Unlikely Allies (28 page)

“Any time, buddy. When all this is over, and Cece’s good to go, I expect payment. And I’m not talkin’ about money, my man.”

He knew Matt wasn’t either and hoped he’d be able to produce. From the time they met, Matt always had his best interest at heart. After he made sure his girls were okay, then he’d figure out where Maggie’s heart was.

And he hoped to find it—in sync with his.

“Q
UIT BITING YOUR NAILS. THEY’RE
bleedin,’ and it’s a disgusting habit.”

Kat tugged Maggie’s hand away from her mouth, squeezed her wrist, and shoved it onto her lap. “I know, I know. I haven’t done it since high school. But I’m freaking out if you haven’t noticed. My baby’s in surgery and they’re cuttin’ her open. So excuse me if I’m out of control, okay?” She yanked her arm away, shooting her sister a squinty-eyed glare.

“Look, the doctors said she’s gonna be fine. She was so keyed up about gettin’ a ride in the ‘amblance’ she forgot all about the pain in her tummy. I held her hand the entire trip while she chatted up the EMTs, asking them a thousand questions. So your baby is gonna be a-okay and rarin’ to go, bossin’ us around in no time. Just like her pain in the ass mama.”

Dropping her head onto Kat’s shoulder, she hugged and squeezed her sister’s waist extra hard. Tears filled Maggie’s eyes as she whispered, “If something happened to her, I’d never survive.”

Kat brushed a hand along her hair, murmuring with calm assurance, “She’ll be okay, all fixed up, just one less part.” Maggie snorted, pinching Kat’s ribs. “I’ll tell you when you need to worry. When she turns thirteen, goes on her first date at sixteen . . . then you’re allowed to freak out. But now, she’s gonna need a thousand hugs from you and a million kisses from her kick-ass aunt Kitty. That’s what you should focus on.”

“She’s not datin’ until she’s thirty.”

Now Kat was the one who snorted. “Honey, I’m sorry to tell you this, but there’s not a chance in hell boys are gonna stay away from her that long. Just be glad she’s got a gun-toting aunt who’ll be guardin’ her ass 'til then.”

“And me, I got guns.”

Her head popped up from Kat’s shoulder when Matt strolled into the waiting room with Rick following close behind. Her spine snapped straight, and the nerves Kat had lessened somewhat were jacked up all over again. She swallowed several times to keep the rising bile down. Sick to her stomach before, now she’d need to be thrown on a gurney and wheeled into the OR. Because the enormous pain pulsing through her at the sight of Rick made her chest ache and the frantic, erratic beats might mean she was in the midst of a massive heart attack. Unable to speak from the numbness setting into her arms and legs, she sat there motionless, staring.

Kat bolted out of her chair, giving Matt a hug and then Rick. “Thank you for coming. She’s in surgery, appendicitis, but she’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, I got some details in the emergency room.” Matt plopped into a chair next to her and pulled one of her tingling hands into his, squeezing it and recirculating the blood. “How you doin,’ momma?”

Still frozen, Kat answered for her. “She’s messed up. Freakin’ out. I wouldn’t touch that hand if I were you.”

Matt turned it over, inspecting the damage. “Nervous habit?”

She nodded. Once they entered the room, she diverted her attention to the square tiles, counting the endless gray flecks.

“A year ago, Harley jumped out of the treehouse and broke her arm. Growing up, I think I fractured at least twenty bones and didn’t blink, but when it’s your baby it hurts like hell. I guess I don’t need to tell you that though.”

She shook her head no, still counting the specks on the floor, and tried to overlook Rick’s shiny black loafers, toe to toe with her ratty old sneakers. Matt stood and disappeared, but she didn’t know where he went, because she refused to pick her head up. When Rick crouched down, taking her stinging hands into his and ignoring the blood, her eyes squeezed shut.

“Maggie, can you look at me?”

Again, she shook her head.

“Please?”

Not sure how many minutes or seconds ticked by, she counted her staggered breaths, willing him to go away and not to. “Please . . .” On an inhale and through her smashed together teeth, she said, “Go home. Thank you for coming. But please leave me alone.”

Instead of Rick yelling at her, Kat did. “What the hell? Have you lost your ever-freakin’ mind? That is ruder than shit.”

She heard what sounded like a scuffle, feet dragging. Matt telling Kat to calm her ass down and then absolute quiet. Her eyes were still closed, and she couldn’t decipher a thing except Rick’s firm, sure grip on her hands, his thumbs stroking along her knuckles.

“Whatever you need ask, I’ll do it. Except that. I’m staying. Cece’s your concern, I understand. Your heart has to be pounding a mile a minute, I know mine is. As soon as I heard, I rushed over. I’ve been in the emergency room trying to find out what was going on. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”

She didn’t say anything; she couldn’t. Her heart was crying out to him, and at the same time, terrified of the ramifications.

“Come here, let me hold you.”

Her eyes flew open, head shaking like a spastic person possessed by evil spirits. “No.”

“Yes.” He sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, the other around her waist, and cuddled her within a strong embrace. “I need to hold you as much as you need someone to. So please, give me this. Let me be there for you . . . for Cece.” The longer his pleas carried on, the more she succumbed to his caresses along her upper arm, his head pressed to hers, his hot breath and body heat warming her from outside in, along with his gentle, soothing voice. She closed her eyes again, memorizing the way it felt to be supported by him since it would be the last. After today, she’d never see him again. She couldn’t.

There in an OR waiting room, in the midst of complete agony, she fell in love with him all over again as he hummed the same tune he had sung to Cece when he came to pick her up for the musical. She remembered most of the lyrics, having heard them on a DVD Cece kept playing, but they resonated even more so because of the affection he showed while singing them that day. She’d never forget it or him. Ever. If she could go back in time, choose a daddy for Cece, she’d pick him. A million, trillion times over.

Dreams aren’t called that for no reason—they’re farfetched and vanish in an instant—with eyes wide open.

“I gotta booboo,” Cece announced at least a hundred times since waking up. After two hours of aggravating silence, the doctors had notified them the procedure had gone well. Maggie went to the recovery room, and Cece’s first groggy declaration had been all about her wound. And much later, after the effects of the anesthesia wore off, she broadcast that her “acitis” had been good luck. The doctors told her that the appendix resembled a wishbone, and they had to take it out so she could make a wish, and someday soon it would come true. And of course she believed them. When Maggie heard that, she considered asking them to take hers out too. She might not believe in fairy tales anymore, but she could use some good luck right about now. Because Rick refused to leave her or Cece’s side since he’d arrived.

While Maggie had been in the recovery room, he’d gone to the gift shop and purchased a care package for Cece, including several Dr. Seuss books, a stuffed “get well soon” panda bear, and three packs of Bubblicious, her favorite gum. After Cece had been transferred to a room in the pediatric section, the doctors indicated she’d stay overnight for monitoring and perhaps another two or three days depending on her progress.

When Cece saw Rick, and he gave her the stash of goodies, as his reward, she treated him to her undivided attention. “Max, I thirsty. Max, read to me. Max, sit with me. Max, hold my hand.” On and on she made one demand after another, and he sucked it up, doing anything and everything she requested. Maggie, Kat, and Matt got reduced to mere wallpaper as Rick became the person of honor.

An hour later after Cece fell asleep, Matt went home, and Kat went to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat, leaving her alone with Rick.

“You don’t have to stay, you know. I’m sure you have lots of other things to do.” She tried to test the waters again, see if she could push him far away this time.

Releasing a sleeping Cece’s hand, Rick rounded the bed, and came to where she leaned against the wall closest to the door. He gazed into her eyes for the longest time, and then brushed his thumb across her cheek, resting it along her neck. Her pulse beat like crazy with him so close. The bright overhead lighting, combined with the sunset coming through the picture window, made his eyes appear fluorescent green, and the honey-brown rays spreading from his pupils with tiny golden speckles on the tips added to the brilliance. She wanted him so much, yet at the same time needed him to go. Her warring emotions, the yin and yang along with the ups and downs due to Cece’s condition, had her stomach flip-flopping, her head spinning, and her heart and mind duking it out. The imminent doom ticking in her head the longer he spent in her presence didn’t help her distressed state.

“You’ve been trying to get rid of me since I arrived. Did I do something wrong, upset you?”

His cell rang, giving her a chance to take a breath, but when he silenced it, the panic continued.

“Maybe you should answer it. You’ve been here a long time.”

His grip stiffened on her neck the slightest bit, her pulse thumping hard against it. “What’s going on, Maggie? I know I haven’t seen you in two weeks. I’m sorry. I should have called, come by. I have a lot to say, talk to you about.”

His cell rang, and again he reached into his pants pocket, silencing the tone.

The sting from picking at the tender skin around her fingernails hadn’t reduced her anxiety. If she could get them past his arms, which were positioned at her shoulders, holding her in place against the wall, she’d have the sore cuticles and flesh in between her teeth, chomping on them. Since she couldn’t, her saving grace came when his phone vibrated.

This time he pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and frowned. He looked at her, and as it continued to buzz, he said, “I’ll be in the hall, not far away. This isn’t over.” He pushed a button on the cell, and as he walked out the door he said, “Mom, you okay?”

She heard his mumbles but couldn’t make out more. Cece rolled onto her side, murmuring, and sucked a thumb into her mouth. She dashed over and rubbed Cece’s back up and down like her daughter loved. Even as an infant when Cece would wake up in the middle of the night, she’d lull her back to sleep that way. As a newbie mother, she’d been hypervigilant, a worrier, checking on her baby several times a night. It never ceased to amaze her when Cece started off at twelve o’clock in the crib and would rotate to the three, six, and ten position. The odd movements concerned her at first, but the ultrasound images in a frame, showing Cece at various circular rotational states, right-side up, horizontal, and upside down, alleviated her fears.

“Maggie.” Rick’s clipped call-out had her flinching and spinning around. Kat ducked around him, carrying a Styrofoam container she asked her to bring. She’d had nothing to eat yet and wasn’t sure she could swallow something now either. “I have to go.”

She nodded, sucking in several shaky breaths, realizing this would be goodbye. Forever.

“My grandfather . . .” He paused, and her body froze at the reminder. On an exhale he revealed, “He had a heart attack. They just brought him into the emergency room. I have to get down there.”

As much as she despised that man, she’d never wish a tragedy on anyone. She rushed over to him, offering the same support he gave her earlier, wrapping her arms around his waist. In his ear she whispered, “I’ll keep you both in my prayers.” She wanted to add “if you need anything just ask” but she couldn’t. Regardless of the fact Mr. Horatio Stone might be out of commission, she wouldn’t bank on the fact he wouldn’t make good on his threats when he got better. She couldn’t afford that risk. At this point, caution her middle name, she delivered a quick peck to his cheek. Not close to the kiss she wanted to give and insufficient for a final farewell, but all she could manage with the stinging reality overwhelming her. After another hug, squeezing his shoulders as hard as possible, she released him and began her backward retreat. One step at a time, she shuffled closer to her family: Cece’s bed and her sister, situated over Maggie’s shoulder. Inspector Kat O’Brian examined her face and scrutinized each of her actions as if she were some odd piece of evidence under a microscope.