then, all of a sudden, it’s a sunny day, and the problems have just
evaporated away.”
“I hope you’re right,” Becca said.
The next day, Adam was much improved, even managed to joke
with his nurse, who patted his butt, and her father came down with
pneumonia and nearly died.
“It’s nuts,” Becca said to Agent Austin. “He survives a bullet to
the heart and gets pneumonia.”
“There’s got to be some irony in that,” Agent Austin said, shaking
his head, “but no matter, it still sucks.”
“He’ll pull through,” the doctor said over and over again to
Becca, taking her hands in his. Maybe the doctor didn’t like the
irony, either, Becca thought, lightly touching her father’s shoulder.
It was odd, when she touched him–settled her hand on his arm,
laid her hand over his, lightly touched his shoulder–his breathing
calmed, his whole body seemed to relax, to ease.
And when he was finally awake, his mind alert, and she touched
him, he smiled at her, and she saw the pleasure in his eyes, deep and
abiding. And when she whispered, “I love you, Dad,” he closed his
eyes briefly, and she knew she didn’t ‘want to see his tears. “I love
you,” she said again, for good measure, and kissed his cheek. “We’re
together now. I know you love Adam like a son, but I’m very
pleased that he isn’t your son. If he were, then I couldn’t marry
him. Now you’ll get him anyway.”
“If he ever makes you cry, I’ll kill him,” said her father.
“Nah, I’ll do it.”
“Becca, thank you for telling me about all your mother’s things
safely in storage in New York.”
He’d heard her, actually heard her speaking to him. And since
he’d heard her speaking to him, just maybe her mother had heard
her as well, maybe she did have a final connection with her. “You’re
welcome. As I said then, it’s a start.”
“Yes,” Thomas said, smiling up at his daughter. “It’s a very good
start.”
Adam was now walking up and down the corridor, ill-tempered,
his back throbbing, his arm throbbing, feeling useless,
wanting to hit someone because he felt so damned helpless. At least
the damned catheter was out.
He was carping and carrying on when Becca laughed and said,
“All right, you’ve finally driven me away. My father is doing fine,
the pneumonia is kicked, and I’m going to Riptide to see Sam.”
“No,” he said, leaning against the hospital corridor wall, utterly
appalled. He wanted to grab her and tuck her under his arm. “I
don’t want you going there alone. I don’t trust McBride. I don’t
want you out of my sight. I’d really like it if you would sleep in my
bed with me and I could hold on to you all night.”
She realized she’d rather like that as well, but she said, “There’s
no danger, Adam. How could there be? I’m not going to see Tyler.
I’m going to see what’s going on with Sam. Don’t forget, Adam, it’s
my fault that Krimakov even took him, my fault that Sam got traumatized.
I’ve got to fix it. Tyler has nothing to do with it.”
“Dammit, it was Krimakov’s fault. Give it another couple of
days, Becca, and I’ll go with you.”
“Adam, you can barely get to the bathroom by yourself now.
You’ll stay here and just concentrate on getting well. Spend time
with my father. And maybe you could work on all those church
dates as well. None of your family can come to an agreement.”
“Well, are you still going to marry me?”
“Is that your final offer?”
He looked both pissed and chagrined. Suddenly he laughed. “I
swear I’ll change that green tile. Do you mind moving from New
York, living down here? We’re really close to your dad. Is he going
to rebuild?”
“We haven’t discussed it yet. Yes, Adam, I’ll marry you, particularly
if you change that bathroom tile. Consider it a done deal.
I have no real ties to Albany. Goodness, there are so many folk
around here who need good speechwriters. I’ll make a fortune.
Now, you can’t flirt with any of the hospital staff anymore, you got