“If my father’s sins aren’t mine to bear, then your brother’s aren’t yours.”

I replayed the words I’d said to Ari while she slept, but I wasn’t sure I believed them as they applied to me.

Eventually, the nurses had kicked me out of Ari’s bed, but I refused to leave the room. I wasn’t letting her out of my sight for a long damned time.

Her chest rose and fell with even breaths while I wondered, Where do we go from here?

I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to let go of what my father had done. Likewise, Ari would carry her brother’s actions with her for life.

It still shredded me to realize that two of the most important people in my life had betrayed me and everything I believed in. Heath had been closer to me than my brothers, and somehow I’d been completely oblivious to what was happening beneath the surface. I should have been a better friend, a better son, and maybe . . .

There I went again.

It was going to be a hard habit to break, for Ari and me both.

Separately, we were two broken people struggling to make sense of things, but together, maybe we could heal each other. I wasn’t going to consider any other alternative, so I hoped like hell I was right.

My phone vibrated and I stepped outside the room, still watching her from the cracked door as I answered.

“Please tell me she’s really going to be okay.” My mom’s voice carried a heavy dose of fear, even though I’d kept her updated by text.

“She’s going to be fine, Mom. I promise.”

“Thank the Lord.” She paused. “And I swear, Rhett Hennessy, you’ve damn near given me a heart attack for the very last time. No more of those I’m in the hospital messages. I’m done.”

“I know.”

“You going to talk her into staying? Plant some roots back where she belongs?”

I had to smile. My mom could jump from subject to subject without any hesitation. “We’ve talked about it.”

“Well, stop talking and just do it. Life is too short to waste time. I learned that the hard way.”

The sorrow in her voice gutted me.

“I wish I would’ve found out something different, Mom. I wish we would’ve found out he had nothing to do with it.”

She got quiet for a moment. “Me too, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was the love of my life. Good people do bad things, Rhett. Sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad ones, but that doesn’t mean all those memories we have are somehow worth less. And it surely doesn’t mean that what he did has any bearing on you. You didn’t do this.”

“Ari said something along those lines.”

“And she’s right. Focus on the future, Rhett. Ari will need all the support you can give. You both deserve to be happy. I love you.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

I ended the call and watched Ari sleep.

She was alive. I was alive. And that was all that mattered right now. Everything else could wait.