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Pulling the mask away from my mouth, I barked out Gray’s name, before I pressed it back to my face, heaving in a deep breath to try to stop the cough I could feel vibrating through my chest.
“He’s in surgery. His lung collapsed and he’s ruptured his spleen. I know it sounds scary, but it could have been so much worse. You did an exceptionally brave thing, Ethan. You saved his life. As soon as he’s out of theater or I have any updates, I promise to come and tell you both.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Ivy replied for me, before placing a kiss to my temple as my eyes closed, the pain medication swimming through my veins.
“Mrs. Tate-Hill, do you need us to check you over as well?”
“No, I’m fine. Just look after my husbands. Please.”
“Okay, but if you change your mind, get one of the nurses to beep me. Now get some rest. Both of you. And I’ll be back as soon as I know anything.”
The doctor walked from the room, leaving us alone and Ivy pressed her forehead to mine. “Are you in pain?”
“A little, but it was worth it,” I forced out.
“I thought I’d lost you both.”
“Never, princess. You’re stuck with us for life.”
“Good,” she whispered.
There was a loud knock on the door before it opened, Thomas, Melissa, and a nurse standing there.
“Right, Ethan, we are going to dress your burn and stitch up your cuts. I’m not going to lie, it’s going to hurt, so we’re going to give you something extra for the pain. Why doesn’t everyone step outside while we get you sorted?”
I winked at Ivy with a nod, not wanting her to watch me hurting. Thomas wrapped his arm around her, guiding her from the room, while the nurse injected me with something that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, letting me detach from my body and the pain.
Ivy
“Hazel’sbeenarrested.Ifound another two people, trying to run from the back of your property, who’d obviously helped her. I took care of them too. Sean’s now tracking down all the other members of PureGrace and we’ll make sure they’re handed over to the authorities as well,” Thomas told me as he handed me the sweet tea he’d pulled from the vending machine.
“PureGrace?” I asked, confused.
“The group Hazel was a part of. Well, I think she was probably in charge of it, but I still need to prove that. It’s a hate group. Plain and simple. They used the argument that they were removing sin from the world to hurt people they didn’t think fit with ‘the norm’. Gray seemed to have set something off in her that made her obsessed with you all. That fire today was a sign of her rage. The off the record assessment by the fire chief was that they surrounded the house with accelerant and then poured it into the vents that you have for the aircon, so it spread through the ceilings as well as speeding up how quickly it surrounded the house. You were all lucky to get out alive.”
I stared at him and Melissa for a moment while I let the information settle and wondered again how someone could be so hateful. “Thank you… both of you, for just dropping everything to come and save us.”
“You’d already done all the hard work, Ivy,” Melissa offered with a smile. “Look, Thomas and I are taking the kids away for the summer. We’ll be gone about six weeks. We want you to take our house while you sort the fire damage.”
“Really?”
“Really. You’d be doing us a favor, house sitting for us, and you can all take some time to rest and recover. You’ll have a team of T’s security on the house and with you all 24/7.”
Suddenly, I panicked. “Shit, Ed? Did you find Ed?”
“I did, knocked out cold in the garden. He’ll be fine. Say you’ll stay at the house, Ivy?” Thomas asked, his usually stern, emotionless face softening.
“Thank you, that would be amazing,” I replied, tears threatening to fall from their kindness.
“Mrs.Tate-Hill,” a voice interrupted our conversation. I turned quickly, and the world went fuzzy, my legs buckling under me. Thomas caught me by the elbows, stopping me from hitting the floor.
“Whoa, Ivy, take a seat. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’ve just been a bit off colour since I was kidnapped, drugged, and then my house burned down, nearly killing my husbands.” I squeezed the bridge of my nose, hoping my words didn’t come across as sarcastic as they sounded in my head.
“Ivy?” A doctor suddenly appeared in front of me. “Did you say you were kidnapped and drugged? Have you been seen by a doctor? Been checked out?”
“No. I hate hospitals… doctors… tests. They freak me out.” I shuddered at the thought.
