Chapter 12

Was he truly a slave then? All she had to do was crook her finger and he’d come to her side?

Despite the thoughts that ran amok in his head, he skidded into a parking space and kicked open the truck door. His hidden disgust with himself did not hinder his fight against the fierce winter wind, which clawed at his clothes.

The barely salted ground with the ice slick on its surface could not stop his feet from running into the front entrance doors.

Micah bypassed the elevator and punched through the stairwell door. The many steps which made him gasp and pant with exertion did not stop his harried flight up.

Nothing would keep him from her. It was simply the truth of the matter.

Her phone call at two in the morning had been unexpected but her words had chilled his heart. “I’m in hell, Micah. I need you now.”

Something had happened to Liliana. Was it the infection? Had it progressed into dangerous territory?

Liliana. The name of the daughter he had longed to have with Savannah. Liliana, the daughter of Fiona and Bart, who claimed his heart when she called him ‘uncle’. Liliana, who shared the same elfin-like features with her aunt. Liliana, the only reason Savannah would ever reach out to him.

What had happened?

He burst through the door and rushed down the hallway. The floor squeaked when he skidded to a stop and turned the corner.

Savannah sat outside of Liliana’s room, her shoulders sagging with a heavy invisible weight. The long, black hair, plaited into a braid, rested over one of those burdened shoulders. He drew nearer.

“Savannah?”

She jerked like a puppet on a string and then raised her head. Micah inhaled a sharp breath. Her skin resembled the chalky white of paste. Her lips were a bloodless line. It was the two-tone eyes that made him squat in front of her.

They were dull. Lifeless.

“Savannah? What happened?”

She drooped. Micah reached forward and cradled her head between his palms. Gently and firmly, he forced her eyes back up again. “Savannah? What happened?”

“You came,” she whispered.

He didn’t know what she was talking about. “Of course I came.” Didn’t she know he’d always come whenever she called him? Hadn’t he made it obvious?

His thumb drifted down to her lips to caress them. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I thought you wouldn’t come. I thought you would let me sit here in this darkness and wouldn’t come to me.”

He could barely hear her but he knew what she said. “I don’t want you to ever experience what I did, Savannah.” That was nothing but the truth. Though it would serve her right to feel the same desolation he felt when she abandoned him, he could not let her experience that. It was an episode in his life when everything had become a dark vortex. It seemed the world was against him, calling for his blood. Paranoia and fear had been his constant companions. He’d gone into self-preservation mode, especially after Savannah had left him. Everything funneled downward into the brink of abject misery. He acknowledged then that the only thing that kept him from submitting to the putrid darkness was his faith and the knowledge of his innocence.

No, he wouldn’t wish that on another human being, much less this woman who once broke his heart.

Savannah reached up and wrapped her cold hands around his wrist. She squeezed ever so lightly, but it was enough to encourage him. “Liliana stopped breathing.”

Micah froze in shock, but then he gathered his professional guard which had helped him through some of the most difficult cases of his career. “What else? Is she on a ventilator?”

“Yes. They were able to bring her back, Micah.”

Then she cried out, leaning into him with a such a sudden push forward that he scrambled to catch her in his arms before he lost his balance. Her long, slender arms wrapped around his neck and she pressed her face into his throat. Savannah’s hot scalding tears burned a path down his neck. He adjusted his position to where he sat crossed-legged on the floor and cradled her into himself.

Home, sweet home.

“I was so scared she wouldn’t come back. I was so scared you wouldn’t come,” Savannah sobbed. “I know God is with me and I was praying but I wanted you here, too.”

Her words twisted his vocal chords. He pressed a long kiss into her forehead. Tasted the thin flesh around her hairline. Inhaled the womanly scent of her. How he hoped to hear those words. All these years apart, he’d gone through life wishing Savannah had needed him. When she’d left, his world had become a charcoal landscape. Still there but void of color.

When she walked out of his life, everything vital had left him. With Nascha’s death, the inquest had been dismissed. He’d done a few interviews and shows to end the debacle once and for all but like a skunk’s odor, it clung to him for over a year. The dreams of the woman who ruined his life had become nightly bedside visitors. Each dream ended with her stabbing herself.

The instant he received Savannah’s text message that summoned him to this place, the rainbow had come back into his world. Did he dare admit it? He couldn’t wait to get on the plane and see her again. He’d done his best to camouflage it with hostility.

In this moment of deep anguish, he felt vitality course through him. Without being conscious of it, he traced light kisses along the side of her face until he unerringly reached the corner of her mouth. The tang of salt alerted him and he started to pull away when she turned her mouth into his.

The shock of her lips as they clung to his catapulted him into another realm. He groaned. Those soft lips eradicated the control he placed on himself. It had been such a long time since he’d been invigorated by Savannah’s sweetness. He hadn’t touched a woman long before Savannah had entered his life and had kept away from any others when she left. A sensation like muted lightning coursed through his veins.

He wanted to devour her but the desire was not born of passion. This exchange conveyed his tender feelings, which almost overwhelmed him. He used this action to encourage her ... and to tell her of his love.

Micah tightened his hold on her. Yes, he wanted her to know he loved her. Time and distance coupled with bitterness and anger had conspired that he suppress any ideas of affection for her. But now, in their darkest hour, the only thing to shine bright was the fact he loved this woman and there was no point in hiding it anymore.

The kiss seemed to last longer than a few seconds – so much of himself had been wrapped inside of it. When she drew away, he almost tugged her back, but what her face revealed startled him.

Her two-tone eyes had lost the dull look. Warm red color flushed her cheeks. Her lips regained their full, pillowy plumpness, with a hint of moisture along the seam from his kiss. Her body weight had grown heavier, as if every muscle had completely relaxed.

A satiated woman, if he said so himself.

“Thank you.”

Micah smiled. “It’s going to be okay, Savannah.”

She hugged him once more. Her lips brushed his ear to whisper, “With you here with me, I know everything will be okay.”

She braced herself on his shoulders and stood. Once she was steady, Micah got up as well from their position on the floor. It was then he became aware of their surroundings. A wave of heat flamed his ears. Every kiss in the past had done this to him. They could be in the middle of a forest or the busiest intersection in the world. Everything faded away except her.

The door to Liliana’s room opened and Dr. Yamaguchi came out of it. Her kind but tired eyes glanced at them. “I’m glad both of you are here, Dr. Reddington and Ms. Woods.”

Savannah grabbed his hand and held tight. He used his thumb to rub reassuringly across her knuckles. “Can you give us an update?”

Dr. Yamaguchi ushered them into Liliana’s room and closed the door behind them. “The test we took earlier showed Liliana had an infection. We’d already begun a round of antibiotics to counteract it. However, the infection spread to her bladder, which caused a UTI. That in turn caused urosepsis.”

“Urosepsis?” Savannah brow furrowed.

“It’s sepsis from a urological source,” Micah answered. “From the UTI.”

“Correct,” Dr. Yamaguchi nodded. “Liliana went into septic shock. We resuscitated her successfully but she needs the ventilator to help her breathe.”

“But what about her burns? How are—”

“We’ll continue to treat her burns, but we’re going to laser focus on beating this infection so it won’t cause permanent damage.”

From the careful look on the doctor’s face, Micah could tell the doctor didn’t utter the rest of her thoughts. He didn’t blame her for that. Though Savannah had found comfort in him, she was still a mother holding on by a thread. There was such a thing as tact that a medical professional had to have. Micah knew what the doctor hadn’t said. If they could not get rid of the infection, it could expand to the other organs, disrupting their function and ultimately lead to mortality.

What such a grim prognosis would do to Savannah’s mental state didn’t bear thinking. It would not come to such an end. Liliana was a fighter. She had the blood of her parents and the love of her aunt and grandparents at her side.

Plus, a family who would pray without end for healing.

The strength of his emotions made him grab Savannah by the shoulders and bring her into his body.

“Thank you, Dr. Yamaguchi,” Micah said. They shared a look and the woman gave him a slight nod. She patted Savannah on the arm and then took her leave.

“Oh, Micah,” Savannah’s voice came out in a whisper. She leaned into him some more and they turned around. A nurse meandered about the room, but their eyes were glued to the small figure in the bed. IV cords were strung like Christmas lights. The rhythmic sound of the ventilator accompanied the mechanical beats of the heart monitor. Liliana’s tiny body seemed to be enveloped by machinery and linen. The rich caramel skin took on a dry dust-like appearance. Her curls were matted to her forehead and the dark curve of her eyelashes rested on the arc of her cheekbones. The shaft of the tube that kept her breathing was taped to her sunken cheeks.