Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (58 page)

“I
'hink I've just become used ta havin' the little man aroound the
hoose. Ye know whit I'm sayin'?” Finlay was already drunk, even
though it was barely four in the afternoon. His accent came out
thicker, as it always did when he drank or was upset..in that case,
it was both.

Burke
nodded and held out Finlay's cell phone. “Sean's been ringing
ye all day. He's on the line now, if ye wish tae speak with him.”

Finlay
stared at the phone for a moment, then pushed off from the wall and
traded Burke the near empty bottle of booze for his phone. “Sean,
ye fookin' bastard! Where are ye, mate?” On the other end, Sean
laughed, but wished he hadn't left Scotland already. Of course, he'd
waited until the funeral to go home, but he hadn't been able to put
off work any longer.

“I'm
home. Ye doing alright, Finlay?”

“Aye,
I'll live. He's gone though...the boy. Her sister came and took him.”
Sean knew the time was coming, but he hadn't known it was going to be
so soon. It broke his heart to hear his best friend's voice full of
sadness. There was no hiding the fact Finlay had grown a bit attached
to the baby, and there was no shame in admitting it either. Janet had
made a promise that Finlay could see Cameron any time he wanted, and
Finlay could trust her word because he'd already had his men give her
a full background check. She was clean, record wise, had a good
paying job, a husband and two other boys. It was a good place for
Cameron, whether Finlay wanted to admit it or not, he knew the boy
was better off.

“I'm
sorry to hear it, mate. How'd Morgan take the news?” Sean had
to pull the phone away from his ear when Finlay groaned loudly and
began to speak even louder.

“I've
not told her.”

“Got
it. I thought maybe she'd want tae see the baby and all.” There
was no way Sean would ever believe Finlay hadn't told Morgan
anything
. “She'll be happy tae know ye can visit any
time though. Maybe the next time Morgan visits, ye can take....”

“Sean,
I've not told her anything. No' one thing. She...I...I've been a bit
busy.” Suddenly, Finlay felt defensive. He hadn't even known if
he was a father, there was no need to tell Morgan. On top of that, he
had to
pretend
to be a father, he couldn't tell her the truth
either. He had a dying woman and a newborn to take care of, then a
funeral to plan and attend and he had to take care of all of the
paperwork and legalities with Janet. The truth was, he was busy. He
hadn't intended to keep anything from Morgan, but that's the way it
happened. “I'll tell her in a while, when the smoke clears, ye
know?”

Always
on your terms, eh, mate?
Sean was a bit angry with the news, but
he tried to remind himself that it wasn't his business.
But
Morgan is my business.
“I'll be in Edinburgh next week,
I'll see ye then, aye?” Finlay agreed, and the men finished
their call. Sean shook his head at the idea that Finlay was a
father, and the woman he claimed to love had no idea idea. “It's
a mess, Mate... one that ye may not be able to clean.” Sean
spoke to his empty room, and shook the thoughts from his mind,

“Burke!
Has Morgan called?” Finlay called down the stairs as he took
them two at a time. Burke answered that she hadn't called, and
Finlay found that he had actually been hoping that she would have.
It was most likely that she would have called his cell, but if she
couldn't get through, he did know that she would have tried his land
line. He was wondering how long it had been since he'd spoken to her
as he walked into the kitchen, and Burke was happy to answer the
question for him.

“Been
too long since the lassie's been 'ome, aye?”

Home.
Was his place home to Morgan? He shook his head, there was no way
he could think about that with all that happened. “I'll call
her. Soon.” He ran his hands through his hair and let out
another long sigh as he sat at the table.
Aye, Love. I'll call
ye soon. It's time that ye came home.

Chapter
Six

The
following day, the Rotterdam Zoo had been the first stop for Morgan.
It was huge by comparison to the Akron Zoo that she had visited once
when she was a child. It even had a train that ran through the park,
and an aquarium that she'd spent over two hours taking photos of. It
was an amazing start to her first day of touring the beautiful city,
and she nearly ran to the cab to start her next adventure.

Her
next stop was the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. She'd read that it
had a magnificent restaurant that overlooked a garden of statues, and
that's where she planned to have lunch before her tour through the
museum.

“Thanks,
Haghen!” Her new friend, and private driver as it were, waved
to the pretty American and left her with a promise to return in
three hours. “Wow!” The outside of the museum was much
more modern than she expected, but still quite impressive. The
large fountain in the front looked nothing like Finlay's, but she
still had to force the man from her mind as she marched past the
falling water, and to the front doors of the building.

There
was far too much that fought for her attention as she found the
restaurant, but after a perfect lunch of stew and fresh bread, she
was ready to see as much as she could before
her
driver
returned. She was just looking through her camera at the photos of
statues that she'd taken during lunch, when she ran head first into
the wall. “Shit!” Every head turned in her direction as
she rubbed the side of her head where a small coat hook had met with
her flesh and bone. “Damn it!” The small amount of
blood on her hand made the pain throb even more as she tried to smile
apologetically at her new audience. “Sorry.” Her hand
went back to her head and she walked quickly away from the small
crowd that she had obviously entertained. Their giggles could still
be heard when she turned the first corner from the main foyer.

The
pain in her head worsened as the seconds ticked by, and the plans of
seeing the work of Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh and Mondriaan, had
quickly vanished when she turned around and walked back out of the
museum. A headache the size of Texas was building faster than her
feet could carry her from the place, but she did manage to call
Haghen and arrange for a ride right then. Lucky for her, he wasn't
too far away and picked her up not five minutes later.

“You're
bleeding.” She nodded, and wanted to smile to tell Captain
Obvious that she knew that already, but it would have sounded rude
and not playful as intended, so she just kept her mouth closed and
waited to return to her hotel.

“This
isn't my...,”

“I'll
just be a moment.” Haghen put the car in park and got out
quickly. She watched him take keys out of his pocket as he ran up to
a large blue door, that she realized, led to his home. Morgan thought
of getting out to see if he needed help with whatever he was doing,
but her head hurt too badly to consider moving twice, and she saved
her energy for the walk to her room. He was back in just a few
minutes, carrying a small white bag in his hand. “Here,
there's something for the pain, and a few bandages.” He handed
her the bag over the seat, then started off again to take her to her
hotel. Morgan looked down at the bag and felt her eyes warm at the
moisture that was quickly building. It was such a kind thing for the
man to do, and it was completely unexpected.

“You're
a good man, Haghen. Thank you.” She pulled the small bag to
her chest as she sniffed and closed her eyes to fight the tears of
gratitude.

“Well,
none of that. You're alone here, you need someone to look after you.
I'm not much, but I'll have to do.” He looked back quickly
and his kind eyes shined brightly as he winked at his new friend.

“You're
more than enough, Haghen. Truly, you are.” In one sweet
moment of gratitude, Morgan saw the sweet side of the world that was
usually easy to overlook, but one that she vowed to always look for,
and appreciate.

The
pain hadn't subsided, in fact, it had grown worse, but her little bag
that she refused to let go of, made it just a little easier to bear.
“Thank you.” Morgan paid the man, and tried to hand him
another generous tip, but he waved her off and left, not allowing her
to keep overpaying him for a job that he loved. “Hmmm.. I can
be stubborn too.” She tried to smile as she spoke to the cool
air around her, watching the cab drive away, but the effort that it
was taking reminded her that a gash on her head needed attended as
soon as possible.

“Every.
Fucking.Time.” Morgan pulled the bag open once she got to her
room, and loudly scolded herself for her apparent need to hurt
herself. It wasn't as often as she thought it was, but it was much
more than the average person, and that was enough.

She popped two of the pills in her mouth, and cupped her hand under
the bathroom sink to wash them down. The bottle looked nothing like
the over-the-counter pills that she was used to, but it had to work
nonetheless. “Gross!” Her newly colored blonde
highlights were nearly soaked in a path of an inch long, and six
inches down. She pulled her hair to the side and saw a half inch
gash that made her weak in the knees. The bag still held the
bandages, and she put her hand in as she shook the paper away,
finally getting the little box to come free. It was with one hand
that she opened the box, and tore the paper from the cotton gauze.

“
Nope...
it ain't cute.” She pressed the bandage to her head and tried
to secure it as much as she could against her hair. If her head
hadn't been pounding so much, she would have at least tried to clean
out her hair, but that wasn't an option. The only thing she could do
was turn away and quit looking at it.

Well,
my plans for the rest of the day are shot.
Morgan knew she
wouldn't be going out again that day. Even if her headache went away
right that second, by the time she showered again, it would be dark
outside and all of the attractions she wanted to see would be closed
anyway. “And I'm not going to go sit in a bar.”

She
looked down at her french-tipped toes as she walked to the bed in the
center of the room. At least her pampering day had gone well. New
hair color, manicure, pedicure..she'd even made time for a massage
and facial. Her hand went to her face as she recalled the way the
tiny exfoliating beads had felt against her cheeks. “Silky
smooth,” she spoke, even managing a smile through the pain that
wasn't seeming to relent.

She
put one knee on the bed and fell to one side, then reached for a
tri-fold pamphlet that was propped up on the nightstand. “Room
service.” She almost put the paper back, but noticed the back.
“That's what I'm talkin' about!” Wine, lots and lots of
wine. Morgan chose a pink Moscato from the list and made a quick call
downstairs for two bottles to be delivered to her room. “I
should know my favorite by the time I retire.” Morgan laid her
head down on the pillow and covered her eyes from the light of the
room with her forearm. It wouldn't have bothered her if she'd stayed
in that position until the following morning, but fifteen minutes
later, her wine arrived at the door by the hands of a rather handsome
bellhop.

As
she walked across the room, her bandage fell right from her head and
fell to the floor like a feather. It wasn't until said handsome man
gave her a disgusted look that she remembered her hair was covered in
blood. “Yeah...I...uh....” Suddenly, she didn't even feel
like explaining herself. Actually, she didn't feel like doing
anything. “Thanks.” Morgan grabbed the bottles from the
man's hands and shut the door with her foot. “Wow...” The
pills were kicking in, and fast.

She
turned around to face the bed and it looked as if it were a hundred
miles away, but she felt as if she wouldn't mind the journey there.
Halfway to the bed, which was really only ten feet away, she heard
another knock, then a voice at the door.

“Ma'am,
the wine?” Morgan looked down at her hands and nodded.

“I
have the wine. Two bottles. In... my... hands. Wow, that bed
looks...comfortable.” She held one of the bottles of wine up in
front of her face, “and this shit is really pink. Oh, yes, I'm
going to drink you, ya little bastards.”

“Ma'am?”

“Who's
there?” Morgan set the bottles down on the dresser and walked
back over to the door, then peeked through the little hole. “You're
still here!” She opened up the door and leaned on the door
frame with her whole left side. “Hey good lookin'.” She
brought her nails up in front of her mouth and gave them a hot
breath, then
shined
them on the shoulder of the jacket she was
still wearing.