A Revelation
Cadence took a deep breath and did her best to fight the tears that were threatening to fall again. It just seemed wrong that Jack was across the ocean, suffering in the hospital, but it wasn’t thoughts of her exboyfriend that had her nearly in tears.
It was the man standing next to the bed.
Aaron didn’t seem to realize that, though. She remembered him telling her that even with his emotional empath powers, he had a hard time reading her.
Thank god for that.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed so that his hip was near her bent knees. That put him a lot closer to her than she felt comfortable with.
Cadence took a deep breath and reminded herself not to do anything stupid.
Did he have no idea the kind of affect he had on her/
Or did he simply enjoy driving her mad?
“Jack’s a tough guy, right?” Aaron continued. “He can fight this, you know? I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
He gave her a smile that was meant to be reassuring. Instead, it had her abdomen working into a tight knot and an ache beginning to form below that
Yeah, this was definitely a mistake.
Cadence tried to focus on Jack. Knowing that her friend was so ill should’ve been enough to keep her mind off of the sexy man sitting next to her.
What the hell was wrong with her?
Maybe it was the scent of his aftershave that reminded her of looking out over a calm ocean at sunset… or maybe it was the concern she saw in this bright blue eyes, but even thoughts of Jack’s suffering were not doing it for her.
Trying to focus on Jack, Cadence pointed out, “You don’t sound very convincing.”
He ran his hand through his hair, and Cadence knew he was thinking about how to respond. “You’re right, I don’t. I’m sorry. Do you want me to try again?”
Unable to keep from grinning at him, Cadence shook her head. “It’s okay; you don’t need to patronize me.”
“Oh, I’m not. I mean, I wasn’t trying to.” He let out a deep sigh and then turned so that he was facing her, bringing a knee up onto the bed, which brought him even closer to her.
Cadence’s heart began to thump so loudly, she was sure he had to have been able to hear it. If he could, Aaron didn’t let on. “Look, Cadence, here’s the deal. We can all say hopeful, reassuring things, and that’s nice. It makes people feel good, at least for a few moments. There’s nothing wrong with that. Except for when it doesn’t turn out that way.” It was clear he was still talking about Jack. And speaking from experience.
She nodded her head as Aaron continued, “And I have no idea if Jack’s going to pull through this or not. Of course, I hope so. I hope he makes a full recovery, and you see him out there playing baseball in the spring, just like you always have. But, sometimes that doesn’t happen. And we lose people. And it sucks. God, does it ever suck.” He dropped his eyes for a minute, seeming to stare at a spot on the floor. When he lifted them again, he was looking right into her eyes. “But we find a way to go on—sometimes when we truly think there is no possible way to go on. Somehow, we find one.”
Tears were starting to make their way out of the corners of her eyes. These were not only for Jack, but also for whatever it was he was talking about. It was clear, Aaron was speaking from experience. “I just can’t imagine losing Jack,” she whispered. “I’m just tired of losing people. I don’t want to do it anymore.” Drew, Jack—Aaron? Hadn’t she lost him, too? He was sitting next to her, but it wasn’t what she had been hoping for.
“I know what you mean,” he agreed. “I really do know.”
She wiped her tears on the sleeve of her sweatshirt, trying to stop more from flowing. “You mentioned that before,” she replied. “What do you mean by that? Do you mind that I ask?”
He shrugged and dropped his gaze again. For a moment, she thought he was going to say he didn’t want to talk about it. So it surprised her when he responded, “No, I don’t mind that you asked.”
Aaron took a deep breath and glanced over at her, but he couldn’t maintain his eye contact as he began to speak again. “In the past, it has been difficult for me to talk about it. But I’m willing to talk to you about it, Cadence.”
Cadence wasn’t sure why that might be. Was it possible that he felt like he’d known her a lot longer than a few weeks, too, the way that she did? Even though she’d just met all of these people, for some reason, it seemed like Aaron had always been a part of her life. “Take your time,” she muttered, wanting to reach out and put her hand on top of his where it rested on his knee. But that would be a little more forward than she was willing to push the situation—yet.
And then he said something she wasn’t expecting at all. Something that took the air right out of her lungs.
“My wife died.”
Cadence stared at him in shock, unable to even breath, let along speak.
Wife? He’d had a wife? When?
Pushing pack the initial surprised, she finally managed to say, “Oh, my god, Aaron, I’m so sorry! I had no idea.”
That was putting it mildly.
“I know. It’s okay. I mean, it was a very, very long time ago. But, even when this much time has passed, it really doesn’t make it any easier, unfortunately.” By the time he’d finished his declaration, he was able to look up at her again, mostly staying focused on her face.
Cadence tried to remind herself it would make sense that someone who had lived as long as he had would have been married at some point, and even though he’d just told her his wife had died, a pang of jealousy wound its way through her gut as she fought to maintain the conversation without him noticing her initial reaction. “Do you ever talk about her--to anyone?” she asked.
“No, not really. Not anymore. There are some incredible rumors about what happened, and most of the team knows about her, but there’s really no one left that ever even met Aislyn. And, she was a human, so even if she hadn’t gotten sick, she wouldn’t be alive now.”
“You fell in love with a human?” she asked, intrigued. That seemed strange, and by the vague way he was speaking about her—Aislyn—she got the impression she wasn’t getting the full story.
She wasn’t going to press him on it though.
“Mm hmm. She was a human,” he replied softly.
Again, she got the impression there was more to this he didn’t want to say. He owed her nothing, though, so she didn’t ask more about her human state. “And you married her, knowing that, someday you’d have to go on without her?”
His only response was a shrug.
“That’s incredible,” Cadence said. “And pretty damn romantic,” she added. The idea that she could marry someone she’d have to watch grow old and die seemed nearly impossible to her.
She was learning more and more about him all the time—but she knew she still didn’t know everything.
He smiled shyly, “I don’t know about all that. I’d been in love with Aislyn since the first moment I saw her, when we were both children. There was no question in my mind that I loved her, and I was going to marry he no matter what. So, I did.”
It was clear, listening to him speak about her, that he had loved her. He probably still did. That made the ugly wave of jealousy she’d noted before wash over her again. “How long ago was this?” she asked, trying to remind herself the woman was dead.
“A long time ago.” The answer was vague and basically what he’d said before. She still didn’t know for sure how old Aaron was. It seemed rude to ask.
Apparently, there was a lot about Aaron she didn’t know. He was so guarded, which made sense since he was a guardian. But… she felt like it was taking her forever to truly know him in some ways while in others she felt like she knew him better than anyone.
It was complicated and complex…. Just like he was.
“How long were you married?” She wrapped her arms around her knees, bumping his bicep as she did so. Even when she wasn’t touching him anymore, her arm stayed warm and tingly.
“Not long. We were together for a short time before she got sick, and even though I am what I am, and I did everything within my power, I could do nothing to save her.” The sadness returned to his eyes, but he wasn’t staring at the floor this time.
Seeing him even the slightest bit unhappy made her want to cry. “I’m so sorry,” she said, holding back tears again.
“Thanks,” he replied, nodding. Then, he took a deep breath and seemed to push the thought to the recess of his mind. “So, I know. I really do know how you feel.”
Cadence wasn’t sure how to respond to any of this. The unconditional love he showed for her, the fact that he still clearly loved her, even though it had been so long ago, not only made her jealous, it also made her long to be with him that much more. Clearly, when Aaron fell in love with someone, he gave that woman his whole heart. She’d be lying if she tried to convince herself she didn’t long to know what that was like, to be loved so completely by him.
All of those thoughts needed to stay locked inside of her mind, so she said, “Thank you for telling me.”
“You’re welcome. Thank you for listening. It’s been a very long time since I’ve mentioned Aislyn to anyone. But I feel like you deserve to know, especially with everything you’re going through with Jack.”
Jack.
