Page 42 of Escape

So much for being able to talk to Huck like I wanted. “Now?”

“Yes,” he confirmed before turning his attention to Huck. “Sir, if you wouldn’t mind stepping out while I do that?—”

“I made a promise to her, and I’m not leaving her alone with anyone she doesn’t know,” Huck fired back without an ounce of hesitation.

My heart began pounding in my chest. Apparently, I was wrong. Huck didn’t seem to have any problem with being in the middle of this.

“I can understand your reason for feeling frustrated, but my job is to take care of my patient,” Dr. Garcia explained.

Not wanting this to turn into something it didn’t need to be, I gave Huck’s hand a squeeze. He turned his attention to me. “It’s okay,” I assured him. “I’ll be fine.”

He looked like he had something he wanted to say in response, but he held himself back from sharing whatever it was. “I’m not going to be any farther away than right outside this room. If you need me, you yell.”

“You know I will.” Giving him that reassurance seemed to help. The tension in his shoulders eased. Huck’s eyes lingered on me a moment longer before he turned and walked out of the room.

And once he was outside, I understood precisely why the doctor insisted on doing the exam alone. This was a clear case of domestic abuse. Sure, Huck had been the one to call the ambulance and cared for me until they arrived, but all they had was his side of the story. So, while Dr. Garcia had performed several tests as he had indicated he was going to do to confirm things were progressing in the right direction, there was that additional piece to the puzzle that needed to be addressed and documented.

The entire ordeal didn’t last incredibly long, but it felt like an eternity when all I wanted was to have Huck back in the room with me.

Finally, the doctor completed the evaluation. He indicated that, unless there was any regression, it was likely they’d hold me here for two more days just to be on the safe side. It was longer than I would have wanted, but I didn’t put up an argument. He was the expert, and at this point, I realized I needed to start trusting some other people to know what might be best when it came to handling a situation like this.

As soon as Dr. Garcia and Heather, the nurse, had left, Huck walked back in. Seeing him and the concern in his expression, I didn’t know how I didn’t start crying. But since I knew it was okay to move my body as long as I did it slowly and mindfully, I reached my good arm out to Huck.

He didn’t hesitate. He crossed the room and came to sit beside me on the bed, gently wrapping his arms around me and allowing me to do the same with him using just one of my arms.

And that’s when it happened.

Feeling his protective embrace around me for the first time since he’d given me that hug at the diner, I burst into tears.

TEN

Huck

“I’m sorry. I’m such a mess.”

The last thing I wanted to do was dismiss anything Josie said to me. In this instance, however, I couldn’t ignore how I felt.

“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, Josie. If anyone should be sorry, it’s me.”

No true words had ever been spoken.

From the moment I sat in that booth at the diner having pie with her, I knew. Or, well, I had a feeling about it. After we left and I found myself almost consistently clutching my phone in my hand, waiting to hear from her, the feeling became stronger. But after everything that had happened since I got that call from her yesterday morning, I no longer had any doubt about it.

I would go to the ends of the earth for this woman. Lie, kill—it didn’t matter. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do.

No matter what it took, no matter what it cost me, I was going to be the man she needed and deserved to have in her life.

There was a long road ahead of us. Josie was certainly going to have to face some demons in getting through this, but I was going to be right by her side as she did it. For now, I was going to do whatever it took to get her healed.

Everything else would be secondary, even if I believed it was going to be just as crucial and monumental in her healing process. We had to take this one day at a time.

And though I didn’t intend to drop all my plans on her immediately, I expected it wasn’t going to be long before I made it known to her that she was the woman I ultimately planned to spend my life with.

Every time that thought had passed through my head since I’d been sitting beside her bed in this hospital, I wondered if I was crazy. Why was I so willing to make such an outlandish claim?

I could only assume it was that thing people said—when you know, you know. And when it came to Josie, I knew. All these years, so much time had been lost, and it had always been her.

To think I’d walked away from her the way I had so many years ago when she could have been mine all this time. What a fool I’d been. It was easily the biggest mistake of my life.