I bit my lip to hide my smile, but Aiden noticed anyway, and responded by rolling his eyes. I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving them alone to talk. I knew it would be difficult for him, but seeing him take the chance brought out a sense of pride in me.
I wondered if it compared to the times he’d pulled me out of my shell.
For the next week, Aiden recovered slowly but steadily. He talked to Justin every day while he was there and seemed to be making a little headway. After the sessions, Aiden would usually tell me a little something about Cayden I hadn’t heard before. Sometimes there were tears in his eyes, but he mostly focused on the good memories of times with his son.
I stayed at the hospital as much as I was allowed and spent my nights at Aiden’s house. Mo and Lo had found a service that specialized in crime-scene clean up, and mo
st of the mess was gone before I returned. I was extremely grateful for it. If I had walked into a kitchen covered in blood, I probably would have had a meltdown. The patio door had to be boarded up, but Lo said someone would be by in a couple of days to replace the glass. During the cleanup, Lo had found my phone. I hadn’t even thought about calling anyone all this time, but when I looked at it, I saw a dozen missed calls and texts—mostly from Mare and my mother.
I called Mare and told her what had happened. After I finally convinced her everyone was fine, I promised to call her again as soon as I was back in town. I called my mother as well. Instead of the freak-out I was expecting, she was surprisingly quiet about the whole thing. She said she was just glad I was all right.
Weird.
Her reaction probably should have set off alarms in my head, but they were surprisingly silent. The very next day, she was walking up to the hospital receptionist’s desk as I was waiting for Aiden’s session with Justin to end so I could sit with him.
“Mom?” I ran over to her.
Mom turned and gave me a giant hug without a word. Then she pulled back and held my shoulders at arm’s reach as she looked me over.
“You really are okay?” she asked.
“I am, Mom. I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
“Well, it doesn’t sound like Thanksgiving is going to work out,” Mom said, “and I had this plane ticket that was non-refundable, so I just had it changed to Miami.”
I hugged her again as I tried to stop myself from crying. My emotions had been all over the place since the day Aiden was hurt, and I seemed to have no control over them at all.
“Stop that now,” Mom said. She pulled tissues from her purse and dabbed at my cheeks before handing them to me. “I want to meet this man who is apparently willing to die for my daughter.”
I sniffed and took her hand to lead her down the hallway to Aiden’s room. Justin was just leaving, and I waved at him as we passed by. All of a sudden, I realized I hadn’t prepared Mom for Aiden’s appearance, but it was too late to say anything because we were already at the door to his room before the thought had struck me.
Aiden was sitting up in his bed, his favorite cap sitting backward on his head. He was wearing one of the hospital’s gowns, open part way down the front and plainly showing all the tattoos on his arms, across his neck, and down his chest.
Mom stopped in the doorway and just stared.
Aiden looked up from the motorcycle magazine Redeye had brought for him and looked from me to my mother, obviously confused.
“Well,” Mom said with a bit of a huff in her voice, “I can’t say you were what I was expecting, but then again, I never expected anyone to have to save my daughter’s life.”
She dropped her purse on a chair and marched over to the side of the bed. Without hesitation, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Aiden could only look at me, confused, as he reached up and returned her hug.
“Thank you,” Mom said quietly. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you for keeping my daughter safe.”
Aiden’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment, and I saw him take a deep breath.
“Always,” he replied.
She pulled back, and I could tell she was trying to subtly look over Aiden’s tattoos. She pursed her lips and looked back to his face, glaring a little.
I put my hand over my mouth, terrified of what she was going to say to him as she straightened her shoulders and pointed her finger at his face.
“Now if you ever try to get her to go skydiving again, I will have your balls. You understand me, mister?”
Aiden coughed and sat up a little straighter.
“Uh…yes, ma’am.”
“Good!” She pulled up the chair and sat down next to his bed. “Now tell me everything about yourself.”