Page 69 of Through the Snow Globe
His eyelids fluttered closed.
“No! Linus, open your eyes! Wake up! Don’t leave me!” She squeezed his hand. “Please,” she cried. “Please don’t go. I’ll marry you tomorrow. Any day you want if you just stay.”
He didn’t reopen his eyes, though. He was gone, again.
Chapter 18
“There you are,” Rochelle said.
Diana looked up from the chair in the hospital waiting room where she was sitting with several of Linus’s relatives. Diana had texted Joann from Linus’s room before the doctors and nurses had ushered her out. “Hey.”
Rochelle sat down in the chair next to hers. “How is he?”
“In surgery. They haven’t told me yet, but he’s going to pull through.” Tears swam in her eyes. “He has a broken femur and some cracked ribs. His brain sustained the most injury.”
Rochelle reached for her hand and squeezed tightly. The gesture was supposed to be supportive, but it made Diana want to cry. She didn’t want to break down, though. Not here. Not in front of Linus’s entire family, even if his Aunt Ruby was sobbing loudly on the other side of the room. Linus had told Diana that Ruby was a tad histrionic. He wasn’t wrong. “Are you still going to tell me that you’ve lived this day before?” Rochelle asked quietly.
Diana nodded, her gaze moving to a row of chairs with Linus’s cousins. They all had their phones out and seemed to be rapid-fire texting. Mr. Grant had a Pop Tart poking out of his pocket that he kept breaking a piece off from and sneaking it into his mouth, as if eating at a time like this was a crime. “It’s true.” Diana swallowed. “And I don’t think I can keep going through this same day. It’s the hardest day of my life, watching him in so much pain. I can’t stop it from happening. I can’t fix it, no matter how hard I try.”
Rochelle squeezed her hand again. “I’m sorry, Diana. I don’t know what to say.”
Diana looked over. “What? You’re not going to tell me that I’m acting irrationally? That I need to hang onto hope?”
Rochelle shook her head. “No. I’m just going to sit here with you, if you’ll let me.”
Diana looked down at Rochelle’s hand in hers. She wasn’t sure Rochelle had ever held her hand before. It felt like a lifeline that she could hold onto. “Please don’t go. I want you to stay with me. I’m sorry to ruin your birthday though.”
“That doesn’t matter. It’s just a day.”
Diana blew out a breath. “And you’ll have another one tomorrow.”
“Mrs. Grant?” A surgeon stepped into the waiting room and looked around.
“Yes?” Diana said at the same time that Linus’s mother said yes.
Diana shared a look with the older woman. Right. Diana wasn’t a Grant yet.
The surgeon looked between them.
“I’m his mother,” Joann said. “How is he?”
“Well, your son is a fighter, that’s for sure. He pulled through the surgery. We’ll have to wait and see if he wakes up.”
Joann nodded. “Can we see him?”
“Of course,” the surgeon said. “One at a time, though. Would you like to go in?”
Joann gestured at Diana. “You go. If there’s anyone that can wake up Linus, it’s you.”
Diana stood shakily. “Thank you.” She looked at Rochelle. “Will you be here when I get back?”
Rochelle’s lips parted. She looked surprised that Diana would admit to needing her. “Of course, I will. If you want me to be.”
Diana gave a small head nod. “Please.”
Rochelle leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs to prove her point. “In that case, I’ll stay all night.”
* * *
