A Desconian Happily Ever After (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (12 page)

“David’s alive?” she asked as she sat up quickly, coming truly awake almost instantly.

“We don’t know for sure,” Drew said, trying to calm himself down. “There is a man at the compound hospital. He hasn’t woken so Kallum isn’t sure who he is. He only knows him as David.”

“We need to go see him.”

Drew nodded. “Get dressed, sweetheart. We’ll go as soon as you’re ready.”

Drew ground his teeth together at the look of betrayal on Kallum’s face. It was clear that he didn’t understand why Drew was so angry.
Damn it!
He’d thought the days of Kallum making decisions for him were in the past. Apparently he was the only one who thought that.

“What room is he in?” Drew asked, trying to focus on one problem at a time.

“I’ll come with you,” Kallum said, climbing to his feet awkwardly. It was obvious that he was completely exhausted—and for a moment Drew’s anger wavered—but he needed to make Ally his priority at the moment. If it was David and he died before she had a chance to see him, Drew would never forgive Kallum for withholding the information.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was overreacting, but he didn’t have the time or the inclination to explore that. Right now it felt good just to be taking control of his own life again.

Ally held her sleeping son close as she rushed into the hospital. She was probably setting herself up for a huge disappointment. The chances of the man being her David were stacked against her, but she needed to know.

She reached for Kallum’s hand, squeezing tighter as he gave her a sad smile. In some ways she understood why Kallum hadn’t told them earlier, but she could also appreciate why Drew was angry. Being given a chance to make decisions for herself had been one of the greatest gifts Descon and its people had given her. Yes, she was protected, and perhaps one day that would feel cloying, but she was no longer a victim of circumstances. She had the chance to make choices for her and her son now, and that wasn’t a freedom she would ever like to lose.

She could only imagine how much harder it would have been for Drew when he was ill.

Shaking with nerves, Ally held her breath as Kallum led them into a room where a man lay unconscious.

He was paler and thinner than she remembered, but her knees wobbled as she recognized the man who’d been the reason she and Alex had this chance at a new life.

Drew wrapped an arm around her middle, holding her up as tears flowed down her face.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” he asked in his deep, comforting voice.

“Yes,” Ally managed to whisper as her son stirred in her arms. Kallum grabbed a chair, sliding it closer to the bed so that Ally could sit with Alex on her lap and still reach out to hold David’s hand. She was shocked at the heat coming off him and turned to Kallum with a worried frown on her face.

“He’s been fighting an infection for several days. The antibiotics are finally working, but David still has a long, hard road to recovery.”

“Why hasn’t he woken up?”

“He’s in a coma at the moment.” He must have noticed Ally’s frustration at not knowing what the word meant because he quickly explained. “We think the brain shuts down nonessential functions in order to repair itself. Doctors sometimes do it deliberately with medicines to give a patient a better chance at survival, but in David’s case his brain did it all on its own.”

“So when will he wake up?” she asked, feeling like she was missing something important.

“We don’t know,” Kallum said, moving closer to the bed to read the electronic report. Ally knew enough about this hospital—having spent several days here when she’d first arrived on the planet—to know that it contained all sorts of necessary medical information. “Some patients stay unconscious for several days, some for weeks.” He moved closer to Ally, his hand touching her shoulder gently as he apparently prepared to tell her something she wasn’t going to like. “And some never wake up. He was very ill when he got here, Ally. We have no way of predicting what might happen.”

“But a familiar voice will help,” Drew said, touching her other shoulder as he wrapped his arm around Kallum. “Talk to him, sweetheart. Tell him about the life you’ve found here and how much Alex has grown. See if you can give him a reason to come back to us. We’ll give you some space, but Kallum and I will be just outside the door if you need us.”

Ally nodded, a small streak of fear running through her as she was left alone for the first time in months. She cuddled Alex closer as she started talking, doing what Drew had suggested, and silently prayed to a god she didn’t believe in for David to be all right.

“I’m sorry,” Kallum said as soon as they stepped into the hallway.

“No, sweetheart, I overreacted. I had no right to be so angry. You were only doing what you thought was right.”

“I’m still sorry,” Kallum said as Drew wrapped him in his warm, familiar embrace and held on tight. “I thought we’d put your illness and all the changes that wrought on our relationship behind us months ago, but apparently not as successfully as I’d assumed.”

“And I thought I’d already worked through all of the anger,” Drew said softly. “I guess we were both wrong.”

Kallum laughed softly, but there was no humor in the sound. “I guess so.” He cuddled closer to his husband, relieved to have the fighting behind them but shocked by the baggage they both still carried. It seemed, just like the traumatic events Ally had lived through, that Drew’s illness and near death would continue to affect them, possibly for the rest of their lives. There really was no “going back” to the time before his illness. Together they could only move forward.

They stood in the brightly lit hallway, just holding each other as Ally spoke to a man who might not even hear her.

* * * *

David floated in a strange world. Everything felt muted—colors, sounds, emotions, even pain. The temptation to stay was nearly overwhelming, but he wasn’t finished yet. He still had things he needed to do. He knew he had to go back.

Terror pierced his heart as he remembered the young girl he’d managed to save from being attacked. The other children had refused to leave her, putting themselves in danger as well. David had reacted instinctively, anger fueling his strength as images of what Ally had looked like both times he’d found her battered and bruised played through his mind.

He hadn’t seen the knife, but even after being stabbed he’d refused to let that stop him. He’d gathered the children, quickly told them about Descon, and hurried them to the ship. The passage for nine kids was more money than he had, but he knew the captain understood. David would pay him back as soon as he could—he’d done it before—but there was no way he would have let that ship leave without the children aboard.

He remembered the bargain—the price he’d agreed to pay—but what he couldn’t remember was what had happened after that. Everything afterward was blank. He didn’t even remember getting off the ship.

A sweet sound finally caught his attention and he strained to listen more closely. Someone was with him, touching his hand, the soft voice calling to him as he struggled to find a way out of this dark world. When he finally identified the voice he tried harder, wanting to know how it was possible, why she was here, how she could come to him when he’d worked so hard to keep her safe.

He mouthed her name, unable to force sound through his throat. He shook his head, panic overwhelming him as she continued to talk. How could she be so calm? She was in danger. Didn’t she understand? He’d worked hard to save her, to save all of them. Why would she have come back?

“David?” she asked, her voice growing stronger, clearer in his mind. “David, please wake up.”

“Not safe,” he mumbled, frustration at not being able to react pounding him from all sides.

“David?” she asked, sounding more urgent. “Kal, Drew, I think he’s awake.”

“David, can you hear me?”

The deep voice was familiar, but David didn’t know why.

“No,” David managed to say. In his mind it sounded like a scream, but a part of him knew it was barely a sound. “Not safe. Ally, run.” He barely held back the sob of fear that lodged in his throat. “Please run.”

“It’s okay, David. We’re safe here. So are you.”

She sounded so calm. How could she not remember? He shook his head, the movement sending agony pounding through every inch of his body. Something wasn’t right. He needed to wake up. He needed to understand. He forced himself to concentrate on opening his eyes, the bright light thwarting his attempts until it was somehow blocked.

“David,” a deep voice said, “Ally and Alex are safe. So are the others. You just need to concentrate on getting well.”

“Where?” he managed to ask as he gave up trying to force his eyes to focus.

“You’re in the hospital on Descon.”

“Des…” The word trailed away. There were so many more to save on Earth. Why had the captain brought him here? He knew that David needed to get back. “More,” he said, still unable to get his mouth moving properly.

“More what, David?”

“Save more,” he said as the black abyss called to him again.

“It’s okay, David,” that deep voice said quietly. “You saved as many as you could. It’s time to rest now. It’s okay. They’re safe here.”

“Safe,” David mumbled as something heavy dragged him back down into that deep, dark space.

* * * *

Drew felt Ally shake as Kallum checked David over.

“He’s just sleeping. It’s no longer a coma,” Kallum said with a small, somewhat relieved-looking smile.

“How can you tell?” Ally asked, obviously seeing exactly what Drew thought he was seeing—a man who was unconscious once again.

“There are subtle differences,” Kallum said as he pushed hard against David’s toes. David moved restlessly, pushing back when Kallum wouldn’t let go. “He’ll be tired for a while, but it looks like he’s through the worst.”

“So he’ll wake up this time?” Drew asked as Alex tried to crawl out of his arms and onto the bed where David slept.

“Nothing’s guaranteed, but indications are that he’ll sleep for several more hours. When he wakes next time there’s a chance he’ll be more lucid.”

Drew felt Ally’s small growl of frustration. Her language skills were far better now than when she’d first landed on the planet, but her annoyance when she didn’t understand was growing. “‘Lucid’ just means he’ll be more awake, more aware of his surroundings than he was this time,” he said quietly. Ally nodded, whispered a thank-you, and snuggled closer.

“Why don’t you three go grab something to eat? I’ll be close if David needs anything.”

Ally shook her head, clearly not wanting to leave David alone. Drew hadn’t known her in the first few days she’d spent on Descon, but he imagined that waking in a strange hospital would have been rather frightening. He suspected that she didn’t want David to wake the same way.

From the small amount of information they’d been able to gather, David was very literally a hero. He’d given up everything trying to get as many women and children off planet Earth as he could. If he hadn’t been so badly injured this last time, he would most certainly have remained on the planet to help even more. In fact, judging by his reaction a few moments ago, if he’d been able to make the decision he would have stayed on the doomed planet. It was kind of weird to be glad that he’d been too injured to make that decision, but Drew thanked the goddess for bringing David to them.

It was rather humbling to know a man who, despite having very little to start with, gave nearly everything he had to save others—going very close to including his own life. On a planet where people had grown more and more disillusioned and selfish it was an amazing, nearly miraculous quality.

Alex tried again to crawl out of Drew’s arms and onto the bed where David slept comfortably.

“I think this little fellow is tired,” Drew said, pulling Alex back once more, but the child wriggled fretfully, apparently stuck on the idea of sleeping in the nearest bed.

“Dad,” Alex said, pointing to the bed. For a brief moment Drew felt the elation of truly being a father. Since Ally’s discussion the other day about adoption he and Kallum had been encouraging Alex to say the word. He’d used it a couple of times before, but that had been him mimicking the other children in his playgroup and had not really been appropriate at the time. But now that Ally had asked them to officially claim him as their son, such a tiny word sounded truly wonderful.

Until he realized that Alex aimed the word at David.

“Dad,” the child said again, squirming more urgently. Shocked, and maybe a little hurt, Drew let Alex crawl onto the bed and watched as he curled up next to David and quickly went to sleep.

“It’s just a word to him,” Kallum said as he moved to step into Drew’s embrace. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“I know,” Drew said quickly, trying to hide how much something so silly could affect him. Kallum was right. Children Alex’s age tended to grab a single word and use it for everything. Alex had been tired and cranky and possibly associated the word with comfort and sleep, not necessarily an actual person.