“She’s not dead. You’ve got a chance to make this right with her.”
“How?”
“By being there. By not turning your back. By giving her a chance to prove to you she is the mother worthy of your love.” I cupped her cheeks, wiping away the tears that fell. “I know it hurts. I know you feel guilty. Accept it. Learn from it. But don’t let it drown you. You’ve got the chance to make this right.”
I kissed her lips. This time, she wrapped her arms around me and I held her close, not wanting to let her go.
“I don’t want her to die,” Sian said.
“The doctors are taking care of her. I’m here for you.”
She sniffled against my neck and I ran my hands down her back, trying to comfort her. I wasn’t doing the best job of it.
We stood outside like this and Mateo found us, holding each other. “Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I said.
“I’m going to head back in. See if we’ve got an update or something.”
I nodded but made no move to let her go.
“He’s gone,” I said.
Sian still didn’t let me go. We stood as people came out and went in. I didn’t care what they thought. She needed me and I was there for her. I would always be there for her.
Mateo returned five minutes later. “The doctors have gotten her stable. She’s in recovery right now. She would like to see you,” Mateo said.
Sian pulled out of my arms. “She’s awake?”
Mateo nodded.
Her gaze went to mine.
I cupped her face, wiping away more of the tears that fell. “You’ve got this.”
She shook her head.
“Yes. You’re strong, Sian. Don’t think of anything else. You’ve got this.”
She took a deep breath and held on to my hand.
Mateo raised a brow, and I shrugged.
Following Sian into the hospital, we went back to the waiting room just as Lucas returned, looking pale as if he’d seen a ghost. “She wants to see you,” he said.
“Dante is coming with me,” Sian said.
He nodded. “I’ll take you.”
We followed close behind Lucas as we walked down a corridor, passing so many people. I looked at the raw emotion on their faces, taken aback by how hard it hit me. Guilt, shame, pain, remorse, sadness, happiness. It was all here to see and I felt like I was drowning.
Holding Sian’s hand tightly, we arrived at a private room.
She’d come to a stop.
Lucas was near the door.
“She’s awake,” Lucas said.
Sian nodded.
“I’ll give you some time.”
She didn’t move.
I stayed by her side, waiting for her to make this decision. This wasn’t on me or anyone else, but Sian. It was her choice.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I … I don’t know.”
Nurses and doctors passed, giving us curious looks. I glared at them to know they could turn their fucking faces away.
“This is your choice,” I said.
Sian laughed. “Sorry. It’s so not the right time to find that statement funny, but if you think about it, it really is funny. My choice? Nothing has been my choice, Dante. You know that.”
“I won’t judge you. None of us will if you don’t want to see her.”
Sian looked up at the ceiling, and I saw her trying to control her tears. “Drew asked me to always give her a chance.” She sniffled. “She said one day my mom was going to be able to be the mom I always wanted.” Then she took a deep breath. “When the time came, the one thing I could do for her was to give her a chance.”
I watched her swallow, and then she stepped inside the room and finally faced her mother.
Joan Roberts looked a fucking mess, and that was putting it nicely.
When Mateo had been trying to help her during her seizure and with how dark it was, I hadn’t gotten a good look at her. Now, she was a broken woman. Her face was covered in bruises. Her hand was bandaged up, as was her leg.
“Sian,” she said.
I heard the pain within her voice, and I tried not to wince.
It wouldn’t help mother and daughter if I showed any kind of feeling.
“What did he do to you?” Sian asked. She let go of me and moved closer to the bed.
“Don’t you worry about that,” Joan said. “Oh, my God, look at you. So … grown up.” She sniffled. “I’ve missed so much.”
Sian sat down on the chair, and I saw Joan reaching out her good hand, which Sian took. Seeing this moment was private. I shouldn’t be here but then I couldn’t look away.
Mother and daughter.
“He’s going to pay for what he did,” Sian said.
“This is nothing. He can hit me and hurt me, but he could never break me,” Joan said. She licked her lips and released a cough. “It was too late. He had already started to hurt me and then he … found a way to get my silence.” She groaned.