“And maybe when Cahal is a little bit older, we can have a little Marie Eira Campbell. She will have your beautiful chocolate eyes, and curly dark hair, like her gorgeous mother. And we will put a playground up in the backyard. We can have a dog, an Alaskan Husky named Shadow. Cahal will chase him around, and he will let him pull on his tail. He’ll protect them.” I sniff. “We’re going to have it all baby. You just got to fight. Just this once. I will never ask you to do it again, I swear.”

I crawl into her bed with her, wrapping my arms around her. I do not want to sleep tonight. I do not want to miss a moment of what might be our last night. But my eyes don’t agree with me as they slowly droop until I succumb to sleep.

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

Why Didn’t You Tell Me You Were Sick?

Brooke

Beep…beep…beep…

The insistent beeping keeps floating in and out. I love you. The words drift in and out, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot place the voice. It is like I am lost in a labyrinth, the words echoing off the walls, but each turn I take only brought me farther and farther from the voice.

Beep…beep…beep…

I feel warm. Something is enveloping me. No, not something—someone! They smell good. Like saltwater and the natural perfume of a man. I love you.

Beep…beep…beep…

My throat is so dry. And that stupid beeping is still haunting my dreams. I try to lift my eyelids, but they feel so heavy. Then I remember someone was knocking on the door. Is that what the beeping sound was? I force my eyes to open. I am not in my cottage room. The ceiling is an ugly off-white rectangle. The lighting is fluorescent, and the annoying beeping fills the room.

I try to sit up and almost scream when a sharp pain radiates from my stomach.

“Brooke?” A warm hand grabs mine. “Don’t try to sit up, Beagchaithnini sneachta.”

I look up at the voice in confusion. It is Landon’s voice and words. The man looming over me certainly looks like Landon, but my mind cannot comprehend it. I wanted so desperately to see him that I am imaging him.

“Landon?” I croak out.

“I’m here,” he says, and his thumb starts stroking back and forth on my hand. “Let me get you some water and call for a nurse.”

Hospital. I am in a Hospital! Landon is pressing a glass of water to my lips by the time I come to this realization.

The water felt amazing going down as it moistens my dry throat.

“Not too much,” Landon says as I moan in protest when he pulled the cup away. Landon raises my bed up, so I am inclined enough to see him.