by Brenda Novak
He gave her a wry grin. “Valerie was quite a decorator.”
Valerie must have been a lot more than that. Thad looked both proud and lost when he said her name.
He showed her the rest of the house, all except for what lay behind one door next to the master suite. From the floor plan, Macy guessed it was another bedroom. Maybe Thad thought it was too messy. He’d already shown her his office, where he had a large desk, a computer and a couple of file cabinets, but perhaps he needed extra storage space. Probably there were files strewn everywhere.
Or maybe he’d created some sort of shrine to his dead wife.
That thought gave Macy the creeps, so she blamed it on an overactive imagination and shrugged it off.
“What kind of music do you like?” she asked when they returned to the living room.
He nodded toward a CD cabinet. “Pick something while I make us dinner.”
“Actually, I’d better get back to the hospital. Haley’s used to me being there most of the time.”
“Miss Angela’s with her, remember? I’m sure they’re doing fine. The hospital would beep you if there was a problem.”
Macy looked down at the pager she carried everywhere, double-checking what she already knew—the screen was blank. “Yeah.”
“Then let’s eat. It won’t take long.”
Bottles clinked in the kitchen. A fridge door opened and shut several times. Meanwhile, Macy put on a Garth Brooks CD and wandered around the living room, looking at the prints on the walls, the wood stacked in the brass holder next to the fireplace, the oak pendulum clock on the mantel. A table behind the sofa held a lamp, several Popular Mechanics magazines and a picture of Thad with a woman who had long brown hair and liquid chocolate eyes. Her skin was tanned to a honey gold, and she wore a one-piece bathing suit that showed off her incredible figure. They were on a boat or something—on their honeymoon? The wind was playing havoc with their hair, but Thad stood behind her, his cheek next to hers, his arms around her middle, and they were both laughing into the camera.
God, they looked happy.
Checking to make sure Thad was still occupied, Macy picked up the photograph so she could examine it more closely. The woman had a light dusting of freckles on her face, full lips, a pert nose. She was nothing short of beautiful. Macy tried to picture her pregnant, carrying Thad’s baby, and suffered a small twinge of envy. This woman had had it all. Few were so lucky.
Only, Valerie’s luck had run out. A drunk driver had—
“What would you like to drink?” Thad asked, poking his head out of the kitchen.
Macy nearly dropped the picture. His gaze lowered to what she held, then returned to her face. “That’s Valerie, my wife,” he said simply.
“I thought so.” She put the laughing couple back where she’d found them. “She was lovely.”
He retreated into the kitchen. “Sprite okay?” he asked a few moments later.
“Fine.” Rounding the couch, Macy sat down. The soft leather gave beneath her weight, molding to her and smelling the way good leather did. It was obviously an expensive couch. Far better than anything she’d ever owned. She leaned her head back on the soft cushion and closed her eyes, giving herself a minute to rest…. She was playing with Haley when she was a baby, blowing on her stomach to make her laugh, and Richard was there, handsome as ever, taking a video of Haley’s first birthday.
* * *
THAD CARRIED two plates piled high with the leftovers his sister, Deb, had sent home with him the night before into the dining area off the living room, then returned for their drinks before noticing that Macy had fallen asleep on the couch. He considered waking her so she could eat. He was certain she wasn’t getting enough nutrition in her diet. But she looked exhausted. The bones of her face were more prominent than ever, the dark circles beneath her eyes more pronounced. She was running herself ragged. It was better that she sleep.
He retrieved a quilt from the linen closet and covered her, then read the newspaper while he ate. She was still sleeping when he finished, so he went out to the car to get his briefcase. He’d brought some work home he needed to finish. But an hour later, he was done and Macy was still down for the count.
Again he considered waking her. He knew she wanted to get back to the hospital and feared Haley might need her. They’d been gone nearly three hours already. But Macy had snuggled into the quilt and was sleeping so soundly. Obviously she needed the rest.
He wrote her a quick note, telling her to call his cell phone when she woke up, and left it on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Then he found his car keys and slipped quietly out the back.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I THOUGHT MOMMY was coming,” Haley said when Thad walked into her room.
“She fell asleep, so I thought I’d keep you company. I thought maybe we could color together or something until she wakes up.”
“You know how to color?” she asked doubtfully.
“Definitely. I’m an ad executive. I do a lot of coloring, though most of it’s with words and not crayons.”
He pulled a package of changeable markers he’d bought at K-Mart out of his pocket, along with two Blue’s Clues coloring books, and wheeled the table she normally ate on over to the bed. “When did Miss Angela leave?”
“Just a little while ago.”
“What did the two of you do?”
“She read to me. And she did some finger puppets. I liked the puppets best.” She lifted her hand, wriggling first one finger, then the other, her voice climbing to a high pitch. “‘I’m building a house of straw’…‘Well, if you don’t let me in, I’ll huff, and I’ll puff—’”
“‘And I’ll blow the house in,’” Thad finished with her.
“You know that story?”
He smiled. “Any self-respecting adult knows The Three Little Pigs. Have you heard The Three Bears?”
“The one with Goldilocks?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Yeah.”
“Then I consider you a well-educated five-year-old.”
“But I hate porridge,” she added.
“That’s okay. So do I. I like cold cereal.”
“Me, too.”
“What’s your favorite kind?” He opened one of the coloring books and began to turn the pages, looking for something he’d like to color. She did the same.
“Fruity-Os.”
He wanted to grimace, but managed to keep a straight face. “Fruity-Os are good. What about Life?”
She shrugged. “Life’s okay, I guess.”
“Always had a good ad campaign, anyway,” he said, but she wasn’t listening. She’d landed on a picture of Blue at a birthday party and was breaking out the markers.
“It’s fun to color with you,” she announced after a few minutes of concentration. “I’m glad you’re going to be my daddy.”
Thad felt the same panic he’d experienced the first time she’d said something like that. But he smiled through it, telling himself she was just a sweet little girl, someone else’s sweet little girl. He couldn’t let himself get too close. Not when he’d be walking away in nine months.
“Look!” she announced, proudly showing him a multicolored Blue next to a purple birthday cake.
“That’s fabulous! Maybe you’ll grow up to be an artist.”
She smiled proudly and went back to work, but after a few minutes, Thad noticed her slowing down. Squinting, her breathing irregular, she finally slumped over her work.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, a prickle of fear climbing his spine.
“My head hurts.”
“Do you think I should call the nurse?”
“No,” she said, but Thad headed out of the room, anyway. He wasn’t going to take any chances.
“Nurse?” He waved to a woman sitting behind the desk at the nurses’ station.
She stood and came right away. “What is it?”
“Haley says her head is hurting. I was wondering if maybe she should be ch
ecked.”
The nurse followed him into the room to find Haley crying. Whipping out a thermometer, she took the child’s temperature, then frowned and shook her head. “She’s running a fever. I’m going to call the doctor.”
A few minutes later, an older, gray-haired man with a stethoscope around his neck entered the room.
“I’m Dr. Forte,” he said, nodding in Thad’s direction.
Haley didn’t seem to notice that the doctor had arrived. She was hugging herself and rocking.
“I’ll beep her mother,” Thad said, hoping he hadn’t made a grave mistake letting Macy sleep. “Where’s the number?”
The nurse gave it to him and he beeped Macy, then sat next to Haley’s bed, anxiously watching the doctor finish his exam while the nurse rushed around, getting some kind of medication started through what she called a central venous catheter. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“She’s got another blood infection,” the doctor replied. “We’re getting her on some antibiotics.”
Thad took Haley’s hand to let her know he was still with her, hoping to give her some comfort amid the pain. The moment he touched her, she reached out and clung to him. “Stay with me,” she pleaded. “Don’t go.”
* * *
THE SCENE THAT GREETED Macy when she hurried into Haley’s hospital room more than an hour later nearly knocked the wind out of her. The nurse had intercepted her long enough to tell her everything was okay, at least for now, but she’d still expected to find her daughter crying, wondering where her mommy was and why she’d been gone so long, or maybe suffering quietly while Thad paced the room, anxious for reinforcements.
Instead, she found her fiancé lying next to Haley on the bed, his arms holding her close, both of them sleeping peacefully.
Lisa was sitting at the foot of the bed, wearing her blue checker’s smock, reading a magazine.
Macy let the panic she’d felt during her mad rush to the hospital go in one deep breath, and just stood there, trying to stop shaking. Another close call, but Haley had managed to survive.
Lisa’s sympathetic smile told her she understood.
Macy indicated Thad with her head. “I’m in real trouble here, aren’t I?” she whispered.
Lisa followed her gaze. “If you call that trouble. It could also be a once-in-a-lifetime chance at happiness.”
“Maybe.” Macy shoved her hands in the pockets of her cargo pants. “He came here tonight on his own, you know, to baby-sit for me so I could sleep.”
“That’s pretty amazing.”
“Yeah, considering he barely knows us.”
Lisa put the magazine aside, gathered her purse and used her hands to push herself out of her seat. “He’s got a lot of compassion in him.” She lowered her voice even further. “Maybe you should rethink your relationship at some point. Not look at it as so temporary.”
Afraid Thad might awake and overhear their conversation, Macy waved her friend out into the hall. The nurse on duty glanced up and smiled as they emerged, but when she realized they didn’t need her, she went back to her work.
“I admit he has a certain appeal,” Macy said softly, “but I don’t think it would be wise to look at our relationship as anything but temporary. He’s still in love with his dead wife.”
“Time is on your side, Macy.”
“There’s nothing on my side right now, except how fiercely Haley is hanging on to life. Besides, you should see what I’m up against. His wife was—” she let her breath whistle through her teeth “—wow!”
“Pretty, hmm?”
“More than that. You can tell just from looking at her photograph that she was well-adjusted, fun-loving—the all-around everything kind of woman.”
“You got all of that from a picture?” Lisa scoffed. “It’s easy to idealize the dead, Macy. She’s not here to prove anyone wrong.”
Macy motioned for Lisa to keep her voice down. “Don’t you think he idealizes her?” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “I can’t compete with that.”
Lisa grunted. “I don’t care what you say—no one’s perfect.”
“That might be what your mind tells you, but his heart speaks a different language.”
“I think Thad Winters is smarter than you think.”
Macy stared at the tops of her white sneakers for a moment, considering, then changed the subject. “When did you get here?”
“Just a few minutes ago. The store was slow, so they let me go a half hour early, but things had settled down around here by then.”
“Did you meet Thad?”
“No, he and Haley were already asleep when I arrived, but the doctor said you were on your way, so I waited.”
Macy refrained from saying that Lisa took an awful lot for granted about a man she’d never even met, because, somehow, her friend was usually right about people. “I’m glad you were here. It’s good to see you, and—” she resisted the temptation to squirm “—I need the key to my house. I’m locked out.”
Lisa didn’t say anything, but her raised eyebrows were enough to make Macy defensive.
“If Thad hadn’t let himself into my house on at least two different occasions, I wouldn’t have had to remove the key,” she said, exasperated to find Lisa’s reaction very much what Thad’s had been.
“Yeah, you were up against a wall.” Lisa dug around in her purse. “Anyway, I have to go. Here’s your key. Fortunately I put it on my ring or we’d have to go to my house now.” She handed Macy the key, then enveloped her in a giant hug.
“Sometimes I feel so lost,” Macy admitted, wondering how she was going to survive if Haley died. “I just keep spinning and spinning, and then I get dizzy and scared.”
Lisa peeked around the corner at Thad and smiled. “I have a feeling that’s all about to change. You just need an anchor, kiddo.” Giving Macy’s arm a little squeeze, she left, her thick-soled shoes squishing as she disappeared down the hall.
* * *
SOMEONE WAS SHAKING him.
Thad blinked and looked around the dimly lit room, trying to place his surroundings. Machines, tubes, a sink…a small child in his arms. Haley.
He smiled at the memory of how brave she had been throughout the blood-infection ordeal and wanted to kiss her sweet, bald head, but her mother was standing over them.
“You can go home now, I’m here,” Macy murmured.
Thad gently extricated his arms and sat up, shaking his left hand to bring the blood back into it. “Have you talked to the doctor?”
She shook her head. “The nurse.”
“Is everything okay?”
“They think so.”
He sighed. “That was really scary.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. I was sleeping so soundly when my pager went off, it just became part of my dreams. The recurring vibrations took nearly twenty minutes to wake me. That’s never happened before.”
“You’ve probably never been so tired before.”
“Then I had to wait another half hour for a cab, and the drive here took twenty minutes. I thought I’d never make it.”
“Haley was a trouper,” Thad said, trying to reassure her. “Fortunately, the antibiotics started working right away, too.”
“Good.” She didn’t ask how he came to be holding her daughter, and Thad didn’t volunteer an explanation. What had happened in those last few minutes before he and Haley had dropped off into the oblivion of sleep had touched him in a profound way. He didn’t understand how or why, but being there for a suffering child who needed him had soothed away some of the residual pain in his heart as effectively as a good massage eases stiff muscles.
“It’s late. I’d better get going,” he said, covering a yawn and climbing to his feet as carefully as possible so he didn’t wake Haley. “What about you?”
“I’m going to stay here. They’ll bring me a rollaway if I want.”
Thad nodded, hesitant to leave for fear he’d wake in the morning to learn that Haley
had died in his absence. Standing vigil over a child so sick made one afraid to blink for fear she’d slip away. “What about your classes tomorrow?”
“I’ll go, if Haley’s feeling okay. Lisa gave me her key to my house, so I can get in and pick up my books.”
“Who will be here with her?” He nodded toward Haley.
“Lisa sometimes comes by in the mornings.”
“I could stop by, too, you know, just to check on her. The office is just down—”
“I know, but that’s okay.” She cleared her throat. “I really don’t think it’s wise for the two of you to get too attached.”
“Right.” He wondered if she was angry that he hadn’t woken her, that he’d come to the hospital himself. “Well, there’s still the problem that you don’t have a car here. If you’ll give me the keys, I’ll take a taxi to your house and bring your Pinto back.”
She looked as though she might argue, but after a moment, handed him the key to her house. “My car keys should be on the counter. Just park close to where we parked last time and put the keys under the floor mat when you get here.”
“All right.” He grinned at her. “Right after I make a copy.”
She rolled her eyes. “Just don’t leave me any more notes, okay?”
* * *
KEVIN HELPED HIMSELF to a beer, then nudged the refrigerator shut with his knee. “I can’t believe you’re going through with it. You’re going to marry a complete stranger—one with a sick kid.”
Thad took a pull of his own beer and grabbed a bag of corn chips out of the cupboard. “Yep, tomorrow.”
Kevin shook his head, then sauntered back into the living room to sink into one of the plaid chairs that flanked the couch. Thad followed him, traded the chips for the remote and settled back on the leather couch to flip through the zillion or so channels on his satellite system.
“You don’t have any problem with that?” Kevin asked when Thad didn’t say more.
