Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
The voice of her nephew Lincoln rang out. “Aunt Nadia.” She looked at him. “Do you think it’s okay if we go in and say goodbye to Uncle Rafe now?”
Tears fell from her eyes as she nodded. “Of course it is.”
Sienna kissed her sister on her cheek as she passed by and took her boys and Adam toward Rafe’s room. Nadia watched them until they’d disappeared.
“I should probably call the funeral home,” Cleo said to the rest of them.
“Please don’t,” Nadia stated quietly.
“You have enough on your plate,” Cleo replied.
Nadia shook her head slightly and sighed. “I want to organize my husband’s funeral. It’s something . . .” She paused, closed her eyes, and let the tears stream down her cheeks.
“It’s something Nadia needs to do,” Warren said for his daughter. “As much as we all want to help, I think our efforts are going to be best used where the girls are concerned, on the household, and helping Nadia where she needs.”
Cleo said nothing.
Nadia couldn’t be with her at the moment and stood. “I’m going . . .” She pointed toward the hall. “I need a moment.”
She walked down the hall, past the wooden doors leading to intensive care, past the small room where a doctor had shattered her world, and around a corner, where she found a solarium, lit up by the sun. She’d had no idea they were on the top floor of the hospital until she opened the door and stepped in.
Inside the solarium were a couch and a couple of chairs, with a fountain in one corner and a flower garden in another. This could easily be a place for prayer or a sanctuary away from the madness down the hall. It made sense for this room to be near the roof, closer to where people believed heaven was.
The sun enveloped her in warmth. She closed her eyes and absorbed the energy, wishing she could turn back the clock to Saturday morning and ask him not to run. They could drive out to Cape Cod instead and let the girls play in the sand and surf.
Nadia had long given up on wiping her tears away. She let them flow down her cheeks, onto the shirt her mother had brought from the house, and even onto her arms.
She lay down on the couch and stared through the glass ceiling at the blue, cloudless sky. If they were home, the girls would be outside and Rafe would be on their deck, turning the grill on for burgers and dogs, while Nadia sat on their swing with a book in her lap, secretly admiring her husband. She choked on a sob and didn’t bother trying to stop it. She was the only one in the room, so no one was there to judge her.
Crying was supposed to be cathartic. It wasn’t. She feared nothing would ever ease the pain she felt. Her husband had been gone for a day, and she missed him something fierce. She had to accept that once the machines were turned off, she’d never feel his heart beating against her hand or the warmth of his touch. Once he was sealed into a coffin, she’d never see him again.
“Rafe, please tell me what I’m supposed to do here.”
A whooshing sound and a shadow appeared overhead. She caught the tail end of a helicopter flying by. Nadia stood and walked to the corner of the room and watched it land on the helipad. Once the blades had slowed, two people carrying a cooler ran toward the helicopter and got on. Then it was airborne again. She knew from her many shows that the cooler contained an organ destined to go and save someone’s life.
Nadia had never been one to believe in signs until now. With a deep breath, she left the room and walked back to where her family waited, feeling a newfound purpose. When she reached the edge of the waiting room, she cleared her throat.
“I’ve decided to donate Rafe’s organs. It’s what he would want.” She looked directly at Rafe’s parents and sister. Otto nodded, while Freya sent daggers her way and comforted her mother.
To her own parents, she said, “Please have Hazel bring the girls. I want them here.” She then left to go find the doctor.
An hour later, Nadia, Gemma, and Lynnea held hands and followed Rafe’s bed into the elevator. When they reached the surgical floor, the doors opened to strangers lining both sides of the hall: nurses, orderlies, doctors, and other hospital staff, and the police officer who had helped her yesterday, along with other police officers, firefighters, and medics. At the end of the hall was their family. As Rafe passed by, everyone took their turn saying goodbye.
Before the doctor pressed the button to open the doors and take her husband and her children’s father away, she told the girls to say their last goodbye.