Page 80 of Silver Sanctuary
Nash stepped back, his hand still on her leg, while Stone stepped forward. “How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
He nodded. “I think those sirens mean your chariot is almost here. Let’s have them give you a once over and see what they think. You’re going to have to take a trip to the hospital either way to be monitored for a bit.”
It seemed like she lived at the hospital lately. She held Nash’s hand, squeezing it to reassure him. “At least I’m your wife now. Lily was right, the insurance is a big perk.”
“Are you sure Seb and Emma don’t mind?”
Nash watched his wife yawn, her arms stretching over the headboard, exposing the peachy skin on her belly. What a fucking rollercoaster of a day it had been. Nash’s nerves were fried. He’d known her allergy was severe, but to witness it almost take her from him… fuck, he felt his eyes welling with tears again just at the thought of it.
“They are more than happy to spend the night here intown.” He cleared his throat, trying to rid it of any trace of emotion. The last thing she needed was to be worrying about him. “Embrie and Addie seem to really be hitting it off. Emma said they already had freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and were snuggled together in a pillow fort watching some princess movie.”
“I know, but they didn’t get to go home.”
“That apartment upstairs is for them. They stay over there all the time when we get together and they don’t want to have to drive back to Bell Ridge. I promise. We can lean on our friends and trust that they mean it when they offer to help.”
“They know to call us if anything comes up?”
“Of course they do.” He sighed. “What’s the matter?”
“I just feel bad relying on them so much. And today, when we were getting ready for the wedding, the girls mentioned wanting to go out for lunch on Saturday, but Embrie has that birthday party for her friend?—”
“Archer, right?”
“Yeah.” Lacy’s eyebrows raised up comically high.
“Why do you sound surprised that I knew that?”
“Because why would you?”
“She’s legally going to be my daughter, Lace. I already love her like she’s mine. And dads know what their daughter’s schedule is—they pay attention. When it comes to you and Embrie, I pay attention.”
“I… I don’t deserve you.”
“Yeah, you do. You deserve so much more than me. And you also deserve to go to lunch on Saturday with the girls. So text them and tell them you’ll be there. I’ll drop Embrie off at the party and pick her up when it’s done.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Lacy reached over and grabbed her phone. She cleared her throat once. And then again. His mind began to analyzeeverything. Was she looking a little gray? Were her cheeks swollen? Was she flexing her hand because it was starting to feel numb.
“Hey,” Lacy whispered. “I’m okay. I just had to clear my throat. I’m good.”
He raked his hand over his face. “This isn’t how I wanted us to spend our night.”
The phone fell to her side. “I’m so sorry.”
“No, Lace. Christ. You did nothing wrong. That fucking waiter should be arrested though.”
“We don’t know how the sesame got into my food. The waiter said he told the kitchen staff.”
“I messaged Colt. I want Rudy and the whole kitchen staff questioned, because if that waiter told them about your allergy and they did nothing to prevent sesame from being in your food, or someone purposely put it in there, it’s fucking attempted murder. And they’ll be lucky if I let Colt and the sheriff’s department handle things. If I go back there and have to handle things myself… it won’t be good, Lace.”
“I’m okay. Don’t be angry. Don’t let this ruin our day.”
“No. It’s my job to protect you, baby, and on day one, I fucking failed. But never again, Lacy. Never ever again. No one is going to so much as look at you sideways. You deserve to be respected. You deserve to be able to eat at a restaurant and trust that they won’t try to kill you! In what world would that ever be okay?”
