Page 126 of Ruin

“Declan, if I find out you were with another woman, I will not be happy about it, and I’ll tell her,” Mom snaps at me, which makes me laugh.

“I was not with another woman, I’m happy with the one I have.” I look over at my mom who is watching Trixie sleeping. “I just hope you’ll like her.”

“I’m going to love her, because my son loves her. Now eat your breakfast, you didn’t eat anything last night,” Mom tells me and slides the plate closer to me. The doorbell goes off, and mom walks to the door.

“How has school been?” Dad asks.

“Good, should still finish top of the class.” I eat my breakfast, and look over at mom walking back in chatting with Doc.

“Don’t look so worried, I only wanted to check up on her. The blood tests all came back negative so nothing to worry about, but if it’s okay with you I’d like to take some more to double check.” Doc looks over to the bedroom as Trixie is still sleeping, then turns back to me.

“Yeah, that’s fine. You said her body needed to recover, how long will it take?” I ask him, finishing my breakfast quickly so I can be in the room with him. Mom hands me a mug with some coffee in it, knowing I’m not about to go to sleep, and will need something to keep me awake.

I walk with Doc to the bedroom. “Declan it will take her some time, she lost a lot of blood, and I’m quite sure she didn’t eat anything while she was there either.” Doc sits on the bed, and starts looking her over, and smiles. “It all looks a lot better than last night.” He opens his bag and takes a needle out to get some blood from her. “Declan, she’s been fighting a long time, she will fight this.” Doc tells me, as he takes her blood. Once he finishes Trixie pulls her arm from his grip, and takes in a deep breath.

Doc gets off the bed, and I get next to her and cup her face. Seeing her wake, brings relief to my chest, as I try to stay calm for her, the tingling feeling moving through my hands is making them tremble a little with how happy I am with her waking up. I place my forehead against hers, and whisper. “It’s me. Trixie, you’re safe. It’s me.” I pull away from her, her eyes widen hearing my voice, and it takes a moment for her to lock eyes with me, and relax her body. I let out a breath waiting for her nod or something to let me know she understands it’s me with her. A slight nod of the head, and I smile letting her know I’m here and I’m not leaving. “Doc is here; he’s going to check you over. You understand what I’m saying?” I ask her, and she holds my hand with a tight grip, and I see the fear in her eyes. “Not leaving, never leaving.” She gives me a nod. I move to the side for Doc to look her over.

“Are you in any pain?” Doc asks, and she points to the side where she was stabbed. “You were stabbed, and I’ve stitched you up. It will take a few days to heal. Any other pain?” Doc asks, and she looks over at me, and I see the tears escaping the corner of her eyes.

She lets go of my hand and signs.I couldn’t fight him.

“Hey, it’s fine, Doc did some tests, and we’re all good. All came back negative. But right now I don’t care about all that, answer Doc’s questions please.” I kneel next to the bed and wipe the tears away. “All I care about is you getting better.” She gives me a nod and signs again.

My head hurts, and when I breathe.

I tell Doc what she’s said, and he presses on her ribs to see what's happening.

“Nothing is broken, but I will up the pain medication for you. I’ve taken some more blood to double check everything, but-”

“Doc, we can talk about that later.” I cut him off, not wanting him to upset Trixie, she’s only just woken up.

“Declan, if we know now, it will be easier to-”

“I said no,” I shout at him, and Trixie grabs my hands, and then signs.

I knew what Robert wanted from me, to get me pregnant. I’m on the pill, just never told him.

I tell Doc, as he finishes checking her over, and I kiss the top of her head. I wait for him to leave.

“You scared me, I thought I lost you.” I kiss her, and it’s soft, but she kisses me back. “I’m not waiting any longer to say this, Trixie, I love you, and you’re never leaving my side.” She smiles at my words, a small weak smile, but it’s a smile.

I love you, too.

“Can’t wait for you to say the words to me.” I kiss her again, and help her to sit up and wipe away her tears. “You’re safe now. I promise no one will ever touch you again.” She places her head on my chest, and I wrap my arms around her, letting her cry it out.

No matter what, I will be forever here for her. I know going through all this, her talking will take some time again, but I’m here to help her through everything. She will never be alone again.

I see my mom at the door, and she wipes away her own tears, and I tell her we will be out once she's ready and showered, and she gives me a nod.

THIRTY-EIGHT

TRIXIE

Declan helpsme out of the shower and wraps the towel around me. “How are you feeling?” he asks me again. It’s the only question he’s been asking me. I think this is the fifteenth time he has asked me since I woke up.

Tried, body hurts, and…I stop signing and take a deep breath which hurts so much, and I lean my head on Declan’s chest. I’m not going to hide what I’m feeling from Declan because one, he said I shouldn’t and two, because he said he loves me.

Declan Crawford loves me, and he didn’t say it to make me feel better, I could see that he meant it one hundred percent. But I love him, too. My heart hurt being away from him. When Robert was hurting me, I kept thinking about Declan, hoping it would make the torture less.

---