Page 184 of The Otherworld

His gray eyes soften with the faintest smile. “My dear girl…”

Tears blur my vision as I squeeze his hand. It feels like my whole world is right here, wrapped up in his touch. He is my world, and I almost lost him. It’s funny how a moment of blind panic can help you to see more clearly than ever before.

How foolish and selfish I’ve been.

Too concerned with my own desires and feelings to consider how much suffering I caused Papa. He had been nursing a broken heart all these years, keeping his quiet grief hidden from me, because he could never share his sorrow without adding to mine. If only I had been more understanding, more compassionate. If only I hadn’t left him to go to the Otherworld…

If only I hadn’t broken his heart all over again.

“Oh, Papa, I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry.”

As I stand there holding my father’s hand, I realize I would trade a hundred years in the Otherworld for just one more day with him.

58

Omnia Vincit Amor

ADAM

“How’s your dad?” I ask when Orca returns to the waiting room, her eyes red from crying.

“He’s stable. They think he’s going to be just fine. It was a mild heart attack, not as bad as it could have been. They want him to stay here for a few days, just to be sure.”

“That makes sense,” I say with a nod. “You can stay at our house.”

“I appreciate the offer, but tonight I want to stay close to Papa. I can sleep in the waiting room, I’m sure.”

“Well, then, I’ll stay with you.”

She looks down at the floor. “Please don’t.”

“I want to.” I slide my arms around her waist and lean down to kiss the top of her head. “I love you.”

She pushes me back, fresh tears glazing her eyes. “I mean it, Adam. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

“What are you talking about?”

Orca crosses her arms over her chest, avoiding eye contact. “We can’t be together. Not now.”

“Of course we can—”

“No. We can’t. I’ve already caused Papa so much stress and grief. I don’t want to make him face any more changes. He needs to recover. And he’s going to need my help now more than ever.”

“Well, I could help you.”

Orca shakes her head. “It’s sweet of you to offer, Adam. But you have your own work. Besides, this is something I have to do. To make up for…” She doesn’t finish that sentence, but I can see the shadow of guilt creeping onto her face.

“Don’t blame yourself, Orca. What’s done is done. You can’t go back and change the past.”

“I wish I could,” she confesses, swiping a fallen tear off her face. “I would do everything differently.”

“Everything?”

She looks up, meeting my gaze—and our love has never felt more fragile than it does at this moment. Like everything we’ve built together is dripping with gasoline, and here she is, standing before me with a lit match between her fingers.

“Just this morning, I was dreaming about our future together,” Orca says, her voice a thready whisper. “And everything seemed so vivid, so possible, so perfectly planned out in my mind. Now, it’s like a fog has rolled in, and I can’t even see what tomorrow will look like.”

I take a step closer, laying my hands on her shoulders. “You’ve been through a lot today, Orca. It’s perfectly natural to feel scared about the future. But you don’t have to worry. Because no matter what, I will be there for you.”

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