Chapter 9
The hospital room settled into a fragile quiet.
Outside the window, small-town Ohio daylight softened across the sill.
Inside, the wedding bouquet rested beside medical tape and a folded blanket.
The contrast should have felt wrong.
Instead, Nancy thought it looked exactly like life.
Beauty and machinery.
Roses and oxygen.
A veil and a hospital wristband.
Love arriving late but still dressed properly.
Thomas’s breathing grew slower, but his eyes stayed alert.
Nancy refused to let fear steal every second.
She lifted her bouquet.
“Do you like them?”
“The roses?”
“Yes.”
“I requested white roses.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“You requested my bouquet too?”
“I had opinions.”
“You were planning a wedding from a hospital bed?”
“Yes.”
“With a lawyer?”
“And a nurse.”
Elaine lifted one hand.
“I only helped with the flowers.”
Nathan said, “And the witness line.”
“And the witness line,” Elaine admitted.
Nancy looked around at them, stunned.
“You all knew more than I did.”
Thomas looked guilty for exactly one second.
Then proud.
“I had to move fast before you became sensible.”
Nancy laughed softly.
“I am always sensible.”
“That is why drastic measures were needed.”
“The trap.”
“The trap.”
She touched the box again.
“Thomas, tell me one thing. Just one. Am I going to be angry?”
He considered this seriously.
“Yes.”
Nancy’s eyes widened.
“At me?”
His smile was faint.
“Not for long.”
“Nathan?”
The attorney looked helpless.
“I cannot improve that answer.”
Elaine murmured, “At least it was honest.”
Nancy’s laughter came again, but softer now.
Thomas’s hand tightened around hers.
“You may be angry. You may cry. You may say my full name in a tone that makes Nathan afraid.”
“I already do that.”
“Yes, but legally then.”
She shook her head.
He continued, “But after that, Nancy, I think you will understand.”
The room held the words carefully.
Understand what?
The box did not say.
Nathan did not say.
Thomas would not say.
Nancy leaned close.
“And if I don’t?”
His eyes softened.
“Then hold the ring and remember I chose you with a clear mind.”
She looked at his ring.
Then hers.
The fear did not vanish, but love steadied beneath it.
Thomas turned his head toward Nathan.
“Guard it.”
Nathan lifted the box from the blanket and held it against his chest again.
“With my life, if necessary.”
Nancy stared at him.
That was not a normal attorney answer.
May you like
Thomas looked satisfied.
Read Chapter 10 👉 Because Nathan’s promise made Nancy realize the locked box was more than sentimental, but Thomas still refused to let the mystery steal their wedding.
