Trust In Forever (Book 12 in the Forever Series)

Chapter 8

Demi

I've almost lost Nick more times than I care to remember, but it isn't something I am used to, by any means. I can still remember how I felt when I heard the alarms coming from his hospital room, after he ended up there, while he was on a trip to the mountains with Jerry, Joel & Joe. It felt like my blood ran cold & my heart had stopped.

I thought the alarms meant Nick's heart was failing & that he would be pronounced dead, but it ended up being acute respiratory distress because he developed pneumonia, causing fluid to build up in his lungs. It was just one thing that threatened Nick's health over that horrific few weeks. It was touch & go, too often, but Nick survived, thank God. And he didn't lose any parts of his body, another thing to be grateful for. He did have some nerve damage to his hands & feet which could cause some issues for him throughout his life, but he was alive. I didn't care, at that point, that he could develop neuropathy, sometime in the foreseeable future.

Nick was released from the hospital the week of the twins' birthday 15th birthday. My sister in laws helped plan their party since Nick & I weren't able to. I knew how lucky I was to have them. They communicated with me, while I was with Nick, in the hospital & the party turned out perfect. The best part was seeing Nick looking like his old self. He was weaker but he was fully recovered from everything, except a little cough that was lingering. He wasn't able to smoke cigars though, so I knew that was tough for him. His brothers didn't smoke, either, out of respect for their brother, so at least Nick didn't have to suffer much.

Another amazing thing at the twins' birthday party, was a surprise visit from Logan. Danielle had contacted Logan's parents & arranged for him to come, since he was on spring break. It had been a while, since Logan & Mercy had seen each other, so it was a great reunion. The way Mercy's face lit up when she saw him, warmed my heart, but broke it at the same time, because it reminded me of the way my face would probably light up when I saw Nick when we were kids. Mercy looked at Logan the way I looked at Nick, which was heartbreaking, knowing he would have to leave. Watching her hug him so tightly was like reliving all the times I hugged Nick when we were kids, not knowing when I'd see him again. 

Laura, Logan's mom, came with him, to the party, so it was nice to be able to catch up with her. She confided in me, that her husband was getting transferred to Texas & they would be moving this summer, as soon as school was out. This news was a relief to me, since I could relate to it & knew how Mercy felt about Logan. She hadn't told the kids yet, so I wasn't going to mention it to Mercy, just in case it fell through again. Mercy was also seeing Max, a new boy, at school, so I wasn't sure what would happen with that. She really liked the young man & he seemed to treat her well, but that was the extent of my knowledge about it.

Three weeks later, Mercy was excited when she found out that Logan was definitely moving back to Texas. She couldn't wait to tell me & I had to pretend to be shocked. "That's wonderful, honey. What will that mean for you & Max? Are you & Logan just going to be friends?"

Mercy shrugged, biting her lip. "We haven't talked about that. But I was going to break up with Max at the end of the school year anyway. He's going to Europe for like a month & then he has a job, so we probably won't see each other much."

"Ahh... you don't seem too upset about that."

"I like Max, but I'm not having intense feelings for him like I had for Logan. I think me & Logan just have more in common. We get each other in a way no one else ever would. Maybe it's the Diabetes or maybe it's something else. I don't know. I'm just glad he's moving back." She grabbed a carrot off a plate, then whirled around to skip out of the room. I smiled, watching her leave because she sounded just like me, whenever I thought about Nick when we were teenagers.