It seemed like my mother had aged ten years in the short time I’d been missing. Her gray roots were longer than I’d ever seen them, making it clear they hadn’t been colored since I was attacked. She had deep, dark circles under her eyes and hadn’t even tried to conceal them with makeup. On top of that, her clothes were not only wrinkled, but hanging off her slender frame as well. It was evident she hadn’t been herself since I was gone. It broke my heart to see her like that—especially since I was the one who’d caused her such distress.
The second she realized I was awake, she motioned over to my father and gasped. “George! George! She’s awake!”
“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad.”
“Hi, sweetheart. It’s so good to hear your voice.” My father stepped closer, and like my mother, it was obvious he’d been having a hard time as well. While his clothes weren’t disheveled or mismatched, his eyes were hollow from fatigue and his skin was pale. My mother slipped her arm around his slim waist as she told me, “We’ve been so worried about you, Remi. We were scared we’d lost you.”
My chest tightened with guilt as I watched the tears stream down her face. “I’m sorry I scared you, but I’m okay.”
“Are you sure? ’Cause there was an officer here earlier. He was asking us questions, and I have to say, they were very concerning.” Her voice trembled like she was about to cry. “He wanted to know if that man had hurt you...if he’d raped you.”
“He didn’t rape me, Mom. I’m okay. I promise.” I didn’t want to lie to my parents, so I tried to shut them down. “There’s no sense in rehashing it all.”
Being the overzealous mother that she was, she shook her head and pouted. “It’s not healthy to keep that sort of thing all bottled up inside, Remington. You need to talk about what happened, and so do we. We’ve been out of our minds with worry these past few weeks, and we still have no idea why.”
My parents were older, both in their mid-sixties, and since I was their only child, they were very protective.
“Fine. I’ll tell you what I can remember, but you can’t breathe a word of what I’m going to say.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Promise me, Mom.”
“Okay, fine. I promise. We both do.”
“You’re going to need to close the door.”
Once my father had done so, I spent the next half hour telling them both about my blind date with Thomas and how we were attacked on our way home. I didn’t go through all the gory details of being stabbed or almost dying, but I did tell them about Noah and how he and his brothers had saved me. When I was done explaining everything, my father asked, “You’re saying a detective was behind all this?”
“Honestly, I don’t know who all was involved. I just know he was the one who tried to have me killed.”
“Oh, Remington,” my mother cried. “This is far worse than I could’ve ever imagined. I can’t believe my precious daughter had to go through all this. It just breaks my heart.”
“It’s okay, Mom. Really. I’m fine.”
“You are for now, but what happens when that officer comes back and starts asking questions? These people, especially that detective’s lawyer, are going to hammer you, Remi. They’ll do whatever they can to rip apart your story.”
I hadn’t realized that Noah had stepped into the room until I heard him respond, “No one’s going to rip apart anything. I’m not going to give them that chance.”
“Noah!” He walked past my parents and over to the edge of the bed. The look he gave me, so fierce and full of love, had me consumed with emotion. Unable to resist, I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you.”
“Good to see you too, baby.” He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “How you doing?”
“I’m okay.” As I looked over to my parents, I smiled and said, “This is Noah, the man I was just telling you about.”
“I figured as much,” my father answered as he extended his hand. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you looking after our daughter. She means the world to us, and I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t been there to help her.”
“Just glad I was able to help.” Noah reached down and took my hand in his, holding it tightly. “It’s nice to meet you both. Remington has told me a lot about you.”
“It’s really nice to meet you too,” my mother answered. “It’s pretty evident that Remington thinks a lot about you.”
“And I her.” Concern flashed through his eyes as he looked down at me and asked, “What did the doctors have to say?”