by Radclyffe
The tears came again and Mari was too tired to even be embarrassed. Antonelli silently handed her a tissue and she wiped her eyes. “We were all lucky.”
“Damn scary night, just the same.”
Mari nodded.
“If you don’t want to go home, at least crash in the on-call room for a few hours.”
“He’s right,” a woman said from the doorway.
Mari looked over and something brought her instantly to her feet as Antonelli slipped out. “I know. It’s just really hard to leave her.”
“Mm-hmm.” Ida Rivers walked to the foot of Glenn’s bed and studied her for long, silent moments. With a brisk nod, she put her arm around Mari and drew her to the door. “She’s not in pain and she’s strong as an ox. She’ll mend quickly. I’m Ida Rivers, by the way.”
“I know. All your children look like you.”
Ida smiled. “When you see them next to their father, you’ll say the same thing.”
“I’m Mari Mateo. Carrie’s cousin.”
“Glenn’s girl too, if I understand right.”
Mari caught her breath. “Yes. You do. I am.”
“The first thing she’s going to worry about when she opens her eyes is you.”
Mari surrendered. “I’ll run home, shower, change my clothes. I don’t know how I can sleep.”
“Good enough.” Ida squeezed Mari’s hand. “She’s not going to want to stay in here, either. She’ll come to the homestead for a day or two so we can make sure she doesn’t overdo.”
Mari hadn’t thought beyond the morning. Of course Glenn would need time to recover, and she’d need to be with family. The family who had chosen her, whom she had chosen. “That’s perfect. I have a feeling she’ll listen to you.”
“For as long as the lot of them do, which in this case will be about a day.” Ida laughed. “You’re welcome to come by and stay as long as you want. We’ve got more than enough rooms.”
“Thank you. I’m going to need to work, especially with Glenn out. But if you wouldn’t mind me dropping by…” Mari sighed. “I know she’s going to be all right, in my head at least, but—”
“The heart needs something different.” Ida gave her a squeeze. “Breakfast starts at six, dinner at five. We always have leftovers. So you just come around when you’re free. Glenn will want you there.”
“Thank you,” Mari whispered.
Ida glanced into the room at Glenn. “No need to thank me for taking care of my children.”
Mari returned to Glenn’s side and kissed her softly on the cheek. “I love you.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Mari knew she wouldn’t sleep, but Ida’s voice in her head kept telling her she needed to try, and she woke up twelve hours later. A spurt of adrenaline jolted her out of bed and she speed-dialed the page operator and asked for Glenn’s floor.
“Oh, hi, Mari, this is Kimberly. I was just going off shift.”
“How’s Glenn?”
Kimberly laughed. “Harper was by around six this morning, signed Glenn’s discharge, and personally wheeled her out just as I was coming on.”
Mari sighed. Of course Glenn had left the instant she could. “Thanks.”
Mari rang off, hesitated a moment, and called the page operator back.
“This is Mari Mateo, a PA in the ER. Can you connect me to Dr. Edward Rivers’s home number?”
“Sure can. Hold on.”
Ida answered on the third ring. “Hello. Rivers.”
“Mrs. Rivers, it’s Mari. I’m so sorry to disturb you, but—”
“She’s here,” Ida said. “Sleeping still, I’d wager. Harper was by a little while ago and said everything looks just fine.”
Mari’s breath whooshed out. “Thank you.”
“What about you? Have you eaten?”
Mari laughed. “I just this minute opened my eyes. I slept almost all day. I’m fine.”
“You have time to come by for something to eat?”
“I wish I did, but I need to get to work. You’ll let me know if there’s any change, though, won’t you?”
“You can stop worrying about that. She’s sleeping and when she’s not, she’s eating, and under orders to do nothing else. Come to breakfast in the morning.”
“If you’re sure…”
“Course I am. You take care of yourself now.”
“I will. Tell her I called, please.”
“Done. Now I’ll see you in the morning.”
A shower, a cup of coffee that she drank on her way up the hill to the hospital, and a fresh sliced deli sandwich seemed to put her back on track. That and knowing Glenn was being cared for and healing.
Abby pursed her lips when Mari walked in and gave her a thorough study. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m good.”
“I’ve been working on the schedule, switching things around to cover for Glenn. I can get someone in here for you tonight too.”
“No. I want to work.”
“Good, because I need you.”
“I need to be here too.” Mari shrugged. “I want to be here. Mrs. Rivers—Ida—is looking after Glenn.”
Abby nodded. “I know. Flann told me. Everyone is getting updates and passing them along, otherwise the place out there would be overrun.” Abby smiled. “Glenn is very popular.”
“I don’t think she has any idea just how much.”
“Of course she doesn’t. That’s the sweetest thing about Glenn.”
Mari’s face heated. There were many sweet things about Glenn. “I’m going out there in the morning.”
Abby chuckled. “If it’s quiet, you can finish up a little early. And if you need to, you can take my car. I’ll catch a ride with Flann.”
“Thank you. Thanks for everything. Coming here is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.” Mari didn’t say what Abby must already know—the staff in the ER, the friends she’d made, Carrie and the Riverses—they were her family now. This was her home. And she had Glenn, a woman she loved.
“I’m very glad you’re here.”
Her shift passed quickly. A steady line of patients, noncritical thankfully, kept her busy until six in the morning. The board was finally empty except for several patients who’d already been seen and were awaiting rooms upstairs.
“I’ll keep an eye on the rest of them,” Baker, Mari’s PA trainee, said.
“Thanks. Let me just clear it with Abby. Good job tonight.”
Baker smiled, her eyes sparkling at the praise. She was growing in confidence from a serious student to an intuitive clinician. Not everyone made that leap, but she had. “No problem. Tell Glenn we all said hi and to get well soon.”
Mari’s throat tightened. “Yes, I will.”
*
The sunrise was a brilliant wash of orange and red flames dancing over the mountaintops. Mari drove with the windows open, exulting in the cool morning air that would be gone in just a few hours, fleeing before the sultry summer heat. God, it was beautiful. She laughed aloud. She’d forgotten what happiness felt like, and the excitement that a new day brought when anything was possible.
She slowly made her way down a long gravel drive flanked by broad green fields to a magnificent brick and white-columned house with sweeping wings that looked in many ways like a miniature of the hospital, and of course it would, probably being as old or older. The multi-paned windows sparkled, urns of red and white flowers bedecked the formal front porch, and stately chimneys crowned each end gable. She parked and got out, hesitating as to whether to try the tall front door or wander around to a side entrance, when she smelled what could only be the aroma of fresh-baked bread. Ida, she guessed, was baking.
Following the delicious aroma, she walked around to the back of the house and up a few stairs to a wide, homey porch and an open doorway enclosed with just the screen. “Hello?”
Ida’s voice called back, “Thought I heard a car, but the rest of them usually pull all the way under the porte cochere. Come get some coffee.”
&
nbsp; Mari entered a kitchen twice the size of her apartment, anchored by a huge table in the center with at least a dozen chairs, framed on two sides by wood-topped counters, glass-fronted cabinets, and a giant cast-iron stove where Ida dished food onto a platter. “Oh, I’m not sure I can eat—”
Ida turned and gestured to the table. “You’re hungry. Your stomach just hasn’t caught up yet.”
Mari sat dutifully and, when coffee appeared beside the food, realized she was ravenous. “Oh my God, these eggs are amazing.”
“Just laid this morning, that’s why.” Ida sat with a cup of coffee. “Edward’s gone on rounds, Margie is off to get Blake for their shift over in the ER, and Flann was just here checking on Glenn.”
“She’s doing all right?”
“She’s doing as she’s told. Sleeping and eating and taking the pills that Harper prescribed.”
“Thank you so much. All of you.”
Ida sipped her coffee. “How are you?”
“I’m wonderful,” Mari said and meant it with every fiber of her being.
Ida nodded. “Then everything is as it should be.”
“Not quite,” Glenn said from the doorway. “I don’t have any coffee.”
Mari dropped her fork, her heart leaping into her throat. “Glenn.”
Ida turned in her chair. “I thought we’d be seeing you this morning. Sit down. You’ll need food with the coffee.”
Mari devoured her with her eyes. She looked thinner by ten pounds and way too pale. The row of tiny perfect stitches along her forehead was starkly black against her skin. She wore a T-shirt with a faded logo of a sports team and sweatpants. She was the most beautiful woman Mari had ever seen.
“I need to water those begonias out back before the sun gets too high,” Ida said and disappeared out the back door.
Glenn’s gaze, riveted on Mari, was a beacon brightening a day Mari had thought perfect until now. Now she understood what it meant to be completely whole and unafraid. Glenn’s smile, whimsical and inviting, called to her and Mari rose. She went to her, caressed her uninjured cheek, and kissed her. “Come sit down.”
“Just give me a minute.” Glenn draped an arm around Mari’s shoulders, held her close. “I thought I heard your voice. Thought it was a dream at first. But it wasn’t, was it?”
“No,” Mari whispered against Glenn’s throat. “Not a dream. Real.” She tilted her head back, met Glenn’s calm, patient gaze. “Just like now. We’re real. I love you.”
“I thought I dreamed that too.”
“You didn’t.”
“That’s a dream I wouldn’t mind having every night.” Glenn sighed, leaned against her a little. “You’re all I’ve been thinking about. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Always,” Mari whispered.
“I love you. I never imagined how amazing that would feel.”
Mari closed her eyes, pressed her cheek to Glenn’s shoulder. “Neither did I. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.” She looked up, found Glenn’s eyes. “I wish I could be sure about how long I can offer you.”
Glenn brushed her thumb over Mari’s lips. “You love me, don’t you?”
“Oh yes.”
“And that’s not going to change.”
“Never.”
“I feel the same. That’s all we need. The rest is just living.”
Mari kissed her. “Then I want to live with you by my side.”
“You will.” Glenn smiled. “And for starters, I think I need breakfast.”
A joyful peace settled deep in her heart as Mari looped an arm around her waist. “Sit and get started on this enormous plate of food. I’ll tell Ida it’s safe to come back in.”
When Ida returned, she said, “Flann and Harper said no work for you for a week. They didn’t say you can’t go home, which I imagine you want to do. You know the routine. Don’t overdo.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Glenn said and polished off her breakfast with heartening energy.
Ida nodded, apparently satisfied. “I’ll pack up a basket for you to take so you have something to eat for a couple of days. Don’t imagine either one of you will be doing much cooking.”
*
Mari pulled in behind Glenn’s building and turned to face Glenn. “Are you sure you can handle the stairs?”
“As long as I go slow, I’m doing okay. My head’s good, but the ribs are pretty sore.”
“Let’s get you upstairs and into bed, then.”
Glenn grinned. “I’ve always liked that you could read my mind.”
Mari flushed. “I don’t think that’s a prescribed activity.”
“There are a lot of ways to interpret recovery, and one thing I need more than anything else is you.”
“Let’s start with the stairs, and we’ll go from there.”
“Will you stay today?”
Mari reached for Glenn’s hand and leaned over to kiss her. “Honey, I’m staying for as long as you want me.”
Glenn cupped her cheek and kissed her. “I love you. So that’s easy. Forever would about cover it.”
Chapter Thirty
Mari woke with a warm hand pressed to her middle and Glenn’s body curved against her back, Glenn’s face pillowed in her neck. After four mornings waking the same way, she knew she would never tire of it. Glenn possessed her just as she did everything else—with a quiet certainty that left her feeling safe and desired and stronger on her own than she’d ever imagined.
“Mmm.”
“Does that mean you’re awake?” Glenn murmured, her fingers circling slowly, teasing Mari’s skin into wakeful need.
“I believe I might be, but I’m not sure yet.” Smiling, eyes still closed, Mari pressed her hips into Glenn, rewarded by a swift intake of breath. Knowing she could excite her was another of those wonderful revelations she’d quickly become addicted to and hoped to repeat at every opportunity. As soon as Glenn was fully recovered. The waiting was torture, since every time Glenn looked at her she throbbed. Coming back from the ER to Glenn’s welcoming kiss, sleeping beside her with their heated skin sliding in a seductive dance, kept her constantly on the edge of desire. “Maybe you should just keep doing that a little bit longer.”
Glenn chuckled and her hand drifted lower, inviting Mari’s thighs to open.
Mari half turned toward her, kissed Glenn over her shoulder. She caught her breath when Glenn’s fingers slipped between her parted thighs. They were playing a dangerous game, one she loved and was quickly losing. “All right, I’m awake.”
Glenn kissed her again, the tip of her tongue playing over Mari’s lips in time with the glide of her fingers ever lower. She coaxed Mari’s mouth to open, to let her in.
Mari gripped Glenn’s shoulders, turned completely toward her, and pressed her breasts to Glenn’s. “How are your ribs?”
“Perfect.”
Mari laughed, the sound breaking on a sob as Glenn slid effortlessly inside her. She arched, struggling for a little sanity. “Is that a lie?”
“No,” Glenn rasped. “Truth. I’ve been patient, and I’m done waiting. I want you.”
“I’m here. And oh God, I’m yours.”
Glenn buried her face in Mari’s throat and gave herself to the sensation of heat and belonging that pulled her in, body and soul, with each slow, deep stroke. This was home. “I love you.”
“Glenn,” Mari whispered, “you’re going to make me come.”
Mari’s grip on her shoulders tightened, and Glenn focused on the beat of Mari’s heart pounding faster and faster against her own, the soft sounds of wonderment and need breaking from her throat, the lift and pull of her hips. Every hour she’d spent waiting for her body to heal, holding Mari close to her while they slept, part of her had been longing for this, needing this and only this to be completely whole again.
“You’re everything I want,” Glenn said as Mari tightened around her, her body wire taut for an instant, a cry torn from her throat. When Mari relaxed with a long, sati
sfied sigh, Glenn grinned. “You’re so sexy when you come.”
“Am I?” Mari said drowsily. “That’s handy. Because I very much like it when you make me come.”
“Anytime, say the word.” Glenn kissed her. “How about now?”
Mari laughed, shook the pleasure fog from her mind and framed Glenn’s face, kissing her until Glenn groaned. “If your ribs don’t hurt anymore and your headache’s gone…”
“Gone, perfect, no pain anywhere.” Glenn sounded a little desperate. “Except this one place. Terrible, terrible pain.”
Still laughing, Mari gently eased Glenn onto her back and propped herself on an elbow beside her, trailing her fingertips up and down the center of Glenn’s torso. “Here?”
“That’s nice, but…”
Leaning down, Mari kissed the purple bruise over Glenn’s chest. “You’re sure about this?”
“Yes, yes, positive.” Glenn’s eyes pleaded.
Careful but sure, Mari stroked lower, watching Glenn’s abdomen tighten, her thighs tense. When she slowly circled Glenn’s clit, Glen muffled an oath.
“Sorry. Should I stop?” Mari couldn’t help teasing just a little. She loved knowing Glenn needed her, craved her touch. Loved her.
Glenn growled, gripped her wrist and pressed her hand down harder. “Don’t be cruel.”
“Oh,” Mari whispered, kissing her as she picked up her tempo, “only in the best of ways.”
Glenn’s head rolled back, her neck strained, and a long groan shuddered from her chest.
Content, Mari rested her cheek against Glenn’s shoulder. “I love you.”
“Oh, baby, I love you too.”
“You know we have to get dressed right away.”
“Uh-huh.” Eyes still closed, Glenn stroked Mari’s face. “I’m coming.”
“Not right now,” Mari kissed her. “But later for certain.”
*
Mari gripped Glenn’s hand, her eyes shimmering with tears. Margie sat beside her in an airy floral dress patterned with bluebells the exact color of Blake’s tie. They looked fresh and eager and full of possibility, the kind of possibility Mari welcomed now. Ida and Edward, Carson’s husband Bill and their toddler, and members of the bridal party filled the front row just ahead of them. Mari had heard the words before, thought she’d known their power, but nothing moved her as much as listening to two women she admired and cared for hold each other’s hands in front of family and friends and the entire community and speak the vows of love and devotion and desire.
