One Perfect Moment

by A. C. Arthur

  “Ava’s been in an accident,” Morgan said, her words effectively ending the good mood of their family conference.

  “What?” Gage asked as he stood, immediately dropping his phone onto the couch.

  “Wendy’s on duty tonight, and she said they were just brought in by ambulance. A trucker was driving down Chambray Road and saw her car in a ditch,” Morgan announced.

  “I’m going now,” Gage announced and had taken only a couple of steps toward the door before Gray came up behind him.

  “I’ll go with you. Here, take this,” he said and handed Gage his phone that he’d dropped.

  Gage didn’t know when his other siblings were disconnected from their call, but he was on his way out the door in the next few seconds and heading to his car. All he could think about was Ava at this moment. Was she hurt? What had happened? Would he ever see her again?

  Chapter 11

  “Is there a possibility that you could be pregnant?”

  Gage felt the world around him shift as he paused outside the curtain in the emergency room. It was only partially closed, and he’d been directed this way after he’d asked for Ava. He could see her lying on the bed, the doctor who had just asked the question holding her hand, checking her pulse.

  “No,” she replied. “I’m on birth control.”

  And he’d used protection. Each and every time they were together, Gage had dutifully donned a condom. So why had his heart rate significantly increased the moment he heard that question? More importantly, why was he feeling a sting of disappointment at her answer?

  “Okay, good. We’ll note that on your chart in case we need to send you for an MRI or CT scan,” the doctor continued.

  He reached forward and grabbed an otoscope from the shelf on the wall, then proceeded to check Ava’s eyes. When he was finished, he used his fingers to check down her neck and her limbs. She lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as the exam continued, and Gage resisted the urge to immediately go to her. As a doctor, he knew it was imperative for this physical exam to occur without interruption or distraction. So he remained where he stood, watching every part of the exam and breathing a sigh of relief when the doctor finally said, “I think you have a mild concussion.”

  “That means I can go home, right?” Ava asked. “I mean, I don’t have to be admitted?”

  “No. But I’d like someone to be there for you in case your symptoms change. You’re just visiting us in Temptation, is that correct?”

  “Yes. I’m staying at the Sunnydale Bed-and-Breakfast.”

  The doctor nodded. “Louisa Reed’s place. She’s a great innkeeper and would probably watch after you, but I don’t think she lives on the property anymore. Moved into a smaller house near her daughter after her son, Harry, went to jail.”

  “She can come home with me,” Gage said, finally entering the room completely. “I’ll be able to keep a close eye on her in case her symptoms worsen.”

  “And you are?” the doctor asked when he spun around to see Gage approaching.

  Gage extended his hand and said, “Dr. Gage Taylor.”

  With a smile and a curt nod, the doctor shook Gage’s hand. “Yes. Talk around the hospital is you were here and taking charge of the new wing your brother just finished building.”

  “That’s correct. I’m in obstetrics and gynecology,” Gage told him. “I’ll take Ava home when you discharge her.”

  She’d started to sit up then, and Gage moved closer to the bed, taking her hand.

  “And you’re staying in that nice pretty yacht down at the dock. She’s a beauty. I’m Dr. Ralston Hackney. My wife owns the ice-cream parlor at the end of the dock. She can’t stop talking about that yacht. Think I may have to look into buying a boat or something just to keep her quiet.”

  Gage smiled. “Let me know when you’re ready, I’ve got a great agent who can work wonders with the financing.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Um, excuse me? Can I go now? I’d like to check on my mother.”

  “Oh, yes, Ms. Cannon. Sorry about that. I’ll get started on your discharge papers. Dr. Taylor here will know what to watch for, but the nurse will go over everything when she comes in with the paperwork. Also, your mother’s been taken down to X-ray. Dr. Leon Schilling in orthopedics examined her and thinks she broke her ankle. He’s not talking about surgery, so she may be put in a cast and ready to leave in a few hours.”

  Ava sighed. “Just great.”

  “You’re both very lucky the airbags deployed, Ms. Cannon. From what the paramedics said when they brought you in, that little compact car of yours is a total loss,” Dr. Hackney said.

  “It was a rental,” Ava said and closed her eyes.

  “Well, then, that’s the rental company’s problem,” Dr. Hackney continued with a grin. “I’ll go get your paperwork started. Take care of her, Dr. Taylor.”

  “Please, call me Gage, and yes, I will take care of her,” Gage said and waited until Hackney was out of the room before he turned his attention back to Ava.

  Her hair was splayed over the pillow behind her. The T-shirt she wore was wrinkled but not torn or splotched with any blood. Her legs looked good, ankles straight, feet still wearing flat shoes. Everything looked just fine, he concluded after he completed his own visual assessment. Everything except her eyes were closed tight and her fingers trembled in his.

  For the first time since Morgan told him about the accident, Gage breathed in slow, measured intervals. Relief eased over him, and he leaned down, kissing Ava’s forehead.

  “You scared the life out of me,” he whispered. “I didn’t know what I was going to find once I got here. And I’m pretty sure at least six people are going to report me to the sheriff for speeding through town.”

  “It was a deer,” she said quietly, her eyes opening as he pulled back slightly. “It was so dark and then it started to rain. My mother was complaining, and I just wanted to hurry up and get back to the B and B so I could get her a room of her own and I could find some peace and quiet.”

  Her voice cracked at the end.

  “I wanted her to shut up. She hates it here, and Millie didn’t make that situation any better. But I just wanted her to be quiet, or to not be here and now...” Her words trailed off.

  “Now, she’s going to get her ankle fixed up and spend a few more days here with you,” he said and squeezed her hand. “She’s fine, Ava. She’s going to recover just like you will.”

  “The car.”

  “It’s a rental. They’re insured. And if they’re not, I’ll pay for the damn car,” he said.

  She started to shake her head, and Gage saw the moment pain radiated through her with the action.

  “Shhhh, baby. Don’t move. Don’t think about any of this right now. I’m gonna take you home and get you into bed. You’ll feel better after you get some rest.”

  “Home,” she said when she opened her eyes again and stared up at him. “Everybody keeps saying ‘when I go home.’ But I live in LA.”

  “Logistics,” Gage said. “I own a condo in New York, so that’s technically my home. But for the last couple of weeks, since we’ve been staying on my yacht, that’s felt more like a home to me than any place I’ve been since I was a child.”

  It was true, as the warmth spreading throughout his body and the intense weight he felt in his chest at this very moment indicated. Gage lifted her hand up to his lips and kissed her fingers. He closed his eyes, and words he’d been thinking the last couple of days came tumbling out.

  “I haven’t trusted any relationship since I was kid, Ava. Once my dad left, I started to feel like a relationship between a man and woman could never work. Someone was bound to stop caring, or loving enough, and then it would be over.”

  He stared down at her, into her brown eyes. With his free hand he traced the line of her jaw, b
efore brushing his knuckles over her cheek.

  “Then when I was in the sixth grade and had just started middle school, I met these two guys, Fredro and Kelvin.” He gave a wry chuckle. “I thought I was finally going to have friends who weren’t my brothers. Gray was on the basketball team and Garrek had joined the Boy Scouts. I hadn’t yet found my niche, that’s what my mom said. Fredro and Kelvin just seemed to have so much fun. Laughing and joking all the time in the cafeteria, in class and on the bus. So when they invited me to go to the park with them one day I thought, This is great! I’ll be doing something without my siblings. Because, you know it’s hard sometimes being part of a group.”

  Gage took another deep breath.

  “It was a cool friendship for about a week, and then Fredro asked if they could come to my house. I asked my mom and she said it was fine. That Saturday afternoon they came over. The next thing I know they’re in my room, going through my stuff saying what they’d like to have. Fredro wanted my baseball bat and glove because it was signed by Eddie Murray. My dad had given it to me for my last birthday. Kelvin wanted the Lakers jersey my mom had given me for Christmas. I told them they couldn’t have it. And Fredro looked me right in the eye and said, ‘You think you’re too good to share your stuff. Just because your family’s famous doesn’t make you better than us.’ I couldn’t believe it.”

  “Gage,” she whispered.

  He shook his head.

  “I told them to put my stuff down and leave, but Fredro refused. So I punched him, and when he fell back on the bed, I took my stuff from him. He charged me and we fought. Kelvin would have jumped in, but Gray heard the noise and he came into the room. Kelvin didn’t move and Gray let us fight. At least until my mom came in. Fredro’s and Kelvin’s mothers called our house later that day, and I heard my mother telling them to teach their kids some manners and they wouldn’t end up in fights. Gray and Garrek told me not to worry about it. And on Monday when I went to school, I was prepared for round two. What I wasn’t prepared for was the way everybody stared at me in class that day. Nobody talked to me or even wanted to look at me. Not that day or the days that followed. I was an outcast, again. Just because I was born a Taylor sextuplet.

  “I vowed to never trust any type of relationship—”

  Gage paused, trying to process the things going through his mind at this moment, the memories and the pain.

  He lowered his forehead to rest on hers and closed his eyes. “I could have lost you tonight.”

  “I’m fine, Gage. Really I am,” she whispered.

  “But it could have been different. Without those airbags...if you hadn’t been able to slow your descent...it could have ended differently.”

  She’d lifted her other hand to rub down the back of his head. “But it didn’t and I’m going to be fine. I’m still right here with you.”

  His eyes opened at her words, and he pulled back just a little until he could hold her gaze once more.

  “With me,” he said. “That’s where I want you to be. Stay on the yacht with me.”

  Gage didn’t know what he expected, but tears definitely weren’t on the list. Of course, he’d never done this before, but he didn’t think that asking a woman that he was sleeping with to stay with him on his yacht, instead of at a B and B, was such a bad idea.

  “What’s the matter, sweetness? Are you in pain?”

  She shook her head quickly, an act that Gage knew had to cause her some pain, if she wasn’t already experiencing it. He immediately cupped her face with his hands to keep her still, the warmth of her tears touching his palms.

  “No. I mean, a little. But I just... I should say so many things to you first, Gage.”

  “Nonsense,” he said. “All you need to say is yes, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

  She waited for what felt like the longest moment in his life before blinking more tears, and replying, “Yes.”

  * * *

  “This isn’t a hotel, but the decor is impeccable,” Eleanor said after Morgan and Harper had gotten her situated on the half tester bed.

  “Thank you so much for letting her stay here,” Ava said as she came to stand beside Harper. “I’ll hire a full-time nurse to look after her until she’s well enough to travel. And I’ll come by every day to make sure she’s not harassing you or any of your staff.”

  Harper touched Ava’s shoulder. “It’s fine, Ava. Dr. Schilling gave us plenty of pain meds. Not that we plan to overdose her or anything.”

  Ava shook her head and managed a smile. “Believe me, you’re gonna want to.”

  “We’ll all pitch in and help keep watch over her. They said it was a clean break, but Wendy said with her age, any number of complications could arise if she doesn’t heal properly,” Morgan told her.

  Ava sighed. “I don’t know how to thank you two. I mean, you hardly know me and you all showed up at the hospital, and you’re so willing to help.”

  “That’s what families do,” Morgan said as she moved to put an arm around Ava’s shoulders.

  “She’s right,” Harper added. “Now, you should really get some rest yourself. A mild concussion is nothing to play with.”

  Ava did have a headache, but she feared it had nothing to do with the car accident. She wasn’t in a hurry to go back to the yacht with Gage. He was going to undress her and put her to bed, and then he was going to lie beside her and cuddle her in his arms.

  And while all that sounded just fine, the real reason for her headache was because she was a big liar, and she had been deceiving him and his family for two months.

  “Yes,” she admitted. “I am really tired.”

  They left her alone with her mother, who was already dozing off as a result of the strong pain medication Dr. Schilling had prescribed for her. Ava took a moment to look down at her mother and then to think on everything Gage had said to her just a few hours ago.

  It was time to stop letting the past dictate her future. If her mother couldn’t do that, it was her decision. Ava was only going to focus on moving forward.

  “Good night, Mother,” Ava said as she leaned over and kissed Eleanor’s cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  With that she left the room, walking down the grand staircase in Harper’s gorgeous home. It was another one of those movie-like romance scenes as she descended the stairs and Gage stood at the bottom looking up at her, waiting for her.

  Each step Ava took grew heavier as she realized what she now stood to lose because of the sacrifice she’d decided to make for her career.

  “Ready to go?” Gage asked her.

  Ava nodded, words clogged in her throat because she knew which ones she needed to speak, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not yet. Not tonight. Her head was still throbbing, and her body had begun to ache. Gage had asked her to stay with him, which was a huge step for both of them. It had been an eventful enough night. Waiting a few more hours to tell Gage about her plans wasn’t too much to ask.

  Still, by the time they’d arrived at the yacht, the weight on her chest had become too much to bear, and as soon as they’d entered his bedroom she opened her mouth to speak. Gage, however, lifted a finger to touch her lips.

  “A warm shower, a pain pill and rest. That’s what I’m prescribing for you,” he said.

  “Gage, I need to tell you—” she tried to say.

  “Not tonight,” he interrupted. “Let me just take care of you tonight.”

  It was so easy to give him what he wanted. So blissfully intimate standing in the shower stall while Gage lathered the sponge and bathed her. So peaceful lying in the bed cuddled in his arms.

  “I can’t wait for you to meet my sisters,” he whispered as Ava began to doze off. “I hope you’ll be able to arrange your schedule to be here for Christmas.”

  “I want to be here for Christmas,” Ava said, her eyelids too heavy
to hold open any longer.

  She’d been chilly once she stepped out of the shower, but now, with his arm wrapped around her and his body cocooning hers, she felt warm and safe. And loved. She really liked those feelings.

  “And I’ve decided to resign from the hospital in New York. I’m going to open my own clinic and research foundation. All Saints cannot provide funding for parents who cannot afford fertility treatments, or certain aspects of taking care of multiple infants. I want to start some programs that will help,” he was saying.

  Ava’s lips lifted in a smile. Gage had stopped her from talking, but he clearly had lots to say tonight. She snuggled closer to him, loving the sound of his voice and thinking of how it would be to do this every night with him. To lie in bed and discuss their goals and dreams, the future they would share. She wanted that. Ava wanted it so very much.

  So before she drifted off and while Gage was still talking, she said a little prayer, asking a big favor.

  Please let him understand.

  Chapter 12

  Ava rolled over and reached for him, but felt the cool sheets instead. Cracking an eye open, she saw the pillows still indented from where he’d laid his head throughout the night. She rolled over again, this time plopping onto her back and then groaning at the slight thumping in her temples.

  Dropping an arm over her forehead, she sighed and thought about Gage holding her in his arms last night. It was a magical feeling, one she knew now that she wanted to feel every night of her life. With that thought, Ava sat up slowly. There was no nausea and no dizziness, just the mild headache. Encouraged by the minimal symptoms, she got out of the bed and headed toward the bathroom. The note was taped to the door, and she smiled as she read his words.

  I knew you wouldn’t stay in bed as per doctor’s orders. Gray needed my help with festival setup so Morgan’s taking the morning shift with you while Harper stays with your mom. In the afternoon, Harper’s going to come over. If you’re doing well, Harper will bring you to the festival in time for the pumpkin-carving contest. If you have any symptoms you are to stay in bed, or at the very least, on the yacht and I’ll hurry with the contest and come back to you. Gage