Page 57 of Always Us

I kiss her head. “I’m not going to leave you. Not ever.”

We lie there quietly and eventually her shaking stops and she falls asleep. I didn’t think she’d be able to sleep, but there’s something about being in my arms that makes her sleepy. I don’t move, even though the arm that’s under her keeps going numb. I flex it a little, trying to get the circulation going again, but by the fourth time of doing this, I have to move it or I may not have an arm left. I slide it out from under her and she wakes.

“Don’t leave,” she whispers.

“I’m not leaving. I just needed to move my arm.”

She turns around and grabs hold of my shirt. “He’s still alive. He might still come after me.”

“He’s in a coma, Jade. He’s not going to recover.”

“What about the other members? I don’t believe you when you say this will end.”

“It will, Jade. It already has.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know who else is out there.”

“My grandfather was the one who was obsessed with trying to control me. Nobody else cares what I do with my life. Nobody at the organization cares. They have other things to worry about. They’re not going to waste time trying to go after me.”

“What about Lilly?”

“Lilly? What do you mean?”

“What will happen to her? Will they force her to go to whatever college they choose? Marry someone she doesn’t want to be with? Will she always be controlled by them?”

“I don’t know. I think my dad’s trying to get her out of it. I don’t ask because I know he won’t tell me anything.”

“I don’t want Harper to be part of this.”

“We can’t interfere, Jade. You know that.”

“Yes, but it makes me sad.” She lays her head on my chest and I feel her tears soaking through my shirt.

I kiss the top of her head and rub her back.

Jade was so happy last night, putting up the tree and the lights. Then Carson had to show up and destroy everything.

I have to find a way to make Jade happy again. Even just a little.

“I’ll be right back.” I move over and off the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“Just wait here.” I go in the living room and slide the tree into the bedroom, dragging all the cords with me. Then I plug it in and the twinkling lights fill the room. I put my phone in the speaker dock on the nightstand and play the Christmas music.

I get back into bed and Jade returns to her spot on my chest. I look down and see her gazing at the tree.

We stay there, watching the lights sparkle, not talking about Carson or my grandfather or any of that stuff. I’ll deal with the Carson issue later. Right now, I need to make Jade feel safe again. Then later, I need to convince her this is over so we can go back to how things were before my grandfather’s visit.

The next morning, I have class but Jade doesn’t. I offer to stay home with her but she insists I go. She seems better today than last night. Maybe now that she’s had time to think about it, she believes what I told her. That this is over. Probably not, but she does seem more relaxed.

I moved the tree back in the living room, and as I was leaving the house, I noticed Jade plugged the lights in even though bright sunshine is filtering through the blinds. She loves the tree and the lights. She doesn’t care if it’s daytime. She wants to see the sparkling lights.

On my way to campus, I check my messages. There’s one from my dad saying that my grandfather is still hanging on. I call him, but he doesn’t have time to talk, other than to say he hasn’t yet made it to the clinic to see my grandfather. But my grandmother’s there and apparently Katherine has stopped by a few times. I have no idea why, other than the fact that she’s one of the few people my grandfather actually likes. But he doesn’t even know she’s there so I don’t know why she’d bother going to see him, unless she’s trying to suck up to my grandmother.

After my morning class I go home for lunch, then take Jade with me back to campus since she has an afternoon class. I told her if she sees Carson not to talk to him and to go find security if he won’t leave her alone. But I don’t think he’ll show up again. He said what he needed to say. Now he’ll wait for some kind of response, but I’m not going to give him one. I’m going to have my dad handle this. Except I totally forgot to mention it to him when I had him on the phone. It’s probably good that I didn’t. I don’t trust that the phone line is secure. We need to discuss this in person.

It’s only one-thirty and Jade’s class is at two but mine’s not until three, so before my class I drive to the Christmas store, buy another tree and more lights, then go back home. I want Jade to feel better, and although another tree won’t change what I told her, it might put a smile on her face for just a little while.

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