In A Heartbeat (38 page)
“Nice flowers,” a pleasant-faced nurse sniffed at a barely open bud, smiling at the scent. “Go on in. After the time she had last night, I’m sure she’d be happy to see a friendly face.” She rapped on Angie’s doorjamb before continuing down the hallway.
Hank took a deep breath, stuffed a carefully folded newspaper under his arm and lifted the large bouquet high enough to hide his face. As much as he wanted to see Angie, he wasn’t sure he wanted to see her face in that moment of recognition. He should have called first.
“Max? What did you do? Buy out the florist?”
“Max?” His heart plummeted. What had happened in the two weeks he’d been away? He lowered the bouquet. “You were expecting Max?”
Her face hardened. The sense of joy that he’d heard in her voice disappeared. Yet her eyes seemed moist.
She quickly swiped at her cheeks. “I certainly wasn’t expecting you.”
Okay, he deserved that. Amazing how she could quickly render him speechless. Needing a moment to frame his reply, he walked to the windowsill to place the bouquet.
“Where have you been?” she demanded, the monitor’s beep punctuating each word. Should he be alarmed at the increasing tempo or be relieved at her obviously recovered strength? He glanced toward the door, half-expecting an anxious nurse to appear.
“Up until two weeks ago, I was here. A least as near as the nurses would allow me to be.” He wished he could be that close now. One look from her and he’d be at her bedside. But not now, he hadn’t earned the right. “I stayed day and night, praying for your recovery.”
“Praying?” One side of her mouth pulled back in disbelief. “I thought you didn’t believe in praying.”
“Miracles happen to those who believe in them. You told me that.” He shrugged. “I needed a miracle.”
“You?” She scoffed, her brows raised.
“I needed you to recover. Angie, when I came to Ohio, I had no idea of what life could be. For all the external signs of success, I was dead inside and didn’t know it. You brought me to life. You showed me love, trust, friendship. I couldn’t lose you.” His voice trembled and he stepped forward, then checked himself and stepped back. “I needed a miracle.”
“Then why did you leave?” Her voice barely rose above a whisper.
“I didn’t leave until I knew you’d recover.” Now that she’d provided an opening, he couldn’t stop babbling. “Once I knew you were going to be okay, I figured with your mother and—”
“You knew I’d recover two weeks ago?” She snorted in disbelief.
He couldn’t stop his smile. How he’d missed that sound.
“It would have been nice if you had told me,” she said, sarcasm framing her tone.
“But you told me,” he said, daring a step closer. “You said you wouldn’t leave me. That you’d be all right.” He managed another step. “It was late at night, you were still in intensive care. You must have known I was there at your side. You said, ‘won’t leave’. Right then and there, I knew you would recover.”
“I must have been delirious.” She rolled her eyes. “Still,” she paused and squinted, “I kind of remember…”
Hank chanced the last steps and sat on the edge of her bed. “I needed to take care of a few things, clear the way for us. Believe me”—he lifted her hand to his lips—“if I thought you were in any danger, I’d never would have left your side.”
She started to say something, then stopped and shook her head. “What do you mean, clear the way?”
Hank lifted a lock of her hair from her shoulder and slipped it behind her ear. “You know that my engagement to Elizabeth Everett was a sham?” Angie nodded in response. “I wanted to make sure once and for all that Elizabeth’s father understood that no engagement between his daughter and I would ever happen.”
“You did that?”
Hank glanced at her blue eyes, so liquid and trusting. He kissed the inside of her wrist, before continuing. “Of course, he fired me on the spot.”
“Fired you?” She pushed on his shoulders. “Owens fired you?”
He smiled. That one-arm shove was hardly that of a weakling. There could be no doubt; Angie was well on her way to a full recovery.
“Oh, he hired me again. Especially after I explained how two of his trusted employees had milked the profits out of the company all these years. But he rehired me at a greatly reduced salary without all the perks of a future son-in-law.”
“I could live with that,” she said, nodding her head.
“I should hope so as one of those perks was the use of his house. I’m homeless.”
“I doubt that.” Laughter lit her eyes. “But what about Elizabeth?”
“Elizabeth has successfully completed her drug rehabilitation and is currently engaged to a photographer she dearly loves. I brought you this.” He handed her the newspaper, carefully folded to the society section. Elizabeth’s new engagement announcement nearly obscured the retraction of the earlier false announcement.
Angie smiled and Hank’s hopes soared. “Good for her,” she said. “And your family?”
“Aaah, my family.” He dropped her hands and stood. “I can’t say as they were pleased to see that lucrative financial arrangement fall apart, but they’re relieved that I won’t be tied to a loveless marriage. I’ve worked out a payment arrangement with their creditors that will eliminate their debt in a few years. Both my parents are going into counseling and I think, even with my reduced salary, I can manage to help them out on that score.” He walked over to the windowsill and glanced at the sun breaking through the overcast sky. “The important thing is that they’ll be working their own way out of their problems.” He turned back to her. “You taught me the importance of that.”
“I did?” She looked surprised.
“Yes, my independent angel, you showed me that depriving someone from making their own decisions is not love, it’s manipulation. The best gift I could give Elizabeth and my parents was the freedom to make their own mistakes, and grow from them.” Angie nodded in agreement.
So far, so good.
He took a deep breath.
Now comes the hard part.
“And the best gift I can give you is the same freedom. I won’t pressure you, or compromise you, any longer.” He unsuccessfully tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He looked at his shoes, so she couldn’t read the despair in his eyes. Letting her go was breaking him in two, but if that was what she wanted; she deserved no less.
“Are you saying you don’t want me anymore?” Her voice shook. It certainly didn’t have the satisfied ring that he expected. He glanced up to see a shimmering in her wide sad eyes.
Before he could voice his denials, a nurse bustled in with a cart of medications.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything.” She beamed a smile at the two of them. “It’s time for your afternoon meds, Angela. Can I see your hospital bracelet please?”
Hank waited patiently for the routine identification and pill administration. Angie kept her gaze from his, but seemed to retreat within herself with every tablet and accompanying swallow of water. The nurse finally left them alone once more.
“I understand.” Angie said quietly. She adjusted her bed jacket to cover her scar.
That small movement hit him like a fist to his jaw. He remembered a night when she’d abandoned such precautions. His stomach roiled while his arms hung limp at his sides. He had his answer. She’d effectively dismissed him.
“You want someone healthy,” she quietly said. “Someone who can give you children.”
“No.” He covered the short distance to her bed in seconds, desperate to make her understand. “I want you. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life. But only if…” He sunk to his knees so they could be on the same level, face-to-face. “I love you, Angel.”
He began to pull her into an embrace but she was already there, her arms around his shoulders. Her lips met his with an answering hunger, and he poured all the longing and despair he had felt with her absence in that kiss. Once started, he couldn’t stop. He kissed her lips, her neck, her cheek, her lips again. “Marry me, Angie.” He pulled back, surprised that the words had leapt on their own accord. Didn’t he just promise not to pressure her?
She laughed. “Yes, yes. I’d marry you in a heartbeat.”
“You will? You don’t want to think about it first? Check with Stephen? With Oreo?” He laughed, taking the plush toy by her side and making it dance in the air. The confining hospital room was too small to contain his overwhelming joy.
“I don’t need to check with anyone,” she laughed. “This is my own decision. I want to be with you.”
“In that case, I have something else to show you.”
Hank dropped the plush toy before lifting the folded newspaper from her lap. He unfolded it to full size. On the page opposite the society announcements, a full-page ad with big, bold print proclaimed:
Henry Renard begs Angela Blake, Will You Marry Me?
Her jaw dropped. She raised her glance to his.
“I wanted to set the record straight.” He shrugged. “After that sham engagement notice earlier, I didn’t want to take any chances.”
They kissed again, this time a more passionate union of souls. The monitor overhead beeped with a strong, healthy pulse and with it, Hank sent a thank you prayer—
I believe in miracles.
Before You Go
Thank you so much for reading
In a Heartbeat.
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About The Author
Critically acclaimed, award winning author Donna MacMeans made a wrong turn many years ago when she majored in Accounting at Ohio State University. A licensed CPA, she’s written six seductively witty historical romances for Berkley Sensations, and independently published a unique historical paranormal, a fun time-travel, and an intense contemporary suspense. Her stories have been published in Japan (complete with a manga edition), Norway, the Netherlands, and Turkey.
A Romance Writers of America © Golden Heart winner, she has also received Romantic Times’s Reviewer Choice Award for Historical Love & Laughter, as well as many other awards. Her books consistently receive high praise and glowing reviews.
When her fingers aren’t on the keyboard, she likes to cook lush desserts with alcohol and chocolate, paint in acrylics, and travel. She lives in a suburb outside of Columbus, Ohio with her husband of forty+ years. Please contact her at
www.DonnaMacMeans.com
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Or on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/donna.macmeans
See a full list of her books on the next page.
Other Books for Kindle by Donna MacMeans
(Find descriptions and excerpts of all the books at
www.DonnaMacMeans.com
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Victorian Romances:
The Chambers Series
The Casanova Code
To Bait a Rake - Coming soon
Victorian Paranormal:
Charm Gates Time-Travel
The Moor’s Tear (Prequel short story)
Charming the Thief (coming soon)
Paranormal Contemporary Romance:
Smoke and Mirrors (short story)
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