Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 179

Chapter 179

By the time she finished, she was crying bitterly. And Ethan understood. He understood her point with painful clarity. The hospital was too far. The danger was too real. If something went wrong in the middle of that operation, she might lose him because help would not reach them in time. She was not exaggerating. Not dramatizing. She was looking at the risk plainly and seeing the grave

inside it.

He took both her hands in his and held them together. Then he brought them to his lips and kissed them. Slowly. Tenderly. He et his lips linger against her skin because he needed that touch as much as she needed the reassurance of it. He breathed in her scent

and then looked into her eyes.

“I can’t die when I have so much to live for, Meadow. I need you to have faith in me,” Ethan said.

It was not a promise exactly. He could not honestly promise survival. But it was the closest thing to one he could give. And Meadow

knew, with a fresh wave of helplessness, that his mind was made up. Nothing she said now would stop him. He had already crossed

beyond fear into resolve. At that point the only thing left for her to decide was whether she would stand beside him while he did it

or leave him alone inside it.

So she wept. And Ethan pulled her close. He kissed her forehead, then drew her onto his lap and held her carefully, as if wrapping

his arms around her could quiet at least some of the fear breaking her apart. Meadow clung to him. Ethan held her. All the while he

prayed silently that he was not about to commit a terrible mistake. That he was not about to break the heart of the one woman who

had made life feel worth living again.

After a while they moved to the bed. There, in the privacy of the room and under the weight of everything unsaid and said, he made

love to her gently. Not with desperation. Not with frenzy. With tenderness. With the kind of care that came from a man trying to

soothe a woman he loved and also reassure himself that there would still be a tomorrow to return to. He touched her like he was

memorising. He kissed her like he was making a vow with every slow press of his mouth. He assured her with his body and his

whispers and his softness that he intended to live. Intended to succeed. Intended not to leave her behind in mourning.

He promised she would not bury him. He promised she would not grieve him. Even as she let herself take what he gave, Meadow was

still worried. Still shaking somewhere inside. But she prayed anyway. Prayed with every touch and breath and silent plea that he would be alright.

While Ethan was in the room with his wife, Keith returned with everything Dr James requested. The medical staff Camila came with were already preparing the ambulance for the operation. It was an unusual place to perform something so serious, but there was no better option left to them. They needed a controlled space. They needed disinfected surfaces. They needed something enclosed enough to lower the chances of infection and interruption. The ambulance at least had some equipment and structure to work with. That would have to be enough.

So they made do. They cleaned it thoroughly. Then cleaned it again. Every surface was sterilised. Every tool disinfected. They worked with a tense, grim focus that made the whole process feel even more serious. No one joked. No one wasted movement. The risk sat over all of them heavily enough that even the air felt more careful than usual. They did not finish preparing everything until eleven that night.

17

O

1/2

12:26 Wed, Jun 17

Chapter 179

Comments

2

17

Write Comments

<SHARE

|||

O

2/2

12:27 Wed, Jun 17 MO

Underwater: The Silent Luna