by Crowe, Liz
She stepped out of Blake’s embrace and started for him but the room dimmed, then blurred. Rob grabbed her before she hit the floor when everything went as dark as the jacket Jack given her to wear.
Walk. Forward motion. Positive action. Somewhere, out of here.
The mantra played in Jack’s head, propelling him down the hallway, seeing nothing but the set of doors in the distance. On his best day, hospitals made him nervous. But today, with the multiple stunning news flashes he’d been offered, had no equal.
He spotted a men’s room once he’d made it through the swinging double doors, shouldered his way in, and sat in a stall, fully dressed, pressing his pounding head against the metal door.
For all his blustering proclamations a few years ago, he’d not been convinced the girl was his, other than the fact that he helped raise her. Which should be enough. Her green eyes and darkening hair didn’t help her look like anyone, except more like her mother. He sucked in a deep breath, willing his heart to stop pounding.
“Jack?” He heard Mo’s voice outside the main door.
“Go away,” he shouted, but his raw throat only managed a whisper.
She walked in anyway, and knocked on the stall door. When he continued to ignore her, she climbed up on the toilet in the next stall and peered down at him.
“How do you know I’m not in here needing privacy?”
“I’ll take my chances. You can go see her now. Sara fainted. They put her on a stretcher. Katie’s awake though, and asking for you.”
He launched himself out the door and down the hall in seconds, not even aware of his feet touching the floor. She needed him.
His daughter.
Craig held open a door and guided him in.
“She’s weak and her throat hurts from the tube, but she stabilized quickly so I took it out to eliminate the possibility of any more infection. Once she went septic it opened up her immune system to all sorts of…”
Jack glared at him.
“Already too much information, Doctor Craig, but thank you. Thank you for saving her.” He hesitated, then gave the other man a tight hug.
“Oh, okay then.” Craig patted his back then nodded into the room. Jack took a deep breath and looked. His baby girl half sat, propped up, tubes, lines and shit hanging off her arms. His ears buzzed so loudly he had a brief moment to be thankful that he was in a hospital where they could deal when he had a heart attack.
A hand on his arm steadied him. His sister’s deep blue eyes connected with his.
“Go in. She needs you.”
He nodded, and pushed the door open. Beeps and other strange sounds, plus the plastic, antiseptic odor of hospital assaulted his senses. He stayed, frozen in place, watching her eyes move under lids that seemed too thin and fragile. Her face was gaunt, bruised-looking
“She’s so…small.” He’d never considered her that way, just Kate. Tough, with a smart mouth to match her mother’s, a pink and purple-wearing tomboy of the nth degree. “Dear God, please…” He heard himself croak before sitting in the chair near her head. His entire body shook.
Be strong. She needs you.
He clenched his fists, then released them and put a hand over hers. The chill emanating from her skin frightened him. He glanced at the many monitors bleeping and ringing, thought he saw one that could be a heartbeat and pulse.
“Mommy?” Her voice sounded papery thin as her eyes fluttered open.
Jack took a breath and touched her cheek. “No honey. It’s me.”
“Uncle Jack. My throat hurts. My head hurts. Can you turn the light down?” A nurse obliged, making the already dim room more so.
A tear slipped down her cheek. Jack stood, then sat again, antsy, more stressed than he’d ever been. Maureen slipped in and whispered in his ear.
“Craig told me to tell you to calm down. Her heartbeat’s getting too fast. You need to talk to her, get her to relax. C’mon you can do it.”
He gulped, swallowing a huge lump that had taken up residence in this throat.
“Get Sara,” he whispered to his sister. “Throw water on her to wake her up. I don’t care, but get her in here.”
She gave him a squeeze and left. Jack looked down to see the girl had started crying in earnest, her ravaged throat unable to make the sobbing noises any louder than a squeak. He looked up at Craig who watched them from the window and saw the other man’s nearly imperceptible nod. Wiping his eyes to clear them, he reached deep, found a firm tone, free of the wobbly emotion coursing through him.
“Scooch over. I’m gonna stretch out here with you. That okay?”
She nodded, reduced to sniffles as the nurse helped him adjust all her wires and tubes. Parking himself with one foot still on the floor, he gathered his daughter in his arms and held her close, rocking and soothing them both.
By the time she’d fallen back into fitful sleep Jack’s eyes burned with unshed tears. He settled her back down, resumed his seat and laid his aching head on the side of her bed, continuing to stroke her arm until he was startled awake by a small hand on his hair.
“Daddy?” she whispered, making the tears he’d held back for the last hours release and roll down his face as he nodded, speechless at her existence, much less that she’d figured it out. “I knew it.” She smiled and grabbed his hand, threading her fingers through his before falling into a calm, relaxed slumber. Craig gave him a thumbs-up through the glass.
Sara followed Mo across the hall. Everything in her screamed for escape, to run away, start this fucking day all over again – hell start her entire year over, no maybe the last ten, beginning when she met Jack Gordon the first time.
But no. That was just a fantasy. You have a daughter and she needs you.
Blake and Rob touched her arm, Mo gave her a quick squeeze but she didn’t feel any of it. Craig stood at the window of a recovery room, before he turned and nearly ran into her. There was no mistaking the tears standing in his eyes. She clutched his arm.
“She’s still okay?”
“Yeah, she’s good now. Go on, be with him.” The long look he gave her sent a deeper message. One she caught but couldn’t credit. She pushed the door open, saw her daughter and the man she’d loved since the moment she laid eyes on him look at each other, tears on both their faces.
She heard the words “Daddy” come from Katie’s lips. He nodded. “I knew it,” her baby said before closing her eyes with a satisfied smile. Jack’s broad, strong shoulders shook when he laid his head back on the bed, holding hands with his daughter.
She made a decision in that moment. One she’d never regret.
She walked over and put a hand on Jack’s shoulder, making him look up, raw agony in his eyes. She pulled him to his feet, wrapped herself around him and held him tight.
“Don’t let go,” he whispered into her hair. “Don’t ever let me go. Please. Sara, I can’t lose you both.”
“I won’t.” She lifted her face to his. “Ever.”
Epilogue
Sara shifted on the couch, let the blanket slide to the floor and studied the dancing flames in the fireplace. From somewhere in the still not-quite renovated house Katie shrieked with delight and pounded down the hall with the scrabble of dog toenails right behind her. The two collided in a happy heap in the living room, the slobbering puppy climbing all over his beloved mistress.
“Take him outside before he pees again,” Jack’s voice floated out from the kitchen. “Sara, do you need more water?” She shook her head, suddenly overcome with a bout of extreme happiness. She wiped at her eyes. All seemed as though all she did anymore was cry at the oddest moments.
He stuck his head around the doorway. They’d moved into the new house, on an acre and a half of prime real estate in the Ann Arbor Hills neighborhood a week ago. A retro-sixties raised ranch, with tons of exposed wood and an old kitchen to match, it suited them all perfectly. Mostly because it was exactly the opposite of where they came from. Jack already had the plans drawn up for the kitc
hen and bath remodel, plus a huge basement upgrade.
The whole thing made her tired, but then again, so did breathing these days.
“I’m sick of sitting here Jack.”
“Don’t you dare get up. I mean it.” He wandered in, clad in flannel pants and a t-shirt.
“Then sit with me, distract me or something. I’m going nuts.” He plopped down beside her, handing her a glass of lemon-infused water, and put a hand on her belly. “I hate being pregnant. I blame you for all of this misery, John Patrick, up to and including my extreme bitchiness.”
“Yeah? Then what’s your excuse when you aren’t knocked up?” He smiled and kissed her, then flipped on the television. She sighed, rubbed her aching back, then picked up the framed photo next to the couch.
A montage of images from the July wedding on the Lake Michigan beach graced various surfaces of their new house. Pictures of her, Jack, Blake, Rob and Lila with the little girls in their sundresses. Jack and Maureen together. Katie and her cousins all laughing at something off camera. Jack and her with her parents, who seemed relaxed and happy for a change. There was even a great snap of Craig sitting with Katie in his lap, Suzanne in the chair next to him, all three of them wearing Ray-Bans and cool expressions.
But one in particular she’d chosen from the thousands of shots the photographer provided was her favorite. The one that got her every time of her and Jack caught in an unscripted moment, arms around each other’s waists staring into each other’s eyes.
She put the ebony-framed photo down and grabbed his hand, threading her fingers though his. The heavy but simple matching platinum bands they wore made her smile. She’d surprised him with them a week after Katie came home from the hospital, the same moment she knew she was pregnant again, thanks to that night in Traverse City. A fact she’d kept from him long enough for her to wrap her mind around it.
She’d held onto the news for the right moment, and the look in his eyes, captured forever in that one photo with the west Michigan sun setting behind them, was one she’d carry with her forever.
“Shove over, you’re like an oven,” He moved his legs away, grinning at her. Katie came back in and ran down the hall to her new room with the dog.
“You know, I heard this thing about orgasm,” she whispered in her husband’s ear. He raised an eyebrow and tugged her close again, running a hand up the swell of her belly to cup a breast.
“What’s that? That I am the king giver of all things orgasmic?”
“Well, besides that. I heard that it can bring on labor. And I’m sick of being pregnant so what do you say we try the theory?” She nibbled his ear.
“You know I’m never one to turn down a challenge.” He stood and in one motion picked her up.
“Jesus, Jack, put me down you’ll break your back.”
He pretended to stumble, groaned then stood straight, his smile sending a bolt of happiness straight to her soul. “I’m good. And so will you be, in just a few short minutes.”
She wrapped her arms around his and kissed him, ignoring Katie’s protests of “Ew, gross.”
“Mom and Dad need a nap,” Jack called over his shoulder. “Pretend there is a Do Not Disturb sign on the door.” He grinned at the girl as she made her way with the dog out to the television. “Now, about that theory…” He nuzzled her neck, after laying her carefully on the bed.
“Tell me first,” she insisted.
“No, you go first,” he said as he unbuttoned her shirt, kissing every inch of skin he exposed.
“Fine. I love you Jack.”
He grinned before lowering his lips to her flesh. “I know, baby. I know.”
“Your turn,” she said with a loud sigh of satisfaction.
He leaned on his elbow beside her, his fingers trailing across her belly before joining hers, and twining them together. She grinned when the baby chose that moment to give a healthy kick to their joined hands.
“I will never get used to that,” Jack said, rubbing the tiny heel or fist or whatever it was gently until it settled back into place. When he reached up to stroke her flushed face, his eyes were dark midnight, and shining with something she knew were tears.
She smiled and touched his face. They’d done this thing, and while it was far from perfect, she was so happy even the struggles, arguments and frustrations were manageable. All part and parcel of a real, honest marriage.
“I love you, Sara. With everything I have.”
“I know, baby. I know,” she said. “But um…have you forgotten why we’re in here?” She pointed downward, over the giant swell of her stomach.
He grinned, the sight of which always made her breath catch in her throat, and got back to work.
* * *
I hope you enjoyed reading Closing Costs. Not to worry, Jack, Sara, Katie and the rest make plenty of appearances throughout the series.
Next is Rob & Blake’s story in Dual Agency, Book Four.
* * *
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About the Author
Amazon best-selling author, mom of three, Realtor, beer blogger, brewery marketing expert, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.
With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.
Website
Read Liz on Radish
Also by Liz Crowe
The Stewart Realty Series
Floor Time
Sweat Equity - 4-25-19
Closing Costs - 5-9-19
Dual Agency - 5-23-19
Conditional Offer - 6-6-19
Escalation Clause - 6-20-19
Mutual Release - 7-4-19
Good Faith - Summer 2019
The Brewing Passion Series
Tapped
Lightstruck
Conditioned
Gravity
Infusion
Adjunct Lovers: A novella
The Love Brothers Series
Love Garage
Coach Love
Love Brewing
Safe Love
Family Love
The Turkish Delights Series
Turkish Delights
Blue Cruise
Tulip Princess
The Diplomat’s Daughter
Flower Passage
Stand Alone Novels
Firebrew
Sweet. Bitter. Honey.
Cheeky Blonde
Caught Offside