Close Your Eyes (24 page)

‘That is very lucky
.
’
She
nodded, thanking all the gods for watching over Ry
an
. She didn’t even dare to contemplate how much worse it could have been.

He was asleep
, in a deep slumber
.
The handsome
face
of the man in the bed was
peaceful and serene as he breathed evenly
.

Meg’s throat tightened
with emotion
. A
childish need to run up to him and bury her head in the white blanket covering his large form almost
won
the battle with her common sense. Acting so spontaneously would make her look awkward in
Rupert
’s eyes. Rule number
one in
the
Harper
family was to carry themselves
with dignity, no
matter
what obstacle
s
life decided to throw
their
way.

She glanced at
Rupert
,
who was
eyeing his son with
a
soft expression, even though he remained standing
, barely moving,
next to the foot of the bed
.
Matt
didn’t seem to have a problem expressing how he felt
. He walked
over to his brother’s side and patt
ed
his hand
,
a bit rougher than the situation might have called for.

‘You get better,
Ry
,
’
he
said hoarsely, swallowing hard before he stepped back and squared his broad shoulders.

Finally
,
Megan
walked up to Ry
an
’s side, her eyes taking in his face as she bent closer to kiss him. He looked a bit pale, but
seemed
otherwise
absolutely fine
,
and she felt a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders.
Everything would be all right
. A
wave of gratitude wash
ed
over her and
stung
her eyes with tears. Ry
an
would be ok
ay
,
and everything would return to normal
. The horror of this day would be
nothing but a reminder of what a lucky woman she was to have him on her side.

Nothing
can
change that,
she thought fervently as she walked back to the two men
with
her heart at peace.

They were walking out as the door opened and the nurse from the cafeteria appeared, her lovely face beaming as she saw them.

‘
Hello
again
.
’
Green
eyes sparkling, she watched
Meg
and
Matt
with a friendly expression
. ‘I’ll be keeping an eye on him for you tonight. At least
,
that is what I was delegated to do.
’
She walked
o
ver to the machines monitoring R
y
an
’s heartbeat and inspected the screen
.
She nodded
in satisfaction. ‘I think it will be an easy job, very uneventful.’

They chatted for a bit,
but
a strange sense of foreboding refus
ed
to leave
Meg
as they finally bid their good
-
byes.
S
he felt uneasy
,
as if an unexpected shadow
had
passed across her own personal sun, blocking out its light and warmth. Something
had
changed
.
The police and the fact that her boyfriend had just been shot were worrisome, but they weren’t the source of her turmoil.

As they
walked back to the lift
and down
to the waiting car
, she felt
a
subtle shift, barely palpable
, yet
refusing to let go.
Megan
felt as if something fateful
were
about to happen
,
and she was
unhappy to be clueless as
to
what
that something
could
be.
She knew it was something
that would affect her very deeply and irrevocably.

She had to be patient and hope for the best
. Her
overactive imagination
seriously needed to be
reined in.
With
this self
-
prescribed medication
and a determination to remain cool
, she straightened her shoulders and followed
Rupert
into the dim interior of his luxury car. Time for madness
could
come later.

‘It must have been so horrible!’
Meg’s mother’s voice was
shrill and panicked.
Meg
had already given up on trying to calm her down, realizing that the best way to deal with her panic was to just let her burn herself out. ‘And you’re sure that Ryan
’
s all right?’

She never would
call him Ry
.
He
had always been
Ryan
Harper
in her mom’s eyes
, and this
put him in
a
very special category that required more respect than she would have given any other young man his age
, i
ncluding
Matt
, who
simply
failed to live up to her idea of what a
true
Harper
should be like.

‘He’s fine
,
mom, really
,
’
she
assured her for the tenth time, trying to be patient. Ever since she had arrived at her parents
’
house an hour ago,
she’d had
no reprieve from her mom’s frantic questions.

‘I wonder if you should have stayed at the hospital,
Meg
an
.
’
Her
mom eyed her over the rim of her
whisky glass
sparkling
with
ice cubes. She usually didn’t drink much, but today seemed to be an exception. ‘
To
make sure everyone knows you are truly devoted to him, you know.’

‘I think it’s pretty obvious that I care,
M
om
.’
Megan
had to try very hard not to snap at her mom,
and
she
pressed her lips into a tight
,
annoyed line. Her
mother’s
obsession with
Meg’s status as
Ry
an
’s girlfriend
had driven
her crazy for a long time.

Does
she really expect
me
to stay
at the hospital
with the
Harper
s, putting on a show of devotion in
the
hopes
of
be
ing
accepted into the
ir
exclusive club? If so
,
she’ll
be
dearly disappointed
.
She bitterly dismissed
the idea of explaining to her mom how inclusive and friendly everyone
had actually been
to her,
especially
after the accident.
If she
made the mistake of sharing that, the next question would be about setting her wedding date. Her mother pressed her often enough on
that
topic to make it absolutely impossible to even consider
raising her hopes
.

‘Aren’t you going to call them, at least?’ Her mom didn’t usually give up,
Meg
thought resentfully, hoping
that
her dad
would
finally make an appearance and distract her from
this
interrogation.
He
often
managed to mellow her
mother
out, though only marginally.

‘Later,
M
om.’ She
grimaced
, her fingers going to her temples and massaging them in
a
circular motion. She felt a headache approaching
as the
stresses of the day finally
caught
up with her. She looked down at her casual
white jeans
and
red
t-shirt
. H
er bare feet welcom
ed
the solid ground after hours of walking in her high
-
heeled sandals. After she
’d
arrived home, she
’d
spent half an hour taking a long
shower, scrubbing her face free of make
-
up
,
and putting her hair up into a careless ponytail.