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Lucky. She didn’t feel lucky. She felt violated in so many ways. What her brother had done had destroyed so many lives. She didn’t want to let what he’d done destroy her life.Her emotions swelled, and she battled to erect a barrier quickly enough to keep them back. It felt odd to her to fight not to feel something, it was the complete opposite of how she had lived her entire life.She had lost so much, but she was alive, so were her sisters, and so was Nick.
Where was he?
Why wasn't he here with her?
The door opened and her head whipped toward it, barely noticing the painful twinge in her shoulder at the sudden movement. That had to be Nick, already she felt herself relaxing. Nick had that effect on her.
Jonathon pushed a wheelchair with Naomi in it, into the room. Naomi was pale, but her eyes were sharp and intuitive. “Sorry. It’s only me.”
“No, I'm sorry,” Aggie said quickly. “I'm glad to see you, Naomi. I'm really glad you're okay. Youareokay, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Naomi replied firmly like she’d had to repeat that several times already. “I'm going home tomorrow …”
“You're coming to stay with me tomorrow,” Clara amended.
“I didn’t agree to that,” Naomi challenged.
“You're going to stay with Clara,” Jonathon added as he set Naomi’s wheelchair next to the bed and then took the chair that Clara had vacated earlier and tugged her down onto his lap.
“That’s not fair, you two always gang up on me.” Naomi sighed dramatically.
Listening to her sisters bicker lightheartedly eased her jangled nerves. She’d lost her father, but she still had a family. She liked this casual sibling banter, she could really get used to it. Aggie was tired,reallytired, but she didn’t want to sleep, she just wanted to enjoy being alive.
“Do you need to rest?” Clara asked.
“No. I'm good.” Nodding at Naomi’s bandaged shoulder, she asked, “Is that the shoulder that got hurt six months ago when you tried to save Clara?”
“Yes. It got a bit banged up in the accident, but it’ll be all right.” Although Naomi didn’t look altogether convinced about that.
“It’s kind of odd that all three of us have injuries to our left shoulders,” Clara noted.
“Do you know how badly mine’s hurt?” Aggie asked. She hadn’t spoken with a doctor yet so she hadn’t got the technical rundown of her injuries.
“Dislocated and two broken bones, you're going to need physical therapy. Naomi and I are experts at that, we’ll be there to help you every step of the way,” Clara told her.
“We’ll have matching scars on our stomachs too,” Naomi joked. “But, Clara, don’t you eventhinkabout trying to get one too.”
Aggie smiled at her sister’s joke, but her gaze strayed to the door. WherewasNick? Why didn’t he come? Sheneededto see him, to reassure herself that he was in fact alive and unhurt.
“He’s been with you basically the whole time. When I got here, he was arguing with the ER doctors who wanted to stitch the gash in his head because he wanted to stand outside the operating room while you had surgery. He sat beside your bed all night while you were floating in and out of consciousness. I think his boss summoned him to give a statement, but he’ll be back soon. That is if Naomi didn’t scare him off.” Clara rolled her eyes.
“Hey, I just told him that if he ever did anything that hurt Aggie, I would find out about it,” Naomi protested.
“And you said you'd make sure he suffered for all eternity,” Clara added.
“Okay, well I didn’t like what he did. That’s not a crime, is it?”
“No, it’s not, and thank you.” Aggie smiled. She liked having sisters who cared enough about her to threaten those who hurt her. How would Clara and Naomi react if she decided to give Nick a second chance?
As if reading her mind, Naomi said, “It’s up to you, Aggie. Whatever you decide is okay, and both of us will support you. Sometimes we have good motives, but we don’t go about things the right way. What Nick did was wrong, but he was trying to save lives. That doesn’t make it any less illegal or immoral, but there is nothing wrong with forgiving him if that’s what you want to do.”
She was so torn. She had forgiven Nick, when she had told him that she had meant it, and she still meant it. Forgiveness wasn't what was scaring her. It was the issue of trust. She wasn't being stubborn or vindictive, but she honestly didn’t know if she would ever be able to trust Nick again, and if she couldn’t then that left them with no future.
“If you’ve forgiven him and you want to give him the opportunity to earn your trust back then make him work for it.”
“Are you some sort of mind reader?” She offered Naomi a weak smile.
Naomi smiled back. “There’s no right or wrong answer, Aggie. You have to do whatever feels right to you. Clara and I are here for you no matter what you decide, Jonathon too.”
