For the second morning in a row, I woke to a beeping sound. It was far softer than the last one I’d heard. Far less urgent and annoying. I felt so groggy as I listened to the constant melodic beep, and even the thoughts that rose to the surface of my mind were sluggish. I couldn’t seem to remember where I was. I couldn’t recall how I’d fallen asleep last night.
I so easily could have drifted back to sleep, and I had to fight toward wakefulness. My eyelids were heavy, and my body felt numb, but I gradually blinked open my eyes.
The room was bright, and the beeping noise only sounded louder now I was more awake. There was something on my face, but I could also feel a weight on my legs, and as I glanced down the bed, I found Noah sitting in a chair beside me, his head resting on the bed as he slept. His skin was pale, and his clothes were rumpled. He looked exhausted, and I couldn’t understand what he was doing in my room. Why he was asleep in a chair when he so clearly needed a bed of his own?
I dragged in a breath and felt the pinch of plastic across my face once more. I lifted a hand and was met with the hard shell of a mask beneath my fingertips. I drew in another frantic breath as I tried to work out what was going on. Why was I wearing a mask? My heartbeat quickened. Where was I? I started trying to pry the mask from my face.
“You need to leave that on for now.”
I turned to the voice and saw Matthew sitting in a chair on the other side of my bed. He looked just as exhausted as Noah. His hair was a mess, and his usual pristine shirt and smart pants were covered in grime. There was even a smudge of dirt on his face. I’d never seen him look so disheveled, and my confusion only grew.
What was he doing here? Where were we? And why was Noah here too?
I was still so drowsy, and I was struggling to think clearly. Perhaps if this room wasn’t quite so bright, I could focus. My attention caught on a transparent bag hanging at my bedside, and my gaze followed a tube that snaked away from it to meet my hand.
“You’re in the hospital,” Matthew said softly.
“What hap—” My voice was completely hoarse, and the words came out a rough whisper.
“There was a fire,” Matthew replied. “But you’re okay. You and your mom are going to be okay.”
The memory of the fire slammed back into me, and my eyes widened as I glanced around in a panic. ‘Where is she?”
I felt like I was choking on smoke all over again, and a nurse rushed in as the monitor at my side started beeping wildly. I clawed at my mask. I needed to get it off. I needed to get out of this bed. I needed to find my mom.
“Your mom’s okay,” Matthew repeated. His hands rested on my shoulders. “She’s still in the ICU, but she’s okay. You need to take deep breaths, Isobel.”
Then Noah’s face was above me, and he lightly touched my cheek. “Matthew’s right. You need to breathe slowly,” he said. “Copy me. In and out.” He breathed. “In and out.”
I stared into Noah’s eyes, and as I mimicked his long, slow breaths, I found I was able to breathe more normally again. ‘My mom’s really, okay?” I finally managed to croak.
“She will be,” Noah replied.
The nurse took my father’s place at my side as she checked me over, but I was still so addled and confused. It was only the sight of Noah, of his reassuring smile, that grounded me and made me feel like everything would be okay. The nurse was saying something to my father, and I wanted to listen in. But I was still fighting my exhaustion, and my eyelids felt so heavy. Her words grew increasingly distant until sleep pulled me under once again.
Time lost all meaning as I fell in and out of sleep. The next time I fully opened my eyes, the lights overhead had been dimmed and the mask was gone from my face. I felt far less lethargic than the last time I’d awoken, and the confusion that had clouded my mind was no longer there. I recalled everything that had happened in the fire with crystal clarity, and more importantly, I remembered Matthew insisting my mom would be okay. It didn’t stop my heart from beating a little quicker though. I didn’t think I’d be able to relax until I saw her with my own eyes.
“You’re awake.” Noah’s deep voice drifted over to me, and I tilted my head to where he was still sitting in the chair next to my bed. A relieved smile brushed his lips as he shuffled slightly closer.
“My mom?” My voice was still so rough, and my throat felt like it had been rubbed raw by sandpaper. I sounded nothing like myself.
Noah nodded across my bed, and I turned to find we weren’t alone in the room. My mom was asleep in the bed beside me. For the first time since before the fire, I felt like I could truly breathe.
“How is she?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes from her.
“It was touch and go when we first arrived at the hospital, but she’s doing well,” Noah said. “She woke up a few hours back, but she’s been resting like you ever since.”
“How long have we been here?”
“The fire was early yesterday morning. Now it’s Thursday evening. You’ve been in and out of sleep for over a day.”
I nodded, but I struggled to believe I’d been asleep so long. That I’d been passed out while my mom’s life was hanging by a thread. She looked so peaceful as she slept, but her skin was all too pale, and I hated seeing the oxygen line on her face and the drip connected to her arm.
“I’m really glad you’re finally awake,” he added.
I glanced back at Noah, and as my eyes landed on him, I noticed a bandage around his arm. “Are you okay?” I nodded toward it.
Noah lightly ran a hand over the bandage and shrugged. “Just a small burn from the fire. But it’s fine.”
“You got burned?” Panic, guilt, and sadness whipped through me in equal measure. He wouldn’t have been injured if he hadn’t raced into the building to rescue me.
“Like I said, it’s not serious. I’m fine.”
I shook my head. “This is all my fault.”
“You didn’t start the fire, Isobel. You’re the last person I’d blame.”
It didn’t reduce my feelings of guilt. “I can’t believe you ran into a burning building for me.” I shook my head. “You saved me, and saying thank you doesn’t feel like enough.”
He gave me a hesitant smile. “You waking up was all the thanks I need.”
My cheeks flushed, but I didn’t have to reply because the door opened and my dad walked in.
When our eyes met, Matthew let out a relieved breath and came to stand at my bedside. “How are you feeling?” He looked much better than when I’d first woken up in the hospital. He’d clearly showered since then and changed into a set of fresh clothes.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m more worried about my mom.”
“She’s going to be okay,” he said. “I’ve flown in a specialist doctor to treat her. She’s in really good hands.”
Of course, he had. If there had ever been a time where I was grateful for my father’s ridiculous amount of money and privilege, it was now. I just wished that my mom would wake up so I could hear her voice and see she was okay.
“How did you both get here?” I asked Noah and my father while mom continued to sleep. “How were you in Rapid Bay?”
Their expressions seemed troubled by the question. Given the way they hesitated, it felt as though they were both in as much shock as I was over what had happened. They found it just as hard to think about the fire as I did.
Noah was the first one to speak. “After we talked on the phone, I called Matthew and asked for a ride here on his plane.” His voice didn’t sound quite as husky as my own, but it had definitely been affected by the fire. “He was planning to leave for Rapid Bay the following day, but I told him what you’d learned about your mom and that I wanted to be there for you. He agreed we shouldn’t wait, so he came to get me, and we left for the airstrip straightaway.”
“We arrived early that morning,” my father said. “We knew the café wasn’t open yet, but Noah insisted we go straight there. He said you always woke first thing in the morning, and he wanted to be there when you did. We were pulling up out front when Noah spotted the flames…”
I shook my head in disbelief. “What were the chances you would both arrive here at the right time? Just in time to rescue us?”
“I keep asking myself the same thing,” Matthew said. “I just wish we’d arrived sooner…”
I glanced at my mom once again. If they’d gotten here sooner, perhaps they would have made it to us before Mom inhaled too much smoke. Perhaps she’d be sitting here smiling with us now instead of lying in a bed with all these wires attached to her.
Matthew’s phone started to ring, and he glanced down at the screen. “I should take this,” he said before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
“So, how are you really doing?” Noah asked.
I tore my gaze from my mom to look at him. “By some miracle, we’re all still alive, so I’d say I’m doing okay.”
He was looking deep into my eyes as he nodded. “I can’t tell you how terrifying it was to see you collapsed on the floor in your apartment. And then you begging me to take your mom…” He shook his head. “That might haunt me forever. You honestly thought I could just leave you in there?”
“She needed help more than I did.”
“I still don’t think I could have left you. It was like you were asking me to leave my own heart to be eaten by the flames.”
The emotions between us were too intense, too powerful, and I glanced away, unable to bear them. They felt too big for me, like I couldn’t contain them and they might soon burst from my body. I didn’t know how I could have denied their existence for so long.
The door opened as Matthew returned, and I was relieved when Noah backed away and murmured something about going to get coffees. As he left the room, I wondered if he too was overwhelmed by the emotions between us.
“That was the fire chief,” Matthew said as he sat in the seat between my mom’s hospital bed and mine.
“How’s the apartment? The café?”
Matthew drew in a breath and rested his hand on top of mine. “Not good, I’m afraid. They were able to salvage some of your belongings, but they couldn’t save the café, and the apartment is unlivable.”
“What?”
“I’m so sorry, Isobel. The fire spread quickly, and by the time the firefighters arrived, the flames had already destroyed so much.” He gave me a sad smile. “I have more than enough room at the place I rented for the break. It’s just down the road from the café. You and your mom can stay with me once you’re out of here.”
My eyes grew wet as I nodded. I didn’t care about losing the material things in the apartment. Not one bit. But that café was my mom’s life. And that apartment was our home. Almost every single good memory I had growing up had come within those walls, and to know we wouldn’t be making any more happy memories there was completely devastating.
I glanced at my mom and struggled to withhold a sob. I didn’t know how she was going to get over the loss of her business and her home, and after everything she’d been through recently, I couldn’t bear to see her suffer any further.
“Don’t tell Mom about how bad it is until we get out of here,” I said to Matthew. “I want her to focus on getting better.”
He looked apprehensive at first, but he slowly started to nod. “If that’s what you think is best.”
“It is.”
I glanced at her bed once more. Despite the news about our home, I was so thankful we were both alive. I was filled with a tremendous sense of loss and gratitude all at once.
“Do they know how the fire started?” I asked, focusing on Matthew once again.
“Not yet. They think it may have begun in the café kitchen, but there will be an investigation.”
I suddenly felt exhausted. My mom already had enough to deal with, but this on top of everything else? Matthew rubbed a hand along my arm. I was surprised by how much I needed his comfort, by how much I needed him. I had no idea how I could have managed this on my own.
“Noah told me your mom let you know about her diagnosis,” Matthew said
“She did.” I’d been angry at him when I’d first found out because he’d known all this time and kept it secret from me. But surviving a fire really put things in perspective, and I didn’t care anymore that he’d followed her wishes.
“She said you have her in some trial?”
“That’s right,” he replied. “We’re hoping to avoid surgery, and the treatment I have her on will hopefully do that. But we’re monitoring her closely, and if the tumor increases in size at all, she’ll have it taken out.”
“And her outlook is good?”
“Very good. I know it can be scary, but I promise you I won’t let anything happen to her.”
The way my father spoke, it sounded like he’d move heaven and earth for my mom, and I believed him. I still wanted to be there to help though.
“I want to move back home,” I said to Matthew. “I want to be here with her through all of this.”
A crease formed in Matthew’s brow. “We’ll have to see what your mom says.”
It felt like he was trying to put me off as though he thought I could be talked out of it. But I had already made my mind up, and there was nothing either of my parents could say to convince me otherwise. So, I simply nodded, knowing it wouldn’t change anything.
“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about her condition sooner,” Matthew said. “But it was what your mom wanted, and I had to respect her request.”
“Yeah, she told me, and I understand,” I said. “She also told me you never got her letter about me, and she made you lie about that too.”
“Yes.” Matthew’s cheeks pinked slightly with embarrassment. “Your mom was the one to reach out to me. I wish it had been under better circumstances, but I can’t tell you the way my heart leapt out of my chest when I heard her voice for the first time in so many years.”
“I’m surprised you remembered who she was,” I said.
“How could I ever forget your mother?”
I swallowed because Matthew sounded so serious as he spoke, as though it was truly impossible for him to have let my mom slip from his mind even after all those years. Still, there was also a soft look in his eyes like I’d never seen before.
“I thought about her constantly over the years,” he said. “Sometimes I wondered if perhaps time might have morphed my memories of her. Made her into some sort of dream or fantasy that didn’t really exist as I imagined. But the moment I heard her voice and the first time I saw her… Well, she was everything I remembered and so much more.”
I smiled at him. I knew how incredible my mom was, but I’d never heard someone else talk about her like this.
“I’ve always regretted that life took us away from each other,” he continued. “And I wish I’d had the courage back then to walk away from my family’s legacy and stay with her. I wish I’d known about you and could have spent every day of these last seventeen years in Rapid Bay with you both. I made a mistake when I let her go. It’s not one I intend to repeat.”
I frowned, wondering what he was getting at.
“Isobel, there’s something I want to ask you.” His voice suddenly sounded anxious, a light tremor rippling his words. If this was more bad news, I wasn’t sure I was capable of hearing it.
“I know this might not be the best time. But after everything that’s happened, I don’t know if I can wait.”
I swallowed down my nerves and nodded for him to continue. “What is it?”
He was staring down into his hands, and he slowly lifted his eyes to mine. “I want to ask your mom to marry me, and I’m hoping you’ll give me your blessing.”
My eyes went wide with shock. “You are?”
He nodded. “I never got over your mother, and from the moment I saw her again, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. And with you. I want us to be a real family.”
I was speechless, and it took me a moment to realize I wanted the same. Somewhere along the way, I’d grown to love my father and couldn’t imagine my future without him. I wanted us to be a family too, and the thought of him being with my mom only made my heart swell. Her happiness was the most important thing in the world to me, and I felt like she would have that forever with my dad.
“So, what do you think?” Matthew asked. My silence seemed to be making him even more nervous. “Do I have your blessing? Because I would never dream of asking your mom without it. I—”
“Yes, you have it,” I grinned, my eyes wet with tears. “Of course, you have it.”
A smile flashed onto his lips, and his eyes sparkled. “Really?”
“Yes.” I sat upright and pulled Matthew into a hug. It was somewhat awkward because I was sitting in a hospital bed, but the way he embraced me made the tears in my eyes start to fall down my cheeks.
He seemed ignited with both excited and nervous energy as he moved back from me. “What do you think she’ll say?”
“I think she’ll say yes.”
My heart leaped at the sound of my mom’s voice. Matthew stood and spun round to reveal her. She was still lying in the hospital bed across from me, but her eyes were finally open, and she was smiling up at my dad.
“Yes, Matt, of course, I’ll marry you,” she said.
I spluttered a laugh through my tears as my father closed the distance between them. He knelt by her bed and took my mom’s hand in his.
‘I guess you’ll be needing this then,” he said as he pulled a small black velvet box from his pocket. He opened it to show her the largest, most beautiful diamond ring I’d ever seen.
My mom gasped, and her eyes grew glassy as Matthew placed the ring on her finger. He leaned over her bed to kiss her gently, and she lifted her hands to his face to pull him closer. She was smiling so brightly when he stepped away, and my heart felt like it was about to explode.
“Wow.” My mom was breathless. “Matt, I’m going to break my finger lugging this thing around with me every day,” she joked.
“It’s been wearing a hole in the pockets of my suits since Halloween,” he said.
“You bought this at Halloween?”
“Candice, I should have asked you to marry me all those years ago. As soon as I saw you, I knew I couldn’t afford to lose you again.”
My mom was speechless as she turned to me. We smiled at each other through the tears that were still gathering in her eyes and still streaming from mine. She was awake; she was okay. And I’d never been happier in my life.
