Baby, I Think I Love You

My eyelids fluttered open, allowing me to see a room that I hadn’t been in for quite some time: Edwin’s parents’ house. I didn’t exactly welcome the consciousness. Either I had been ran over by a truck going eighty-five in a fifty zone, or I’d taken a nice little dive off of the Empire State Building! I tried to sit up, but I groaned before falling back to my pillow.

Okay, so I had obviously been thrown off the building while a semi chased me the whole way down, ready to land on me the second I was splattered on the pavement. And no, it didn’t feel too nice.

“Mom?” a soft voice squeaked. I glanced over, not daring to move my head out of fear of pain. I smiled upon seeing my little man.

“Hi, baby,” I whispered, voice cracking. Avery gripped my hand tightly with his small, trembling fingers.

“Are you okay?”

Good question. I could vaguely recall smacking my head on Quinn’s wooden floor just before losing myself in darkness. And I remembered our conversation about...

“Avery, don’t hassle your mother. She’s been through a lot.”

Edwin.

“He’s fine, Eddie,” I mumbled, watching as my baby boy ran back to his daddy. “So... Did Jasper come?”

The look on his face said it all. He seemed to be searching for a way to say it without devastating me.

“He stopped by earlier, but he left for work around seven. He promised to stop by after work and check on you.”

“Oh.” That was all I could say, but I guess I should have expected that of Jasper.

“But we’re here,” he offered with a small smile. He stepped up to me, taking my hand in his and kneeling at my bedside. He looked so worn down. Avery dashed out of the room after obviously assuming this would be going somewhere.

“How long have I been here?”

“About a week,” he mumbled tiredly, planting his face in the bed sheets.

“And... Just how long have you been here?”

He picked his head up, smiling weakly at me. “About a week But how could you expect me to leave your side for even a second?”

I searched desperately for words, but they all escaped me. Edwin looked like he’d just woken up from nightmare upon nightmare—and that meant he hadn’t had any blood in quite some time.

“Edwin, please go feed on some poor, promiscuous girl,” I begged, not even joking. His smile faded, and he shook his head. There was a sad look in his eyes as rose up to sit on the edge of the bed. I opened my mouth to break the silence, but he gave me a “please spare the bullshit” look. He kissed my cheek and leaned closer to me. I didn’t know whether to stop him or make him hurry up. But that didn’t matter.

“Oh, she’s awake! Oh, my—I’m sorry if I’m interrupting,” a lady said suddenly.

Hmm, well, Edwin was hovering overtop of me, so no: you’re not interrupting! But just who was she anyway?

“Clarence hired a nurse to watch over you,” Edwin whispered, kissing my neck once before crawling off of me and getting onto his feet, going to talk with her.

And as I watched my past walk away from me for the umpteenth time, only one thing was on my mind.

“So... Did Jasper come?”