Nevvie pointed at it. “Get in, your ride’s here.”
“I can walk, love.”
“Hospital rules, Ty. You know the drill. Just don’t expect me to carry you across the threshold when we get home.”
He laughed, groaning a little. He was healing.
Nevvie wanted to snatch the wheelchair out of the nurse’s hands and run Tyler down to the car. Instead she leaned in and kissed him. “I’ll meet you at the front entrance, okay?”
“All right, love.”
Nevvie hurried ahead, nearly floating with joy.
One down. One down. One down.
One to go.
The only thing that tempered her enthusiasm was knowing Tommy still lay unconscious in the ICU. Karen and Peggy would stay at the hospital with Tommy while Nevvie got Tyler settled.
Got him home.
* * * *
At home, Nevvie closed and locked their bedroom door behind them and helped Tyler to their bed, quickly pulling back the covers so he could lie down. Once he was settled he crooked his finger at her and she carefully curled next to him, his arms around her. Then she closed her eyes, buried her face against his chest and took a deep breath. Sobs wracked her body as he tightly held her.
“That’s right, love,” he whispered. “Let it out. I’m home to stay, and part of this nightmare is over.”
She sobbed so long he wondered if he’d need to call a doctor for her. Eventually she cried herself to sleep and he tried to nap, glad she finally had a chance to get the worst of it out of her system. He knew there would be more tears—hers and his both—once Thomas was safely home. For now she’d vented a little pressure and hopefully could function again. She could release some of her burden to him. Emotionally, at least, even if he couldn’t do much physically yet to help out.
After an hour she stirred and opened her eyes, carefully placing her palm against his chest.
He laid his hand over hers. “It’s still beating, love.”
A soft, sad smile caressed her face. “You guys aren’t allowed to die before me. I can’t stand it. I can’t handle losing you.”
He touched his forehead to hers. “You’re not losing either of us, sweet. You still have us, and we love you. Thomas is simply away for a while. I have every faith in him and his love for us that he will pull through this.”
She lay there with him for more long, quiet minutes. “I can’t lose you.”
He kissed her forehead. She looked aged since that morning, deep lines in her face, dark circles under her eyes.
“Listen to me, angel.” He waited until she tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “You aren’t losing me.” He curled his fingers around hers and brought her hand to his lips. “I love you more than my very life, and you are not losing me.”
He shifted position slightly, until she was nestled against his chest, her head tucked in the crook of one arm while his other hand lightly rested on her mid-drift. “You’re
not
losing me,” he firmly repeated and kissed her.
“Wait, Ty—”
“Shh.” He kissed her gently, slowly, taking his time and savoring her. No, he wasn’t in the mood, between his pain, exhaustion and the medication, but he desperately wanted to bring her some normalcy, a tangible sign of recovery she could hold on to. He slipped his free hand inside her waistband.
When her body stiffened and she reached to push him away, he softly said, “No, angel. Don’t do that.” He kissed her until she relaxed again. His fingers found their way between her legs and gently parted her. She sighed against him, one hand cupping the back of his head, her fingers tangling in his hair.
“Remember when you were hurt and we got you home? How you asked if I loved you?” he asked as his fingers slowly stroked her.
She nodded, her eyes focusing on his.
“Remember how you made me promise to do anything for you?”
“Yes.”
“Remember what else you made me do for you?”
A smile curled her lips, lifting tons of worry from her face. “Yes.”
“And remember how scared I was of hurting you?”
She nodded again and kissed him, understanding, some of her fear finally leaving and allowing her to enjoy his touch.
Nevvie relaxed against him. He nuzzled his lips against her forehead. “Let me love you, angel. I want to feel you come for me, my sweet, sweet love.”
He moved his hand lower, enjoying her soft moan as he slipped two fingers inside her and slowly stroked. “You made me come for you, remember?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Now Master will ask his little slave to return the favor.”
She gasped, shivering against him as her passion truly took over.
He dropped his voice even lower as he circled her clit with his fingers. “You are my sweet, beautiful slave. I want you to come for me.”
Her soft mewing sound made him smile. He knew she was close. This many years together, he could read her body as well as he could Thomas’. “Come for me, love. Come for your husband—”
“Ah!” she pressed her face against his arm as she cried out, muffling the sound of her passion as her body stiffened, spasming against him, trembling.
He knew when to back off but didn’t withdraw his hand. When she reached for him he stopped her.
“No, love,” he said. “You stay right there, just like that. I’m not done with you yet.”
She relaxed against him as he stroked his fingers into her ready entrance, adding a third and making her moan. “That’s it,” he said. “You don’t get to leave this bed until you’ve given me another one.” He lifted his head so he could meet her beautiful green eyes. “You’re going to come for me again, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Because you’re my good girl, aren’t you?”
She nodded as her breath quickened at his words.
He kissed her, his tongue plunging between her lips, fucking her with it and mimicking the way his fingers explored her. When he lifted his head again so he could look at her, he stared into her eyes, entranced.
“I want my beautiful wife to come for me and show me how much she loves me.”
She closed her eyes and pressed her face against him. It took longer but as he heard her muffled cries against his arm he drew her close and held her as she recovered.
“My poor, sweet girl, you’ve been so very brave for us. We are truly blessed that you’re our wife.” He pressed his lips against the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her shampoo, how she sounded trying to catch her breath. “See? I didn’t keel over.”
She laughed. While her cheeks were streaked with tears she also wore a brilliant smile. Laying a palm against his face she kissed him. “Okay, point made.”
“No, love, point not made. I’m going to keep you rather busy and distracted now that I’m home. I owe you quite a bit for the grief I’ve caused you.”
She grinned. “Ty, I get the—”
“Shh.” He laid a finger against her lips and narrowed his gaze. “Little slave, don’t talk back to your master.”
He gave her credit for attempting to keep a straight face but she laughed again and kissed him. “I love you, Evil Genius.”
He hugged her. “And I love you too, darling.”
* * * *
Karen and Peggy had returned while Tyler and Nevvie were in the bedroom. Nevvie took a few minutes to freshen up and change clothes. Eddie brought Adam home a short time later. As much as Tyler wanted to go back to the hospital with her to visit Thomas, he knew he needed to spend the evening at home catching up on his own rest. Nevvie brought the baby into the bedroom and laid him on the bed where he grinned and babbled at Ty.
“There’s my buddy.”
“Mom’s in the kitchen getting your dinner ready. She’ll bring it in once it’s ready. Don’t you dare lift him, got it?”
“Yes, love.”
She leaned over and kissed him, then the baby. “Can I bring you anything?”
“Just yourself, sweet. I’m looking forward to a long, uninterrupted night’s sleep.”
“That makes two of us.”
Nevvie left. Tyler ignored the TV and lay on his side, holding his son’s hand. They’d had so many plans, the three of them, with none of this on the radar. He would never admit to Nevvie that he was just as scared they’d lost Thomas. But she needed him to be strong or she might lose what courage she’d regained.
For years Tyler envisioned growing old with Thomas. Then Nevvie entered their lives and life had only got better. What if Thomas didn’t get better? What if he had lost his love forever?
He blinked back tears and tried to force that thought out of his mind, choosing to cling to the hope that regardless of his physical state, Thomas would somehow return to them.
Peggy brought his dinner in a few minutes later. Adam was falling asleep. “You okay, sugar?”
“Yes, thank you, Mom. How are you doing?”
She forced a smile. “We’ll get through it, Ty. Tommy loves y’all too much not to make it.” She carefully scooped her grandson from the bed. “He’s beautiful, Ty. He’s a beautiful baby. You’re a good daddy.”
“You’re his grandmother. You’re biased.”
She smiled but there were tears in her eyes when looked at him again. “I’ll admit I was a little dubious when y’all first got together with Nevvie. I worried things wouldn’t work out between y’all. I love her, and she’s a damn good momma. Even though I was convinced long before now how much she loves the two of you, the past couple of weeks have proven it beyond any doubt. I’ll snatch that stupid daughter of mine bald next time I see her for puttin’ y’all through extra stress.”
“Yes, but if you hadn’t been here I might have died. So it worked out all right, didn’t it?”
* * * *
Ben was back on duty. He smiled when Nevvie entered the ICU. “So how’s my other patient?”
“He’s home. Discharged this morning, thank God.” She sat by Tom’s bed. “One down, one to go.” Her new mental mantra.
The neurologist walked in with Tommy’s chart. “Oh, Mrs. Kinsey, glad you’re here.”
Nevvie’s breath caught. “Yes?”
“Good news, I promise. The latest scan showed significant improvement. I think we’ll be able to bring him out of the coma soon.”
She clapped a hand over her mouth, tears filling her eyes as she tried to stifle her sob.
The doctor patted her shoulder. “I can’t promise you what’s going to happen after that. We’ve talked about this. We won’t know for sure what level of damage he’ll have until after he’s awake and we can fully evaluate him. From what we see so far, the results are encouraging.”
She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut and crying into her hand. Ben brought her a box of tissues and she rested her head against the bed and gripped Tom’s hand as she tried to get her emotions under control. When she looked up several minutes later, she realized Ben had brought everything she’d need to bathe Tommy and closed the curtain, leaving them alone.
Nevvie had a routine now. She shaved Tommy first, then worked her way down his body, massaging his arms and his good leg, checking him for pressure sores and carefully drying his skin. She talked to him in soft, low tones the entire time, telling him about Adam, updating him about Tyler. No one knew for sure if he could hear her, but everyone told her it certainly didn’t hurt.
After she finished bathing Thomas, she put a clean gown on him and Ben came in to help change the bed and check his dressings. Then she sat and read to him for an hour. She’d marked the page he was on when she first started reading to him so he could go back to that point and start over when he recovered. It was something to do and feel connected to him.
She left two hours later, quietly entering the house so she didn’t wake anyone. Adam slept in his crib. Tyler sat up in bed, reading.
“Hey, you should be asleep,” she said.
He put his book down. “I napped, love. I promise.”
Nevvie quickly undressed and slipped into bed with him, naked, sighing at the feel of his warm flesh against hers. She tried not to look at his surgical scar. He turned off the lamp and wrapped his arms around her.
“How is our sweet boy?”
“He’s okay. The neurologist came in when I got there and said the latest scan looked good, that they’ll hopefully bring him around in a couple of days.”
“Wonderful,” he whispered against the back of her neck. “I told you, he’ll come back to us. We may have to do a lot of work to help him heal, but he will return to us, somehow.”
She pulled his arms around her while fighting the urge to cry again. “I know.”
“You smell so good.”
She laughed. Leave it to Tyler to say something to break her out of her funk. “Smell good, huh?”
“Having you back in my arms is beyond description.”
Nevvie looked at the empty side of the bed. Normally, she’d be nestled between her boys. She touched Tom’s pillow and pulled it to her, holding it against her. It wasn’t the same, not even close.
Sometime in the night she awoke and realized she was still firmly wedged in Tyler’s arms. Nevvie held her breath, listening for the sound of Tyler’s slow, steady breathing. Relieved, she closed her eyes and tried not to cry but couldn’t hold back the hot, heavy tears and sobs that wracked her body.
He knew. Ingrained from their early days together when the men helped soothe her nightmares away, he awoke immediately when he felt her cry and pulled her tightly against him, murmuring to her, soothing her back to sleep.
The smell of coffee awoke her the next morning. Nevvie panicked briefly when she realized Tyler wasn’t in bed with her. She pulled on her robe and ran out to the kitchen and saw him standing at the counter in his robe, reading the paper, his back to her.
He heard her and turned, opening his arms. When Peggy walked out with the baby a few minutes later, she found them, Nevvie still crying against Tyler as he tried to soothe her.
“Your face is gonna freeze like that, sugar, you keep crying,” Peggy joked.
Tyler winced as he laughed. Nevvie reached for Adam. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I know it’s good to have half of them home.”
* * * *
They ate breakfast and Nevvie drove Tyler to the hospital to visit Thomas. Even though Delores was long gone, the incident with her still ran through Nevvie’s head. Especially the woman’s particular choice of words. Nevvie finally asked.