“Dr. Horvath?” the other doctor prompted.
“Yes, I’m coming now.”
With one last glance at Imogene, who nodded at him encouragingly, he followed the doctor behind the curtains. As a trauma surgeon, seeing a patient hooked up to monitors and having tubes running in and out of their body had been an everyday thing for him. Seeing his grandmother like that was quite another matter. He felt as if he’d abandoned all his medical experience on the other side of the curtain, leaving just the anxious grandson here in the cubicle with her. He hastened forward and took her hand, automatically checking the pulse at her wrist. Not as strong and steady as it should be, but there. He looked down on his grandmother’s wrinkled face and felt her mortality hit him square in the chest. They had to do everything to make her well again.
She’d persevered through so much—fleeing Hungary with her parents before the outbreak of World War II, settling into a new and foreign life in the States. Supporting her husband, Eduard, through the establishment of Horvath Aviation and subsequently expanding into the Horvath Corporation. Losing her beloved husband too early to a heart attack. Then losing two of her sons to the same congenital affliction soon after—his own father one of them. Through it all she’d done everything she could to hold her family together. And her family had a lot to be grateful for. They’d rally around to support her now that she needed them most. If she could just hang on.
Her eyes flickered open. “Valentin?”
“You’re in the hospital, Nagy. You’ve had a heart attack.”
“Stupid heart pills didn’t work,” she grumbled behind her oxygen mask.
Heart pills? He wondered how long she’d been taking medication and if anyone in the family knew. Likely not, he reasoned. Nagy was nothing if not fiercely proud and independent. A trait he’d exhibited himself a time or two.
“We’ll get you better, don’t worry.”
“Imogene?” There was a querulous note to her voice that concerned him. The last thing she needed now was any anxiety.
“She’s outside, waiting. Don’t worry. We’ll sort everything out.”
“Something I needed to tell you both,” she said weakly. “Important.”
Behind him he heard the arrival of the orderlies, ready to take her up to the ICU. “Later, Nagy. They need to get you settled on the ward now. We’ll talk later, okay? I promise.”
Her eyes slid closed and he stepped aside as the team gathered around his grandmother, attaching and reattaching monitors, before moving her out the cubicle and down the hall to the elevator.
“Excuse me, sir,” a nurse said as she bustled into the area. “We need to set up for our next patient.”
“Certainly, sorry,” he said and walked back toward the waiting area—to Imogene.
Would she still be there? He didn’t realize how tense he was until he saw her beautiful but pale face turn toward him. She rose and walked to meet him halfway. A symbol of their future? He hoped so with every cell in his body.
Sixteen
When they returned to the apartment, Imogene felt as if she’d been away from it for days, not merely a few hours. And if she felt that way, how did Valentin feel? she wondered.
“Can I get you something?” she said, moving toward the kitchen. “Dion’s bound to have some magical creation in the fridge if you’re hungry.”
“Maybe a sandwich,” he said, following her. “I’ll help.”
Despite their familiarity with each other and despite their proximity in the kitchen, Imogene couldn’t help feeling there was a massive gulf yawning between them. They needed to talk. She needed to tell him she was ready to accept a great deal of the blame that had led to their initial separation, not to mention the difficulties they’d faced since.
“Shall we take these through to the den?” she suggested as she cut the bread diagonally in halves.
“Good idea,” Valentin replied, picking up the tray with the plates on them and carrying it through.
They settled side by side on the massive sofa, each reaching for a sandwich and chewing in a continued awkward silence.
“So, they’re—”
“Imogene, I—”
They both started simultaneously, then laughed awkwardly.
“You first,” he said.
“I just wanted to ask about Alice. They’re doing surgery tomorrow?”
“She’ll have an angiography first, I imagine, to confirm their suspicions. Then surgery.”
“She’s strong, Valentin. She’ll pull through.”
“A lot of that will depend on the damage to her heart muscle but, yeah, she’s strong. Which reminds me. Before we talk, and I mean really talk, I need to let the family know what’s happened.”
“Of course,” Imogene said.
She watched as he scrolled through his phone, calling his eldest cousin, Ilya, first, then his brother, Galen. The other men agreed to let the rest of the family, mostly based on the West Coast, know about their matriarch. Valentin slid his phone onto the coffee table and leaned back on the sofa.
“Well, that went more easily than I anticipated.”
“It’s good that they’re all there for you. Families should always be like that.”
“Yes, but you didn’t have that growing up, did you?” Valentin said, obviously seizing the opportunity to turn the conversation toward the subject they’d both been so carefully stepping around.
“No, I didn’t. I admit, I didn’t realize until tonight exactly how much that altered my perception of everything. Of everyone. Including you.”
“Do you want to explain?” he prompted.
She pulled one leg up underneath her and turned to face him on the sofa. “I need to explain it to you. You’ve seen what my family is like. Isolated satellites, orbiting around each other. Occasionally living the same life in the same room, but that’s no life at all. Not for me, at least. If I were more like them, maybe I could handle that. But—”
“But you’re not like that at all,” Valentin interrupted. “You have too much heart. And I was too stupid to see that. Imogene, you have to believe me, I haven’t been conducting an affair with Carla under your nose or while we were apart. I didn’t do it in Africa. I didn’t do it here. In fact, since you, there’s been no one else—which has been mighty uncomfortable at times,” he said with an attempt at humor.
Imogene looked at him and knew he was telling her the truth. This proud, intense, focused man had more honor in his little finger than her father had in his entire body. Why had she been so reluctant to see that?
“Same,” she said softly. “I couldn’t bear the thought of someone else touching me, being with me. I knew I’d have to get over it eventually. I was prepared to push myself. I thought if I entered into a Match Made in Marriage I’d be paired with someone so compatible that the sexual side of the marriage would be a natural progression.”
“And it was,” he commented wryly.
“Yes, it was. It is,” she affirmed. “I know you weren’t unfaithful to me. I’m sorry I ever thought that you were capable of being so cruel and cavalier about the vows we made to each other. It’s easy to blame my parents but the fault lies with me. Rather than see the truth before my eyes, I went looking for trouble. Carla, it seems, was only too happy to provide it.”
“I wish I’d listened to you then. Properly listened. Understood how she made you feel.”
“How I allowed myself to feel,” Imogene corrected. “I need to own up to this. To take my life and my feelings and reactions back under my control. I gave her power over me back in Africa. And she made the most of it. Did you know you’re the only man ever to refuse her? That’s part of why she wanted you so badly.”
“We went out briefly, but like I said to you a long time ago, it burned out quickly. At least it did for me. I didn’t understand it, but she obviously never took my b
reaking things off with any finality, more as an abeyance—something to be resumed later.”
Imogene nodded in understanding. “I couldn’t believe it when she turned up tonight, especially after what you’d told me here at home. But I’m so sorry I believed her when she said she was pregnant with your baby. I just—” Her voice broke off and it took her a few moments to get her emotions under control. “I just felt so betrayed. I want children—our children—so very much, and to have her stand there and baldly announce she was having your baby? It just cut me in two. I would never stand in the way of anyone and their child the way my father’s mistresses have with me. I would have left you for that reason alone, so you could create a family with her and your baby.”
Imogene’s voice had grown thicker with every word until she was beyond speech. Tears began to roll down her cheeks and she swiped them away angrily. She didn’t want to be the kind of woman who used tears as a weapon or to manipulate a situation. She needed to be strong, for herself and for Valentin. Her distrust of him was a serious issue. One she needed to overcome. If she couldn’t, then what hope did they have?
“And that’s a part of what makes you so special, Genie,” Valentin said, moving closer and pulling her into his arms. “It’s one of the reasons I love you so much. You’re my everything. Did you know that? Since the day I met you, you’ve never been far from my thoughts. I admit I wasn’t the best husband the first time around, and I’m probably not doing such a great job this time around, either. I’ve needed to learn to put you first, before my work. It hasn’t been easy but I know we can do it. We can make our life together a rich one and we can build that family we both want together.
“Tonight consolidated that for me. When Nagy collapsed at the restaurant I was terrified that I was going to lose her. How on earth would I be able to explain that to my family? Me, a doctor, unable to do anything to save my own grandmother? I guess what they say about having a God complex is kind of true. So many times I’ve held people’s lives, literally, in my hands. But I’ve never been frightened about my ability to do what I’ve been trained to do until tonight, and going through that reminded me of how I felt when you left me. I didn’t know what to do. Logic should have told me to follow you home, to fight for you, but I did the only thing I knew I could be a success at—work. So I signed another contract, stayed in Africa another year, and when I got home I threw myself into Horvath Pharmaceuticals, doing everything I could to forget you. To forget my failure with you. But I failed at that as much as I had failed you in our marriage. I couldn’t forget you and I found I didn’t want to.”
He took in a deep breath before continuing. “Yes, I was angry when I saw that Nagy had paired us up at Port Ludlow. But most of all I was angry with myself because I had failed where she had succeeded. Despite how I felt about you, I never reached out to you, I never visited you here at home even though I knew you were most likely still here in New York. I made no effort and for that I am truly, deeply sorry. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave me now.
“Imogene, know this—I love you and I want you to be happy, but if you can’t bring yourself to trust me I know you’ll never be happy in our marriage. I know what love is now. And I know that I’m prepared to let you walk away from me again, rather than hold you to vows that neither of us were probably ready to make in the first place. I should have put you first then, too. Should have let you walk away from Nagy and her pressure on us, if that’s what you wanted. Instead, seeing you again reminded me all too viscerally of how much I still wanted you. I was prepared to do anything to persuade you to give us another chance, but I did that without considering what it would do to you if we failed again.”
“Valentin, I agreed to go ahead with our marriage. It was a mutual decision that day. Yes, my initial instinct was to run like hell in the opposite direction, but when push came to shove, I couldn’t do it. The moment I saw you, my body recognized you and was drawn to you. It’s always been that way between us, but that’s worked to our detriment, too.”
Valentin buried his face in her hair and inhaled the scent that always served to calm and incite him at the same time. It was that very juxtaposition that lay at the base of their union. Could they manage to work through that? Could they honestly make this a solid, tangible thing and move forward stronger than before? Or would they implode all over again?
“If you choose to stay with me, Imogene, I want you to know it’s forever this time. I won’t let you go again and I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you. If you can only love me in return and trust me to cherish and protect that love, I will ensure you never regret your decision for a moment. But if you can’t forgive me for the mistakes I’ve made in the past, for not listening to you, especially when it came to Carla, I will understand. I never really knew what love meant, aside from the family sense or from the physical side of things the first time we married. Not until I lost you. I don’t want to lose you again.”
Imogene shifted until she was facing Valentin. She could see the worry in his eyes that tonight’s episode had pushed her away—had exposed a yawning chasm in their relationship. And she could see his fear that they had no coming back after that. Her heart ached for all the unsaid words between them. For all the love she’d borne for him all these years but never been able to adequately express. She looked him deeply in the eyes.
“Leaving you was a dreadful mistake, I know that now, but not believing you was far, far worse. I am so desperately sorry that I didn’t trust you. Carla delivered a few truths to me tonight. She said she had deliberately tried to break us up. I guess she thought that if she couldn’t have you, then no one should, especially not me. I think seeing us together again drove her over the edge. She told me you hadn’t touched her from the day you met me. And I find myself wondering why I can believe her, when she spilled her lies or when she admitted them like she did tonight, and not you. It’s a flaw in my character that I didn’t believe you, not a flaw in yours. Can you forgive me for being so distrustful? For allowing my own experience with my family to create the blueprint for our life together? I have so much to unlearn, but I really want to succeed with you. I love you, Valentin Horvath, with all my heart, but is my love going to be enough?”
“Enough? You love me—that’s all I need,” Valentin replied.
He cupped her cheeks with his warm hands and kissed her. Not a kiss of passion or of need, but one of affirmation, of promise. Deep in her heart, Imogene began to feel hope for the two of them. When he released her, she chose her words carefully.
“So, you think we can take a chance on each other again? Get it right this time?”
His blue eyes never left hers as he took both her hands in his and kissed each one as if making a vow. His voice, when he spoke, was firm and unequivocal. “Yes.”
Imogene clasped his hands tight and got to her feet, pulling him up with her. She led him to the bedroom. Their bedroom, she corrected herself. There would be no more his and hers if they were to make a success of this. There would only be what was theirs. In the semidarkness of their room, she reached for his clothes and began to undress him. Her hands made swift work of the tie at his throat, the buttons of his shirt, the belt at his waist. As she bared more of his skin, she allowed herself the simple pleasure of touching him, with her hands, with her lips, with her tongue. Imprinting the memory of his body indelibly onto her mind and into her heart. When he was naked, she pushed him toward the bed and swiftly stripped off her clothing and followed him onto the mattress.
“I love you, Valentin,” she repeated. “I never want to lose you again.”
“You won’t,” he replied, reaching for her. “Because I love you, too, and I’m never letting you go.”
She smiled at him in the darkness before kissing him, her lips claiming his and pressing upon him the weight of her emotions, her need for him. And he kissed her back, returning his love and accepting her need, giving of his
own.
When they joined together it was with a gentleness and promise they’d never allowed themselves before. Gone was the urgency. Gone was the desperation. Instead, in their place was a solid affirmation of constancy. And as they moved together, climbing the rungs of passion, their movements became a promise—of intention, of love, of stability and the future.
Afterward, they slept together, legs entwined, arms around each other, hearts beating in total sync.
Valentin’s mobile phone woke them as the gray of morning slid through the bedroom window. He and Imogene sprang apart and he felt his heart race with fear as he leaped from the bed and grabbed his trousers from the floor to find the phone. It was the hospital.
“Hello,” he said, his heart hammering in his chest. Was it good news, or bad?
“Dr. Horvath. Sorry to call you so early but we wanted to inform you that your grandmother has been scheduled for surgery midafternoon.”
“That’s great.”
“Well, yes,” the woman on the other end said before pausing. “But we’re having a small issue.”
“Issue?”
“She refuses to sign the consent forms unless she sees you and your wife first.”
“But why?”
“She hasn’t seen fit to inform us of that, sir.”
Valentin heard the note of irritation in the woman’s voice. “I’m sorry. She’s always been strong-minded.”
“Well, strong-minded or not, she needs that operation today. Can I take it you’ll be in to see her so we can get her to surgery on time? I’m sure I don’t need to impress upon you the urgency in her case.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can.” He ended the call and turned to Imogene. “I’m sorry, we have to go into the hospital. Nagy is asking for us.”
“Of course,” Imogene said, slipping from the bed and into a robe. “I’ll put the coffee on while you shower. Do you want anything to eat before we go?”
“A slice of toast, maybe?”
Inconveniently Wed Page 15
