“Well, I still say he wouldn’t have gone to the hospital unless he cared,” Ace said. “So at least that’s something. Maybe he just needs some time now, to process everything,” she finished, ever practical.
“Yeah,” Honor murmured, not really believing it. Somehow, knowing he cared made the ache in her chest even worse. God, unrequited love was the worst.
Erin withdrew her hand from Honor’s leg and put on a smile. “Well, you’ve got us, no matter what, no questions asked. Right?” she said to Ace.
Ace nodded. “Absolutely. And for God’s sake, talk to us next time something happens, instead of keeping everything inside. We’re both here for you.”
Honor smiled. “Thanks, guys.”
Erin waved away her thanks and pushed to her feet. “You take the prescribed meds I gave you?”
“Yes.”
She raised one eyebrow. “All of them?”
Honor couldn’t lie for shit. “Well…”
Erin rolled her eyes and rounded the bunk to grab the plastic prescription bottles on the nightstand. “Here. Two of these, and two of these. Right now.” She thrust out her palm and wiggled it impatiently. “One dose of each every six hours until I say different. Or else.”
Ace laughed as Honor took them meekly. “Your patients must love your incredibly gentle bedside manner,” she said to Erin, sarcasm dripping from each word.
Erin shrugged as she watched Honor swallow the pills. “Sometimes tough love is the best medicine, especially when dealing with alpha male patients. Or alpha males in general, for that matter.” She aimed a sly smile at Ace. “But I usually get my way in the end.”
Honor stopped listening and tuned them both out. She was too absorbed in the memory of that terrible night that had cost her everything she held dear.
Chapter Seven
Nineteen months ago
The phone rang in the bedroom as Honor stepped out of the shower in the master bathroom. Wrapping a towel around her body she smiled as she rushed to the bedside table and glanced at the screen, expecting to see Liam’s number. Instead she found her mother’s cell.
A jolt of alarm hit her. It was after midnight. They’d never call her at this hour unless there was a problem.
Ignoring the dread curling inside her, she picked up and blurted, “What’s wrong?”
“Your sister’s in the Emergency room.” Her mother’s panicked voice was hoarse with tears. “She tried to kill herself.”
Honor’s stomach pitched and her hand tightened around the phone. “What?”
“She took a bottle of sleeping pills and washed them down with straight vodka. The note said she couldn’t live with whatever you told her.” Her voice cracked. “What did you say to her, Honor?”
Honor felt the blood drain from her face. Charity had her problems, but this was unthinkable. Guilt and denial warred inside her, mixing with the rising wave of panic. “Where are you?” she demanded.
“In the Emergency waiting room.”
“Is Dad with you?”
“Yes.” She started to cry. “They wouldn’t let us sit with her. They took her into the OR a few minutes ago to p-pump her stomach and get her stabilized but she wasn’t c-conscious…” She dissolved into tears. “My God, what did you do?”
It felt like her heart would burst. “Mom, I’m coming down. Be there in twenty.” Without waiting for a response she ended the call, raced for her closet and threw on jeans and a sweater. She flew down the stairs of her off-base townhouse, snagged the keys and her wallet from the entry table and dashed for her car parked in the driveway. As she turned the engine over she called Liam, her hands shaking so much she could barely dial his number.
“Charity’s in the hospital. She tried to kill herself after I called her,” she blurted when he picked up.
Liam cursed. “I’m sorry. Wait there for me, I’ll drive you to the hospital.”
“No,” she said, a lump of fear and grief lodged in her throat. “Can’t wait.”
“Then I’ll meet you there.”
“No. Not a good idea.” Understatement of the fucking year. She could just imagine what would happen if Liam showed up at the hospital with her parents right now. “I’ll call you later.”
Not wanting to waste any more time, she set the phone on the passenger seat and reversed out of her driveway, ignoring it when he called her back twice. As she drove she was torn between fear for her sister and the terrible, gnawing realization that this was all her fault.
The roads were nearly empty. At the hospital she parked and shut off the engine, then sat for a moment, her gaze locked on the aquamarine solitaire on her left ring finger. He’d chosen it because it reminded him of her eyes, he’d said, before getting down on one knee.
She’d only had it on for three hours. Right now the sight of it made her feel queasy. She couldn’t walk in there wearing it.
Honor worked it off her finger and slid it in her front jeans pocket before climbing out of the car and heading into the Emergency ward, her heart thudding in a sickening rhythm against her ribs. Both her parents stood when they saw her come in. Her father had his arm wrapped around her mother’s shoulders and her face was streaked with tears. Both their expressions were grim, their stares accusing.
Swallowing hard, Honor approached them. Without a word she reached out and wrapped her arms around the both of them. Her father was stiff but after a few seconds gripped her with his free arm while her mother buried her face in Honor’s shoulder and started sobbing.
Honor closed her eyes and held on tight. She was dreading telling them what had happened.
They stood that way for a few minutes before her mother finally gathered her composure and stepped back. Feeling awkward, Honor put her hands into her pockets. The fingers of her right hand made contact with the ring and her gut twisted harder. “Any updates?”
“No,” her father said, lowering his large frame into a chair where he’d set the well-worn Bible he never went anywhere without. At fifty-nine he was still a powerful, imposing man. He’d spent over twenty years in the Navy serving his country, and he still bore the signs in his rigid discipline and posture. “They said they’d update us when they can.”
“Sit down, Mom,” she told her mother, gently guiding her to her seat. “I’ll get you some tea.” When her mother murmured her thanks she rushed off to find the tea, using the time to figure out what she was going to say to them. They were going to demand an explanation of what happened between her and Charity and there was no hiding from it.
This whole thing felt surreal. Tonight should have been one of the happiest memories of her life. She’d been so excited until that call had come in, even though she’d known she couldn’t hide the source of her happiness from her parents for long. The reckoning was inevitable; she’d just never expected to have to come clean to her parents at a time like this.
With tea in hand she headed back to the waiting room. Her parents were still sitting in their seats, her father’s lips moving as he read a Bible passage to her mother. “Any word from the doctors yet?”
“No,” her father said.
She pulled in a deep breath. Time to come clean.
After handing her mother the tea, she remained standing, enduring her father’s hard stare as she thought frantically about how to word this.
“You look like you have something you want to tell us,” her father said in that implacable tone that never failed to make her stomach knot.
She nodded. “I called Charity a few hours ago.”
Both her parents’ expressions sharpened. “What did you say to her?” her father demanded.