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“Ruby, what are you doing, woman?” I choked out. “You better not be trying to check out of here, because I’m not letting you go.”
“Miss, you cannot be in here.” A ferocious-looking woman stood in the doorway, threatening me with an intimidating glare.
“She needs me,” I informed her, refusing to move.
The nurse kept her tough stance. “We need to monitor Mrs. Jacobs without visitors right now. It’s best for her recovery,” she said, trying a different approach.
“What would be best for her is if all of us were in here with her.”
“Miss—”
“I’m not leaving, even if you try to drag me out of here by my hair.”
In what seemed like seconds, Mama appeared. “Baby, if you don’t let her be, they’ll force you out of the hospital. Ruby would want you here, even if it’s not right beside her.”
“Mama, she shouldn’t be alone.”
“She’s not. She knows we’re just down the hall.”
I didn’t want to leave Ruby, not like this, but if I got kicked out of the hospital, that would be worse.
I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I love you, Grandmama.”
I trudged back to the waiting room, Mama’s arm hooked through mine. The entire Jacobs family was silent, lost in suffering. I sat next to Granddaddy and put my head on his shoulder. He gripped my hand, his head falling on top of mine.
The pain in my chest wouldn’t ease. Every time someone came along the corridor, I’d jerk upright, hoping for news. This went on for over an hour, but I couldn’t help myself; I was desperate to find out anything regarding her condition. This place smelled like Betadine and Febreze had mated, the result a nauseating combination that did nothing to ease my frazzled nerves.
Daniel was in the corner of the waiting room on his phone. Vivian curled around Muriella, who held Stone’s hand tightly in hers. Juliana and the girls hadn’t made it yet. She’d gone to get them from school, and they were making the drive. Mitch went from sitting to standing and back to sitting, constantly looking down the corridor for his wife and daughters.
Movement in the distance of the long, white hallway caught my eye. A man in a suit strode toward us with a duffel bag in his hand. I sat on the edge of my seat as soon as my brain registered who it was.
Easton.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Easton
My steps falteredthe longer she sat in that chair. When Daniel had told me about Miss Ruby, I’d acted on pure instinct, packing a bag for her and scheduling a flight in record time. I didn’t regret coming, but I hadn’t considered Mulaney wouldn’t want me here. Too damn bad. She had me anyway.
She released her grandfather’s hand and sprinted toward me on thin heels. I dropped the bag and caught her in my arms, burying my face in her neck. She clung to me, silently shaking. I steered her into an offshoot of the corridor so her family didn’t see her lose it.
“I’m sorry, Heartbreaker,” I said into her hair.
Wetness soaked my shirt. I’d never seen her cry, and the fact she trusted me enough to do it in front of me had to mean something. A family restroom was right beside us. I guided us inside and locked the door.
As if sensing she was safe, her sniffles turned into full-blown sobs. I stroked her back and kissed the top of her head.
Mulaney tightened her arms around my waist. She banged her forehead against my chest a few times, uttering a string of curses before she deflated.
I held her until she was quiet. All my anger with her was temporarily forgotten. It didn’t matter she’d left me again. She needed me, and I’d do whatever was necessary to take this pain away.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
“I know.” Miss Ruby was a one of a kind, but I couldn’t help thinking about the day I’d get the call my mother was in the hospital.
“What if I let her down?”
“She’s proud of you.”
