Page 96 of The One for Me
My brother must have fought until the end. He would never allow Austin to feel alone or scared if he could help it. I imagine my brother and Austin stuck in the crushed car, he can’t move, but he tells him how brave he is and to stay strong. Jasper would’ve said or done anything to keep Austin from losing hope.
Austin cries and then grabs at his leg.
“Are you in pain?” Sean asks.
He nods, and I push the button for the nurse. She comes quickly with pain meds after we explain what’s wrong.
“In a few seconds, this will help with the pain.” Her eyes meet ours, sympathy clear on her face.
No matter the physical pain he’s in, the emotional is much greater.
I kiss the top of Austin’s head and murmur in his ear about how strong he is and how we’re going to get through this.
He cries.
I cry.
And then, after a few more minutes, his eyes close and he drifts off.
Sean steps toward the window, his hand wiping down his face as he stares out.
“This kid will never be the same,” he says without turning to me.
“No, none of us will.”
“I lost my mother at his age, and it altered the course of my life. Everything changes when you lose a parent.Everything.”
Everything will change for us all. I move toward him, needing to touch him, to be held, to feel some sense of comfort that he gives, but before I can reach him, there’s a knock on the door.
We turn to see my parents there. “Did he wake yet?” Dad asks.
“Yes. We told him.”
Mom’s hands cover her mouth, but I can still hear her muffled cry.
“We’d like to sit with him,” Dad explains.
“Of course.”
Sean and I walk out into the hall because we know there is nothing we can do inside that room so long as Austin is sleeping. I can feel the tension rolling off him and my very affectionate boyfriend seems miles away. I know he is hurt, and he has a right to be, but I did what I needed to do in order to protect my family and now I have to do it again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sean
Do I touch her? Do I hold her hand? Does she want me near her? I ask myself a million questions as we make our way back to the waiting room. Until an hour ago, these weren’t things I wondered about. I just knew.
I knew her.
I knew us.
And now, nothing makes sense.
“I’m his biological mother.”
She can’t be his mother. It doesn’t . . . Jasper and Hazel . . .
We find an empty room and sit.
