Page 69 of Forced Proximity
I was horrified that we’d come in the middle of the autopsy.
If we’d been a little bit later, they might’ve been done and we wouldn’t have had to identify the body in the middle of the worst possible time.
The doctor was outside talking to Finnian about what he would see, but I chose to push everything he was using out of the way and cover her up completely.
Then I started to fix her hair.
That was what I was doing when she came in with him.
The doctor cleared her throat, and I smiled sheepishly at her before giving her a look.
She understood and stepped out for us to have some time with Elaine.
Because it was most definitely Elaine.
“It’s her?” he croaked from all the way across the room.
I decided in that moment he didn’t need to see her at all.
“It’s her,” I confirmed as I walked toward him. “You don’t have to see her.”
He drew in a deep breath, then let it out.
“She’s bringing Knight in here to be with her. So they’re not alone.”
My eyes filled with tears. “They’re not here anymore, honey.” I studied his face for a long moment before I told him what Knight had said right before he’d died. “He told me that I’d lied, you know.”
His eyes snapped up. “What?”
“He asked me to go find Elaine, and I did. But the paramedics had told me that she’d died at the scene. So I came in and told him that she was on her way. He believed it for a second, but as the doctors worked on him, and he lost more and more blood, he’d turned to me and told me that I’d lied. That she was on the other side beckoning him home.”
Finnian’s eyes closed and a look of sadness took over his face. “They’re together.”
I cupped his face. “And you know what’s even better?”
“What?” he croaked.
“He was happy,” I said. “One of the last things he ever did was smile. He laughed and said, ‘There’s my boy. Octo is here.’”
He inhaled swiftly.
“Fuck.”
I tilted my head. “What is it?”
“Octo.” He closed his eyes as his breathing sped up. “Octo is what Knight called Tavi. His whole name was Octavius.”
I face-planted into his chest. “Then they are all together now. They may not be with us, but they’re not hurting. And Tavi isn’t alone anymore. He has them.”
Finnian made a sound in his throat. “I don’t want them to be there, though. I want them with me.”
I smoothed my hand up the length of his forearm, reassuring him with my touch.
“We don’t get to make those decisions, Finnian,” I said softly. “We have to just live. No one gets a set time on this earth, but they can control what they do with that time. Live, Finnian. Tavi would want you to, and I know that without having ever met him. He loved you. He would want you to be happy. And, from what little I knew of them, so would Knight and Elaine.”
He blew a shaky breath out against my neck and said, “I don’t want to see her. Not like this. The last glimpse I ever got of Tavi was when he was in the morgue after the organ harvesting, and I wish I’d listened and never went to see him after he’d passed. I should’ve remembered him alive and breathing. Not like that.”
I squeezed his hand and said, “Let’s go. We know it’s her. That’s all they need.”
