When Day Breaks(109)
“Sir, there is one thing I’ve learned about your daughter in a very short time. She has the biggest, most tender, forgiving heart in the world. Yes, she was upset and shocked at the time. But I have no doubt she will not be angry with you, nor will she refuse to see you. She loves you, her entire family, too much. And that’s not who Eden is. She isn’t one to hate. To harbor resentment.”
“You do indeed know my daughter well,” Eddie said quietly.
Swanny jerked around, forgetting all about Eden’s family and the other occupants of the room when his name was called by a nurse who’d just entered the waiting room. He rushed toward her, hoping for news about Eden.
He was greeted by a broad smile.
“Miss Sinclair is out of surgery and in recovery. She’s awake but still a bit groggy and confused. You can come back to see her now. She’ll remain in recovery for forty-five more minutes before we transfer her to the floor. We just want to make sure her pain is under control and she suffers no nausea from the anesthesia.”
“But she’s okay?” Swanny asked, holding his breath until he was light-headed.
The nurse smiled again. “Yes, she’s just fine. Come now. I’ll take you back to see her.”
Without a backward glance at the others, Swanny hurried after the nurse, eager to see Eden for himself. To reassure himself she was okay and awake. Because then he had to address the subject of whether she could ever forgive him for allowing this to happen to her.
The nurse showed him into recovery and motioned toward Eden, who was being monitored by a nurse at her bedside.
Swanny slowly approached the bed, his stomach clenched as he took in all the bandages covering her face.
“Is she awake?” Swanny whispered to the nurse at her bedside.
The nurse smiled and nodded and then gestured for him to take the seat on the other side of her bed.
“Eden? Eden, honey, can you hear me?” Swanny asked in a low voice.
Slowly, Eden turned in his direction, her eyes instantly going warm as she registered his presence.
“I knew you’d come,” she whispered hoarsely. “It was the only thing that kept me sane. I knew you’d come. I was so scared I’d never see you again.”
Tears clogged Swanny’s eyes, and the nurse attending Eden’s vitals discreetly stepped away.
“How can you even look at me, knowing that I failed you,” he choked out. “It’s my fault you were taken. I never should have left you alone. I don’t know that I can ever live with myself.”
Weakly she lifted a hand to his cheek and gently caressed his face with cold fingertips.
“Not your fault. I was too trusting. I should have known but it was too late by the time it dawned on me she shouldn’t be there. You taught me better and I didn’t listen.”
Swanny reached up for her hand, pressing her palm to his lips as tears slid soundlessly down his cheeks.
“I brought you here and insisted on the best plastic surgeon Paris had to offer. I couldn’t allow you to live with constant reminders of what happened to you. I know how important your career is to you. So I made the decision to have the cuts to your face repaired. The surgeon said that in a few months, and with additional procedures, you’ll look good as new again.”
She smiled up at him, so much love in her eyes that it took his breath away. God, she still loved him. Had told him as her last conscious thought when he’d taken her away from the horror she’d endured.
“I don’t care about my face or career, Swanny. I only care about you,” she said, sincerity ringing clear in her voice. “As long as I have you, as long as you love me, nothing else matters.”
He had to take a long moment to compose himself. To try to rid himself of the tears and the emotion knotting his throat so tightly he couldn’t speak—or breathe—around it.
“I love you,” he said brokenly. “I love you so much, Eden. You’re a miracle. My miracle. A gift I never dreamed of receiving. I’m so damn grateful for it. You’ll never know how much you mean to me, but I can tell you every day for the rest of our lives just how much I love you.”
Her eyes widened and her hand slid from his grasp as she stared up at him.
Clearing his throat and understanding why she was staring at him in shock, he made an attempt to repair his completely botched effort of proposing.
“Marry me, Eden,” he said in a husky, tear-laced voice. “Be with me. Stay with me forever. I know we have a lot to work out with our respective careers and I want you to know that I’ll always support your decisions. I’ll never stand in the way of your career. I just want you.”