“Don’t,” Noah says, grabbing me and hauling me over into his lap, instantly making the thoughts of my mother fade from my mind. “Don’t you dare go there. You didn’t nearly lose him; he gained a wake up call and you gained a chance to help him turn it around.”

“How?” I ask, looking into his eyes. “I’m so out of my depth here. I don’t know the first thing about getting someone healthy.”

Noah shrugs his shoulders before indicating around to the nurses making their way around the Cardio Wing. “You’re sitting in the middle of a hospital with hundreds of people who would have the answers you’re looking for. Go and find one willing to chat with you and work out a plan to help get your dad’s life back on track. After all, he can’t chase me around with his gun if he can’t keep up.”

I look around and realize he’s right, as always. Any one of the people walking around would have the information I need, it’s just a matter of getting out there and asking the right questions. “Ok,” I tell him, wiping at my face and double checking that I’m not a snotty mess.

Noah runs his hands through my hair, pushing it back off my face before holding me to him. “You know, you didn’t have to come. You have a lot of shit of your own going on,” I murmur into his chest, knowing that all that Anton shit would no doubt still be going through his head.

“Of course, I did,” he tells me softly, just for my ears. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. We can work out what we’re going to do about Anton later. This is more important.”

“Thank you,” I say, pulling back so I can look him in the eye. “I’m sorry you went through all of that with Anton. I don’t like that he’s been using you like that all these years and using Lily to do it.”

“I know,” he murmurs with a darkness in his eyes. “Neither do I.”

I lean back into him, breathing him in until my emotions have completely calmed. “Alright,” I finally tell him. “Will you sit with Dad? I think I’m ready to start facing facts.”

He presses his lips to mine before helping me up. “Of course, I will,” he says. “Anything you need, you got, Spitfire.”

I focus on my task and find that having a plan helps to clear my head and suddenly, I’m able to breathe properly for the first time since receiving that phone call less than an hour ago.

I find a nurse who’s happy to give me a few details and shares a few web pages and information booklets with me before sending me on my way. As I walk back to dad’s room, my plan to get dad back on track begins forming, helping me to feel better about the situation now that I can see a road out of here, though I have a feeling dad isn’t going to quite agree with my military style tactics.

I make myself comfortable in dad’s room and cringe as Noah describes the exact way my car handled as I drove here. I mean, he did warn me not to race my car on the track so I can’t exactly get in trouble seeing as though I was basically racing myself and there was no track in sight. Though, what happened at Maxen track the other day…that’s something that can stay between me and my friends.

Twenty minutes later, Aria is sitting up in dad’s bed and watching him with her makes it clear that Noah was right earlier. Dad is terrified and I have no idea how I missed it. His eyes are wide and he’s focusing way too hard on every little word Aria mumbles making sure he doesn’t miss a second of what could possibly be a short life. His eyes trail over her, taking her in with pride before doing the same to me, committing us to memory.

The nurse gave me some great pointers and it’s probably going to be hard. We’ll run into a few barriers along the way, but I have a feeling he won’t be putting up a fight to get himself better. Hell, maybe for the chance of watching his children grow up, he’ll even make my job easy.

Chapter 19

OK, out of all the ridiculous things I’ve ever done, this has got to be the worst. What was I thinking coming here?

I look up at the massive building before me and let out a slow, deep breath. Castle Rock Women’s Penitentiary. Again– what the hell was I thinking coming here?

I don’t know what made me do this. Maybe it was the fact that I’ve never met the woman who birthed me and my curiosity was getting the best of me, or maybe it’s the fact that I nearly lost my dad just two days ago and that made it crystal damn clear that I didn’t want to go on without knowing the woman who gave me life.

Tags: Sheridan Anne Haven Falls Romance
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