“Cheydan, listen to me,” Maddock demanded, grabbing his brother till Cheydan looked at him.
“Do the miracle. Get her to take dialysis. I’ll be back in a little bit with Maddy. Zeph’s right; I think she can help, but we need some time.”
Cheydan stared at his brother in confusion as Maddock raced from the room, but as soon as he was out of sight Cheydan’s eyes returned to Lissy.
Who was he kidding? He wasn’t at risk of falling for a girl who didn’t love him if he did a miracle. It was too late for that. He was already in love. Even if she never wanted to see him again, he couldn’t live with himself if he let her die without doing everything in his power to save her.
Lissy lay on the bed with her eyes half open, her breathing labored, and Cheydan wasn’t sure exactly how cognizant she was. He stretched out his hands and grabbed her shoulders, saying a prayer that his gift would be enough.
He concentrated, letting the power well up in his belly then forcing it through his arms and into hers. Lissy gasped as her body absorbed it, vibrating with a rush of electricity, and she stared at him in awe through wide open eyes.
When Cheydan had released every ounce of power left inside him, he collapsed to the floor, spent, and the room went black around him.
“Cheydan!” Lissy cried as his body thumped to the ground beside her. She lifted herself up to peer over the bed. She was too weak to help him, but her hand groped around in the bedsheets for the call button, and she pressed it.
The nurses came scrambling back into her room but halted when they saw Cheydan.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him. He was acting weird and then he fainted,” Lissy explained.
“He’s in shock, honey,” the gray-haired nurse explained as she and her partner bent down to check on Cheydan. “He’s about to lose the one he loves.”
Lissy looked at him, and her heart swelled as she realized what the nurse was saying. Was it possible that Cheydan loved her? He’d never said the words, but she realized he’d told her that with every action. She felt her emotions take over her like a chemical reaction, a baking soda and vinegar volcano that bubbled up inside of her till it exploded, words erupting from her mouth like lava.
“I love him, too! I can’t leave him! Please, I want dialysis. I need to be here when he wakes up. I have to tell him I love him!”
Both nurses stopped what they were doing and rushed towards her. “It’s about time you came to your senses!” the younger one replied.
She yanked the covers off Lissy while the other nurse pulled a wheelchair up to the bed. In minutes, they had her in the chair and were wheeling her down to dialysis, yelling at the other nurses to check on Cheydan as they went.
Twenty minutes later, Cheydan woke with a gasp, sitting up and grasping in confusion at the IV tube coming out of his arm and the lump on his head. The room was unfamiliar, and Lissy was nowhere in sight.
“It’s okay, Cheydan, you just fainted.” Cheydan swiveled his head towards Zeph’s voice. Zeph was sitting in the chair next to the bed, his blond hair mussed like he’d been running his fingers though it.
“Where is she?” He glanced frantically around the room, looking for Lissy.
“She’s in dialysis. You wanna go see her?”
Cheydan’s eyes popped open and he nodded, pulling the IV from his arm. He wobbled a little as he stood, but his strength came back as he started walking. He followed Zeph down the hallway towards the elevator, grateful that none of the nursing staff seemed to notice him. They probably wouldn’t approve of him getting out of bed.
“So it worked? The miracle?”
Zeph nodded, smiling. “Yup. You did a great job, Cheydan. I wish you could’ve seen her when you dropped.”
“She was upset?”
“Hollered at the nurses, told them she loved you. That was a little awkward. But romantic, I guess.” Zeph quirked his lip in a tiny smile.
Cheydan stopped short and turned towards Zeph, his eyes wide in confusion. “She said she loves me? But I thought…she said…”
“Girls don’t always say what they really mean, Cheydan. That’s Women 101. Didn’t anybody ever tell you that?”
Cheydan smirked, remembering how Dominion had said almost the exact same thing.
Zeph pointed towards the dialysis room, and Cheydan entered, his hands going to his mouth as soon as he saw her lying in the bed, hooked up to a dialysis machine.
“Cheydan? Are you okay?” Lissy’s face was twisted with concern, but she already looked a little better.
Cheydan just nodded, the lump in his throat impossible to talk through. He walked to her bed and kneeled, taking her hand in his. “Lissy, I —“
“Shh, let me go first, Cheydan.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “I didn’t mean anything I said earlier, Cheydan. I’m sorry. I was just trying to spare you from all this. The truth is, I love you. There’s nothing I want more than to be with you. I just didn’t want to burden you with my problems.”
His chocolate eyes melted as he stared into hers, and he reached to stroke her cheek. “Loving you could never be a burden, Lissy. Trying not to love you is what’s too hard.”
She bit her lip to stop from crying, and Cheydan leaned forward and tugged it free, capturing it with his own, kissing her until they both moaned, until their lungs ached from lack of oxygen. Finally, Cheydan pulled away, but only enough to let the air flow between them, their gasping breaths pushing the air back and forth between them.
“Cheydan, what did you do to me before? You were holding me, and it felt so strange, like there was electricity coming out of you.”
Cheydan dropped his head and stared at his wrinkled clothing, randomly wondering if his hair was messy. He knew he was avoiding the question, but all he could think about was how rumpled he looked and whether or not the back of his pants was dirty.
“Cheydan?”
“I worked a miracle,” he blurted, and immediately stared in her eyes to catch her reaction. She was unsurprisingly confused.
He had never been more relieved to hear his brother’s voice than at that moment.
Maddock dashed to his car and sped to the shelter, ignoring the slick roads and praying all the way that Maddy would help him. He’d never seen his brother in so much pain before. He felt it in every cell of his own body. He had to save Lissy or he was going to lose his brother.
Linda sat at the reception desk, doodling on a piece of paper, when Maddock came careening through the front door. “Where’s Maddy?” he hollered, running past her, turning his head around backwards.
“In her cot, I imagine. What’s got your knickers in a twist, Maddock?”
“No time, tell you later!” His voice echoed from down the next hallway.
“Maddy! Maddy! I need you!” He skidded into the sleeping area, weaving around the other cots, raising a murmur from the other guests, till he got to Maddy’s. She popped up, staring at him like he was a madman.
He grabbed a hold of her shoulders and shook her a little, his eyes wild with urgency. “Please, I need your help. Will you come with me?”
Maddy gulped and nodded, grabbing his outstretched hand and following him out of the shelter. They jumped in the car, and Maddock squealed out of the parking lot and onto the street, barely looking for oncoming traffic.
“Maddock, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.” Her voice came out like a mouse squeak.
Maddock twisted his head to look at her, surprised by the terror etched in her features. He took a deep breath to calm himself and loosened his death grip on the wheel. “Maddy, my brother’s girlfriend is very sick. If she doesn’t get help right away, she’s going to die, and it’s going to kill him.”
“Maddock, I’m so sorry, but… I don’t understand how I can help him.”
Maddock stared at her, desperately wishing he could do this differently, but there was no time. “His girlfriend is your twin sister,” he blurted.
Maddy’s eyes widened into poached eggs,
and her breath grew loud as she forced it through her flaring nostrils.
“I walked in there tonight and saw you, lying in a hospital bed, dying, with my brother sobbing over your limp body.”
Maddy flinched at the look of pain in Maddock’s face as he remembered.
“She needs a kidney transplant.”
Maddy stared at him, unwilling to believe what he was implying. “You want me to give my sister a kidney?”
Maddock nodded, gulping. The scenery whizzing by made Maddy feel like she was moving in slow motion, too stunned to keep up with reality.
“I won’t do it.” Maddy’s voice was a whisper, but the words spoke loudly.
Maddock gasped. “Maddy! She’s your sister.”
“She’s a stranger. I don’t even know her. She’s some spoiled, little brat who got the perfect life while I was stuck being abused and neglected by my aunt and her loser boyfriends. Why should I do anything for her? She never tried to do anything for me!”
“But she’ll die if you don’t help her!”
“I don’t care.” She scowled, turning away from him and spitting her response at the window. “I can’t believe you’re asking this of me.”
Maddock gaped at her. How could she be so selfish? He couldn’t believe the way she was responding. Maddock pulled into the hospital parking lot and turned to stare at her.
“At least meet her, talk to her. She’s your family, Maddy. Your twin.” Maybe if she could see how sickly Lissy looked, she’d feel some compassion for her.
“Family means nothing to me, Maddock. Just because someone shares some DNA with you doesn’t mean they care about you. Take me back to the shelter, Maddock. I don’t want to meet her.”
His mind whirled as he stared at her, shadows and anger distorting her face. She wasn’t a selfish person, far from it, but the years of pain and rejection had welled up too high inside her, and the dam was bursting, spewing revenge.
Maybe with time he could make her see reason, maybe if she met her sister she would sympathize with her plight. But Maddock had no guarantee of either of those things, and Lissy might have only hours left to live.
Only one solution offered hope for all of them, but was Maddock willing to commit his heart? He cared deeply about Maddy, maybe even loved her. But she was broken, and she was just starting to open up to him and let him care for her. He really had no idea how she felt about him. If he let himself fall in love with her, would she ever be able to love him back?
His mind’s eye flashed back to the image of his brother clinging to Lissy. Cheydan was obviously already in love with her. Even if he didn’t work a miracle, he’d never get over her if he lost her. Was Maddock willing to sacrifice his own heart to save his brother’s?
Maddock didn’t have to contemplate the answer to that.
Impulsively, he stretched out his hands to Maddy, grabbing her shoulders. She gasped as the power flowed through his fingers, first a small tingle, then a pulsing flood.
He wasn’t sure how much power it took to work a miracle, but after a minute Maddock felt himself teetering on the edge of consciousness and jerked away before he passed out. Maddy stared at him, her eyes and mouth wide circles as she slowly rubbed the spots where his hands had been.
“What was that?” she whispered breathlessly, and the sound of her voice was so arousing that Maddock instantly wanted to reach for her.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” he forced out his own breathy reply.
“Maddy, will you please go in with me and meet your sister?” He asked, running a hand down the side of her cheek. She nodded, but neither one of them moved, too caught up in each other’s eyes.
Finally, Maddock tore his gaze away for a moment and opened the door, fumbling to climb out of the car without looking away from her. Maddy did the same, and their eyes met again over the hood. Maddock held out his hand towards her and traced along the edge of the car till she was in reach. She grasped his palm and squeezed, and they walked slowly into the hospital, barely taking their eyes off each other.
“Cheydan?” Maddock called out tentatively from the hallway. “Can we come in?”
“Yes!” Cheydan’s voice squeaked as he jumped up, grateful for the interruption. He had no idea how to explain who he was or what he had done to Lissy.
“Oh my God!” Three separate voices cried out as Maddock led Maddy by the hand into the hospital room. Only Zeph and Maddock were quiet. The girls stared at each other, their faces identical masks of amazement. Cheydan swung his head back and forth between them like a pendulum, his mouth gaping open. Random sounds fell from it.
Zeph took over the situation. “Didn’t you say Lissy had a twin sister that you couldn’t find, Cheydan?” Cheydan nodded, still too stunned to say anything. “Well, your brother found her for you.”
It was obvious the girls were twins, but Cheydan was too flabbergasted to think straight. “But, I thought your girlfriend’s name was Madison?” Cheydan glanced between Maddock and Maddy. “Lissy’s sister’s name is Amanda.”
Maddy turned to Maddock, nodding sheepishly. “My aunt called me Mandy, but she was usually drunk, so it came out more like Maddy. I’m sorry I lied to you, Maddock.”
She glanced up at him, her face pinched with regret. “I just wanted to be somebody different.”
Maddock gave her an understanding look. “It’s okay, Maddy. I get it.” He suspected as much when no one named Madison came up on the police roster the night he was searching for her. He figured she’d tell him when she was ready.
Maddy leaned in to Maddock as she stared at her sister, her body vibrating with mixed emotions. She’d spent her whole life resenting and envying the sister who got away from their messed up family. Her aunt had constantly lamented the fact that Maddy’s mother had only given up one of the girls for adoption and had left her to raise the other one.
Maddy never actually expected to meet her sister; she was just a nameless face who lived a life that Maddy could only wish for. But now, it felt strange to have such negative feelings towards someone she’d never met, someone who was deathly ill and looked exactly like her. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming need to help her.
“Maddy? That’s what you go by?” Lissy’s small voice poked through the tension, and Cheydan moved aside to clear a path for Maddy. Maddy nodded and inched closer. “I go by Lissy, short for Melissa. I’ve been told it’s the name our mother gave me.”
Maddy nodded again and approached her slowly. She couldn’t get over the weird sensation of looking at her own face on another person. The same long, dark hair, the same small frame, the same green eyes. Maddy’s first instinct was to make a face like she would in a mirror.
“I just found out I was adopted a few months ago. I never knew you existed until last week. But you knew about me?”
“My aunt told me about you — our aunt — Ricki. She’s the one who raised me, not our mother.” Maddy bit her lip and stuck her nervous hands in her pockets.
“I know; I went to look for our mother and I found her. Frederica Peters?”
“Our mother’s twin sister. Ricki and Nicki. Guess it runs in the family.” The girls bobbed their heads in unison.
“This is wild, isn’t it?” Maddock whispered to Cheydan. “Is it this weird for other people to be around us?”
Cheydan chuckled, and the release broke the tension that had clenched around him. “She told me she loves me, Maddock. Can you believe it? She’s so amazing. I can’t wait for you to get to know her.”
“I don’t know, man, I might be kinda busy.”
“What? Why?”
Maddock nodded towards Maddy, who was bent down in front of her sister, smiling. “Cuz I found my own true love.”
Stars lit Cheydan’s eyes as he glanced from Maddy to his brother. “You mean… you…?”
Maddock nodded, grinning. “She needed a little persuasion.”
A loud guffaw sprung from Cheydan, and he clapped his brother on the back as a wide smile too
k over both their faces.
“What is all this commotion? Don’t you know there’s sick people in here, trying to recover?” A deep voice echoed into the room, followed by a smiling doctor. His eyes widened as he took in the room full of people. The chatter stopped, and all eyes turned towards him as he entered.
“Doc Rafe?” Cheydan reached out a hand, surprised.
The young, scruffy-cheeked doctor in a white lab coat and a hot pink tie shook Cheydan’s hand then patted Maddock on the back.
“Hi Cheydan, Maddock, Zeph.” He nodded at each of them. “A little birdie told me my favorite patient had a change of heart tonight. Do I have one of you to thank for that?”
“Are you Lissy’s doctor?” Cheydan asked.
“I am. And you’re Lissy’s…?” He quirked a mischievous eyebrow.
A blush covered Cheydan’s cheeks.
“He’s the miracle-worker who got her in that chair,” Maddock explained, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. He knew his brother didn’t have the guts to say it.
A wide smile took over the doctor’s face. “Well then, congratulations, Cheydan.”
Cheydan blushed again and dropped his head.
“Lissy, sweetheart, am I going crazy, or does this girl look exactly like you?” He flashed a smile at Maddy and neared the bed, swiping a hand down Lissy’s hair and feeling her forehead with the back of his hand.
“This is my sister, Maddy.”
“Raphael DiAngelo. Everybody calls me Doc Rafe. Pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand to shake.
“Why didn’t I know you had a twin sister?” he asked, turning back towards Lissy.
“Because I didn’t know I had a twin sister till a few weeks ago. I just met her tonight.”
“That miracle is on Maddock,” Cheydan explained, and the doctor let out a chuckle.
“Couldn’t stand to let your brother one-up you, could ya, Maddock?”
Maddock shrugged and grinned.
“So you’ve had a pretty busy night, then, huh?” He shined a light in Lissy’s eyes and waved it back and forth, indicating she should follow it.
Date with Destiny Collection: Angel Romance Series: Books 1 - 4 Page 41
