Chapter 10 - THE AMBUSH AT TERMINAL FOUR
The drive back to Boston Children's was quiet, but the air inside the car had changed.
The heavy, suffocating darkness that had hovered over us for five years was lifting.
Adrien held my hand across the center console.
He didn't let go once.
Whenever he had to steer with one hand through the winding streets of the city, his other hand remained locked with mine.
His thumb stroked the soft skin of my wrist, feeling my pulse.
"You hit her hard," he murmured softly.
"She deserved worse," I said.
A faint chuckle rumbled in his chest.
It was the first time I had heard Adrien laugh in five years.
The sound was deep, warm, and familiar.
It transported me back to our small kitchen in Beacon Hill, before the bombs, before the boardroom wars, when we would dance barefoot while burning toast on Sunday mornings.
We arrived at the hospital at 2:00 AM.
The lobby was quiet.
Up on the fourth floor, Miller nodded respectfully as we walked past.
"All quiet, Mr. Moretti. The boy hasn't moved."
We entered Leo’s private room.
The steady beep... beep... beep of the cardiac monitor was the sweetest melody on earth.
Leo was curled onto his right side, hugging his knees.
His breathing was deep, effortless, and silent.
No wheezing.
No gasping for air.
The golden cardboard crown still sat on the pillow beside his dark curls.
I sat on the edge of the mattress.
Adrien walked to the other side.
He reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a small, velvet jeweler's box.
I looked up at him, puzzled.
"What is that?"
"I bought this four years ago," Adrien said softly. "On what would have been our sixth anniversary."
He flipped open the lid.
Inside sat my original wedding ring: a vintage platinum band set with three flawless emerald-cut diamonds.
"Three stones," I whispered, tears blurring my vision.
"One for the past," Adrien said. "One for the present. One for the future."
He looked at Leo sleeping peacefully.
"I didn't know back then that God was preparing three boys to match the stones."
He took my left hand.
My finger felt bare, as it had for five long years.
"I never took my ring off, Clare," Adrien said.
He pulled back his right lapel.
Hanging from a thick platinum chain around his neck was his own gold wedding band.
It rested directly over his heart.
"I swore I would bury myself with it," he whispered, his gray eyes shining with unshed tears. "I thought you hated me. I thought you took another man's hand. But every night, I held this ring and prayed that wherever you were, you were safe."
A tear slipped down my cheek.
"I never stopped loving you, Adrien," I admitted, my voice trembling. "Even when I was terrified. Even when I had to scrub floors to buy milk. I hated you for letting our world burn... but I never stopped loving you."
He slid the platinum band back onto my fourth finger.
It fit perfectly.
It felt warm against my cold skin.
Suddenly, a tiny voice broke the quiet.
"Mommy?"
I spun around.
Leo’s gray eyes were open.
He blinked against the dim lamp light, squinting up at me.
"Leo!" I leaned down, pressing my lips to his warm cheek. "I'm here, sweetheart. I'm right here."
"My chest doesn't hurt," he whispered, amazed.
"The doctor fixed the drum, baby."
Leo turned his head on the pillow.
He saw the golden cardboard crown.
Then he saw the tall, broad-shouldered man standing beside his bed.
Leo looked at Adrien’s face.
Then down at the crown.
"Are you the king who fights monsters?" the little boy asked, his voice soft as a feather.
Adrien fell to his knees beside the bed.
He buried his face in the white blanket, pressing his cheek against Leo’s tiny hip.
His shoulders heaved with silent, wracking sobs.
"I am your daddy, Leo," Adrien wept. "I'm your daddy. And I am never, ever going to leave you again."
Leo reached out with his small, warm hand.
He patted Adrien’s dark hair gently, the way I had always patted him when he woke up from a nightmare.
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"Don't cry, Daddy," Leo said softly. "The monsters are gone."
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