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“Does she know who her husband is?” Murphy drawled, sounding amused.
Fran shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“And what do you mean Vlad’s father is in ‘her ward?’” Murphy asked curiously.
I winced.
Though Bayne was a big deal to everyone else—a country music superstar being in our town, let alone hurt in our town and now recuperating here—was a big deal. He wasn’t a big deal to me like Murphy.
Had it crossed my mind that my grandmother would hear about Bayne being here and capitalize on that? No. Did it surprise me? Not in the least.
I gritted my teeth and walked away with my barbell to put it in the rack.
When I came back, Murphy and Fran were discussing Bayne’s transfer to the burn unit in our hospital after being in a Dallas trauma center for the last six weeks.
“That explains all the damn paparazzi I saw as I was leaving,” Murphy shook his head. “Madden and I had to do some evasive maneuvers to get out of there.”
“You’re probably a pretty hot topic right now yourself,” I admitted. “You’re the recipient of the heart from the man that saved Bayne Green’s life, too. Bayne is really fucked up, but at least he’s not dead like he could be. You weren’t the only person Jasper saved that day.”
Murphy looked down at his hands.
I looked away, saddened yet again by the person that had to sacrifice their life to save my husband’s.
And, of course, my gaze landed on the father of that person.
As if sensing my gaze, Madden looked over at Murphy, and a wave of sadness rolled over his face.
Taos came out of the office with Vlad in his arms, and nearly ran Soren down.
Vlad, though, had his eyes set on a certain someone. A certain someone that he hadn’t seen in a while, but always seemed to know when he was around. Like Murphy Radar.
Taos put Vlad down and Vlad was off, getting to Murphy as fast as his chubby little legs would take him.
Murphy, over the conversation with Fran about my grandmother, looked to see the shrieking little devil on his way to him.
The smile that lit their faces made my mama heart happy.
Vlad may not be Murphy’s flesh and bone, but it didn’t matter. Vlad would always be Murphy’s to protect.
The two of them reached each other, and I had to fight the urge to tell Murphy not to pick Vlad up.
Luckily, though, Vlad did most of the work, climbing up by hauling himself upward using Murphy’s knees where he was still sitting on the stack of weights.
I grinned at them and looked away once again when Soren and Taos joined us, all of them grinning.
When I once again looked at Madden, it was to see such a look of despair, and a little bit of hatred, that it caused me to move.
I lost my grin in an instant and stepped in front of Murphy, as if that would help, and stared Madden down.
Murphy, oblivious to the move, continued to talk to Taos and Soren as if he’d only been gone a week, not four months now.
With Murphy occupied with the two men, I slipped away and headed in Madden’s direction.
Madden who was now looking at his feet with a look of such sorrow that I wanted to wrap him up in my arms.
“Do you want us to leave?” I asked softly. “Because I will. I’ll take Murphy and go. And never come back.”
Madden swallowed.
“He’s the only connection I have left to my son,” he whispered gruffly, finally looking up and allowing me to see his eyes. “I don’t want either of you to leave. It just…hurt. Still hurts.” He paused. “But Murphy and I spoke. I don’t want him to ever feel guilty about whose heart saved his life, because I don’t. But I’m going to need a little more time controlling my expressions and the sadness. I just…time.”
I deflated slightly. “I’m sorry, Madden.”
I was.
Because Jasper died.
Jasper died, and Murphy lived.
I loved Jasper.
Everyone had loved Jasper.
He’d been the life of the party.
He’d been the one guy in the gym who could always make you laugh, no matter what.
To have him no longer here felt like a solid kick to the gut.
The bad thing was, I’d prayed for Murphy to find a heart.
I’d prayed and prayed and prayed for him to live.
I’d literally wished Jasper’s life away.
I’d hurt a family that I loved.
Because, you couldn’t just get a heart from someone and expect them to live.
Someone else had to die for you to get that heart.
And I’d known it.
“For what it’s worth,” I said softly, “I’ll cherish Murphy for the rest of my life.” I swallowed hard. “And I’ll forever be thankful to you for giving me Murphy back.”
Because Jasper hadn’t been an organ donor.
Madden had made that difficult decision on his own.
