give it to him.”
Rosie sets the egg in Christian’s palm. “For good luck Christian,” she says.
I almost, almost believe he’d wake up at that point but he does.
He doesn’t the day after either and I break down when I see that he’s still the same.
When I thought of walking away I never factored something like this happening.
“I’m sorry we argued,” I say holding his hand. “I didn’t want to leave, but I thought what I was doing was for the best. What I meant to tell you was that I would find it hard to walk away because I love you. I love you and I need you to come back to me because I still can’t walk away.”
I look at his still form and the tears come hard. I don’t how I manage to stop crying and it’s Georgiou that has to take me home.
He tells me to take a break and rest, but I can’t so I go back the very next day.
By night fall I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.
I move closer to Christian and rest my head on the edge of the bed, near his hand.
I just need to rest for two seconds but I fall asleep. Warm fingers caress my hair and I feel safe.
In my dream I’m dancing and I see my mother. Just like always. The music to Swan Lake fills my ears and the steps my mind.
“Wake up Lilly,” Mom says with that smile and the warmth of those fingers stroke my cheek.
I see her but she’s too far away to touch me. Someone is though.
My eyes snap wide when I realize who must be and soul rejoices when I look up and see Christian looking at me, his hand is on my head.
“Christian!” I gasp.
His lips move slowly and he tries to lift his head but falters.
“Angel…” he says. his voice is so weak I barely recognize it as his.
“Don’t move it’s okay. I’ll get the doctor’s.” I say getting up.
“I love you too,” he says .
His gaze holds mine and we stare at each other.
“I love you too, and my little principessa,” he says in his other hand is the little egg. He manages to lift his hand but it drops back to the bed. “Don’t go. That was the answer I should have given that day. I should have said don’t go, because I love you. That’s why you can’t leave.”
I reach for his hand and he gives me a gentle squeeze.
“I’ll stay.”
“You better.”
Epilogue
Christian
One year later …
This was the spot I got to that night a little over nineteen years ago.
This spot here.
I look down at the dirt tracks that lead up to the edge of the cliff.
The earth is disturbed like my footprints are still there embedded in the ground.
There are a lot of animals on Eagle Mountain. People come here to hike all the time and the spectacular scenes of nature all around.
As I took the hike up the trail leading to this point I realized that Amelia came up to escape the world.
It’s taken me a long time to accept it, and a long time to forgive myself for not being able to save her, an even longer time to say goodbye.
Today I came to say goodbye.
Today I came to let her go from my heart.
I’d been thinking of coming for some time and I thought today should be the day. I have something special planned for the future and this is the last thing I have to do.
In my hand is one single rose.
I’ve never come back since that night. Never wanted to. To me it was hell and symbolic of a nightmare I can’t believe happened.
A lot has happened this year to make me more appreciative of what I have, but also to make me more focused.
It took me three months to fully recover from that bullet Miguel Diaz put in my chest.
From the time spent in a coma to the time spent getting back on my feet.
I put things in perspective and knew I had to change things up if I truly wanted Lilly and Rosie to stay with me. That is still in motion and I’m excited to see what will happen next.
I take a few steps so I’m close to the edge of the drop but not close enough to fall. I look over and the wind picks up my hair.
“Amelia… I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” I say. Those are the words I’ve wanted to say