Page 74 of Stolen Salvation

Chapter 25

Charlie felt her heart rate tick as the door to her room opened, and then sink when she saw it wasn’t Noah.

“How’s your pain?” Natalie, the nurse who’d been so sweet, asked.

“Uh, yeah, not too bad considering.”

“Considering what you’ve been through, it’s a damn miracle.”

“I guess. It’s hard to comprehend it all.”

“I’m sure it is, but this afternoon we’re going to get you up with the physiotherapist and see how your motor skills and mobility are doing. Sometimes after a traumatic brain injury and a coma, it can take the body a little while to remember everything.”

Charlie had little energy for that. All she wanted to do was call Noah and tell him she’d made a horrible mistake and needed him. She didn’t do any of that though, and later that afternoon she took the first shaky steps since the bullet had powered into her skull.

“Well, done, Charlie. You’re doing great,” Snow called from the side-lines where she’d positioned herself as her personal cheerleader.

Charlie scowled at the happy woman as sweat ran down her back. “What’s with all the smiling?”

Snow cocked her head and grinned even bigger if that were possible. “It’s a good day, Charlie. We thought we’d lost you but here you are on your feet.”

“Huh, I’m not yours to lose.”

As she finally made it to the end of the short walkway the physiotherapist, a strapping man with muscles for days and the demeanour of a medieval torturer, smiled. “Good. Take a rest and get some water.”

Charlie tried to look dignified as she sank into the chair exhausted after only a small amount of exercise. Waking up from her coma had felt like rising from a deep sleep, but it was so much worse. Her body seemed to have taken a vacation, her energy, even though she’d been prone for days, seemed zapped.

Snow walked over, handing her the bottle of cold water which Charlie took and drank like it was the answer to every spot of cellulite on her body.

“I get that you don’t know us well, Charlie, but when Shadow takes you under their wing, we don’t walk away when the tough stuff happens. We don’t turn our backs on each other. We’re a family.”

Charlie blinked back the stupid tears and blamed the hormones and shock in her system for the leaky outburst.

A warm hand covered hers and she looked down at Snow who’d crouched beside her. “I understand you’re terrified of what the future holds but you aren’t alone. You have me, Lotus, Duchess, Valentina, Watchdog, Bein, and Bás. You have all of us.”

Her lips quivered as she tried to swallow the sob that wanted to break free. These people had offered her everything she’d ever wanted, and she was selfishly worrying about herself. “I’m a horrible person.”

Snow wrapped an arm around her and gave her a fierce look. “Hey, no, you’re not at all.”

“I told Noah I wasn’t sure if I could keep the baby. If I could take the risk on us again.”

“If you were being honest with yourself, you shouldn’t be ashamed of that. Putting yourself first isn’t a crime.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Wasn’t ashamed or wasn’t honest?”

“Honest.” Her hand went to her flat stomach to the child who grew despite the odds. She already loved this baby with her whole heart and had never considered anything but a future as his or her mother.

“Do you know why you lied to him?”

“Hey, what’s this? A mother’s meeting?” Lotus strolled through the door with Bein behind her. She saw Bein look her over and seeing the tear stains, begin to back out.

“Hey, where are you going?” Lotus demanded.

Bein waved his hand toward her. “I don’t do tears and stuff.”

“Pussy,” Lotus called to his retreating back. She turned back with a smile on her pouty lips and looked at her and Snow. “So?”