HELEN!
I tried to scream out to him, but my mouth wouldn’t open. And just like that, my eyes closed again, and the light was gone. But I had an escape. I knew what to do. I just thought of that sound…her gasp for air, and when I did…just like that, my eyes opened.
“Wyatt?”
I felt her hand on my face. Slowly, she came into focus. She had cuts all over her brown face. Her hair was a tangled mess, and worse, her natural scent was mixed in now with the smells of the hospital…but even still, she was beautiful.
“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “Stop leaving me.”
Blinking, it took all my strength to respond, “I…I’m…not…go…going…any…where.”
How could I? When she was apparently my driving force.
“Good, we’re going to have to a long talk,” Uncle Declan grumbled as he came up beside us, glaring down at me.
“Dad—”
“I…look…for…forward…to…it,” I replied, and when the look on his face didn’t change, I tried to smile, adding, “Sir.”
He clicked his tongue, but didn’t say anything, causing Darcy to stand up beside him. “You do know we’re going to have to fight about this later.”
“Bring…it.”
“Guys, he needs to rest,” Helen said, and they all looked at her as if she were insane. Before I could say it, Ethan called her out before I could.
“Those who do not take advice shouldn’t give it,” he said, and then his gaze shifted to Darcy. “You fight on your sister’s behalf. I’ll have to fight you on his.”
“And the all lived happily ever after…but what happened to King Ethan?” Sedric gasped, placing his arm around his mother as he leaned into the circle forming around us. “Well, in Callahanville they say—that Ethan’s small heart grew three sizes that day. And then—the true meaning of family came through, and Ethan found the strength of ten Ethans, plus two!”
Everyone was silent, and nothing, not even my current state, stopped me from looking to Ethan to see his reaction. He green eyes stared at Sedric, who just kept grinning, his eyebrow raised. “What is that joke supposed to be referencing?”
Everyone let out a sigh.
“It’s the Grinch,” Uncle Neal replied, but Ethan just stared at him blankly. “You know, the Christmas movie where the green monster tries to steal Christmas, because he’s a grouch.”
“But in the end, he comes to love everyone and returns Christmas, then carves a chicken,” Sedric filled in more.
“It’s a turkey,” Uncle Neal corrected.
“Turkey. Chicken. Whatever.” Sedric rolled his eyes. “They eat a fat bird, and everyone is together at the end.”
“We could make millions if we used them as a comedy skit.” Ethan shook his head, and I finally spoke again.
“He’s…seen it. He’s…messing…with you.”
He snickered at them both. “But please, go on, tell us the whole story. I’ll be Mr. Scrooge next.”
“He’s making fun of us, pops,” Sedric said to his father, making a face. “I’m not really sure how to react to this Ethan.”
“Let’s give it a few days. He might be in shock,” Uncle Neal replied, as if we weren’t all there.
And for some reason, Helen started to laugh. I could feel the whole bed shaking with her. It wasn’t that funny, but her laughter was contagious and maybe a little bit odd, making everyone else laugh along with her. Everyone other than the Grinch, of course, though he did smile.
Death tried to come for this family…for me. But apparently, we Callahans weren’t the dying type.
As they talked, I glanced over to my grandmother, who held back tears just watching us. Finally, her gaze fell on me. She smiled; I didn’t. I just stared at her as her eyebrows frowned together.
I tried to think of what to say. But I realized I had nothing to say to her. Instead, my eyes moved on to the other side. I looked up at him, and he paused, meeting my eyes.
I knew he understood.
So I pushed it to the back of my mind, focusing on her.
She was the only thing that made sense to me anymore.
Loving her had always saved me.
Helen…thank you for kissing me.
EPILOGUE
“The truth does not change
according to our ability to stomach it.”
~ Flannery O'Connor
WYATT
“Do you feel this?” Doherty Han, Chief of Surgery at Chicago Medical, asked me as she pressed into my legs.
“Yes, now fire the morons who declared me brain dead,” I snapped at her, glaring out at the glass at the bloody idiots who apparently didn’t have the balls to face me since I’d regained my speech and upper body movement.
Three weeks.
Three fucking weeks just to get to this point, and my legs still felt like damn logs. I knew the feeling would come back, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be pissed at how long it was bloody taking.
“Your condition was dire when you were brought in. They followed protocol—”
“If you mean they almost had me buried alive, yeah sure,” I snapped, annoyed. Now that I wasn’t trapped and was in full control of myself, I was goddamn pissed!
“You wouldn’t have been buried alive,” she replied, shining the damn light in my eyes. “You would have most likely gone into shock and then died of hypoxia.”
Looking away from her and toward the man beside me casually eating my damn applesauce, I asked, “Why is she still the chief of this hospital?”
Ethan blinked like he hadn’t been paying attention, needing to recall the question before answering. His green eyes looked to her and then back to me, “She gives us a discount.”
“We own half the hospital!”
“Doesn’t mean we don’t still pay,” he replied, taking another spoonful into his mouth before flipping the page of his book.
He couldn’t be serious right now.
“You can take him home now,
