Written In The Stars: Book Two

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: FAMILY BONDING

"Thank you for letting us stay with you for a few nights, Elijah."

He glanced in his rear-view mirror to catch a quick glance of Mary from the backseat. Several hours after the surgery, Madeline was doing as well as could be expected, allowing her parents and his worries to ease a bit.

"I'm closer to the hospital than Maddie's place is, and there's no reason for the two of you to rent a hotel when I have an extra room."

Mitch let out a low, faint chuckle from the passenger seat, but only sounding slightly amused, given the circumstances. "Jonathan's a good enough guy and everything, but I think I've had my fill of him and his pissy attitude for one day."

"He didn't like you being the one Maddie wanted to see," Mary explained.

Elijah let out a laugh of his own, understanding why Mitch had reacted the way he had. "I bet not. But she was on drugs, and didn't seem to remember what happened between us the last time we were in each other's lives. So that's probably why she asked for me to begin with."

Mitch ran his fingers through his graying hair. "I was wondering what she was talking about when we visited her. She insisted on telling us all this shit, like we didn't already know. When I asked her how she was feeling, she said you were going to take care of her, and it was only fair because you broke her heart. Then she said that she broke yours too and got all blubbery. Mind telling us what that was about?"

"Kind of," Elijah admitted. "Not everything that happened between Madeline and I needs to be public knowledge."

Madeline hadn't been at fault for what transpired after that night in the hotel. She wanted to be the one who left him, and she did. Twice. She had every right to do so after he was the one to leave her when she was only a child; old enough to understand many things, but young enough where the situation must have been so confusing for her.

"I suppose that's fair," Mary agreed from the backseat.

Mitch let out a sigh, then rested his head against the window. The man seemed like he'd aged two decades in the last twelve hours. "Christ, I'm so damn tired, I can barely keep my eyes open. But I know once I lay down, I won't be able to turn my mind off long enough to fall asleep."

"I think I've got some medication that can help with that," Elijah muttered. Seeing the sign for his complex, Elijah turned into the large lot, which separated into different sections. He went to the end, taking a left, then pulled up in front of his apartment. After he put the truck in park, Elijah killed the engine and stepped out, searching for his key as he walked down the path.

The thing he liked the most about this place was the only steps he needed to climb were the three leading up to his front porch and the ones within his apartment, set up more like a series of townhouses.

When he pushed the door open, Elijah stepped to the side so Mitch and Mary could enter. "Guest bedroom's upstairs on the right. It's also my office, but there's a decent sized bed in there just in case." As in, just in case Elijah actually needed to get a decent night's sleep. The bed in his room was still the same mattress he'd shared with Madeline, so if he was desperate for untainted sleep, Elijah usually ended up in the guest bedroom.

"Mine is the one right in front of the steps. There's a full bathroom up there, and a half bathroom down here, between the living room and the kitchen. Basement has a washer and dryer, and another half-bath. Is your car still parked at the restaurant?"

It seemed to take a few moments for his words to register with them. At the end, Mary was the one who answered. "It's parked at Maddie's house."

"If you want to pick that up later, I can drive you over. Until then, did you just want to lie down, or do you want me to make you something?"

"I need to go over there to get our bags, and probably should have the car," Mitch told him. "Right now, I just want to go upstairs and rest my eyes for a while."

Elijah coughed in order to make his voice sound stronger. "I know it all looks bad right now, but she's going to be okay, Mitch. Her broken bones will heal, and her bruises will fade. All that matters right now is that Madeline survived. The rest of it is tomorrow's problem.

"I don't know if she's going to stay around here to recover, if John can handle all that, or if she'll go home with you to recover. But I'm available to help, no matter where Madeline ends up. I don't know how much she'll let me once she remembers I'm not the greatest thing in the world anymore, but-"

"She remembers already," Mary confessed to him, tucking her long gray/brown hair behind her ear. "When I told her we were leaving for a few hours, she asked if you'd been there, or if she'd just imagined it. She didn't say it, but I knew it meant something to her you'd come. She asked if you were coming back, if she'd see you when she was more coherent, and I let her know nothing would keep you away if that's what she wanted."

Elijah had to admit he wasn't prepared to hear that. Just the single fact that he'd shown up, and she wasn't angry at him for it was enough to make his head spin. "Does she want me to go see her?"

"I don't think she knows the answer to that yet. I'm guessing Maddie needs her best friend right now, but doesn't know how to ask for that when he was also her first love, with her fiancé right outside her door." Mary shook her head, then gave Elijah's arm a gentle squeeze. "Tomorrow's problems, right? Jonathan will call us if anything changes at the hospital, so right now I just want to get a little sleep, try to eat something, get our things, then head back there so Jonathan can get some rest."

Elijah nodded his agreement. "You two sleep. I'll make some dinners we can just heat over the next few days."

"Keep your mind busy?" Mitch guessed.

His tight-lipped smile was Elijah's confirmation.