Wanted: Husband, Will Train
Page 21
“Thank you, Doctor,” Courtney called after him.
He stopped in the doorway. “Hey, I’m as happy about this as you are.” He looked at the two of them. “Well, almost”
John took Courtney into his arms. They held on to each other for a long time, too relieved, too numbed with joy, to say anything. They didn’t have to.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, John released her. “Thank you for being here with me.”
She wished he wouldn’t make it sound as if she were on some goodwill mission. Or as if she were Mandy, who had stopped by the hospital earlier to sit with them for a few hours. She was as involved in this as he was. “As if I could have been anywhere else.”
He was beginning to really believe that. “Hey, you know, I’m suddenly hungry.’”
She looked at the remains of the sandwich she’d brought him hours ago. When he hadn’t wanted it, she’d begun to nibble at it nervously until most of it was gone. She didn’t even remember tasting it.
“Well, I ate the sandwich,” she said ruefully.
Eating the comer that was left, he tossed away the wrapper. “Benjamin said they’d be a while setting things up. Do you want to go get something to eat?”
She couldn’t eat. Her stomach was still tied up in knots that were only now beginning to loosen. Food held no appeal to her. “No, that’s all right, I’ll wait here.”
“Be right back,” he promised. And then he was gone, hurrying to the bank of elevators in the rear of the hospital.
When he returned, Courtney wasn’t in the waiting room. There was another couple occupying the area. Young, their faces creased with concern, they looked as worried as Courtney and he had been just a little while ago. Both turned and looked at him hopefully when he entered. Realizing he wasn’t who they were waiting for, they looked away.
Confused, John rested the cardboard tray he’d brought up from the cafeteria on the table. “Excuse me, did you see a blond woman in here, about thirty?”
The man didn’t answer, but the woman nodded. A handkerchief was twisted in her hands. “She left a few minutes ago. It might have been half an hour. I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
He understood. His mind had been in the same fog less than an hour ago.
“Thanks.” And then he stopped just shy of the threshold. It wasn’t his way to intrude into anyone else’s life, but today was different.
“Don’t worry, it’s going to be all right,” he assured them. “This is a really great hospital.”
As if they were one, the couple nodded their gratitude for the words of support.
John looked down at the tray he was carrying. He’d bought two more coffees and two sandwiches for them. He felt a little foolish carrying it around with him now as he looked up and down the hall. Where could she have gone?
And then he realized that she had taken Mr. Softy, and it came to him.
Reading the signs that were posted at every turn of the hall, he found his way to the CCU corridor. Steel gray double doors yawned open as he approached the threshold, urging him to enter the sunny corridor.
The walls within the CCU area were painted in mute pastels and framed paintings hung here and there to highlight the colors. It seemed a place where a person was destined to get well.
A nurse posted at a desk before the recovery area cubicles gave him a friendly smile. Looking at the tray in his hands, she shook her head. “You can’t bring that in there, sir.”
“Yes, I know.” He placed the tray on her desk. She could eat what was on it, he didn’t care. Right now, John felt like buying lunch for the entire hospital staff. “I’m John Gabriel. My little girl—”
The name was fresh in her mind. “They just brought her in. Your wife’s already with her. Ten minutes,” she warned, a trim, clear polished nail tapping the sign posted on the side of the desk. Patients were allowed only ten-minute visits every hour. There was a twoperson limit per cubicle. “Fifteen, tops,” she added, her smile widening. “First cubicle on your left.”
He thanked her and went in.
Your wife’s already with her.
It had a good sound. A comforting sound. Maybe it was the euphoria of the moment, but for the first time in his life, John felt really whole. If it was euphoria, he hoped it would never fade.
And then he saw her, standing next to Katie’s bed, holding the sleeping child’s hand in her own. Mr. Softy was tucked in beside Katie. Courtney was stroking her forehead and saying something to her. He felt as if he was intruding.
He couldn’t draw away. Like a magnet, the scene pulled him in.
Courtney seemed unaware of his presence. “And when you get well, honey, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” Courtney paused, trying to gather her thoughts into something that resembled coherence. “There’s Disney World.” It was the first place that came to mind. “I bet you haven’t been to Florida yet Every child should go to Disney World, at least once.”
It was hard to talk with tears tightening her throat. But for once they were good tears. She felt so very grateful.
“I want to give you everything, baby. The way you’ve given everything to me.” Careful not to disturb any of the myriad tubes attached to the various monitors, Courtney leaned forward and very gently pressed a kiss to Katie’s forehead.
“I love you, Katie. I know I haven’t said the words out loud to you, but I do. I love you very much. And your big lug of a father, too. Even if he can be dumber than rain sometimes.”
“Dumber than rain?” John whispered, moving beside her. “Where do you get these expressions?”
She looked up at him, too emotionally overcome to be indignant at being caught, or to even be startled. She hadn’t the energy. It had all been drained from her. “You’re eavesdropping again, Gabriel. This is a private conversation.”
He grinned. She’d called him by his last name again, but this time, he knew it no longer was a sign of the distance between them, but an indication of how far they had come.
“A one-way conversation, as usual. You don’t let people get in a word edgewise, do you?”
Courtney looked down at Katie. “She can get in all the words she wants to once she’s awake. I’ll be listening,” she promised.
Seeing her like this, with Katie, made him come to a decision. Or maybe it just rubber-stamped a decision that had been made for him on some higher plane from the very beginning.
“Speaking of listening, I’d like to talk something over with you. Now that all of Katie’s bills are being taken care of and Parsons has set the wheels in motion for your inheritance to be transferred, maybe we should discuss our arrangement again.”
She looked at him. He couldn’t be choosing this moment to pull away. She refused to believe it of him. “You mean, renegotiate?”
It wasn’t exactly the word he’d had in mind, but it would do. “Well, yes. Specifically, about the time. Originally, you said two years, right?”
Where was he going with this? Courtney turned to face him. “Right”
Though he thought he was certain of her answer, he suddenly felt a little unsteady. “And the timetable’s been moved up, so to speak.”
“So to speak,” she repeated cautiously. Her eyes searched his face. There was a glimmer in his eyes, but no clear answers. “Are you asking to get out?”
He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep a straight face. How much longer he could refrain from just sweeping her into his arms and telling her that he loved her with every fiber of his being.
“No, just to have things labeled a little more clearly.”
“Such as?”
“Well—” he drew the word out “—you mentioned that once everything was settled, we would get a divorce after a decent length of time had lapsed.”
She vaguely remembered uttering something to that effect—in another lifetime. “Yes?”
He placed his hands around her waist. It was then that she knew there was nothing to worry about. Ever again. “Define
decent length of time.”
She smiled into his eyes. Two could play this game. “How about the twelfth?”
For a glimmer of a moment, she had him a little uneasy again. “Of?”
“Never?” It was a question, not an answer, and she was aware of holding her breath as she asked.
He blew out the one he’d been unconsciously holding. His hands slid up from her waist to her back and he pulled her closer. “I know why they keep you on as head of the foundation’s board.”
Courtney arched a playful eyebrow. “Because my father started the foundation?”
“No, because you drive a hard bargain—”
“I can change that date—”
“Let me finish. Hard, but fair.” He brushed a kiss to her temple. “Very fair.”
She could feel her knees beginning to melt already. “Then you like the twelfth of never?”
Very much.” He kissed her again, this time skimming her eyelids and her cheek before lightly brushing her lips. “But with my luck, it’ll come all too soon.”
Her arms twined around his neck as she pressed her body to his. It was where she belonged. Where they both belonged. “Don’t bet the farm on it.”
He shook his head. “Not even a single pony.”
At the mention of the word, Katie made a sound and stirred, though she went on sleeping.
“She can’t be too asleep if she can hear that,” Courtney noted.
The laughter in the tiny cubicle was filled with love, as was the kiss that followed.
eISBN 978-14592-7379-5
WANTED: HUSBAND, WILL TRAIN
Copyright © 1997 by Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella
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