Thom gathered me up after a few long moments and carried me all the way to our bed. I didn’t bother to struggle, to tell him to put me down. Shock does strange things to people, I guess.
Maybe not so strange. Maybe my reaction was normal. I couldn’t be sure.
Nothing was normal anymore, really, was it?
“It’s going to be okay,” Thom said as he set me on my feet next to our bed and turned away so he could close the door. “I promise you that, Marin. It’s going to be okay—we’re going to find him.”
“How can you be sure?” I whispered as I slowly peeled out of my jacket, mopping my face with the heel of my hand. Everything was wet from sitting out in that misty rain with Phelan, and I was cold, too cold.
“You’ve seen him in our futures, haven’t you?”
My breath hitched. He was right, I had, though not nearly as much as I’d hoped to see him—and my visions had been wrong before. “I’ve seen you dying, too,” I said. “That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It doesn’t mean they’re right.”
Thom turned back, pain in his eyes. I sank down onto the edge of the bed, staring back at him.
“I’ve seen him, too,” Thom said. “Mar, I’ve seen him, too, and I’m going to tell you right now that now is not the time to lose faith in yourself and what you’ve seen.” His voice hitched. “Even if some things are unpleasant, you can’t discount everything. We will find your brother and everything’s going to be fine. We are going to be fine.”
He took my face in his hands and kissed me hard, so hard it took my breath away. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held on, feeling like I was suddenly drowning—drowning in fear, in desperation, in need, in hopelessness. I was sinking, and he was my port in the storm as much as my little brother always had been.
“We can’t lose him,” I said against his lips. “And I can’t lose you.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Thom promised, stroking my hair as he rested his forehead against mine. “I am staying right here with you—now and forever. You will never be alone. I promise you that.”
I shivered at the weight of the words, of the quiet vow he’d made to me.
Now and forever.
“Some things are meant to be,” he continued, his voice soft, gentle but firm. “Matt’s going to be fine. He’s going to come home and he’ll be here—he’ll be here for you, for us, and for our son. I promise you that.”
“How can you be so sure?” The words stuck in my throat, scraping as they escaped. It all hurt—it hurt so much I could barely breathe. I felt a flutter inside, almost as if our baby—our beautiful, precious boy—had felt my distress, was feeling my distress, and felt powerless to comfort me.
I swallowed hard and clutched at his father, my fingers digging hard into the flesh of his shoulders and back. If I’d held on any tighter, I’d have left bruises in the wake of my fingers.
“I want to believe you, Thom,” I said. “I want to believe you so badly.”
“Then do it,” he said, thumbs brushing my cheeks, wiping away my tears. “Believe it, Marin, because it’s the truth. That’s the way it’s going to be. I swear it.”
“I’ll try.” I couldn’t promise that I would. I guess he knew that.
Thom kissed me again, more gently this time.
“Take off your shoes, Mar,” he said as he slowly let go. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”
“You don’t have to,” I told him as I reached down to start unlacing my boots.
“I want to.”
I swallowed hard and nodded.
Somehow, he always seemed to know what I needed, regardless of what I said.
Maybe that was why I loved him so much, why I knew I couldn’t live without him.
Two halves of a whole that should not ever be sundered again.
Beautiful.
^_^