Page 118 of Somewhere We Belong

“Thank you for staying with her,” I said, hugging Iris. “I’m a little upset that you left without me, but thank you for going out to find them.”

“She’s like my little niece.” Iris hugged her.

“I’ve always wanted tios and tias,” Sol said, hugging her back.

“Aunts and uncles.” I translated for Iris.

She smiled, kissing Sol’s head. I turned away to keep my hazy eyes hidden, I always wanted her to have a family too.

“How are Theo and Atlas?” I asked, peeking around the curtain to see if I saw either of them.

“Theo is across the hall,” Iris said.

I wanted to head over there immediately, but leaving Sol felt wrong.

“Mama, go see how they are doing,” she said, laying back on the bed.

“It’s ok, I’m?—”

“Go. Tell me they are ok,” she murmured.

“I got her,” Iris whispered.

“Ok, I’ll be right back,” I said, walking across the hallway quickly, feeling like I was going to get in trouble.

The nurses were a little distracted and, thankfully, nobody paid attention to me.

“Theo,” I whispered, not wanting to look around the curtain in case it wasn’t his room.

“Nova?”

As soon as I heard his voice, I slipped through the curtain seeing him standing like he was pacing the room. I looked him up and down, but he looked good, just dirty and tired.

“Darlin’,” he said and I almost cried again.

He pulled me against him, and I was helpless in keeping my tears at bay.

“I thought we had lost you,” I cried. “I thought…”

“We are fine,” he said, taking a deep breath. “We got very lucky.”

“Thank you for keeping Sol safe.” I held on tighter.

“Atlas saved her,” he mumbled against my hair. “I froze and he pushed us into gear. He tried to help the others, but they just scattered. He pushed me forward while he tried to help one of the dads and that’s the last I saw of him. Sol and I got buried, but it was only maybe two feet. I was able to dig us out, but I was exhausted.”

Theo took another deep breath like he was getting ready to keep talking.

“You don’t have to do this now,” I said, leaning back to look at him. “You’re here, you're safe and?—”

“I got us out, but we were disoriented. Sol was crying and my only worry at the moment was getting Sol to calm down,” he shuddered as he started tapping his fingers. “It was getting dark by the time I found Atlas and I couldn’t leave him. I’m sorry I didn’t bring her back.”

“You did what you thought was best,” I said, wanting to kiss him.

“Is Atlas ok?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but I can go see if I can get some information,” I said, standing on my tippy toes to kiss him softly.

“Don’t leave yet, I… Don’t leave me yet,” he stuttered as he continued to tapped his fingers.

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