Chapter 22.12. Lisa.
His sister-in-law Lisa was passed out in the bathtub, her body slumped against the porcelain with her dark brown hair fanning out like seaweed in the water, the lingering scent of whiskey rising from the bottles.
“At least you took off your clothes first,” Silas sighed.
He turned off the water and dried her with magic, then carried her in the same princess style as Hailey. Her hair smelled of wine and her cheeks were pink. Gently he put her to bed, tucking her in.
She stirred awake. Her eyes were hazy as they found him; the room spun, making her head hurt but the hand carresing her forehead was calming.
“Lisa... go to sleep. You had too much to drink, again,” he said.
Tears filled her eyes, falling down her cheeks and into the pillow below her head.
A tightness in his throat formed at the sight.
Why did she cry? He knew the answer to that.
Silas gently wiped them away and leaned in to kiss her forehead.
Lisa grabbed his arm.
“It’s okay Lisa, everything is okay,” he cooed at her softly.
But she shook her head, the pain was not from the hangover, it was from deeper, from the memories that were brought on by the alcohol.
“It’s not okay,” she mumbled, her voice cracking. “I’m sorry...for everything.”
A frown made its way onto Silas’s face and he pulled her close in an embrace. The woman held onto him tightly as if he would disappear at any moment.
She wept in his arms. Every sob was a stab in his heart; so much power yet he was powerless against these tears.
The warmth of her brother was comforting. She breathed in his scent, the smell of the man who helped her through the hardest days of her life.
“You don’t have to be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
Her hands clenched on his shirt like a lifeline and her eyes were shut tight as if to block out the images in her head, images of the past that she didn’t want to face alone.
“Can you stay with me until I fall asleep, Silas?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
He nodded. Of course he would stay.
The hand in her hair soothed the tension in her shoulders. The air was quiet save for the sounds of her tears drying and his steady breaths. It didn’t take long for her to pass out. His lips were on her forehead again.
Standing up, Silas adjusted the blankets on the sleeping woman, her chest rising and falling slowly. The pang in his chest was heavy. How to help someone who didn’t want to be helped? He couldn’t do anything for his sister-in-law other than give her a place in his family, a roof over her head and a shoulder to cry on but she deserved so much more: she was his family even if they weren’t related by blood.
Shaking his head he left the room and closed the door, his hand resting on the handle for a second.