“It doesn’t even matter,” she said, her voice strained. “It happened and now it’s over. Someone drugged me and I lost a few hours of time that I can’t get back. The end.”
“Is that all they did?” I asked gently, absently jiggling my toes up and down as Etta sat on my foot, bouncing her up and down on the floor.
“Yes,” Miranda answered flatly.
“It’s none of my business,” I said.
“No it’s not.”
“But if anything else happened—”
“It didn’t.”
“You need to go to a clinic,” I continued, ignoring her denial. “You need to get checked and you need a morning-after pill, and anything else they can give you.”
“Nothing happened,” she said again.
“Okay,” I replied, tipping my head down in concession. “But if you’re not sure, you need to go in.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay,” I said again.
“I have to pee,” she said, ending the conversation. “And you can come out of the doorway.”
She walked to the connected bathroom and shut herself inside, but I didn’t move. Something had happened that she wasn’t willing to admit, but it wasn’t my job to make her face it. What had happened was something I’d never deal with or be able to understand.
“Thank you,” Morgan whispered as she rolled over, tears running down her cheeks as she faced me. “I didn’t even think of that.” She shuddered with a silent sob. “She needs to see a doctor.”
“Don’t know if she’ll agree to it,” I murmured back, keeping my voice low.
“She will,” Morgan said, wiping at her face as she sat up. “She’s been listening to me since she was born—that’s not stopping today.”
My lips twitched, but I didn’t reply. Miranda seemed pretty fucking similar to her older sister, and I couldn’t imagine anyone talking either of them into doing something they didn’t want. I guessed if anyone could make Miranda do something, though, it would be Morgan, and vice versa.
I watched the woman I’d been thinking of and missing get up off the bed and straighten her shoulders before smiling widely at Etta. Then, as she stepped toward me and wrapped her arms around my waist, resting her forehead against my chest, I knew with absolute certainty that I loved her.
Just like that, I knew. I loved her like I’d never loved anyone else. I loved her in a way that I knew wouldn’t go away.
I loved her strength and her compassion and her understanding. I loved the way she became a lioness when it came to her family. I loved the way she could muster up a smile for her baby even in the tensest circumstances. I loved that she’d apologized when she knew she’d done something wrong. I loved that she was stubborn and a little guarded. I loved the way her fine hair got stuck in my beard, and the feeling as she pulled away and the strands tickled my chin. I loved the way she fit me. And more than anything, I loved that when she’d needed me, she’d called, trusting that I’d be there even after the way shit had ended the last time we’d seen each other.
But Jesus, what a terrible time to realize that I was in love with her.
The door opened, and as soon as Morgan spun out of my arms, Miranda walked out, her hands raised in surrender.
“You’re right,” she said, moving slowly toward her dresser. “I need to go to a doctor.”
“I’ll go with you,” Morgan said, grabbing her bag off the floor. “Just let me get changed and I’ll make an appointment.”
“Do I need one?” Morgan asked, pausing with her hands inside one of her dresser drawers.
“It doesn’t matter,” Morgan answered reassuringly. “I’ll get you in to see someone today.”
Miranda’s relief at her sister’s words was almost a physical presence in the room. It was clear that she trusted Morgan’s word implicitly. If her older sister said she’d do something, she would. End of story.
Henry had felt that way about me. He’d trusted Shane, too, but their relationship had been very different. I’d been Henry’s protector. I’d been the one to double-knot his shoes before school and give him a piggy-back ride when he fell and hurt himself. I’d been the one to keep the monsters at bay when he hadn’t wanted to wake our parents up after a nightmare. I had no fucking clue why he hadn’t felt comfortable telling me about Etta, but goddamn it broke my heart.
I quietly played with Etta while Miranda got dressed and Morgan called the local women’s clinic. I was pretty sure that the campus had their own clinic, but according to Morgan’s mumbling, they were useless. I didn’t bother to ask why. The woman was on a mission and within fifteen minutes she had an appointment made for her little sister.
“I’m not sure how—” Morgan said to me, her words sliding to a halt as she grimaced.