EMMALINE
I was pretty drowsy when I came to a few hours later.
James was sitting in a chair beside my bed with my hand held captive in his. His eyes were closed, but I knew he wasn’t sleeping. I knew James well enough by now to know that he couldn’t sleep during something like this.
I gently squeezed his hand, my eyes slowly falling back shut before I forced them back open again. Whatever pain medication they were giving me was making me extremely drowsy.
“Hey, little one,” James softly greeted. He stood up from his chair and released my hand, only to lean over me and press a soft kiss to my lips. “Glad to finally see you awake,” he rumbled. “How do you feel?”
“Sleepy,” I mumbled, my eyes falling shut again.
“I think the doctor wants to see you,” he told me. I only hummed, not bothering to open my eyes. “You’re on a morphine drip for the time being, which is why you’re so sleepy right now.” He brushed the tips of his fingers over my cheek. “I’ve never been so fucking scared in my life, Emmaline.” I opened my eyes, locking them on his mesmerizing, blue ones. “They told me you were almost minutes away from your appendix rupturing.” He swallowed thickly, so many emotions flickering through his eyes that it was hard to pinpoint just one. “I almost lost you.”
He dropped back into the chair he’d been sitting in and grabbed my hand in his again. I watched as he bent his head over, pressing his forehead to my fingers. “I never thought that I could love anyone, Emmaline,” my heart raced, “but the moment they told me that you were in critical condition – that the fucking nurse told me that they were going to do everything in their power to help you on time – fuck,” he swore. “I realized right then that I was very capable of loving someone because I fucking love you.”
Tears burned in my tired eyes as I stared at him. My bottom lip trembled. “James,” I croaked, at a complete loss for words. His speech had taken my breath away.
He pressed his lips to my knuckles. “Don’t say anything, little one,” he begged me. “I know you’re tired, but I needed you to know that. I need you to know that I love you and that you mean the entire fucking world to me. I can’t continue on if something were to happen to you. I need you here with me.”
Before I could respond, a light knock sounded on the door, and a moment later, a doctor stepped in. He smiled warmly at me. “Good to see you awake, Ms. Arnold. How are you feeling?”
“Really sleepy,” I told him. And extremely happy.
James had just confessed his love to me.
“That’s to be expected.” I watched as he walked over to me. “I want to take a look at your incision. We had to do a single, long incision on you rather than the very small ones we normally do for patients with appendicitis. Your appendix was very swollen. I’m honestly surprised that you didn’t have pain before today.”
James stood up and pulled my blanket down to my hip before he pulled my hospital gown up some, revealing a bandage on my right side near my hip. Without a word, he sat back down, grabbing my hand in his again. I yawned, my eyes fluttering as I fought to stay awake.
“Did you have any nausea or vomiting before this morning?” the doctor asked me.
I nodded. “I was throwing up yesterday,” I told him. “Yesterday evening,” I corrected, my brain a bit foggy.
“That was probably your first sign that your appendix was preparing to rupture.” He removed the gauze and nodded his head. “It’s clean. Not red and swollen. So far, it looks like you’re going to heal nicely.”
A nurse stepped into the room, and the doctor stepped aside as she began to rebandage my side. “I’m going to leave you on the morphine drip for the rest of the night, and I’ll have you taken off of it tomorrow morning. From there, we’ll start you off with some painkillers. If you take well to them and can move around, I’ll let you go home tomorrow evening. Sound good?”
“Yes.” I yawned, a blush staining my cheeks. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I’m really sleepy.”
“Go ahead and get some rest, Ms. Arnold.” He turned and left the room.
I closed my eyes, another yawn falling from my lips. James pressed his lips to the back of my hand. “Get some rest, Emmaline. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“Promise?” I asked him.
“I promise, little one.”
~*~*~
Jaxon held open the front door of the house for us, nodding once at James in greeting. It was almost eight in the evening, but the doctor had kept true to his word and released me since I was doing mostly okay on the pain medicine. Granted, walking hurt like a bitch, so it wasn’t an easy task.
James, however, was refusing to let me walk anywhere for right now and was instead carrying me everywhere despite my arguments against it. I knew he just wanted to take care of me, but even the doctor had said that it was important for me to still try to move around.
“I’m going to take you upstairs,” James told me as he strode towards the staircase. “I’ll have Mrs. Judy bring you up some food, and then I need to check on some things. Jaxon will sit with you while I’m gone.”
“Your mom?” I guessed.
James sighed. “Yes, little one. Jaxon brought her here, but I’ve been with you the past couple of days, so I have no idea what’s going on.” He frowned. “I’m worried about her,” he quietly admitted. He spoke as if caring about her well-being was something foreign to him. “She’s not one to lash out – not like that. She knows better than to go against any of my men. It’s been drilled into her head since she and my father met. He trained her to always keep her head down and her mouth shut. So, it’s a little bit alarming to me that she actually shot Adrian.”
“Maybe she got freaked out,” I suggested, trying to calm his worries a little bit.
He shook his head. “Still doesn’t feel right to me.”
I pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw as he stepped into our bedroom. “Whatever it is, I know you’ll get to the bottom of it.” I winced in pain as he set me on the bed, propping my back up against the headboard. I hissed a breath through my teeth as he gently sat me forward a little bit to adjust the pillows behind me.
His lips pressed to my temple as he eased me back. “I’m sorry, little one. I know it hurts.” He leaned back, those eyes I loved so much meeting mine. “Better?”
“Yes.” I grabbed his hand in mine. “James,” I drew in a deep breath, “I know that I was still pretty out of it yesterday when you told me, but I love you.” I ran my eyes over his face, worry settling in the pit of my stomach when his expression didn’t change. “I’ve loved you from the very moment you began to treat me like a human being – like someone with feelings and values – instead of just a submissive that does as she’s told.”
With his free hand, he gripped my jaw, tilting my head back to cover my lips with his. I softly moaned into the kiss, eagerly kissing him back. “You may be my submissive, little one, but you are always my equal.” He brushed his lips to my cheek. “I will cherish those three words for the rest of my life,” he promised. “Make sure you eat all of your food when Mrs. Judy brings it up, and then get some rest. When I come back, we’ll get a shower together, okay?”
“Sounds good.” I smiled up at him. “Be careful.”
He flashed me that smile that always made my heart swell in my chest. “Always, baby.”
~*~*~