The Fortuity Duet

by Rochelle Paige

  “That was nothing,” she laughed. “By the time they let me out of here, I’ll resemble a pin cushion. I swear the hospital only hires vampires.”

  “Vampires who saved your life,” I reminded her.

  “Only because of your parents and brother. I never would’ve made it without his kidney.” She rested her hand over her side, and I laid mine over hers.

  “Thank goodness the doctor who came to talk to them about organ donation was familiar with your case.” I went on to share with her the story my parents had told me about how they would only agree to donate Declan’s organs if one of his kidneys went to her.

  “Wow.” She looked as stunned as I’d been when they explained it all. “And your mom had no idea who I was when we met?”

  “She said it was as much of a surprise to her as it was to us. The doctor never used your name or how old you were. He didn’t even say if you were a boy or a girl, so she had no way of knowing it was you.”

  She curled up on her side and tucked her arm under the pillow. “That’s crazy.”

  “Almost as crazy as them lying to me all this time about how Declan died.” Because yeah…even with everything going on with Faith’s health, that still stung like a motherfucker.

  “Shit,” she gasped. “I’m the worst girlfriend ever. I didn’t even ask you why they did it.”

  “Apparently, I was too fragile to handle the truth.”

  “Dillon.”

  “I know,” I sighed. “I sound bitter because I am. I get that I was in an awful place back then.”

  “And so were they.”

  “Yeah, and so were they. But it’s been five years, Faith. That’s a long damn time for them to keep a secret like this from me. They should’ve told me before now. And if you hadn’t stumbled across the truth the way you had, I’m not sure they ever would’ve said anything. I might never have known the truth about Declan, and that’s hard as fuck to accept.”

  “Even you have to admit that you weren’t in the best place most of that time,” she reminded me. “You were gambling and getting into fights right up until we met.”

  “It was one fight,” I groaned. “And not even really a fight fight. More like a couple of punches were thrown. That was it.”

  “And where exactly have you been all this time if you only talked to your parents today about what happened?”

  “Gambling and drinking,” I grumbled.

  She stared at me with raised eyebrows. “And your point about being able to handle the truth is...”

  “Yeah, I know. In a way, I understand why they made the decision they did. But it’s going to take a little time to move past this with them because they broke my trust.” It hurt a fucking lot each time I thought about how long they’d lied to me.

  “Building trust again seems to be a theme today.”

  “It does.” I bent over and kissed her cheek. “I guess if you can forgive me and give me a chance to earn back your trust, then that’s the least I can do for them.”

  “That makes me happy.” She smiled at me, her eyes gleaming with a soft look. “I love how you and your parents are together, and I’d hate for anything to destroy that. You’re all lucky to have each other.”

  “We’re lucky,” I corrected. “You’re mine, which means my family is yours.”

  “I guess.”

  She didn’t look like she fully believed what I was saying, but that was okay because I had time to convince her. “I’m going to get you to the place where you know it the same way I do.”

  “We’ll see,” she laughed. “But I need you to back up a minute. Did you say you were gambling and drinking?”

  “Yeah, it looks like neither of us did well apart from each other.”

  “Remember that the next time you’re tempted to walk away from me.”

  “There won’t be a next time.” I knew she’d meant it to sound like a joke, but I heard the underlying thread of fear in her tone. I only had myself to blame for it, and it’d take time for me to prove to her that she had nothing to be anxious about when it came to me. “And no more drinking like that. For either of us. We have kidneys to keep healthy.”

  Her lips tilted up at the edges again. “Both of us do.”

  “Yup, I’ve got to take good care of your backup.” I patted my sides.

  She shook her head. “It’s weird, isn’t it? All the coincidences that led up to us meeting.”

  “It sure as shit is.”

  But even with as lucky as we’d been with those coincidences, I could do without any more of them.

  11

  Dillon

  “You’ve gotta have faith.”

  I didn’t recognize the feminine voice, but Faith seemed to know who the nurse standing in the doorway was. She beamed a smile at her. “What’re you doing down here? The pediatrics unit is three floors up.”

  “I heard a rumor that you were admitted, and I thought I’d come down and check on you.”

  “Ahh, the hospital rumor mill,” Faith laughed. “I don’t miss being on this end of it, but I wouldn’t mind being brought up to date on all the gossip I’ve missed. Did that hot resident ever hook up with the nurse who was always following him around like a lost puppy dog?”

  “Hot resident?” I repeated with a glare aimed Faith’s way.

  “He was like a decade older than me, and I haven’t seen him in five years.” Faith poked me in the chest. “So there’s no need for your macho act.”

  “No, please. Carry on. I’m loving this.” The nurse moved further into the room, rubbing her hands together and smiling at us. “This is even better than I thought it would be when I heard Faith had a boy with her.”

  “The grapevine must’ve been working extra hard,” Faith sighed. “We’ve barely been here for a couple of hours.”

  The nurse shrugged. “You know how it is.”

  “Especially since you’re the biggest gossip in this place.”

  The nurse didn’t look the least bit bothered by Faith’s accusation as her smile grew bigger and she nodded. I rose to my feet and held out my hand to shake hers. “I’m Dillon Montgomery, Faith’s boyfriend.”

  “I’m Nurse Simpson, but you can call me Stacey since Faith isn’t one of my patients anymore.” She turned to Faith and wiggled her brows. “Not just a boy, but a boyfriend. And he’s hot, possessive, and has manners. I guess we don’t need to tell you to have faith anymore. You earned your college degree and fell in love. Seems like you’re making the most of the kidney you received.”

  Faith and I looked at each other and shook our heads. “You have no idea.”

  “Oooh, it sounds like there’s a juicy store here.” Stacey pulled the extra chair over to the other side of Faith’s bed and sat down. “I want all the details. Spill ‘em.”

  “And that’s my cue to leave you two alone.” I bent down to kiss Faith on the cheek after I stood. “Have fun gossiping with Stacey.”

  She grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. “You don’t have to go.”

  “Although it will make it easier to gossip about you,” Stacey drawled.

  “I won’t be gone long,” I promised. “I’m just going to head down to the cafeteria to grab a coffee and a snack. Do you want anything?”

  “She’s NPO until the rest of her results come back in case she needs a biopsy.”

  I didn’t understand what the nurse meant until Faith explained, “Nothing to eat or drink for me yet.”

  “Shit. Sorry. I’ll wait then.”

  “It’s fine, Dillon. I’m not even hungry. Don’t worry about me. Go grab something for yourself.”

  “If you’re sure?”

  She smiled up at me before pushing me away from the bed. “I’m positive. If you go now, you might still be able to grab breakfast.”

  “Which would be good since it’s the only decent food they serve around here,” Stacey added.

  My stomach growled, and they both giggled while pointing at the door. I heard the nurse say something about me
being sweet too, and I was glad to be out of there if I was going to be the main topic of conversation. I headed down to the cafeteria like I’d said I was going to do, and I was surprised to find a hot buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns. I made myself a plate, grabbed a cup of coffee, paid, and found a table in the corner. I needed to clear up space since my voicemail was full, so I started listening to my messages while I ate my breakfast.

  I quickly wished I hadn’t as I pushed my plate away after only a few bites because my appetite disappeared after listening to the first two voicemails from Faith. She sounded desperate to talk to me, and it only got worse from there as more time went on. I skipped over the messages from my parents and listened to all of the ones from Faith in order. I couldn’t bring myself to delete all of them, even though I didn’t think I could bear to play them ever again. But I never wanted to forget the damage I’d done with my carelessness. I kept a few of the worst ones in case I needed a reminder in the future.

  As I was listening to the messages my parents had left, a call came in from my dad’s phone number. My finger hovered over the button I needed to press to accept it, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. I wasn’t ready to talk to them yet, let alone face them again. And I knew if I told them where I was, they’d race over to the hospital to help in any way they could. It was just how they were. Plus, they loved Faith almost as much as I did. But even with all that, I needed more time. So I let the call go to voicemail and tried to choke down a few more bites of my breakfast since it’d been days since I’d eaten a real meal.

  When my phone rang again, I expected it to be my mom since I hadn’t answered my dad’s call and it wasn’t unheard of for them to tag-team parent like that. I was surprised when I glanced at the screen and saw Corey’s name instead. It’d been at least two months since we’d last talked, and he’d replied with text messages the last couple of times I’d tried calling him.

  “Dude, where the hell have you been?”

  “Sorry, man. My dad actually flew out here in April and things got super weird.”

  “Parents,” I sighed. “They sure can fuck things up.”

  “What the hell do you have to complain about? Your mom and dad are perfect.”

  “They fell off that pedestal pretty fucking hard,” I said before filling him in on everything that had happened over the past week.

  “Fucking A, dude. What the hell is up with parents and secrets lately?”

  I felt like an ass for dumping my problems on him when it was obvious he had his own shit going on in his life. “Were yours keeping something important from you too?”

  “That’s putting it mildly.” I heard a muffled thumping sound and had the impression he was banging his head against something.

  “You want to talk about it? I’ve got time,” I offered. “Faith is happily gossiping with a nurse upstairs, and I’m sure most of it is about me.”

  “Now’s not a great time for me because I’m at the airport waiting for my flight. We should be boarding soon, but I was calling to see if that offer was still good? For me to use my old room? I know you really did replace me with a new roomie. But I figure since Faith is bunking with you, it’s not like my room isn’t sitting empty.”

  Fuck, this was awkward. Corey was my best friend, and I’d totally meant it when I’d told him he could have his room back. But that was before Faith had moved in with me. Before we discovered the secret my parents were hiding from me. And before she got sick. It was absolute shit timing to even consider having my best friend move in with us.

  “Dude. Relax. I’m just fucking with you,” he laughed. “I can almost hear your brain getting ready to explode from halfway around the world.”

  “Asshole.”

  “What can I say? I had to at least give you a little bit of a hard time since you were so certain I was wrong about Faith moving in with you. I totally called it, man. You were apeshit over that girl from the moment you met.”

  “Still am.” And I always would be.

  “Thank fuck some things haven’t changed.” I couldn’t tell if he sounded more pissed or upset, and he didn’t give me the chance to ask. “Gotta go. They’re boarding now. I’m going to be wrapped up in family shit when I get back, but I promise I’ll be in touch.”

  “You better. And if things get really bad, you can crash at our place for a little while. I’m sure Faith will understand.”

  “Nah, I’ll be fine. If worse comes to worse, I’ll reach out to Gramps and ask him to get me a suite at one of the five-star hotels downtown. Room service and housekeeping make everything better, right?”

  What the hell? Things had to be royally fucked for Corey to even consider calling his grandfather and asking for help. As far as I knew he hadn’t talked with him since he was in high school. But before I had the chance to react, he disconnected the call and my phone started to ring again.

  When I saw Faith’s name pop up on the screen, I grabbed my tray and dumped the contents into the trash. Racing out the door, I answered, “You okay? I’m on my way back up.”

  “Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that Stacey just left and my nurse came by to let me know Dr. Stewart should be in to see me again any minute. My test results came back, and he’s looking them over now.”

  “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Do me a favor and ask him to wait until I get there if he beats me to your room?”

  “You clearly don’t remember what it was like to be in the hospital.” I easily pictured Faith rolling her eyes as she spoke. “Any minute really means sometime in the next hour.”

  “With my luck lately, he’ll be there and gone before the elevator even comes,” I grumbled.

  “Yeah, those are notoriously slow too. But don’t worry. I’ll stall him if a miracle occurs and he shows up before you do.”

  It was a good thing I’d asked her to wait because that miracle did happen, and Dr. Stewart was with Faith in her room when I made it upstairs. “Did I miss anything?”

  “Not a thing. Faith insisted that I couldn’t start until you were back.”

  “Thanks.” I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before I sat down on the chair next to her. “How’d she do?”

  “Better than I expected.”

  He proceeded to rattle off a bunch of medical jargon that I could barely follow and didn’t really understand. But I did recognize what Faith’s grin meant. “So the kidney’s okay?”

  “It’s not in acute rejection, but I’m still going to keep her overnight while we help get her back to one-hundred percent. She’s also going to need to follow-up with me in my office next week, and we’re going back to at least monthly blood draws for the near future.”

  “See? Vampires,” Faith groaned.

  “I wouldn’t have to pull the vampire act if you’d taken better care of yourself and that kidney,” Dr. Stewart chastised her. “And remembered that only a moderate amount of alcohol is okay. No overdoing it like this again.”

  “I know. It won’t happen again. I’ll take my pills on time and follow my diet to the letter. Whatever it takes.”

  “It better not,” he grumbled.

  “I’ll be there to make sure it doesn’t,” I promised. “But if the worst ever does come to pass, at least we know that I can donate one of my kidneys to her.”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that,” Dr. Stewart drawled.

  “What do you mean? I should be a perfect match since Declan was my identical twin and he was her donor.”

  “True.” He nodded. “I haven’t gotten the results from your screenings back yet, but I don’t anticipate there being a matching issue.”

  I had two kidneys, should be a match, and was willing to donate to Faith. I didn’t understand what could possibly be complicated about that. “Then what’s the problem?”

  “It’s your medical history. More specifically, your heart transplant.”

  My hand pressed against my chest, right over the scar that’d been there when I woke
up from my coma. The one my parents had explained was because of the surgery I’d needed due to some damage caused by the accident. But nobody had ever said a word about a transplant. I stared blindly at the doctor, not really seeing him as my brain put the pieces of the puzzle together.

  Declan had died the day before I woke up.

  My parents had agreed to donate his organs.

  I’d had a heart transplant.

  But I hadn’t needed to take any of the anti-rejection medications that were vital to Faith’s health after her kidney transplant.

  Declan had been my twin.

  With identical DNA.

  “Holy fuck.”

  12

  Faith

  Dillon looked like he was about ready to fall off his chair. His skin had paled, and his eyes looked glassy. His chest started to rise and fall rapidly, and Dr. Stewart swiftly moved to his side.

  “Put your head between your legs and try to take slow, deep breaths.” He pushed on his back until Dillon had done as he’d instructed. Then he lifted Dillon’s arm and pressed his fingers against the inside of his wrist. After a little while, he let go and stepped away. “Your pulse is good. Your breathing sounds better. Let’s get you up and make sure you’re okay.”

  “I need a minute. Please.” The words were practically torn from his throat, and I wanted to weep for the sorrow I heard in his tone. Dr. Stewart moved near the door, and we waited in silence for Dillon to absorb the shock of what he’d just learned. It took a good five to ten minutes before Dillon sat up and assured us he was okay.

  “You didn’t know about the transplant?” Dr. Stewart asked the question I already knew the answer to.

  “No,” Dillon and I answered in unison.

  “Dillon always thought his brother died during the car accident they were in,” I explained. “His parents hid the truth from him, and he didn’t find out until almost a week ago when we discovered that Declan was my donor.”

  “Only there must have been a hell of a lot more to the story than they admitted to when I talked to them this morning,” Dillon added. “Because they sure as shit didn’t mention anything about me getting Declan’s heart.”