Pledge

Randall

I stare anxiously at Sabrina as she lies on the hospital bed.

The doctor already removed the bullet from her leg and said it was going to be fine. Her bones, nerves and ligaments are all intact. She hasn’t been awake since her surgery, though, and so I wait.

There are a lot of things I want to say to her.

In the past twenty-four hours, I’ve been through a lot and I’ve thought of a lot of things, mostly about Sabrina. I thought of the things she said. I thought of all the things we did together in such a short time and all that she made me feel and I came to a conclusion: I do love her.

Sabrina’s right. I didn’t love Dinah. Maybe that was why we started fighting, even about little things. I only wanted to protect her, to take care of her.

Back then, I didn’t know what love was. I don’t consider myself an expert on love, never having experienced it from my family. For the same reason, I couldn’t answer Sabrina when she asked if I loved her.

But then, when I was looking for David, I thought about all I felt for him – how I wanted not just to protect him and take care of him, but to listen to him, to see him happy, to support him, to simply spend time with him and do things with him, make memories together – and I knew I felt the same for Sabrina.

I love my son, and I love my wife.

I take her hand, pressing it to my lips.

“Thank goodness you’re safe. I wouldn’t know what to do if I lost you.”

Suddenly, Sabrina’s hand moves and when I look at her face, I see her eyelids fluttering open. For a moment, she just stares at the ceiling then she looks at me.

“Hey.” She smiles.

“Hey, yourself,” I tell her, still holding her hand. “How do you feel?”

She shrugs, then lifts her leg, wincing.

“Easy there. They just operated on your leg.”

“Yeah. I know that now. At least it’s still there and I can feel it.”

I nod. “Thank goodness for that.”

She looks around. “Where’s David?”

“We’re in a hospital in El Paso. David is with Gil. He’s okay.”

“With Gil, huh? You said it was Gil who found out where I was?”

“Yes.” I grab the stool and sit on it, still holding her hand. “Do you remember when you caught me snooping around in your room?”

“So, you were snooping around.” She pouts.

“Not really. I was getting strands of your hair.”

“Strands of my hair? For witchcraft?”

“No. For a DNA sample. I sent them to Gil.”

Sabrina nods. “I see. You thought I was a criminal.”

“No. Anyway, I thought he didn’t run it, because you already told me what happened, but he still did. As it turns out, your DNA was a match to DNA found at that house where you stayed.”

“What?”

“Apparently, a body was found in that house, probably shortly after you were there. I don’t know if Vince or any of his men have anything to do with it, but it’s likely. The forensics team collected DNA, and one of the samples came back to you. But they didn’t know it at the time because you weren’t in the database.”

“I see. So Gil discovered that I had been in that house?”

“Yes.”

“But how did he know I would be there? I could have been in any other place.”

“Well, Vince did say you were going to a place where you’d been before,” I remind her.

“Ah, so Vince gave it away.”

“He’s not as smart as he thinks. And before the pill stopped transmitting, it looked like you were headed southwest. He made some calculations, said you were likely going to Mexico. Anyway, he said a bunch of things I don’t remember anymore…”

Sabrina chuckles.

“But he was right in figuring out where you were. The main problem was overcoming those thugs and getting into the house but you were already out of the house.”

She nods. “And Zombie found me. Wait. Where’s Zombie? Is he okay?”

“Don’t worry. He’s okay. I checked him into a dog hotel.”

“A dog hotel? Well, he definitely deserves a reward for everything he did.”

“Yup,” I agree.

“What happened to the thugs?”

“I shot them as they were approaching,” I inform her.

“Right. I did hear more than one gunshot.” She nods thoughtfully. “Where did you learn to shoot?”

“At a shooting range. I took lessons. I thought if I was going to be protecting people, I’d have to learn how to use a gun.”

“There goes that protective instinct again.”

“Well, thanks to that, I learned to shoot.”

“And what about Vince?”

“He’s in jail, and no, he’s not getting out, in spite of all his money. I’m making sure of that. There’s evidence against him now.”

“Thank god.”

I squeeze her hand. “It’s over, Sabrina. You’re safe now.”

“So, what does that mean?” she asks. “Does it mean you’re going to divorce me now because I no longer need your protection?”

“No way.” I shake my head. “I’m not going to let you go that easily.”

She narrows her eyes. “Really?”

“I’m sorry about lying to you about Dinah,” I tell her. “I didn’t mean to. I just… I couldn’t tell you the truth because I haven’t been able to live with it myself.”

“Hey.” She touches my chin. “It’s not your fault, Randall. Couples fight all the time. What happened to Dinah was an unfortunate accident, and you’ve been doing your best to be a good father to David since it happened. I’m sure Dinah is happy, watching over him.”

I nod. “I hope she is, and I hope she doesn’t mind me finding someone new.”

I take her wedding ring out of my pocket, slipping it on her finger. “I promised to love you in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, until death, and I promise it all over again.”

She gives me a look of surprise. “Are you saying you love me?”

I take something else out of my pocket – the pre-nup agreement, which I tear with both hands. “Enough to know I don’t want to live without you. I think I’ve always loved you. I just didn’t know it.”

She chuckles.

“You know, this whole thing is a mess, but one good thing did come out of it. As you were running away from Vince, you bumped into me.”

“I did.” Sabrina nods. “I’m glad I did.”

I touch her cheek. “I love you, Sabrina. If you don’t want me to protect you, I won’t, but I will always love you.”

She smiles. “Me too. And that is all I ask.”