In The Name Of Love

Chapter 35

"I don't know how you put up with that, Wyn," Mum said irritably and opened the door to our room. "I really don't know – Mircea!"

I poked my head around the door frame and there he was sitting up in bed. I ran to him and flew into his outstretched arms. He held me tightly, rambled incoherently, but that was ok. Just hearing his voice was enough. For some reason he was crying. I soothed him and let him cry himself out without saying a word.

When his sobbing turned into sniffles I sat next to him and drew him into my arms. He rested his head on my chest and played with a lock of hair.

"Want to tell me what that was all about?" I asked in German because I had a feeling English was going to be too much of an effort for him right now. He spoke it fluently, better than most English people I knew, but like me he was more comfortable with German.

"Mama told me you got shot and... even though she told me you're ok I wasn't convinced until I saw you and... Wyn I should have been there. And I know I was nearly dead but I still felt like I should have been there."

I kissed his head. "How much of this has to do with how ill you feel?"

"I mean it," he said softly. "I should have been there to protect you."

"And next time, if there is a next time, you will be," I said.

He nodded. "I only cried because I feel so weak."

"You'll get better."

"I know." He laced his fingers through mine. "Where's your ring?"

"It's being cleaned up. I get it back tomorrow."

"I want to put it on you," he said.

"Ok. Roy got into the doctor's computer and figured out what she injected you with." I said and laced the fingers of our other hands. "He was really worried about you when he found out what it was."

"What was it?" he asked. "It hit so hard and..."

"I haven't asked. I'm not sure I want to know," I admitted. "And it began to spread so fast in the helicopter. I chopped your leg open to get it out and..." I squeezed my eyes shut and held his hand tighter.

He kissed my head. "It's ok, Wyn. I'm ok," he soothed.

"You can't ever not be ok again," I said and looked at him. "Promise me."

"I'll do my best." 

"Good."

 Mum hugged Mircea before he could even say hello to her. "You're going to come and recuperate at the farm, ok?" she asked but it was rhetorical. "And then as soon as you're ready once exams are over Dad'll show you the ropes for when you come back here and you can get to know Roy."

He smiled. "Thank you. I'd really like that. And you can visit whenever you want and –"

"Well of course we can," she huffed. "Do you really think anyone could stop me seeing my children, hum?"

"Oh no," he said shaking his head. "No way do I think that."

It took a couple of weeks of antibiotics and lots of rest before Mircea was fit to leave the hospital. The first thing he did when the tubes and drips came out for good was sweep me into his arms and spin me around. I hadn't been expecting it at all and screamed a little, but then laughed. He looked right into my eyes the whole time, unblinking and with unchecked love and admiration. I wasn't sure why he admired me, but it didn't much matter. All that mattered was that he was finally ok enough to leave the hospital.

When he put me back on the floor he held me really closely for a moment and breathed in the scent of my shampoo.

"I'm never being that ill again," he said.