Page 17 of Forbidden Dark Vows

“I made the news?”

“Two eligible bachelors involved in a car wreck.” She keeps her tone light-hearted. Doesn’t mention Alessandro.

I try to see what’s going on inside her head, but I already know. My friend didn’t make it. My heart starts racing, the tears hot and stinging.

“You never told me you were—” Her expression crumples as the monitor starts beeping erratically. “Harry?” She’s on her feet. “Harry, what’s wrong? Do I need to fetch the nurse?”

She doesn’t wait around. I hear the door shush open softly, hear Ruby calling out, “Nurse, we need help in here!” Footsteps and voices, and then everything goes black.

“Canyou at least give me some warning before you do that again?”

I don’t know how long I’ve been out, but Ruby is still here when I regain consciousness. My head feels like it has been cleaved in two, and my entire body is trembling. I don’t ask what happened, and Ruby doesn’t tell me.

“Sorry.” It comes out as a rasp.

She holds the cup of water to my lips and waits for me to swallow before putting it back on the bedside cabinet. “Do you always apologize for things that are not your fault?”

“Bad habit, I know.”

“My dad did that when he first got sick. He would follow me around the room with his eyes and keep saying ‘sorry’ for needing my help. Like I should be off doing other things, you know.”

I do know, but I want to listen to Ruby talking about what makes her happy so that I can forget I’m lying in a hospital bed and my best friend is dead.

“What would you be doing right now? If you weren’t here trying to make me feel better.”

She gives me a mischievous grin, and I can’t help thinking that I want to spend the rest of my life making her smile this way.

“Firstly, I need to make it quite clear that I can’t take any credit for keeping you alive. And secondly…” She hesitates. “I’d be watching the news report for updates on your ‘critical but stable’ condition.”

“Thank God it’s not unstable.”

I try to prop myself up, and she rushes over, sliding an arm behind my shoulders and plumping the pillows with her free hand. I breathe in the honey smell of her shampoo and settle back again, praying that I never forget that scent.

“You’ll be back out there doing whatever it is eligible bachelors do in no time.” Her eyes meet mine and then she looks away. “Do you dance, Harry?”

“Badly. My feet never quite seem to do what my brain is telling them to do. I’ll never be John Travolta.”

“Goddammit!” Ruby grins at me. “I thought I could see you in a white three-piece.”

She tugs her hands inside the sleeves of her sweater as if she’s cold and checks out the window. The sky behind the glass is black. The nighttime hush has settled over the hospital, and the lights have been dimmed, but even so, the world still feels as if it has been packed out with cotton wool.

“My dad trained in ballroom dancing when he was younger,” she says. “He used to compete professionally until he went to college, then I guess, other things took over. It makes me sad that I’ll never get to see him dance.”

“Did he teach you before… Before his stroke?”

She nods her head. “He would always waltz around the kitchen with me when his favorite tunes came on the radio. He made it look so easy. So effortless.”

“Does your mom dance?”

Her mouth twists to one side, and she sucks in a deep breath. “Not in the house.”

I guess she must feel bad about dancing in front of Ruby’s dad when it was such a huge part of his early life, but before I can say anything, the door opens, and the nurse comes in to record my vital signs.

“You’re still here,” she says to Ruby while taking my temperature and checking my pulse. “I thought you’d gone home while you still could.” Pause. “You haven’t looked out the window in a while, huh?”

Ruby gets up, crosses the room and peers outside, her hands cupped around her face.

“I’ll fetch you a couple of blankets,” the nurse says. “They’ve closed the roads in and out of the city. I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere in a hurry.”

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