The Mysteries That Follow You

Chapter 23

Two days after having her world shattered Marie wakes up in a hospital room. Her body is stiff and heavy like when she woke up after her fever broke last week. She feels dizzy and the bright lights in the room strain her eyes. She can barely lift her arms up but luckily a nurse walks in. She notices Marie is awake and grabs a cup of water with a bendy straw. She places the straw in Marie's mouth after raising the hospital bed so she can sit up. After drinking up the water Marie clears her less dry throat.

"Hi, Sweetie how are you feeling?" The nurse puts the cup down and begins to check Marie's vitals.

Marie manages to croak out a couple of words. "Stiff, Thirsty" It feels like she is swallowing gravel. The nurse grabs Marie more water and after the second cup, she feels better.

"I will tell the doctor you are awake, she will want to explain everything to you." The nurse fills up Marie's cup again and heads out of the room. Marie sits back on the bed and thinks back on what happened yesterday and why she is in a hospital room and not at the orphanage. The memory of Alpha Tyrell in the office and the truth about her parents pop into her mind, and she cries. Realizing the nightmare she had for all these years was actually the memory of her parent's death broke her. Knowing the last thing her mother did was hide her from danger makes her tears turn into painful sobs. It's going to be difficult to come to terms with these revelations. She ugly cries for twenty minutes and the beeps of the machines around her are drowned out by her sobs. She wipes her face of tears as the doctor pokes her head in.

"Good Morning Marie, my name is Doctor Piper Lewis." Dr. Lewis closes the door behind her as she steps into the room fully. "Sorry, I am late. I was working on another patient..." Her sentence trails off as she looks at Marie's tear-stained face. "Oh, sweetheart what's wrong?"

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me but I am fine now." Marie sits up straighter and tries to smile. Not believing her Dr. Lewis makes a note of it in her chart and begins to examine Marie.

"Are you in any physical pain?" She emphasizes the word physical. Marie shakes her head no. "That is good. Do you know why you ended up here?" Once again Marie shakes her head no. "Well, the stress from the news you received caused you to have seizures and your body to shut down. Thankfully the healer was able to soothe your brain from the trauma associated with the memory that resurfaced." She pulls back from checking Marie's heartbeat and pulls out a light to examine her eyes. "You shouldn't have any lasting physical issues but I am concerned about your mental state."

Marie doesn't recall having a seizure or passing out but it does explain why her head hurts. Pertaining to her mental state Marie feels fine but if the doctor is worried then maybe she isn't. "How long have I been here?"

"You have been here for three days?" Shock is evident on Marie's face. She must have been worse off than she thought to spend three days asleep. "After your mind was healed your body needed to rest from the havoc that the memory brought you." Dr. Lewis finishes her examination and jots more notes on Marie's chart. "You are doing fine from what I can see. I want to run some tests to ensure you are ok before I release you." Marie lets out a sigh. Hopefully, everything is fine and she won't have to spend too long here. Before Dr. Lewis walks out of the room she looks at Marie. "There are some people out there who would love to meet you."

Marie has no time to ponder who could be visiting her. A minute after the doctor leaves Kiana and Luna Ciara walk in. Marie eyes the two strange women. One of the women is short, light-skinned with thick wavy hair, and has curves. The other woman has a tall lean figure with brown skin and her hair is in twists. Their scents smell oddly familiar to Marie. She doesn't recognize their faces and can't recall ever meeting them. Marie's sense of smell has never steered her wrong and she doesn't feel alarmed with them here. She doesn't put her defenses up but she is cautious towards them. They sit on either side of her bed. No one makes a move until Luna Ciara speaks up.

"Hello Marie, My name is Luna Ciara. You met my husband earlier Alpha Tyrell." Marie flinches at hearing his name. A look of disappointment flashes in Luna Ciara's eyes before she covers it with the compassionate look she had when she walked in. It was so fast Marie would have missed it had she not been looking at her. A ping of guilt hits Marie.

"And my name is Kiana. We are your godmothers. We were your mother's best friends." A memory flashed in Marie's mind of baking in a kitchen with these two women. The sudden memory recall hurts Marie's head. She must have been repressing her memories from that time. She now understands why their scents felt familiar.

"You both seem familiar. But I don't quite remember you." Marie says not wanting to give them false hope. She looks down at her clasped hands and fidgets with her thumbs.

"That is okay sweety," Luna Ciara says a small sad smile gracing her lips "We don't expect you to remember us, the last time we saw you, you were just five."

"We are so sorry for letting you grow up in foster care. We weren't there when you needed us and we can never forgive ourselves for that." Kiana says tears forming in her eyes.

"You didn't know. I can't blame you for not being there when you didn't know." Marie grabs Kiana's hand. She doesn't know this woman but feels the urge to comfort her. There is no hidden malice in Marie's eyes or voice as Kiana looks up at her.

"You might not blame us but we sure do." Luna Ciara says. Marie turns her head towards Luna Ciara and can see the remorse on her face. "But now that you are here that all changes." Luna Ciara's demeanor shifts to a more cheerful one.

"Yes." Kiana wipes a fallen tear from her face. "If you don't mind we would like to adopt you. My husband and I loved and still love you so much. We want to protect and keep you safe now that we have you back."

"You should be with family Marie. We all talked about it and thought it would be best if Kiana and Oscar adopted you." Luna Ciara chimes in. Kiana looks at Marie with the hope she will accept. "If you are okay with that,"

"Can I have time to think about it?" Marie asks shyly. She may feel comfortable in their company but they are still strangers to her. The last time she put her life in the hands of strangers it ended horribly. Marie's life is heading on a more positive path. She has had enough change to last a lifetime. She isn't sure another big life change is something she can handle. Kiana nodded her head at that request.

"You can let us know by the time you get discharged. We already spoke with Mrs. Leane, so if you agree, we can sign the paperwork and you can move in with us the same day." Kiana says giving Marie's hand a reassuring squeeze. Marie gives them a grateful smile. "It is a big decision so if you aren't ready by then you can take your time."

"Do you mind if we stayed and chatted with you for a while? It has been so long since we've seen you. And so much has changed as you know," Luna Ciara gestures over Marie's form and they all chuckle. "We are dying to get to know you again."

Not wanting to be alone with her thoughts yet, Marie agrees. The three of them spend the entire morning talking to each other. Marie told them about her friends and the move to Clover Green. They told stories from when Marie was younger. Their time together was filled with laughter and joy. Luna Ciara and Kiana only left Marie's room when Dr. Lewis came in to have Marie do some tests. They came back in the afternoon with food and their husbands. Marie was introduced to Oscar and getting to meet Alpha Tyrell in a different environment she felt less intimidated by him. They all left when visiting hours were over. They kept her company all day and Marie enjoyed spending time with them.

When they left Marie was finally alone again since Dr. Lewis first walked into her room. She now has time to think about everything she has been told. Once again Marie is burdened with too much information. Her life seems to be on a high-speed train with no inclination of slowing down. She decides to talk with her parents. Talking to them helps her feel grounded and right now she needs to come down to earth. She cries as she talks with them about the reality of their death. She thanks them for protecting her and being the best parents when they were alive. Marie lets the tears dry before asking them if she should trust being adopted. That hasn't gone well for her before, so she is scared. It sounds like a logical choice, who better to take care of her than her godparents? She sits with her question in silence deep in thought. After a while, even though they don't directly say it, she can feel her parents telling her to trust them. Truthly she already did. After spending time with them today it felt like being with family. They were entrusted to take care of Marie if anything ever happened to her parents. Though they may be late they still want to fulfill their promise. With a new resolve to give her godparents a chance, Marie drifts off to sleep.