For the first time in years…
Naomi slept without fear.
Not deeply.
Not peacefully.
But enough to close her eyes without wondering whether Gabriel would stop breathing before morning.
The doctors monitored him constantly now.
Machines surrounded his bed.
Nurses moved quietly through the halls at all hours.
Everything Naomi had once prayed for…
was finally happening.
And somehow—
that terrified her.
Because miracles are dangerous when they arrive too late.
The Baker estate moved differently from the world Naomi knew.
Everything was polished.
Controlled.
Elegant.
Even silence sounded expensive there.
Naomi still struggled to understand how Gabriel belonged to a place like this.
The unconscious man she loved had:
built wooden chairs with his hands
carried water from rivers
laughed beside village fires
slept beneath leaking roofs beside her
But here…
people called him:
“Mr. Gabriel Baker.”
As if he had always belonged among wealth and power.
Naomi sat quietly beside his bed while doctors discussed treatment plans nearby.
Most of their words went over her head.
Medical terms.
Procedures.
Probabilities.
But one sentence stayed with her.
“He’s responding.”
Naomi immediately looked up.
Responding.
Her heart began beating painfully fast.
The older doctor adjusted his glasses carefully while reviewing the charts.
“Brain activity has improved significantly.”
Eleanor stood nearby silently gripping the edge of a table.
“Are you saying he’ll wake up?” she asked weakly.
The doctor hesitated.
Then nodded slowly.
“We believe there’s a strong possibility.”
Naomi’s entire body froze.
For years…
those were the words she begged heaven to hear.
And now suddenly—
they were real....