“And this is my grandson’s bedroom.”
Jason looked at Ethan for another second.
The confidence had vanished from his face, replaced by something rawer.
Fear.
When the room finally cleared, the nurse tried to loosen Ethan’s hand from mine.
He would not release me.
So I stayed while she examined him.
He could follow light with his eyes.
He responded to simple requests by blinking.
He moved two fingers on his right hand and one on his left.
When the nurse asked whether he knew where he was, he blinked once for no and twice for yes.
“Home?” she asked.
Two blinks.
“Do you know who she is?”
His eyes returned to me.
Two blinks.
I felt cold all over.
We had never met before that morning.
The nurse noticed my expression.
“He may remember the ceremony.”
“Can he remember something that happened while he was unconscious?”
“Sometimes awareness is more complicated than people think.”
Ethan tried to speak again.
Air passed through his throat, rough and painful.
I leaned closer.
His lips formed a single word.
“Stay.”
The nurse asked me to wait in the sitting room while she contacted his medical team.
The moment I stepped into the hall, my father grabbed my arm.
“You need to be careful about what you say now.”
I pulled free.
“Your first concern is what I might say?”
“Everything has changed.”
“No.
Ethan waking up changed things for him.
For you, it only made the arrangement dangerous.”
My father glanced toward the closed bedroom door.
“If he challenges the marriage, the debt agreement could be canceled.”
There it was.
Not relief.
Not wonder.
Not concern for the man who had just fought his way out of nine months of darkness.
Money.
Jason emerged from the staircase alcove, holding his phone.
“He won’t need to challenge it,” he said.
“I will.”
Vivian appeared behind him.
“On what grounds?”
“Ethan could not consent.
The bride admits she married him for financial consideration.
The entire ceremony was a fraud.”
My father stepped forward.
“The arrangement was approved by the family.”
“By my grandmother,” Jason replied.
“Who was desperate to prevent the trust from transferring control to me.”
Vivian’s face did not change.
