The surgery was going to take several hours. That was what concerned the doctor so much—the stress of the surgery on Nathan’s already worn out body. But as the minutes ticked by, so did their hope. No one, not one member of his family, wanted to see the man die, but he’d better straighten his act up or there would be hell to pay.
“Let’s take a walk.” Demi nearly leapt from the chair she was in when he made the suggestion. They were at the elevator when his mom joined them, asking if it was all right that she did. “Of course. I just thought a breath of fresh air might be good.”
They were outside in the little park when Mom started talking. It was as if she had piled up everything she wanted to say in one breath. The dialogue started out about the baby and ended up with Nathan and Astrid.
“I’m sorry. I’ve had that on my mind for some time.” Demi said she could tell and hugged her. “The things that woman said to you. I just cannot believe that you are from the same gene pool. I’ve heard that said before, several times on the television but I never understood it until this very moment. My goodness, she is a horrid person, isn’t she? But I have to say, had your father not gotten to her before me, she would have been in some serious hurt.”
“She and Nathan have always been that way. I haven’t any idea why. I mean, other than my mom would egg them on a great deal. She would even watch over them as they beat the shit out of me. But why me? I haven’t any idea.” Demi leaned back,
closing her eyes to the sun shining on her face. “I never knew my father all that well. He passed away when I was about five. My grandmother had the most amazing stories about him as a child. But as he grew older, married to Abrielle, he became this person she didn’t know. Not like them, but somewhat a shell of his former self. Grandma told me once that I was nothing like him. He was a man who waited for things to come to him. He wasn’t lazy, but he wasn’t that ambitious either. Grandma blamed that on being battened down by marriage to his wife.”
“Have you always called her by her first name? Your mother, I mean.” Lucian had noticed that the other two called their mother Mommy, like they were still children and hadn’t grown up. Before Demi could answer him, a nurse came out to tell them that the doctor wished to see them. They were in the elevator when Demi answered him.
“Yes, always. I mean, I might have called her mom at first, but she told me that she didn’t want to be my mother and hated me, so I shouldn’t be allowed to call her something that she wasn’t. So, I’ve been calling her by her first name since I was...I guess I was about seven when I was told to call her Abrielle.” Lucian took her hand when she reached for his. “Do you think he didn’t make it? Astrid is going to have a fit if he didn’t.”
“You let me handle Astrid. You just deal with the doctor, all right?” She nodded at him and told him that she loved him. “And I love you as well. Forever.”
Everyone was standing near an open door when they got off the elevator. Astrid was there too, shouting out orders to anyone that would listen to her. No one was, apparently, so Lucian ignored her as well. She was telling people that he’d better have the best or she’d have their jobs. Like that was going to happen.
“The surgery went as well as can be expected. His heart was in worse shape than we first thought it would be. He now has a pacemaker, as well as some other equipment to make his heart beat stronger—at least until we can get the weight off of him. Some of his bowel was badly damaged, and we had to remove a large portion of it before we could operate on his heart. It would have infected everything that we’ve done had we not.” Demi said that she understood. Astrid was wailing again, talking about how they’d ruined her brother, when one of his own brothers took her away. She was silent after that, much to the happiness of the rest of them. “He will need to be in the hospital for a while. Rehabilitation is going to be long and hard for him. Nathan will need to learn to eat better. Someone here will teach him to take his medications for his diabetes and other issues he’ll have. Not to say that he’s out of the woods. The next forty-eight hours will be difficult for all of you.”
The doctor suggested that they go home, and Demi said that she’d like that. After making sure that the doctor had her phone number and that the front desk did as well, they went to find Astrid. She was sitting next to Ian, who was holding her hand very tightly. Lucian was sure that Astrid was in pain, but she only sat there.
“We’re going home.” Her sister looked at Demi when she spoke. “You can stay or not, I don’t really care. But it’s been a really long day, and I just—”
“You’re not going to just leave him here, are you?” Demi asked her what she thought she could do by staying. “He’s your fucking brother. You have to stay with
him. You weren’t there when Mommy died. The least you can do is be by my side when
I lose the only family I have left.”
“In the event that it escaped that addled mind of yours, I’m your sister. And why would you assume that he’s going to die? The doctor explained— Oh wait, you missed it because you’re a fucking cunt. And I don’t use that word often, Astrid, but you bring out the worst in me too. I’ll pay for the hotel for two more nights for you. After that, you’ll be on your own.”
Astrid looked around at his family. “Did you hear that? See what sort of sister she is? My brother is lying in the other room, more than likely dying because of her, and she won’t even foot the bill for me so that I can stay close to him.” Astrid looked at Lucian.
“It’s not too late for you to run. I would if I were you, before she murders you as well.”
“I love her. And with the baby coming along, I couldn’t be more—”
“Baby? You’re having a baby? Mother fuck, you have to be the stupidest person alive, Demi. A baby? Christ, the next thing you’ll be telling me is that you’re going to bury my brother next to a city dump. And think that’s where he belongs.” Astrid started laughing. It was maniacal and scary. Demi smiled at him and said she was ready to go. “Just go. Abandon us in our hour of need. Isn’t that what you always do?”
Demi asked, politely, for him to wait one moment. He was sure she was going to tell her sister off—it was no less than Astrid deserved. But when Demi drew back, punching the heavy woman, who fell back and broke three chairs while she was at it,
Demi turned to them and said if they were ready, so was she.
No one said a word as they rode down in the elevator. There wasn’t a word spoken as they walked to the parking garage and found their cars. But as soon as Demi and he were in their car, she broke down. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done not to be able to fix how she was feeling right now.
She cried for most of the ride home. He asked her, several times, if he could do anything, and she finally told him to give her time. Lucian knew that everyone had their breaking point, and apparently, Demi had hit hers today.
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” He glanced at her when she spoke as he drove. “I did nothing but try my best to make things better for all of them, at a great cost to myself. Not money. There was quite a bit, but that wasn’t it. It hurt me in ways that I couldn’t talk to anyone about. They never cared for me. None of them. Abrielle did at the end, but it was too little too late, I think. And now this. Now I’m being accused once again of holding back on what I could provide for them. Not once, not in all my life, did any of them say to me, ‘Thanks.’ Or even, ‘What can I do to repay you?’ The lottery ticket, I suppose, would be something, but again, it was too little too late.”
“She gave the money to you because she knew that Nathan and Astrid would have pissed it all away. I’m not saying that it was right of Abrielle to treat you that way, but she did find it in her heart to help someone else at the end.” Demi agreed with him, telling him that the money would go a long way in helping people. “And this might not be such a big deal, but it seems that your grandma and mother might have made up at the end.”
“No, they didn’t. Grandma went to visit her a few
times, but it was never cordial.
Mostly they fought over my mother’s treatment of me. But at some point, they did talk,
Grandma told me. It was then that Abrielle told her that she’d won the lottery and her plans for it. That was when Grandma told her about me. Before, Abrielle would ask and all Grandma would tell her was that I was doing well. I guess it was quite a shock to
Abrielle that I’d done so well.” He asked if she’d asked about getting money from her.
“No. Grandma thought it was then that Abrielle figured out how she was getting such good care. And the house was up to date on taxes and such. Lucian, it felt wonderful hitting Astrid, but also sad. I don’t want to be like them.”
“Never. You’ll never be like them. You want to know why I know that? Because you have a giving and wonderful heart. But as I said, everyone has a breaking point, and you hit yours. I’m just surprised that you hadn’t hit it long before now.” They both laughed and pulled up in front of the house. “I was just thinking. Why don’t we not go home, finish our shopping, have a nice dinner in town, and stay nearer the hospital? It’ll do us both some good to be able to do something different.”
“All right. I love that.” Lucian started the car and stopped backing around when she said his name. “I want you to change me. I don’t know if you can do it while I’m having a baby, but soon, all right?”
“Yes, all right. I’ll talk to my parents and see about how it could harm the baby, and we’ll work it out.”
He moved down the long drive as Demi called the house to tell them what they were doing. When she laid back on the seat, closing her eyes, Lucian knew that they were going to have to deal with Astrid sooner rather than later. She was, as his dad would say, off her noodle.
Chapter 10
Nathan felt like opening his eyes was the most exhausting thing he’d ever done. He wasn’t sure where he was or what had happened, but when he finally got one of them opened, he still had no idea where he was.
“Hello, Nathan.” He tried to think who the woman was standing next to him. “It’s
Demi. You’ve been out for a few days. Are you going to stay awake this time?”
“What?” That was all he could manage to get out. His head felt like it had been pulled off and set aside for now, and he couldn’t move his arms or legs. He opened his eyes when Demi said his name again. “What hap—?”
“You had a heart attack twelve days ago. Do you remember that?” He couldn’t shake his head, but she seemed to understand. “You came to see me in the store, and
Lucian, my husband, helped you until help got there. You’re very lucky to be alive.”
He tried to move his arms, and she told him that he had been fighting people and had to be restrained. Demi told him that if he was awake for more than ten minutes and promised to be good, she’d have them released. Nathan was just too tired to fight and let himself drift away again.
The next time he opened his eyes, Nathan felt a little better. At least he was able to open his eyes easily, he thought. Looking around the room, he saw Demi asleep on a recliner, as well as a man that he vaguely remembered. He was awake and watching him.
“Lucian. Demi’s husband.” He remembered some of the time in the store now, but not a great deal. “Demi is resting. She’s been here since you were taken off life support a few days ago. She needs to be here, and if you make her cry again, all the meds in the world will not take away the hurt I put you in.”
“Sorry.” Lucian nodded and picked up the chair he had been in and brought it close to the bed. “I don’t hurt too much. Am I all right?”
“No. Not by a long shot. You have been into surgery twice since they brought you in. Once to repair your heart as best they could. The second time to take care of some damage that happened because you’re a type two diabetic, and you’ve not taken care of yourself.” He knew that. His last doctor’s appointment had revealed that to him. “I’m to understand that you knew you were a diabetic.”
“Yes. Didn’t care so much. I should have, but I didn’t.” Lucian didn’t say anything, but Nathan had a feeling that he had a lot to tell him. He was just trying to figure out how to say it. “Demi all right?”
“Yes. She’s worn out, as you can imagine. As I said before, she’s been here since you were put into this room. By the way, she’s paying for all this, so you’d better be grateful to her and not piss me off.”
“Grateful? What do you mean, be grateful to her?” Lucian said that he had already been an ungrateful shit and had been all her life. “I’m not sure I remember anything recent. I know that I have been mean to her before. But she made it easy.” He thought about that. “I’m sorry. Not right. I made it easy for me.”
“Are you having a change of heart about Demi?” Was he? Probably not. Just the drugs, he told himself. “Not that it matters one way or the other. You are going to see some changes when you get out of here. But not for a while yet. You’ve lost your right leg. I’m not being cruel about how I’m telling you this, but I’m trying to break things to you easily.”
“That’s not a funny joke.” Lucian didn’t laugh. Nathan tried to sit up and look down his body, but it was too much for him. “What happened to my body? I think you’ve done something to me. Demi did this, didn’t she? She had them hurt me so that
I’ll leave her alone. Well, it won’t work.”
“And there is the real Nathan.” He didn’t understand that, but Demi spoke, and both him and Lucian turned to look at her. She did look tired, but she’d hurt him, and he was going to make her pay.
“I was just telling him about the loss of his leg.”
“You didn’t take care of yourself, and they had to remove it before a clot that was there broke from the ones in your leg and killed you.” He told Demi that she lied. “Why would I do something like that when you can fucking look down at yourself and see that I’m not?”
He tried again to look, and this time Lucian helped him. There was blood on the sheets, and he couldn’t see his foot sticking up like the other one was. Then he looked at the rest of his body. He was bleeding through the sheets at his belly too. Nathan looked at Demi, terrified out of his mind over what she’d done to him.
“I’ve done nothing, Nathan. You knew that this could happen when you decided to eat several hundred dollars’ worth of candy and alcohol at the hotel. Then there was before. You ate whatever you could shovel into your mouth, and now you’re paying the price.” He told her again that she lied. “What do I have to do to get you to believe that your leg, from the knee down, is gone? Help you walk? That won’t help you at all.
You’ll just fall on your fat ass. Listen to me, you fucking moron. You’re fucking going to die if you don’t start taking responsibility for yourself and pay attention to your body.”
He’d made her cry. Glancing at Lucian, he wondered if he would blame him for this. Demi had done all this to him, and now she was getting upset. Nathan said her name and she looked at him. For a moment, just a short one, he could see her pain, just as he had when she’d been younger, and he’d beaten her. But he shoved those feelings away when he thought of Astrid.
“Where is my sister? The one that never did a thing to me but be my friend?” Demi looked at Lucian, then at him. “What? Did you do something to her too? You fucking bitch. I swear, when I’m out of here, I’m going to murder you.”
“She’s gone.” He asked where she’d gone. “She’s dead, Nathan. Four days ago.
Astrid went into a bank with a gun and tried to rob it. The police had no choice but to kill her or be killed.”
“No. Why must you keep lying to me, Demi? What have I ever done to you that would make you say things like this about my only sister?” He looked at Lucian when he made a low sound. “You were nothing to me. Nor Astrid. You’re just doing this to be
mean and cruel, when you know that you’ve cheated us out of everything all along. Go away. I don’t want to ever see you again. Send my sister in
too.”
Nathan could see Demi crying, but it didn’t matter to him. She wasn’t nice. He’d never done a thing to her that would make her want to lie so cruelly to him.
Just before the door shut on them, Demi came back. He knew it—it was all a great big lie.
“Nathan, I’ll pay the bills until you’re out of the hospital. I know that you think that
I owe you something, but I’m finished with you. There will be nothing for you from now on. And if you come near me or mine, I will have you arrested. This time I will press charges too. While you laid there, suffering and in pain, all I could think about was that you might have a change of heart, that you might just be able to make room for me in yours. But I can see now that not only was I a fool for thinking that, but also one for trying to be a good sister all along.” Nathan wanted to scream at her that she’d never been anything to him or his sister. “I guess that all I’ve been to you, ever, is someone you could knock around and steal from when you thought I had anything. I’m so sorry. Sorry that you’ll never know my children, that you’ll never know my heart, and most importantly, you’ll never understand what it is to truly be loved by someone and to love them back. Goodbye, Nathan. I won’t wish you good will. You’ve used that all up.”
After she was gone, he sat up again in the bed. The blood was worse now. He didn’t know how she’d made his foot so he’d not be able to see it, but he’d get to the bottom of it. Or Astrid would. Leaning back on the bed, he used the button on the side to call the nurse. When she came in, he asked for Astrid.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Morgan. We were told that you knew that she’d passed away. Her funeral was just yesterday. Would you like for me to bring you a copy of the paper to read about it?” He laughed, wondering at the lengths someone would go to to make his heart hurt. He told her that would be nice. “I’ll be in after I finish up my rounds. Do you need anything?”
Lucian: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance Page 12
