“I’m already on my way.”
I raced the car toward the hospital, and, once inside, walked through the hallways without seeing a single soul until I finally found Clara sitting on the floor, huddled against the wall with her head in her hands. Without even thinking about it, I bent down and slid my arms around her, pulling her up and into my embrace. Her entire body trembled as if she were freezing though I knew it was far more likely to be shock.
“I’m here. You’re not alone,” I murmured against the top of her head.
She gave a whimper that wrenched my guts and, for the second time in my life, I felt completely helpless. I’d watched my mother go through a devasting illness that finally took her from me in this very same hospital. I knew the pain Clara was experiencing, the numbness, the paralyzing fear.
This incredible woman who could lose herself in the beauty of a dance clung to me, shaking, on the cusp of breaking apart. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I didn’t have a magic wand. I didn’t have the skills to fix her beloved grandmother. I wished there was more I could do, but I’d do what I could. I’d add my strength to hers for as long as she needed it.
“Shh, I’ve got you,” I whispered against her hair. “We’ll get through this together.”
I wasn’t sure if she was truly capable of assimilating my words, but I did feel her body sag from its tight ball of tension, allowing me to support her as she laid her cheek against my chest. I hooked a nearby plastic chair with my foot and dragged it toward us. Sitting down, I settled in to wait as long as it took, my hand gently stroking along Clara’s back, praying she would remember that as tiny and delicate as she was, she had a spine of steel.
I had no idea how much time had passed when Clara finally sat up. Brushing her palms across her face, she took a shaky breath and then another.
“Thank you,” she said.
“No thanks are necessary,” I assured her, shaking my head. “Not ever between us. Would you like something to drink?”
“No… actually, yes,” she said. “Water sounds great.”
“Will you be all right until I get back?” I asked, wishing I hadn’t offered her something I didn’t have readily available.
“I’ll be fine.”
Standing, I turned to place her in the chair and then cupped her face between my palms. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
“Okay,” she said, giving me a shaky smile.
I dropped a kiss on her lips and then left in search of the nearest vending machine. If there was anything good after having spent countless hours in this hospital, it was that I knew my way around every inch of the place. I was attempting to get the machine to actually swallow my dollar bill when my phone rang. Swiping across the screen, I tucked it between my shoulder and my ear.
“Volkov,” I said, fishing a second dollar bill from my wallet when the first was spit back at me for the third time.
“Where are you?”
“Hospital,” I said just as abruptly.
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes!”
“What?”
“No… hold on a second.” I’d said yes because the new bill had worked and I was now able to press a button to get the bottle of water for Clara. I hadn’t meant to confuse Yuri, but it was rather telling how he’d gone from pissed off A-hole to concerned little brother with a single word. Water in hand, I put my wallet away and transferred the phone to my hand.
“Okay, I’m back,” I said as I began to retrace my steps while giving him a quick rundown on what was going on. “I haven’t seen a doctor yet, so I’m not exactly sure what her grandmother’s prognosis is, but it’s not looking too good.”
“Well, fuck,” Yuri said. I was about to chew him a new one but then he added, “Tell Clara I’m really sorry. I hope her grandmother gets better.”
“I will,” I said, actually a bit proud of him. “Hey, why did you call me anyway? It’s Friday night. I thought you had a hot date with that waiter from Monti’s.”
“I do but got a strange call I thought you might want to hear about.”
“Okay, but can it wait?” I asked, turning the last corner to see the chair where I’d left Clara was empty, no sign of her in the corridor.
“Sure, I guess,” Yuri said. “It’s probably nothing anyway. Again, tell Clara everyone here will be pulling for her grandmother. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Later,” I said without thought, pushing the phone back into my pocket. Whatever it was, it could wait. I had a far more pressing matter. Where exactly had Clara gone? Approaching the chair, I heard the sound of voices coming from inside the room we’d been waiting outside.