Page 120 of Stay With Me
“She’s really scared you’re going to hate her. Well, that everyone is going to hate her,” I add.
“How could we ever hate her? She went through so much, and it’s all my fault,” she says, and her voice breaks.
“Listen to me, my Lunabella. This isnot your fault. Matthew and The Family are to blame. I told her it wasn’t her fault, just like it wasn’t yours.”
Her eyes meet mine. “I love you, Noah. Thank you for finding me, and thank you for making sure Jess was safe and knew she was loved when she needed it the most.”
“I love you too. I would do anything for both of you,” I tell her and kiss her softly.
She smiles at me as we turn into the hospital parking lot.
“Your carriage has arrived, my friends,” Luke says, and I feel Luna jump because she forgot he was here.
“Can you let Hunt know we’re here and that he can talk to Luna later after she rests some?” I ask Luke.
“Yeah, man. I can take care of that.” He gets up and opens the back doors.
I stand and walk with Luna in my arms and step down.
“I can walk, Noah,” Luna whispers.
“I know you can, but I like you in my arms. So just let me carry you.”
We walk in, and she’s quickly taken back to a room. I’m glad we told Sam to keep the girls out in the lobby until after the doctors do their exam.
FIFTY-FIVE
Luna
Afterwhatseemslikeforever, I’m finally left alone in the hospital room with just Jess. Noah knew I wanted to talk to her and made an excuse to go talk to Special Agent Hunt.
I look over at her, and my heart breaks. Gone is the confident little girl she was becoming. Hunched over with her head down, she’s fiddling with her fingers. She carried so much on her shoulders.
I wish I could have done more.
“Are you okay?” I ask softly.
She just shrugs.
“Jess, look at me.”
She lifts her head slowly, and tears are streaming down her face.
“It’s okay to not be okay,” I tell her. It was hard when I had to be okay for so long, but having people to finally lean on has taught me a lot.
“I promise I’ll never keep a secret ever again,” she says, her voice shaking.
Making sure to keep our eyes locked so she knows I’m serious, I lean forward. “You were given a task no child should have been given, and you did the best you could. Of course, you could have told any of us, but I understand why you didn’t.”
Shock flashes across her face. “You do? But you could have gotten hurt.”
I shrug. “Yeah, I could have, but I didn’t. You forget I know how convincing they can be. They will either tell you what you want to hear to feel special, or they know exactly what to say to make you feel like you’re nothing but dirt on the bottom of their shoes.”
“They made me feel like I was cursed because you left after I was born,” she whispers.
“Come here.” I pat the bed and scoot.
She climbs into bed with me, and I put my arms around her shoulders. “You are not cursed. My choices are my own, and I’m sorry those choices hurt you when you had nothing to do with it. I’m so sorry I left you behind because I didn’t know what else to do. But I’m not mad at you.”
