The Cure (A Michigan Sweet Romance #1)

by Parker J Cole

  He scratched his head as he glanced distractedly around the room. What could the FBI want with him?

  “Don’t go.”

  Savannah’s words echoed in the midst of the chaos going on in his brain. Micah groaned. He did not want to think about her. Though this strange summons from the government was more than enough to occupy his thoughts, Savannah’s actions topped them.

  He hadn’t cried the first time they broke up.He wanted to but he forced himself to focus on preserving his integrity and working around Nascha’s accusations. This time, there wasn’t much to take his mind off her.

  How could she do this to him…again?

  No, why did he allow her to do this to him again? Play yo-yo with their relationship like he was a man to be discarded like yesterday’s trash. As much as he wanted to blame Savannah, he knew the entirety of this predicament was on his shoulders. He was the one who fell for it. Fell for the sweet mouth that tantalized him. Fell for the tears that turned her eyes into gemstones. Fell for the words and the kisses that seemed to speak of a lifetime together.

  He had poured out his heart. Told her his deepest thoughts in an effort for her to understand that when he proposed to her again, he meant every word.

  Now, the paradise he thought he had regained was lost.

  Already, he could feel the hollowness inside start to expand. Soon, as he moved further away from her, it would fill him from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. It would consume him like a flameless fire. It would lick away at his soul until all that was left was a shell of a man. A man who had the cure in his hand and it had slipped away.

  Disgusted with the dramatic turn of his thoughts, Micah picked up the phone and went to the travel app to arrange his travel back to Chicago. After he finished the transaction and paid an exorbitant amount to be on a plane within a couple of hours, he picked up his bag and headed for the door to check out when his phone rang.

  A glance at the caller ID showed it was his mother. Micah frowned. What were so many people doing up in the middle of the night? Did anyone sleep anymore?

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Savannah told me you were leaving,” Joslyn said without preamble.

  The suitcase in his hand dropped to the floor. Why did Savannahhave to go and do that? He told her he would be the one to contact his parents. Why had she interfered?

  “Yes, I am. In about two hours.”

  “You were going to leave and not tell us?”

  “Of course not, Mom. I was going to wait until I got to the airport.”

  “No, you weren’t,” Joslyn naysaid without hesitation. “You were going to wait until you were back in Chicago before calling us.”

  Micah’s head dropped. Why did he think he could get something over on his mother? “There may be some truth to that assumption,” he acquiesced reluctantly.

  “May be?” his mother mocked.

  “Okay, Mom. I’m sorry.”

  “Why are you running away again?”

  His head lifted. “I’m not running away.”

  “Yes, you are, sweet boy.” Joslyn coughed. “You’re running away just like you didthelast time.”

  “I promise you, Mom, I’m not.”

  I’m being driven way. His eyes drifted shut in pain.

  “What happened tonight? I could tell Savannah was highly agitated but when I tried to ask her, she said she had to go. What’s going on?”

  “It’s Liliana. She took a bad turn.” He spent the next few moments detailing everything Dr. Yamaguchi had told them about Liliana’s condition. Resolutely, he forced out the images of their shared kisses and promises to each other. In the end, Savannah hadn’t meant a word she’d said.

  “Oh, that poor child!” Joslyn exclaimed. “I can see I’m going to have to get my prayer warriors with me.”

  “You do that, Mom.” He had prayed for the little girl, too. And though Savannah wasn’t going to be part of his life anymore, he wanted the child healed for her sake.

  “I can’t understand why you’re leaving. Savannah needs you, sweet boy.”

  Micah toyed around with telling his mother about the summons from the government. Tabitha had made a major breech in protocol when she contacted him. The agents had apparently told her that they would see to him themselves but her worry and loyalty prodded her into calling him. For that, he was grateful. At least one woman on this planet believed in him.

  “I had something important come up at the office,” he told her.

  “But I’m sure that nice Dr. Bolton can see to things for you. Savannah needs your presence.”

  “No, she doesn’t, Mom!” He couldn’t keep the anger and hurt out of his voice. “She doesn’t want me. Believe me, I found out tonight.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Micah went over to the bed and sat. “I asked her to marry me again.”

  “Son, you didn’t!” Joslyn exclaimed.

  “I did. She accepted my proposal…at first.” It gutted him to say that. “Then, when Tisha and Connie came up there, they started talking and…things changed.”

  “What changed?”

  “She still believes I’m complicit in Nascha’s death.” An ache formed in his chest. He rubbed at it through the layers of his clothes, but was pretty sure nothing was going to soothe it away.

  “Oh, sweet boy,” Joslyn moaned. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I told her I still loved her. I wanted to make Liliana part of our family. At first, Savannah seemed thrilled.” He didn’t imagine the light that came into her eyes although now, it felt like a dream in another world. “Then when it was all said and done, she told me there was nothing I could say to change her mind.”

  Joslyn gasped through the phone. “Oh no!”

  “Yeah, Mom. I can’t marry a woman who doesn’t believe me.”

  “Well, did she say why?”

  “Because I didn’t go to Nascha’s funeral.”

  There was a poignant pause on the phone. “And before you say anything else, yes, I know you told me to go.”

  Looking back, Donald and his parents had been insistent he go to the woman’s funeral, but he hadn’t wanted to be in the same place where Nascha Dubois’ corpse lay. Savannah made it seem as if his presence was all that was needed to change her mind. If that was the case, why didn’t it matter to her that he was leaving now? She asked him to stay, but that was because she needed him to help with Liliana. Not because she wanted him to stay just to be by her side.

  “Sweet boy, you can’t just go and leave things like they are. You have to try to talk to her.”

  “I’ve tried to talk to her till I’m blue in the face, Mom. And nothing’s going to change her mind.”

  He took an unnecessary glance at the time on phone. “Look, Mom. I gotta go or else I’ll miss my plane. Give Dad my love.”

  Joslyn sighed. “All right, sweet boy. Call me when you get there.”

  “Okay, Mom. Love you.”

  He ended the conversation, but sat still on the bed. Savannah had made it clear words wouldn’t solve the doubt in her mind. Had she ever loved him, then? Or was it just lip service? He wished he knew.

  He got up like an old man and reached for his suitcase again. Wearily, he checked the bedroom once more before turning off the light and closing the door. As he went down the hall to the elevators so he could check out, only one thought remained in his mind. How could Savannah believe in his love but not his innocence?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  It had been a week since Savannah last laid eyes on Micah. In that time, she’d become a permanent resident of the hospital. Liliana had been weaned off the ventilator by that time and was on the road to recovery once again. The infection had not spread to the rest of her organs. Still, Dr. Yamaguchi kept a vigilant eye on her little patient.

  “Please don’t take this the wrong way, Dr. Yamaguchi,” Savannah said one day when the doctor came on her rounds. “But you seem to take a special interest in Liliana.”

 
“You saw that, huh?” The woman said with a sideways twist of her lips. “I wondered if you did.”

  Savannah came to stand in front of her. “Do you mind my asking why?”

  The doctor’s brown eyes met her. Within them, Savannah saw a great sadness. How long had the woman kept it veiled underneath the professional garb she wore?

  “Not at all. It’s just difficult to talk about even after all these years.”

  “I don’t want to—” Savannah interrupted, horrified that she’d brought up a painful event in this kind woman’s past.

  “No, it’s all right. Liliana reminds me of my niece. She died when I was twelve years old.”

  “Oh no! I’m so sorry.”

  Dr. Yamaguchi’s eyes looked past her. “My older half-sister had married a man my parents did not approve of. They wanted a nice Japanese boy for her and instead, she married an African American man from Detroit. It was the talk of the family, let me tell you.”

  Savannah shook her head, thinking of Bart. Gosh, she’d never even thought about Bart as being anything but Bart. He could have been green and it wouldn’t have been a problem for her family.

  “I sided with my sister, of course. I didn’t care for my parent’s attitude but I was too young to have much to say about it. At any rate, when my niece was born about a year later, all the hostility on my mother’s part disappeared. Even though my half-sister was not her child, this was her first granddaughter. And she was a young grandmother, too. My father, on the other hand, refused to acknowledge the baby. As my niece grew up, more of her Asian ethnicity came to the forefront, if you will. She was a beautiful child. And, she was very clever, too.” Dr. Yamaguchi laughed.

  “How so?”

  There was a sparkle in the doctor’s eyes. “Her first word was soba. It’s Japanese for one’s grandmother.”

  Savannah laughed along with the doctor. “Oh, very clever indeed.”

  “My sister’s husband told us later he wanted to try to heal the rift between them and wanted the baby to be the one to do it. Well, things definitely calmed down after that. My father got over his narrow-mindedness and I got to enjoy my little niece.”

  Dr. Yamaguchi sighed. “I never found out what happened. It’s all so vague and no one, even twenty-oneyears later, talks about it. A fire started in the house. My parents were in charge of taking care of my niece while my sister and her husband went out of town for some time alone. My mother was asleep and it was my father who watched my niece. My mother said sheawoke to find the house on fire. My father was unconscious on the floor. My niece’s bedroom had been lit up in flames. My mother broke down the door but couldn’t make it past the flames. The last she could hear was my niece crying for soba.”

  Savannah felt tears coming out of her eyes at the sad story. “That’s just so awful.”

  “When my sister and brother-in-law returned, they were heartbroken, as you can imagine. But what made it was worse was the way my father never talked about the fire. After all, he was the one who was to be watching her while my mother slept. What happened? The fire department ruled out arson but to me, it’s unclear what caused it. I was twelve at the time and no one really told me. I’ve wanted to ask many years later, but it’s best to let old wounds be.”

  “What happened with your parents?”

  “They became different people. My father and mother never divorced, but the day my niece died, they broke up. Mentally if not outwardly. My parents forgot about me after a while. I was a thing to feed, clothe, and help with homework but I didn’t exist as a person. Nothing I could do made them pay attention to me anymore.”

  “And your sister and brother-in-law?”

  “They got divorced about two years later. I think my brother-in-law blamed my parents and my sister couldn’t handle his pain. But, from what I know, neither my sister or my brother-in-law got involved with anyone else so even after all this time, there’s still hope.”

  “Hope for what?”

  “That they can forgive each other. I know my niece would have wanted her family to be whole again. She loved them so much.”

  “I’m sorry I made you bring up something like that.” Savannah couldn’t believe the story. She sort of wished she hadn’t asked but then again, God had put this woman in her life to care for Liliana.

  “You’re probably wishing you never asked,” Dr. Yamaguchi said with a shrewd look.

  Savannah’s cheeks reddened. Had her thoughts been so visible on her face?

  “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s a sad story. When I saw Liliana, I was reminded of my niece and I guess, I sort of poured everything, all my knowledge and skill, into her. I just wanted to be able to fix this for you.”

  “I thank you, Doctor.”

  “Incidentally, everyone in the hospital knows about the midnight proposal you were given, too. Nurse Dickinson sang like a lark.”

  Savannah gasped. “What!”

  “Yeah, and your rejection as well.” Dr. Yamaguchi said. “Everyone’s all giving their opinions on everything, though no one would tell you anything to your face.”

  Where was a hole she could drop into?

  “Well,” Savannah said, clearing her throat. “It’s no one’s business but ours so—”

  “Let me say this, Ms. Woods, and then you’ll never hear me say anything about this again. Dr. Reddington and you care a great deal about each other. Everyone could see that. I am a doctor and I know how busy we can be. The fact the man dropped everything to be with you is something you should consider, if you haven’t already. Further, his reputation precedes him well. The man knows what he is doing. If he botched a procedure like Nascha Dubois claimed, then it was because aliens took over his body.”

  Savannah folded her arms. “Thank you, Dr. Yamaguchi. I’ll let you get on about your rounds.”

  “Of course, Ms. Woods,” The doctor headed to the door. “One more thing: My sister and brother-in-law had the same type of bond as you and Dr. Reddington. Yet, because they could not forgive each other, they both remained locked inside of themselves, unable to move on. Is that what you want for yourself and Liliana?”

  With those words, the woman left and Savannah fell into the chair by the bed. She reached into her purse and pulled out a package of white chocolate-covered zebra cakes. Hands shaking, she tore open the package and sank her teeth into the cake. The combination of vanilla cake and sweet cream touched her tongue and she groaned in ecstasy. After she finished off those two, she reached into her purse once more and retrieved a box of junior mints.

  She ate the candy, each swallow an attempt to stop her thoughts from lingering on Dr. Yamaguchi’s last words. But eventually, all the candy ran out. She swished around in her bag for more but came up empty. And she could no longer keep her thoughts at bay.

  A week without Micah had already felt like a year. This separation hurt worse than before. Back then, she’d had the self-righteous anger to keep her softer feelings at bay. Now, she had nothing but time. Time to think.

  What if Micah was truly innocent of any wrongdoing? The question caused her body to freeze up several times during the week. If indeed Micah was innocent, then she’d be devastated. More than devastated, actually. Destroyed.

  She had avoided thinking about it during the week. Her parents and, surprisingly, Micah’s parents still came to see Liliana. Their presence was a balm to her. Joslyn and Maxine even started talking about going to a couple of craft events together when summer and spring came, a sign of bridges being mended. Lawrence and Cameron discussed going ice fishing in a few days.

  Tisha and Connie had been by, too. They had made it clear the night Micah asked to marry her that she had to put her brain back on. “Micah is a liar,” Tisha snarled. “A liar. We all saw what he did to Nascha and nothing can change that.”

  Then why would Micah go through all that trouble to prove his innocence? Was it because he had the money to have a long legal trial? Or was it because it was as he said - Nascha was the liar, not him?
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  Savannah stared at Liliana. The child had been through a lot. Right now, she slept again, but already, her honey eyes had regained their sparkle for life. Her body still went through the throes of healing but even that would go away in time.

  But Micah’s presence hadn’t been removed from Liliana’s mind. When she woke up two days ago, she asked, “Where’s Uncle?”

  Savannah had thought about playing dumb and pretending she didn’t know who the girl referred to, but this was no time for games. “He had to leave, ladybug.”

  “He come back soon?”

  Savannah carefully tugged a curl away from the cherubic face. “I don’t know, Snuffy.”

  She had driven him away. She sat up in the chair and the blood drained out of her face. She’d driven him away.

  “Micah,” she spoke into the room. “Oh Micah, I wish you were here.”

  Did he feel this way, too, when she turned her back on him? Like someone had ripped out her insides? Did the same agony she’d been holding at bay crush him like it was trying to do her? Did he long for her every second of the day like she was longing for him?

  He had always been there for her. Always. And now, when she needed him the most, he wasn’t there. And it was her fault.

  Innocent or guilty. It didn’t matter anymore. Nascha was dead and nothing on this earth was going to bring her back again.

  Just like nothing on this earth would ever bring Micah back to her again.

  ***

  “How is she, Mom?”

  “Liliana’s doing much better. Weak, somewhat, but that’s to be expected. Dr. Yamaguchi is watching over her like a hawk. She’s going to be okay.”

  Micah closed his eyes. “That’s good to hear. I’m glad to know she’s going to be okay. I knew she was going to be, but it’s good to be reassured.”

  “Don’t I know it. There’s a long road of recovery ahead once the burns heal enough for her to go back home, but that will be a blessing, too.”

  Micah understood his mother’s sentiments. “Thanks for keeping me posted.”

  “Savannah’s doing as well as can be expected. Worried, but hanging in there.”