Gideon could believe what he liked. She wasn't going anywhere.
Arabella rolled over and quickly fell into a doze. As she hovered on the edge of sleep, she was only vaguely aware of Gideon coming and going. Reality and her ever present dreams/memories blurred together. Sometimes she knew it was Gideon. Other times she was certain that Edgar was the one sitting on the edge of her bed. A few times she saw other people. Her estranged brothers. Sirius. Fabian. Even Albus with his sad yet still twinkling eyes.
Only once did she reach for the man so close to her and when Edgar's smile dissolved into Gideon's concern, she wept slow, hot, bitter tears. Tears of the type she'd become far too familiar with these past many months.