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Iwaitedforher.
I was caught in a nightmare since I found her lying on that basement floor, beaten and bloody. When I succumbed to exhaustion, that was all I saw: her face pale, her body broken as her eyes fluttered closed and stayed that way. I’d been so close to being too late. Maybe I had been.
It was easy enough to find him. Tony had been renting a house in Sherrodsville. He was there for about a month. Barely less time than Wren had been in Cypress Falls. I still had no idea what connection this man had to Wren or her past, but it didn’t matter. He would be in jail for a very long time. What mattered was Wren.
She’d been rushed to the hospital with multiple injuries. Knife wounds had been stitched up, her broken arm set and casted. But it was the head injuries that concerned the doctors. The blunt force trauma had her in limbo. They needed her to wake up to truly assess the damage. If she woke up.
And so, I waited.
Minutes ticked by as I stayed by her bedside, clutching her hand. The minutes always turned to hours, which gathered into days and still, she didn’t open her eyes. She didn’t move.
I tightened my hand over hers, my eyes burning from lack of sleep. The doctor had come in that afternoon to give me some updates on her recovery and how concerned he was that she hadn’t woken yet. It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest with bare hands.
It was dark now, her room bathed in a dim glow of nightlights on her wall. I could barely see the stars out the window, but they were there, shining in the darkness. Something tickled my cheek and I swiped at it, realizing it was a tear.
I grasped Wren’s small, frail hand in mine, silently begging her to come back, to give me any sign she was there. Carefully, I lifted her lifeless hand, placing it on my chest, directly over my heart. I wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone. She’d never be alone again.
My thoughts drifted to the small tattoo right under Wren’s palm. The tattoo in memory of my little brother. I’d already lost too much. I didn’t want to go through that again.
I drew in a deep breath, tears slipping down my cheeks.
“Crew,” I whispered, voice shaking. “Hey, buddy. If you can hear me, I need some help.” I gazed down at Wren, at her bruised, placid face. “Help her find her way back to me.”
I didn’t care that I wasn’t good enough for her. I no longer indulged my helpless feeling of inadequacy. I didn’t think it was about deserving her. I could never deserve something as precious as her no matter how hard I tried to atone for my sins.
It was never enough.
Perhaps it wasn’t about that. Maybe it was about accepting the gift I had been given. Taking it willingly, knowing that she was mine to protect. To cherish. I had long felt like I didn’t deserve happiness and maybe I didn’t. But she wanted me despite my shortcomings. Who was I to turn away such an honor? I wouldn’t live my life in vain any longer. I couldn’t let it pass me by, let time make me bitter and rotten like my father. I could no longer let him, or his words, make me feel small and insignificant.
I was significant to Wren, and I wouldn’t fail her.
I leaned down, pressing my forehead against Wren’s, breathing in her scent, relishing the steady warmth of her breath on my skin.
“I love you,” I whispered to her, fervent and desperate. “I love you so much, and I won’t let you go without a fight this time.”
