by Christi Snow
He had to keep Daniel awake. “Tell me...about Luke.”
“Loved him.”
Brady cried. Dammit. They were supposed to have more time.
“Tell him...sorry.” Then Daniel’s shivering abruptly ceased.
“Daniel!” Brady shook his cousin, but Daniel’s grip had gone slack. It was all Brady could do to keep them both on the hunk of plane. He screamed and yelled, but nothing got Daniel to open his eyes again.
As he fought to try to get Daniel to awaken, he could feel the pull of the cold sucking him under. He was so fucking tired. His thoughts slowed. Everything felt blissfully numb.
Sleeping seemed like it would be warm. He could feel it there at the edge of his subconscious waiting. He tried to hold onto pleasant memories of Emily, their last time making love. The feel of her warm body holding him. If he was going to die, he wanted her to be his last thought.
The world went black.
EMILY AND AUSTIN HAD just arrived at the Coast Guard station when word came in that the search and recovery effort had recovered two men from the wreckage. There was no other word, not about who they were, their condition...nothing except which hospital to go to.
They raced across town, Emily afraid to hope. She didn’t even know who had been on the plane. Brady had been in Florida for a Veiled Lies concert.
The waiting room of the hospital was filled with the Gresham family. Lily came forward and enveloped Emily in a warm embrace.
After everything that had happened at Christmas, for Brady’s mom to welcome her like a long-lost part of the family made her want to weep. She’d only known them such a short time, but Brady’s family were so much a part of him, she loved them, too.
“Have you heard anything yet?” Emily asked.
Lily shook her head. “From what we can piece together, both Daniel and Brady were on the plane with two pilots. The only thing we know is that whoever they recovered floated in the water for over thirty minutes.”
Emily glanced out the doorway of the waiting room. New York had been extremely cold this last week even for February. Brady had been excited to head to south Florida to get away from the frigid temperatures. The water of the Atlantic Ocean had to be significantly colder right now. They’d been in the water so long.
She unconsciously shivered and met Luke’s desolate gaze across the room. He sat in the corner by himself, apart from the family and looked as devastated as she felt. She leaned over to Austin. “I’ll be right back.”
He followed her gaze and nodded.
Emily crossed the room and sat in the chair beside Luke, grabbing his hand. “Are you okay?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m as okay as anyone else is in this room.”
Emily chuffed out a small laugh that sounded more like a sob. “So not at all, right?”
“Pretty much.” He pulled her into his arms and comforted her while she cried into his chest. “They’re both tough guys. They’ll come out of this,” his voice sounded gruff.
She just nodded, her throat too tight to get any words out.
Luke stiffened. “The doctor...”
Emily pulled out of his embrace as two doctors came into the room, one older and one in his mid-thirties. “Daniel and Brady Gresham?” the younger one called.
Everyone in the room stood.
The older doctor cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I know the men are related, but I’m not clear on exactly how.”
Brady’s father stepped forward. “They’re cousins. We’re Brady’s parents and”—he motioned to Daniel’s parents who looked equally frantic—“this is my brother and his wife. They’re Daniel’s parents.”
“Okay.” The doctor blew out a breath and glanced worriedly around the room. “Would you rather have this discussion in private? Or—”
“No,” Brady’s dad said. “We’re all family here. You can tell us all at the same time. How are they?”
The doctor nodded, and looked even more grim.
The blood pounding in Emily’s ears made it hard to hear. Would this be the moment that she found out Brady had died?
“As you know, the water they were in was very cold. As a result, both men came in experiencing full cardiac arrest.”
Gasps rang through the room.
“Normally, that’s a good thing when dealing with hypothermia. It’s the body’s way of dealing with the trauma and protecting organ function. Unfortunately, they’d also been in a plane crash, so the hypothermia wasn’t all that their bodies were trying to recover from. Daniel withstood more initial injuries from the plane crash than Brady did. The plane crash resulted in partial amputation of both his legs. They’re prepping him for surgery right now.”
“Oh, no,” Daniel’s mother whispered.
“The blood loss combined with the head trauma and cold means Daniel’s body has had to work harder to compensate and try to recover from all the trauma. He’s dropped into a coma. Right now, it’s too early to tell if and when he’ll wake up and what his cognitive condition will be when that happens.”
Emily grabbed Luke’s hand and clung to him.
Daniel’s mother devolved into sobs. A tremor of shock rocketed through Luke, reverberating through Emily’s body. She squeezed his hand, even as Austin joined her on the other side and took her other hand.
“Right now, Brady is holding his own,” the doctor continued. “We’re slowly bringing up his core body temperature, and he’s showing signs of awareness. This is a very gradual process, and it’s way too early to predict how his recovery will go. We should know more in a few hours.
“Both men need all your positive thoughts and prayers. The next twenty-four hours are going to be the most crucial.” He nodded toward the hall. “They’ll both be ICU, which has very limited visiting restrictions. We can only allow two visitors once they’re in their rooms. For Brady, that should be within the next thirty minutes. We’ll let you know about Daniel after he comes out of surgery.” The doctor turned to Brady’s parents. “As the parents, you get first dibs. Would you like to come with me and I’ll show you the ICU procedures?”
They nodded and followed the doctor out of the room.
Luke gripped her hand to get her attention. “I have to get out of here,” he said, his voice sounding choked.
She reached up and pulled him down into a tight hug. “He’s still alive. That’s all that matters now,” she whispered in his ear.
Luke nodded and rushed off.
“Who was that?” Austin frowned in confusion as Luke fled the waiting room.
“Brady’s driver and friend, but he and Daniel were involved at some point in time. I’m pretty sure Luke’s in love with Daniel.”
Austin tensed.
Tears rolled freely down her face. Just a few weeks ago, she’d been watching Daniel hop around on stage so full of life and energy. To face double amputation? She couldn’t even imagine, but like she’d told Luke...at least he was alive. He was young. He’d adapt. They just both had to live at this point.
Anything else they could deal with later. The doctor hadn’t said it, but there could be lasting effects from the hypothermia. The possibilities swam in her head, and it grew harder and harder to breathe.
Emily swallowed. She wrapped her arms around her waist, feeling like her heart was bleeding out inside her chest. Right now, Brady was alive somewhere inside this hospital, fighting for his life. All she wanted was to get to him, to see him. She needed to see him. Alive.
BRADY COULDN’T GET warm. It was so cold.
Why didn’t someone turn on the heat?
Where was Emily?
He reached out for her.
Nothing.
Voices echoed from far away, but he couldn’t open his eyes.
Emily?
Daniel. Where was Daniel?
He had to help Daniel.
Something was wrong.
All wrong.
He needed Emily.
IT SEEMED LIKE HOURS later before Brady’s dad, Sco
tt, came back to the waiting room although it had probably been around thirty minutes. He aimed straight for Emily. “Brady’s waking up and asking for you.”
Waking up was good, right? Relief shot through her, but she was terrified to move. Terrified to find out it had all been a bad nightmare, and Brady was gone.
Austin wrapped his free arm around her. “Go to him.”
That was enough to shock her out of her stupor. She squeezed Austin’s hand, stood, and nodded quickly. “Yes, I want to see him.”
She followed Scott down the hall. Brady’s room had interior windows so the nurses could keep an eye on him, a stark reminder at just how close he’d come to dying. He still could succumb to the trauma his body had suffered.
At her first sight of him, Emily’s breath caught in her throat. His dark hair was a mess, and he was deathly pale. Even his lips were a frightening pale shade of gray.
Rushing into the room, she didn’t pay attention to anything else besides Brady. She raised a shaking hand to touch his cold cheek, his dark scruff prickly under her fingertips. His skin still felt frighteningly cold to the touch. She choked on a sob.
A large bruise marred his left cheekbone, and his lips were chapped and cracked.
At her touch, his blue eyes popped open, marred by bloodshot veins. Slowly, recognition dawned and he mouthed her name. “Emily.”
“Yes.” She brushed a light kiss across his cheek and breathed him in. “You scared me. Don’t ever do that again, okay?”
He squinted at her in confusion for a moment, and as he remembered, his expression twisted in pain. “Plane crash.”
“Yes, but you’re going to be okay. You survived.” And there wasn’t enough ways she could thank God for that.
He nodded with a wince. “Daniel?” His voice was scratchy and barely there as he searched her face.
She glanced over at his parents, silently weeping in the corner. Someone had pushed to allow three of them in here at a time. Brady’s dad gave her a slight nod, letting her know it was okay to tell him.
Her eyes filled with tears. “He’s alive, too. He’s in really bad shape, but for right now, you’re both alive and breathing. We’re focusing on that.”
His lips firmed, and tears silently flowed down his cheeks. He pulled her onto the bed with him, surprisingly strong after his ordeal.
She wrapped her arms around him, relishing the feel of his vitality and his muscular body. He’s okay. She took a deep breath, the first one she’d taken all day.
“Don’t leave,” he said.
“They’d have to drag me away.”
BRADY WAS IN THE HOSPITAL several more days for testing. The doctors didn’t want to let him go until they were assured that his heart and neurological function were going to recover completely. Luckily, everything checked out as good, something that surprised all the doctors considering the shape he’d arrived in.
Brady’s hospitalization was important to ensure he fully recovered, but after three days of not having a single moment alone with him, Emily was ready to scream. She desperately wanted and needed some private time with him. She had so much to tell him, but they didn’t need an audience for that discussion.
She blew out a breath. Patience. The time would come. Brady was recovering, and she was lucky to have many, many more years with him. She could wait a few more hours or even days.
On the other hand, Daniel remained in a coma and the neurological tests didn’t give the family much hope for his recovery. Her heart mourned for him and everyone who loved him. She hadn’t known him for very long, but he’d been so full of life. It was hard to believe that might be slipping away.
Luke had disappeared. He’d texted Emily a few times just to make sure to stay up to date and be ready if Brady needed him, but he stayed far away from the hospital. Emily’s heart broke for him.
Since Brady had been brought in, she hadn’t left the hospital. Austin brought her food and changes of clothes every day. Letting Brady out of her sight seemed like it might jinx his condition. During those first couple of days when he was still in the ICU, it had about killed her to leave him to go to the waiting room so someone else could visit him.
In fact, Emily was worried about him. He’d gone quiet. There hadn’t been much quality time to talk about things in the hospital since they were never alone, but he seemed to be sinking inside himself.
With talk of his release happening today, he’d virtually pushed her out of his hospital room when his parents arrived, urging her to go get some coffee while he got dressed.
Worry plagued her as she headed in the direction of the cafeteria.
Not paying attention, she startled when she ran into Austin in the hall. “Austin, what are you doing here?”
He glanced guiltily behind him...toward Daniel’s room.
“Were you...were you in Daniel’s room?” Why would he be visiting Daniel?
“Um...” He glanced up and down the hall like he was looking for a reason to be there.
“Austin?”
“Okay, yes.” He blew out a breath and gently tugged her into an alcove. “I met him once. I just wanted to see if it was really him.”
“What? When?” None of this made any sense to her.
“It was a couple of years ago. It was after a concert. He was wasted out of his mind—I had no idea how wasted he was—but it was the best night of my life...until it wasn’t.” Austin closed his eyes as if in pain.
She was reading a lot between the lines here, but... “What happened?”
“We had some of the hottest sex I’ve ever had, and then he called me someone else’s name before passing out. I had no idea he was as drunk as he was...he may have even been high. I’ve always wondered about him, worried about him... I kept getting glimpses of some sort of pain that night.” Austin’s tortured gaze looked back at the room. “He’s not getting better, is he?”
“No, I don’t think so.” Working on a hunch, she grabbed Austin’s hand. “Whose name did he say?”
Austin clenched his jaw, and she could see just how much he didn’t want to answer the question. “Luke.” Austin cleared his throat. “That was the guy in the waiting room that first day, right?”
She nodded.
“I haven’t seen him around since that day,” Austin said.
“No, he’s disappeared. I get texts from him because he wants to keep up with their condition, but yeah...” She looked over at Daniel’s room. “ I think this is probably tearing him apart.”
Austin blew out a breath and appeared to think for a moment before he shook his head. “But that doesn’t explain you. What are you doing roaming the halls?”
She gave him a strained smile. “Brady told me to go get some coffee. I think...” Tears filled her eyes. “He’s pushing me away, and I don’t know how to stop it.”
“Em, he’s gone through a trauma. Give him some time to get on an even keel again. He came very close to dying. That would mess a guy up.”
She nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I just keep thinking about how much time I’ve wasted while he’s been waiting patiently. What if I’m too late?”
Austin shook his head and laughed. “If this is all it took to make things too late, then you’ve dodged a bullet. But I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. Get him home and give the guy a chance to acclimate again. I think you guys are going to be fine, but it’s been a hard week. Now, go back to his room, and take him home.”
She leaned up and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “You’re a good man, Austin. I lucked out when you became my brother...even though legally I can’t call you that anymore.”
“That goes both ways, sis. And as far as I’m concerned, you’ll always be family. Now, go back to be with your man.”
Her man. Yes, he was, and she would fight to keep him in that position.
She turned right back around and headed straight to Brady’s room. The door was cracked open, so she could hear him talking to his mom as she appro
ached.
“But Brady, I don’t understand. She hasn’t left your side once since you were brought in. Now you want me to send her away?”
“Yes. You have to.” Brady sounded so distraught. “I can’t do this anymore, Mom. I know she cares. Hell, she wouldn’t be here if she didn’t, but she’s not ready to commit to us yet. I don’t want this accident to guilt her into a decision she never would have made otherwise. It’s not fair to her or to me.”
Emily had heard enough. She strode into the room, and both Brady and his mom turned wary eyes to her. “No.” She swiped a hand in Brady’s direction, taking note that he was dressed.
Damn, if she wasn’t so angry at this moment in time, she’d probably be crying at that symbol of his recovery. It seemed like it would never happen.
But fury overwhelmed everything else, so she glared at him instead. “What isn’t fair of you is to make this decision without me. Yes, I’ve been here the whole time, but dammit, I was in New York even before your plane went down.” She began to pace around his bed. “I have news for you, wonderful news about your movie score.” She’d been so excited for both of them, but in light of the last few days, the movie hardly mattered anymore. Brady was the thing that mattered most.
“But mainly, you stupid, stubborn man,” she swiped angrily at the hair falling in front of her face from her furious movements. “I came here to tell you that I love you, and I don’t want to be apart anymore.”
She threw up her arms. “Instead, you’ve decided to be the fucking idiot.”
Now the tears formed and began to roll down her face. “I can’t wait anymore. I’ve tried to be patient, but there’s always someone here in this room with you.” She gestured to his mother, who suddenly wasn’t there anymore.
She glanced around the room. No one else was there. “Where did she go?”
Brady stood and approached her with a smile. “I think maybe you scared her off.”
She winced. Dammit. She’d scared his mother off. While she was thankful for the privacy...
He reached for her. “Are you serious about all that?”
