Gorgeous: Book One (Gorgeous #1) - Lisa Shelby Page 0,79

comes to bed in light blue pajama bottoms. He's trying hard to be respectful and to give me my space. To do the right thing.

20

Ronan

The smell of disinfectant and bleach cannot be ignored when the automatic doors swoosh open at the hospice center where Susan McCarthy currently resides. The walls are painted with muted, calming colors, and there is soft instrumental music playing. I don't know what I expected, but it feels more like a hospital than I would have thought, and you can feel the weight of death all around you.

Olivia has been a quiet mess all morning, and I don't think she has ceased shaking since I gave her the news that her mother had been found. Before bed last night, I went over the file my team had provided me and reached out to Ben. He contacted the local police department, and when we arrived, I saw the police cruiser already parked in the parking lot. I don't know anything about this Dickey character, but whatever Olivia isn't telling me isn't good, that much I know. Better safe than sorry. The file told me that Richard "Dickey" Brown visits in the evenings. He's usually here between six and seven p.m., so we shouldn't have to worry about any run-ins, but still, you just never know.

I check us in at the front desk while Olivia takes a seat in the lobby. The receptionist hands me a clipboard which requires the date and time, my name, who I'm visiting and my signature. I add my name to the list and join Olivia in the typically uncomfortable waiting room chairs. I take her shaking hand in mine, but I don't know what else to do, and I certainly don't know what to say.

I can't tell her it's going to be okay. She's about to see her mother for the first time in nearly twenty years, and she's dying. It's not okay, none of this is, but at least she will get to see her mother before she passes. This is what I keep telling myself as I sit and hope I am not doing irreparable damage to her.

"Mr. McKinley?"

I rise to my feet, my hand still in hers, but she doesn't stand. She's staying rooted to the spot, and she starts to shake even more, if that is possible. I lift a finger to the nurse to let her know we need a second, and she steps away to give us some privacy.

"Gorgeous, you okay?"

"What if...what if she doesn't want to see me? What if she tells me she hates me? What if I don't recognize her? What if she is so sick she can't talk to me, and I'll never know why she never came for me? What if..."

Pulling her to her feet and into my chest, I'm not sure what to say because one or all of those things could happen. "You're right. We don't know what's going to happen, but what I do know is that I'm going to be right by your side through it all."

She pulls away so she can look at me with those beautiful doe eyes of hers. She’s searching my face as if she's not sure if I'm real. She really has been on her own since she was a small child. This is all new to her. It's tragic that a person filled with so much good has spent her life without receiving it in return. No more. Not on my watch.

"Baby, we share a moon, so you won’t ever be alone again. Whatever you need, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

The mention of our moon lifts the corner of her mouth ever so slightly. She lifts up her pinky finger, and without hesitation, I seal my fate to the woman before me. It may just be a pinky swear, but to me…it's binding. I will do everything in my power to take care of her, no matter what it takes.

"Okay, let's go," she whispers on an exhale.

Hand in hand, we follow the nurse as she leads us down the quiet halls filled with souls on the verge of heading on to their next life, wherever that may be. Most are alone, and it is tragic to see those who are both young and alone. This building made of strong stone and wood is making me feel weak and wilted. I hope I haven't made a terrible mistake. Maybe this isn't how she should finally see her mother again, but here