The Love From Vengeance

341: HOLDING ON

ARIEL’S POV

Janice furrowed her brows, concern etched across her features. “Mom, you shouldn’t be pushing yourself like this. You’re hurt.”

“I know, sweetheart,” I sighed, wincing as I adjusted myself on the bed. “But I had to make sure your dad

was okay.”

“But the doctors are taking care of him, right?”

“Yes, they are.” I nodded, reaching out to gently stroke her hair. “But I just needed to see him for myself, you know?”

Janice nodded, her eyes filled with understanding. “I get it, Mom. But please, promise me you’ll take it easy. You need to focus on getting better too.”

“I promise,” I replied, offering her a weak smile. “Now, how about we both try to get some rest? We could

use it.”

Janice nodded, leaning against my shoulder. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

As we settled into the quiet room, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of gratitude wash over me. Together, we would confront numerous challenges, yet our unwavering unity would be the only thing that mattered.

L

Storms could come and chaos might unfold, but with my blood by my side, those terrors would be so

bootless,

eyes, I had to think of the things ahead and how everything was going to work out. Luke being there to hold me tight, and

would savor

ONE MONTH LATER

echoing the cacophony of emotions

air, a constant reminder of the stark reality that awaited me behind those white doors. My beloved lay there, fragile

that

the agony I felt within. I reached out to hold his hand, the touch so familiar yet foreign, as if he were slipping away

went, their faces a mask of professionalism that did little to assuage my growing terror. Words

pain and illness. His resilience was a beacon in the darkness a flicker of light that guided me through the long and torturous nights: 1 whispered words of encouragement and promises of better days to come, knowing deep down that I was grasping at

someone you love suffer is like no other. It seeps into your bones, twists your insides, and leaves you gasping for breath in a world that suddenly seems devoid of color and joy. The quiet hum of machines replaced the laughter that once filled our home, and whispered prayers escaped

those moments like a drowning soul to a life raft, holding onto the hope that

the hardest, long and lonely stretches of darkness that seemed to stretch into

hand and watching the rise and fall of his chest, willing him

longer. The tears that fell were a silent testament to the

raw and consuming that at times I felt

the machines, I would whisper words of love and devotion, promises of a future we might never share 1 would tell him of the dreams we had woven together and the plans we had made, hoping that somewhere

to recovery was long and arduous, filled with setbacks and small victories that seemed like miracles in the making I knew for a fact that we would go through it all, clinging to each other–two souls bound by a love that had weathered the storm and emerged stronger on the other side. The pain of these days and nights lingered like a scar, a reminder of the fragility of life and the resilience of the human

fight, but also ours. The pain of watching him suffer had

us that was unbreakable, a bond that would carry us through the darkest of times

brightest of days

optimistic, that any day soon we would walk hand in hand into the light of a new

force to be reckoned

uncertainty and pain