I knelt in front of her. “Are you hurt, Bonnie?”
But she couldn’t answer me. Her breaths were coming too fast. She sounded like she was suffocating even as tears leaked down her face.
Mac was frozen at my side, staring at her sister like she’d never seen her before.
“Mac,” I said quietly to get her attention.
She flinched, meeting my gaze.
“Help Bonnie get her sweater off. Get her purse too,” I instructed.
I didn’t know what had happened, but I thought it’d be better for Mac to be the one to touch her. I didn’t want to scare her, but I knew the cardigan she wore might feel confining in the face of a panic attack, and the strap of her crossbody bag wasn’t helping either.
Mac jolted into action while I spoke softly to Bonnie.
“Take a deep breath with me. Try to do what I’m doing.” I exaggerated my inhales and exhales for her benefit.
When Bonnie was free of her bag and her sweater, I grasped her hands and kept talking. It was dim. The only light in the room was coming from the kitchen, and I did my best to calm her down.
“Should I call 9-1-1?” Mac asked from where she’d joined me on the floor.
“No,” Bonnie choked out between gasps, her fingers gripping me tight. “No ... ambulance.”
Mac and I shared an uneasy look but left our phones in our pockets.
It took another five minutes for Bonnie’s breathing to even out and her hands to loosen around mine. Mac sat quietly at my side and watched her sister struggle.
When I thought it was safe, I said gently, “I’m going to go get you some water, Bonnie. Mac will be right here.”
I urged Mac to join her sister on the couch and then went quickly to the kitchen.
Judging by the way she’d frozen, I didn’t think Mac had ever seen Bonnie this way. Her movements were wooden and uncertain, her gaze wide-eyed and frightened in the face of her sister’s pain.
Once I’d filled a glass, I heard low voices.
I stood at the threshold of the living room, giving them some privacy, but heard Bonnie manage through a fresh wave of tears, “Danny wants a divorce.” She hiccupped a sob. “He doesn’t want to be married to me.”
Mac wrapped her arms around Bonnie, shushing and rocking her gently. “It’s okay, Bon. It’ll be okay.”
I approached quietly and placed the glass on the end table. Bonnie didn’t look up, but Mac met my gaze and mouthed a thank-you over her sister’s head.
I made my way upstairs to Mac’s bedroom and shut the door, hating that her sister was suffering. Bonnie was a good person. Kind and thoughtful. She was a go-getter and a leader in the community. The first to volunteer for anything and dedicated to her family and her students.
Hours later, I felt the bed dip and opened my eyes. I checked my phone. It was 4:13 a.m.
“Is Bonnie okay?” I asked as I opened my arms and Mac burrowed into my side.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “But she’s asleep in the guest room across the hall. We talked for a little while, but I mostly just watched her while she slept. I was so scared, Brady.”
My arms tightened reflexively upon hearing the tremor in her voice.
“I couldn’t tell you the last time I even saw her cry,” she admitted. “Bonnie is always so perfect and put-together and on top of things. She never even said they were having problems. I mean, I’ve gotten a vibe for the last few months, Danny being weird and absent. They’ve seemed distant, disconnected. But divorce ... I never thought ...”
“She’s going to be alright,” I said. “She has you and your family. Candace would do anything for her, too.”
I felt Mac nod against my chest. “Seeing her like that, knowing she needed me, was the only thing keeping me from going over there and kicking Danny’s ass.”
“I know.” I pressed a kiss into her hair. My fierce protector. My hellcat.
