Chapter 62
Chapter 57: Remaining Strong For Her
Cameron’s POV
Frank looked at me for a long moment, seeming to realize that he insisting we stay away from Sedona at this point was outright cruelty and then at Sedona, then back.
“Five minutes.” He conceded as he continued speaking.
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“You can go in for five minutes, but if she becomes agitated you have to leave immediately. I would not normally recommend this, but let us try it p>
He immediately directed the nurses who nodded their heads as one left to get something.
The nurses gowned me quickly-full protective gear because the treatment agents could still be present in her bodily fluids, could be dangerous to anyone exposed to it, causing harmful effects to
that person.
After making sure that I wasn’t in any danger of contracting anything, they opened the door and then they let me through the door and I was beside her bed, close enough to touch her for the first time in forty-eight hours.
“Sedona,” I said quietly, taking her hand slowly, a bit careful so I wouldn’t startle her if she could still feel my touch underneath everything else going on.
It was burning hot, her skin dry despite the fever. “It’s Cameron. I’m here p>
Her eyes opened-unfocused, glassy with fever, but open for the first time as her eyes shifted towards me, as she stared through me for a long minute, trying to process the words as she called
my name.
“Cam p>
“Yeah. It’s me p>
“Nick,” she said, her voice breaking slightly, her hand subconsciously clenching mine tightly.
“Where’s Nick? I need to see Nick. Please, I just need to know he’s okay p>
The desperation in her voice was physically painful to hear, and knowing I couldn’t do anything at the moment was another kind of helplessness that I didn’t want to bear.
“Nick’s fine,” I lied, because I had no idea if Nick was fine but she needed to hear it. “He’s safe and
sound. He’s with his father p>
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Remaining Strong For Her
“He hates me.” Tears were flowing freely now, continuing like she hadn’t heard me.
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“He said he hates me. I’m the devil. That’s what he said-I’m the devil and he wishes Catherine was
his mother instead p>
“He’s six years old. He doesn’t understand what he’s saying. He is only saying what he had been
coached to say by Catherine. He doesn’t hate you p>
“But what if he’s right?” She was looking at me now, really looking, and the fever had stripped away all her careful control and pretense of her being alright as her deepest fears came spilling out. “What if I was a terrible mother? What if I did everything wrong? I tried so hard to keep him safe and he just… he just wanted me to disappear p>
“You weren’t a terrible mother. You were an exhausted mother dealing with an impossible situation. That’s not the same thing p>
“I left him,” she whispered. “I signed away custody and I left him and now I’m dying and he’s going to grow up thinking his mother didn’t love him enough to fight for him p>
“You are fighting for him.” I squeezed her hand carefully, cutting her short before she would spiral My deep down into the rabbit hole she found herself in, assuming the worse about herself and
reinforcing that belief.
“You’re fighting right now. You’re in this hospital bed going through hell because you want to survive, and part of that is because someday Nick is going to be old enough to understand the truth. And when that day comes, you want to be there to tell him yourself p>
She closed her eyes, fresh tears escaping. “Promise me something p>
“Anything p>
“Promise me if I don’t make it-if this doesn’t work-you’ll tell Nick the truth someday. Tell him I loved him so much that I could barely breathe. That he was everything that I didn’t know I wanted. That I was happy to be his mum no matter how short it lasted. Tell him every restriction I put in place was because I was trying to keep him alive, not because I wanted to control him. Tell him…” Her voice broke completely. “Tell him I’m sorry I wasn’t the mother he needed me to be p>
“I’m not making that promise,” I said firmly, holding her tightly, shaking my head. These words sounded like she was giving up and I needed her to keep fighting this.
“Because you’re going to survive this and you’re going to tell him yourself. You hear me? You’re going to get through this and you’re going to have years, a lot of them to figure out your relationship with your son p>
“Cameron p>
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Claim “No. I’m not entertaining the alternative that all this was for naught, and I should be prepared for the worse.. You promised me you’d fight. So fight p> She looked at me for a long moment, then nodded weakly, agreeing with me, or too tired to even argue more as she conceded. “Okay. I’ll fight p> “Good. That is all I need to hear from you. You are going to be just fine. Now rest. Let the medicine, do its work. Nick is fine, Mom and Dad are here, Rachel’s here, everyone’s waiting for you to get better, so we can all go home and put this nightmare behind us.So get better p> She’d drifted off again before I finished speaking, back into whatever fevered landscape her mind was navigating. I stayed until the nurse tapped my shoulder-five minutes had become ten, had become fifteen-and gently told me I needed to leave. I wanted to protest, saying I needed to stay but I decided that it was futile. I had done what I could from here. The rest was up to her for her to push through and I believed that she was capable of getting through this on her own. Back in the observation area, my mother was crying quietly, my father’s arm around her shoulders. 3 Comments LUCK DRAW > TH W G Vote 144 O 3/3 EaNy Hope Admins2