Page 23 of Forbidden Dark Vows

“Mom, I told you?—”

“Now, Ruby!”

“Mrs. Jackson, ma’am.” I try to sit up, and Ronnie rushes over to help me, one arm supporting my shoulders and hauling me higher up onto the pillows. “It wasn’t Ruby’s fault. She had no choice with the snow?—”

“I don’t want to hear another word from you.” Mrs. Jackson narrows her eyes and jabs a finger in my direction. “If I find out that either of you two have touched my daughter?—”

“Mom!” Ruby grabs her coat from the back of the seat, and marches towards the door. “Let’s go.”

“Ruby, will you be back?” I hear the pleading in my own voice and pray that Mrs. Jackson is too irate to notice.

“Not if I can help it.” I sense her mom’s eyes linger on me a beat too long, like she’s trying to figure out exactly what has been going on while the three of us have been holed up in a hospital room.

Then she follows Ruby outside to the corridor and closes the door behind her.

Ronnie and I both stare at the door as if waiting for Ruby to come back and tell us that she has changed her mind. She doesn’t.

The silence is tangible, taut, and Ronnie breaks it first. “What happened last night?”

I slump back against the pillows and swallow hard. Did he hear us? Was he awake the whole time and only pretending to be asleep? “What do you mean?” I choose the innocent route.

“This is me you’re talking to, H. You can’t fool me. I saw the way you two were looking at each other this morning.”

I suck in a deep breath and puff up my cheeks, releasing the air slowly. “Nothing happened. It almost did,” I quickly add, “but it wouldn’t have been right. Not here. Not like this.”

“Thank fuck for that.” Ronnie scratches behind his left ear and scrunches up his face. “I love you, man, but I don’t want to be around when you screw the missus.”

“The missus?” I can’t help grinning at him, partly with relief that he didn’t see anything in the night, and partly to distract myself from Ruby’s absence.

“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind now that you’ve met the mother-in-law.”

“It’ll take more than an angry mom to keep me away from Ruby.” I get the impression that Mrs. Jackson is used to getting her own way, but Ruby knows her own mind, and won’t let anyone stand in the way of what she wants. I hope.

“So, what are we going to do about it?”

“We’re going to show her that I’m serious. That I meant every word I said.”

Ronnie grins at me. “I like her, even if she did accuse me of cheating at cards.”

“You always cheat at cards.”

“Shh.” Ronnie raises a finger to his lips. “Don’t give all my secrets away.”

With Ronnie’s help,I send a van load of flowers to the library where Ruby works. I know where she lives—I dropped her home in the taxi after the birthday party—but I don’t want her mom toget in her two cents’ worth of negativity. I understand that she was concerned about Ruby’s safety during the blizzard, but I’m still reeling from her reaction to me and Ronnie.

I mean, is there a safer place to be holed up than a hospital?

I don’t know what I expect Ruby to do when she receives the flowers, but I’m disappointed when she doesn’t even call the hospital to say thank you.

The following day, I request that the local radio station plays ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Kate Bush and dedicate the song to Ruby Jackson.

And nothing.

“Maybe she didn’t hear it,” Ronnie suggests. He’s playing Solitaire, alone, the cards spread across the mobile table in my room. “It was a long shot.”

He’s right. The thump-thump of the headache that has been my constant companion since the accident has ebbed away, and although my eyes are still heavy, and I’m sleeping twelve hours a day, when it comes to Ruby, I’ve never been able to think more clearly.

“What about theater tickets?” Ronnie peers up from the card game. He doesn’t seem in any hurry to go back to New York, and for that I’m grateful.

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