Forever My Soldier (Love Conquers Life Book 3) (17 page)

“I did. I’m sorry, but I’m not good at this. Event planning is your thing, not mine. If you make me a list of things you need decisions on, we’ll figure everything out together.” I point at Carter and I. “But to be honest, I don’t even know where to begin right now,” I say, a hint of whininess in my voice. I hate it when I sound whiny, but it’s the only way to get her off my back.

“Okay, fair enough. The four of us will meet for lunch this week, and I will come up with a list of things you will need to make decisions on. That will include picking the weekend of the wedding because I will also bring a list of dates the club is available.”

“Fine. Now if we can please change the subject.” Everyone gets quiet for a moment while they finish their soup.

Once I’m done, I glance around. My mother and Bella are talking about her upcoming shoots. Richard is talking business with Jackson and Mia; and my father, Carter, and Derek are all talking sports. I love that my family has grown and we’re all together and getting along.

Our main course has arrived, and it smells delicious. There’s spinach- and cheese-stuffed chicken, baked scrod, and beef for the main course options, and we have a selection of veggies, rice, and potatoes on the table as side dishes. Food is being passed around as the conversation continues.

Carter catches me watching him with a huge grin on my face. “Is everything okay, baby?”

“Yeah, I’m enjoying my family. We’ve managed to have another nice meal together without there being any problems.”

“Yeah, it is nice, isn’t it?” He looks around, gently squeezing my knee under the table. I get started on my meal, not really able to eat much after eating salad and soup, but it’s delicious, so I enjoy as much of it as I can.

After dinner is cleared, the DJ turns the music up since people have started to gather on the dance floor. Carter has asked me to join him in making rounds to thank his special guests once again for attending, so we excuse ourselves from the table. The first table we go to is his boss’s table.

“Excuse me, Tobey,” Carter says as he walks up behind his chair.

“Hey, Carter,” he says as he stands up. “Great event, man. You’ve made me proud.”

“Thank you. I came over to introduce you to my fiancée, Patricia.”

He shakes my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Patricia.”

“Please call me Patty. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well. I wanted to personally thank you for supporting Carter while he was going through his troubles and getting himself back together. He really needed the support, and you guys were there for him.”

“You have no need to thank me. It’s what we do. I’m glad he got his act together. We need hardworking guys like him around.”

“Thanks, Tobey,” Carter says, looking slightly embarrassed about his boss’s compliment. “If you’ll excuse us, I have some guests I need to thank for their generous donations.”

“You two have a nice night.” He sits back down.

We finish making our rounds, and as we do a slow song plays. Carter takes my hand, pulling me to the dance floor. He wraps his arms around me, and we slowly sway to the music as we look into one another’s eyes.

“I love you so much, Patty. Thank you for all of your support with my work. It means so much to me.”

“Well, I have a soft spot for soldiers,” I say with a wink.

“I better be the only soldier you have a soft spot for,” he says with his brows raised, and I can’t help but giggle.

“Oh, you will forever be my one and only soldier.”

I kiss him as the song ends and we walk back to our table with our fingers locked. When we arrive, coffee is being served, and we both accept it. I don’t want to drink too much. I know there will be champagne shortly before midnight to have with the ball drop. Bella and I both check out the dessert table to pick a little treat to have with our coffee. It’s starting to get late, and I could use both the sugar and the caffeine at this point.

When we get back, Carter says, “Derek and I are going to go check on the silent auction.” He kisses me on the cheek and walks away with Derek.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please note you’re running out of time for the silent auction, so please check your bids,” the DJ announces, and that’s when I realize it’s already ten-thirty. They’re going to announce the winners of the silent auction in thirty minutes. Bella and I are teasing and laughing at the younger crowd dancing on the dance floor. They’re all having a great time, but they’re dancing like this is the club, not a formal event to raise money.

“You two need to stop. The point of this event was to make it fun. Their parents have donated quite a bit of money to the silent auction, not to mention the tickets they paid for.”

“Sorry, Mother, you’re right. If it weren’t for the DJ and the dancing, half this crowd wouldn’t be here tonight. It’s funny to us because we’re all grown up now and have no desire to shake our asses like that on the dance floor.”

“Watch them, though. They’ve been drinking, and that means they’re all going to go over to the auction now and spend Mommy and Daddy’s money.” I roll my eyes because that’s the snobbiest thing my mother has said in a while, but it’s true. All the young guys are fighting over the TV and gaming system while the girls are bidding on the spa day.

It’s eleven, and that means the silent auction is closed. There are a few men standing by the table ushering guests away as they finish making last minute bids. Derek and Carter walk over with Tobey to collect the bids and take them to the DJ booth to announce the winners. However, Tobey takes the mic.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, if I could have your attention please. My name is Tobey Hanson, and I’m the head of Veterans’ Affairs for our lovely state. I want to take a moment to give a few special thanks tonight. First to our three very special donors. Thank you so much for your generosity. As our DJ announced earlier, thanks to you a soldier in need of a ramp will now get it. Another soldier will get the help he needs to do some repairs to his home, and the final soldier will be receiving renovations to make it so he can function in his home. These are men and women who have gone overseas to keep us safe and have returned injured, both mentally and physically. I thank you, and I’m sure they will too when they finally meet you.” He pauses for a moment. “I also want to thank all of you for being here tonight. Although we do not have a tally yet, your generosity has helped us raise a lot of money that will be used for either home renovations, service dogs, or whatever else our local heroes need. Lastly, I want to say thank you to two men who recently started working together and have managed to put a great event together in a short period of time. Derek and Carter, you two have done a great thing here tonight, and I’m proud of both of you.”

The room erupts as everyone stands up, clapping and cheering for the two men standing at the front of the room. My eyes well with the tears of pride I feel for my man right now. Derek hugs Carter and whispers something to him. I’m sure he’s telling him to stay calm since this noise level isn’t good for him. He does well, and a minute later Tobey puts up his hand to silence the room once again. I can see Carter visibly relax as the room quiets down. No one else would ever know it, but those who are close to him know how hard that was.

Tobey starts going through the list of silent auction winners, and one by one they stand and head to the front of the room to write their check and claim their item. Tobey thanks everyone again for coming and tells us to stick around for champagne and the ball drop at midnight. He, Derek, and Carter all get busy collecting the money for the silent auction items, and as they do, the staff moves the items to another room so they’re out of the way.

It’s now about eleven forty-five, almost time to celebrate. The staff starts coming around with large trays. Glasses of champagne are on the trays, and the staff hands the glasses out one by one. We’re all standing around the minute before midnight when a staff member hands me, Carter, Derek, and Bella a glass of champagne. As the clock on the wall winds down and there’s thirty seconds left, everyone in the room starts to count. That’s when I see Carter put his earplugs back in. I give him a supportive smile. Suddenly the room’s getting louder as we count down the last ten seconds: nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…Happy New Year! The room erupts as a huge ball drops from above the streamers. Red, white, and blue confetti shoots out of it. We all clink glasses and drink down our champagne.

Carter scoops me up and twirls me around. “Happy New Year, baby.”

He puts me back down, but suddenly I feel off. Something's wrong, but I don’t know what’s happening. Everything feels like it’s happening in slow motion. I’m getting dizzy, and my vision is blurring. Carter looks scared.

He tries to speak to me, but his speech sounds slurred. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

***

Carter

“Someone call 911!” I scream as I drop to Patty’s side. “No, baby, you stay with me.” I hold her head, rocking her as her eyes close. She’s now unconscious.

“They’re on their way,” Derek says. The majority of the people in the room continues to party around us with no idea that Patty has collapsed and I’m freaking out.

Her mother comes running over with Richard. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. We were drinking our champagne and celebrating the New Year one minute, and the next she was woozy and collapsed to the floor.”

“Where’s her champagne glass?” Richard asks. I nod in its direction. “Right there.” He uses a napkin to pick it up. “I need a Ziploc bag of some sort,” he says to the manager, who came over shortly after Richard and Sandra to see what’s going on.

A minute later, the ambulance is here, and there are medics around her. They check her pulse and her eyes and ramble off medical terms. Richard tells them he thinks she’s been drugged. “I have the glass,” he says. They nod as she’s placed on a gurney with an oxygen mask over her face. We run out the door.

I shout back, “I’m riding with her.”

Derek holds Bella while she sobs, and Patty’s mother nods as Richard takes her hand and tugs her toward the door. I spot Troy and Claire in the hall. I shout, “Richard and Sandra are on their way out. They’ll explain but get to the hospital.”

They load Patty into the back of the ambulance, and as soon as the medics and I are all inside, they take off, speeding to get us there as quickly as possible.

I’m watching as they check her pulse and ramble things to one another. “Sir, do you know if she’s allergic to anything?”

“No, not that I know of. I’m her fiancé. I think she would have told me.”

“What did she have tonight?”

I close my eyes to think. “Um, she had some wine and some soup and salad at dinner.” I furrow my brows as I try to think. “She had fish for dinner and then coffee and the champagne. It had to have been the champagne. She was fine until she drank that at midnight.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Is she going to be okay?”

“Sir, we have to figure out what was in that champagne.”

“The person bringing the glass is her stepfather and the local DA. That’s why he chose to bring it because he needs to use it as evidence. I’m sure he will be right behind us.”

We pull up to the hospital, and they wheel her off the back of the ambulance, leaving me to wait by myself in a cold, lonely waiting room.

Chapter 16

Carter

I’m pacing the waiting room, unable to sit still, when Sandra, Troy, Derek, Bella, and my parents come walking in. “Where’s Richard? They’re waiting for the champagne glass so they can figure out how to help her.”

“Relax. He came straight over in a cop car. They already have the glass and are testing it as we speak.”

Sandra shows me the text from Richard.

Richard: At the hospital now, they have the glass and are testing it.

Sandra: Thank you, see you soon.

“How the hell did someone get to her? She wasn’t alone the entire night, and I was watching for anything suspicious,” I say, running my hands through my hair.

“Carter, don’t do this. There’s no way you could have seen everything that was taking place in that room. Joan could have easily paid someone to drug her, and we wouldn’t have seen it coming. We have to get her healthy and figure out who is behind this so we can take them both down.”

“Troy’s right,” Richard says as he walks into the room. “The police are at the event questioning guests and the wait staff as we speak. Trust me when I tell you, they will not get away with drugging my stepdaughter. This is personal, and I will see to it that they’re punished.”

A doctor walks into the room. “Fitzpatrick,” he calls out.

“We’re all family,” I say as I step forward.

“Who is her next of kin?”

Sandra steps forward. “I’m her mother.” She points to Troy. “This is her father.” Then she points out the rest of us. “This is her fiancé, her sister, Bella, and her stepfather, so we’re all pretty much her next of kin. What do you have for us, doc?”

“Well, she’s in rough shape, but she’ll be fine. We’re waiting for the test results to know exactly what she was drugged with, but we’ve pumped her stomach and given her some medication through an IV. She should be coming around shortly. I’ll allow a few of you to visit with her, but you can’t all go in at once.”

“Go, Cater,” Sandra says. “She’ll want to hear your voice. I’ll wait here and visit with her when you’re done.”

“Are you sure? You can come too,” I offer. She smiles, and the two of us follow the doctor to her room, where she’s sleeping peacefully in a hospital gown.

I run to her side. “Aww, baby, I’m so sorry about this.” I take her hand and kiss the back of it. Her hand is so soft and warm. “Please wake up, baby. You’re the light in my life, and I need you.” A tear escapes me. “I need you to be my wife. We can spend years together making happy memories and growing our beautiful family.”

Sandra walks to the other side of the bed. “Oh my sweet girl, your mama is here,” she says as she rubs the top of her head. “Please wake up for us. Richard is already working this and wants you to know he will catch whoever did this to you.”

We both sit in silence for a while, watching her sleep. Bella has come in to say goodnight to all three of us. We promise to call her with any changes, so she goes home with Derek to get a little rest, promising to be back in a couple of hours with some food and coffee. Her father comes in next and lets us know that Richard has gone back to the hall to look over the crime scene with the police to see if they have gotten anything out of the staff.

Sandra chuckles.

“What?” I question.

“I was thinking about how flustered she was over the wedding earlier. Do you know even as a child Patricia hated attention and only ever wanted the smallest of birthday parties? Do you remember, Troy?”

“I do. You do know you’re going to have to plan this wedding for her,” he says, looking at Sandra.

“I know, and I’m happy to do that, but I want it to be the wedding she wants.” Sandra wipes some sweat from Patty’s forehead. “My sweet girl is so strong in so many ways, but when it comes to something simple like planning a party, she wants no part of it and gets all flustered.”

She continues stroking her beautiful hair while she sleeps. We all sit in silence as the machine’s beep keeps track of her heart rate. The room is quiet, and I’m starting to doze off on the side of her when I hear her moaning in her sleep. “Pain, so much pain,” she mumbles. I jump up, pressing the button to the nurse’s station.

Nurse Chelsea runs in. “What is it?”

“She’s mumbling that she’s in pain.”

The nurse picks up the chart and looks it over. “I can give her something. I’ll be right back.” She walks out of the room and comes back with something that she shoots into Patty’s IV. “Her test results are back. The doctor will be in to see you soon.”

“Thank you,” Sandra, Troy, and I all say at the same time. She gives us a sympathetic smile and walks out of the room.

A short time later, the doctor comes in. “Well, we know why she collapsed. She’ll be fine. Someone slipped a large dose of liquid GHB into her champagne. Considering it’s a date rape drug, I’m not sure what their plan was, but that’s why she went down hard and fast. If she had been alone, we could have lost her.”

“How long will she be out?” I ask while the doctor is making some notes on her chart.

“Well, that’s hard to say. She could wake in an hour or so, but she’s going to have one hell of a hangover. We’ve been giving her something to help with it, but waking up is up to her.”

He places her chart back at the foot of her bed and informs us this is the end of his shift and that another doctor will be in to check on her in a few hours, but to press the button should we need anything. We all thank him and go back to resting our heads while we wait for her to wake. I lay my head by her leg and doze off, hoping to get a little sleep. I refuse to leave her side even for a minute, but yesterday was a long day and I’m exhausted.

I must have fallen into a pretty deep sleep because I wake to feeling fingers run through the little bit of hair that I have on the top of my head. I jump up to see Patty’s beautiful brown eyes watching me.

“Do you know where you are?” I ask her.

“Yeah, but I don’t remember much,” she whispers.

“You were drugged, baby. I’m so sorry.”

“This is not your fault, Carter,” she says sternly.

“That’s what I told him,” Troy says in a groggy voice from across the room when he hears her. “Welcome back, baby girl.” He gets out of his chair to stretch. He walks over and gently kisses her on the head. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I partied too hard,” she says, rubbing her forehead.

“Well, technically you did. Someone slipped you a lot of GHB. We’ve been waiting for you to wake. Do you remember anything?” Troy asks her.

Her brows furrow. “I don’t. The last thing I remember is…” She pauses to think about it. “I remember being so proud of Carter for his work and the kind words Tobey said about him.” She stops again, and we can tell she’s thinking. “Um…I remember bits of them announcing the silent auction.”

“Don’t stress yourself, darling,” Sandra says. She’s still resting. “It’ll come back to you.”

Patty takes a deep breath. “Do they know who did it?”

“Not that I know of. Richard went back to the hall to question people with the police. I’ll text him right now to see if there are any updates and to let him know you’re awake,” Sandra says as she stretches.

“I need to text Derek so he can fill Bella in.”

“How’s Bella?” Patty asks.

“She’ll be fine once she knows you’re awake. She was a bit scared last night and will be in shortly, I’m sure. She’s promised us coffee this morning,” I say as I shoot Derek a text.

Carter: She’s awake.

Derek: Great, we’re on our way to pick up coffee and then we’ll be there.

Carter: It’s only seven-thirty.

Derek: Try telling that to Bella.

Carter: See you soon.

“Bella and Derek are stopping for coffee and then they’ll be by.” I fill everyone in. “We should probably let the nurses know you’re awake,” I add as I press the button for the nurses’ station.

Nurse Chelsea comes in a few minutes later. Patty is lying with her eyes closed when the nurse whispers, “How can I help you?”

“He wanted you to know I’m awake.”

“Welcome back to us, Ms. Fitzpatrick. How are you feeling?”

“I was drugged. How do you think I’m feeling?” Patty says, frustrated. “I feel like I was drugged. My head hurts, and I feel nauseous.”

“Patricia,” Sandra scolds her.

“It’s okay,” the nurse says to Sandra.

“Ms…”

Patty holds up her hand, cutting her off. “I’m sorry, please call me Patty.”

“Okay, Patty. I’m used to the frustration you’re feeling. Please understand that although it sounds like a silly question, we need to know how bad you’re feeling so we know how long we need to keep you.”

“Oh, you can send me home. I have a wedding to plan, and to be honest I’m quite positive I know who put me here and I’m tired of her interfering in my life. The sooner you let me go home, the less she wins.”

The nurse sighs. “I’m sorry you’re going through this, but only the doctor can release you and he won’t be making his rounds for a few hours, so please relax. If you’d like, I can give you something for your headache and order you some breakfast.”

“Unless Patty has a diet restriction, breakfast is served,” Bella says from the doorway.

Nurse Chelsea turns and smiles. “She does not. However there are far more people in here than we normally allow. Please keep it down so I’m not forced to kick anyone out.”

Bella runs over and gives Patty a huge hug. “I was so scared,” Bella whispers as they embrace each other.

Bella pulls away as Derek starts handing out cups of coffee and offering breakfast to everyone. They’ve brought muffins, bagels with cream cheese, and cheese Danishes. Bella gives Patty her favorite muffin, and Patty digs in.

“I’m starving,” Patty says as she takes a big bite.

“Do they know who did this yet?” Derek asks as he sips his coffee.

“No, but we haven't heard from Richard yet.” I take another bite and say, “Thanks for breakfast.”

“No problem. We didn’t sleep very well, so we figured we might as well come here. We were getting ready to leave when you texted me.”

“Go slow, darling. You don’t know how that’s going to make you feel, and you don’t want to get sick.”

Bella chuckles. “I’d kill to be able to eat like that.” She quickly covers her mouth. “Really poor choice of words. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I know who it was. Now we have to figure out how to catch her.”

“That may be easier than we thought,” Richard says as he walks into the room, looking completely beat. He’s wearing his tux from yesterday, only now his bow tie is gone and his shirt is unbuttoned slightly. “Your glass was marked so the waiter knew which glass to give you. That means someone was paid to deliver a drugged glass of champagne to you.”

“Do you know who was paid?” Patty asks.

“No, but considering there were only so many staff on last night, it cuts the number down. We’re running fingerprints from the glass now to see who’s come up, but if they don’t have a record it may be harder to locate them. We can ask them to volunteer fingerprints to eliminate them as suspects but most will refrain from doing that because they could’ve touched the glass without knowing and they’ll be afraid it will implicate them. What do you remember, sweetie?”

Patty swallows her muffin and tells him pretty much the same thing she told us. She only remembers Tobey’s speech and the announcement of the prize winners. Richard asks if she can think of anything weird after that point.

“I remember seeing the trays of champagne being passed around. I got excited because it was almost midnight and I couldn’t wait to celebrate my first new year with Carter.” I squeeze her hand.

“Is there anything else you can remember?”

She shakes her head and looks down. “I’m sorry, Richard.”

“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. We’ll catch Joan and whoever she paid to do this,” he says in a stern voice.

She nods. “I wish I could remember something helpful.”

“You did fine,” he says as Derek hands him a cup of coffee. “Thank you, Derek.”

“There’s food in the bag if you need a bite to eat,” Derek adds, nodding toward the bag. I hand it to him and he takes a danish.

“I don’t have a lot of time. I need to get home to shower and then find out where the police are with the questioning.”

A short time later, Richard leaves and the doctor walks in. “Wow, it would appear there’s a party going on in here and I wasn’t invited.”

“You’re absolutely invited,” Patty says, “Especially if you’re here to send me home.”

He laughs. “Well, let me see. How are you feeling?”