by Skylar Hill
“My mom’s name is Lindsey; my Dad’s Bill,” Carter said as the elevator doors opened. The elevator was right in front of the surgical wing’s intake lobby, where his dad was waiting.
“Dad!”
“Carter,” Bill smiled, looking relieved. “Your mom’s with Olivia, getting ready. I told her I’d wait for you.”
“Great,” Carter said. “Dad, this is Maddy. Dad, this is Maddy, my girlfriend. I asked her to come.”
His father’s eyes widened with surprise. “Well, this is a pleasure,” he said, holding out his hand and gripping Maddy’s warmly. “It’s wonderful to meet you, my dear. I apologize in advance if we’re a little distracted today.”
“No apology necessary,” Maddy said quickly. “In fact, I want you and Mrs. Daniels to let me know if you two need absolutely anything. Consider me your personal assistant while we wait. Coffee runs. Food runs. Cheesy magazine runs? I’m your girl.”
His father’s face broke into a wide, delighted smile. “Carter, you’ve found yourself a lovely young lady.”
“I think so,” Carter replied with a grin. “Why don’t we find the doctor and get this show on the road? My stomach isn’t going to shave itself.”
“Does he always make such cheesy jokes?” Maddy asked Bill, slanting a teasing look at Carter as his dad laughed and said, “Always.”
“Lies,” Carter said grandly, so damn glad that Maddy had agreed to come. The idea of his parents sitting alone in the hospital had made him sick. Most of his relatives lived on the East Coast, and while he knew his aunts would’ve flown out if they could, they each had big families of their own. And he hadn’t wanted Maddy sitting alone at home, waiting for him to call to tell her everything was fine… that didn’t seem fair to her. To them. To this thing that they’d built that already felt so solid, so real, even after so short a time.
They walked back to where Olivia was waiting with her doctor and their mom. When his mom saw them, she hurried over and hugged Carter tight, cradling the back of his head as she shook a little in his arms.
“It’s okay, Mom,” he assured her. “Look, I brought someone to meet you.”
His mom looked over to Maddy, her worried expression melting into a smile. “You must be Maddy,” she said.
“It’s really nice to meet you, Mrs. Daniels.”
His mom was a hugger, so he wasn’t surprised when she pulled Maddy into her embrace. When they parted, she said, “Please, call us Lindsey and Bill. I’m very happy to have you here today. And this is Olivia.”
Maddy turned to smile at Olivia, who was looking shyly at her. “Hi, Olivia!” she said brightly, coming over to her. “I’m Maddy. Your brother has told me all about you. He thinks you’re super cool.”
Olivia smiled bashfully at her, obviously a little overwhelmed by everything that was happening. “Maddy and I have a present for you,” Carter said, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed. Maddy pulled out the stuffed Matilda and the copy of the book that they’d picked up on the way to the hospital on Maddy’s suggestion. The children’s bookstore hadn’t opened yet, but Maddy had knocked on the door and the bookseller had gladly sold them the toy and the book after Maddy had explained.
“It’s Matilda!” Olivia exclaimed, her eyes getting so round they looked like saucers. She began to sing “Revolting Children” at the top of her lungs, making his parents laugh for what was probably the first time in days. Carter smiled.
“I know Mommy hasn’t read you this one yet,” Carter said, holding up the book. “It’s a little different than the musical.”
“Is it as good?” Olivia asked skeptically.
“It’s even better,” Carter said. “Because the author, he was the one who knew Matilda well enough to write her story first. And you and I are going to read this when we wake up. We’re going to eat a ton of ice cream and I’m gonna read you this entire book.”
“At once?!” Olivia asked, in that really cute impressed way kids sometimes got.
“We’ll see,” Carter said. “You might get tired.”
“I won’t,” Olivia promised solemnly.
“Then it’s a deal,” Carter said.
“Everyone,” Dr. Rhodes stood in the doorway. “It’s time. Carter, I have a room for you. Time to prep.”
Carter took a deep breath, keeping his smile on his face as he looked at Olivia. “This is it, Olly-Wolly. We’re gonna be twins!”
“Kidney Twin Powers Activate!” Olivia said, holding out her fist for him to bump. When he did, she made a explosion sound, splaying her fingers out, and he mimicked her, making her laugh.
“You’re the best,” he told her. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
He watched, with his parents, as the doctors wheeled Olivia away. She waved cheerfully at them until she disappeared around a corner, and then his mother finally let the tears fall, leaning into his dad like he was the only thing keeping her upright.
“It’s gonna be okay, Mom,” he told her. “I’ve got to go with the doctors now, too, okay?”
“Be safe,” his mother said, hugging him again, kissing his cheek. “Bless you, baby,” she whispered against his ear. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Thank you for giving me a sister,” he said back, making more tears fall down her cheeks.
“I’m going to walk with Carter,” Maddy told his parents. “And then I’ll be right back to sit with both of you, if that’s alright?”
“We would like that,” Bill said.
With his hand in Maddy’s, Carter let his transplant team lead him to the room, where he got undressed behind a curtain and let them prep him by shaving all the hair off his stomach and chest. Maddy held his hand while the doctors explained the procedure—something he almost could repeat by memory on his own from all his research. And then the doctors left them alone to say goodbye before he was wheeled into the O.R.
Carter glanced up at her, smiling. She looked worried, and he loved her for that. He wanted to tell her that, but if he told her he loved her right before he was wheeled into surgery, he worried she wouldn’t believe him. No, it was better to wait until this was all over. He’d set up something romantic and tell her then.
“You gonna be okay all alone with my parents?” he asked.
“Not the ideal first-parent meeting,” she said. “But they are very sweet.” She smiled. But the smile wavered, and she bit her lip, looking at him through her lashes. “I’ll do my best to distract them until you’re both awake.”
“Thank you,” he said. The fact that he didn’t have to ask, that she would automatically think of it, made him feel warm inside.
There was a knock on the door, and the head of his transplant team, Dr. Lee, peeked in. “Carter, we’re ready to start when you are.”
“Great,” he said. He looked at Maddy. “Kiss me,” he said.
She did, bending down and kissing him like it was the first time. Like there was a lifetime of kisses ahead of them.
And there was. He was sure of it.
She walked with him until they reached the doors leading to the surgical unit, and as he was wheeled through the double doors, her eyes never left his.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Maddy
Four hours. Maddy never knew that two hundred and forty minutes could feel so long.
Carter’s parents—Lindsey and Bill—were truly the nicest people. They kept trying to take care of Maddy—and ask her questions—even though they were going through such a stressful wait. She did her best to keep them distracted—she answered any question they asked, and even got in a long discussion with Bill about the Rube Goldberg machines that he and Carter had built when Carter was in middle school. But there was no way to truly distract a mother and father from the fact that both of their children were currently in surgery, one of them trying to save the other’s life.
It was a beautiful gift. It was a humbling sacrifice.
And it had to be terrifying for both parents. So Maddy did her best to be as suppor
tive as possible, fetching coffee and snacks from the cafeteria, paging through magazines and discussing who wore it best with not only Lindsey, but Bill, who had some surprising opinions about draping. It turned out that Carter’s father had been a tailor.
When the doctors came in, the three of them took a collective breath, but then the two lead surgeons broke out into smiles. “Everything went very well,” said Olivia’s surgeon.
“Carter is recovering in his suite and should be awake soon,” said Dr. Lee.
“And Olivia will likely take a little longer to wake up, but she came through beautifully,” said Olivia’s surgeon. “It was an excellent transplant. I think she’s going to bounce back very quickly.”
“Oh, thank God,” Lindsey said, hugging both of the women tight, then turning to hug Maddy, and then finally clutching her husband, who stroked her back, rocking her back and forth. “Thank you both so much.”
“I can take you to be there when Olivia wakes up,” her surgeon offered.
Lindsey looked over at Maddy, looking unsure. She knew Carter’s mom was torn between her two children. But Carter, being the son he was, had anticipated this.
“I’ll go to Carter,” she told his parents. “He made me promise to tell you he would be fine and that he wanted both of you to be there when Olivia woke up.”
Bill reached out and took Maddy’s hand, squeezing it. “We’re very glad he found you, Maddy,” he said.
“Me too,” Maddy said, squeezing his hand back. “Now go be with your little girl. I’ll take care of that handsome son of yours. He’ll be cracking his cheesy jokes in no time.”
“Probably even more under anesthesia,” Bill said with a wry grin.
Maddy watched them leave with the surgeon before turning to Dr. Lee. “Take me to my guy, Dr. Lee,” she said.
The surgeon grinned. “Today is the kind of day a surgeon like me dreams of,” she said as she led Maddy to Carter’s recovery room. “I’m very happy for you and your husband.”
“Oh, I—” Maddy stopped, deciding not to correct her, trying not to feel a little—okay, big, giant, totally huge—thrill at being mistaken for Carter’s wife. “Thank you for everything,” she said, when they came to a halt in front of Carter’s recovery suite. “We’re so appreciative.”
“Let the nurses know if you need anything. He’ll be a bit groggy when he wakes up. He might be confused… ask you the same question a few times. There’ll be ice chips for him, and then water, if he can manage it.”
“Got it. Thanks again.”
Maddy entered the recovery suite alone. The lights were dimmed, Carter’s bed in the center of the room. He had an IV in his arm and an oxygen cannula in his nose, and her heart clenched, even though she knew from his surgeon that he had done great.
She sat down in the chair next to his bed and brushed his hair off his forehead. He looked so much younger when he was sleeping like this. She couldn’t wait for his eyes to open, for them to fill with that now-familiar light she loved so.
He murmured, his head tilting into her palm as she continued to stroke his hair.
“Hey, baby, are you awake?” she asked softly.
“Mmm,” he said, his eyelids twitching, but not opening. “Livia?” he asked.
“She’s good. You’re good. Everything went amazing. You did it,” Maddy said. “She has a working kidney. You’re so amazing.”
“No, you’re amazing,” he said, pursing his lips, like he was trying to kiss her and getting only air.
Maddy tried to suppress her laugh. He was still all loopy from the anesthesia.
“That thing you do with your hips,” he murmured. “It’s gonna kill me one of these days. Gonna die a happy man.”
“Shh, shh,” Maddy whispered, looking over her shoulder, worried a nurse would overhear.
“S’wonderful,” he sighed, pushing his head into her hand like he was a six-and-a-half-foot kitten. She was never going to let him live this down. He was so freaking cute right now.
“… Love you so much.”
All of her amusement was suddenly replaced by edge-of-your-seat, oh-my-God, did-he-just-say-that?
“What?” she said, not daring to believe it.
“I love you so much,” he said, and his eyes finally opened. They were sleepy, but so damn happy it made her heart start doing cartwheels in her chest. “Like, baby, I didn’t even get it until you came around. I love you more than science!” He said this last thing with such wide-eyed sincerity, with such awe and reverence, that tears of happiness and mirth filled her eyes.
“You love me more than science?” she asked, smiling at him like a fool, loving him so deeply, so truly, that it took her breath away.
“Way more,” he said, beaming back at her.
She stood up and kissed him. His smiling mouth was heaven against hers, a promise of a lifetime of this: silly, beautiful moments, joyful kisses, and nights so steamy the fogged-up windows would never be the same.
When she pulled back, she cupped his face in her hands. “I love you, too,” she said. “And when you aren’t really drugged up, I’m going to tell you that again. Because I love you way more than science. I love you more than anything.”
A wide smile broke across his face. “Do you love me enough to dress up like Wonder Woman again?”
Maddy laughed, and reaching to press the button to call in the nurse to check him now that he was awake.
“I’ll tell you a secret,” she said, leaning over to whisper in his ear. “I love you so much that next Halloween, I’ll dress up as Xena.”
A few hours later, she’ll laugh because he’ll remember her Xena promise, but not his first confession of drugged-up love. He’ll tell her he loves her again, his hands in hers, his eyes bright and his mind not influenced by heavy drugs and major abdominal surgery.
A month later, he’ll ask her to move in.
Six months after that, he’ll propose to her—using a Rube Goldberg machine.
But for now, it’s just the two of them in a hospital room, two people who finally found their match in each other. Her fingers tangle with his, their foreheads touch, and they just breathe together into their forever.
Fin
Want the story behind Carter’s proposal to Maddy? Sign up here for Skylar’s Newsletter for the exclusive bonus story!
Also by Skylar Hill
The Exile Ink Series
James & Cam:
Something New (Book 1)
Something Right (Book 2)
Something Real (Book 3)
Exile Ink: James & Cam (The Complete Trio)
Aiden & Lydia:
Just One Night (A Prequel Short)
Coming Soon:
Just One Word (Book 4)
Just One Touch (Book 5)
Just One Kiss (Book 6)
Steamy Standalones
For Keeps
The Purely Pleasure Series
All Worked Up
Coming Soon:
All Loved Up
All Fired Up
About the Author
Skylar Hill writes steamy romance about once-in-a-lifetime love.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her very own lumberjack/soulmate. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking one of the trails around her beautiful city, or in a cafe, drinking chai lattes and eating way too many cinnamon rolls. She has several tattoos, but in places only her husband gets to see!
She is currently hard at work on her next steamy story.
For sneak peeks, bonus scenes, updates, giveaways and truly decadent hot cocoa recipes, sign up for Skylar’s Newsletter here.
To connect with Skylar
www.skylar-hill.com
[email protected]
s
