Sweet Talk Boxed Set (Ten NEW Contemporary Romances by Bestselling Authors to Benefit Diabetes Research plus BONUS Novel)

by Novak, Brenda

  “We’re making progress,” Nina said quietly, and yet her words seemed to carry on the wind.

  Charlie tried to pick up the pace of their walking in order to increase the distance between them and Nina, but it was as if Diane had dug in her heels.

  Charlie turned to give Nina a look, a signal to maybe turn away, but she wasn’t fast enough.

  “Yes...we’re just headed on a walk,” Nina said. “The little one is with us... It’s a step. ...Well, at this point I’ll take what I can get.”

  There was a little gasp from Diane, who stumbled forward, pushing the stroller ahead of her. At first Charlie didn’t think anything of it—it was a stroller with a doll—but then it registered that they were at the crest of a small hill and the stroller was gaining momentum as it rolled downward. She caught the look of horror in Diane’s gaze before her sister took off, running after the stroller.

  Charlie ran after her, but knew she had no chance of reaching Diane. Before and up until her pregnancy, Diane had been a runner, and a good one at that. She watched in fear as Diane caught the stroller just moments before it jumped the sidewalk and onto the road. A pickup truck screeched to a stop feet away and the horn blared. But it was as if Diane didn’t see him or even hear him. She bent down into the stroller and Charlie heard her talk to the doll.

  “It’s okay, baby; Mommy’s got you. Mommy’s got you,” she frantically whispered to her child.

  “Diane!” Charlie called out to her, her heart about to push out of her chest.

  Nina appeared at Charlie’s side and grabbed hold of her arm for support. “Don’t. Do. That. Again.” Nina sucked in a deep breath after each word.

  “She was going to get run over.” Fury filled Diane’s face.

  The tension between the three women was palpable.

  “My God, Diane. You could have been hit.” Charlie’s body shook as she stood there. She hugged herself as a means to calm down, but inside everything was screaming, literally screaming, that her sister could have been seriously hurt over a doll.

  Over. A. Doll. Charlie forced herself to breathe, her nostrils flaring at the action.

  “Grace almost was!” By now Diane had tears coursing down her cheeks, but Charlie could see fury mixed with the fear in her eyes.

  She should walk away. She needed to walk away before she said anything she’d regret later. “How could you be so foolish?” The words rushed out before she could even stop them. She refused to look at Nina; right now she was just as angry at that woman as she was at her sister.

  Her sister could have been hurt. Diane would have flung herself in front of that truck if she had to in order to save her “child.”

  Nina rushed up and gripped Diane’s arm. Her eyes were wide as she just looked at her and then back at Charlie.

  Charlie knew in that moment that Nina felt the same way.

  This wasn’t okay. Not by a long shot. They never should have let her bring the stroller. Never should have encouraged her bonding with the doll.

  “I’m sorry,” Diane said. “I tripped and let go of the stroller. Oh, my God, Nina. Grace could have been hit!” Diane placed her hand on top of Nina’s and squeezed. “I almost lost her.” Her voice hitched before she collapsed on the ground, her knees buckling from the stress. She grabbed onto the stroller and pulled herself up, staring inside before looking over her shoulder.

  “She’s okay. Still asleep. She never knew what happened,” Diane said.

  “Of course she didn’t,” Charlie muttered under her breath. Nina scowled, and Charlie’s eyes narrowed at the look. What? She was through with this charade. Through with the coddling . . .

  Enough was enough. Something had to change, because it was obvious Diane’s treatment wasn’t working. If she needed to, Charlie would find a different doctor for her sister.

  She wasn’t about to lose her over some fantasy world she’d created in her own mind to protect herself from the harsh realities of life.

  Except...what was Charlie doing to deal with those same harsh realities? Was she really running away, as Marcus had said? That wasn’t what she wanted. She’d accused Walter of doing the same thing...and said she didn’t recognize him anymore. Was that how Marcus felt about her?

  The sinking realization of what she could lose hit her.

  Marcus, please, let’s talk. She sent him a text and waited, praying he would respond right away.

  I think we both need some time. I’m headed to San Antonio to meet with Sabrina to discuss my contract. I’ll be back in two days.

  Remorse ripped through Charlie’s heart. He was leaving her and it was her own fault. What had she done?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Last night had been the worst night of her adult life. She’d slept alone in her bed, her phone beside her waiting for Marcus to text or e-mail or call...to communicate in some way, but by the time she’d fallen asleep after four in the morning, there’d been nothing. No word.

  She walked around the house, moped, really, feeling very unsettled. As much as she knew she needed to head to the hospital to spend time with Diane, she didn’t want to. She had things she needed to work through instead, things she needed to figure out.

  She understood why Marcus hadn’t called last night. He was giving her time to really work through things, really figure them out before he talked to her. She got the need for space, but she didn’t like it.

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and when she saw Nina’s name pop up, Charlie knew a moment of panic.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked. After yesterday and Diane’s reaction to the stroller rolling down the hill, Nina gave her something to help calm her, and Charlie had left to come home to an empty house. She should be used to it by now—Marcus had been here only a day—but it was enough to make her realize just how empty and alone she felt.

  “Diane is wondering where you are.” There was a lightness to Nina’s voice that eased the worry inside Charlie.

  “Is she doing okay?” She headed up the stairs to get dressed. If her sister was wanting her, she’d better go.

  “She is. Are you?”

  Ever observant, Nina was.

  In her room, Charlie looked at the box from the storage locker that sat on the floor by the bed.

  “I have some things I need to take care of this morning, but how about if I come for an early dinner instead?”

  “Let me ask her; she’s standing right here.” Nina muffled the phone and Charlie could hear her talking with Diane and her sister responding. “She’s asking if you can bring cupcakes and then maybe watch a movie after dinner?”

  “She what?” That would mean Diane leaving her room. “Nina, is she really okay?”

  “We were in the dayroom today and Diane noticed the television in the corner.” There was laughter in Nina’s voice, and in that instant Charlie’s heart lightened.

  This had to be a sign that Diane was getting better. It had to be.

  “Tell her it’s a date. I’ll bring her favorite cupcakes and she can pick the movie.”

  Charlie sat down on the bed and just let her soul rest for a moment. Yesterday was the first time Diane had wanted to go outside. Today she went into the dayroom and she specifically requested that Charlie come see her. She was getting better; she had to be. Logically, Charlie knew that for every step forward, there were sure to be two or more steps back . . . but emotionally this was a good sign, and she would take it for what it was.

  No matter what, there would be a long road ahead for Diane, and Charlie knew that if she was to be of any use to her sister, she needed to deal with her own past.

  Marcus had known that.

  Going through her journal the other night had been eye-opening, and reading her aunt’s note...healing. But the journal wasn’t the only thing in her box.

  Marcus must have known that too. Maybe he’d even read the journal.

  She lifted the box onto the bed beside her and gently withdrew each item.

  Baby shoes all three of
them had worn, even little Christopher. A baptismal gown made of satin. Children’s books her mother had read to her as a child, and at the very bottom of the box a stack of letters, wrapped in string.

  It wasn’t the journals or the items Charlie had run from all these years.

  It wasn’t even the memory of that horrible day.

  Those things...they’d all sculpted her into the person she was today. A woman with a heart for children. A woman who needed to be loved.

  These letters were the reason she’d left her box in hiding, the reason she never wanted to talk of the past, and the real reason she’d never wanted to help Diane in her quest to find the father who had abandoned them so many years ago.

  She had two options: Deal with these letters and what they meant for her future with Marcus, or place them back in the box and go back to living the life she knew—but focused on her sister and her healing.

  No, actually there was a third option. And it had nothing to do with Marcus, or even her sister.

  She could face these letters, face what they meant to her and why she’d been so afraid and, possibly for the first time in her life, be free.

  The idea of being free soothed her soul, and that was when she knew she’d made her choice.

  She picked up the stack of letters and pulled the string. She would deal with these letters for herself...and her alone. Hopefully it would mean a future with Marcus and would help her be strong for her sister once the weight of her psychosis really settled on Diane after her healing . . . but regardless, if Marcus walked away and her sister never fully recovered, Charlie would know the truth.

  She pulled out the letter she’d read so many years ago from a hospice located in Portland. Her father’s remains had been cremated and buried, and it wasn’t until later that they’d found a stack of letters with his belongings. Until then the hospice had been under the impression that there had been no next of kin.

  When she’d first read the letter, she’d quickly stuffed it back in the envelope and tossed the other letters to the side, eventually placing them in the box with the things she hadn’t wanted to deal with. She’d never told Diane, and one day she’d have to apologize for that.

  She picked a random letter and carefully opened it.

  My daughters. There are days when I wonder what life would have been like if I’d come back to you after seeking out the help I needed. Would you have welcomed me with open arms or hateful glares? Not knowing is probably why I’ve never mailed any of these letters and probably why I never will. Thirty-five years ago today, I watched your mother walk down the aisle and pledge her love to me, and I can’t help but wonder if either one of you has done the same? Have you found love? I hope you have. Knowing your mother’s love, however briefly, was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

  Love, your father

  Charlie opened another one, read similar things about his regret and memories of the past, then another...until the one she held in her hands.

  My daughters. Every letter she opened, he started the same. I am dying. It’s been a long time coming, but I hope it is swift. I have two regrets in my life, only two true regrets: not recognizing the pain your mother was in, and leaving you both. I have no excuses other than I thought the love you would receive from your aunt was worth more than what I could give you. You didn’t deserve an alcoholic father, but then, you didn’t deserve to see your mother the way she was either. You didn’t deserve to grow up feeling abandoned by your parents—and I can only pray that you didn’t grow up feeling that way at all. Mags told me she had enough love for you both to fill the emptiness my absence would leave. I hope she was right.

  Charlie dropped the letter and bowed her head, tears falling from her face onto the pages, leaving them damp. Reading the words, words he’d written knowing they would probably never be read... He shared his heart, and all those holes, the splinters and crevices of hurt she’d tried to ignore, slowly healed as she read of his love for them.

  He never once asked for forgiveness, probably because he didn’t feel worthy of it, and yet she knew that if he stood in front of her today and whispered it so softly that it might have been missed, she would have given it to him.

  She didn’t question why, didn’t try to argue with herself that he didn’t deserve it—she just gave it. Her father died alone, believing he was unloved, and no one deserved that. No one.

  She might never fully understand, and no matter how many letters he’d written, she might never get the answers she sought about why he left them, why he never came back...but it didn’t matter anymore either.

  She’d been loved. Even if her father hadn’t shown it in the way she needed, he’d loved her.

  For now, that was enough.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  When Charlie walked into the hospital, it was with a lighter heart. After an afternoon spent reading all of their father’s letters, the pain she’d always feared didn’t seem so...evident. She knew they wouldn’t disappear completely and that she’d have moments of doubt here and there, but on the whole, her heart felt different.

  She could only think that was a good thing.

  She’d called Marcello earlier and asked whether she could pick up dinner for her and Diane tonight, and from what she could smell coming from the bags she carried, he’d made all of Diane’s favorite things.

  “Charlie, good to see you.” Nina met her at the nurses’ station, her eyes alight with laughter and a full smile on her face.

  “I brought dinner, and I swear Marcello packed enough in there for everyone on the floor. You’ll join us, right?” She set the bags down.

  Nina peered inside a few of the bags. “Only if you brought enough cupcakes.”

  Charlie pointed to one of the bags. “There’s more than enough,” she said. She couldn’t decide on what kind to pick, so she brought a dozen, a mixture of all her favorites. She knew they wouldn’t go to waste, that the nurses on staff would help themselves as well.

  “How’s my sister?”

  Nina leaned against the nurses’ station, her posture relaxed, her shoulders loose, and sighed. “This is the best I’ve seen her in a long time. Gives me hope, to tell you the truth.”

  “Does she know where she is?”

  “Not really. She still thinks she’s at home, but she’s lucid and full of conversation, and has been asking about you all day. Why don’t I go get everything set up in the eating area and you bring her down?”

  “You mean she’ll come with me?” This surprised Charlie.

  “Just let her know dinner is ready. She thinks I’m off making you guys a special meal.”

  Charlie was curious now. While Diane wasn’t completely healed—if she were then she’d realize she was in a hospital, at least—it was a step.

  She realized today that life was all about taking small steps, about seizing the situation and making the most of it.

  It was why she’d booked herself a flight to San Antonio tonight. No more waiting for Marcus to contact her, to give her the space he thought she needed. She knew what she wanted, what she needed, and being with him was the first thing on her list.

  The moment she walked into Diane’s room, her sister launched herself at her and hugged her tight. “I’ve been waiting all day to see you.”

  “Hi to you too.” Charlie hugged her sister back something fierce. This was the first time—the first time since Diane had been admitted—that she’d done this. This was the sister she remembered, the sister she’d been missing.

  “Where have you been?” Diane pulled back and looked her over.

  “I had some things to deal with today, but I brought cupcakes to make up for it.”

  Diane glanced around. “You did? Where? What kind? My favorites, right? I’m so hungry I could eat a dozen of them right now.”

  “Who are you, and what happened to my sister?” Charlie teased her. She could have all the cupcakes if she wanted them, if it meant her actually eating. “Come on; let’s go eat.”r />
  Charlie walked with Diane down the hall, arm in arm, until they met up with Nina, who’d just finished setting a table for them.

  “Smells amazing.” Diane breathed it all in and giggled when her stomach growled.

  Charlie helped Nina, bringing the plates over full of the delicious pasta and chicken Marcello had had his kitchen prepare.

  “Are you sure she’s okay?” Charlie asked Nina. “She seems extra...” She couldn’t really put her finger on it, but there was a hint of something that bothered her.

  “Excitable? It’s because you’re here. And yes, she’s fine. She’ll probably be very subdued tomorrow, tired and sleepy, but for now it’s fine.” Nina smiled over at Diane.

  “That reminds me, I won’t be here tomorrow,” Charlie said. “Marcus flew to San Antonio for a meeting at headquarters and I’m joining him tonight.”

  “I appreciate your telling me. Hold off on telling Diane right away, though, okay? Let her enjoy this moment.”

  Charlie agreed, and for the remainder of dinner the conversation was kept light, and led mainly by Diane. Nina shooed them into the media room after dinner to get settled in for their movie while she cleaned up, but not before placing a few pre-picked cupcakes on a plate, which Diane held in her hands as they walked to the room next door.

  “So what are we watching?” Charlie asked once they sat down on the couch, her legs curled under her.

  She could tell Diane wasn’t really paying attention to her, though; rather, her gaze was focused on the coffee table in front of them where she’d placed the cupcakes.

  “Don’t tell me you’re still hungry?” Charlie leaned back, her hand rubbing her belly, indicating just how full she felt. “You even had seconds.”

  “There’s still room for cake. Don’t you remember Aunt Mags always telling us that when cake was involved, there was always room?” Diane giggled and leaned back against the couch. “I miss her. She would have loved to have seen Grace, to hold her in her arms—” Her voice broke off as she looked around the room.