Page 114 of The Diávolos: Part Two
I try to remember what day it is. I don’t know how long I’ve actually been here. As if reading my mind, the doctor answers my unspoken question, “You’ve been here for three days.”
My eyes widen.Three days?
At that same moment, Evander comes into the room.Speak of the Devil.
A genuine smile forms on my face and I stand up from the bed quickly, but an immediate twinge of pain courses through my head, a stark reminder of my injury. Discomfort travels through my body, but I try to mask it.
Evander hurries to my side and helps me back down. “Angeloúdi mou, you need to take it easy,” he says, bringing his lips to my forehead. “I missed you, wife.”
A giggle bubbles out of my mouth, but it’s accompanied by a wince. Everything hurts.
Doctor Joseph backs out of the room to give us some privacy. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“Thanks, doctor,” Evan replies, not taking his eyes from me.
I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off, “Shhh, baby. I can see the thoughts whirling in your head, but I don’t want you to worry about anything right now. Let me handle everything, my angel.”
My initial inclination is to argue, but I reluctantly yield. “Fine.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay, I guess. Could be better.”
It’s then that I notice his right arm is bandaged. “Oh no, Evan. You’re hurt.”
He shrugs. “It was just a little graze,moró mou.Don’t worry about me. I’ve been through worse.”
The memory of seeing him getting shot at his club over a year ago hits me again and my heart squeezes. My face must’ve soured because Evan sits next to me on the bed, murmuring more soothing words and reassuring me that he really is okay, and I relent. He then gets up suddenly as if he’s just remembered something. He walks out the door and comes right back holding a bouquet of white peonies and an envelope. “I got you these.”
“Thank you,” I say, bringing the flowers up to my nose, joy lighting me up from the inside. “May I?” I point at the letter, and Evan nods.
I find a folded sheet of paper inside with a handwritten note.
In shadows cast by fleeting time,
A tale unfolds in whispered rhyme.
Almost lost, a love untold,
Yet in that brink, my heart took hold.
Through moments fragile, like delicate thread,
I glimpsed a world where you might tread.
An echo of what could have been,
A world where love seemed paper-thin.
In the silence of almost goodbyes,
I found the strength within love’s ties.
A realization, stark and clear,
That losing you, I cannot bear.
As I catch Evander’s gaze, my heart skips a beat. There’s almost a magnetic pull drawing me to him. At this moment, everything fades away.
