Read Online Listed: Volume V by Noelle Adams - Free Book Online Page B

have you decided there’s no hope for a
cure?”
    “But
the treatment didn’t work. And I got another fever.” She looked dazed,
confused, but unexpectedly hopeful—as if things weren’t as desperate as she’d
assumed.
    “I
know it didn’t work like we hoped, but how do you know they’re not close to a
cure? This fever didn’t last nearly as long as they normally do. That seems to
me to be a very good sign. Maybe the treatment had some effect. Maybe they’re
getting close. You’re just going to give up?”
    She
blinked at him, tears poised on her eyelashes. “I never believed in miracles.”
    “Me
either. If it was a miracle, you’d already be cured after one try. It’s not a
miracle. They’ve got a lot of information, and maybe they can do something with
it. I’m not going to give up on a good possibility after just one try.”
    “Oh.”
    “Emily?”
he prompted after a minute, not sure what her expression meant and a little
afraid of the lengths he might go if she still decided she didn’t want to fight
for her life or be married to him anymore.
    She
released a long sigh that he understood as acquiescence. Her expression relaxed,
and her eyes were suddenly very warm and fond as she gazed at him across the
few inches of distance. But her mouth twisted briefly before she said, “I never
wanted you to…to…”
    “Love
you?” he finished for her, when her words trailed off in self-consciousness. “I
do.”
    She
squeezed her eyes shut, and her body shook a few times in response.
    Paul
reached into the pocket of his trousers. “Do you think you can put your rings
back on?” He showed her the engagement ring and wedding band in his left hand,
where his own wedding band was still in place on his ring finger. “Please?”
    She
stared at the rings for a long moment. Then she nodded. “I’m sorry. I should
never have taken them off.”
    He
reached under the covers until he found her left hand. He slipped on the
wedding band and then the engagement ring, and he released a long breath when
they were in place again there. “Please don’t leave me again.”
    “I’m
sorry,” Emily choked, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly.
“I’m so sorry, Paul. I thought it would be better for you. I couldn’t seem to
think…I don’t know what happened.”
    “You
had a fever,” he said, his chest unclenching as he realized this was actually
true. She hadn’t wanted to leave him. She hadn’t done so consciously or
willfully. She’d been sick and desperate—and she’d been so afraid of hurting
him. “You were scared. But please don’t do it again.”
    “I
won’t,” she promised. “I’m so sorry if I hurt you.”
    When
he felt her relaxing against him, he began to relax too. They held each other
for a long time in silence, on the cusp between grief and hope.
    “Paul?”
Emily breathed, finally breaking the silence.
    “What,
baby?”
    “Maybe
you already know. But I love you too.”
    ***
    Paul was carrying
Emily’s bag so, as they arrived at the apartment, he walked with her to her
bedroom.
    For
some reason, it irrationally bothered him that she had her own bedroom in their
home. It had been necessary at the beginning, when they weren’t sleeping
together. Even now it made sense because she was so often ill, and it was
convenient for her to have her own bed.
    But
it still bothered him. As ridiculous as it was to get hung up on such a thing
at this moment, the idea nagged at him intensely. As Emily kicked off her shoes
and sat down with a sigh on the edge of the bed, he was sorely tempted to
suggest they move all of her stuff into the master bedroom.
    Emily
was still pale and there were dark circles under her eyes, which somehow looked
too large for her face. “You all right?” she asked, her expression a little
nervous.
    He
smiled as he set her bag onto the bed next to her. “Of course. Better than all
right.”
    She
smiled back at him. “I’m trying not to get too excited.