Chapter 79 Unraveling
ARDEN
Sister? Honey was… Cade’s sister?
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The word rang in my ears like a soft bell. For a moment, I stood frozen, staring at the two of them. The way she hugged him, how she looked at him like he was a star in the sky. How she hid behind him, making him her shield and her warmth.
Before Cade could explain further, the same nurse from earlier popped her head through the open door.
“Cade, dear?” she called out kindly. “Could you help get the ball out of the maple again? I swear the wind here has a personal vendetta against our afternoon games.”
Cade turned to her, already smiling–a smile that was soft and boyish, one that made my heart stutter all over again. “I’ll be right back,” he told me, gently releasing Honey’s hand.
“Wait-” I tried, but the words slipped out too late. He was already out the door, leaving me alone in the room with the sister I had mistaken for someone else entirely.
Honey watched me with wide, uncertain eyes, her fingers wringing the edge of her cardigan.
I shifted my weight awkwardly, unsure of how to approach. “Honey?” I asked gently, keeping my tone low and non–threatening.
She didn’t respond. Her shoulders curled inward, and she took a timid step back, disappearing behind the curtain that swayed gently by the window.
My chest clenched. I raised my hand slowly, open–palmed. “It’s okay,” I said softly. “I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
Her eyes darted to my hand, suspicious yet curious.
Then I tried something different. Something simpler.
“Pinky promise?” I asked with a tiny smile.
Honey tilted her head. Then, she slowly stepped out from behind the curtain, a spark of recognition lighting her face. She lifted her pinky, small and delicate, and held it toward me.
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We linked fingers.
She gasped.
“Power,” she whispered. “Very powerful.”
“Huh?” I tilted my head, confused.
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But before I could ask what she meant, she stepped closer and looked up at me, serious now. “You won’t hurt me?”
“I won’t,” I promised quietly.
She reached out and touched the tip of her finger to my chest. “You won’t hurt Cade?”
My breath hitched.
“Never,” I whispered.
She stared at me for a long moment. And then–she smiled.
A real, bright, childlike smile that melted every bit of tension in the room.
“Then Honey likes you,” she declared cheerfully, referring to herself in the third person.
I couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on my lips. “Arden likes you too,” I said, mirroring her words.
“Arden,” she repeated, trying the name out. “Arden, you need to play well with Cade.”
That caught me off guard.
“Play well?”
“He gets sad when he has no one,” she said. “When he’s sad, he hides it, but Honey knows.”
Something clenched in my chest.
“I will,” I said. “Don’t worry.”
The guilt hit me hard. I had been jealous–of her, of Cade. Disappointed, even. But how could I have known? How could I have imagined this truth?
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And yet, something deeper twisted in my gut. Had I been too detached? Too consumed by my own struggles to notice his?
I didn’t know.
All I knew was that I had judged someone I didn’t even know. I had judged Cade too, maybe a little harshly.
But here I sat, in the warmest room I’d ever been in, holding hands with his sister.
Then Honey pulled out a pair of dolls from a little basket near her bed and handed me one.
“Let’s play,” she said, beaming.
I laughed softly. “Okay.”
We played. She gave each doll a name–one was ‘Captain Pickle,’ and the other was a princess with a crown made from a cut–up paper cup.
Honey narrated an entire fantasy world where flowers talked and clouds threw parties, and I followed along, laughing more than I had in days.
For a while, the room didn’t feel like a facility anymore. It just felt like joy.
I was in the middle of rescuing a plush squirrel when I heard footsteps. The door creaked open, and Cade stepped in with the sun behind him, his face glowing with warmth.
He paused when he saw us.
“She trusts you already,” he said, a note of disbelief and pride in his voice.
Honey looked up and giggled. “Arden pretty!”
My cheeks flushed.
Cade glanced at me, then grinned. “Arden is very pretty, right?”
Honey nodded enthusiastically and hugged my arm. “Very very.”
****
Dinner was quiet and peaceful. Cade and I sat on one side of a wide window, the golden light of dusk spilling across the table like melted honey. The nurses had taken Honey out to the
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garden to feed the koi, their cheerful chatter trailing down the hallway. It was just us now. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to touch the brownies–our dessert–sitting in front of me.
Cade noticed. He leaned back in his chair, his hands loosely clasped in his lap. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” he said.
There was silence between us before I finally blurted, “I’m sorry.”
His eyes widened slightly, but there was no anger–only concern.
“You don’t have to say sorry,” he replied. “You must have felt bad about being left in the dark.”
“No,” I responded quickly. “That’s not it. I mean, maybe a little, but not like that. I just–Cade, I misjudged everything. I thought you were hiding some tragic love story or that you still had feelings for someone who wasn’t me. I got jealous, and I thought-”
I cut myself off with a breath, realizing I was rambling. My hands were shaking slightly, so I pressed them into my lap.
Cade didn’t interrupt. He simply stood up from his chair and came to kneel in front of mine. I looked down at him, confused, my breath shallow.
Then his hands were on either side of my face. Before I could stop the rush of thoughts trying to pour out of me again–he kissed me.
This time, it wasn’t soft or questioning. It was steady.
When he pulled back, he didn’t let me go. His forehead rested lightly against mine, and his voice came low and sure. “You and Honey,” he said, “are both important to me, in very different ways.”
I swallowed. My hands moved without thought, finding his wrists and holding on tightly.
He continued, “Honey is my sister. I love her more than I can ever explain. She’s been through more than most people can survive. I’ve spent most of my life trying to protect her, trying to keep her safe in a world that doesn’t know how to be kind.”
I nodded softly, my heart squeezing in my chest.
He took a breath.
“And then you came along.”
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His voice cracked a little, and it made my throat ache.
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“You brought something back into my life that I didn’t think I’d ever feel again, Arden. Light. Not just sunshine and smiles–but warmth. You don’t fix me; you don’t need to. But you make the dark quieter.”
Tears blurred my eyes.
“I like you,” he said, “because you remind me what it feels like to truly live.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it.
“And because of that,” he murmured, “I’m ready to tell you everything.”
He pulled back just slightly to meet my eyes.
“Everything.”
I saw the hesitation there, a guarded kind of hope.
“Just…” he said, “I hope you won’t hate me after this one.”
A tear slipped down my cheek.
“I could never hate you,” I whispered, my voice cracking.
My hands slid up to cradle his face, my thumbs brushing the sharp lines of his jaw.
“I could never hate you,” I repeated softly, as my lips met his once mo
