The Thrill of You

by Celeste O. Norfleet

  “I have a sledgehammer headache and my chest feels like an anvil is sitting on it, but I’m sure I look worse than I feel,” she said slowly. She held up her bandaged wrist and looked at it, then dropped it heavily back to her side and winced.

  “You look beautiful, as usual.”

  “Liar,” she joked.

  “I would never lie to you,” he said earnestly.

  “So, I hear it’s official. You’re gonna be a father,” she said, smiling. It was obvious the medication to help her sleep was working.

  “Yeah, we did it.” She placed their hands on her stomach. They smiled, quietly pleased. “Mikhail, about what happened today—”

  “We’ll talk about it later. Right now you need to rest and not get stressed out. That’s an order.”

  “Still trying to run my life,” she said, yawning.

  “Yes, this time I definitely am,” he confessed.

  She shook her head. “Remind me to be mad at you later.”

  He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll remind you.” He picked up her hand and kissed it.

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  “Late.”

  “I need to get out of here,” she said sleepily.

  “No. You need to stay exactly where you are and get well. I’ll take care of everything else.”

  “You can’t.”

  “Yes, I can and I will.”

  She nodded slowly and smiled happily. “You said you loved me.”

  “Yes, I did. I do love you.”

  “Good, because I love you, too,” she muttered softly.

  “I think it’s time we should talk about the third condition to our deal,” he said.

  She opened her hooded eyes and chuckled. “You have lousy timing. You wait until I ram a car into a tree, explode an air bag in my face and can barely focus on speaking to talk about the third condition?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.”

  She grinned. “Okay, what is it?”

  “Will you marry me?”

  She didn’t speak. A single tear slid down her cheek as she reached up to touch the side of his face. She softly closed her eyes.

  “We’ll talk later—get some rest.” He stood and walked over to the door to leave.

  “Mikhail,” she called quietly. He turned quickly and came back to the side of the bed. “Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”

  “Yes, of course I will,” he said, softly kissing her cheek.

  “Thank you.” She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, smiling. A few minutes later she slept.

  Mikhail stayed another few hours. He sat by her bedside the whole time just in case she woke up again. Fitful at first, now her stillness and even breathing showed she was resting peacefully.

  He stood, leaned over and kissed her lips tenderly. He smiled and kissed her stomach. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he whispered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stunning black diamond ring. He carefully adjusted and pulled back the bandage on her hand and wrist and placed the ring on her finger. “You probably won’t remember any of this and that’s okay. As long as you know I love you.”

  When Mikhail left that night, he didn’t go home; instead he headed to the marina. He left Cisco a message telling him he needed some equipment. He went to his office and began doing what he did best, reconnaissance. In his former occupation he’d been an intel specialist. His job was to go in, acquire live usable intel and then exit. He had numerous unnamed sources and informants on just about every level. If there was information, he got it. Two hours later he learned what he needed. There was a planned insertion into Central America with an extraction team on board. He had all intentions of joining that operation.

  He made a few calls and finally got the answer he wanted. The plan included transportation, satellite pinpoint intel and enough munitions just in case they ran into trouble. He gathered his gear to move out. Just before dawn he headed to the dock with his bags to load his boat and get to the designated location. It wasn’t surprising that Cisco showed up dressed and ready. “Hey, I thought you might be going fishing, so I figured I’d tag along. You haven’t done this in a while.”

  “I still have my skills and I’m gonna need you to keep an eye on the shop,” Mikhail said, “I might be a while.”

  “It’s my day off,” Cisco said, dropping one of his bags. “And I feel like going fishing.”

  Mikhail knew trying to talk Cisco out of something was futile. He nodded. Cisco tossed his other bag up. Mikhail caught it and dropped it on deck next to his.

  “You have a way in?” Cisco asked.

  “Yeah, I made a few calls. There’s an active mission out of Miami, headed to Panama in thirty-six hours. I’m gonna shadow their mission, then do a cargo drop. I have a jump seat lined up. I’m sure I can get one more.”

  “And getting to the site?” Cisco asked.

  “I have a friend in the camp. He’ll hook us up.”

  “Sounds good, but there might be a small problem with the first part of the plan. The thing is word got out that you were going fishing and a couple of old buddies wanted to come with.”

  “What couple of old buddies?” Mikhail asked.

  Cisco grinned at the headlights turning into the parking lot. “Looks like you have company.”

  Mikhail glanced at his watch. It was a few minutes after five in the morning and way too early for Jumper, Luther, Fannie or any boating clients to be coming in. The vehicle’s headlights turned off before it stopped. Three men got out and began walking down the dock toward them.

  “Harper, Stone and Dyson,” Cisco said.

  “I wonder how they found out I was going fishing.”

  “I might have mentioned it to them in passing. So, you’re gonna have to nix the jump seats. Harper arranged for a UH-60 Black Hawk pickup off the coast of Cutter Island in two hours. They’re gonna take us directly to the camp. Stone has some new satellite recon gadgets he wants to try out. He’s got a fixed location on positioning.”

  “Sounds like you have it all worked out,” Mikhail said. Cisco nodded. “And what about Dyson—what’s he bringing to the table?”

  Cisco shrugged and chuckled. “Dyson was just bored at home and wanted a little action.”

  Mikhail shook his head as his friends walked down the dock to the boat. “Well, I guess we’ll see what we can do about that.” A half hour later they were cutting through waves headed west to Cutter Island.

  Chapter 14

  Midmorning the next day, Cyanna opened her eyes and looked around. The thick haze in her head slowly began to clear, leaving a pounding headache in its place. She was in a hospital room; that much was clear. But she had no idea how she’d gotten there. The curtains were drawn. Through a haze, her memory started to clear—the car, the tree and “Mikhail,” she whispered.

  She focused harder, cutting through the fog. She remembered people talking about a car accident. What she did know for sure was that her head was pounding and every muscle in her body ached. She reached up and touched her forehead, then saw the bandage on her hand and wrist. A spike of pain shot through her as she lowered her arm gently back to the raised pillow. Her wrist hurt, and her fingers were numb. She took a deep breath and then released it slowly. The pain subsided.

  She remembered the argument she’d had with Mikhail. Then she remembered Colombia. He didn’t want her to go to Bogotá to help her brother. Derek was alive. She ran out of the house and got in the car and that’s when everything seemed to get blurry. She fainted. But there was more. She looked up at the large bouquets of flowers sitting on shelf behind the two chairs. One had a yellow satin ribbon that read, “Congratulations.”

  A few seconds later there was a knock on the door. “Yes, I’m awake. Come in,” she said.<
br />
  The door opened. A woman stuck her head in the room smiling. “Good morning,” she said softly. “I don’t know if you remember me. My name is Shauna Coles. Dominik, Mikhail’s brother, is my husband.”

  Cyanna smiled. “Yes, of course I remember you. We met when Mia and Stephen had their baby about a month ago. Good morning.”

  Shauna, carrying a large shopping bag, came all the way into the room and stood by the bed. “How are you feeling?” she asked, glancing at the monitors.

  “I’m a little sore. But I guess that’s to be expected.”

  Shauna nodded. “I’m sure the soreness will be gone soon. Oh, I brought something—your purse from the car. I thought you might want some of your own things and of course your cell phone. I’d be completely lost if I went all morning without my cell. I hope you don’t mind, it was beeping, so I charged it for you.”

  “No, not at all, thank you so much,” Cyanna said.

  Shauna placed the cell phone on the serving tray angled across the bed, then turned and put her purse in the closet.

  Cyanna quickly glanced at her phone messages. There was a missed call and two messages from Donna but nothing from Gil Upton.

  Shauna turned and noted the slight frown on Cyanna’s face. “I hope there was no bad news.”

  “No, I was just expecting a call with some information. I haven’t gotten it yet. I really appreciate you bringing my purse.”

  “No problem, it’s my pleasure,” Shauna said, admiring the flowers.

  “No, really, it was very thoughtful of you.”

  “Well, of course. You’re part of the family.

  “Actually, I’m not really part of the family. My baby is.”

  “Believe me, Cyanna, you are, as well.”

  “I don’t know, maybe one day,” Cyanna said wishfully. “Maybe.”

  “Cyanna, listen to me. I’ve been a loner all my life. I was an only child and all of a sudden I was an orphan. I wasn’t used to family and closeness, but as soon as I met and married Dominik I became part of the most loving family I could ever imagine. There’s a siblinghood that’s like nothing you’ll ever feel. The Coles family is extremely close. When one is hurting, we all feel it. You’re part of this family now.”

  They continued talking about the Coles and who was married to whom and who had children. Then they talked about their lives and were surprised at how much they had in common. Shauna told her about her job in the hospital, and Cyanna told Shauna about her life on the road performing. An hour passed quickly.

  There was another knock on the door. “Come in,” Cyanna said.

  Dominik walked in and smiled happily at his wife. “Hello, ladies,” he said, then walked over to Shauna. He kissed her lovingly.

  She returned his loving gesture, smiling. “We were just talking about you, well, more specifically, the Coles family siblings.”

  Dominik chuckled. “I hope it was good things.”

  “Yes, all good things,” Shauna assured him, smiling at Cyanna. “Well, now that your doctor is here, I’m gonna get back to work.” She turned to Cyanna. “Call me if you need anything or get lonely up here. We’ll talk later.”

  Cyanna smiled. “I will, and thanks for everything.”

  Shauna winked at her new husband. “Stop by when you get a chance, Doc,” she said to him, then walked out.

  “She’s a wonderful woman,” Cyanna said.

  Dominik nodded as he washed and dried his hands. “Yes, she is. She’s the love of my life,” he said. He tossed the paper towel into the trash can and walked over to the hospital bed. “So, how are you feeling today?”

  “My memory is clearing, but my wrist hurts like crazy. I can barely hold my hand up without throbbing pain.”

  “Understandably, although the accident was relatively minor, the injuries you sustained are common due to air bag deployment. You have bruises, a few abrasions, and you have a sprained wrist, which will—”

  “Wait, a sprain?” she said anxiously as her heart jumped and her stomach clenched. “But I play a violin for a living. How am I going to perform if I can’t even hold an instrument?”

  “Cyanna, you need to calm down.”

  “Calm down, are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how many classical musicians have had their careers ended by a simple sprain?” She held up her hand to show him, then winced in pain. “Oh my God, how am I ever going to perform? I can’t. My career is over. I’ll never be able to—”

  “All right, all right, calm down. Your hormones and your adrenaline is running high right now. There’s no need to get upset. You’ll be back to playing the violin in a few weeks without any loss of function as long as you take care of it now. We’ll do our part. You’ll need to do yours.”

  “Yes, I will. Okay.”

  “Now, as I was saying, you have very minor tear damage to the ligament.”

  “I guess that would explain the pain,” she said.

  “Yes,” he said as he carefully lifted her wrapped hand to examine the wrist. She winced as he slowly pulled the gauze wrappings down. He saw the ring that Mikhail told him that he had put on her finger. “It looks good. Leave the bandage on and keep your arm elevated—we’ll do the rest. Any other pains?” he asked.

  Cyanna also told him about her persistent throbbing headache. He explained that the accident and her high blood pressure were more than likely the culprits and that she should be feeling better in a few days. He talked to her about the baby’s health and the high blood pressure’s effect on both her and the fetus. He also reminded her of the best ways to combat her high blood pressure. Since she was physically healthy, exercised regularly, didn’t drink or smoke, ate well and basically took care of herself, she needed to reduce all stress levels and added anxiety in her life.

  She nodded her understanding. “So, when can I get out of here?” she asked.

  “Don’t tell me you’re ready to leave us already,” he joked.

  “I just have things to do, important things that need my attention,” she said.

  “I’m sure there’s nothing so important that it can’t wait a few days.”

  “It can’t,” she said earnestly.

  “Cyanna, I’m not sure you understand what I’m saying to you.”

  “Doctor, Dominik, I understand what you’re saying but—”

  “Cyanna, there is no but, and no exceptions. I’m not only talking to you as a medical professional. I’m also speaking as a soon-to-be uncle. Whatever you think you need to do that adds stress to your life right now, don’t do it. The weight of the world does not rest on your shoulders alone. Trust me on this. Let it go. Let others take care of it, at least for right now.”

  She sighed heavily, nodding. There was no way she’d jeopardize her child. “I understand.”

  “Good, now get some rest. I’ll stop back later.”

  As soon as Dominik left, Cyanna called Donna.

  “Hey, I tried calling you and left a couple of messages. I didn’t get an answer, so I assumed you were traveling. Are you in South America?”

  “No, actually I’m in the hospital.”

  “You’re what?”

  “I’m fine, I’m fine. I had a little car accident.”

  “Where, when, how?”

  “Great questions. I think I fainted behind the wheel while driving and I crashed a rental car into a tree.”

  “Oh my God, Cyanna, you could have been killed. Okay, how injured are you? What are the doctors saying?”

  “Like I said, I’m fine, but they found I have high blood pressure and I sprained my wrist when the air bag went off.”

  “Oh no, a sprained wrist,” Donna said softly.

  “It’s just pulled ligaments. And it’s my left hand, not my bow hand. The doctor said I should be as good as ne
w in a few days and even better in a few weeks. He actually said I’d be without any loss of function as long as I take care of it now.”

  “Well, by all means listen to the doctor and do exactly what he says.”

  “He also said it would be unwise to go to Bogotá.”

  “Yes, I definitely agree. To tell you the truth, I didn’t like the idea of you going to South America alone anyway. It sounded way too dangerous. What else did the doctor say?” Donna asked.

  “He confirmed that I’m pregnant.”

  “Oh, Cyanna, that’s wonderful,” she nearly shrieked with joy in the cell phone’s receiver. “This is fantastic news. I’m gonna be an aunt. I can’t wait. I’m so happy for you and Mikhail, and I can’t wait to spoil my new niece or nephew.”

  Cyanna smiled happily. “I’m so happy, you can’t even imagine.”

  “I know Mikhail must be thrilled, as well. And I know he’ll make sure you listen to the doctor.”

  “The doctor just happens to be his brother,” Cyanna said.

  “Even better, there’s nothing like a doctor in the family.”

  There was a knock on the door and a nurse peeked in and smiled. “Donna, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”

  The rest of the day was relatively quiet. She rested and listened to music and watched mindless TV. At one point she nodded off and dreamed Mikhail was there with her. He was standing beside her bed, holding her hand. He told her that everything would be okay and that she needed to take care of herself and the baby. But when she woke up he wasn’t there.

  The dream wasn’t real, but this was. She rubbed her stomach gently and smiled. This was why she had come to Key West. She finally had exactly what she wanted, a child. She lay in bed, thinking about when she could have conceived. She hoped it was the night on the boat beneath the stars. There was something about that night that had changed her. Now it wasn’t so much about having a baby as it was about having a family.

  Mikhail would always be part of her family even if she wasn’t part of his. She remembered waking up in the middle of the night and seeing Mikhail standing over her bed. They had talked, but she had no idea what about. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone. She hadn’t seen him since. By midnight she realized he wasn’t coming to see her.