Page 73 of Vanishing Point
Well, except for the part where she told him Vi was getting cleared to be discharged.
“She was injured.” He could see it all too clearly. The bruises on her face, her neck. And God knew what else that monster had done to her. She might have said no sorrys, but he didn’t know how he wasn’t supposed to feel responsible for that.
“Yes, and they’ve checked her out,” Laurel said evenly. “She can go home and recover there. With her daughter and lots of help and love and attention from her cousins.”
That’s not her home anymore. But Thomas didn’t know what… She’d said no sorrys, but how could some of this not be his own damn fault?
“Dianne Kay was dead on arrival,” Laurel continued while the nurses prepped him for surgery. Apparently the doctor thought the bullet had fractured a bone. “Eric Carter is still in surgery. He might live. He might not. If he does, he’ll go away for the rest of his life. He can’t weasel his way out of this one, even if the whole state of Virginia vouched for him. Now, I need you to be a good boy and get your surgery. Maybe I’ll bring you a present if you don’t cry.”
He glared at her, but also knew she was just trying to lighten the tension banded inside of him.
“They’re not going to let her in to see you before you go, so just… Stop being a jerk and let the medical professionals do their job. When you wake up, you’ll be able to see her.”
If she wanted to see him. But that at least was up to Vi. He sighed. “Fine,” he muttered.
And he did as he was told. So much so that the last thing he really remembered was Laurel telling him to stop being a jerk. When he woke up, he was groggy, not really sure what had happened.
It took a while to really come to, to remember, to hear what the voices in his room were saying.
“Tata!” He managed to get his eyes opened, focused. Vi was standing there, Magnolia on her hip. They both looked clean and bright and perfect.
Thomas tried to say something, but he realized it only came out garbled when Vi frowned and inched closer.
“I’m awake,” he finally managed to say firmly. “Just a little groggy.” He looked at his arm, all bandaged up. Desk duty for him for a while.Ugh.
Then he looked at Vi, and thought, well, maybe he’d just take some medical leave and soak her up.
If she even wants to be there.
“I wasn’t sure if I should bring her,” Vi said, her voice a little shaky. “I thought the hospital stuff might freak her out, but the hardest part has been keeping her from climbing into bed with you.”
“Tata!”
If he wasn’t so out of it, he might have cried. He tried to reach his arm out for Magnolia, but it didn’t quite work that way yet. “Heya, sweets. You’re both a sight for sore eyes.”
Vi smiled at that, but her eyes were full of tears. She cleared her throat and looked around, then tugged a chair over to his bedside. She sat, putting Mags in her lap and letting her lean forward and slap at the side of the hospital bed.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
She reached out, touched his temple. “You saved me.”
“You did a lot of saving yourself, Vi.”
She nodded, blinking back those tears in her eyes. “I did. I’m proud of myself for that.”
“You should be. I am.”
She sniffled a little, one tear falling over. “I’m sorry you got hurt. I—”
“I thought we weren’t doing sorrys.”
She heaved out a sigh. “We’re both going to really suck at that.”
“So hard.”
She laughed, and the sound was a balm for everything. Just everything. She was alive, okay, here. Mags was here. Everything… It would just be all right now. Before his surgery he’d been running on pent-up anger and terror, but now he was just…relieved. Just relieved.
So he watched her as she sat there and let Magnolia play with the hospital bed, and he tried to let that relief really sink in. But it had been so close. And she’d been so brave. And if they hadn’t…
