Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Tears blurred my vision, hot and unexpected. “You carried a ring into the surgery area?” I laughed through my tears, the absurdity and perfect rightness of it overwhelming me.
“Had to bribe the nurse to smuggle it in from Ada this morning,” he admitted, a hint of that old mischief lighting his eyes. “Well? You gonna leave me hanging here? Not exactly in a position to get down on one knee.”
“Yes,” I said, the word escaping on a sob. “Of course, yes.”
His smile transformed his entire face, softening the hard edges, making him look momentarily like the young man I’d fallen in love with so many years ago. He removed the ring from its box with fingers that trembled slightly -- something I’d never witnessed from him before -- and slid it onto the third finger of my left hand. It fit perfectly.
I leaned down, careful of the wires and tubes, and pressed my lips to his. The kiss tasted sweet and so full of promise. Knight cupped my face, his thumb brushing away tears I hadn’t realized were falling.
“Been wanting to do that for eleven years, Lavender,” he murmured against my lips before kissing me once more.”
A discreet cough from the doorway broke us apart. The older nurse stood there, a knowing smile playing at her lips. “Got someone who’s going to see you before you go into surgery, Mr. Leahy.” She pulled the curtain next to us aside and Brynn looked over and smiled. Then her eyes widened as she spotted the ring on my finger, the diamond catching the fluorescent light. Even groggy from her pain meds, nothing escaped her notice.
“Wonder’d if he’d finally grow a pair,” she muttered, her voice slurring slightly with medication but her gaze alert. “Guess I don’t have to pick one out after all.”
I glanced at Knight, who looked simultaneously proud and sheepish. “You were going to ask Brynn to help you pick a ring?”
Knight snorted. “No. She told me it was time I quit pussy-footin’ around and told you I was marryin’ you.” His roughened voice softer than usual. “Wanted her input. Turns out she gave it to me whether I wanted it or not.”
“Mom cried,” Brynn observed, her lips quirking in a small smile. “Your eyes are all puffy.”
“Thanks for pointing that out, sweetie,” I said, brushing my hand over her blue hair. Despite the smart remark, I could see the medication beginning to pull her back under, her eyelids growing heavy.
Knight reached out from his gurney, his tattooed hand somehow looking gentle as he touched Brynn’s arm. “Hey, kiddo. You doing okay?”
She nodded slowly. “They gave me the good stuff. Said I won’t know anything until I wake up with you guys with me.” Her gaze drifted between us, something vulnerable breaking through her usual armor. “That’s probably good, right?”
“Probably,” I agreed, my voice catching. I stood in the narrow space between their gurneys, one hand on each of them, creating a physical link between father and daughter.
The moment felt surreal. My small family together on the edge of a transformation none of us could fully comprehend both elated and terrified me. In a few hours, part of Knight would be inside Brynn, keeping her alive. The poetry of it wasn’t lost on me, this physical manifestation of what parenthood truly meant. Giving pieces of yourself to your child.
“Are you scared?” Brynn asked suddenly, her question directed at Knight. The medication had loosened her tongue, making her more forthright than usual.
Knight didn’t hesitate. “You bet your ass, I’m scared. Though not of the surgery. Of not being there when you wake up.”
She nodded solemnly. “Me too.”
“I promise you, honey, I’ll do everything I can, bully any person I need to, to be the first person you see after your mother once you wake up. No matter how groggy I am.”
“I’ll be there,” I promised them both. “Right between you. First faces you see.”
The older nurse checked Knight’s IV line once more. “It’s time,” she said gently. “Dr. Patel’s waiting.”
I felt panic rise in my chest, sharp and sudden. This was it. The moment we’d fought for, and yet now that it had arrived, I wanted to freeze time, keep them both here where I could see them, touch them, know they were safe.
“Knight,” I began, not sure what I wanted to say, just knowing I needed to say something.
“It’s okay, little flower,” he murmured, using the nickname that still made my heart flutter after all these years. “We got this. All of us.”
Knight’s nurse adjusted something on his IV stand. “Time to go. Ms. Calloway, you can stay with your daughter until we’re ready for her. Let someone know if you need to swap out with anyone else. Shouldn’t be long.”
“He’s not gonna be in the same operating room, is he?” Brynn asked with forced levity. “‘Cause that would be weird. I don’t need an audience.”