I chose all of them. And when you choose someone, you fight for them. You don't leave them to face the darkness alone. Bose's winter sky eyes held hers for a long moment. Something shifting in them that Eliza couldn't quite name.
"You should rest," he said finally. "I'll sit with her for a while. You've earned sleep in a real bed. " Eliza wanted to argue, wanted to insist she needed to stay, but her body betrayed her with a massive yawn. Just a few hours, she conceded. Wake me if she needs anything.
I will. Eliza stumbled to her room and fell onto the bed, still fully clothed, asleep before her head properly hit the pillow. She dreamed of fever and darkness and a little girl's hand holding hers with desperate strength. When she woke, the sun was high, and the house was filled with the smell of cooking food. She rose groggy, splashed water on her face, and made her way downstairs to find the kitchen full of activity.
James stood at the stove, attempting something that might have been soup. Nathaniel was setting the table with exaggerated care, his tongue poking out between his teeth and concentration. Levi was sweeping the floor with methodical precision, and Matthew. Matthew was peeling potatoes at the table, his movements angry, but efficient. They all looked up when she appeared, and for a moment no one spoke.
Then Nathaniel ran to her, throwing his arms around her waist with enough force to nearly knock her over. "You saved Meera," he declared. "Doc Morrison said you saved her life. " "We all helped," Eliza said, steadying herself. "You boys kept the house running while I was upstairs. That mattered, too. " "But you stayed with her all night," James said, not turning from his soup.
"You didn't sleep. You didn't eat. You just stayed. There was something different in his voice now. The hostility had burned away, leaving something raw and honest underneath.
Respect, maybe. Or the beginnings of trust. Of course, I stayed, Eliza said. She needed someone. Ma would have stayed too, James said quietly.
Ma would have done exactly what you did. It was the highest compliment he could have given her, and they both knew it. Eliza's throat tightened with emotion. Thank you, James. That means more than you know.
Even Matthew looked up from his potatoes, then, his angry mask slipping just enough to show the confused, hurting boy underneath. "You really meant it," he said, his voice uncertain. "When you said you'd fight for her, you really meant it. " "Yes," Eliza said simply. "I meant it. And I mean it about all of you.