Page 31 of His Relentless Angel

“Shh, baby. I know.”

Someone nudges my side, and I peer up over Isaiah’s arm to see Autumn tipping her head toward Dad. Isaiah doesn’t want to let me go—same as I don’t want to let him go—but he drops his arms I pull away seconds before Dad turns his attention toward us.

The nurses only let us go in to see Shayla two at a time, and when it’s my turn, Dad has pulled Isaiah into a conversation, so Autumn steps into the room with me instead. James holds up a massive clear plastic hospital tumbler so she can sip her water. She looks as worse for wear as he does, though she tries to smile through it.

I’m careful not to apply any pressure to her stomach when I lean over the rail of the hospital bed to embrace her. “Hey, sis. I’m so glad you’re ok.”

There’s an IV attached to Shayla’s arm, so she can’t hug me back, but she does turn her head to kiss my wet cheek. “Me too,” she says with a scratchy voice, more tears gathering in her bloodshot eyes. James smooths back the sweaty strands of hair that have fallen in her face and dips to kiss her light brow. “James almost passed out this time when they said I might need surgery to stop the bleeding. Think the next one will actually give him a heart attack?”

James blanches. “You can’t be serious, angel. I will never touch you again if—”

“A joke! It was just a joke. I’m sorry.” Shayla presses her hand against her lower belly after bursting into tears. “I’m sorry.”

James carefully maneuvers onto her hospital bed and holds her tenderly, letting her cry into his chest. “Our family—it’s perfect. No more,” he says.

“No more,” she agrees.

After kissing Shayla and James both on the cheek, Autumn and I leave them to hold each other, passing Mom and Dad on the way in so the kids can see their parents one more time before we take them home.

I walk down the hall away from the waiting room to call Starlight and ask her if I can take a week off from work so I can stay at James and Shayla’s house to babysit until Shayla is released from the hospital, which Autumn and I offered to do before Mom and Dad even thought to ask. Five young kids is a lot to watch for an indeterminate amount of time when Mom already has Brady to look after and Dad might have to go out of town again.

Starlight picks up on the first ring.

“Hey, I’m sorry to ask on such short notice, but—”

“I know why you’re calling, and the answer is yes,” Starlight says in a lyrical voice instead of hello.

“You do? How?”

“The crystals. They talk to me.” A beat passes in silence. “I’m just shitting you. But I’m assuming you need time off, and the answer is yes. Just keep me updated on when you’ll be back.”

After we’ve all said our last goodbyes to James and Shayla and have taken a quick peek at our adorable new family member, we head to the hospital’s parking garage. Isaiah flips his keys in his hand over and over, unsure of what to do, while I shift on my feet, looking between him and Dad.

“Were you planning on staying with us?” Dad asks Isaiah.

“Yes…” he answers slowly since whenever he would visit while I was gone, he usually stayed in the spare bedroom that used to be mine and my sisters’ before everyone moved out.

“Should have called me so I could tell you to make other arrangements now that Autumn has moved back in.”

Everyone watches their slow back and forth, tension thickening the already suffocatingly humid air.

“I’m sure it was just a spur of the moment thing,” I offer, crossing my fingers behind my back that he’ll believe me.

Dad’s lips thin as he looks at me, then back at Isaiah. “Sure. Spur of the moment.” Dad crosses his arms. “Since Autumn is helping Bailey out, we can make up her bed with fresh sheets…unless you’d rather stay with someone else.”

Dad almost shifts his gaze back to me, and Isaiah jumps to say, “That would be great. Thanks.”

Mom cups Dad’s elbow. “Come on, Sherman. Let’s get these kids home and fed.”

Blowing out a breath of relief too soon, Dad turns and asks, “Where’s your car, sweetheart? I’ll walk you to it.”

Fuck.

“It’s…I…” I scramble for an explanation on the spot as to how I got here without my car and come up with nothing since my brain is still stuck in panic mode.

Autumn cuts in, lying for me when she says, “We took an Uber.”

Mom looks positively miserable until Dad says, “All right. You two”—he points to my sister and me—“can ride with your mother and Brady. I’ll take Shayla’s Suburban with the kids and meet you at the house.” I almost snort at the image of Dad driving Shayla’s new, custom-painted hot pink SUV. To Isaiah, he says, “We’ll meet you there, too. I’ll call in an order and have dinner delivered.”

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