Page 60 of Forbidden Dark Vows

I chuckle. It sounds way more nervous than I intended. “Always. Do you like it?”

“Hmm, I guess I could get used to it.”

Yes!I punch the air with my fist.

“Harry…”

“Ruby…” We both speak at the same time.

“Your turn.” Ruby gets in first.

“Okay. I’ve had a lead on Melanie. She might be in Washington State.”

“You must go. Call me when you get there.” Ruby ends the call before I can object.

21

RUBY

The therapist is workingwith Dad when I go back to the hospital the next morning, getting him to clench and unclench his fist. Dad’s face is screwed up in concentration like his whole life depends on him balling that hand.

I wait for the therapist to leave before I sit on the side of the bed and show him the pile of books I picked up from the library.

His lopsided smile falters. “I’m not sure … I can read them.”

Shit!My stomach churns. Why didn’t I think of that?

“My sight is … not so great in my left eye.” The eye that’s drooping. “Give it time though…”

The neurologist retained by Harry said that he can help my dad get the movement back in his left leg. “I can’t promise that we’ll get you fully mobile, but you’ll be walking with a stick. You got lucky, Mr. Jackson.”

Lucky.That word again. Depends which way you’re looking at it.

At least he’s still upbeat. It’ll take more than a stroke to keep my dad down.

“I think … my dancing days were already over.” Dad doesn’t look at me.

I’ve seen photographs of my dad competing at ballroom dancing when he was a kid. He wore smart black suits and shiny shoes, and his hair was immaculate, the perfect complement to his dance partners in their floaty gowns with their hair scraped back into severe buns. It’s a part of him that existed before I knew him, a part of him that he’ll never get back now, but strangely, whenever I’m with him, I still try to imagine him swishing his partner around a ballroom floor.

“I should learn to dance.”

It’s completely out of the blue. I never wanted to have dance lessons when I was younger—I was always the girl who wanted to be out racing my bike against the boys, climbing trees, and finding the strongest buckeyes. But now… I’ll do anything to put that glint back in my dad’s eyes.

“I could…” His mouth works hard to find the right words, and my heart breaks a little bit more when he concedes defeat.

“Teach me?”

“If I can … remember how…”

“You never forget, Dad. It’s like breathing.” I might be making this up, but I don’t care when I see hope dancing around the corners of his eyes.

We have a long way to go, endless visits to the neurologist and physio sessions to get his mobility back, but if I’ve given him an end goal, something to aim for, then I have to believe that we’ll get there.

“You know I have two left feet though, right?” I knock his elbow softly with mine.

“Never… I’ve seen you … on ice.”

“Damn! You caught me out again.”

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