Page 82 of Late Nights & Love Lines
Her puzzled expression searches my face. “Yes, sir. Are you okay?”
“Do you know their names?” I refuse to let hope in.
“No, I’m sorry. There are three women and one, excuse me for saying this, but one very rude man.”
Despite my situation, I chuckle. That has to be Beck.
“Are you sure Miles will be asleep for a little longer?”
Her kind eyes crinkle as though they’re used to smiling. “Yes, he’ll probably sleep through the night.”
“Oh. Okay, maybe I’ll give them a quick update before I settle in with Miles.”
“That’s fine, a nurse is still with him monitoring his vitals. Come to the nurse’s station when you’re ready, and I’ll take you through to your son.”
“Thank you.”
My heart hammers in my ears as loudly as the incessant beeping that happens in every hospital. I’m warring with somany emotions, but I keep reminding myself that Miles is safe. He’s safe because Rowan sprang into action as soon as she saw him.
Why didn’t she come?
I enter the main waiting room and peer around a couple of privacy screens before I find them—Rowan sits against the back wall. The moment she sees me, she hiccups on a heavy breath as though she’s trying to swallow her emotions. Tabby and Stella flank her, and Beck paces the room, cursing about all the donations he’s made to this hospital and how that should entitle him to at least an update.
She’s here.
The fear of the last hour morphs into relief and gratitude for these people. Rowan looks as though she’s been in a trainwreck though, so I go straight to her.
The second I move in her direction, she leaps from her chair, and everything in her lap tumbles to the floor.
“Th—they w—wouldn’t let me in,” she sobs, and the first tear seems to open the floodgates of her emotions as though I’m her safe space. “I’m n—not family.”
I was right. She’s been trying to hold in her tears.
“They wouldn’t even give us a goddamn update,” Beck grouses.
“Shh,” I say, pulling Rowan tighter against my chest. She fights me because that’s what she does, but after a few choked sobs, she begins to calm down. “He’s okay,” I whisper. “He’s okay.”
Beck is hovering close by, so he hears and relays the message to Tabby and Stella, who both break into tears.
I’ve never seen Rowan cry this way, and it guts me, but it’s the way she’s clawing at me as if she can’t decide if she wants to pull me closer or climb over me to get to Miles that fills me with love.
“She needs this,” Beck whispers. “She’s been holding everything in, not allowing comfort from any of us even though we knew she was terrified.”
I don’t know if Rowan hears him, but I nod in thanks, then tell them what the doctor told me, and the wave of instant relief I felt hearing the same words registers on their faces.
“I’ll call your grandfather and Leo to give them an update,” Beck says, though his voice is suspiciously rough.
“Thank you,” I say. Rowan still clings to me, though her body has lost most of its tension.
“They wouldn’t let me in,” she mumbles into my chest.
“I know.” I run my hand down her back with the same soothing motions she’d used on Miles hours earlier.
“I tried. I tried to get in.”
“I know,” I repeat.
“Rowan?” Stella asks gently. “Why don’t we give you a ride home, okay?”
