The look Ian gave her said she also knew he couldn’t answer that yet. “He’s alive, Cam. Really alive, not just breathing.” When she continued to search his face for an answer, he sighed. “I think he’s going to be fine.”
She shook her head. “He’ll never be fine, Ian. I cut his legs off.” A part of her dreaded the moment he woke up and saw what she’d done. What if Edmund had been right? What if Brodie would rather die than live like this? Tears filled her eyes.
“You also delivered his first son and saved the woman he loves. If he’s the man you and Esme claim he is, he’ll be glad to be alive and understand what you had to do to make that happen.” Ian came to stand beside her, offering his warm reassurance.
“He is that man,” she whispered. “He’s good. You’ll like him.”
As if unsure of her assessment, Ian’s eyes narrowed. “I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
They stood in silence for a moment. The night they’d spent together filled the space between them. Neither of them seemed to know what to say or if they should say anything at all. Truths had been declared and secrets shared. What did that mean for them though? She couldn’t go back with him. He could stay here with her, but she wouldn’t ask him to. Just because she’d given up her life to stay on this island didn’t mean she could expect the same from him.
“Thank you.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.
He turned to her. “For?”
Where did she start? For not hating her. For not really betraying her. For saving her daughter. For fighting for Brodie. For supporting her. For still loving her. Smiling, she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his lean waist. “For being you.”
He opened his mouth, as if to retort, but then closed it without speaking. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her closer until she rested against him. “I’ll be whatever you want,” he whispered.
* * *
The clinic was a buzzing hive of activity. The air hummed with excitement and maybe relief. It hadn’t taken long for word to spread about Brodie’s awakening. The contagious happiness filling the air brought a smile to Ian’s face. Cameron tried her best to answer the neighbors’ questions, then send them on their way, but most of them wanted to see Brodie for themselves. Eventually, she ordered everyone out of the clinic so they wouldn’t disturb him. Even Esme now sat in the sunshine, her baby boy snuggled against her chest and her daughters playing in the grass at her feet. She sat with Luci and Aimee, who’d brought the girls to visit. Cameron may have gotten everyone out of the clinic, but they hadn’t gone home.
Ian’s first assessment of the building had been correct. It served as more than just a place to heal people. The islanders also used the building as a meeting house of sorts. The yard out front serving as picnic grounds.
“Brodie seems to be good.” Wes came to stand beside Ian, watching the islanders visit in the area around the clinic. He’d performed his own thorough check of Brodie’s body and vitals.
The injured man had opened his eyes a few more times and mumbled tortured words that made Ian hope he woke soon from whatever hell he faced in his mind. But, so far, he hadn’t regained full consciousness.
Wes shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “It’s going to take time for him to fully awaken. Even longer for him to move normally, but I think he just might manage it.”
Ian sent his friend a side-glance. “You doubted it?”
Wes shrugged. “At times.”
Normally, Ian would’ve doubted the man’s recovery as well, but something about this island and these people had given him hope.
Silence stretched between the two men as they continued watching the islanders visit. Cameron among them. She laughed with Aimee and Luci, spoke quietly with Edmund, and tasted the fruit someone offered her. All the while, a smile stretched her mouth. When she said this island was her home, she hadn’t lied. Any fool could see the happiness radiating from her, especially today. And Ian didn’t fit into any of this.
“Did the two of you talk?”
Ian smirked. “After the bomb you dropped yesterday? Hell yes, we talked.”
“And?” His friend’s expression held no apology.
“I never cheated on her. I never said I didn’t want our baby. How could you have believed I did?” That both Wes and Cameron, the two people who knew him best in the world, had believed him capable of lying and betraying Cameron’s trust, still stung.
“I believed Cameron,” Wes explained. “She wouldn’t have left without a damn good reason. She said she saw and heard—”
“She misunderstood.”
Now Wes smirked. “So, you did kiss Mallory and say—”
“She kissed me. I pushed her away and told her I didn’t want her, a child. If I had, for one second, thought Cameron had heard and misunderstood…”
“But she stepped into the ambush.”
“And our lives blew to hell.”
Scrubbing a hand over his face, Wes studied Cameron standing with Keso who’d just arrived with Arabella. Ian’s stomach tightened at the sight of the little family. He’d always thought he and Cameron looked good together, but he couldn’t deny she and Keso, with their adorable daughter, made a compelling picture. She may still love Ian, may have always loved him, but she’d also chosen to spend her life away from him, raising her daughter with this other man.
“With Hunte improving, you soon won’t have a reason to stay.”
Wrong. As long as Cameron was on the island, Ian had a reason to stay. The question was, would she want him to stay? True, he couldn’t stay here indefinitely. His job, his apartment, his life waited for him back home. But his heart was here. How the hell could he walk away without the best part of himself?
* * *
All around Cameron people laughed and talked. For days now, the island had been somber. Holding its breath. Waiting. It was as if, with the opening of Brodie’s eyes, a spell had been lifted. From the trees, Keso emerged with Arabella perched in his arms. Their green eyes searched the area, taking in the people milling around. The moment Arabella spotted her mother, her eyes lit up. Tapping her father with one hand, she pointed.
Cameron’s stomach twisted. When she’d left Keso at home with Arabella the night before, she’d planned to return. Instead, she’d stayed at the clinic with Ian. Had had sex with Ian… twice. Although she didn’t owe Keso her loyalty or her celibacy, guilt still settled uneasily in her gut.
A grin bloomed on Keso’s face. A total contradiction to the dark thoughts churning within Cameron.
“Doc.” With Ara held tight against him, he hurried across the thick undergrowth to her.
No sooner had he reached her than Ara leaned out of his arms, signaling for Cameron to take her. She didn’t mind. Holding her daughter would give her something to do with her arms, so at least she wouldn’t have that awkwardness to contend with.
“He woke up?” Keso’s voice was higher than normal, filled with excitement and hope.
She nodded. “Briefly, but yes.”
Breathing deeply, he ran a hand through his unruly hair. His shoulders lifted then fell as if with that one breath he released the weight of the island. “You did it. You saved him.” Tears he’d never let fall thickened his voice.
She opened her mouth to protest, but he silenced her with a quick press of his lips to hers. Heat raced up her neck, over her cheeks. Though she didn’t look, she knew Ian and Wes stood only meters away. Had Ian seen Keso kiss her? Would he think she wanted him to kiss her? Not that the quick peck had been anything more than a tactic to stop her protest.
Seeing nothing amiss, Keso continued. “You pulled him out of the water, Doc. You faced your fear. You went after him, and you brought him back to us.”
For the first time in years, Keso’s gaze burned with pride and love… for her. He never ceased to look at Arabella in awe, but not since she turned him out of her bed had he bestowed the look on Cameron.
Finally finding her voice, she replied, “I couldn’t let him die. Letting Esme, the girls, and… you face the world without Brodie was worse than the water.”
The tears that had clogged Keso’s throat filled his eyes now. Taking her shoulders in his work-worn hands, he pulled her to his chest, crushing Arabella between them.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “I don’t know what I’d do without him. Or you, Doc.”
Resting against his chest, she let the guilt overtake her. Guilt at standing in his embrace while Ian looked on. Guilt for wishing she were in Ian’s arms instead. Guilt for loving another man when Keso wanted a life with her. And guilt for loving Keso even when she knew it wasn’t enough.
* * *