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Twenty-two
Silas leaned against the wall at the foot of her bed…waiting. How long had it been? Four days? Five? And not a flicker of response from the woman in the bed. Even haggard and sallow of cheek, she was more beautiful to him than any other.
Everyday, he came here, and every night he stayed. In the mornings, he was shoved out the door when the nurses arrived for Min’s sponge bath and bed-ridden exercise. During those hours, he wandered the halls of the hospital, went down to the cafeteria for coffee, or rushed home for a quick shower. Every second he was away from her, he worried that she would awake and he would not be there. And every minute he sat beside her, he worried that she would never wake again.
Jennie’s declaration jerked his head high. The girls bombarded Min with girlish hugs and kisses. Silas moved to the foot of the bed, gripping the bedrail, the whites of his knuckles bursting through the skin.
She’s awake, the words bounced around his head. Massive amounts of relief surged through his muscles as he panted heavily, getting lightheaded and seeming ready to faint.
“Breathe, Silas,” Min muttered thickly. Mae snickered at him, and the color returned to his cheeks. He gave a feeble twitch of his lips, hoping it came out as a smile, but all he could focus on was how she tried to work moisture into her mouth. Her lips were dry and cracked.
“Water,” she mouthed. Jennie placed a wet towel against her mouth.
“I’m sorry, Min, but this is all they will let you have right now.” Jennie smoothed the hair from her face, holding her head in place against the pillows as Min attempted to lift up into a sitting position. He did smile at that. Min was back…stubborn and foolish enough to not stay put when she needed to.
“Stay,” Jennie scolded her. “You’re hurt pretty badly. Amber, go get the nurse.”
“What happened?” Min asked in a coarse tone. Her eyes rolled back into her skull and a second later she sicked up. With blessed swiftness, Jennie had an empty pan by her mouth just in time. The other girls screwed up their faces and backed away.
Silas scooted to the other side of the bed with the wet cloth. He cleaned her mouth and chin patiently. She moaned, mortification gracing her cheeks. The nurse entered the room then.
“What happened?” Min asked again.
The nurse spoke before anyone else could answer. “Save your breath, young lady. You’ve been through a nasty ordeal.” She checked the tubes in her arm and the monitors on the side of the bed.
“Is this normal?” Silas asked, indicating to the pan in Jennie’s hand.
“The doctor’s on his way,” she said patiently. “He’ll answer all your questions.” The nurse looked down at the patient with a kindly smile. “You’re a very lucky woman, Ms. Meyer. Try to keep her from talking too much.” She left the room, giving all of them a stern glance.
Jennie, sensing the nausea had passed, took the pan to the adjoining bathroom. Silas pulled up a chair near Min and sat down, leaning over so that his hand still rested against her cheek. The girls hovered around the bed, but obeying the absent nurse by keeping quiet.
He glanced around the room, seeing how they were handling Min’s break from her coma. They had been through a lot this week, too, he reminded himself. Recognizing the same anxiety and fear on five of their faces comforted him some. Min was important to them. They loved her.
Jennie, on the other hand, never once seemed concerned. Over and over, in the past few days, she reassured everyone that Min would be fine, in a voice that clearly proclaimed it as true. Silas had his doubts. He saw the wound first hand. He felt the life drain out of Min…felt the cold skin of her face as she died in his arms. Only through his resuscitation, did she breathe again.
And as the hours stretched into days, he waited. Now she woke, and now he began to breathe again.
Ashley curled her body against her sister, silent tears trickling down her cheeks. Mae stood next to Melissa, each gripping the others hands, pleasant relief washing through their faces. Tia stood apart, doe-eyed again, until Jennie noticed her quiet distress. The older girl wrapped her arm around Tia, holding her tight. They all stared at Min, trying to smile, but failing.
“You gave me quite a scare,” Silas murmured, quiet enough that only Min could hear him. She cracked my lips to reassure him, but he shushed her and caressed her cheek gingerly. “I thought I lost you. I don’t know what all happened before I got there, but when I walked through that door, ready for the argument of my life, I didn’t realize that you were already fighting for yours.” He choked on his words. Min watched him with pity in her eyes.
The doctor came in the room. All the girls shuffled over to the window. Silas didn’t move.
“I hear our beloved Ms. Meyer is awake,” he announced as the door closed behind him. “I’m Dr. Moore,” he said. He was sixty-ish, balding, and grandfatherly. His eyes crinkled in the corner and huge laugh-lines curved around his mouth, causing jowls to form on his jaw line. He came around to the other side of the bed, pushing a button to raise his patient further. Min tried to help by pressing down on her elbows to sit up in the bed better, but he told her to lie still. The determination in her face amused Silas. He knew then that she would recover. Min was too pigheaded to die.
Dr. Moore waved a light across her eyes. The tiny glare caused her to flinch, and Silas felt a spike of worry. But then the doctor checked her heartbeat and breathing, announced all was normal, and Silas eased back in his chair. Only when he carefully lifted a white gauze bandage that covered her entire left shoulder and chest area did she seem to realize that she was wounded. Her face drained of color and a tiny gasp escaped.
“It’s healing nicely,” the doctor muttered. “Better than I expected actually. A clean wound. The bullet passed right through.”
Everyone was listening intently to the doctor, except Silas. He studied Min’s reaction.
“What are the side effects after a coma?” Silas asked aside Dr. Moore, his sight never leaving Min’s face.
The doctor crinkled his forehead, “It is uncertain. Every patient is different and –“
“Coma?!” Her voice shrilled. Everyone’s head turned in her direction. “I was in a coma? For how long?”
Dr. Moore turned to Min, resuming a professional façade. “Ms. Meyer, I realize that you must be a little disoriented, so I will keep this simple. You were shot through the back. And you were very lucky. The bullet went straight through, missing all your major organs, but you lost a lot of blood and stopped breathing.” He paused, waiting for her to make a sign that she understood what he said so far. Min nodded and noticed how the girls cringed away, remembered terror on their faces.
She swallowed and gave them each a comforting smile. Even on her deathbed, she continued to take care of those girls. Silas’ heart bloomed to bursting. But he still didn’t know if he was in love with her. He’d forgotten what love felt like, he assumed, wishing that weren’t true.
Dr. Moore spoke up, “Ms. Meyer, you flat-lined. For about thirty seconds. You were resuscitated but have been unresponsive and on life support up until last night. Your body has been able to maintain its breathing for fifteen hours, which is a good sign. We are actually surprised that you woke up as early as you did. Comas vary in length and circumstances. Do you remember anything at all from the last five days?”
Min’s eyes glazed over for a second.
“Ms. Meyer?”
Everyone waited for an answer. Silas squeezed her hand, darting a questioning glance at Dr. Moore. The girls each wore identical held-breath expressions. Dr. Moore’s brow lowered with each passing second. He even checked the monitors with a quick glimpse to make sure she wasn’t going into shock. She turned her head to Silas. He smiled encouragingly, but he knew didn’t reach his eyes.
“You missed your trip,” she whispered, guiltily. He chuckled with solace and smiled for real. Everyone relaxed.
“I was able to reschedule,” he replied.
Turning towards the girls, Min fixed them with a stern stare. “You didn’t –” she swallowed against the dryness in her mouth. “You didn’t miss five days of school, did you?” Each one, except Jennie who laughed out loud, shook her head ferociously.
“They’ve been going to school and doing their homework. I promise you,” Jennie said. “Right now, it’s five o’clock, Min. We’ve been here every evening all week.”
They all smiled and nodded. Dr. Moore, convinced that his patient wasn’t going to freak out, said, “Well, Ms. Meyer, all your vitals look good. I will send the nurse in a few minutes. Let’s see if we can keep some liquid down before you eat anything. After that, you are to get some rest. I'll check on you later tonight.” With that, he made a quick note on her chart, nodded reassuringly to Silas, and left the room.
Everyone was silent, and Min’s eyelids grew heavy. But she blinked stubbornly, refusing to sleep. Silas' pinky caressed her cheek gently. Ashley stepped up to the bed with her mouth opened, but Amber yanked her back and gave her a look that was very similar to Mrs. Baker's normal, hard stares.
A different nurse came in with a tray. It held a small cup with a straw and clean bandages to redress the gunshot wound. Min’s stare zeroed on the tray.
“Sip this slowly,” she said, holding the straw to Min’s lips. “When you finish that, I will bring you more. But you are to drink it slowly. You don’t want to get sick again.”
The nurse turned her over to her side and checked the bandage on her back. Silas held the cup for her while the nurse worked on the front wound, re-bandaging it. Min glance at it and frowned. It was stitched, and puckered, and about the size of a quarter. Her entire left side was bruised and every shade of black, blue, green, and purple.
Silas had seen it every day this week. The wound was getting better, but he still fumed with internal wrath at seeing it. Someone dared to hurt her…this woman who nurtured others and had a heart of pure gold…this miraculous soul that loved without fault and continuously ran away from any personal relationship with him. And he didn’t care that she did. Someone dared to hurt her.
As the nurse, she told Min’s guests, “I’ll give you a few minutes to say good-bye and then everyone out. She needs her rest.”
The door closed, and Ashley shrugged away from her sister and pounced to the bedside. A huge, Ashley-like grin filled her entire being. Amber tried to restrain her again with a hand on the smaller girl's arm, but she ignored it.
“I have to know,” she squealed. “Is it true? Are you really getting married?”
Astonishment was an understatement. What on earth was she talking about? All the others stretched sheepish grins across their lips, except Silas. He stretched back in his chair, with a full blown shameless smirk.
“Married? What are you talking about? I’m not getting married.”
Jennie pushed Ashley to the window. “It's not like that. You were on life-support,” she explained. “And without any family to contact, Silas told them that the two of you were engaged. He saved your life, Min.” She eyed me meaningfully. Jennie knew that I couldn’t die.
But I did die. Everything from the night with Chris and Lee came back to me. My time in the nothingness had erased most of what happened Saturday night. The acrid smell, the jarring blast against my back. Silas' look of horror as he saw me in the kitchen. The wet ooze soaking my dress. I had been shot. And I had died. Otherwise, why would I have gone back to the immortal world?
But my friends, my brothers and sisters. They didn’t want me back.
Raging emotions took over. I became angry, jealous, forsaken. And then I felt shame because my thoughts were on myself again. Like a person who committed suicide and never once considered the loved ones they left behind. I was granted a second chance. A chance to make things right again. A chance that I won’t screw up this time.
But five days? I was in a coma for five days? That would mean today was ... Thursday? Friday? And I was supposed to be getting married?
I glared at Silas. He winked at me, still smirking, and laughing under his breath, all anguish removed from his features.
“Jennie kept saying that you will be fine,” he said, trying hard to control his joviality, “but I had to tell them something, or they would have pulled the plug sooner.”
He pulled a small black box from the pocket of his jeans and tossed it in the air between his hands. A collective gasp from the girls rang in the room.
“What is that?” I spit at him as well as I was able. I had been awake all of twenty minutes, and already he ignited my irritation. The logo imprinted on the lid was the same as the one on the shopping bag from the day of Trish’s wedding.
Silas continued his blatant smile, shrugging for an answer. The girls edged forward until they were all standing around me. Silas moved to put the box back into his pocket, and this time the gasps from the girls were full of rebuff. They wanted to see what was inside.
I wanted to light it on fire and flush it down the toilet. How dare he assume that I would accept anything even resembling a ring? I made no declaration to any proposed relationship between us. In fact, I plainly told him that there was no relationship.
You are such a liar.
I am not! I did tell him we couldn't be together.
Sometimes, actions do speak louder than words, Min.
I turned my head away, knowing that I was pouting. I was continually grateful to him for staying with me, and for ‘saving my life,’ as Jennie put it. And I was more in love with him than ever. But my decision was firm. Nothing good could come of us if we were to be together. He only loved me because he had no choice. No one had that choice.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Tia snatch the box out of Silas’ hands with lightening speed. I was shocked and pleased to see her take such an initiative but refused the let him notice. She scurried as far away from him as the little room provided. Silas never so much as raised a finger to retrieve the box. He just continued to smile.
Jennie was the only one of the girls not flocked around Tia and the little black box. She remained at the foot of the bed with a thoughtful frown. Ooh’s and aah’s cascaded out from the girly cluster.
“They’re sooo pretty,” Mae sighed.
They? So it wasn’t a ring. That was a reprieve. I relaxed my pout and felt a tinge of curiosity. Amber peeked over her shoulder at me and looked amused. I sneaked a look at Silas from under my eyelashes. He stared up at the ceiling, humming to himself. I heard the snap of the box closing, and the conspirators turned toward me. Thankfully, at that moment, the nurse came back in.
“Alright now, time to go. Ms. Meyer, if you like, the doctor is allowing one visitor to stay the night with you.”
Silas sat upright and opened his mouth, but I spoke before he could, forcing my words out very clearly, “Jennie, would you stay?”
Disappointment choked in the stare he gave me. I should have just ripped out his heart and handed it to him tied in ribbons. The pain would have been no different. Jennie seemed no less astonished, and the younger girls picked up on the mood quickly. The nurse was oblivious.
“Sure,” Jennie answered, apologizing to Silas with her eyes.
He stood up with a set jaw as the others said their quick good-byes and filtered out to the hallway. Tia handed over the mysterious box, which Silas stuffed in his pocket roughly. The nurse walked out with the girls, and Jennie crept over to the window, pretending to look out.
Silas ran a finger down my cheek. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, the severity of rejection freezing his features. I caught his hand in mine before it pulled away. I placed a soft kiss in the palm and whispered, “Thank you, Silas.”
He paused, judging my actions. I know I was confusing him. I confused myself…pushing him away and then bringing him right back. Every push just pulled him in closer. I hated myself for doing that. But I couldn’t help it. Love was not sensible.
“Jennie,” he said, still staring at me. “Would you give us a moment?”
I didn’t hear her leave.
“What is wrong, Min?” He sat down on the side of the bed, his hand still held in mine.
“I don’t understand.” I lowered my eyes, dreading the upcoming conversation, a repeat of our date. How many times and ways do we have to go through this? He was a persistent, nettlesome man. But I guess I am to blame for most of that.
“Min, the last time my lips touched yours, I was breathing life into you, and now you won’t even look at me.” He tilted my head up with his fingers. The gesture was tender. More so than any kiss or touch we had ever shared. My dying had really affected him.
I didn’t say anything. I breathed deeply, thinking of him with his lips pressed against mine as he explained, forcing air into my lungs. My control was fleeting fast, and I had to grasp hold of my resolve once more, or it will be gone forever.
“Silas—“
“From the first moment I saw you,” he stopped me, placing those tender fingers across my lips, “I’ve tried to stop myself, to stay away, to keep it professional. But every time I turn around, there you were smiling beautifully, or making me so angry that I wanted to throw something or rip anything I could get my hands on into shreds. No one has ever made me angry the way you do. Not even Sarah when she did what she did. No, with you, I became a monster to myself. I didn’t know myself anymore. Whether to scream at you or kiss you until the moon stops phasing…or you stop resisting – whichever came first.”
I closed my eyes and mumbled around his fingers. “Please, Silas. Don’t make this harder than it is.”
“Why does it have to be hard at all? Why can’t it just be easy?”
“Because it just isn’t,” I cried. I felt tears sliding down my cheeks. I didn’t know where they came from. My mouth was still dry, like my body had no moisture in it at all.
“Yes, it can be,” he replied gently. “I thought that if we didn't work together anymore, that if we didn’t see each other as much, I would become me again, regain any sort of control over my thoughts. But I soon realized that I haven’t been me in a very, very long time, and that it wasn’t the fault of this strange, beautiful woman in front of me. A door has been closed, locked against the world; you opened it. Now I’ve walked through, and I’m not leaving. When I was angry, I was only angry at myself. It was difficult then, to restrain myself from you. Possibly the hardest thing I've ever done. Now I see how easy it can be.”
“Don’t say that,” I muttered. “The only easy thing about us is when we are not together. I ran away from you for a reason; the same as when you were avoiding me for weeks at a time.”
“I wasn't avoiding you,” he said simply; I didn't respond. “And why did you run away from me?” His simple words became sharp. “Do you find me so repulsive, not feel anything at all for me? My kissing you? You kissing me back? I suppose that was all just fun and games for you. Don’t deny it. You did kiss me.”
“I don’t deny it, and I wasn’t playing with you. We just have to stop this. It’s torturing me,” I pleaded with him. The sound of a throat clearing came from the door way.
“Ms. Meyer? It really is time for your guests to leave,” the nurse said.
“Just a few more minutes,” Silas threw over his shoulder. The nurse left in a huff. “What do you mean it’s torturing you?”
I closed my eyes again, refusing to answer him. The press of his mouth against my lips opened them. “There,” he said, back to his tender self and seeing me looking at him. “That’s better. Look at me, Min. Tell me why we can’t see each other. I have to know. I need to know.”
His face was desolate, anticipating my answer. And I felt that the only way he would leave me alone was for me to tell him the truth. Or at least part of it.
“I’m not the person you think I am. My life is not my own. I could never give it to someone else. No matter how I feel about you, our futures will never be one.”
A light glowed, flickering in the storm clouds. A tiny flash of lightening; a small dot of hope on the horizon. I said something that he misunderstood or read more into.
“How do you feel about me?”
I could only gawk at him. He never ceased to amaze me how he only hears certain parts of the conversation. Selective hearing, I’ve heard other people call it. “Like I said, it doesn’t matter,” I replied when my brain was able to form the words.
“Ms. Meyer, Mr. Blake. Please. Visiting hours for this floor is over,” the nurse popped her head in the room again. She pulled it out at the sight of both our glares.
“You should go,” I told Silas.
“No,” he shook his head, “I’m not leaving until I get some answers. You can’t run away from me this time.”
“Silas, really. There is no need for this. Nothing changes—“
“Again, not an answer,” he retorted to my dodging. “I have all night. Jennie can take the girls home.” He settled back into his chair again, crossed his legs and arms, and waited. The patient quirk on his lips vexed me.
The silence stretched. Jennie came back into the room. “Am I staying or going?”
Silas arched an eyebrow at me. I really wanted to talk to Jennie, but that meant answering Silas’ questions. The quickest way to do that would only make the situation worse. I still didn’t know if his feeling for me were the real kind, not part of my curse.
I pursed my lips together, sealing them, and closed my eyes. I could be just as stubborn. I heard Silas settle into his chair, ready to wait out the night, and handing over his car keys to Jennie. He wasn’t leaving.
“I’ll be back in the morning,” Jennie said. “Things will be fine. You haven’t missed anything. Everyone is willing to wait until you are feeling better.”
The emphasis of her words and the slow way she said them, words just for my ears alone, caught my attention. I nodded my head, and listened for any sign that might cause suspicion in Silas. He was too curious at the moment about my life as it was. I cracked my eyes open enough to peek at him. He stared up at the ceiling again.
Later that evening, the nurse brought in more of the tasteless liquid. I was able to lift my arm enough to hold the cup this time, and the nurse explained that they were easing down the pain killers so I would be able to move more easily. An hour slowly passed without Silas speaking, and I drifted off to sleep. The sound of a curtain being drawn around my bed startled me.
“Bath time,” a nurse announced, the same one I saw after I first opened my eyes. This one was accompanied by two other young girls not much older than Jennie. The curtain surrounded the entire bed, and Silas had been blocked out from view, fake fiancé or not.
“I’ll go get some dinner in the cafeteria,” Silas said through the thin material. He still had his propriety in tact, I was pleased to hear. I saw his silhouette through the curtain, hesitating, waiting for me to respond. What was I supposed to tell him? “Okay?” “Don’t be long?” “Don’t leave me?”
I settled for, “Bring me back some fried chicken.” He chuckled at that. The nurse and the young orderlies also laughed.
“Soon enough, Ms. Meyer,” the nurse said, directing the two girls to strip the bed of the blanket and top sheet. “I’m Mrs. Watson, the head nurse on the night shift. This is Monique and Danna. We’re gonna get you cleaned up and changed. This should be easier now that you’re awake.”
“Call me Min, please.”
They each took up positions at my bedside. In about twenty minutes, I was sponge-bathed, changed into a clean gown, and the bed was remade with clean sheets and a fresh blanket. I helped as much as I could, lifting an arm or my head now and then, but I was still weak. The whole time, neither Monique nor Danna said much, but Mrs. Watson chatted enough for all of us.
“You’ve got quite a family. They’ve been here every night this week. Lift your head, hon. Those girls – they’re friends? Cousins?”
“No, I work in a permanent foster home. Those girls are in my care.” I replied, straining to keep my head up so Monique could wash the back of my neck.
Mrs. Watson looked surprised. “Really? You must be doing something right. I’ve never seen foster kids that affectionate about their foster parents.”
“They are wonderful, aren’t they?” I mused, and sighed, settling against the pillow.
“And that Mr. Blake, your fiancé – “ I set my mouth at the word – “he seems fond of them also.”
There was a question there. I didn’t feel obligated to answer it, but it would be polite. I would have rather screamed at her that we were not engaged, but that might get Silas into trouble. Then again…maybe they would kick him out for lying. I tossed the thought around for a second, not really presuming myself to say it out loud.
“He was our foster care supervisor, and my boss.” I drew in a sharp breath as Danna rubbed too roughly around my bandaged area. She muttered an apology, and Mrs. Watson frowned at her.
She turned that frown to me. “Was?”
“He was transferred,” I explained when the pain subsided.
“Roll over a bit. Before or after you got engaged?”
“That sounds like an accusation, Mrs. Watson,” I teased her through a curtain of hair that fell in my face as I turned over to my side. Danna sponged off my back.
“Nothing personal, Min. I’m an old lady who likes to gossip,” she replied lightly, laughing at herself. I didn’t answer her question, and she didn’t push it.
Monique and Danna gathered up the dirty linens and bath material as Mrs. Watson checked all the monitors, adjusting a reading here and there. She wrote another note on my chart.
“You’ve got a good man there,” she said, replacing the clipboard. “He’s barely left your side since you were brought in. And that night will stick with me for a while. He was so pale, and covered in so much blood, that we all thought he was shot as well. Oh, he was so frantic. I’ve seen my share of husbands and fathers in the ER, but I do believe he takes the cake. That man loves you more than anything in this world. You hang on to him, you hear? Some of the other nurses already have their eyes on him.” She laughed again, and I had to smile.
“Mrs. Watson, how long will I be here?” I asked.
“Well, Dr. Moore will check on you again. But you are healing more quickly than expected, so I say you have about another three days before you can be discharged.”
“Thank you, for everything,” I told her.
She smiled in a motherly way. “You’re very welcome, Min.”
I was alone in the room for about fifteen minutes before Silas returned. I finished my drink and was still very thirsty. Silas sat on the edge of the bed again, surveying me.
“No chicken?” I asked.
“You’re looking better,” he laughed softly in response.
“A bath will make anyone look better, if you can call that a bath.”
He took my hand and traced the lines in my palm with his finger. Every time, he looked at me, his neck flushed. I hadn’t seen him do that in a while. But I knew he was waiting for me to resume our earlier conversation. I changed the subject.
“What happened with Chris?”
He frowned a little, and then smirked, guessing at my choice of questions. As he thought about the answer, I noticed how his eyebrows knitted together with disturbing notions. I finally remembered what I had done to Chris, and his friend, before I lost consciousness. I wanted to hear what happened after that.
“He was arrested, with that Lee fellow,” he told me, looking at my hand as he spoke. “It was all strange. I came in the house and heard the gun go off. The bullet hit the doorframe. And you fell to the floor.” His fiddling with my hand paused, and his eyes turned inward, remembering the scene.
“I didn’t even see Chris or Lee until after I ran over to you. And that’s what’s so weird about it all. They just stood there, watching me. Like they were zombies, or something. They never moved. The whole time I called the police and was giving you CPR. I don’t know how to explain it.” His stare returned to the present, eying me for an explanation that he knew I didn’t have.
“They didn’t run or put up a fight when the police got there. It was as if they were walking in their sleep. They were like that for hours. The police told me that they were sitting in the station, unresponsive, and then it was like they just woke up. They started shouting and babbling. They had no idea what happened either. It was all very strange.”
“Strange,” I muttered in agreement.
“Well, we won’t have to worry about them any more,” he continued. “They’ll be going away for a long time.”
“Did they find out why they broke into the house in the first place?” I asked, although I already knew some of that answer.
“Yeah, it turns out that Chris and that Lee guy were part of some drug ring. They had swindled some money – fifteen-thousand worth – and hid it in a teddy bear. Chris gave it to Melissa. Fortunately, she didn’t know anything about it. She should count her lucky stars. Otherwise she would be in a lot of trouble.” Silas’ voice turned hard. His fondness for the girls apparently didn’t cover illegal actions.
“Leave her alone, Silas. She’s young and thought she was in love. Everyone makes mistakes,” I reminded him. Of course, the word, “love,” brought raised eyebrows from him. I should have rephrased myself.
He smiled and said, “Speaking of being in love...”
I pulled my hand away, sighing heavily. “Not now, Silas. I’m tired.”
He shrugged, “Suit yourself.”
I closed my eyes again, but he didn’t leave the bed. Instead, he grabbed my hand again, tugging slightly when I wouldn’t cooperate. He won that battle. I was in no condition to play tug-of-war. I ultimately drifted off to my palm being tickled affectionately.