Inferno Part 3

~153~ Finding The Peace

Ellie's POV

Taylor and Alex hold me for a long time. So long, that my hair is wet from their own tears. When I look at Alex, he looks broken.

"WHEN he survives this, it's going to be because of you, El."

I wipe my eyes and stand up, trying to shake off the crushing terror I'm feeling.

I walk over to the twins, and Lizzie is already a complete mess.

"MOMMY!" She screams, her little face bright red and sweaty.

I pick her up and hold her tight, kissing her head. "Gramma has some cookies I've saved just for you and the other kids. Do you want one?"

"I WANT MOMMY!" She wails.

I close my eyes and put my head in her hair. This is going to be awful.

Alex comes over and takes Lizzie, rocking her back and forth and saying soothing words to her. He even starts singing one of her favorite songs.

It does absolutely no good.

Poor Lizzie screams for three hours.

By the three and a half hour mark, it's grating on everyone's already shot nerves. We're trying our best to keep calm, but even I'm feeling snappy. I can't imagine how everyone else is feeling.

"Lizzie, come here," I say as I take her from Taylor. I pour her some juice and sit with her on the couch, holding her tight.

She catches her breath and starts drinking, shutters still rippling through her body. I rock her back and forth, and start singing a hymn my mom used to sing all the time—'It is well with my soul'.

I still don't normally sing in front of people, but right now I need the words of the hymn. I start to notice everyone watching me, but I ignore it and only focus on the sweet girl starting to relax and snuggle into my chest.

When that hymn ends, I start another one. I sing to my precious, sad girl until the juice cup falls from her hands and she goes limp, sleeping a sleep of exhaustion. When I finally stop singing and start noticing everyone around me, I see every single person sitting down and watching me.

Dang that never stops getting embarrassing.

"I needed that, Ellie," Jake says, breaking the silence.

"So did I," Alex says, wiping tears off of his face.

Taylor comes over and pulls me in, rocking both me and Lizzie in his strong arms. "This moment will live on through the generations, baby girl. You can feel the peace in this house, right now. Every inch of me knows that Liam is going to be fine."

I start to cry a noiseless cry as I lean into him and let him hold me. The silence is still in the room, with people holding each other.

A crash brings us out of the peace we somehow found ourselves in, and we freeze momentarily. I start to stand up, when I realize I'm still holding a sleeping Lizzie.

"Give her to me," Luke says as he takes her out of my hands and sits down with her, cuddling her into his chest. I rush up and look outside with the rest, seeing a huge tree branch fall right in the middle of the road between my house and Alex's.

"Missed the houses," I breathe out in relief.

Taylor nods. "No shortage of firewood anymore."

~*~

The day is long. Service is basically non existent, but we did get a single text from Nora:

*He's in surgery...A lot of internal bleeding