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“No…I…” Tears fell from her eyes. “How did you…?”
“Many reasons, but mainly it was your charity. You opened a charity for foster kids, probably due to the guilt you felt giving me up. You felt guilt when I told you Stella was having struggles with her pregnancy because I think you’ve been there before. Then there’s the biggest thing.”
“And that is?”
“I have your eyes.” I shifted a little and pleaded with her. “Please, Catherine,” I begged. “If there is any ounce of humanity left in you, if there is any good still in your heart…please…let me go.”
“Fuck,” she muttered to herself. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she mumbled before she began scrambling to grab the key to the handcuffs on the countertop. She walked over to me and began unhooking the metal against my wrists.
“No one should use that bathroom for a while,” Denise said, walking back into the room. The moment she saw what was happening, she rushed toward Catherine. “What the hell are you doing?”
Catherine shoved Denise hard, making her fall backward. “Oh hush, woman,” she hissed. She then began to untie my ankles, releasing me from my chains. I stood and grabbed my phone. Catherine looked at me with eyes filled with regret. “I’m so sorry, Damian.”
I didn’t say a word back to her.
Within seconds, I was on my way to Stella.
“Stella,”I called out as I walked into the waiting room.
She looked up the moment she heard my voice, and I rushed toward her. “Oh, my goodness,” she cried out. My arms wrapped around her, and instant tears and deep sobs broke from her. “You’re okay! I didn’t know. I was so scared that something had happened to you. I was so scared you were somewhere dead. I—”
“I’m okay,” I said, pulling her in closer. She shook uncontrollably in my arms. “I’ll explain everything soon enough, but I just need you to know that I’m okay. All that matters right now is Maple. How is she?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. They won’t tell me anything pretty much. I’m not her true granddaughter, so they aren’t giving me any information. They said that they could once Maple is up and requests me, but until then…” She looked up at me, and I felt such deep sadness. When did that happen? When did I start feeling her spirit so deeply within my own? “What if she doesn’t wake up? What if she doesn’t come back?”
“She will.”
“You don’t know that. Because people die. They do. They come, and then they leave, and you never see it coming. You never know when your last goodbye is. You never know how to deal with the unspoken words…” She took a breath. “What if the last time we spoke was really the last time? I don’t even know if I told her I loved her. I don’t even know if—”
“It won’t be the last time.” I didn’t even know if I should’ve sworn something like that, but I did because it felt right. It felt as if I were supposed to tell her that no matter what, everything would be okay.
It felt like hope.
I never really had hope before Stella. It felt a bit foreign in my chest, but all I wanted it to do was grow larger within me.
We waited for hours. Then days. Then more days.
Maple was unconscious for a full week. When Stella lost all hope, I held it tighter. Not only for myself but for us both. I became her rock when her soul was shattered. I held her when she needed me to and held her even when it wasn’t necessary. I stayed beside her because that was what her heart needed me to do. And it was what my heart craved to do.
All I ever wanted to do was make sure she was okay.
I tried to get her to go home and rest, but she refused. So, I made a bed out of hospital chairs for her to rest her legs on while I’d massaged her swollen feet.
Finally, a nurse walked out to the lobby and said, “Stella Blackstone?”
Blackstone.
Mine.
Forever, I hoped. Forever, I prayed.
“Yes, that’s me,” she remarked.
“And a Damian Blackstone?” the nurse asked.
“That’s me.”
“Great. Maple has requested both of you to see her,” the nurse explained, smiling our way.
