Page 85 of From Our First

“Don’t cry, baby. I can go.” I let out a breath in a hiss. “After I catch my breath. I’m not actually supposed to be here right now.”

“Whyareyou here? You should be hooked up to an IV or something. You were bleeding, Nate.”

I looked down at her arm, and bile rose to my throat. “You were the one bleeding, Myra. Oh, God, I thought I’d lost you.”

I reached over, careful of my stitches, thankful for the pain meds running through my body, and cupped her face. “You’re bruised.”

“I’ll heal.”

“So will I. But I’m never going to forget the sight of you on that floor.”

“Same here. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t walked through that door. I was trying to get Roland to call an ambulance, and I thought maybe he would, but he probably would have run. And I don’t think I would have had enough energy to call anyone.”

Tears fell down both of our faces then, and I leaned forward and brushed hers away. “I was there. We both were. You saved me, too, baby.”

“I think I sort of just fell into him. You would have had it.”

I let out a shaky breath. “We saved each other, how’s that?”

“I’d rather not have had any of that happen.”

That made me smile. God, I loved this woman. “Okay, I’ll take that, too.”

I wanted to hold her, but neither of us was in any shape to do that. Instead, I simply gripped her right hand and leaned against the bed as we stared at each other, both of us exhausted and too tired to even speak. A nurse would probably come in at any moment and pull me away, so I had to talk quickly.

“I love you,” I whispered. Her eyes widened, and I squeezed her right hand. “You can tell me to go away again. You can say you need more time, and I will understand that. But I want you to know that I love you. And if it’s too fast for you, then we’ll deal with that. Take it one step at a time. But like before, I shouldn’t have run away. I shouldn’t have left you alone. I’m never going to run again. I’ll go if you tell me to, but I won’t run. I will always be here if you need me. I want you in my life, Myra. Any way I can get you. I almost lost you yesterday. I almost lost the best thing in my life, the person who brings me hope, and beauty, and everything I need. And I never want that to happen.”

Tears fell again, and I brushed them away once more.

“I can’t believe I almost lost you,” she choked out, and I swallowed hard. “I was on my way to you, by the way. To tell you that I didn’t want you to leave. That I wanted to stay and work things out and find a way to make us work.”

Relief flooded me. “We can do that—you and me. We’ll go as slowly as you want. We probably should have started glacier-slow to begin with. But it’s hard for me when you’re around. You burn everything up inside me. You bring me to life.”

“And you saved mine,” she whispered. “When I was fading, I tried to say the words, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have enough energy.”

I frowned, looking down at her even though she was so exhausted. “What words?” I whispered.

“I love you, too. I always have. I love you, Nathan. Don’t go. Don’t run. And don’t let me run. Let’s just be.”

I leaned forward and kissed her softly. When I moved back, she was asleep, the pain clearly too much. I did my best to lean against her bed, trying not to hurt my stitches or her, and let my eyes close. The nurse would eventually come for me, and I would get yelled at, but it didn’t matter.

I had almost lost the woman I loved, the one I had fallen for the moment I ran into her that day on the quad when we were late for coffee. I had fallen in love with her when she stole my food, and I had done the same to her. When she let me kiss her for the first time and then be with her after. I loved her when she yelled at me, and when pain crossed her face for the stupidity I brought to her life. She was the only person outside of my family who had always been steady in my life, even if it was only a memory at times.

She was my first, my only, and now, she would be my forever.

And though I had nearly lost her again to make this happen, I hadn’t. And I would never let her go again. I knew she would never let me go either.

I had found my first. And my only.

I had found my promise.

Epilogue

Myra

“I thinkwe’re living in a zoo. Or maybe a circus,” Nate said, leaning against the back of the couch. I snuggled into him, and he kissed the top of my head.

“Perhaps. But I think I like all the noise. Who knew?”

---