“I’ll be right here. We both will,” Dahlia tells Hunter. Since she’s not family, she can’t go into the ICU room and they won’t allow Zip in either.
“Okay,” he says. His chest tightens, and he tries to shift the uneasiness away. Each footstep he takes is a solo beating drum in the balance of his future. Behind him is Dahlia and everything he’s found in South Dakota, and somewhere ahead of him is Faith. Is leaving one for the other what his future will look like? Will he be forced to make a choice?
“She’s right in here,” the nurse tells him and opens the door. A rhythmic beeping comes from the machine beside her bed and Carter turns his head, blocking Hunter’s view as he steps in.
“So, she let you piece of shit in here after all?” he asks.
“I didn’t know when I left and I’m here now so.”
“Yeah, you sure are.” Carter steps to the side and Hunter’s heart lurches. Faith has a bandage wrapped around her head, hiding an IV. Her dark lashes, his lashes, rest against her cheeks as her chest steadily rises and falls. He counts each of her tiny fingers and memorizes the shape of her nose.
“The doctors say the next seventy-two hours are critical. We never leave her alone. It’s either mom and dad, your parents or me. She hasn’t woken up since the crash.”
Hunter falls into the chair beside her bed and gently brushes a finger across the back of her hand.
“She’s so small.”
Carter chuckles. “You should have seen her the day she came home. But don’t let her size fool you. She can make you do anything she wants with a look.”
Hunter runs a hand over the stubble along his mouth and chin. He can’t believe it. She’s so beautiful.
“She’s a fighter. She will come through this,” Carter says with confidence.
“Of course she is,” Hunter states. Like him.
“The doctors say talking to her can help. The claim she can hear you. I’ll give you some time.”
The click of the door closing is all that tells Hunter he ever left, because his eyes never leave his precious Faith.
He opens his mouth to say something, then realizes he has no idea what to say. He doesn’t know what shows she likes, what foods she spit in her mother’s face, or even if she has a dog.
“I have a dog,” he blurts, because that’s his first train of thought. “He’s white like the snow and he’s my best friend. I think you’d really love him. When you wake up, you’ll get to meet him…and me, I guess.”
His throat tightens with emotions he’s never felt for another person before. “Faith,” he says her name for the first time aloud and his voice cracks. “I’m your daddy. And I really want to meet you. I need you to fight and wake up so I can teach you to do all the things that will have your mommy freaking out about.
“I have so much I want to show you. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you.”
Dahlia sits on a bench outside with Zip laying at her feet. Footsteps approach behind her, and she straightens, hoping to see Hunter. Instead, it’s Lydia.
“I thought I’d find you out here,” she says as she sits on the bench beside Dahlia.
“Hunter is with Faith. They wouldn’t let Zip or non-family members back.” She runs her hands over Zip’s head and tries to rein in her anger about the whole situation.
“I’m glad he talked to Lauren.”
Dahlia snorts.
“Well, honey, what did you expect? They have a child and they’ve been in love for way long than you’ve known him—”
Dahlia pushes to her feet and stares down at Hunter’s cynical mother. “Okay. That’s enough. You’re delusional or crazy—or both! Hunter will never get back with Lauren. The only thing you’ve accomplished is keeping his daughter from him since the day he called you. If he moves back here, know it’s for that little girl up there fighting for her life. It has nothing to do with you or this fantasy you’ve cooked up.”
Dahlia’s panting, with Zip’s leash digging into her palm. Lydia’s features morph from reddening color to pale. But the rage still burns under Dahlia’s skin.
“You came to his home! You sat there and all you could say was, what about Lauren? Then we came to your home, and you treated Hunter like he couldn’t climb a set of stairs! You put a fucking shower bench in. Newsflash, he’s perfectly capable of doing anything he wants and he gets by perfectly without being treated like a child. God, it’s no wonder why he left and never came back. How does it feel to know your own child wants nothing to do with you?!”
“That’s enough!” Lydia shouts and stands toe-to-toe with Dahlia. “I lost my only child. I thought he was dead and never expected to see or hear from him again! You hear the horror stories of men coming back from the war, but you never think your smiling, always happy baby boy would be among them. I couldn’t even hug him when he came home.” Her voice cracks and Dahlia drops her head to stare at her shoes. “My baby never came back. And as a mother, I would do anything to get him back. I had to try. You don’t know what it’s been like, so don’t spout her holier than that shit at me. Not until you’ve been through what I have. Waiting by the phone day after day for a call that he had been found dead, frozen on the side of the road, or heaven forbid taken his own life. I spent months driving through towns, searching for my son among the homeless. I never gave up.”
Dahlia blinks and tears fall from her lashes. She hadn’t thought about what Lydia and Jared went through when Hunter left. “He’s never going to be the man you remember. He’s seen too much, been through too much. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you two can work on your relationship. But it’s going to take a lot to get his forgiveness for this. He’s an amazing person. I hope you can see that.”
“We do,” Jared says and both women turn to face the doors where Jared stands, listening. “I think you’ve both said your peace. Hunter’s looking for you,” he says to Dahlia, putting an end to the conversation.