Chapter 198
#Chapter 198 – Home Remedies
When wee back to the house, everyone is on the porch waiting for us.
My mother, Emma, and Delia are standing there, the boys in front of them. Huge bright smiles light
Alvin and Ian’s faces – they’re so, so excited to see their dad.
I can’t help butugh when I take them in, and Victor works to sit up straighter on his gurney so that he
can see over my shoulder. When he sees the boys, his face lights up.
Good. I knew that it was the right choice, to bring him home. It will be better here, with the love and
support of family to heal him.
The doctor had been dour when we had left. He had agreed that moving Victor to the cottage wouldn’t
hurt him, but he wasn’t a big believer in home remedies like this. His projection for Victor’s health still
hadn’t changed.
Little too no hope for a recovery.
The words ng through my mind every minute of every day, even when I am asleep.
Just too much damage.
A miracle.
I grit my teeth together as Rafees down the front steps of the cottage, Bridgette behind him. If a
miracle is what it takes, then that’s what I would give him. Even if I had to spin it out of thin air.
Rafe and Bridgette are waiting as the paramedics open the back door of the ambnce, preparing to
lift the gurney out carry Victor to the house.
“Wee home, brother,” Rafe says, pping Victor on the shoulder as soon as he’s in reach. Victor
smiles at him, slowly raising his hand to grip Rafe’s arm.
“It’s good to be home,” Victor says, and I can tell that he genuinely means it.
The past few days in the hospital…they were fine. Victor slept most of the time, with me by his side.
But in the hours that he was awake, I could see him starting to figure out his situation. That the doctor
kept obliging him to sleep, but that he wasn’t getting any better.
Thest time, Victor had put up a hand to stop the doctor before he could administer the pain killers
and the sedative. “Please,” Victor had said, his voice perfectly calm. “If I have a limited amount of time
left, let me spend it awake. Let me be with my family.”
The doctor had hesitated and then nodded. That night, the doctor had prepared all the paperwork to
send Victor home.
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In the hours that Victor did sleep, I was working. Organizing things at home, interviewing and hiring
nurses, preparing everyone for what was toe. Rafe had taken it the hardest, the news that Victor
was likelying home for thest time.
I had never seen a man weep like that. As the daughter of an Alpha, I suppose I was used to men who
kept their emotions inside, who refused to be that vulnerable in front of anyone, let alone a woman.
But Rafe? He had wept, his shoulders shaking, until he had run out of tears. And then he had lifted his
head to mine and nodded once, agreeing to my n.
My n to make Victorfortable. To show him a good face, a cheerful family. To fight with
everything we had, in the privacy of our home.
Now there is no sign of that vulnerable, devastated brother as Rafe greets Victor, and I’m d of it.
Rafe is happy and excited to wee his brother home, and I know that it is best.
As the paramedics carry Victor up the porch stairs and wheel him into the house, everyone greets him
with happiness and enthusiasm, like the returning hero he is. Betas nod their happy greetings, my
mother and sister wave, Dinaughs and gives him a wide smile.
But Victor, I can see, only has eyes for his children.
Alvin and Ian run alongside the gurney as it wheels through the house, speaking rapidly to their father,
who smiles down at them andughs at whatever they’re saying. Ian even goes so far as to grab the
side of the gurney, hopping along until he matches its speed and jumps up, beginning to climb up to get
closer to the dad.
The paramedic says a stern word to Ian about jostling his father and Ian just bares his teeth at him.
Victorughs, and so do I. The paramedic just shakes his head and keeps pushing, settling Victor into
the living room where I’ve cleared a space.
I follow Victor into the room and my mother and sistere as well, Delia following behind. Bridgette
and Rafe head into the kitchen to bring Victor some sort of refreshment, and I smile to see Burton
there. He catches my eye and gives me a smile and a deep nod, which I return.
But then, leaning against the arch between the kitchen and the living room, I turn my attention back to
Victor and our boys. They’re the only thing that really matters today.
“Papa,” Alvin says, also up on the gurney now, sitting down by his father’s legs. “Do you feel much
better? Do we get to keep this wheely bed when you don’t need it anymore?”
Victor’s face is bright as he puts an arm around Ian, nestled up against his side, andughs at Alvin’s
question. “You can keep it if you’d like,” Victor replies, “though I don’t know where we’ll put it.”
Ian, intrigued, studies his dad’s face. “Instead,” he suggests, “why don’t we just put wheels on all of our
normal beds? We already have room for those.”
Victor trulyughs at this, but it turns into a cough. I bite my lip, trying to keep my spirits up. But every
time, every time things start to look bright, there is some dark reminder that he is…
Well, that he’s dying.
Slowly dying. And the doctors say there’s nothing I can do.
Refusing to dwell on it, I stand up straight and p my hands. “Okay, everyone!” I say, putting on a
bright smile. “Time to say goodnight! Victor needs his rest, he’s got a big day tomorrow!”
It’s a lie, of course – everyone knows it. The sun has barely gone down and Victor has absolutely
nothing to do tomorrow. But, understanding, they smile at me and begin to gather around Victor, saying
their goodnights.
Then, slowly, everyone begins to leave. As I asked them to, earlier this morning. Tonight…I just want it
to be us. Want it to be the family.
As Rafe and Bridgette head out the door, though, I hesitate and tug on Rafe’s sleeve.
He turns to me, curious.
“Would it be all right,” I say quietly, looking between him and Bridgette, “to ask you to stay?”
He c***s his head at me, curious.
“It’s just…” I say, biting my lip. “I won’t be able to carry him upstairs by myself. And I think it will be
better for him. To be in his own bed.”
Rafe nods, understanding, and turns to Bridgette, silently asking her permission.
“Oh sure,” she says, nodding quickly, her eyesbrows raised. “Yes, that’s fine.” She gives us a big smile
and then heads down the stairs to where my mother is standing by the car.
“Emma will take care of her,” I say to Rafe, smiling up at him. “Thank you.”
He nods, smiling down at me. “No, it’s good,” he says, looking over at his brother. “I’m d to be here.
It feels right.”
I join Rafe, then, in looking at Victor in that moment. We both stand quietly and watch Victor joke with
his sons,ughing at their little jokes and antics.
In a few minutes, though, Victor raises his eyes to mine and looks at me seriously. Letting me know,
without words, that he’s tired and would like a rest. I nod to him and smile and give Rafe a nudge,
letting him know that it’s time.
Then, as Rafe goes over to his brother and slips one arm behind his back and another beneath his
knees, lifting him with apparent ease, I steel myself.
Because tonight, I know, will likely be the longest and most difficult night of my life.