MY EYES BLINKED, staying closed longer and longer with each passing moment. The mug of warm tea teetered precariously in my grasp as I fought the impending sleep. Even the constant beep of Momma’s monitors had become a lullaby, the rhythm lulling me to a dream state.

My mind was too full to sleep and too troubled to want to be awake. I couldn’t stop thinking about Melissa Summers and Chelsea and even myself. How close had Chelsea and I come to being Bryce’s victims? When did Melissa die? Had her body been at Carmichael Hall while Chelsea had been there? If I’d gone there Saturday morning, would he have shown her to me? Would she be another example of his power as striking Chelsea had been?

My skin prickled and stomach twisted with the possibilities.

Then there was Nox. I wanted him to get back to me. I needed him. I needed to rely upon someone besides myself.

Lastly, my momma.

The room where we were had all the essentials of a hospital room but encased in luxury. I’d never before been in the master suite of this house. Once I realized the room we were in, I did my best to suppress the images Nox had described to me of finding Jocelyn. This was the room where she’d died, where he’d found her, and yet it was the room where my mother was sleeping.

I chose to use the word sleeping, doing as Oren had said and concentrating on the positive.

It was also the room where Oren stayed when he was here. His bed was still present. I found it more than a little odd that it was where he’d chosen to create her makeshift hospital room, but after what he’d told me about the flight, moving her to another room didn’t seem like the appropriate course of action.

After his story, I wasn’t sure what I’d find when he opened the door. The reality was better than my imagination. My mother appeared peaceful, her hair brushed and nightgown fresh. Her complexion had a hint of pink and her wrists weren’t tethered. The constant beeping provided comfort as the monitors confirmed her heart was beating and a small tube delivered oxygen through her nose.

On a shiny silver pole hung a bag of what I’d learned was simply saline solution. A thin tube delivered the hydration to her arm. Hanging from the bed was a clear bag to monitor her fluid output.

The nurse explained that they’d need to resume intravenous nutrition if she didn’t wake soon. In the meantime, they were working to keep her hydrated. I’d been pleased to hear that the doctor believed that most of the opioid hydrocodone and alcohol should by now be purged from her system, decreasing the likelihood of future DTs.

Liz, the nurse, confirmed that my mother did have three broken ribs. Apparently they’d been able to see with some kind of portable x-ray machine. The length to which Nox’s family had gone to help my mother utterly amazed me. The doctor or nurse had taped my momma’s sides to ease the pain. She also explained that not much could be done about broken ribs. Only time. Perhaps it was the doctor I was waiting for, or maybe it was Nox. He should be landing soon. For whatever reason, I found it difficult to leave my mother’s side despite the fact that soon the sun would rise on the other side of the draperies. During my exploration I’d discovered that, like the room I shared with Nox, this one also had a balcony overlooking the sound.

“Miss Collins, do you mind if I go to the kitchen? Everything is stable. If you need me or Dr. Rossi, push the button on the intercom.”

I forced a smile. “Thanks, Liz. I’ll stay with her.”

After the door shut, I placed my tea on a table and walked to my mother’s side. I stood silently holding my breath, watching as her chest rose and fell. Then letting out the air, I reached for her hand.

“Momma, I’m here.” My voice choked with emotion. “You’re going to get better. That’s what Liz said. She’s your nurse, yours. I don’t know how they did it, but the Demetris got all of this for you.”

I looked around the room again, taking in the spacious suite. Oren had stepped out earlier and now with Liz in the kitchen, for the first time my momma and I were alone.

“I think you’ll like it here. It’s not Montague Manor and that’s a good thing. It’s a home, a lovely home. Wait until you meet Silvia. She’s so welcoming. Things have happened here…” I thought again about Jocelyn and wondered about Nox’s mom. “Yet it feels warm. Not a temperature, but the way it makes me feel, as if I belong.” I took a ragged breath. “I’m sorry if… I-I wish…”

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say.

“Momma, please get better. Don’t think about Montague Manor. We don’t need anything from any of them ever again. Let them have it all. There’s so much to tell you. Bryce was…” I stopped, remembering Oren’s request for positivity. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing is worth what that place has taken. What Alton…” Damn, it was impossible to stay positive and tell her what had happened.

I took a deep breath. “When I finish school I’ll work. I will. I don’t want Nox to feel as if he has to, but he’s promised that he’ll help us until then.” I wiped away the tears that wouldn’t stop. “Please get better and when you do, stay with me, with us.”

I let it all out—the last two weeks. That was such a short time in the span of a life and yet in even less than that, in only ten days, so much had happened. I didn’t know if she could hear me, but I wanted to tell her. Part of me was afraid that this would be the only chance I had.

“Oren, Nox’s dad, wants us to say only good things and not upset you. I don’t want to upset you, but there are a few things I need to say.” My breath stuttered as I gulped air. “I know I haven’t been a good daughter, but you haven’t been a good mom.” My eyes closed, forcing more tears to fall. As they dripped from my chin, I imagined her living the last twenty years as I had the last ten days. My childhood hadn’t been good, but it hadn’t been the hell I faced marrying Bryce, living with his cruelty day after day. The anger I’d allowed to fester inside of me morphed to empathy. “I think I understand. I think you tried. I get that. I can see things differently than I used to. I’m sorry.”

The ivory dress I’d worn earlier was gone. I was wearing a sweatshirt and yoga pants. I wasn’t sure if they were Silvia’s or if Deloris had arranged for me to have clothes. I didn’t care as long as I was out of that dress and heels. I knelt beside the bed, still clinging to my mother’s hand and rested my forehead on the edge of the mattress.

“Don’t leave me. I know I left you, but I wasn’t really gone. I was away. I-I don’t know what I’d do…”

The words stopped forming as hiccups sabotaged my speech.

Letting go of her hand, I clung to the edge of the mattress. With my head down I cried. I cried because I was scared that she wouldn’t live. I cried because I was scared of what would become of us if she did. We were breaking my grandfather’s will. I couldn’t ask Nox or Oren to support both of us. It wasn’t right.

I cried for the little girl who missed out on a mother’s touch. More tears fell at the realization of her sacrifice, at our sacrifice. I’d missed out and so had she. Maybe it wasn’t that she didn’t notice, but that she’d been too busy keeping the monster away. I felt it in my soul. Things Jane had said. Things I didn’t understand now seemed clear.

I cried the tears I’d held back at Montague Manor.

I cried for Chelsea and all she’d surrendered on my account.

With time, my tears slowed and breathing began to steady. As it did, I felt a touch to my head, a smoothing of my hair.

“Shhh. Don’t cry.”

The voice was weak, scratchy, but I’d know my own mother’s voice anywhere.

My head popped up. She looked exactly as she had. Her eyes were still closed. But her hand was moved. Had I moved it? Did I imagine it?

“Momma?”

She didn’t answer.

“Momma?”

The monitors continued their steady rhythm as the door opened.

Oren stepped around Liz. “Alexandria, are you all right?”

Liz hurried to the monitors. “Everything is stable. Did something happen?”

“She spoke.”

Oren looked from me to Momma and back. There was a skeptical expectancy in his expression as if he wanted to believe me, but doubted my sanity.

“Adelaide?”

I took a step back as he reached for her other hand.

“Adelaide, it’s Oren. Alexandria is here.”

The intimacy in his touch made my skin prickle. It wasn’t right, yet he didn’t hesitate as he bowed forward and lifted her hand to his lips.

“Amore mio, rest. We’re not leaving you.”

“Not real.”

We all looked up, Liz, Oren, and myself. It wasn’t a sleep-deprived hallucination. She’d spoken again.

“Miss Collins, that is a great sign,” Liz said. “Dr. Rossi will be in here soon. She’s not leaving the estate. We will want to run some tests, see how she’s responding. There’s nothing more for you to do right now. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

“I-I don’t want—”

The door opened wider. There was something in the expression of the most handsome man I knew. It only lasted a millisecond as he entered this room. His step stuttered and then he strode through, my confident, domineering Batman. “Did I hear something good happened?”

I nodded and swallowed more tears. “She’s talking.”

Nox reached for my hand. “Princess…” He kissed my forehead. “…you’re the most beautiful woman I know, but,” he said, pausing to wipe the tears from my cheeks, “you look spent. I’m spent. Your mom is doing better. Let’s get some sleep?” He looked to Liz. “If you need her, she’s in the suite down the hall. Don’t hesitate to wake us.”

“Yes, sir.”

He nodded toward Oren. “Thank you.”

“Tomorrow we’ll talk.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. One thing at a time.”

Nox took a deep breath and tilted his head toward Momma. “They know she’s gone.”

Oren nodded. “I’ve been following the chatter.”

“Wait!” I said. “What? Do you think they’ll come here? Do you think they’ll try to move her?”

“Eventually,” Oren replied. “But no one is entering this property without a warrant.”

I reached for Nox’s hand. “Alton has people. He got in our apartment.”

Oren smiled. “Get some sleep. Our people are watching.”

Nox’s eyes blinked in acknowledgment as he smiled at his father. And then the light blue stare was back on me. “Come on, princess. I have plans.”