Chapter 234

Julian’s POV

Mom watched my face, so she saw the minute I started to crumple up inside.

I really didn’t want to tell her what was going on with Amber. I just wanted to stay in this moment and celebrate the fact that Mom was awake, that she had survived.

Yet, Amber was constantly on my thoughts and in my heart, so maybe that plan wouldn’t have worked at all anyway.

“Olivia shot her with several silver bullets,” I said and gave her a very brief overview of what had happened, as well as some of the treatments the healers were performing on Amber to help her pull through.

“So the way she helped me, they are now using to help her too,” Mom said.

“Yes,” I replied.

Mom hummed. “Well, then, there’s nothing to worry about.”

I looked at her with surprise. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“Amber made this treatment herself, right? And there’s no better healer on the continent. So really, she’s being treated by the best healer she is. Herself.”

I tried to see that reasoning and accept it. Amber was a good healer, maybe the best healer, and I would trust her with my life and the lives of anyone around me. But without her consciously making the decisions for herself, I wasn’t sure this could actually be considered treating herself.

Still, I supposed the idea did offer some comfort, even if I still hated everything that was going on.

“I trust in Amber,” I said, “But it’s all just so frustrating. I hate that I can’t do anything for her. I would fight the whole world for her if I had to. I would cross any amount of distance. Any physical trial that she required, I would not lose. But I’m not a healer. I can’t fight the poison inside of her. Mom, I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life.”

Mom’s face softened, and she smiled a little sadly. “Things are difficult, and you have every right to be scared about this, son. To feel this way only proves how much you love Amber. But to love is to trust, and we need to believe in her now. Amber will pull through.”

“How can you be so confident?” I asked. I wanted to believe it too, but… it was challenging.

“Because she loves you and her little girl more than anything else in the world. Just as you would fight for her, she would fight for you, to stay here with you and Alice. Do not count out her own strength, Julian. That she has made it this far has already proven her strength. Trust her to make it the rest of the way.”

I lowered my head, slightly ashamed now that my helplessness must have appeared like doubt. Amber would be alright, because she wouldn’t lose us.

I would fight to stay with her and Alice. She had to be doing the same for us.

Yes, this gave me some hope. Amber wouldn’t give up, not if there was any way for her to crawl her way back to us.

“Thank you, Mom,” I told her.

Mom’s smile became fond. “Of course. I do expect to be in at the wedding when you two reaffirm your vows. It was quite unfair to exclude me from the last one.”

As our first wedding had been done in secret, many people had been excluded. If… No, when Amber and I would exchange our vows a second time, I intended for everyone we loved to be around us this time, making the event more special.

“Now,” Mom said. “Where is my granddaughter?”

As the supervisor finished his exam, more people were allowed in to see Mom. She was in good spirits and excited to see everyone. When Alice came in, Mom hugged her tightly if somewhat awkwardly with Mom on the bed and Alice reaching up from the bedside.

Mom talked to Alice a minute, about small things, like her coloring and her outfit. The more Mom talked to Alice, the more drawn Mom’s face became. After their conversation, Mom sent Alice away with Penny, then waved me closer.

“Amber’s condition is having an effect on Alice,” Mom told me. “I’m worried about her. She’s worn down by it all. Julian, you must try to lift her spirits. She’s too young for all of this. Little girls should be happy.”

I was a terrible father. I had been so worried about Amber waking up that I hadn’t considered Alice’s mental health. She was alive and physically healthy, which had been enough during the crisis for me not to worry about her.

But now that there was a calm, and that Mom had pointed it out to me, I could see the way Alice’s shoulders slumped downward, and the way her eyes were red and tired from all the tears she had shed.

If I was worried about Amber, then Alice must have been too, no matter how hard I tried to shield her from it.

She had been there, too. Alice had witnessed firsthand the trauma of her mother being shot. She needed me now, maybe more than ever before.

As much as I wanted to be here for Amber, I had take care of our daughter too. So I asked Penny to sit in with Amber for a while, and I took Alice out of the hospital for a dinner at her favorite restaurant, the one that had the ice cream bar for dessert. She could add her own toppings.

Alice seemed pleased to be out of the doom and gloom of the hospital waiting room, but as we sat at the table, after ordering, waiting for our food to arrive, we both seemed somewhat distracted.

My thoughts were with Amber. Alice was probably the same.

Trying to distract us both, I asked Alice, “What kind of ice cream are you going to get?”

She thought a moment. “Chocolate!”

“A good choice,” I told her with a smile which was only partially forced. “And for the toppings?”

That was a more serious choice and we debated for several long minutes about what kind of toppings would go with chocolate ice cream. Questions like, “Are chocolate shavings on top of chocolate ice cream, too much chocolate?”

Alice laughed and shook her head. “There’s no such thing as too much chocolate, silly.”

After dinner, we went to the ice cream bar and put that theory to the test. She was right, of course. The chocolate shavings on top of the chocolate ice cream was still delicious.

After eating our ice cream, we went the long route back to the hospital, taking time to wander through the nearby park, to look at the gardens and to watch some squirrels chase each other up in the trees.

Most people avoided us, focusing on their own lives and their own tasks. I heard a few whisper my name as they recognized me, but even those people gave us a wide berth, not wanting to intrude on the father-daughter time Alice and I were engaged in.

At least, that was the way it went for much of the afternoon – until one man approached us. He wore a shirt that had words printed on it, Tony for Alpha.

Stepping in front of Alice, I braced myself for whatever this man wanted.

Yet I was still surprised when the man lowered his head and begged, “Please, Alpha. Don’t let them put Tony down like some kind of wild animal.”