West of Forever (Heartstone Ranch #1)(96)

Right. He did ask that.

“Momma made breakfast. I wasn’t hungry, but she had me eat anyway. Then, I went…I think I worked,” I say, my head feeling heavy and my body tired. “I don’t know.”

“Good, all of this is great. Can you keep going?” the doctor asks.

“Tristan?”

“What about Tristan?” Daddy asks.

Oh, God, I just said that out loud.

I close my eyes. “Sorry, I…don’t know what I mean.”

The doctor gently squeezes my wrist. “I know you’re tired and this is a lot right now, but do you know how you came to be in the hospital?”

I run through the rest of the memory. I went out to the barn, worked with two horses, and then I saw her.

Sadie.

My eyes open, and I stare at the doctor. “Sadie? Her horse? I fell. I remember I was riding and something happened. I think…I think there was a snake, and the horse spooked so fast. I was flying, and I knew.” I suck in a breath. “I knew I was going to hit the ground hard.”

The doctor nods. “Anything else?”

“It hurt. I hit…my head…I think…a few times.” The memory is so fuzzy after that. I must’ve passed out or something, because I don’t remember anything after that.

Momma comes to the side, taking my hand. “Yes, sweetheart, you hit your head and called for help.”

“I did?”

“You did, the way you teach all your kids to do.” Her smile is wide, and I see the pride in her eyes.

“How long have I been here?” I ask.

“Four days,” Momma answers.

Four days. Oh God. “Momma…I…”

She laces her fingers with mine. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Lark Elaine, not a thing, you hear me?”

I can’t help the small smile that comes from her stern voice. “I’m sorry, Momma.”

“Oh, honey, don’t be sorry. You did all the right things, and you’re here. You woke up and you’re here.” Tears fill her eyes, and one falls. “Now we’re going to let your brothers come in and see you, okay?”

My brothers.

But not Tristan.

I don’t know why I’m even remotely surprised or sad. He and I are nothing, and how the hell would he even know? Not to mention, his coming here would mean the freaking explosion of my family.

Still, my heart wants what it knows it can’t have.

Him.

“Can we wait a bit?” I ask. “I’m just…tired.”

“Of course, honey.” She looks up at the doctor. “Is it okay if she sleeps?”

He smiles. “Yes, it’s a good thing she wants rest.”

“Let me in!” I hear someone screaming from the hallway.

“Sir, you have to stop. You can’t go in there.”

“Lark! Lark! I’m here!”

My eyes go wide. “Tristan?” I ask, barely audible.

“Oh Lord, that man,” Daddy mutters.

“He loves her,” Momma says with a smile. “We’ll head out before you have to have security come get him.”

I glance at them both as they slip out of the room, wondering what the hell happened while I was out. Tristan is here? Why? How did he know? Why is he back?

All these questions swirl as I stare at the door while the man I love strides toward me with unshed tears in his eyes.

“Lark,” he says my name on a breath, and then he’s across the room, cradling my face in his big strong hands.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

His brown eyes are filled with so many emotions. Hope, relief, fear, and most of all…love. “Don’t ever leave me again. Don’t even think about a world where you’re not mine.”

“What?” I breathe.

Maybe I’m still in the coma and this is just a really vivid dream. My parents were here. Then he was in the hallway—screaming. Now my parents are gone, and he’s touching me.

Yeah, nothing makes sense.

Not. A. Thing.

This is a dream. A really good one where he’s saying the things I’ve dreamed of hearing, so I’m perfectly fine with not waking up.

“I’m yours?” I ask for clarification.

I figure dream Tristan will totally say I am. Which will be really nice to hear.

“Yes, and I’m yours,” he says before kissing the tip of my nose. “God, I…fuck, I’ve never felt fear like I did when I found out you were hurt.”

Okay, so apparently in my dream-coma state, I’m living in a partial reality. “You were?”

“Of course I was, sweetheart. Hell, I’ve been in agony. I was sitting at your bedside, begging you to wake up every day.”

He was?

I mean, I would’ve dreamed he was here, because I would want that. But if this is a dream, would I dream of him in my dreams?

So much to consider, and my head is still pounding.

I rest my palms on his wrists. “I’m not following any of this. You’ve been here? You were in agony?”

I shouldn’t ask him to refute me, but I probably have a better shot at him saying something I want to hear in my dream.

He rests his forehead against mine. “Lark, I love you. I was so stupid. So fucking dumb to think that if I pushed you away, maybe my heart would come back to me. But you have it. It’s yours and…I promise that every day, I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make things right between us.” Tristan pulls back, his brown eyes not leaving mine. “I’ve been here, beside you, talking to you, since you got hurt. I’ve had it out with your brothers, parents, and my family. I’ll make a town-wide announcement if that’s what you need for me to prove that I don’t want to love you in the shadows anymore.”