Page 28 of Forbidden Vow

9

Raven

Raven made her rounds, checked in with the main station, and started with her special patients. They were the ones that needed extra help. Usually, the specials were people that would be taken to hospice soon. Not for the first time since returning home, she wondered if this was the type of relationship she and Darius would have—him on the east coast, she and Lexi in Endurance.

Walking inside one of four private rooms, Raven listened to the soft beeps of the woman’s steady and rhythmic heartbeat being recorded by the EKG reader. Tubes from her right arm connected to a saline drip towering above an elderly woman with gray, stringy hair splayed out on the white pillow.

“Ms. Kara.” Raven lifted the side rail and let the guard down to get closer.

The woman opened her eyes and gave Raven a bright smile. “Ms. Raven,” she said.

It was an ongoing joke. Neither one wanted to be too informal, but each insisting the other use their first name, they’d settled on using a miss with their greeting.

“How are you today?” Raven went about checking her patient’s vitals.

“The question is, how are you?” Ms. Kara eyed her.

Raven huffed. “It was a disaster.”

Ms. Kara had a way of getting Raven to talk. Well placed wise words, and her easy demeanor filtered through Raven’s defenses and had gotten the nurse to confide in her. Ms. Kara knew about Darius, her son, Lexington, and all the rest.

“Oh? A disaster? How?” Ms. Kara pinched her eyebrows.

“Everything I didn’t want to happen, happened.”

Ms. Kara smiled. “You saw Darius.”

Raven grumbled. “Yes.”

The grin on Ms. Kara’s face grew wider. “And it made you realize you still love him.”

It wasn’t a question. The answer was all over Raven’s face. But she didn’t rejoice. It made her feel empty and alone. “Yes.”

“That’s good.” Ms. Kara nodded.

“So, he met Lexington, your son?” Ms. Kara set the cup down on the side table by her bed. “How did that go?”

A slow, sweet smile played on Raven’s lips.

“Ah, I see it went well. See, I told you he would love his child.”

“It still hurt…that first meeting between father and son. I want to protect Lexi from all harm.”

Ms. Kara patted her hand. “And now you have a man who will stand with you in protecting Lexi.”

Commotion outside brought the two women’s attention to the door. One of her fellow nurses was unusually loud. Everyone in the ward tended to whisper and walk quietly.

Raven concentrated and listened.

“Sir…sir…” The muffled voice approached Ms. Kara’s door. “You have to wait. You can’t just…don’t go in there…”

Ms. Kara’s door opened, and Darius stood in the threshold. He was wearing a dark suit that seemed thrown on. The white shirt underneath hardly buttoned, open at the top and without a tie. The pants were unwrinkled, but the clothes he could buy were the best and probably didn’t need ironing.

“Darius?” Raven could hardly breath. Unprepared for his presence, her heart thumped wildly, and she struggled to gain her composure. “You’re here.”

“To stay.”

Beside her, Ms. Kara gasped, then squeezed Raven’s hand.