Connor tightened his hold on Mallory’s hand. “There’s a big reason. I’m here for my child and her mother. I wasn’t before.”
The senator tugged at an earlobe. “That you are. If I didn’t apologize earlier for Beatrice’s behavior toward you, I’d like to rectify that, Connor.”
“Not necessary. All things happen for a reason. For instance, sure the streets are mobbed. But there’s a good chance none of these folks will perish in Annalisa. Maybe if Beatrice hadn’t arranged for my first grant, I wouldn’t have been able to design the system.”
Bradford relaxed, looking relieved. Mark reached over and slapped Connor’s shoulder. “Thanks, Connor. It’s time to put all that behind us and concentrate on getting Liddy Bea through this operation.”
Dr. Dahl, who sat next to Mark, half turned in his seat. “Do you two pilots actually believe they’ll let us fly in this weather? If not, Mallory, you know I’ll have to call and release the kidney.”
“No,” she cried brokenly. “If Liddy misses this opportunity, it’s not fair.”
“We’re going to Boston if we have to steal an amphibious vehicle from the navy and drive up there,” Connor told her with deadly calm. “How many hours do we have to claim the organ?”
“It’s not merely a matter of laying claim to it,” Dahl said worriedly. “I need time to prep Liddy Bea. To repeat the critical match testing and also lower her body temperature to match the organ that’s been iced down for travel. The kidney’s already been checked and found to be in good condition. By the way, I asked Rhonda to send a note of appreciation to the young victim’s family. On edge as we all are, our situation is nothing compared to theirs.”
“They are being totally generous. I hope we get a chance to really thank them. But this weather…” Mallory shuddered and burrowed into Connor’s side.
“There’s the airport,” Davis announced abruptly. “What’s the hangar number, Senator?”
Brad rattled it. Through a cascade of rain coating the windows, the car’s occupants strained to see the large numbers painted on the buildings they passed.
Finding the correct one at last, they made haste piling out of the car. Accepting Davis’s best wishes, all of them except Connor and Mark boarded the aircraft warming on the tarmac.
A mechanic stood nearby. “If you’re lucky, you may have a ten-to-fifteen minute window to taxi down the runway and get off the ground,” he hollered. “If you’d been five minutes later, I’d have shut her down and gone home myself.”
Connor shook the man’s hand. He and Mark lost no time in starting down the preflight checklist. The radio crackled. “NT-four, niner, seven, seven, you haven’t filed a flight plan. Request to take off denied.”
“Control tower, this is NT-four, niner, seven, seven. Time is of the essence. We seek clearance to transport a child to Boston Hospital to receive a kidney delivered there today. Request permission to take off as soon as you have a runway clear.” Connor sounded calm. Inside, his guts were churning. What if they still refused?
He signaled the mechanic to pull the block. As he taxied forward, a blast of wind rocked them wildly. “Make sure our passengers are all buckled in,” he told Mark.
“Roger.” Removing his earphones, Mark took a quick turn through the cabin. He returned in time to hear the tower authorize clearance.
They rolled down the runway, gathering speed. The plane soared aloft, only to be buffeted left, then right and left again by the greedy wind. Pulling back on the stick, Connor cleared the required space and at once went into a steep climb, in spite of knowing he must be scaring his passengers half to death.
Bullet-size hailstones hammered the craft. Thick black clouds swallowed them, plunging them into darkness. For what seemed like an eternity, the flailing plane bucked and moaned. Then, with what seemed a massive push from behind, they emerged above the angry, swirling layers of the storm.
Mark relaxed in his seat as soon as they shook off the ominous clouds.
Connor remained on edge until well after he’d passed Atlanta and turned to follow the unseen coastline to Boston. He didn’t breathe freely until Logan Airport controllers acknowledged entry into their airspace.
Bradford and Dr. Dahl hadn’t been idle during the flight. They’d orchestrated everything on the ground. A limousine waited to whisk them off to the hospital the moment they touched down. Oddly enough, the weather in the northeast was normal for early August. They stepped out into a crisp, sunshiny afternoon.
Liddy Bea awakened toward the end of the flight. Wide-eyed, she huddled close to her mother.
Mallory followed Connor to where he stood consulting with the hangar staff in charge of storing and refueling the plane. “Liddy Bea is asking a gazillion questions. What shall I tell her? I hate to get her hopes up until she’s checked over again and Fredric has his hands on that kidney.”
“We have to prepare her, sweetheart. I know kids are adaptable, but she deserves time to prepare mentally.”
“What if we get her hopes up, only to have them dashed if something goes wrong?”
“We’re out of the storm. The hospital verified the organ’s already here. The rest of the operating team’s been alerted. Please, stop worrying.”
Mallory let him cuddle her a bit before they entered the limo. She mustered a stoic face for their daughter, in spite of the fact that she remained a bundle of nerves.
Even after Liddy had been poked and prodded by the assembled team, and hugged and kissed by her family, Mallory continued to fret. She paced the hall after Liddy’s anesthesia had been administered, and she was wheeled into the operating room. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to accept this kidney on her behalf. Perhaps the storm hitting Tallahassee was a warning to back off. What if I was wrong? What if I was just being selfish, Connor? What if something goes terribly wrong? She’s been through so much already.”
Fully embracing her, Connor rocked her and kissed the top of her head. “Come and sit in the waiting room with Mark and your dad. Do you think Dr. Dahl would have recommended surgery if Liddy Bea wasn’t ready? Not five minutes ago, he said her immune-system levels still measured zero percent.”
Tears squeezed from under Mallory’s tightly closed eyelids. “I know. I must seem an ungrateful wretch to you. It’s just…she’s so little, and I wonder how much trauma one body can stand. Maybe I’ve set too much store in wanting her to have a normal life. Maybe I should be thanking God I have her at all.”
“Does this self-flagellation have to do with my reappearance in your life, Mal?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She turned in his arms, saying earnestly, “Is it so crazy to fear that Liddy Bea is somehow being punished because I spent seven years wanting you so much?”
“Is that what’s bugging you?” Connor used his thumbs to dry the tears glistening on her pale cheeks. “My mom said God doesn’t punish people. I can’t believe he let me find you and my child, only to rip away our plans of becoming a family.”
“So, we’re really what you want, Connor? Liddy Bea and me? You don’t have a single regret that we screwed up your engagement to Claire?”
“I told you, no. You’re the woman who’s haunted my sleep. I hooked up with Claire because I was sure I’d lost you. Like I told you, Mallory, if I’d known about Liddy Bea, you couldn’t have blasted me out of your life.”
“Ok-ay,” she sighed. “Let’s go wait with the rest of our family.”
Mark shifted on a leather couch to make room for them. “Dad went down for coffee. Mallory, we couldn’t remember how long the surgery takes. Last time, wasn’t it three hours or so? But we had both of you to worry about then, so maybe my recollection’s foggy.”
Connor drew Mallory into the curve of his arm. “Before they wheeled Liddy Bea away, Dr. Dahl said he figured four hours in surgery and another three in recovery, give or take. Mallory and I get to visit her in recovery. You and Brad will have to wait until they move her to a room.”
“Last time,
Dad and I went home to sleep at night. The thing about being here in Boston is that we’ll have to find a hotel. I’ll go make reservations. How long do you think we’ll need rooms?”
Mallory squeezed Connor’s knee. “Fredric said she’d be hospitalized for at least six days. He said Connor and I could get married next Saturday if we’d like. But we’d already decided to wait until the following weekend—and that way, she’ll still be able to serve as our flower girl. I’ll phone our church secretary right after we see Liddy in recovery and ask Barb to confirm that date, provided the storm hasn’t done too much damage.”
“I phoned James while you met with the transplant team, Mal. Early reports suggest less-than-normal damage.”
“Hey, that’s great.” Mark gripped Connor’s hand and then hugged his sister. “When Dad said you’d put off the wedding, I assumed I’d come home for nothing. I had no hope of getting leave again if you’d had to reschedule it a few months from now.”
“What’s all the hugging for?” Bradford asked, walking slowly into the room, carrying a tray filled with cups.
Connor jumped up to assist him. “We were just telling Mark that if everything goes as we hope with Liddy Bea’s surgery, he won’t miss our wedding. We’ve booked the service for a week from next Saturday.”
“Well, that is good news.” He beamed at them both. “I phoned to make sure Davis made it home. So far, property damage is minimal, and there’ve only been three or four reported injuries. No loss of life. And Forrest House stood up well.”
Mallory accepted a cup of coffee. “I’m glad. So, does that mean we can still have our wedding reception there?”
Bradford grinned. “You’d better. Marta’s tickled as a pig in slop that you asked her to feed the folks at your reception. You know,” he said casually, “what would you all think, if after the wedding dust settles, I put the home place on the market?”
Mark and Mallory looked stunned for a moment. But after the initial shock wore off, they all started talking about possibilities. Discussing how to dispose of the mansion and where Brad would move occupied their time. The hours slipped away unnoticed, except for the fact that Connor and Mallory jumped from their seats every time they heard footsteps in the hall.
“I looked at a condominium near the capitol,” Brad told them. “The unit I like has enough space that I’d still need Marta’s help. And there’s quarters for Davis. I just won’t have the pool and grounds to worry about, or all those stairs. But there’s extra bedrooms, so Liddy Bea can spend the night. Or Mark, until he finds a good woman to take him off my hands.”
Mark blushed. Fortunately, his father’s teasing was interrupted by Dr. Dahl, who stepped into the waiting room, still wearing his scrubs.
“The surgery went like clockwork,” he announced, half muffled by the mask he hadn’t quite pulled off. “Mallory, you and Connor can go suit up anytime. I told the nurse to let you into recovery for a few minutes. Output from the new kidney is excellent—far better than the first transplant. Barring any unforeseen complications, I think this is a good, solid implant.”
“Thank God.” Mallory slumped against Connor. He rained kisses all over her face before standing and pulling her off the couch.
“Come on, let’s go see our girl.”
Almost giddy in their initial relief, they nevertheless followed hospital rules to the letter as they hurriedly slipped into sterile gear.
Fredric cracked open the door to the recovery room. He pointed out Liddy Bea’s crib, then backed out and let her parents tiptoe forward alone.
As if sensing their presence, Liddy Bea groggily opened one eye. A slow smile spread across her face. “Mommy. Daddy. You know what? This time ev’rything’s gonna be jus’ perfect.”
“Yes.” Mallory and Connor both spoke. A sheen of tears glossed both sets of eyes. “Dr. Dahl told us your surgery went well,” Mallory said, clutching Liddy’s hand.
“That’s not why I know,” Liddy Bea confided through a sleepy yawn. “I know ’cause two angels said so in my dream. An’ I believe ’em, ’cause one looked ’xactly like our picture of Grandma Beatrice and the other like Grandmama Lydia.” Still smiling softly, she let her eyelids close and went back to sleep.
Standing with their arms locked tightly around each other, Connor gazed down into Mallory’s blue eyes and she stared dazedly back. “Why not?” he whispered, feeling a profound contentment creep over him.
“Hmm. And you a scientist.”
“Yep. Come on, Mallory. Is it so hard to believe that you and I have turned a corner, headed toward the rosy future we talked about when we were young?”
“No. It feels right. We feel right. I love you, Connor. I never stopped loving you.”
“I love you, too, Mal. And I will forevermore.” Drawing her quietly from the room, Connor put every emotion they were both feeling into a long-overdue, promise-filled kiss.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-4047-6
THE SEVEN YEAR SECRET
Copyright © 2002 by Rosaline Fox.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit us at www.eHarlequin.com
Table of Contents
LETTER TO READER
BOOKS BY ROZ DENNY FOX
TITLE PAGE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
COPYRIGHT
The Seven Year Secret Page 26
