Page 86 of DFF: Delicate Freakin' Flower

Chapter 27

Gabby

Waking up felt like dragging myself through wet cement—with a hammering headache, a throat full of cotton, and a body that felt like it had been thrown through a windshield and then lovingly stomped on for good measure. Literally, everything hurt.

My mouth was so dry it felt glued shut. When I finally managed to blink my eyes open, the ceiling above me was blindingly white and unfamiliar. The room smelled sterile, sharp with the scent of disinfectant. Soft beeping drifted in from nearby monitors, their steady rhythm hovering at the edge of my awareness. The quiet hum of machines filled the background, calm but clinical.

I was in a hospital. The strange part was—I had no memory of how I got there.

“Good morning, sunshine.”

I turned my head toward the voice—slowly because even that much movement made the inside of my skull pulse like it wasplotting vengeance. Ira sat beside my bed, hands folded neatly on his lap, his kind old face lined with worry and something else—relief, maybe.

I tried to speak, but all that came out was a whispery rasp. “What… happened?”

He leaned in slightly. “You gave us a hell of a scare, young lady. You’ve been out a while.”

My brow furrowed. “How long?”

“A few days. They had to take out your spleen, and you’ve got a skull fracture, too—but no major brain bleeds, thank God. They’ve been monitoring the pressure in there with all those fancy machines and scans. Didn’t have to drill a hole for one of those doohickeys, which is a mercy.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and breathed through the pain. Every breath sent a dull ache through my ribs, and my limbs throbbed with a deep, heavy soreness that felt rooted in the bone. The cast on my leg pressed down with an unrelenting weight, and I could feel the itchy pull of gauze against raw skin.

A doctor came in not long after that, explaining in calm, efficient tones that my splenectomy had gone well, that the head trauma was stable, and that I’d need to avoid anything strenuous. No lifting, no sudden movements, no straining, and absolutely no heroics.

I nodded through it all, but I was only half-listening because I was watching Ira.

When the doctor finally left, I waited until the door clicked softly shut before turning my aching head toward Ira. He hadn’t moved from his chair, but the lines around his mouthhad deepened, and his fingers tapped a quiet, restless rhythm against the armrest. He was keeping watch—eyes occasionally flicking toward the hallway like danger might come creeping in at any second.

“You’re jumpy,” I croaked. “What’s going on?”

He sighed and leaned back just a little as if relaxing was something he had to consciously remind himself to do. “Gladys went to deal with her son.”

My eyebrows rose, or at least I thought they did—it was hard to tell with the pressure in my skull. “Shewhat?”

“She said it was her responsibility,” Ira growled, clearly less than thrilled. “Said it was time she looked her boy in the eye and reminded him who raised him.”

I blinked slowly, my brain crawling through the pieces. “She went alone?”

“I wanted to go with her. I told her I wasn’t letting her walk into that alone, but she shut me down so fast my hearing’s still ringing. Told me I had one job: stay here and keep you safe. Her words, not mine.”

My heart twisted. Gladys might’ve been soft-spoken and wrapped in cardigans, but there was steel beneath that warmth. I didn’t doubt she’d face down Maddox without flinching.

“She’s a badass,” I whispered, dry-mouthed but impressed.

“That she is,” Ira agreed with a proud little smile. “She said this wasn’t about revenge, it was about accountability. And that if she was the one who raised the devil, she’d be the one to put him down.”

Goosebumps ran down my arms.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” I asked quietly.

He hesitated, then nodded once. “I think she’s more capable than most people realize. But if she’s not…then I’ll regret letting her go alone for the rest of my damn life.”

I reached for his hand, my fingers brushing his. “She trusted you with me. That means everything.”

He gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “And I don’t take that lightly.” After a long pause, he gave me a small, almost sheepish smile. “We’ve been courting, you know. Me and Gladys.”

I smiled through the ache in my head. “She mentioned.”

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