“Marcum, enough is enough. It’s been three weeks. You promised me a life together. You promised me babies. Are you just going to break that promise? I started my period today you know. The last thing I need is to be in this damn hospital room. I need to be back home, in bed, while you rub my stomach and feed me chocolate. Instead, I’m here putting lotion on you and hurting.”

Toi…

“I hate having my period. You promised me a baby and I wanted that… I deserved that. And why did we never have pictures of the two of us? I know life was hectic, but you have pictures of everyone in your life but me. Do you know how that makes me feel? You told me you loved me, did you lie? Of course you also told Ghost to take care of me apparently. It’s so nice of you to give me away. You arrogant asshole.”

Pictures…

“Is that what you want? To see me move on to another man? Have another man father my children? Live life with another man? You think it’s okay for you to just give me away?”

No!

I can’t get the words out. Fuck, it’s still black, I can’t even manage to open my eyes. I feel like I’m in the ocean and the undertow is dragging me down.

“Fine. If that’s what you want, Marcum Kincaid. That’s what you’ll have. In fact, there’s a doctor here that’s been giving me the eye every day. I think I’ll talk to him. He can give me babies and a white picket fence and pictures! I deserve fucking pictures!”

That’s it. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but hearing Toi talking about another man is more than I can handle. I fight to open my eyes—and it is a fight. I open my eyes and immediately close them again. The light is too bright—too harsh. I blink several times, trying my best to adjust. Finally, I squint to look through the room.

Toi is standing at the foot of my bed. Her blond hair is pulled up on top of her head, she doesn’t have any make up on, and even though my vision pretty much sucks—I can see dark circles under her eyes. She’s rubbing something on my feet and she’s talking the entire time, but now I can’t seem to grasp what she’s saying. All of my attention is just on looking at her. I watch as she tucks a blanket back on my feet. I moved my toes, but I don’t think she even noticed. She walks back to the side of the bed and is washing her hands with some sanitizer, drying them on her jeans. Jeans that are hugging her body closely, accenting every damn curve she has. I may feel like death, but when she turns around to put a paper in the trash and I see the way the denim caresses against her ass, my dick still jerks.

That’s when I notice the pain.

Pain everywhere, and damn it, I feel like someone has taken a sledgehammer to my head.

“I’ve been here every day and night for three weeks, Marcum. Three weeks. I’ve waited on you long enough. It’s time you hold up to your promises. You’re not the youngest man on the block you know. You’re wasting time and it’s time we don’t have.”

Damn.

“You’re going to be married to me for at least fifty years. Do you hear me? Fifty. I won’t accept anything less. You’re going to hold my hand when we’re both old and gray. You’re going to give me babies. I need them, and Harley and Desi need them. They have an army of older brothers and sisters, they need to enjoy getting to be the older ones for a change,” she huffs and then she sits down. That’s when I see the sadness on her face.

Toi…

I can’t get my throat to work. I can’t make her hear me.

“Harley needs you, Marcum. All of us do, sweetheart—but he really does. Cherry did so much to him, things I’m just finding out. He’s having nightmare after nightmare… He needs you to pull through this. He’s blaming himself and it doesn’t matter how much I reassure him… He thinks you don’t love him anymore. At first I thought that was because of me, but last night he told me you weren’t his father. Cherry told him that he and Desi weren’t really yours. I swear if that bitch wasn’t already rotting in hell, I’d hunt her down and send her there myself. I hope her and Alvaro are keeping each other company.”

Toi…

I try again, still unable to say the word, though I think I at least managed a squeak this time.

Toi lays her head on my chest, her arm reaching out to hug me.

“I miss you so much, Marcum,” she whispers, and it sounds like she’s crying. “I was just lying about the doctor. I don’t want anyone else. Just you… I just… need you. I want the life we’re supposed to have together … I want our babies… and I want pictures… I want so many pictures of us together, of our lives together, that we barely have room to store them all. I want our life together, Marcum…” She keeps whispering and this time I know she’s crying because her body shakes against me.

She’s hurting and it’s my fault.

“Hush for me, Dragonfly.”

I manage to get the words out… or maybe just one of them. I don’t know, but it’s there. Toi’s body goes completely still and then she turns to look at me.

“You’re awake!” she squeals. She sits up immediately and both her hands go to frame my face. “You’re awake!” There’s so much joy on her face. It’s beautiful and then she brings her lips to mine and gives me some of that beauty in just her touch.