The Boys Down South by Abbi Glines
37
luke monroe
My baby girl was alive.
I stood outside her hospital room door while Asher Sutton sat by her side. The doctor gave us an update on the device they’d implanted in her heart to keep it beating. He explained how her life would be different because of it.
“She will have regular doctor visits. She can eventually have regular exercise in her life. But in moderation, nothing too strenuous. This is a hereditary condition, so if she ever decides to have children, they’ll have a 50/50 chance of having the same condition. That’s a choice she will have to make. Do either of you have a history of any heart conditions in your family?”
I spoke, “Charlotte isn’t her biological mother. And no, I’ve never had any issues. But her biological mother, she died of unknown causes. She had left us, so I didn’t look into it. She hadn’t been in our lives for five years at the time of her death.” I hadn’t wanted Dixie to know. I wanted to protect her from Millie, from all she’d done, all she was capable of doing. I didn’t want Dixie to mourn a mother who wasn’t worth it. She’d never loved Dixie. Millie had only loved herself.
The doctor nodded. “I’d be interested in finding out if it was heart-related. There is a very high chance it was Long QT Syndrome, and it just went undetected. It often does. Dixie is very lucky. I’ve said that to you before, but I need to stress to you just how lucky she is that you were there when she collapsed. You saved her life.”
What if Charlotte hadn’t been there? I couldn’t think that way. She had been there and Dixie had lived.
“She will need to stay with us another week at least. Then we will need to put her in some physical therapy to ease her into things. Dixie is very strong and very determined. She has a long life ahead of her now and the two of you to thank for it.” He patted me on the back, then turned and left us.
“Will I ever stop asking myself what would have happened if I hadn’t been there? What if I’d been outside? What if she’d been in her room and I hadn’t heard her?” Charlotte said as she was fighting her tears but slowly losing that battle.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I keep asking myself the same thing. And now I feel guilty for not looking into Millie’s death and why it happened. Maybe if I’d known more and had Dixie checked, we would have been able to stop this from ever happening.”
Charlotte wrapped her arms around one of mine. “We can’t do that, Luke. She lived. She is okay. We were given this gift and we can’t keep torturing ourselves with what-ifs. We need to rejoice she’s alive.”
I kissed the top of her head. This woman had come into our lives when we needed her the most. She’d taught me to love again. To trust again. She’d given my daughter the kind of mother she deserved. She’d loved her like her own. And now she’d saved her life. My world before Charlotte had only one ray of light in it. My Dixie. But Charlotte gave it a rainbow.
“I love you, Charlotte Monroe. I became the luckiest man alive the day you walked into my life.”
She tilted her head back and looked up at me. “You and Dixie gave me the first joy I’d ever had in life. I’m the lucky one.”
I didn’t argue. She was pretty damn lucky, too. We all were.
