I don’t need you to go over them with me. Just give me the pen and I’ll sign them.” I make quick work of each form then fold up the copy she gives me and I stuff it in my pocket. “Which room is Nora Morgan in?”
“I can’t give you that information,” she says.
“Yes, you can. She’s the most important person in my life. I need to know that she’s all right. Don’t make me find her the hard way, the messy way.” I stand tall, but I’m woozy and I’m starting to shake. Everything that has happened in the last few hours is starting to process in my head and it’s overwhelming.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Sloane. I’m not at liberty to say.”
“You won’t say. You never do.” I brush past her, flinging the hospital room door open to the wall. The dim lights of the room give way to the spotlight feeling of the hallway. There is chaos everywhere. Chaos. The beep of the door. The screams of my Petal. The sound of bodies hitting the floor. The shattering of glass.
I look down and can see the visible shake of my hands. No matter how I try to will it away, it won’t stop. I feel something hit the web of my thumb and lodge inside the new contraption around my hand. I wipe across it with my other index finger and a piece of bloody glass falls to the floor.
Time is frozen. I’m frozen. My heart is pounding into my ears while my thoughts whirl against each beat. A soft hand gently lays across my tender wrist. It’s not one I immediately recognize, especially given my mental state. When I look up, the hand in question belongs to Maria Chase. “Tristan? Are you all right?”
“I…I don’t have an answer.”
I can feel her eyes give me the once-over as only a mother can. Even with her being more my contemporary, her genuine warmth is something I truly need.
“You’re like a block of ice. Why don’t we take a moment and sit down? Not long, just enough to breathe.”
I nod my head in silent compliance. To her credit, she makes our postures look like I’m comforting her rather than the other way around. There are two chairs in an alcove just away from the nurses’ station. She sits first then aids me without prying eyes.
“Just get your bearings for a minute. How are your physical injuries?”
I fill her in on what the doctors have told me, “Broken fingers and a hairline fracture in my wrist, and a couple of bumps, bruises, and cuts. Otherwise, I’m all right in that regard.”
“You’re lucky. It makes me sick to think of how this could have ended.” She pats my leg gently. “Martin and I will never be able to thank you for protecting our Nora.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I don’t want thanks. I just want Nora to continue breathing and to live the beautiful life that she deserves.”
“We’ve never seen her happier, you know? The way she was with you at our home was brand new for us. She was smiling and happy when she’d look at you, and you with her. You really love her, don’t you?” she asks.
“Yes, Maria, I really love her.”
“Would it help you to see Nora? I will take you to her.”
“These idiots wouldn’t tell me where she is.”
“Well, these idiots tended to you, Lucas, and Nora. They have my respect.”
She reaches up and gently touches my cheek. “I’ll take you to her, but I don’t know if they are finished with her exam.”
“I just need to be near her, even if I can’t go in the room yet. Please, just take me to her.”
“Your color is better and your breathing has slowed. Are you ready now?” With a simple nod, she rises first just in case I would need her assistance. “You’re as stubborn as you are handsome.” Her words knock the air out of me again. She can sense it immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“My sister would say those exact words to me, only they’d usually be followed with an expletive or two.”
“She sounds like an intuitive woman who loved you very much.”
“And I her.”
We walk together slowly down the hallway toward where I can see Martin pacing outside a closed door. He’s on the phone talking more harshly than I’ve ever heard him speak. When I was walking with Maria at my side, it gave me another person to focus on. As she splits from my side, the heaviness to the world returns. I rest the right side of my body against the wall and massage across my forehead with my injured fingers.
“Tristan!” I hear a familiar voice shout from down the hall and I look up to see Adrianna scurrying toward me faster than I’ve ever seen her move. “Oh my God, you’re okay.” She reaches out to touch me when she makes it near enough, but she stops herself. “I don’t want to hurt you. Look at you.” Her eyes are red. I think she’s been crying. I’ve only seen her cry a handful of times ever.
“I’m all right,” I tell her even though I think I'm mostly all right. I’ll be better when I’m able to see Nora’s face.
“What were you thinking? You went in there without knowing what was happening? Tristan…”
“Adrianna,” I cut her off, “I have so much to fill you in on, and I will, but right now, I need to go in that room and make sure that my life is safe.”
“Give me one minute, just one.” Anna slowly pulls me into an embrace. She’s not often demonstrative with me, so it’s shocking, but also not at the same time. Her sometimes rough exterior is nowhere to be seen and she’s holding me as if I were her own son. I allow myself to melt into her as I once did as a younger version of myself. I finally take a full breath and hold on. “You scared the shit out of me and I won’t ever forgive you.”
“I know,” I tell her quietly… “I love you too, Anna.”
***
Ten minutes later, I’m finally let into the room where they’ve been taking care of my Petal. Her nurse is just finishing entering what I hear are infinite strokes of the keyboard. Notes of her injuries. I allow the door to close gently. The lights have been dimmed, likely per her request, because she said that her head was hurting before. I can only see her form curled onto the bed. She’s wearing a blue sling on her right arm and her hair is pulled back so I can see a bandage on her temple.
And on the table beside her is a large, black camera and that alone makes me sick. That’s proof that they were taking pictures of the damage he inflicted upon her. The nurse turns and smiles before she leaves the room. My Petal is damaged, defeated, and much more delicate than I’ve ever seen her.
Just as I’m about to say her name, my beautiful girl slowly rotates her pained head to look at me. “Tristan,” she whispers.