But there was something even more important driving him forward. “I need to make absolutely sure that when my time comes, they can’t lay a finger on you or Joy…”
Death would be his escape from this nightmare, his final release from the pain. But the thought of leaving them defenseless made his chest tighten with dread. “I refuse to leave you two hanging out there like sitting ducks, just waiting for them to swoop in and make your lives hell…”
“Stop talking like that.” Hadley cut him off sharply, her heart hammering against her ribs as she drew her eyebrows together in a worried frown. “There’s still plenty of soup left over. You didn’t manage to have much earlier, so I’m getting you another bowl right now.”
“Sounds perfect,” Eric agreed without hesitation.
Hadley slipped out of the room and returned moments later, carrying a fresh bowl of steaming soup, ready to feed him with the same gentle care she’d shown before. “Here, have some more,” she said softly, bringing the spoon to his lips.
“Absolutely.” Eric nodded, and suddenly a warm, genuine smile spread across his face.
Hadley stared at him, completely puzzled. What on earth was making him smile at a time like this?
“Hadley.” Eric’s voice drifted through the air like a gentle breeze, soft and almost dreamlike. “You want to know something? Back when I was just a kid, maybe eight or nine years old, whenever the yelling started or the beatings came… I used to lie awake at night, wishing and praying that just once, someone would step up and defend me.”
But no matter how many nights he spent waiting and hoping, that “someone” never materialized.
“Just a little while ago…” His eyes focused on her bright, honest face, and his smile grew even brighter. “You stood up and fought for me. After nearly twenty years of waiting… someone finally stood up for me, faced down my siblings, and told them the truth—that I’m not some illegitimate mistake, I’m my parents’ son, born from a proper, legal marriage!”
He reached over and squeezed her hand tight. “Hadley, I can’t thank you enough.”
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Did she really deserve this kind of gratitude from him?
The thought made Hadley feel small and unworthy.
All she’d done was speak the truth, and way too late to make any real difference. But she could see that his appreciation was absolutely genuine. It wasn’t hard to picture the deep scars and emotional wounds that his hellish childhood had carved into his soul.
“Just drink your soup,” she whispered, keeping her voice low so he wouldn’t hear the emotion threatening to break through. “This soup has been reheated twice already. If we warm it up one more time, it’s going to taste awful, and all the good stuff will be cooked right out of it. So please, just drink it while it’s still decent.”
“You got it.” Eric smiled and nodded eagerly. “I’m drinking it right now.”
Since they’d told everyone it was just a minor health scare, Eric couldn’t afford to stay in the hospital much longer.
If he remained in the hospital, his siblings would start circling like vultures, trying to get their claws into the situation.
Phillips walked back into the room after finishing up all the discharge paperwork, and Eric glanced up with clear disappointment written all over his face. “Why are you the one coming back?”
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