“I want to go with you,” I said to Maddox.

He whipped the truck into two parking spots out front of my building. “What? Hazel, I don’t have time for this.”

I grabbed his hand. “She’s going to be okay. And I want to be there with you. For you. I want to meet her.”

Maddox gritted his teeth. “I don’t want to be an asshole, sugar, but you’ve got a minute and then I’m leaving.”

“Okay.”

I opened the door and Maddox grabbed for me. “Hazel. Thank you.”

I dove out of the truck.

My heart was pounding.

One of his great aunt Ada’s friends had been trying to call her but couldn’t get a hold of her. So, she went to the house and found Ada on the floor. She called for an ambulance and was rushed to the hospital. Her friend that called Maddox said that she was breathing and that it didn’t appear to be a stroke or heart attack. Which was good, but the poor woman was still in the hospital.

I went into my apartment and grabbed two things.

A bag of clothes, which I always had packed. (Thanks to Mitch, I was already prepared to go on the run.) And then I grabbed my camera.

A little bit out of habit but mostly out of care. Maddox’s great aunt Ada had been the woman that raised him when nobody else would. If there were moments to capture, then I wanted to be the one to capture them. My gift to Maddox for listening to me and accepting who I was.

Even if I didn’t get a chance to tell him my darkest secret yet.

* * *

Maddox held my hand as we walked the halls to find her room. We were met by a doctor as he emerged from the hospital room. A tall man, Maddox’s height, but very skinny with dark hair, a clean cut face, and a pair of small, black glasses.

“Ada in there?” he asked.

“Yes. And you are?”

“Family,” Maddox said. “I’m her…she raised me. And this is Hazel. Family. Tell me what’s happening, Doc.”

“Right. Okay. Well, your…”

“Great aunt,” Maddox said.

“Great aunt,” the doctor repeated. “She has pneumonia. Pretty bad, too. It can be a very dangerous thing for a young, healthy person. The older we get, the worse it can be and the harder it can be to fight. Chances are, she’s been sick for a little while. Probably just thought it was a cold. Her friend found her on the floor. She was suffering from severe dehydration, confusion, weakness, and a fever.”

“Shit,” Maddox said. “What happens now?”

“Well, we have her somewhat stabilized.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means we gave her medicine to help her rest. She’s on an antibiotic but we have to make sure it doesn’t do harm to her body. We’d like to put her on more medication to ease everything but it’s up to her body to decide. I’m sorry, but there’s a lot of fluid in her lungs and based on her age…”

“She’s a fighter, Doc,” Maddox said. “Don’t you dare think for a second she’s not.”

“I would never,” the doctor said. “When we got her comfortable and alert to understand what was happening, the first thing she did was ask if she missed the ten o’clock news. And she demanded a cup of coffee.”

“Black, one small sugar,” Maddox said.

“Yes,” the doctor said.

I watched, taking it all in. I felt strange being there but Maddox hadn’t released his grip on my hand. I felt needed. Wanted. And I wasn’t going to let him down.

“You can go visit her but she’s sleeping. Heavily medicated. You’re more than welcome to stay the night. We’re going to closely monitor her vitals every hour. We’ll run more tests in the morning. As long as she responds to the medicines, that’s the key. She responds and her body can handle it. The last thing we want is to cause any further harm to her body.”

“But it’s just pneumonia? Nothing heart-related? Nothing?”

“Everything else seems okay,” the doctor said. “But, again, I cannot stress enough how serious pneumonia is for someone of her age. So, keep her in good spirits and let’s check on her in the morning again.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Maddox said.

They shook hands and Maddox moved to the door.

We entered the hospital room and chills went up and down my spine. I didn’t know anyone that liked hospitals. The room was quiet other than the machines beeping. There was a smell to it. Clean, yes, but something else. The lingering memories of what else happened in that hospital over the days, weeks, and years.

Maddox let my hand go when he saw his great aunt in the bed. He made fists and put them near his mouth. His version of shock, I supposed.

She was a beautiful woman, too.

She had thinned white hair that was puffy, probably against her own will at this point considering her condition. Her face was aged, kissed by time, but that was perfectly fine. I could see a faint resemblance to Maddox in her cheeks and ears, as strange as it was. She honestly looked peaceful, almost too peaceful.

I got the eerie feeling that I was at a funeral and not a hospital.

“She’s beautiful,” I whispered to Maddox.

“Yes, she is,” he said. He reached for his great aunt, touching her cheek. “Ada, it’s Maddox. I got here. Bev called me to let me know you weren’t feeling all that great. I’m glad you got here. Get some medicine and some rest. Doctor said you probably weren’t feeling good for a little while. I know you don't want me to tell you when you’re stubborn, but you’re stubborn. You can hit me with a hanger later.”

“Hit you with a hanger?” I asked.

Maddox looked back and smiled. “Yeah. That was her favorite thing. Well, a way to punish me. She would smack me with a metal hanger. Not that I didn’t deserve it every time she did it. But they’d always bend and then she’d get mad at me for that. I wasn’t the easiest person to deal with.”

“I can see that,” I said.

“What do I do right now, Hazel?”

“You stay and wait for her to wake up and go home,” I said.

“Sleep in a hospital room,” he said. “With you here? You should head back. I’ll give you my truck. Go get some real rest.”

I stepped forward and touched Maddox’s arm. “Maddox, I want to be here. For you. This means something to me. I want you to know that. I care about you.”

Maddox slipped an arm around me. He pulled me close and kissed me. “Tell you what. Let me check with the nurses and then we’ll go to her house. I’ll show you my old bedroom and we can get some rest. Come back in the morning.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. She’s resting. I don’t want to be in the way. I just want to make sure they have my number in case something happens. Her house is only a few minutes away.”

“Okay. If you say so, Maddox.”

“Can I get a minute here?” he asked.

“Of course,” I said. “Please don’t rush for me. Okay?”

He nodded.

I slipped out of the hospital room and waited in the hallway. I casually strolled to the end where there was a large window. Outside everything was black except for the occasional flash of red from a cell phone tower.

I took it all in. What was happening between myself and Maddox.

It was real.

Deeply real.

I looked over my shoulder just in time to see him coming out of the hospital room.

Pinching the bridge of his nose.

Then he looked at me.

He was vulnerable. And something told me that’s why he didn’t like his picture taken. Because something happened to him that made him vulnerable.

I smiled and gave a wave.

Maddox waved and then turned away to go find the nurses’ station.

I watched him walk away with one thought in my head.

There goes the man I love, and I hope he loves me after he finds out who I really am.