“But we’ll figure it out together.”He pulled her close again, favoring his side.“All of it.The fear, the panic attacks, the nightmares.We’ll work through it together.You don’t have to be perfect, Meg.You just have to be here.”
She kissed him then, pouring everything she couldn’t say into it—all her love, her fear, her hope, her gratitude.
He kissed her back just as fiercely, his arms tightening around her like he’d never let go.
When they broke apart this time, there was something warm and wet against her hand where it had rested on his side.
She pulled back, looking down, and her stomach dropped.Blood.
Soaking through his shirt.Dark stain spreading.Too much.
“Noah.”Her voice shifted instantly into doctor mode.“Your stitches.You opened your stitches.”
He glanced down, seemingly unconcerned.“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.”She was already moving, helping him shift so she could see better in the dim light.“You just got out of the hospital.You shouldn’t have been running, fighting?—”
“I will never apologize for going after you.For fighting for you.”His voice was steel.
She looked up at him, exasperated and terrified and so in love it hurt.“You need to come back to the clinic.Now.”
Noah smiled, that infuriating, endearing smile.“Whatever you say, Doc.”
“I love you,” Meg said, the words automatic now.
“I know.”His grin turned smug.
It took her a second, then she laughed—really laughed, the sound bubbling up from somewhere deep and genuine.“Did you seriously just Han Solo me?”
“Maybe.”He tried to look innocent and failed completely.
“You really are my Han Solo, aren’t you?”She shook her head, still laughing even as she pressed her hand carefully against his side to slow the bleeding.“Reckless, stubborn, swooping in to save the day?—”
“And devastatingly handsome?”He offered a wink.
“And completely impossible.”But she was smiling as she said it.
She kissed him again—carefully, mindful of his injury.
The emergency workers approached them.But Meg didn’t move from Noah’s side.Wouldn’t leave him.Not now.Not ever.
They’d get him patched up.She’d stitch him back together.They’d deal with Jeremy and the police and all the explanations that would come.
They’d figure out the future—her staying, their relationship, all the messy, complicated, beautiful bits of building a life together.
But right now, in this moment, Meg let herself just be.
Broken and brave.
Scared and strong.
Loved and loving.
And for the first time in years, that was enough.
She was enough.Not despite her brokenness but with it.Through it.Because of it.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.The verse had been Noah’s.His lifeline in the cave.His prayer in the shaft.
