Rescued by the Billionaire (Billionaire Romance Novel)

by Michelle, Aubrey

  As Kelly showered, she thought of how this was beginning to look like a little family. She beamed with joy as she envisioned the three of them spending every holiday together and being happy. Before, it had always been her and Emma. Occasionally they’d go to Dawn’s house, but usually only for Fourth of July or Thanksgiving. After the car was packed and they were buckled, they began their journey to Dave’s house. Kelly’s stomach knotted in anticipation of making this their best holiday ever.

  Meanwhile, Dave was at home, tidying up his kitchen, trying to set everything up in preparation for Kelly and Emma’s arrival. When the girls arrived, he helped get Emma out of the car as he scooped a couple of the dishes under his arm.

  “Thank you,” Kelly appreciated his help.

  “No problem. I’ve been working on getting the kitchen set up so we have enough room to cook so we’re not stepping on each other’s feet. I hope you like it,” he grinned.

  When Kelly walked inside, she was shocked to see the dining room table completely decorated with a beautiful candlelit centerpiece in the middle of the table. The pristine white linen tablecloth appeared freshly pressed. Each chair at the table was set with a festive placemat which featured autumn leaves and wine goblets next to each mat, opposite of the napkin wrapped silverware.

  “You really went all out, didn’t you?” Kelly asked, astonished.

  He shrugged, “It’s our first holiday together and I wanted it to be special,” he kissed her forehead. “Here, let’s go put these in the kitchen and get busy cooking.”

  After their Thanksgiving meal, the trio lay around with puffy, stuffed bellies as they watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on the DVR. Emma eventually grew tired of watching the show while her mom and Dave dozed on the couch.

  “Momma,” she said tugging on her mom’s shirt, “I’m ready to go to bed. Can we go home?”

  Kelly opened her eyes, turned her head in Emma’s direction and said, “Yeah, baby, we can go back. Let me just tell Dave goodbye and get our coats.”

  Eager to leave, Emma grabbed her coat as her mom gave Dave a kiss good night.

  “Night, Emma,” he called to her as they began walking out to the car.

  “Bye Dave,” she waved, “see you later.”

  A couple of weeks after Thanksgiving, Kelly went into Emma’s room to wake her for school. As she flipped on the lights, she noticed that Emma hadn’t moved a muscle all night while she was sleeping. That sweet thing, she thought as she made her way to the bed, she must have been zonked!

  “Emma Buggy, it’s time for school baby. Wake up,” she whispered as she lightly shook her arm.

  “Mom,” she groaned, “my back really hurts. It’s so stiff again. Can I have some of my medicine?”

  Taken aback by her daughter’s statement, she headed to the kitchen to get her medication. Maybe she just slept weird. That’s odd because she’s been doing so well. I wonder what’s causing this all of a sudden.

  “Here you go honey,” she handed her the medication and a glass of water. “Take this and I’ll start getting your clothes out.”

  “I don’t want to go to school today momma. I hurt. Can I just stay home?”

  Remember what the doctor said, she replied, “No, it’s important that you go to school. Remember the doctor said it’s important for you to stay physically active, and going to school will help you do that. You can always rest when you come home.”

  “No, mom, I don’t think I’m going.”

  Kelly was still rummaging through Emma’s closet trying to find a warm sweatshirt for her to wear that chilly day. “Emma, you have to go to school. Besides, this is your last week before Christmas break,” she added, trying to convince her daughter she would only have to go a couple of more days.

  “No, mom, look!” Emma said as she tried to move. “I can’t move my legs at all!” she began to panic.

  “What?” she spun around to see what she was talking about.

  Sure enough, when she looked at her daughter, the tiny girl was stiff as a rail and unable to bend from her waist down. Her whole lower body were as if it was stuck in a sitting position; she couldn’t stand up straight.

  “Emma!” Kelly exclaimed, alarmed of her daughter’s sudden onset of symptoms. “When did all of this begin? How long have you been like this?”

  “I don’t know. I was pretty stiff yesterday. Aunt Dawn gave me some medicine while I was at her house and by the time you picked me up, I was feeling a little better. When I went to bed, it started coming back but I figured I could wait for more medicine until the morning.”

  “Oh, baby. No, if you hurt, you need to tell me. Every time! Sometimes you might have to wait a few hours until you can have another dose, but always tell someone so we know. I could’ve given you some right before bed. Were you only stiff yesterday or were there other days?”

  She looked down at her legs and stared at the blanket until it became fuzzy from tears in her eyes. “I’ve been hurting for about a week. I just didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t mean to worry you and I was hoping that it would go away.”

  “Sweetie, you have to tell me these things. It won’t get better on its own. You have to have medicine when this happens. I’ll call your school and let them know you’ll be absent today. Hopefully, you’ll feel better tomorrow.”

  At this point, this was all Kelly needed. She couldn’t afford to miss work right before the holidays. In dire need of cash for Christmas presents and money for bills, there was no way she could miss work. There was also the fact that she only had two points left until she would be terminated if she missed any more work. She called her friend to see if she could come sit with Emma while she went to work.

  “Dawn, I have a big favor to ask,” she announced when her friend answered the phone.

  “What is it?”

  “Emma can hardly move. I think it’s her AS again and she must be having a flare-up. There’s no way she can go to school so I was hoping you could come sit with her today.”

  “Well…I have to take Derek to work today because his truck is in the shop, but I can come over as soon as I drop him off.”

  “Okay, what time will that be?”

  “Around ten o’clock.”

  “Oh, no. I have to be at work at nine. There’s no way you can come over earlier?”

  “Hold on a sec,” she put the phone down and began calling for her husband.

  Kelly could hear a very muffled conversation between the two of them as she asked her husband to take her to Kelly’s house and keep their SUV.

  “Okay, I’m back,” she announced. “Derek’s going to drop me off at your house in about 45 minutes and then he’ll take the SUV to work and come pick me up when he gets off.”

  “Perfect! You’re a life saver. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  Relieved that Dawn was on her way, she called the school before she jumped into the shower. Shampooing her hair, she began to wonder if she should call the specialist. After a deep conditioning and some thought, she decided that it would be best if she did. This, after all, was Emma’s first real flare-up since she’d been on the methotrexate and NSAIDS. Not wanting to take any chances, she made that phone call as soon as she was dressed with her wet hair wrapped still wrapped in a towel.

  “Dr. Berringen’s office, this is Samantha, how may I help you?” a polite young woman answered the phone.

  “Hi, this is Kelly Hall. My daughter Emma Hall started seeing Dr. Berringen a couple of months ago for AS. She’s having a flare-up so I wanted to call and see if it was necessary to make her an appointment.”

  After the chipper woman had gathered all of Emma’s information and symptoms, she asked Kelly for a call-back number so the doctor could call her back. Shortly after hanging up, Dawn was walking up the front steps when Kelly spied her.

  “Come on in,” she called to her friend as she opened the front door.

  A chilly gust of cold St. Louis air blew into the house, promising to instan
tly cool the heated room.

  “Oh my goodness! It’s so cold outside,” Dawn said, shivering as she took off her black goose down coat.

  “Yeah it is,” she agreed. “Emma’s in her room. I called the doctor’s office as I was getting ready for work. I gave them the home number to call back on in case he calls while I’m busy at work. I figured you could keep the phone nearby and answer when he calls.”

  “Sure. What do you want me to do?”

  “Just answer any questions he has and see if she needs to be seen,” Kelly said as she filled her friend in on Emma’s most recent doses of medication and her latest symptoms.

  “Will do. I’ll keep the little monster entertained, and I’ll call you once I hear from the doctor.”

  “Thanks,” Kelly said, slipping on her tan winter boots before heading to work.

  Anxiously waiting while she served and bussed tables, she wondered how Emma was doing and when the doctor would finally call back. Every chance she got, she pulled her cell phone out of her waitress apron to see if there were any missed calls. By the time her lunch break rolled around, she had called to check on Emma and see if the doctor had called.

  “How’s she doing?” she asked her friend.

  “She’s been complaining a lot of how much pain she’s in and how stiff she is. I feel sorry that I can’t give her more medicine.”

  “I know,” Kelly agreed. “Has the doctor called back yet?”

  “Nope, not yet. How’s work been?”

  “Busy! But I’m glad. With Christmas right around the corner, I need to finish up my shopping for Emma. I was actually hoping to get her at least one of her significant items on her wish list.”

  “I’m sure you will.”

  “Listen, I have to get back out there. We’ve been so busy that I think every Christmas shopper from here to Cape is coming in for lunch today. I’ll talk to you later.”

  That was the last time she would get to call Dawn for the day. The lunch rush was overwhelming as guests waited in the front lobby to be seated at the next available table. Kelly was relieved about an hour before she got off work when her phone had a missed call from Dawn. She checked to see if her friend had messaged her since she was unable to talk and she had. Anxious to see what she had to say, she snuck into the bathroom to read the message.

  “The doctor said that he will need to see her. He scheduled her an appointment for December 23rd and 11 AM. I hope that’s okay.”

  Crap, that’s right in the middle of my work shift! I have to take her to that appointment. Brian’s going to be so mad at me if I take off work. Maybe I’ll see if Heather will trade with me again so I don’t accrue any more points. I’ll have to ask her tomorrow when she comes to work since she’s not here today.

  On her way home, she called her friend to get the scoop on exactly what the doctor said.

  “He said that he definitely wants to see her, especially when he learned how severe her pain, swelling, and stiffness was.”

  “I figured he would,” Kelly sighed.

  “There’s more. He said that he wants to do more testing.”

  “What kind of testing?” she interrupted her friend.

  “Another MRI and more X-rays, as well as labs.”

  “Good God, I can’t keep affording this. There’s no way I can swing that.”

  “Well, how are you on her other bills? It might not be so bad if you budget it in.” Dawn suggested.

  “Right. Let’s see. How am I on her other bills? Um, well, I owe the hospital around nineteen hundred dollars for her last MRI and set of X-rays and I still owe the lab for her original set of blood tests from when her pediatrician saw her. There’s also the two specialist visits that I owe for. That was only four hundred and fifty bucks, but thanks to my nifty insurance, I only have to pay three hundred.”

  Dawn could hear the frustration in Kelly’s voice. She wished her and her husband could help her financially, but they couldn’t since Dawn was trying to pay for her mom’s nursing home bills.

  “I’m sorry Kelly,” I wish there was more that I could do.

  Tears began welling up in her eyes, “You already do so much for me! You babysit for free, you come to my house at the drop of a dime anytime I ask you to and you help me out in so many ways. Don’t ever think that you should or could do more. I don’t know where we’d be without you.”

  “I know, but I love you guys so much. We’ve been like sisters since the day we became friends. Do you remember that? Back in middle school when I was the new kid and you saved me from that fat pimply dork on the bus who always tried to hit on me?” Dawn said.

  The girls laughed.

  “Yeah, I told you that you could come sit by me. I’ll never forget. Every day after school, he’d pat his seat and say that you could come sit with him. You rolled your eyes every time,” Kelly laughed.

  “Yep, I sure did. You saved me big time.”

  “You came and sat with me that day when I asked you to,” Kelly said.

  “I know! I remembered that you were the cool kid, and you were asking me to come sit with you. I was so shocked.” Dawn said.

  “But he tried to hit on all the girls. He was such a dork. Nobody ever wanted to sit with him. And ever since that day, we’d go riding bikes together or walk to 7-11 for a snack or go roller skating,” she said, reminiscing down memory lane. “What happened to those days? What happened to us being young and carefree? When did life get so complicated?”

  “I don’t know. Somewhere along the lines of when you had a kid.” Dawn teased.

  “No shit. I’m almost home so I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  After her daughter was neatly tucked into bed and fast asleep, she called Dave to fill him in on what was going on. During their conversation, he—once again—offered to help pay for Emma’s medical bills.

  “Dave, I can’t take your money. You understand that right?” she said, too proud to take his money.

  “I know, I know. You’ve given me the speech before. Let me see, how does it go? Something like you’ve always worked for everything you’ve ever had and you’re not about to take handouts? Is that how it goes?” he half-heartedly teased her.

  “Right, that’s exactly how it goes. Dave, you’ve got to realize something. I’m very proud of everything I’ve accomplished. I’m a hard-working mom who does things on her own. I’ve never relied on someone before so I don’t want to do it now. My mom always taught me that if you want things in life, you’ll work for them.”

  After hanging up with him, she began to think that maybe she should take him up on his offer. I really could use the help, and it’s not like he couldn’t afford it. He’s a billionaire! But still, it wouldn’t be right to take his money. I’d hate to feel indebted to him. What if we didn’t work out? Would he expect me to pay him back? My credit card is almost entirely maxed, my bank account is almost empty and I have no cash in my purse other than today’s tips. Oh, wait, I almost forgot that mounting stack of bills over there on the table. Geez, could things get any better?

  Chapter Ten

  “Heather, I was wondering if you could trade shifts with me next week. Emma’s symptoms have flared up again and I have to take her to see the specialist two days before Christmas, but I can’t miss any more work.”

  “I’ll have to check, but if I can, I will.”

  This is going to drive me crazy. I can’t keep asking everyone to trade with me, come to my house and bend over backward. Things have to get better, right? I just have to make it through nine more months until some of these attendance points fall. Nine months. Oh, please, Emma get better.

  The next morning when Kelly returned to work, Heather agreed to switch shifts with her on the twenty-third. Emma’s condition hadn’t improved a bit, despite the NSAIDS and methotrexate. She hopelessly scanned information on the internet to see what the next steps were. Dr. Hinton said that these medications were only the beginning and had hoped to keep her symptoms at bay for quite a while. Ov
erwhelmed by the wealth of information provided by her searches, she developed a pounding headache.

  On the eve of the appointment, Dave offered to go with them.

  “No, you have to work,” Kelly reasoned with him.

  “I own my company, I can take off whenever I want,” he explained.

  “It’s just that I don’t want our problem to become your problem. Know what I’m saying?”

  “Kelly, don’t ever think like that. You and Emma are my world. I want to be there for you guys. Please, just let me come.”

  She sighed. “Okay, if you want to. Do you want to come pick us up or meet us there?”

  “I’ll come pick you up. If she missed most of school last week, I think it would be hard trying to lift her into and out of your car. I’ll bring my SUV and carry her myself.”