Free Forever Mine by Monica Burns Page B

you?”
    “For now, but I’m more concerned as to why you feel the need to stay with her twenty-four seven.”
    Nick heard the troubled note in his sister’s voice, but ignored it. He shifted his gaze to the hospital bed and the woman attached to an IV and two different monitors. He’d never been a believer in fate, but the last twenty-four hours were making him wonder about a lot of things. The one thing he knew without any doubt or reservation was that it was impossible to leave Victoria’s side. She’s everything to me. My life. My world. Without her, life has no meaning.
    The sound of Nora’s gasp made him jerk his gaze back to his sister, and the look on her face made him realize he’d spoken his thoughts out loud. He stood up with an abrupt motion, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to think of a way to explain his strange behavior to Nora. Even for all his sister’s belief in the occult, he wasn’t sure he could explain everything he was feeling. He walked to the side of Victoria’s bed and lightly caressed her wrist just above the gauze that protected the burn on her hand.
    “I think it’s time we had a heart to heart,” his sister said firmly.
    “I don’t need you trying to get into my head, Nora.” He shot a warning look over his shoulder at her. “Nothing’s going to change the way I feel.”
    “And what about Victoria?” Nora bobbed her head in the direction of Victoria’s still form. “What are you going to do if she wakes up and doesn’t feel the same way.”
    “She will,” he uttered the words with a fierce conviction he didn’t understand but believed with a certainty that stunned him.
    He looked down at Victoria and her pale features. Gently, he brushed a strand of auburn hair off her cheek. She looked as though she were sleeping and would wake up at any moment. It was precisely why he wasn’t going to leave her. He wanted to be here when she woke up, and no matter what Dr. Bertram or any of the other doctors said, Victoria was going to wake up.
    “What makes you so sure she’s going to feel the same way you do?”
    “If I knew that don’t you think I’d tell you?” He closed his eyes for a moment then faced his sister. “Nora, with the exception of that portrait in my office, you know I’m the most practical, logical man you’d ever hope to meet.”
    “Are you telling me that’s changed?”
    “I don’t know.” Nick shoved his hands into his pants pockets and shrugged. “The only thing I’m sure of is that I’ve spent most of the night trying to figure out what the hell is happening to me.”
    “Could you be feeling guilty?” Nora asked softly.
    “Guilt?” He frowned. “You mean because I wasn’t hurt and Victoria was?”
    “Yes.” His sister nodded and watched him with that assessing gaze of hers.
    “No,” he said with a soft grunt. “I’ve already considered that. This isn’t guilt.”
    Nick moved to stare out the hospital window, his brain vaguely noting how the morning sun illuminated the hospital garden below. Memories of yesterday afternoon flooded his head. The first moment when he’d seen Victoria in the shop. The explosive sound of the blast. The sight of Victoria’s agony as electricity lashed through her body. The way she’d collapsed like a rag doll against the wall. But it was the knowing he’d lost her somewhere in the distant past that confused him the most. He was finding it almost impossible to reconcile what happened yesterday with the logical order of his daily life.
    A low moan from the hospital bed jerked Nick’s attention away from the window as the monitor started beeping madly. In three strides, he was at Victoria’s side. Gently, he wrapped his hand around her wrist and brushed his fingers gently across her forehead.
    “Victoria. Can you hear me? Victoria.”
    “No. Not. Vickie.” Her words were barely distinguishable, and Nick leaned closer in hopes she would say something else.
    “ Fight, Victoria. Come back to