Love in the Eye of the Storm

Chapter 17

I didn't even know what was happening to me. It felt like all the blood in my body had rushed to my head, and the world around me just faded out. Tanya's voice sounded distant, like it was coming from underwater.

All I could think about was finding my brother.

Regret twisted inside me like a knife. I never should've married Alexander.

Yes, Chelsea was cruel, twisted, even, but none of this would've happened if Alexander hadn't let her into our lives. If he hadn't welcomed her into our home. If he hadn't let her go up that mountain. My brother's resting place… desecrated, destroyed.

And it was Alexander who gave her the space to do it.

In the end, I loved the wrong man. I gave everything to the wrong person.

I never should've loved him.

I definitely never should've dreamed of growing old with him.

"Brother..."

I tried to push myself up from the floor. I had to get to that river. I had to find what was left of him.

But suddenly, everything went red.

A thick, hazy crimson mist clouded my vision. The whole world looked like it had been dipped in blood. I couldn't even see straight.

My hands felt wet.

I looked down.

Oh. That's why everything looked so red.

I was coughing up blood.

A lot of it.

It just kept coming, like I'd turned into a river and my blood was flowing out of me, fast and unstoppable.

"Madeline! Why are you bleeding so much?"

Tanya's voice cracked, filled with panic and tears.

"Please, please stop! Don't bleed anymore!"

She screamed for help.

"Doctor! Somebody help! She's bleeding, she's bleeding so much! Please, I'm begging you, save her!"

I reached out with a trembling hand, trying to calm her. I wanted to say, Don't cry, Tanya. It doesn't hurt anymore.

Because it didn't.

After all the blood, after all the pain, I felt nothing.

And then I saw him.

My brother.

He looked exactly the same as I remembered, strong, warm, his smile like sunlight cutting through a storm.

He walked toward me, reached out, and gently took my hand.

"Madeline," he said, his voice calm and full of love, "let's go home."

Finally.

I could go home with him.

It was the most peaceful, beautiful feeling in the world. I felt happy. Really, truly happy.

Tanya, you don't have to cry anymore.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't lift my arm to touch her face. I couldn't wipe away her tears.

All I could do was say goodbye in my heart.

Tanya… stay strong. You deserve happiness. You deserve a long, beautiful life.

We'll meet again, eighty years from now.

With that thought, I turned toward my brother and held his hand tight, never wanting to let go.