CR!93BHZ3MAHS4NVAVVWQG1QCZMZ0ZB

by Unknown

“They don’t know what’s wrong yet, but they’re going to start trying to cool her down.” He pulled Penny gently back into the room with him.

  There was a nurse standing beside Gabby, hand on her forehead. She turned to prepare what looked to be ice packs. A faediápacks. A n was blowing nearby.

  Machines bleeped, but Daniel had no idea whether they were in the room and attached to his daughter or echoing from somewhere else.

  “Daniel …”

  No!

  He pushed past Penny and ran to the bed.

  Please, God, no! “Gabby, honey …”

  Her tiny body had started to convulse, writhing on the bed.

  The nurse stayed calm as he turned what he was sure were wild eyes toward her.

  “Do something!” he pleaded. “Please. Please!”

  He reached for his little girl, not aware of anything else but the terrifying movement of her body as it continued to convulse.

  Hands closed over his arms and tried to drag him back, but he fought it. “Get off me!”

  A blur of white to his right caught his eye, he heard Penny crying, but he wouldn’t relinquish his grip on his daughter, holding her so she wouldn’t be thrown from the bed.

  “Get him out of here!”

  The sharpness of a man’s direct order pulled Daniel from the void he was lost within.

  He looked up, behind him, saw the nurse trying her best to pull him back. Then he saw the doctor as he bent over Gabby, watched as another doctor appeared, rushing forward.

  Daniel let himself be pulled away.

  “Sorry,” he whispered to the nurse whose grip he’d roughly refused. “I’m so sorry.”

  Penny was beside him then, her hand finding his. The feel of her warm, smooth palm locked against his was comforting, but he couldn’t take his eyes from Gabby.

  Her tiny body had stopped shaking uncontrollably now and was stripped of clothes. Cold cloths and ice packs covered her.

  “Daniel, what’s happening? What’s wrong with her?”

  He shook his head. Shut his eyes to block out the horror of his daughter on a hospital bed, surrounded by medical staff.

  “I don’t know.” His voice was hoarse, as if he’d been out on the town all night or was emerging from a month of having a cold. “I don’t know, Penny.”

  One of the doctors turned to face them and walked to where they were waiting, near the back of the room.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright?”

  Daniel felt Penny start to shake beside him so he dropped her hand and put an arm about her, drawing her close. Trying to be strong for her.

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  The doctor smiled and reached out a hand to touch Penny’s other arm. The look on his face calmed Daniel, made him relax the tiniest bit.

  “We need to wait for the test results to rule out the worst-case scenarios and try to figure out what’s wrong,” he said matter-of-factly. “I know that must have been scary for you to watch, but convulsions aren’t unusual with high temperatures, and your daughter’s temperature certainly peaked.”

  “But it’s coming down now?”

  Daniel turned at Penny’s question. He held her tighter and she reláer and shleaned into him for support.

  “That’s right. We’re cooling her down now, her heartbeat is fine, and we need to continue to monitor her carefully.”

  He cleared his throat and looked the doctor directly in the eye. “What’s the worst-case scenario here?”

  Daniel didn’t look over at Gabby again, couldn’t bear to.

  The doctor nodded. “Sure. The worst-case scenario, to be honest, would be something like meningococcal, but before you start to worry, I think that would be unlikely.”

  Daniel felt Penny go limp beside him, from worry or relief he didn’t know.

  “The presence of a rash does make that within the realm of possibilities, though.” The doctor looked over his shoulder and nodded as the other doctor left the room. “Best case? It’s a really bad case of the flu, the rash could be coincidental, and it caused a bad fever.”

  “How likely is that?” Daniel heard himself ask.

  “Likely,” the doctor insisted. “But given her age, we’re not going to take any risks when it comes to making the correct diagnosis.”

  Daniel gave the doctor a tight smile and turned his attention back to Penny. She looked as if she was in shock.

  “Thanks for being honest with us,” he told the doctor. “Is it all right if we stay with her?”

  “She’ll need to stay overnight, at least until the tests come back. You are both more than welcome to remain with her at all times.”

  Daniel was numb but he forced the feeling away. He needed to be there for his two girls. No matter how he was feeling or what he was thinking.

  He was a father and a husband, and that meant he had to put his family first.

  “Penny?”

  Her eyes looked drained, empty, when she turned to face him. Her skin pale, lacking its usual golden glow.

  The doctor left them, the nurse still hovering over Gabby. His wife turned her grief-stricken face toward him, reached one hand up to place it on his shoulder as she leaned into him for a hug.

  Daniel held her, too, wrapped both his arms around her and squeezed her against him, lips pressed to her hair, bodies pressed hard into one another’s.

  He relaxed into Penny as she held on to him like she’d never let go. Like nothing had torn them apart and they hadn’t been estranged, forced apart by distance and emotion, these past few months.

  All the fighting, the pain, the heartache of what had happened fell away.

  Until they were just two people who needed one another.

  Two people who never wanted to let go of the other.

  Penny sobbed gently in his arms, snuffling into his chest, her face tucked against him. He released one of his hands from her waist and touched the back of her hair, let his fingers work through the softness of each silky dark strand.

  She tilted her head back then, tipped her tear-stained face up to him, eyes wide, worry and sadness like pools within them.

  “I’m so sorry, Penny. I’m …”

  She shook her head and made him stop. The tilt of her head telling him no. That sly á no. Thathe didn’t want him to talk.

  Penny stood on tiptoe, her petite frame reaching up toward him.

  Daniel didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Was paralyzed and unable to do a thing.

  She brought her lips slowly, painfully slowly, toward his. He felt her breath whisper across his lips before her mouth touched his.

  Penny moved her lips tenderly, her hand moving to hover across his cheek as she did so.

  Their mouths met for only a moment, but it filled Daniel with hope. A hope that had been missing within him, but once ignited was like the steady beat of a drum, a light that had been dull and was now shining bright. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  He was numb as she stepped away, hand still touching his cheek.

  Daniel raised an eyebrow. “For what?” he mumbled.

  “For being such a great dad,” she said, quietly so they couldn’t be overheard. “There’s no one else in the world I would have trusted to leave our daughter with while I was away. You’re a wonderful father, and I don’t think I’ve ever told you that before.”

  Daniel shook his head, but Penny only stepped back and pressed a finger to her lips.

  “There are so many things I never told you, and I’m sorry. You gave up so much to be a great dad, and I’m proud of you.”

  Daniel felt like a child who’d finally been given a gold star in class. A warmth spread through him, warming him when before he’d been chilled.

  “And the answer is yes.”

  “Yes?” he repeated.

  She let her head move up and down in a nod. “You asked me to give you a chance. To let you prove yourself to me. And the answer is yes,” Penny told him. “I don’t know if we can ever be a couple again, Daniel, but I’m no
t saying no.”

  He reached for her again, slung his arm around her shoulder as they both turned toward Gabby.

  “She’s the most important thing in the world, Penny.”

  She tucked her head against his shoulder. “She’s going to be okay, I just know it.”

  They stood together and looked at their little girl, and Daniel felt a pain in his chest that threatened to stop his heart.

  He had no idea how it was possible to feel such a strong pull of emotions. Having Penny by his side, feeling her body touch his when they’d spent so long with a void between them, gave him a strength he couldn’t define.

  But seeing Gabby on a hospital bed, when the last time he’d set foot within a hospital was the day she’d been born, sent a shiver down his spine that threatened to chill every pore of his skin.

  “Do you remember the last time we were here?”

  Daniel chuckled, reaching for Penny’s hand again.

  “You read my mind. I was just remembering the night we rushed in here,” he said.

  “I was so scared,” Penny told him, her eyes never leaving the bed their daughter lay upon. “It all happened so fast, and the next thing I knew we were holding Gabby.”

  Daniel looked up at the overhead lights to blink away o yáblink awaa row of tears as they filled his eyes.

  “No matter what happens, Penny, we made the most beautiful little girl.”

  Penny swiveled to look at him before moving away a step and sinking into one of the chairs beside the bed.

  She reached out to hold Gabby’s hand—a hand that looked so tiny tonight he hardly recognized it.

  Daniel sat down in the chair beside her.

  “She’s going to be fine, Pen.”

  “I know,” she replied. “But I’m just so glad that we’re both here beside her.”

  When she met his gaze, when her soft brown eyes hit his, a warmth spread through him.

  Because it was the first time in what felt like forever that he thought they might have a chance of being what they’d once been.

  Best friends. Lovers.

  Life partners.

  Back in the Soldier’s Arms/Here Comes the Groom

  CR!93BHZ3MAHS4NVAVVWQG1QCZMZ0ZB

  CHAPTER TEN

  PENNY woke up with a dry mouth and her head resting on something that was somehow familiar.

  She stretched her legs out and raised her head.

  Oh.

  “Hey.”

  A warm flush spread across her cheeks and down her neck.

  It had been a long time since she’d woken up beside Daniel like this, felt his eyes trawl hers, watched the soft dimple crease at the side of his mouth as he spoke.

  “Morning,” she croaked.

  It took her a second to realize where she was. Why they were sitting side by side, in the early morning, rather than with their heads on pillows.

  Then it all came crashing back to her.

  “Gabby?” Her voice was even weaker this time.

  Daniel’s smile hit his eyes. “She’s fine.”

  “How long have I been sleeping?” She should have been holding Gabby’s hand all night, waiting for her to wake up. Instead of falling asleep and leaving her alone.

  “It’s okay,” Daniel told her, skimming the side of her face with one outstretched finger before standing. “She’s just nodded off again, but she’s been talking.”

  He must have seen the question mark on her face.

  “Talking and eating,” he added.

  Penny took the hand Daniel held out and pulled herself up to her feet.

  “I should never have …”

  “You needed the sleep,” he said. “Don’t beat yourself up about getting some shut-eye. You’ve flown halfway around no d‡ the world, not to mention spending the last however many months serving. I think you deserve a little sleep in with that kind of jet lag.”

  “Daddy?”

  Gabby’s tiny voice put a stop to their conversation. They both shuffled almost instantly to her side, but Penny held back. She’d asked for her father, and there was only room for one of them to hold her hand.

  She stole her eyes away from Gabby to glance at Daniel, saw the pained yet happy expression on his face as he bent to kiss their daughter on her forehead.

  But it was the bright eyes and excited words that put Penny’s heart in her mouth.

  “Mommy!” Gabby gasped the word, her eyes so wide they looked ready to pop.

  She jumped forward, nearly pushing Daniel out of the way in her hurry to touch Gabby. So pleased to be wanted, to hear the excitement in her daughter’s voice.

  “Hey, baby,” she said, covering Gabby’s hand and squeezing it. “You gave us such a fright.”

  Gabby didn’t say anything, but she never dropped her eyes, didn’t so much as blink. Like she was so happy to have her mother beside her, holding her hand, that she didn’t want to look away and find she’d disappeared.

  Penny felt the same.

  “What happened?” Gabby asked.

  Daniel walked around to the other side of the bed, sinking down onto the edge of it to give her a cuddle.

  “Well …”

  “Good morning!” The doctor’s cheery voice made them all look up.

  “Morning,” Penny and Daniel both replied without looking up.

  “I see our patient is wide-awake,” he said, smiling at Gabby before lifting the chart from the end of her bed. When he placed it back down, he folded his arms and looked between them.

  “The good news is that Gabby doesn’t have anything serious.”

  “It’s not meningococcal?” Penny asked.

  The doctor shook his head. “Thankfully we’ve been able to rule that out. It appears she just has a very bad strain of the flu, hence the high temperature. I’m happy to discharge her so long as she has a close eye kept on her. Any sign of a fever again or anything else out of the ordinary, and I want her straight back here. But she should be fine within twenty-four hours.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Penny, smiling as she gave him a mock salute.

  “Ah, of course. I heard from the nurse that you were a soldier,” the doctor told her.

  “United States Army Sergeant,” Penny responded, left hand still covering her daughter’s.

  “I take it you’re home for good now?”

  Didn’t she wish. Penny cleared her throat and avoided looking at Daniel. Or Gabby. It was hard enough dealing with her own emotions without seeing the looks on their faces.

  “Unfortunately, no. I’m here on short-term leave, back with my unit next week, before I return home for good.”

  The doctor didn’t react either way, just gave her a warm smile and a nod before turning to leave.

  “Take care, thenowñe care, tn, soldier. God bless.”

  Penny still avoided Daniel as she turned around, wishing she hadn’t had to be reminded of what she was so shortly about to leave behind. Again. “Let’s get you home, miss.”

  Gabby grinned and rubbed her tiny thumb over Penny’s hand.

  “I’ll bring the car around the front,” Daniel told them, dropping a kiss to Gabby’s forehead.

  Penny returned his smile even though her heart was breaking all over again. She had no idea how she was going to board that plane next week.

  It was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done.

  She’d thrown grenades and completed some of the hardest combat training courses in the world. But nothing, nothing, compared to this.

  All she could think about was leaving Gabby all over again, just when they’d started to connect again. Her daughter’s face lighting up at seeing her today, calling for her when she already had her beloved father beside her, it made her feel alive. Like she hadn’t been herself and she was slowly recovering from whatever had been holding her captive until now.

  And Daniel. She shut her eyes for a moment. Daniel was … still her husband. And she didn’t know what was going to happen there, or what could happen there. Whether
they could ever go back to the way things used to be.

  She had such limited time to act, to decide what to do and to figure out how she was going to cope.

  What she had to do was draw on the strength of knowing that soon, she would be coming home for good.

  She just had to decide now what it was she’d be coming home to next time.

  Gabby was settled in her room like a princess, snuggled up watching a DVD. They’d moved the television from the master bedroom onto her dresser, and she couldn’t have been happier.

  After a day running around looking after her, Penny was exhausted. But at least Gabby was feeling better, was starting to get her appetite back.

  “I guess we’ll be having a quiet night in?” Daniel asked.

  Penny kept stirring the pasta sauce, leaning over the large pot to inhale the tomato infused with fresh basil.

  “As opposed to?”

  Daniel came up behind her and reached for the spoon, plucking it from her hand.

  “I have a few things I want to do with you, while you’re back. If you’re still up to giving me a chance, that is?”

  Oh.

  She watched as he tasted the sauce off the spoon, her eyes tracing his mouth as he did so. “Perfect.”

  She grabbed the wooden spoon before he could drop it back into the pot.

  “No.”

  “No?” he repeated.

  She tried to focus on manners instead of the cheeky, irresistible-as-hell look on his face.

  “You don’t put a spoon back in there after licking it!”

  He shrugged, dimple creasing at the corner of his mouth as he did so. “We’re all family. What does it matter?”

  “What dintñ201C;Whatoes it matter?” Penny rolled her eyes and opened the drawer to find another spoon. “It’s not good hygiene.”

  Daniel laughed. He actually opened his mouth wide and laughed at her. “Okay, I won’t do it again.” He paused, tilted his head while he was looking at her. “I think you’ve spent too long in the army and not enough time observing the disgusting things children, your daughter in particular, can do with food.”

  Huh. “I guess if she’s learning her manners from you she gets up to all sorts of disgusting things.”

  Penny tried to sound serious but she didn’t really care. What she liked was the easy banter between them. Play-arguing like they used to. Chatting and laughing for the sake of it.