Page 61 of The Rules We Broke
“You’ll be able to go up to the ICU in thirty minutes, once she’s out of recovery.”
“ICU?” My eyes widened.
“We monitor all bypass patients there as a precaution,” she said.
“Oh, okay.” That made me feel a little better.
When she left, I turned to Brady without thinking and wrapped my arms around him. I was so happy. So relieved. He pulled me close and kissed the top of my head.
It felt like summertime. Warm. Safe. Familiar.
But then I remembered: I was an Eaton. He was a Jackson.
We weren’t built for summer. Our love was tangled in winter.
I pulled back. “Thank you for being here today. I’m sure you need to get back to the bank.”
It was late afternoon now.
Brady didn’t move. “I’m not leaving.”
“Brady, my aunt’s okay. Really—go back to work. Get something to eat. I don’t want to keep you.”
He folded his arms. “Ellie, I’m glad she’s okay. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m staying.”
I tugged him into a quiet corner, away from the hum of hospital chatter. “Why do you have to be so stubborn, Brady Jackson?”
He gazed at me with such fire in his eyes. And I saw it: the truth. The decision he’d already made.
“I told you I wasn’t letting you go without a fight, Ellie. And I meant it.”
I shook my head, my voice barely a whisper. “Please just let us go. It’s for the best.”
I wanted to add,You’ve done it before. You can do it again.But he didn’t deserve that. Not today. Not after everything he’d done for me by coming here.
“Best for who, Ellie?” His voice was low, strained. There was something like anger in it—rare for Brady.
“For everyone.” I mumbled it, eyes cast down to my shoes.
He stepped closer and gently ran his fingers through my hair. “No, Ellie. It’s not best for me. And if what your aunt says is true, it’s not best for you either.”
I blinked, stunned. “What did she say?”
“I think you should talk to her about that.”
You bet I will.As soon as she was well enough.
He kissed my cheek. “Now go see your aunt,” he murmured. “I’ll be here. Waiting.”
I walked away and felt like I’d slipped into a parallel universe. Brady and my aunt—talking.Me—eating at a Jackson’s house, sitting with them at church. My aunt—buying Christmas presents for them. It was surreal. And oddly comforting.
But not everything had changed.
His parents still hated me. He had promised me forever. Then left me. And sure—I could almost forgive him for choosing his family over me. But he went on to Amber. Then, he got engaged to her. I didn’t care what Kendra said. He had to have loved her.
Brady wasn’t the kind of man who’d propose to someone he didn’t love.
It didn’t matter. I shouldn’t have been thinking about him—not here, not now. I was here for Aunt Lu. Not to rekindle an old romance with the man I still loved.
