Where Winter Finds You (Black Dagger Brotherhood #18)- J.R Ward Page 0,92

hand squeezed hard. “Listen. Now. In case…”

“Don’t say it. You’re going to be fine. You’re going to come out of this—”

“Always felt… you were mine. Always felt…” Her mahmen touched the center of her thin chest over the hospital gown. “In my heart, mine. That’s why… never told you… never thought you hadn’t been destined to be… mine.”

Therese blinked. And swallowed hard. “Oh… Mahmen.”

“You were left… doorstep. Delivered… no idea… who? How?” Her mahmen pointed to herself. “Wanted daughter. Prayed… prayed… prayed… then? Answered.”

“Mahmen, don’t use all your strength—”

“Paperwork to protect. You. Me. Your father and brother. Make sure no one could take… my young away.”

As tears came to her eyes, Therese made soothing noises and stroked the hand that was gripping her own with such urgency. “It’s okay, Mahmen. Take a deep breath.”

She glanced up at the monitors. Things were changing on the screens. Heart rate up. Blood pressure up. She had no idea whether that was bad or good. At least there were no alarms?

“I’m right here,” Therese said. “And I’m going nowhere. No one is going to separate us.”

Even herself, she tacked on in her mind.

“Yes?” her mahmen said.

“Yes. I promise. I love you, and I wish… well, I wish a lot of things. But we’re back together now. All four of us.”

The idea that there wasn’t a fifth made her sad—even though Trez hadn’t been a member of the family, hadn’t been around for long, had played her. And the mourning of him was frustrating as hell. But emotions weren’t reasonable and couldn’t be reasoned with.

“Come home?” her mahmen asked.

“Yes, I will. Absolutely.” At this point, she was dying to get out of Caldwell. “But Dad said you didn’t go down south. Maybe that’s where we should head? Gareth can do his schooling from anywhere, he was saying.”

“Good.”

The tension eased out of her mahmen, and for a moment, Therese panicked that it was death that was making her go lax. But then no. It was peace.

“Sleep, Mahmen. You just rest. We’re all here.”

Sitting back, Therese watched over her mahmen, another monitor working in concert with, but without the specificity of, the other machines in the room.

A young left on a doorstep? Really? At a regular family’s home? She believed her mahmen, and Larisse certainly seemed clear on how it had all gone down. But jeez, it was like the storyline from a bad after-school special. How did something like that happen?

Time passed, again in that weird way it seemed to down here in the ICU. But maybe it was true all over the hospital. And her brother and father returned. And hugs were shared before Larisse took a nap. As she slept, everyone talked quietly, and Therese wanted to double-check the story, but not in front of her mahmen. That seemed disrespectful. Doubtful.

And the truth was, the details didn’t matter. Just like shared blood didn’t matter.

Family was so much more than DNA.

Eventually, Therese’s strength lagged and she realized it had been a while since she had had anything more than fitful rest. With her lids drifting down, and her body jerking itself back awake, she was on the verge of—

“Honey?” her father said.

Therese shot up right. “Mahmen! Is she—”

“She’s just fine.” Rosen smiled down at her and put his hand on her shoulder. “You, however, need some real sleep. Why don’t you go home for some rest and come back before dawn? Or you can stay in the apartment they gave us here?”

She hadn’t yet told them about the rooming house, and now that she was leaving with them, she didn’t feel the need to go into the details about that dump. And the idea that she could go there, grab some clothes, and then crash back here really appealed.

“You could ask Trez to give you a ride if—”

“No, Dad,” she rushed in. “I don’t want to bother him. I’ll just get fresh clothes at my apartment and come back fast.”

“There’s no hurry. You have your phone. If something happens, we’ll call—but things are really looking up.”

Gareth nodded from his chair. “Yeah, you need some shut-eye.”

“I’ll snag my toothbrush and return right away.”

Her father patted her shoulder. “Don’t hurry. I think we’ve got a lot of time ahead of us now.”

“Me, too.”

Therese got to her feet. Hugged everyone goodbye and pulled on her coat, which she’d left on the floor in the corner. In a daze, she walked out of the patient room, and the unit… and then, after a brief elevator ride, out of a