Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 57341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
River nodded. Reaching up, he gently wiped my tears off of my cheeks. “Tristan is still madly in love with you, Adelaide,” River quietly reminded me. “He’ll pull through this, no matter how long it takes him. He hasn’t given up on the idea of you and him yet, and that may be what saves his life this time. Even if it takes him a long time, I have a pretty damn good feeling that he’ll make it through this.”
I rested my forehead against his chest. “Why are you such a good man?” He put up with so much with me. I knew he wanted me all to himself, though he would never admit it. What man didn’t? No man wanted to be with a woman knowing she could never let go of the other men in her life.
“I’m not a good man, darlin’,” River bluntly corrected me as he ran his calloused hands up and down my arms. “I just want to be decent enough for you because I love you, and I hate seeing you like this. I want you to have everything you need. That’s all.” He leaned down and brushed his lips to my forehead.
A knock sounded on the door, and River and I both looked up to see Tristan’s doctor stepping into the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s time for Tristan’s CT scan,” he told us, a silent cue for us to leave the room.
I nodded in understanding and turned around to face Tristan. I grabbed his hand in mine, squeezing gently. “Please pull through. I need you here with me, no matter how much you hurt me,” I said so quietly that I wasn’t even sure if River could hear me.
Giving Tristan’s hand one last, gentle squeeze, I walked out of the hospital room.
Chapter Twenty-One
River
Ileaned against the doorjamb of Adelaide’s old room, my eyes on her sleeping figure. Axel was passed out in the pack ‘n’ play next to the bed, and Adelaide was sprawled out under the blankets, her lips slightly parted as she softly snored, the exhaustion of the past forty-eight hours easily knocking her out into a deep sleep.
“How is she holding up?” Sam asked as he came to a stop next to me, peering into the room.
I shrugged. “By a thread, I imagine,” I answered gruffly, not drawing my eyes away from her.
“Seeing her this torn up over another man doesn’t bother you, River?” Sam bluntly asked me.
I clenched my jaw. “Of course, it fucking bothers me, Sam,” I growled, keeping my voice down so I wouldn’t disturb Adelaide or Axel. “But at the end of the day, I know who Adelaide will choose. She’s known Tristan most of her life, so even if she had never been romantically involved with him, this shit would still tear her up inside.” I shrugged, my eyes still never leaving her. “Besides, she knows the pain of losing someone. She lost her best friend, Tristan’s twin, to cancer, and about a year and a half ago, she thought that she had lost Joey, too. Not to mention the fact that she found out she was pregnant with his kid right after that, too.”
“Holy fuck,” Sam breathed, staring at Adelaide in an entirely different light. “Where’s that kid now?”
I grunted. “She miscarried it,” I said quietly. That night flashed in my mind. There had been so much blood, both from her stomach and from between her legs. A chill raced down my spine as I remembered how bloody she’d been. Adelaide would never know it, but that night, I had been absolutely terrified that she wasn’t going to make it.
Adelaide whimpered in her sleep, her eyebrows pulling together. I instantly walked toward the bed as she whimpered, “No”, her hands closing into fists on the bed beside her head. I pulled her into my arms, gently coaxing her awake from her nightmare.
When her eyes finally opened and she stared up at me, tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. Turning her head, she buried her face against my chest. I cradled the back of her head, my other arm wrapping tightly around her body.
I fucking hated that she was going through this shit.
“I’m here, darlin’,” I soothed. “I’m always here.”
A broad-shouldered figure appeared in the doorway, blocking the light from the hall. I looked up, arching an eyebrow at Jesup.
“River, the hospital just called. Tristan is fucking awake,” Jesup rushed out, making both Adelaide and I jerk our heads up to look at him. “No one knows how, but he’s fucking awake, and he’s asking for Adelaide.”
Adelaide slid off my lap without another word, and she closed the room door in Jesup’s face. Not saying a word, she shrugged out of her plaid pajama pants and into a pair of her stretchy jeans and a tank top. I picked Axel up out of his pack ‘n’ play. “Tell Sam I said to head to the hospital with you,” I instructed her. “I’ll get Axel’s shit together and meet you guys there.”