Page 95 of A Wish for Us

Cromwell brought me to his lap. I melted into his chest, and we drifted that way for a while. “Crom.”

“Yeah?”

“You have to play the gala.”

Cromwell tensed. It was a few moments before he said, “I’ll do it, if you make me a promise in return.” I looked up into his eyes. Cromwell was waiting for me. “If you promise you’ll be there, watching.” I didn’t want to promise that, because the chances of it being possible were slim. And it terrified me to think of it. But when I thought back to Cromwell, slumped at the piano all those weeks ago, tortured over his father, needing to play the music in his heart but pushing it away so it didn’t hurt, I knew I couldn’t do it to him.

“I promise,” I said, voice shaking. Cromwell blew out a breath I didn’t even know he was holding. “I promise.” He took my fingers and kissed each one. He brought his lips to my mouth, then my cheeks, my forehead, my nose. He held on to me as if I’d slip through his hands and drift down the stream if he didn’t.

“Cromwell?” I asked when a bird sang again. “Who has synesthesia? Your mama or your papa?”

Cromwell’s dark eyebrows pinched. “What do you mean?”

“It’s genetic…isn’t it?”

Surprise washed over Cromwell’s face. He shook his head. “It can’t be.” He glanced away to the water. “Mum hasn’t got it, and Dad definitely didn’t.”

I frowned, suddenly feeling off. “I must have gotten it wrong.” I was sure I hadn’t, but in that case I had no idea how to explain Cromwell.

Cromwell didn’t say much after that. He appeared deep in thought. I stayed in his arms, listening to Mozart and picturing him up on that stage. I rubbed at my chest when a pain started to build there. Cromwell put me back on the seat and started making our way back to the dock. But with every stroke of the oars, I felt less and less okay.

Panic rushed through me when my left arm started to go numb. “Bonnie?” Cromwell said as we reached the dock. He threw the rope around the post on the dock just as pain so great it winded me seized control of my left side. I reached over to hold my arm as the ability to breathe was ripped away.

“Bonnie!” Cromwell’s voice filtered into my ears as the world tipped on its side. My eyes snapped up, and I saw the sun spearing through the gaps in the trees. The sound of the rustling leaves grew louder, and the birds singing sounded like an opera. Then Cromwell was over me, his blue eyes wide and panicked. “Bonnie! Baby!”

“Cromwell,” I tried to say. But my energy drained from my body, the world fading into muted tones of gray. Then worst of all, everything went quiet; the music of Cromwell’s voice and the living world plunged into silence. I wanted to speak, I wanted to tell him that I loved him. But my world faded to black before I could.

And then a heavy silence took me in its hold.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cromwell

“Bonnie! Bonnie!” I shouted as she slumped in her seat. Her right hand clutched her left arm, and her eyes started to close. Panic rushed through me like a river.

Bonnie’s eyes fell on mine, and all I saw was fear staring back at me. Then her eyes shut. “No! NO!” I shouted and moved over her. My hand searched for her pulse. It wasn’t there. I didn’t think. I just let instinct rule my actions. I took Bonnie in my arms and carried her to the dock as quickly as I could. I laid her down and started resuscitations, something my dad had made me learn years ago. “Come on, Bonnie,” I whispered, my blood running cold when her pulse didn’t come back.

I kept going, breathing into her mouth, pushing at her chest, when suddenly someone came beside me. I looked up to see the canoeist. “Call 911!” I shouted, not daring to take my hands off Bonnie. Because she had to live. She couldn’t die. “Tell them she has heart failure. And to hurry!”

It was all a fog. I kept going and going until someone pulled me aside. I fought them to get back to Bonnie. But when arms held me down, stopping me, I looked up. The EMTs were here. “She’s got heart failure,” I said, watching them take Bonnie from the dock and onto a gurney. I sprinted after them and climbed into the back of the ambulance and stayed frozen against the side as the paramedics worked on Bonnie.

Her hand had fallen over the gurney. And that was all I could see. Her limp hand, one that only a short while ago was holding mine. The doors to the ambulance started to close. When I looked up, the man in the canoe was gone.

The ambulance pulled out, and the whole time I stared at Bonnie’s hand. I called her parents. I didn’t even remember the conversation. I followed the gurney through the hospital as doctors and nurses swarmed around Bonnie like bees. I heard the beeps and whirrs of the machines keeping her alive. And I heard the pounding of my heart in my ears. The colors flew at me like shrapnel, hitting me with every strike. Emotions buried me until I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I stayed against the wall, watching Bonnie’s hand that still hung over the gurney. I wanted to hold it. Wanted her to know I was here, waiting for her to wake up.

“No!” Bonnie’s mother’s voice rang out behind me. I turned to see her father and brother coming in behind. Bonnie’s mum tried to run to the bed, but Mr. Farraday held her back. Easton stood in the doorway, his eyes fixed on his sister, a scarily calm look on his face. Like he wasn’t even there. Like he wasn’t watching his sister fight for her life.

Tubes and machines were all over Bonnie, drowning her dark hair and slim body. And all the time, I was buried further and further under colors and noises and shapes and feelings. Feelings I didn’t want.

I stood there, watching the girl who had brought back my heart fight to save hers. I stood there until I was led away. Mrs. Farraday steered me into a room. I blinked when the noises stopped and we were plunged into silence.

A doctor came into the room. I glanced up. Easton was beside me. But his eyes were vacant. His face pale.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the doctor started to speak. Only certain words made it through to my brain.“Cardiac arrest…terminal…no more than a couple of weeks…no going home…top of the list…medical help…machines…”

The doctor left the room. Bonnie’s mother fell into her husband’s chest. Crimson red filled my head as her cries filled the room. Mr. Farraday reached out for Easton. Easton was pulled into their arms, but he didn’t hold them back. He just stood there, eyes vacant, his body eerily still.

Bonnie was dying.

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