One True Love

by Barbara Freethy

  "You can do it. You can," Nick repeated forcefully.

  "What if I screw up again? Maggie should never have left her children with me."

  "Get a grip, Lisa. We've got more important things to deal with than your insecurity," Nick said sharply.

  Lisa bristled with anger, directed both at herself and at him. But Nick was right. Lifting her chin, she said. "Call the doctor, Nick. His number is on the dresser in Maggie's room."

  Nick disappeared, and Mary Bea threw her arms around Lisa's neck, burying her face in Lisa's chest.

  "It's okay, honey," she told Mary Bea. "We're going to make you feel better as soon as we can."

  "The nurse wants to know if the pain is in the stomach or the abdomen," Nick said, returning to the room with the phone.

  Lisa adjusted Mary Bea so she could gently touch the girl's stomach. "Does it hurt here?" she asked Mary Bea, pressing slightly on the upper stomach.

  Mary Bea whimpered slightly. Lisa ran her hand down lower on the right side. "How about here?"

  Mary Bea screamed as if Lisa had cut her with a knife.

  "Her abdomen," Nick said into the phone, retreating to the doorway so he could hear the nurse's advice over Mary Bea's screams. "Right side." He listened for a moment than looked at Lisa. "Does she have a temp?"

  "An hour ago it was still one hundred."

  Nick relayed that information to the nurse. "Has she thrown up?"

  "Only the one time, a few hours ago. But tell her the pain has been going on for hours,"

  Once again, Nick repeated her comments. He waited, then put a hand over the phone. "She's checking with the doctor."

  Lisa felt like every second they waited was an eternity, when in reality it was probably just a few moments.

  "Don't go. Don't leave me," Mary Bea moaned as Lisa tried to settle her more comfortably on the pillows.

  "I'm not going anywhere. I will not leave you, not for one second."

  "Do you promise?" Mary Bea asked, her eyes filled with fear.

  Lisa couldn't find the words. Could she promise to stay? What if Mary Bea got worse? What if it turned out to be like the last time? Wasn't this exactly why she didn't want to have children, so she wouldn't have to face these situations, wouldn't have to make a terrifying dash to the hospital, wouldn't have to be afraid that someone she loved, someone who counted on her to protect them, was going to die?

  But Mary Bea was not going to die. She was a healthy little girl with a stomachache. Lisa tried to convince herself that's all it was, but deep down she knew it was more than that.

  "The doctor said to take her to the Emergency Room at Children's Hospital," Nick said a moment later. "She might have appendicitis.

  Fear slammed into her like an onrushing wave. But she couldn't let it knock her down. She drew in a sharp breath. "Okay, we're going to take you to see the doctor, honey."

  Mary Bea nodded through her tears. "You're coming with me?"

  "Yes. Uncle Nick is going to carry you down to the car, and I'm going to grab the information your mother left us."

  * * *

  Nick drove as quickly as possible to the hospital in San Diego. Fortunately, it was the middle of the afternoon and they didn't hit much traffic. Mary Bea cried uncontrollably, gasping for breath at times, her face turning red and wet and sticky from tears and sweat. Lisa tried to comfort her as best she could, all the while, terrifying images of the past running through her mind.

  She once again heard her baby's cry. Then the silence. Nick had convinced her that Robin had gone to sleep -- at last. He'd asked her to come to bed. She could see him, sitting there in bed, his bare chest, his hand reaching out to her, desire in his eyes. They'd made love with a hunger that came from not getting enough of each other since the birth of their child. When she'd checked on Robin an hour later, the baby had looked so still, so peaceful.

  Too peaceful, too still.

  Robin lay on her stomach, her face turned to the side, one cheek pressed against the mattress. Her dark hair lay sweaty and matted against her small head. One of her little fists was pressed to her mouth as if she had shoved it against her lips to stop her own cries.

  Lisa remembered bending over, trying to catch the sound of Robin's breath, watching her back to see if it was moving, convincing herself that it would be okay. But she couldn't see or hear anything, so she'd poked the baby with her finger, a nasty little poke, she still thought, cruel to wake a child up just to see if she was breathing.

  Robin hadn't woken up. She hadn't opened her eyes or cried.

  That's when she'd screamed, a piercing, anguished scream. Nick had run into the room in a panic, asking her what the hell was wrong. Lisa closed her eyes against the memories, the pain.

  She could still hear the siren on the ambulance, still see those two hulking men pounding on her tiny baby's chest. She could feel Nick's arm restraining her from running forward in a desperate attempt to blow her own breath into Robin's body.

  "Oh, God!" she said out loud. "It feels like the last time we made this trip."

  "It's not the same, Lisa," Nick said tightly, his fingers gripping the steering wheel like a lifeline.

  She wanted to believe him, but she knew how little power they had. She hadn't prayed in eight years. Today, she inwardly cried out for help. Please God, don't take Mary Bea, too.

  Nick pulled into the parking lot outside the Emergency Room. Lisa carried Mary Bea inside. They filled out forms and within minutes were on their way to an exam room.

  Lisa tried to lay Mary Bea down on the table, but the little girl refused to let go.

  "It's okay," the nurse said. "It might be easier if you just hold her for the moment. I understand her mother is away."

  "Yes. I'm her aunt, and this is her uncle."

  Nick couldn't believe how calmly Lisa said the words, tying them together the way they used to be -- aunt and uncle, husband and wife. He knew Mary Bea's illness was taking its toll on Lisa, that she was reliving the past, because he was right there with her. But this time would be different.

  The nurse took Mary's Bea temperature, jotted down something in a chart and then said the doctor would be in soon.

  As they waited, Lisa spoke to Mary Bea in a soothing voice, stroking her hair, and comforting her as best she could. Nick wished for the hundredth time that he'd told Maggie that Mary Bea was sick when she'd called earlier. Then she would be here now, holding her daughter. Not that Lisa wasn't doing a damn good job considering how scared she was. But Mary Bea needed her mother.

  He paced around the small room. "Where is the damn doctor?"

  Lisa simply shrugged.

  "I feel so damn helpless," he muttered.

  "Me, too," she said quietly.

  The door finally opened, and the doctor entered. He was in his early thirties and wore an outrageous red tie with puppies all over it. He smiled at Mary Bea.

  "You've got a bad tummy ache, I hear," he said kindly.

  Mary Bea blinked away some tears and stared at the doctor. "Hurts."

  "I bet it does." He squatted so he could look into Mary Bea's eyes. "I need you to do me a big favor. I want you to lie down on the table over here so I can see where it hurts."

  "No. I want Aunt Lisa." Mary Bea hugged Lisa more tightly.

  "Well, Aunt Lisa will stand right next to you and squeeze your hand really, really tight. What do you think of my puppies?" He flicked his tie in front of her.

  "Silly tie," Mary Bea said.

  "Really? I have one with hamburgers on it, too. And I have one with the Little Mermaid. I bet you like the Little Mermaid."

  Mary Bea's arms loosened as the doctor talked, and Nick could hardly believe his eyes when the doctor lifted Mary Bea out of Lisa's arms and laid her down on the table. As promised, Lisa took Mary Bea's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

  The doctor continued to talk about cartoons and movies and dolls. He seemed to know quite a bit about little girls. First, he checked Mary Bea's throat, ears and glands, th
en worked his way down to her chest and stomach and, finally, the abdomen. He carefully avoided the right side, starting with the left, pressing gently here and there, and asking if it hurt.

  He slowly worked his way over to the right side, and as soon as he did so, Mary Bea shrieked, her eyes suddenly wild with pain. The doctor eased up, but continued the examination for another very long minute.

  Nick had to force himself not to drag the man away from Mary Bea, He knew the examination had to be done, but he couldn't stand to see his niece in so much pain.

  Finally, the doctor finished. "We need to run a few tests, but I believe she has appendicitis, and should have her appendix removed."

  Nick swallowed hard. "Is surgery absolutely necessary?"

  "We should know within the next half hour."

  * * *

  An hour later Mary Bea was in surgery and Nick and Lisa had been relegated to another waiting room. They stared at each other for a long moment and then Nick opened his arms. Lisa didn't need any further encouragement. She slipped her hands around his waist and buried her face in the curve of his neck. The sweetly familiar embrace almost undid him. His emotions threatened to spill out, love, anger, fear, regret racing through his body. She'd been his wife, his lover, his best friend and then somehow his enemy.

  Lisa lifted her head, her face pale, her eyes tense. "I can't believe we're here again, standing in a hospital, wondering, waiting... I didn't think I'd ever be in this position again."

  "You did good."

  "I was trying to hold it together for Mary Bea."

  "You succeeded."

  "After a shaky start."

  "You found your feet pretty quickly."

  She gave him a long look, then slipped out of his arms. "You were good, too, Nick. I'm glad you were with me." She sat down in a hard chair. "Now, we wait."

  He sat down next to her and stretched out his legs. "At least we know what we're dealing with this time."

  "Yeah. Mary Bea can live a long, happy life without her appendix." She glanced down at her watch, and then grabbed her cell phone to see if Maggie had called, but there were no messages. "I really wish your sister was here."

  "Me, too. But she'll call in sometime."

  "I'll ask my mother to pick up Dylan from school and Roxy has a ride home. My mother can make them dinner."

  "It sounds like a plan," he said.

  Silence fell between them for a long minute, then Lisa said, "If you need to go back to work --"

  "No, I'm not leaving you, Lisa."

  She gazed back at him for a long minute, but he couldn't begin to figure out what she was thinking. "All right," she said finally. "I'd like for you to stay."

  "Good, because that's what I'm doing." He paused. "What about your work?"

  "I can't think about that now," she said with a dismissive wave.

  "Your boyfriend won't care?"

  Something flashed through her eyes. "I'm sure he'll understand. He's a good man, Nick."

  He nodded. "Maybe he is, but I still don't think you're in love with him."

  She averted her gaze as she played with her very large engagement ring.

  "But you didn't need me to tell you that, did you?" he added.

  She jerked to her feet. "I'm going to get some coffee." Pausing, she said, "and just for the record, maybe I do tend to leave first, but did it ever occur to you that it's usually because you drive me away?"

  Yeah, it occurred to me, he thought, but she was already gone.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Maggie used Jeremy's phone to call home later that day, but she got the answering machine. Lisa and Nick were probably picking the kids up from their various activities.

  "Hi, it's me," she said cheerfully. "I just wanted to see how everyone is doing. I love you guys. I'm blowing you a kiss. Here's one for Roxy, my smart teenager, who I hope isn't giving Aunt Lisa any gray hair. Here's one for Dylan, my big boy -- don't play too many video games. And here's one for Mary Bea, my sweet baby. Love and hugs to all of you..." Her voice caught in her throat as she thought about the kids and how much she missed them, but she wasn't just doing this for herself -- she was doing it for them, too. If Keith was still alive... "Anyway," she said, knowing she was running out of time. "Lisa, I hope it's okay that you stay with the kids. If it's not, make Nick stay. I hope you guys understand. I have to do this. I'll call again when I know more. Bye."

  Maggie hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and headed toward the winery entrance where Jeremy was waiting.

  He sat on a bench outside a train station. This particular winery was built on top of a hill, and a small open-air train took visitors up and down to the winery. Since it was a Monday, the visitors were sparse, and aside from the ticket taker, Jeremy was the only one in sight.

  He smiled when he saw her, that slow, knowing smile that made her heart catch, her stomach clench and a thrill run down her spine. She was becoming addicted to his smile, to the look of desire in his eyes.

  With him she was simply a woman and not somebody's mother. It had been a long time since she'd felt that way. Not that she didn't love her kids, she told herself again. But somehow in the hoopla of marriage and kids, she'd lost a bit of herself, and she was just now getting it back -- with Jeremy, a handsome stranger. Who would have thought she could have attracted a man like him?

  Jeremy stood up as she approached. "Ready for more wine?"

  "You might have to carry me before we're through."

  "Promise?"

  She laughed at his devilish smile. "I weigh more than you think."

  "I'm stronger than you think." He playfully flexed a muscle as he winked at her.

  "You are so great. Why hasn't some woman snatched you up before now? There must be something you're not telling me, some deep, dark secret of why you're still available at the age of what -- thirty-three?"

  Jeremy shook his head. "Hey, I'm only thirty. Don't age me like that."

  Thirty? He was younger than her by a year. Younger. She suddenly felt the gap was about twenty years instead of one. She'd been married. She'd had children. A lifetime of experience separated them.

  Jeremy's eyes turned serious. "What's the problem? You don't like thirty-year-olds?"

  "I'm thirty-one."

  "Ooh, an older woman."

  Maggie tried to smile but couldn't. She took her ticket out of his hand and walked over to the train entrance. "We better go. It's getting late, and I want to check this place out before it closes."

  Jeremy stepped into the waiting train and sat down across from her. They were both silent as the train lurched out of the station, then up the hill to the winery.

  "Do you really think a year makes that much difference?'' Jeremy asked.

  "No, of course not." It wasn't the year; it was everything else he didn't know.

  "Something is bothering you."

  "I'm just moody. See, you're starting to get to know me, and the bloom is already off the rose," she said, drumming her fingers on the seat beside her.

  Jeremy got up and sat down next to her. Before she could say another word he leaned over and kissed her. It was a hot, lush kiss, more potent than the wine they'd tasted earlier.

  Jeremy's hand worked its way inside her collar, his fingers warm against her skin. She moaned as his tongue slid into her mouth, tasting him as he was tasting her.

  "You're driving me mad," Jeremy whispered, as he bit down gently on the tip of her earlobe.

  Maggie closed her eyes against a bolt of sensation that hit every erogenous point in her body, leaving her tingling, wanting.

  When she opened her eyes, Jeremy was staring at her. "I want to make love to you."

  "There are things--"

  He cut her off with a finger against her lips. "That I don't know about you. There are things you don't know about me. For instance, I really enjoy making love."

  Maggie swallowed hard. "That's -- that's good."

  "It can be very good. Especially with a woman who is willin
g to explore."

  "Explore what?" she asked, feeling both excited and dismayed by his titillating words.

  "Explore the ways a man and a woman can find pleasure."

  "Would these ways be painful?"

  He smiled. "Am I scaring you?"

  "You're turning me on," she admitted. "But I'm not -- I'm not all that experienced."

  "You don't have to be experienced, just attracted, interested, willing. You know I want you," he said bluntly. "You know I came with you because I want you."

  "Yes." Maggie licked her lips, then gasped as Jeremy's tongue followed the same motion as hers.

  He trailed his lips down the side of her face, her neck, her collarbone. He undid the top button of her dress so his tongue could drawl a swirl of pleasure along the curve of her breast, until she wanted to rip her shirt open so he could have better access to the parts of her that wanted his greedy, hungry mouth.

  The train jerked to a stop.

  "What -- what happened?" Maggie gasped.

  "I don't know, but I'm sure we'll get going in a moment."

  They were halfway up the hill, not a soul in sight. "How long do you think it will take before we start moving?"

  "A few minutes probably."

  "I feel so vulnerable."

  "Don't think about it. Think about this." He kissed her again, his hand moving against her chest, unbuttoning two more buttons on her dress. His hand slipped inside, cupping her breast. After a heart-stopping moment, his fingers pulled aside the lacy cups of her bra and caressed her bare skin.

  Maggie would have gasped with pleasure, but Jeremy's mouth made a mockery of every other kiss she'd ever received. His fingers worked magic against her breast. She completely forgot about where they were and put both arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

  His mouth left hers, and she almost begged him to come back, until she felt his fingers unhooking the front clasp of her bra. His mouth replaced his fingers in the valley of breasts, the curve of one, then the other, finally settling in on the center of her being, feeling, tugging, tasting, sending electric shocks throughout every part of her body.