Walking on Sunshine: A Sweet Love Story (Seasons of Love Book 1) (22 page)

“Hello?” He sounded sleepy. I wondered if I had woken him up. It wasn't that late yet.

“Hi, Richard.” I took a breath. Better to get this part over with. “Ben had an accident.”

“What!” It sounded like he nearly dropped the phone.

“He fell off his bike and broke his wrist,” I quickly explained. “He's okay, though. They are taking an x-ray right now.”

“Where are you guys? I'll be right there.”

“At Grace Hospital.” I was proud my voice didn't shake.

“Okay, I know where that is. I'll call once I'm there.” He paused. “I'm glad he's okay.”

“Me too.” I hung up the phone and let out a sigh of relief. I wasn't terribly excited about having my ex-husband, my ex-boyfriend/nanny/whatever he was, and my son all in one hospital, but I could deal with that. Ben was okay.

I
was putting the final signature on the paperwork when the nurse brought the two men I cared most about back into the room.

“Everything go okay?” I asked, setting down the pen.

“Yeah, it was awesome!” Ben grinned. I shook my head at him. I could tell he was enjoying this. He would have some great stories for the kids when he went back to school in a few weeks.

“The doctor will be in a few minutes. He just has to look over the x-ray,” Rachel said, poking her head through the curtain.

We sat in awkward silence, not knowing what to say while we waited for the doctor to arrive. I busied myself with straightening up the papers on the clipboard and re reading my answers. Ben was having fun clicking through the TV stations. Cee turned toward me

“I think I'm going to get a soda. Do you want anything?” He asked. I shook my head and looked back down to the clipboard. Cee nodded and left quietly. I lifted my head up when I heard the curtain pulled back, the doctor stood there smiling with the x-rays in hand.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Carl.” He held out his hand and shook my hand. “I assume you are Ben’s mother?”

“Yes, please call me Jes.” I shook his hand firmly. At least I wasn't shaking anymore. “How are you doing Ben?” Dr. Richmond asked, turning his attention to Ben.

“Alright.” Ben shrugged. “It still hurts.”

“The medicine should kick in pretty soon,” the doctor assured him, leaning in closer to Bens arm.

“Is it broken?” Ben asked. He actually sounded hopeful. “I want a cast to wear to school.”

“It is broken. See, right here?” The doctor held up the x-ray to the light showing the fracture in the photo. Ben stared at it, impressed that his bone was in a picture. Dr. Carl looked at me.

“How bad is it?” I asked. It didn't look that bad on the x-ray, but I knew absolutely nothing about broken bones.

“It's just a fracture, nothing to be too worried about. We'll have to put it in a cast, but he will be healed up in about six weeks.” Dr. Carl lowered the x-ray from the light. “Luckily, it doesn’t look like there was any nerve damage.”

I let out a sigh, glad there was nothing seriously wrong with my baby.

“I'll have the nurse come in, and we'll start putting the cast on....” He stopped as Cee walked in.

“Oh, hey Cee, I haven’t seen you in a while,” the doctor greeted him. “How do you know this nice young man?”

“Hi, Dr. Carl. I actually nanny for him.” Cee smiled. “How is he?”

“I was just explaining to them that the x-ray came back good. A slight fracture, but nothing major. It doesn’t look like there was any nerve damage.”

Cee smiled, and he seemed to relax a bit at the news. “That's really good.”

“I was just about to head out and grab the nurse so we can start putting the cast on,” the doctor informed him.

“Thanks, Doc. I really appreciate your help.” Cee held out his hand.

“Not a problem,” the doctor replied, shaking Cee's hand like an old friend. “By the way, how is your sister doing? I haven't seen her in a while.”

Cee’s eyes darted to me. He swallowed hard. I couldn’t help but have a shocked expression. He had a sister! How did I not know this?

Cee’s eyes went back to the doctor. “She's good. She's actually up on the orthopedic floor. She had her last surgery a few months ago, and has been in physical therapy for the last few weeks. I'll tell her you say hi.”

“That would be great. You four take care,” the doctor said, stepping back and closing the curtain behind him. Cee walked over to me. I still had my jaw on the floor.

“You have a sister?” Ben asked, breaking the silence. “I didn’t know that. Why haven’t I met her?”

“Yes, I have a sister,” Cee explained. “She’s older than you, she's twelve years old, and she has been in the hospital for a long time.”

“What happened?” Ben asked.

“Well...” Cee took a deep breath. It was obviously something that he wasn't quite ready to explain.

Luckily for him, Rachel walked in with the equipment to put Ben’s arm in the cast right at that moment. Cee took a seat next to me, watching as she plastered Ben's arm up. She talked to Ben, explaining each step as she did it. It all turned into a giant blur and I did my best to wipe my eyes without being too obvious.

“Now, what color do you want?” Rachel asked, holding up a selection.

“Green!” Ben announced with a giant grin.

“Green’s my favorite too.” Rachel whispered. She smiled and began doing the final wrap. I was itching with questions for Cee, but didn’t want to take my attention away from Ben. Rachel finally finished up the last steps and looked at Ben.

“All done, now remember, you can’t get this wet for a while, and it will itch,” Rachel warned. “I'll give your mom this packet of instructions of what to do. Make sure to listen to her about it, okay?”

Ben nodded.

“Are we able to go?” I asked as she handed me the packet.

“Not yet, we still have to observe Ben for a few hours,” she explained. “You said he hit his head pretty hard, and we want to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion.”

I nodded, annoyed that we were stuck here for a few more hours. But things could be worse.

My phone started buzzing.

“Hey Jes. I'm here,” Richard's voice came through the phone and made me wince. “Where are you guys?”

“We're in the back, and Ben just finished getting his wrist wrapped. I'll come grab you.” I walked through the maze of hallways my head still spinning from the revelation of Cee having a sister. I opened the double doors to find Richard standing still, but tapping his foot impatiently.

“What happened?” Richard asked, concern filling his voice.

“He ran away from Cindy’s,” I explained. “We went out looking for him and found him at a playground. He had fallen off his bike and hurt his wrist. They took him in for X-rays and said he had a slight fracture. He is getting a cast now.”

We had made it back to the room Ben was in. As soon as Richard saw Ben sitting on the examination table watching TV, he rushed over and gave him a huge hug. Ben held up his cast to show his dad how awesome it was. I smiled, glad that Ben was still excited, even if it was promptly followed by a yawn.

“Hey, I'm going to get something with caffeine. You guys want anything?” I asked.

Richard and Ben shook their heads and continued their conversation of how the cast was put on. Cee stood up.

“I'll show you where the good stuff is.” He grabbed my shoulder lightly and guided me away. I nearly shied away, but instead just kept walking.

“I wanted to talk to you real quick,” he said as we stepped out. “I know you were shocked to find out about my sister.”

We stopped in a hallway and he turned his body to face mine. Being alone with him was making my heart pound. I wasn't ready to be alone with him yet.

“I didn’t realize you had a sister, or that she was in the hospital. Why didn’t you ever tell me?” I asked, the hurt filling my voice. First he was cheating, and now he was lying about his family.

“I didn’t want to tell you about her. I don’t tell anyone about her.” He glanced at me, sighing, “I’m the reason she’s here.” The words came out as a whisper. Cee’s eyes met mine, and I could see the guilt.

“Because of you?” I stared at him, trying to understand. “How is that even possible?”

“I was in college. It was my senior year on scholarship,” He explained. I nodded remembering that he had told me this before. “I had been getting bad grades, and the school threatened to take it away.”

“I remember you telling me that,” I said slowly.

“My parents drove up from Arizona with my sister to talk to me about it. I had been ignoring their calls and not taking their threats of taking me home seriously. It wasn’t until they knocked on my apartment door that I had realized they made the drive.” He took a big breath in, I could see it shake his shoulders. “I got mad, told them I didn’t care. I was an adult and I could do what I wanted.” He dropped his gaze from me and looked at his feet. “It was so stupid.”

“Cee...” I wished I had something to say. He held up his hand to let him finish.

“My dad was pissed, my mom started crying. I know they wanted the best for me, but at the time, I didn’t care what they wanted. They drove back to the hotel that they were staying at the next town over. Cheaper rates then ones nearby apparently. It was raining that night and I guess the tires on the car were bald.”

Cee paused, his face haunted and cut with grief. I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder, feeling him shake beneath my fingers.

“My father lost control and went into oncoming traffic. I got the call from the hospital, saying my sister was there. I rushed over to find my sister in a coma and that both of my parents had been killed on impact.” He stared off into the distance, replaying the nightmare memory in his mind. “The only reason my sister survived was because she was in the back seat. She was in the ICU for months. I dropped out of school and tried to be with her for every second of it. All the surgeries, all the pain...”

I could see how hard it was for him to admit this. I grabbed his hand, and he looked up at me. I saw his eyes water with tears. “I'm so sorry, Cee...” I whispered.

“I'm sorry... I haven’t told anyone this before,” he whispered, his voice cracking. I squeezed his hand, waiting for him to continue. I felt a tear trickle down my own cheek. “When she finally woke up, they said her back was broken. She would be bound to a wheel chair for life.” His voice choked. “I transferred her to Grace Hospital because it's one of the best pediatric hospitals in California. I visit her almost every day. She is here because of me. I can never forgive myself for that.

“Oh, Cee...” I squeezed his hand again. I didn't have any words that could make him feel any better.

“That's why I never told you about her.” He took a jagged breath in, his eyes searching my face for forgiveness. “I'm ashamed of what I did.”

He stopped talking, taking deep raspy breaths in. I gave him a hug. We stood there and just held each other in our arms. I kept wiping away my tears on my shoulder. I couldn’t believe he had to deal with so much. It explained of why he acted so much older than his age. He inhaled deeply and took a step back.

“I've wanted you to meet her for a while now, but just didn’t know how to tell you.” His voice was still raw with emotion. “We had gotten so far in our relationship, and I was so worried that if I told you, I would break your trust. I know how hard it is for you to trust people. ”

“What’s her name?” I asked after a moment.

“Ann.”

My heart sunk, it had dawned on me who he had been texting all along, not another woman named Ann, but his sister.

“Her real name is Ryann. My parents had a sense of humor about naming kids. Nothing like having a son named Stacey and a daughter named Ryann.” He gave a half-hearted chuckled. I remembered all the texts, and suddenly understood why they said “I love you”, and “I miss you.”

A chuckle escaped my lips. I don’t know why that was the emotion that came out, but it did. I felt it taking control of me, rocking my body. Cee stepped away, looking at me concerned. “Are you okay?”

“I'm such a bitch,” was all that I could sputter out between laughs. I shook my head, overwhelmed.

“I thought you were cheating on me with an Ann. I read all those texts, and saw all the phone calls.” Tears were streaming down my face, I was so happy, so angry and so relieved that I didn’t know what else to do but laugh and cry.

Cee continued to stare at me puzzled, trying to comprehend what was so funny. When I finally was able to get myself under control, I looked up at Cee and he was grinning from ear to ear.

It took him a moment to realize what had finally clicked in my brain. He wasn't cheating on me at all and I wasn't mad anymore. He grabbed me and kissed me on the lips. It was exactly what I needed. I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks, better than a blush or a glow. He released me from his lips, but still held on to me.

“I'm sorry, sorry for everything,” he said, his hands strong on my back. “I should have told you from the beginning that Ann was my sister. Whenever I got a call from Grace, it was from the hospital, this hospital, to let me know how she was doing.”

Cee stared at me with his dark eyes. “I wanted to tell you as soon as you saw those messages, but you were so angry. I didn’t have a chance. I should have told you sooner. I can understand if you are still mad at me. I kept something big from you.” He released me from his arms and straightened up. I grabbed his hand and looked up at him.

“I understand.” I smiled up at him. He was such a good man. “You love your sister. You protect her. Just promise me this...”

“Anything.”

“Never keep anything from me again.”

“I promise, as long as you do me one thing,” he replied.

“What?” I clinked, unsure of what he would ask.

“Never keep this from me.” He touched my chest above my heart. I felt it skip a beat.

“It's yours,” I whispered. I meant it. He deserved my heart. And with that, I leaned in and kissed him.

“W
ould you like to meet her?” Cee asked.

“Of course, but is it too late?” I wasn't sure how much time had passed in the ER, but it was well past ten, I knew that much.

“No worries. I also have an in with the nursing staff.” He winked and grabbed my hand. “Besides, it will give Ben some time to show his cast off to Richard.”