Page 120 of From Best Friend to Bride
“And she’s weak already,” I finished for her. “Okay, I hear you. Where is she? Hospital?”
Both Ellie and Max flinched and looked at me.
“Uh-huh.” She was crying again, and a jolt of pain shot through me that I couldn’t be there for her right now. “Fred, what if she—”
“I’m on my way, okay? I’m going to leave within five minutes. I’ll be there in a few hours.” I headed out of the library with my friends hot on my heels.
“But you’re—”
“Don’t worry about me. I can reschedule tomorrow’s meeting. It’s only with Max, and he’s here now.” I glanced back at him, and he nodded. “Are you at the hospital with her? What about your mum?”
“Aunt Vi took Lucy and Granny home, but me and Mum are here. We’re waiting for her to be admitted.”
“Okay. Stay there. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I held the phone between my head and shoulder. “Text me her ward information when you have it.”
“O… Okay.” She sniffled. “Fred?”
“Yeah, Deli?”
“Hurry up.” Her pained whisper sent an ache through me. “I’m scared.”
And those words?
They fucking broke me.
“I know,” I said softly. “I’ll be there soon. I promise.”
25
FRED
Islammed my car door behind me and locked it as I broke out into a run towards the main entrance of the hospital. I’d made it here in record time—there was at least one speeding ticket heading my way, but the tension and worry that’d knotted itself into every fibre of my being would only be soothed at the sight of Delilah.
“Idiot!”
I heard her before I saw her, and I felt her before I saw her, too.
She barrelled into my arms, knocking me backwards. I wrapped my arms around her as I fought to steady myself against the whirlwind that was my wife, and as soon as I was on stable footing again, I held her tightly to me.
Deli pressed her face into my chest, and I cradled the back of her head, burying my face in her hair. A thousand questions whirred through my mind, but now wasn’t the time.
Right now, she just needed me.
And so, I stood there at three a.m., bathed in the dim glow of the hospital’s lights, holding my wife as she silently cried into my chest.
All that passed between us was the twitching of her fingers against my shirt and her sniffs, interrupted by the occasionalwipe of her cheeks. I adjusted my head so my chin was on top of hers, tucking her face against the curve of my neck, but my hold on her never loosened.
I would hold her for as long as she needed me to.
“You didn’t answer the phone. Why didn’t you answer the phone?” Deli’s voice was bad and tired, barely a murmur.
“I’m sorry. I was talking to Max. He only just missed your call, too. If I’d known…”
She smacked her fist into my lower back. “Always.”Punch.“Answer.”Punch. “The.”Punch.“Phone.”
“Yes, my pretty wife,” I replied, kissing the side of her head. I pulled back and laid my hands against her cheeks, twisting and turning her face so I could examine every inch of it.
“What are you doing?”
