Free Resurgence (Heart of Stone #9) by D. H. Sidebottom

One
Ava
     
    I could see it in his eyes. I could feel it in the air
around him. Sense it in the way he now carried himself, and the way his once
vibrant eyes never sought me out anymore.
    My man was dead inside.
    The body that carried him around was just a carcass of
broken bones and torn muscle, a machine that breathed and ate for him but
didn’t possess any life. While his ruined body still supported him, inside he
was very much a cripple.
    I thought back to the time in the hospital, when I had
felt Mason’s life leave him and flood me, when his soul had sought me out and
told of his hunger for death. I realised now that my heart still retained my husband’s
soul, that it had stayed with me for solace when Mason had taken a breath and
stayed to fight another day.
    Mason was more than broken, he was shattered. The parts
of him that I had fallen in love with many years ago had been obliterated the
moment his own son had started to mutilate him.
    Mason still refused to talk to me about what happened
between him and George, as much as I tried to get him to open up. And that’s
what scared me. His silence. Mason had always been broody, yet now it was like
there was no emotion at all inside him.
    But I swore I’d get him back. I would be the crutch that
carried him, whether he wanted me to or not.
    Yet, the day he first came home from the hospital, I
realised just how naïve I had been. Just how foolish the vow to myself and my
husband was.
     
    ~~~
     
    Mason took a deep breath when he stepped into the
cottage. His body was so highly strung that I could virtually see the energy
pouring off him. His eyes moved, but he didn’t. The tension radiated off him,
burning everything close to him.
    Dropping his case to the floor beside the door, I looked
up to see Katie walk into the hallway.  Her hair was bunched high, her
cheekbones highlighted with a small amount of blush to hide the pale skin my
genes plagued her with. She was so very pretty, and I couldn’t help but see my
younger self within her.
    She smiled widely, her eyes lit with love. “Hey, Dad.”
Her excitement to have him home was exposed across the whole of her face.
However, her smile quickly fell when she went to put her arms around Mason and
he stepped back, regarding her with narrow eyes and an accusing gaze.
    My stomach dropped when I heard the murmur of people in
the house.
    Shit.
    Standing behind Mason, I caught Katie’s attention and
shook my head, flicking my eyes towards the room. I had specifically told her
not to gather a welcome home committee.
    She lifted her hands and grimaced, telling me she had
nothing to do with the party.
    “I’m going for a shower,” Mason barked, making us both
jump when he shot off up the stairs.
    Closing my eyes, I blew out the breath I’d been holding
for the last three hours since I’d walked into the hospital to bring my husband
home.
    “You okay?” Katie’s voice was as gentle as her arm around
my shoulders when she pulled me towards her.
    Tears bubbled but I bit them back, inhaling my daughter’s
scent to give me the strength I needed. “Yeah,” I breathed as I hugged her back
just as tightly.
    Stepping back, she looked at me. The exhaustion on her
face was as visible as her bright red hair. Her striking green eyes were cloudy
and now enclosed in dark rings. Her shoulders slumped and her once healthy skin
was now pasty, her soft skin marred with small thread veins. “I don’t know what
to do to help him,” she whispered as Layla appeared from the lounge doorway.
    Confusion crossed her face as her eyes glanced over us.
“Did he not come home?”
    “He’s gone for a shower. He’s just tired.”
    She stared at me, seeing straight through my excuse, but
she nodded and tipped her head to the lounge. “I’ll shift the others out, then
I’ll be back… and we talk.”
    Sagging in relief, I blinked, trying hard to stop the
tears. “Okay, see you later.”
    Leaving them, I slowly climbed the stairs. The