Vegas Miracle
Page 15
"Look, I’ll give you a hundred dollar bill if you jump this fucking sidewalk and get me there," he growled at the driver.
The kid glanced back at him. "You a doctor or somethin'?"
"No, but I’ll pretend to be and you’ll be a hundred dollars richer. Make it happen."
The driver shrugged, looked once in his rearview and swerved up onto the wide sidewalk, laying on the horn, scattering pedestrians like geese. Ryan grabbed the arm rest and clenched his teeth against the onrushing panic. When the driver pulled up to the hospital entrance, Ryan threw a hundred and two twenties at the kid and jumped out.
He spotted Henri in the hallway of the surgical recovery floor, his dark face drawn. Gesturing with a jerk of his head, he indicated Grace’s room leaving Ryan to brush past him and shove the door open. Grace was there, white and still on the huge bed. Her father and sister were on either side of her, holding her hands and they both looked up when he entered. Grace’s father Joe, smiled in relief at the sight of him. Alice frowned.
"What have you done?" she asked, rising from her seat.
"Alice," her father snapped. "Let the man absorb what happened before you start blaming him for anything." He stood and choked back a sob as he stared at his daughter’s pallid face.
Ignoring him, Ryan sat and touched Grace’s hand. She stirred.
"Ryan?" her voice was raw. "Ryan?"
He sat on the bed and hauled her into his arms.
"Oh God, baby, yes. I’m here, I promise. I came as fast as I…" Grace heaved a sob, cutting him off.
"Oh, it hurts so much." she grimaced and Alice ran out the door for the nurse. Grace leaned back into Ryan’s shoulder as the metal band around his chest slowly loosened. Holding his wife as she sobbed from rage and remorse, Ryan resolved then and there to try harder to be the man she needed him to be. His two days of utter panicked travel, sedative-soaked dreams on planes, the pain behind his eyes as he could feel something dreadfully wrong with her, it proved it to him. They were meant to be together. He’d do anything to make it work.
Joe looked up when Henri stuck his head in the door.
"This young man brought her and called us, Ryan. He says he runs your restaurant or something?" Joe looked confused at the looks his son-in-law exchanged with the handsome young man standing at the foot of his daughter’s bed. Ryan held one arm out, inviting Henri into it. He collapsed there, breathing heavy.
"Jesus, Ryan it was awful. We went out and ate, danced, had some fun, you know, as much as she could. I drank too much, passed out on the bed. At some point, she fainted and hit her head in the bathroom. I woke up, wandered in and nearly fucking tripped over her—ah!" Henri took a deep breath. "Doctors say she lost a lot of blood, she got a huge transfusion. The baby was ectopic, outside her uterus. That's why she was in so much pain. She never had a chance."
Ryan shut his eyes and held them both. Aware of his father-in-law’s stare, he was never more grateful for Grace’s sister. Alice pulled a nurse into the room claiming her sister needed pain killers. She took one look at Grace, cradled by her handsome husband who held an equally good-looking man in the other arm and smiled.
"C’mon dad, let’s leave them a while." She shot Ryan a look and he mouthed "thank you" to her as she left.
Grace gripped the arm Ryan had around her.
"Henri?"
Ryan kissed her hair. "Yes, darling he’s right here."
Henri moved around to the other side of the bed and she grabbed his hand. Henri stared first at her then up at Ryan. Grace hiccupped and was quiet.
"Sleep now, my sweet," Henri murmured in her ear. "I told you he’d come back. He knew you needed him. That we needed him." Henri put his free hand on Ryan’s face. Ryan kissed it then started to move away, to give Grace some room in the bed. The nurse gave them all a bored glance before shooting morphine into Grace’s IV line.
"No!" Grace gulped out. "Don’t leave. Hold me. Someone just hold me."
Henri scooted into the small space on Grace’s other side and propped up on his side as he ran a finger down her now flushed face. Ryan heard her pathetic cry of pain and desperation, so similar to that of the one in his dream and felt as his heart split into two shattered pieces. Was he too late? Would she ever forgive him? He sighed and looked up at Henri. The man’s face was inscrutable. Ryan swallowed hard and buried his nose in Grace’s hair, praying to whatever was holy to be able to fix this mess.
Epilogue
"Liam!" Grace yelled, shielding her eyes from the sun’s glare. Her son’s small form leapt up into his father’s arms as the nurse shark circled Ryan’s legs. Grace sometimes hated the extreme wildlife experiences they got at this beach in southern France but vacationing here was idyllic otherwise. Ryan lifted Liam onto his shoulders and walked along the edge of the bright blue Mediterranean. Trevor, Alice’s husband, walked beside him, little Gracie up on his shoulders as the two men cast long shadows on the beach.
Grace leaned back and tried to get comfortable in her too-soft lounge chair. She picked up her laptop, balancing it on her eight-month pregnant belly. The French nanny they’d brought along screeched as Grace’s other nieces tried to bury her in sand, giving up on the massive sand castle they’d been constructing with Henri. He strolled over, took the computer off Grace’s stomach and kissed it.
"No radiation on my baby, please." He flopped down beside her and pulled strawberries and sliced mangoes from the picnic basket, feeding them to her a bite at a time. He kissed her sunburned lips.
"Mmmmm," Grace murmured, her body reacting to his touch. She stretched and readjusted herself. "Ow! Jesus," she muttered after a particularly hard wallop to her kidneys.
"Here, let me," Henri gestured for her to turn onto her side. His strong hands kneaded her spine, loosening her up and forcing the baby to shift downward and off whatever organs he was currently trampling. He moved close, kissing her neck and shoulder before running a hand up to her swollen breasts, making her nipples get painfully hard. She moaned and pressed her thighs together. Henri trailed his hand down her bare belly, then back up, cupping her breasts.
"God woman but I could fuck you just like this," he whispered. "You game?"
She smiled and shifted her hips back a little to let him lie alongside her and press his erection against her ass. Still nipping at her neck, he laughed as the baby gave his hand a shove.
"Ah my darling, little Marie, she wants to meet her Papa," he whispered in Grace’s ear. Her whole body flushed.
"Good God, will you two get a room," Alice threw herself into the lounge chair on Grace’s other side and smiled at her sister. "Pass me the fruit, lover boy."
Henri sighed and rolled over, pulling a towel over his Speedo to hide the bulge. "Your sister, she's very bossy," he grumbled but grinned at Alice as he handed over the bowl of bright orange and red morsels.
"I’m just jealous," Alice claimed around a mouthful of fruit. "Handsome, rich husband, plus hot celebrity chef other husband. What sister wouldn’t want that for herself," she grinned wickedly at Grace who rolled her eyes as Henri laughed.
"Jules, they are as high maintenance as shit, I assure you." She winced and rolled over pulling herself up to sitting in time to catch her son’s seal-wet form as he launched into her lap, Ryan coming up behind him.
"Etes-vous dans la douleur, Maman?" She ran a hand through his dark blonde hair. His familiar piercing blue stare made her catch a breath.
"No darling, I’m fine. Just uncomfortable. Like before you were born."
Ryan laughed and sat at the foot of Henri’s chair, grabbing a water bottle from the cooler.
"Son, your mother was a real joy to be around before you were born. And I’m guessing this next month will be just as fun."
"Merde," Henri muttered.
"Yeah? Well you big strong men carry this around for a few months and see how cheerful you feel," she heaved a pillow at Henri and aimed a kick at Ryan.
Ryan pulled Liam into his lap and Grace smiled. The
boy clung to his father, chattering in his ear as Ryan listened, sipping at his water, his eyes trained on Grace. The man doted on his son and Liam worshipped his father. It wasn’t always easy, but Ryan made every effort to be fair and fun and in charge, in equal measure.
With Henri’s lighter hand and Grace’s organization, the four of them managed their life together just fine. Liam Christophe Sullivan was a happy, energetic and creative little boy adored by anyone who met him. Marie Alice Cristophe was due in about four weeks, not a minute too soon as far as Grace was concerned.
"Hey!" Alice called out. "Your agent just sent the new author bio for the books."
Grace’s series had shifted, becoming a trilogy beginning in a small Michigan town the day a young boy found his brother dead in the garage, a victim of fatherly bullying. It hit best seller lists with a vengeance and the new editions had a changed author bio, written by Grace herself.
She read it aloud:
"Grace Christophe Sullivan lives with her family in Paris and Nice, France. When she isn’t visiting her sister in Detroit or her father in South Carolina, she’s enjoying America’s Playground, Las Vegas, home of her own personal miracle."
The new photo featured Grace sitting on a windswept beach in the south of France, framed between Ryan and Henri, their arms around each other. The photographer had caught them in a moment of pure laughter, which made all their faces shine.
The End
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Copyright
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue