by Linda Verji
“It’s too early to think about selling,” Eve protested. “Give it a little more time… a year at least. Let’s see what happens then decide what our next step is.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.” Wick shook his head slowly and sighed. Meeting her eyes, he said, “I don’t even know why you’re fighting so hard for La Belle. If I were in your position, I’d just let it fall. It’s not like you can’t get a job. Hell, I want you to run one of my other companies.”
“It’s not about having a job.” Eve offered him a half-smile. “La Belle might’ve been Sharon’s company but so many people depend on it to sustain themselves and their families. I don’t want any of those people to end up out in the cold just because of something I started.”
Wick watched her for a moment before smiling. “No wonder I was so drawn to you.”
They spent the rest of the drive discussing the logistics of running La Belle in these turbulent times. When the car stopped, it was in front of Raven-hill General Hospital.
“Thank you for the ride,” Eve said to Wick just as her assistant, Mona, opened the car door for her.
“No problem.” Wick offered, “If you need any help, feel free to call me anytime. Night or day.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Eve scooted closer to the door, making sure not to jolt her leg too much. Mona and the driver were waiting outside the car with Eve’s wheelchair. With Mona’s help, Eve hopped out of the car on her uninjured leg then moved closer to the motorized wheelchair and slowly lowered herself. Leaning forward so she could see Wick who was still in the car, she smiled. “Have a great flight.”
“Thanks,” Wick returned with a smile and wave. “I’ll see you when I get back into town.”
As the limousine drove off, Eve turned to Mona. “You can sign off now.”
Mona frowned. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come up with you?”
“No, I’m okay on my own.” Eve offered her a smile. “Just remember to call James and let him know that he needs to pick me up from here tomorrow morning.”
“Okay,” Mona nodded reluctantly. “I’ll let him know.”
Once Mona was gone, Eve steered her wheelchair into the building. She took the elevator up to the VIP floor. The hospital hallways had become so familiar to Eve that it felt like she was coming back home after a long day at work. When she got to the door of Carter’s room, she leaned forward to open it.
As soon as she rolled into the room, the beeping sounds welcomed her. Though that beeping sound had annoyed her when she was an in-patient, it was now a consolation and reminder that Carter was still alive. Her eyes swept the room to settle on him. He was propped up on the hospital bed. The ventilator was now gone as was the bandage around his head. Even the wounds on his face had healed somewhat, and he looked more like himself.
If one ignored the neck brace and casts on his arm and legs, he would’ve looked like a man who was just asleep. But he wasn’t asleep. His unconsciousness had lasted too long to be called sleep. Three weeks in and he still hadn’t woken up. Even the doctors were beginning to get worried. The longer one stayed in a coma, the higher the probability of brain damage.
Forcing a smile, Eve rolled her way right to his side.
“Hi, Carter.” She took his uninjured hand in hers. “How was your day?”
She’d read somewhere that talking to comatose patients increased the likelihood of them coming back to you. She had no idea if that was true but right now it was the only thing she could do for him.
“You must’ve been really bored, huh?” she teased as she played with his fingers. “Well, it’s your fault. If you just wake up, you won’t have to be so bored. And neither will I.” Her voice took on a sad note as she added, “I miss you, Carter. Can’t you just wake up so I can hear your voice?”
She rolled even closer to the head of the bed so that she could stroke his upper arm with her other hand. “Wake up, Carter.”
But he didn’t wake up.
Sighing, she smoothed her palm up and down his arm. She missed him so much that it hurt. The thought of him not being the same person if he woke up, didn’t even faze her. All she wanted to see was his eyes open again.
An hour later, Eve was still seated next to him. This time she was reading him a book. It was the new one by one of his favorite writers. She’d just started on chapter two when the door opened and Toni walked in.
“Mom?” Eve frowned. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to pick Jackson up from school.”
“I asked your dad to pick him up,” Toni answered as she closed the distance between them.
Now that Sharon was incarcerated and Carter incapacitated, Jackson had nowhere else to go. He was staying with Eve at her parents’ house.
As Toni stopped next to Eve, she said, “I wanted to come here and make sure that you’re not spending the night here.”
Eve frowned. “Of course, I’m spending the night here.”
“No you’re not.” Toni shook her head. “You’ve spent almost every night here since you were discharged, and it’s too much. You should have at least one good night of sleep.”
“Who says I’m not having a goodnight’s sleep?” Eve scoffed. “The cot the hospital provided is very comfortable.”
“The cot is not the problem.” Concern gleaming in her eyes, the older woman asked, “How can you sleep here comfortably when Carter is like this? Anyone in your position would be too nervous to even close their eyes.”
“You’re wrong about that. Being near him is what makes me comfortable.” Eve explained, “If I was farther away, I’d be too worried to even breathe. I like keeping him in my sight and making sure that he’s still here.”
Toni watched her for a moment then sighed. “Oh, Eve!”
“You don’t have to look at me with so much sadness in your eyes.” Eve forced a smile. “I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.” Toni dragged out another breath. “I’m your mother and I know what you’re thinking.” She paused for a beat before saying, “This is not your fault, Eve. None of it is your fault. This is all Sharon. She’s the one who put Carter in this bed and you in that wheelchair.”
Eve didn’t say anything because her mind and her heart were in conflict. Her brain knew that Sharon was to blame for everything that had happened, but her heart reminded her that if she’d never gone after Sharon, Carter wouldn’t be in this bed.
Glowering fiercely, Toni asked, “Is she still trying to get you to visit her?”
“Yeah.” Eve nodded. Ever since Sharon had been arrested, she’d been sending her lawyers to Eve and trying to call her. But Eve refused to hear her out. Whatever she wanted to say, she could say it in front of a judge.
Toni started, “That bi-”
“Don’t.” Eve cut her off. Her gaze on Carter, she said, “Not in front of him. She’s still his mom.”
“She may be his mom but…”
Eve had no idea what her mother said next because she felt a sudden movement around her fingers. Startled, she lowered her eyes to where hers and Carter’s hands were linked. For a second his fingers were motionless around hers then they convulsed again.
Meanwhile, Toni was still speaking, “… I don’t know why she keeps coming for-”
“Mom!” Eve interrupted. Her heart racing in excitement and her eyes wide, she said, “Mom, I think his fingers moved.”
“What?” Frowning, Toni lowered her eyes to Carter’s hand.
“Carter squeezed my hand,” Eve said. As if he’d heard her, he squeezed again. She gasped. “Did you see that? They moved. His fingers moved, right?”
“I saw it. I saw it,” the older woman confirmed excitedly.
“Carter. Carter,” Eve called as she hobbled out of her wheelchair on one leg so that she could be right next to him. Stroking his face with her hand, she called, “Carter, are you awake?”
His eyelashes fluttered once. She held her breath waiting for them to flutter again. And they
did. Then slowly they parted and his eyes opened. Eve sighed in tortured relief as her eyes met his blue ones.
He was awake.
* * * * *
OPENING HIS EYES was just the initial stage of becoming fully conscious. Carter was in and out of the coma for ten days. Waking up was like emerging from deep waters that kept dragging him back into their depths. He was tempted to let the waters just keep him but Eve kept pulling him back. Every time he was ready to give up, her voice would echo in his subconscious pleading with him to come back into the real world.
Seeing her teary smile when he was finally conscious was enough to make up for the trouble of dragging himself out of that coma. Unfortunately, waking up came with several huge drawbacks. All the pain he’d been unable to feel because he was unconscious swooped in ferociously. But the pain was nothing compared to the horror of finding out that his mother was behind the car-crash. As if her other crimes weren’t bad enough, she’d decided to cross the line into murder.
If Eve wasn’t beside him for the seven weeks that he was confined to the hospital, Carter had no idea how he would’ve handled it all. She was the one who kept him from going crazy because of pain and thoughts about his mother.
“The doctor says that you can leave tomorrow,” Eve cut into his thoughts.
Carter asked, “Did he say how many times I have to come in for physical therapy?”
It was past nine p.m. and they were alone in his hospital room. He was on the bed and she was seated beside him.
“Thrice a week,” Eve said. “But he says that that time will reduce as you get stronger.”
Though all his casts were now off, the injury to his spine and the weeks of being bed-ridden had messed up his mobility.
“Thrice a week is a lot.” Carter asked, “Are you sure you’ll be able to take time off work to come with me?”
Eve paused for a long uncomfortable moment before murmuring, “I won’t be coming with you.”
He frowned. “What do you mean you won’t be coming with me?”
Sadness gleamed in her eyes as she quietly added, “I mean that this is the end of the road for us, Carter. This is where we part.”
For a second, Carter had no idea what she meant by ‘end of the road’. Then it hit him. She’d been with him for every second of his recovery and he’d become so used to her presence that he’d completely erased any thoughts of their separation. His heart constricted in pain at the reminder.
“If I go home with you tomorrow-” Eve sighed and lowered her head. “- I don’t think I’ll be able to leave.”
Then don’t leave, Carter wanted to scream. His heart clenched with the need to grab hold of her and keep her from leaving. But he held himself back. Things were bad enough before the car-crash, but Sharon trying to kill her and almost succeeding was a blow no couple could recover from. No matter how much he wanted Eve, it would be too cruel to ask her to stay with him.
Ignoring the sudden tightness in his throat, he forced himself to nod. “You’re right. You shouldn’t come with me.”
“I thought that maybe you might not want to stay at your mom’s place for the time being so I got an apartment for you and Jackson. I’ve already sent Martha there so…”
Carter watched her as she spoke but he barely heard what she was saying. He was just studying her and memorizing the movement of her lips and the expressions in her eyes. If this was to be their last night together, then he wanted to stamp her sweet voice and her beautiful brown eyes into his memory. He wanted to inhale her scent so that he could remember her on the nights when he was alone and craving her.
That thought alone was enough to make him interrupt her mid-speech. “Eve.”
“Hmm?” She met his eyes.
“Could you-” He cleared his throat once and swallowed back emotion. “Could you come up here? I want to hold you.”
Immediate anxiety jumped into her gaze, and he thought she might refuse him. But she stood up and came closer. He pulled the covers back for her so she could get into the bed beside him. As soon as she was next to him, his hand tightened on her back and he pulled her closer so that she was cuddled up right against him.
Having her so close to him felt right. She was just the right amount of warm and smelt good enough to eat. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of her. Her jasmine scent melted into his senses leaving his whole body quivering for more. The thought that this was the last time that he’d be this close to her left was like a vise painfully squeezing his heart.
He bent his head so that their foreheads could touch as he whispered, “I miss you.”
Yes, he already missed her. He could already feel the loneliness swooping in and the craving for her overwhelming him even though she was still with him.
Eve smoothed her hand over her stomach in slow circles as she murmured, “I miss you too.”
His heart already shattering into a million pieces, he set his fingers beneath her chin and lifted her face until they were eye-to-eye. “I love you.”
There was no hesitation in her response. “I love you too.”
He lowered his head to press his lips to hers. It was a tender and soft kiss so filled with sadness that it left him feeling like the world was collapsing around them. Still he held her. Still he kissed her. Because this was the last time and he wanted to make it last for as long as humanely possible. Eve clung to him like he was her lifeline as she met him kiss for kiss.
When he ended the kiss, she tucked her face into the crook of his neck. Soon, he felt wetness against the skin there. Though she made no sound, it was obvious that she was crying. Carter wanted to say something to soothe her, but he couldn’t talk. Instinct told him that from today on there’d be several nights where she’d cry, and he wouldn’t be there to soothe her. He’d be holding back his own tears in a bed far, far apart from hers.
No matter how much they loved each other, Sharon had destroyed their happily-ever-after. This was where they ended.
His heart breaking, Carter held Eve close to him and let her cry.
EPILOGUE
~ Two Years Later ~
“Here.” Liliana Marchesi, the owner of Marchesi Salon, handed Eve a mirror. “What do you think?”
“Oh wow! My skin looks so soft,” Eve exclaimed as she looked at her face in the mirror. “It really works.”
“It does.” Mona, who was seated on the seat next to Eve, was also holding up a mirror to her face. “I had a weird pimple when we came in but it’s practically gone now.”
Liliana didn’t know this yet, but they’d heard all about her salon and the homemade facial products that she was using. They were here to see the products in action and decide whether to scout her for a line of products with her name on it.
This wasn’t the first time a rep from the company was dropping into this little salon. A couple of months ago, one of Eve’s subordinates had discovered Liliana’s salon while on holiday in Milan. After she’d told Eve about the salon, Eve had sent someone else to do an undercover check. The enthusiastic response of the second spy had made Eve interested enough to come all the way to Italy just to see it for herself.
Liliana beamed proudly. “You like?”
“We like very much.” Smiling, Eve turned to the woman. “Have you ever thought of selling your DIY products in stores instead of just using them in your salon?”
“I’ve thought about it, but who would buy them?” Liliana offered a sheepish look. “I’m not a celebrity or anything.”
“Well, celebrities can be created overnight.” Eve turned to reach into her handbag and pulled out a business card. Holding the card out to Liliana, she said, “Let me introduce myself. My name is Eve Linyard and I’m the CEO of Chica24.”
La Belle was no longer La Belle. Even though Sharon had received a ten-year sentence and was now locked away, her crimes and reputation kept following the company around. People still associated the name La Belle with her. In response, Eve had initiated a merger with a similar sized compan
y then renamed it to Chica24. The name had come with a rebrand reflecting the company’s increased efforts to create more affordable products for the average Joe and Nancy.
Predictably, Lilian’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re the CEO of Chica24?”
“I am.” Eve nodded. “And I’d like to make you an offer.”
The next hour was spent outlining the plan to Liliana while convincing her that this was real; that a big company like theirs wanted to offer a small-time beautician like her a line of her own. Liliana’s excitement was palpable, and Eve envied her for it. She wished that someone could make her this excited.
The last two years had been hell on Eve. For the most part she felt like a zombie just going through life without any real purpose. She’d lost her joy for life and couldn’t even remember the last time she’d smiled sincerely.
And it was all because of Carter.
She missed him with a fierceness that was almost painful in its intensity and her heart ached every time she thought of him. When she’d proposed that they break up, she’d thought that she could forget him with the same cold precision that she applied to everything else in her life. But she was wrong. She couldn’t forget him. Two years later, he was still the lead character in her dreams. She went to bed thinking of him and woke up wishing he was beside her.
She couldn’t help looking for information on him. Jackson was her main source. Despite the divorce, she and her nephew had maintained contact. Even after Carter and Jackson had moved to England for Carter’s new job, she and Jackson still spoke every week. Furthermore, whenever Carter jetted into the country to visit Sharon, he sent Jackson over to Eve’s place to spend time with her. During their talks, Jackson would let her know how and what Carter was doing.
But that still wasn’t enough for Eve.
After their divorce, she and Carter had unfriended each other on social media. Because she needed to see him, she’d created fake profiles so that she could see his pictures and find out what he was up to without him knowing. Basically, he’d turned her into a bona fide stalker. It was embarrassing… but Eve couldn’t control herself. She missed him. She missed him badly. Every day she wished that she’d begged him to stay with her despite everything that was working against them.
