Before A Perfect World: Movie Trilogy, Book Two (The Movie Trilogy) (28 page)

“Yes,” I breathed, covering my stomach. “I’m his… family,” I replied brokenly, covering my stomach with a protective hand.

“Viv?”

Luke’s voice caught my attention from down the hall. Robin, who I’d never imagined was capable of crying, came running toward me, throwing her arms around me.

“They’re fucking un
plugging
him,” she cried, scratching at a tear with a black fingernail. “He has a living will with a DNR.”

“DNR?” I repeated, moving toward the
room.

“Do not resuscitate.” Luke moved to my side, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“Robin, it doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t try to keep him
alive
, you heard the doctor. Calm down.” He lowered his voice, gazing down at me. “Vivian. This isn’t going to be easy.”

I realized that his eyes were bloodshot, and it was obvious that he’d been crying. My parents stood just outside the door, my dad walking to me and pulling me into his arms.

“Honey.” My dad’s saddened voice prodded my already heavy heart. “You’re not alone, okay?”

I couldn’t cry.

Keaton’s mother sat next to his bed, sniffling into a tissue. I pushed my dad away gently and stepped into the room.

A man that I
somehow recognized stood at the foot of Keaton’s bed.

His features were
very much like Keaton’s; dark hair and hazel eyes, same jaw, same build.

His father.

“Vivian, dear,” Jane wept, holding her hand out to me. “Come here. Oh, my sweet grandchild,” she murmured, touching my waist softly before resting her head against my side.

“He’s not dying,” I finally broke, forcing eyes in my direction as I gave a tearful scoff. “He’s not. I can feel him. He’s not leaving me. Us,” I corrected, covering my stomach. “Please, can I be alone with him for a minute? Please?”

“Of course you can,” Luke answered, exchanging a look with both of his parents. “He loves her more than anyone in this room.”

“Of course,” Jane repeated, standing. She said something to her estranged husband, and Tony Thorne took a step in my direction.

“Vivian, thank you for loving my son.”

My chin quivered, and I nodded,
lowering to the chair next to the bed.

They filed out, one by one, closing the door softly behind them.

I hadn’t really looked at him. I’d seen him from the corner of my eye but couldn’t bring myself to fully look at him.

When I did, I forgot how to breathe.

Keaton was covered in tubes.

They disappeared into his nostrils, in his mouth, in his veins.
His face was black and blue from the beating that he’d taken.

His strong arms that had held me so many times
, loving me,
making
love to me were motionless against the cold, white sheet.

“
Miss Hale?”

A man stuck his head in the door, knocking twice before entering.

“Are you his doctor?”

“Dr. Braden. I understan
d that you are Keaton’s fiancée?”

“Yeah. I thought the whole world knew.” I lowered my cheek to Keaton’s hand, closing my eyes. “
Tell me.”

He sighed, and I heard him shuffle through his chart. “Tests show that he has a chance of waking up. If he does, he will require rehabilitation, depending on how long he remains comatose.”

“
Wait
.”

I tried like hell to pull myself together. All I wanted to do was sob in Keaton’s arms. He was right there, right next to me, and we were safe
.

T
ogether.

A
nd yet he is a world away from me.

“I’m sorry,” he replied, pausing at the door before leaving me alone.

Finally.

“Keaton, you…
you win,
” I whispered, threading my fingers through his. “A coma?
God
.” I pressed my forehead to the back of his hand. “Cliché.”

I laughed and cried at the same time, my heart breaking as I realized that he was emotionless.

I might never see him smile at me again, or hear him make a joke, or feel his lips pressing against mine.

I might never see him hold our baby…

Or feel him hold me.

“Don’t
do
this,” I sobbed, hysterical tears taking over and wracking my body. “
Don’t
. I just found you.”

I registered the door opening softly, and felt strong hands on my shoulders.

“Vivian.” Matthew’s voice. “He’s stable right now, and you need to rest. Please, come back to your room-”

“Matthew?” I shrugged him away, gripping Keaton’s hand with all of my strength. “Go away from me. Don’t touch me. Don’t talk to me.”

He looked stunned, his concern turning to confusion. “I-”

“I’m his.
He is the other half of my
heart
,” I whispered, letting the tears slip down my cheeks. “Even if he never wakes up and holds me again, I will never stop loving him. But I stopped loving you,” I forced, letting the words come before I could stop them.

“
You are going to need someone,” he began quietly. “Whether you love me or not, I’m going to help you.”

“
I didn’t want to hurt you before. And I don’t want to hurt you now. But I have to say how I feel. If it’s just me and my baby for the rest of my life,
then that’s it.
I’ll be with Keaton, or without him. But not with anyone else.
Not with you.
”

I watched his heart break for the last time.

He stood by the bed for a long, silent moment.

“I don’t want you to be alone,” he replied, wrecked, his shoulders stiffening.

“I don’t want to be with you.”

I marked that moment as the end of me and Matthew.

He turned and walked out of the hospital room.

My insides turned as I replayed the horrible images from the cabin, breaking into sobs. I rested my head against Keaton’s thigh, crying myself to sleep.

. . .

Sometime later, I felt a hand on my shoulder. “
Vivie. Come on, you need a bed of your own.”

Luke
’s voice sounded so much like Keaton’s, I almost forgot where I was and why. I lifted my face to his. “Any change?”

“No. Come on. Matthew left,” he added. “Your parents went downstairs for coffee. My parents are in the chapel.”

“Where is Robin?” I asked, forcing myself to stand.

“She’s asleep in a chair in your hospital room.”

“Is Madeline here?” I asked.

Luke gave me a sideways glance. “No.”

“You know I’m not leaving him.” I gestured to the empty bed next to Keaton’s.

“
I didn’t think you would.”

“Luke?” I turned toward Keaton, trying not to start crying all over again. “
I feel like I can’t breathe for another minute.”

He tucked his hands into his pockets, staring at the bed.

“You’d better keep breathing. He loves you with all of his heart, Vivian. And his heart’s still beating.”

Exhaustedly, I turned to the empty bed, reaching for the blanket. Luke took over, tucking the white, hospital-grade comforter over my shoulders.

“Sleep. He’s right here, and you’re both safe. We’ll be here all night and make plans in the morning,” he assured me.

“
Thank you,
” I whispered, accepting his hug. “Please wake me up with news, no matter how small.”

“I promise.” He smoothed his hand over my shoulder, glancing at Keaton before turning for the door.

Four Months Later

V

“I’m coming!” I called, moving ungainly through the living room.

Luke balanced too many bags in his arms, dropping his keys to the floor. “Don’t run,” he ordered, lowering some groceries to the table. “Why do you have your purse? We’re not going back to the hospital.”

“
I
am.”

“
Bullshit.”

“I’ll take a cab.” I ignored him, gathering some of the grocery bags. “
They called, asking if I was coming in tonight. I said of course I am. He’s not spending Christmas Eve alone in a hospital room.”

Luke sighed. I stared him down stubbornly.

“We’ll go first thing in the morning.”

“It’s fine, I’ll get a cab. I just show a little belly and they’ll line right along the curb,” I teased, retrieving my purse.

“Oh for Christ’s sake. Come on, help me put these groceries away and we’ll go.”

I grinned.

The days after we were rescued from the cabin had been long and exhausting. I remembered fighting with my parents again about leaving, refusing to go back to Ohio with them. They were angry with the way I’d treated Matthew, reminding me that
he’d
been a victim in the situation, too.

The fallout had happened
in the hospital waiting room right before a press conference that I was asked to give. I’d been nervous and stressed out enough as it was.

Of all the people to step in and defend me in the middle of the hospital, it’d been Luke that put himself between me and my parents.

Luke turned to my mother. “Mrs. Hale, it may be none of my business, but please think about this. If it was
you
in that hospital room, would your husband go across the country and leave you?”

My dad glanced at my mom, and she shook her head. “No, of course not, but he’s my
hus
band-”

“Keaton is going to be her husband,” Luke replied simply.

Finally, they backed off, and when Keaton was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills, my mom offered to stay in California with me.

“
Go home with Dad,” I told her, gentling my voice. “I’m not alone. I have friends here,” I assured her. “My doctor is here, and I really trust him.”

She hugged me tightly. “I’ll fly in once a month. But I don’t want you living alone, not with your pregnancy being so high risk.”

Robin glanced at her mother, and then back to me. “I’m working on some way to stay in LA with her, Mrs. Hale, but I need to talk it out with my brother.”

I knew that Jane had her issues with drinking, and Robin was her sole caretaker. There was no way I would make her stay with me.

“Luke can stay with Mom,” Robin had reasoned. “Madeline moved out, did you know that?”

“What? No,” I whispered, glancing Luke’s way. He stood talking to my father, his hands crossed over his broad chest. When he stood like that, he reminded me of Keaton.

I almost burst into tears.

“Yeah.” She narrowed her eyes, brushing her fingers over her black, pixie-cut hair. “There’s a special place in hell for that little bitch. I swear, all she wanted was Luke’s portion of Grandpa’s inheritance for her fucking little restaurant in Chicago.”

“Poor Luke,” I breathed.

As if he sensed that we were talking about him, Luke said goodbye to my dad, joining the two of u
s near the waiting room window. “Robin, you need to go home with Mom. Especially now that he’s back.” Luke swallowed hard, and I knew that he was referring to his father. “I’m going to stay in LA for a while. There’s nothing bringing me back to Pennsylvania. Maybe distance from Madeline will help us both.”

“Help you both?” Robin snorted, dropping her hands to her hips. “It’ll help her keep her fucking hands out of your bank account, maybe.”

“Don’t.” He turned my way, lowering his voice. “I’ll stay with you, Vivian, if you’re comfortable with that. I need to be here for my brother. He was there for me when I needed him most, and I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

His strong, quiet words were so poignant, I fought a losing battle with my emotions. “
Thank you,
” I managed, letting Robin wrap her arms around me with a gentle sigh.

“I’ll fly back and forth. I’m here for you, Viv. You’re our sister now. You were the moment Keaton fell in love with you. Which I think was the first night he found you in my video store,” she added, forcing a breathy laugh from both of us.

“I don’t know what I’d do without either of you. Thank you.”

The press conference
was supposed to be brief, simply to address the kidnapping, Keaton’s condition, and the future of the movie. Emmet had prepped me for questions, promising me that any sensitive issues would be ignored.

Ash sat to my right, Emmet to my left.

“
Vivian, are you and Ash together?
” someone asked.

I sighed, exchanging a glance with Ash.
“In the days leading up to our kidnapping, Keaton and I had tried to act like we were ‘broken up’ in an attempt to distance ourselves from the killer.” I pumped my air quotes and immediately thought of Keaton. Forcing a deep breath, I continued confidently. “Ash and I have never had any romantic involvement,” I assured them, my voice thin and empty as cameras flashed my way.