He has a crooked smile. Looking at him, I can sense that he’s a sweet young man. “He is. How old are you?” I ask him.
“I just turned twenty-five last week. Why do you ask that?”
I unlock the car using my key fob and answer him, “I have this girl who could use a nice man in her life. You seem very nice and protective. She needs a man like that.”
“What’s wrong with her?” he asks as he opens the car door for me and makes sure to look inside of it.
“Nothing, she’s just a poor judge of character. I don’t suppose you’re available.”
As I slide into the car he smiles at me. “I might be. What’s this woman look like?”
“I tell you what.” I look at his security badge and read his name. “Mr. Crosby, I’ll be getting married in room number 553 tomorrow evening. I’d like to invite you to join us there and you can check her out for yourself. She’ll be the only single lady there.”
“I might just do that,” he says then gives me a wink. “Will there be cake?”
“Of course,” I say. “What’s a wedding without cake?”
He extends his hand and I shake it. “Names, Randy. And what might yours be?”
“I’m Mercy and the young lady’s name is Rose. If you forget the room number all you have to do is ask for Jude Hurst’s room and they’ll get you there.” I start the car and he closes the door so I roll my window down. “See you tomorrow, Randy.”
“I think you just might,” he says with a smile. “I never pass up cake.”
With a laugh, I roll the window up and smile to myself. Maybe Rose can find a nice man with a tiny bit of help from me.
Chapter 2
JUDE
“Mom, you are a miracle worker,” I tell her as she’s managed to get everything lined out for Mercy and me to get married this evening.
“I have Judge Clancy bringing the marriage license up with her and she’ll just need your signatures on it. Then that Pastor can do the ceremony and you two will be officially, legally wed.” Mom kisses my cheek as a nurse comes in with a smile on her face.
“I hear we’re losing another bachelor today,” she says as she comes toward me with a thermometer.
“You are,” I say then she places the thing into my mouth like she’s done every day for the last week.
A beeping sound has her frowning and pulling the thing out of my mouth. “Uh oh.”
“Uh, oh?” I ask.
“Let’s be sure this is right,” she says then puts another sleeve over it and places it back into my mouth.
When it beeps again, her frown makes the grooves on either side of her mouth deepen. Mom looks over the nurse’s shoulder and reads the thermometer too. “Jude, you have a fever,” she says, now wearing a frown too. “Do you feel bad?”
I haven’t felt good since I woke up here,” I tell her. “How high is it?”
The nurse shakes her head. “Not too high. One hundred right now. But this means we need to have a doctor come in and check you all out. Sorry.”
Dad comes into the room with a tray of coffees and sees Mom sitting on the edge of the bed with her hand on my forehead. “What’s this about?” he asks as he sits the tray on the small table.
“Your son has a fever,” Mom says as she looks at me. “Stick out your tongue.” I do as she says and she peers into my mouth. “Your throat’s not red. Hmm.”
“The doctor will figure it out, Mom. I am in the hospital you know.” I laugh and lie my head back. “I have felt kind of light headed today. I thought it might be from how excited I’m feeling about getting married today.”
After a few minutes, some female doctor comes into my room and says, “I’m Doctor Sweeny here to examine you, Mr. Hurst.” She eyes my parents then me. “I have to do a thorough examination. Would you prefer for them to step out?”
“Yes,” I say quickly. “Bye guys. Do me a favor and don’t call Mercy and tell her about this. She’ll stop what she’s doing to haul ass down here and I don’t want that.”
They nod and leave and I watch the young woman as she pulls out a small light and shines it into my eyes. “I read your file and it looks like you’re being placed in line for the operating room for the day after tomorrow. If you have any fever at all, that surgery will be postponed.”
“Okay,” I say and she places a tongue depressor in my mouth and shines the small light down my throat.
“Nothing there.” She gets out a slender silver cylinder from her pocket and then looks into my ears. “Ears are clear.”
With one hand, she tosses back the blanket and pushes my hospital gown up then rips the side of the adult diaper then the other side as well and lays it out. I find myself feeling warm with embarrassment and say, “It’s so not cool to have to wear a diaper.”
“No it’s not cool,” she agrees. “But it is better than a catheter. And have you been touching yourself, Mr. Hurst?”
“No!” I say with surprise she’d ask me such a thing.
Her light blue eyes look into mine with a no-nonsense expression. “Someone has.”
I shake my head. “No, mam.”
“I’ll be right back. I have to go get a kit and bandage this back up since you broke the stitches,” she says as she turns away from me.
“The stitches are broken? Where?” I ask.
She opens a drawer and pulls out gauze and medical tape and turns back to me. “Your penis. So you want to tell me who was messing with you in that particular area? If it was a nurse, I have to know that.”
“It wasn’t a nurse and it wasn’t messed with,” I tell her. “Not exactly.”
“What exactly happened?” she asks as she runs an alcohol soaked cotton ball all over my dick as I watch her and find my cheeks heating with embarrassment. “My, fiancé and I made out a little and my penis got hard.”
She shakes her head and the little dark bun of her pulled back hair wobbles. “Didn’t the urologist tell you that there is to be no kind of sexual stimulation until your wounds have healed? That means the stitches are no longer visible.”
“He did,” I say as I look away and hate that this happened. I had big plans for tonight. “I’m getting married a little later and I was hoping for a repeat of last night.”
“Well, I’m afraid you’d be a fool to do that again. You see the blood flow to this area is limited because of the crushed bones in your pelvic area and your back. Your white cells have already begun to fill in the open areas and you’re now leaking them in the form of puss.”
“Sick!” I say as I groan with the thought. “Man, yuk!”
“Yes, yuk,” she agrees. “Now, if you don’t follow your doctor’s orders, you can expect delay after delay in your recovery. So this is very important. No messing around. No stimulation of any kind. Get it?”
“Yeah, I get it,” I whine. “What a crappy wedding night I’m going to have.”
“Be glad you’re having one at all, Mr. Hurst. From what I heard about your condition when you arrived, you’re lucky to be alive at all.”
She’s right about that and I’m a dumb ass for forgetting about that all the time.
Chapter 3
MERCY
In an empty hospital room down the hall from Jude, I’ve gotten a white wedding dress on and Rose took the kids to the room already. Everyone is waiting for my arrival so the ceremony can begin and I’m shaking as I take one last look in the mirror and have to admit that the hairdresser and the makeup artist have made me the best possible version of myself.
As I walk out of the room, I’m met with some ooh’s and aah’s as the nursing staff gazes my way. And, as if on cue, the handsome young security guard, Randy, is walking this way.
His eyes roam over me and he gives a wolf-whistle. “Hey there, sexy lady, you need a lift to your big date?” He comes to me and holds out his arm and I slip my hand into the crook of it.
“That would be greatly appreciated, Randy. And the uniform makes me feel like royalty.” I find a smile pl
astered on my lips as we walk down the hallway.
One of the nurses grabs her cell phone and attaches a speaker to it and begins playing the wedding march as she follows us down the hallway. I look over my shoulder at her. “Thank you. You all are so sweet.”
“Hold up!” A nurse shouts and we stop and watch two of them run around us. The taller of the two gives me a wink and a smile. “You have to have some bridesmaids. And we have these extra flowers from the ICU ward where they’re strictly prohibited.”
The other older woman, who is now my bridesmaid says, “So, at least, they won’t be wasted.”
“Thank you both,” I say as I beam at them. “You don’t know how much I appreciate all of this.”
Randy starts walking again. “So, here we go. Your official wedding procession.”
Just as we get near the door, the wedding march ends and the nurse behind me says, “Wait! Let me start it over and I’ll cut it off once you get to his side, Mercy.”
So we stop and wait for her to get it going again and then continue on our way to make me Mrs. Jude Hurst. One of my bridesmaid nurses opens the door to Jude’s room and they go in then Randy takes me in and I see Jude’s family and find Jude looking completely gorgeous in his black tux top and black blanket bottom.
He can only look at me and his jaw is unhinged. Then he mouths, “Mercy!”
I know I’m blushing as my face heats up. Randy walks me to the right side of the bed and Rose steps in on the other side of me and whispers, “I have the ring you’re going to give him.”
I give Randy a nod to gesture he might want to stand on the other side of her which he does with a huge smile on his handsome face. I also notice that Rose cuts her eyes sideways to check him out. I might have just become cupid!
I hand my bouquet to Rose and take Jude’s outstretched hand. All I can see is him as the pastor starts the ceremony. I suppose he says the normal things. I have no idea, really as I look at the man who is about to be my husband.
All I can think about is how we’ve come to be here. In a hospital with our family around us and a few of the people who’ve taken such great care of him. I think about the baby who’s presently in my tummy and wonder what kind of kid we’ve created with our love.
He looks so deep into my eyes I wonder if he’s reading my mind. Then I see his lips move and the words, “I do.” Come out of them.
So I stop spacing out and start listening as it’s about to be my turn to say those words. The Pastor asks me if I promise to love this man and I agree to. He asks if I will honor this man and I agree to that too. He asks me all of the questions there are to answer when you want to join your lives together. I agree to them all and then he tells to put the rings on each other’s fingers and we do then he tells us that we can kiss.
Jude’s eyes as so sparkly as his hands go to either side of my face and he pulls me in for a sweet kiss, no tongue, but still pretty fantastic. Then all I can hear is cheering and a couple of little kids are hugging my legs.
Jude’s lips touch my ear and he whispers. “The next ceremony will be when you and I officially adopt the kids.”
I look at him with tear-filled eyes and throw my arms around his neck and whisper back, “You are the best man in the world, Jude Hurst!”
I don’t recall a time when my heart felt as full as it does now. And this is only the beginning. We have more and more that needs to fit into this heart of mine and I just know it will continue to grow so it can fill even more.
Champagne is popped and fizzy glasses are poured. Jude gets some sparkling white grape juice and I join him in drinking that bottle. No one knows our little secret yet and we’re not going to tell that bit of news until I’ve seen a doctor.
As I sit next to him on the bed and we gaze into each other’s eyes his mother comes up to congratulate us. “You two look great. So happy. The fever reducer worked on you just fine, Jude. You look like you’re feeling fine now.”
“Fever reducer?” I ask as I look at Loretta.
“Never mind,” Jude says a little too quickly. “That dress is amazing. I can’t believe you found something so beautiful that quickly and off the rack.”
“Well, it didn’t come off the rack. It was my sister’s and it cost our parents five thousand dollars so I went back to my house and got it out of what was once her closet. We’re the same size, so it all worked out.” I lean in close and whisper, “I knew it would fit. I’ve drank some wine from time to time after the kids went to bed and tried it on.”
He laughs and then I recall the mention of fever and place my hand on his forehead. “Don’t, Mercy.”
I pull it away but only because it’s cool. “You had a fever earlier?”
He nods. “Let’s not talk about that. They gave me pills, I’m better, end of story. So that hair is completely gorgeous. So many beautiful pins and curls, it’s amazing!”
“I got a picture off of Pinterest and showed it to the stylist and she was able to recreate it for me. It is pretty, isn’t it?” I tilt my head so he can see it all. “Don’t touch it, though. It’s stiff as a board. I’m a bit worried about washing it later. I bet I’ll have to let the shampoo sit for a while to break down all the stiff hairspray. And I don’t even want to think about all the makeup wipes I’ll have to use to get this goop off of my face.”
With a chuckle, he kisses my cheek. “You look like a movie star. Thank you, Mercy. Thank you for doing all of this for me. I mean it.”
And with his simple little words, he’s made all the trouble and effort I went through to get this all done worth it. Appreciation goes a hell of a long way!
Chapter 4
JUDE
With the deed done and the congratulations said, our wedding guests are taking off a couple at a time and I notice my sister talking to the security guard who walked Mercy to my side. “Who is that guy, Mercy?”
“Oh him?” she asks with a grin. “I met him last night. He walked me out to the car and I thought he was nice and might make Rose a better love interest than her usual suspects.”
“So I’ve married a matchmaker, have I?” I ask her with a laugh.
The festivities come to an end as Doctor Sweeny enters the room with her usual stoic slash intimidating expression and she’s got those steely eyes trained on the woman sitting on the bed next to me. “Mrs. Hurst?” she asks as she walks straight up to Mercy.
“Now I am, yes,” Mercy answers.
“I need a word with you,” she says and looks around the room at the last of the guests. “The rest of you need to leave. This man needs his rest.”
Mercy cuts her eyes at Rose. “Rose, can you take the kids out and wait for me?”
Rose nods and she and the security guard take the kids and leave the room. I wait for them to get out before I say, “Look, I’ll talk to her about it, doc.”
“Talk to me about what?” Mercy asks with a frown.
“About your make-out session last night and how it set him back several days in his recovery process and could’ve even been worse,” the doctor tells her.
“What happened?” Mercy asks and gives me a little shove. “You should’ve told me about this, Jude.”
“Mercy, come on! There was a room full of people. It wasn’t the right time to bring this up.”
“Well, I want to talk to her, anyway,” the good doctor says as her hands go to her hips. “Being that you two just got married, I feel compelled to educate you on your husband’s condition. That little erection he got last night ripped some of the stitches on the underside of his penis. It’s imperative for his recovery for you not to induce such things.”
Mercy looks at me and her lips form a straight line as she hisses at me, “Damn it, Jude. I told you so.”
“I know,” I say and look at the doctor. “That was really all my idea. She wasn’t the one starting anything. And now that I know what can happen, I’m not about to go trying to get excited again until I’m healed.”
The doctor focuses on Mer
cy once again as she says, “I need to hear it from her.”
Mercy laughs a little. “I won’t be trying to excite him either.”
“Okay, because I don’t know you but I know this man has a ton of money and you just married him right before he’s to go into a dangerous surgery and I have no idea of you love this man or want him to die so you can end up with his money,” the doctor says, making both, Mercy and my jaws drop.
Before I can say a word, Mercy gets off the bed and throws her arms around the young woman who seems to think I need her to guard me for some reason. “Oh my God! Thank you,” Mercy says then stops hugging the woman who looks as if she hasn’t been the recipient of very many of them as she’s as stiff as a board. “Thank you for really looking out for him. That means so much to me. And I love this guy with everything in me. We haven’t told anyone as I haven’t gone to the doctor yet, but I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive. I want this man alive and well. But thank you for caring enough to tell me what you did.”
I look at the doctor who is still wearing a stoic face. “She handled that a lot better than I thought she would,” I tell her. “So, we’re all good here.”
The doctor nods and spins around and now I can see she was nervous about the whole thing as she stumbles a little. “Okay, see you in the morning to examine you again, Mr. Hurst.”
“In the a.m. doc. Goodnight,” I say and take Mercy by the hand and pull her back to sit next to me. “So, that was weird.”
Mercy’s eyes are shimmering and she dabs underneath them with her fingers. “That was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I pull her in for a hug and say, “I think those pregnancy hormones are already kicking in. I thought you’d be mad for her talking like that.”
“No, she cares and that’s a relief. I want all of the doctors and nurses to care that much,” she says with a little whimper. “And now I’m going to get the kids so they can tell you goodnight and we’ll go home and let you rest. It’s been a long day and you apparently weren’t feeling well.”
Billionaire’s Quarry: A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Romance (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Boxed Set) Page 28
