Theodore (Members From Money Book 25)

by Katie Dowe

  She lifted her head as there was a knock on the door. Both his mother and sister came in. “We just want to see him before we head home, darling.” Emma came forward and looked down at her son. She had seen him crumpled on the floor and had felt her heart stopped for a second. She had thought he was dead! “He looks so peaceful,” she whispered as she brushed back his hair. “Did he tell you of the time he fell from one of the Redwood tree at the manor?” she asked Ebboni.

  The girl shook her head no.

  “He was around seven and had just come home from school. I thought he was in his room doing his homework until I heard the shout outside. I was in the living room arranging a party for some of his father’s associates. I knew I was speaking to someone from Australia but in the middle of it I flung the phone from me and raced outside. It was November and the coldest November I had ever experienced. I forgot totally that I was not wearing a jacket and when I got there only to see him trying to get up. The men were in the yard doing some work and they were gathered around him. I had the presence of mind to tell them not to move him because he might be suffering from a concussion.” She shook her head at that. “He only suffered some bruises and later in bed when I berated him for almost causing me to have a heart attack, he told me he had gone to rescue a squirrel, not a kitten but a squirrel.”

  “And Daddy scolded him loudly that night,” Eleanor said quietly. “I remember going into his room and seeing him with a miserable expression on his face.”

  Emma bent to kiss his forehead. “He is tough, darling, so he is going to make it,” she said quietly as she stepped away.

  Eleanor squeezed Ebboni’s shoulder. “He will.”

  “Keep us posted and try and get some sleep. I suppose you would not want to come home with us?” Emma asked her.

  “No.” She shook her head.

  “I will bring back something for you to wear.”

  Ebboni waited until they had gone before resting her head next to him on the bed and she drifted off to sleep.

  *****

  That was how Eaton found her early the next morning. She had changed positions during the night and had curled up in the chair next to the bed fast asleep. The nurses had come to check on him and one of them had thrown a blanket over her.

  Eaton had packed clothes for her into a small bag and had taken it with him. He had not come last night because he knew that the family wanted to be alone when they received the news of how he was doing. He had respected that but had not been able to sleep last night. Theodore was his son and there was no doubt about that! The little boy had saved his life when he had thought he had nothing left to live for when his family had been taken away from him so cruelly. He had resented Ebboni coming into the man’s life because he had thought she was a gold digger but he had seen how she behaved towards him and had grudgingly realized that she cared for him. Now seeing her curled up at his bedside assured him even more. She opened her eyes and stared at him for a moment before uncoiling her feet and getting up. “Eaton.”

  “I brought you some things.” His voice was far from being the polite one he often used when addressing her and she realized that something had changed.

  “Thank you.”

  He nodded. “I will take over while you go and take a shower and get something to eat. I made you an egg and cheese sandwich and there is a flask of coffee in there as well. As much as this hospital receives generous contributions from the Amberville family, I doubt they have the kind of coffee we have at home,” he said with a slight smile.

  Ebboni stared at him for a moment and then nodded. “Thank you.”

  “You are welcome. He is going to be okay,” he said, looking at Theodore.

  “I believe so.”

  *****

  Theodore had many visitors! His friends from the club came to visit and Ebboni got to her feet startled as Prince Alexander and Princess Debbie came into the hospital causing quite a stir! They had not been at the wedding because they had been traveling for the past two months.

  “Your highnesses!” Ebboni got to her feet and wondered if she should bow. The man was strikingly handsome with his dark hair and olive skin and the woman was exquisitely lovely and very regal. She knew the story. She had been working for Prince Alexander’s mother when the two fell in love.

  Debbie laughed softly at that and coming forward enveloped Ebboni in her arms, transferring her exotic scent to her. “Debbie will do, darling.” She released her and walked over to look at Theodore.

  “We came as soon as we heard,” the prince told her with a gentle smile. “My wife insisted we cancel everything and come running. Theo is a very good friend.”

  “The doctors said he should be coming around any time now,” Ebboni told them. She had not left the hospital at all. She knew that the press was gathered outside waiting to pounce as soon as they saw someone who could tell them anything, but she was not concerned about that. People had been coming and going for the better part of the day but neither she nor Eaton had left. They took turns and she felt closer to the man in the several hours they had spent together than the months they had been in the same house. His secretary came by to visit and had commandeered his appointments and what he had to do at the office. She had also gotten the PR team on issuing a statement about the accident. There was an investigation going on as to the cause of the accident.

  “Of course he will,” Princess Debbie said firmly. Her eyes lit up as a group of women came into the room. “Darlings!” she whispered as she rushed over to them.

  “I think I will go out and find a male to talk to. I am outnumbered,” Prince Alexander said dryly.

  “Bradley and Ryan are out there, darling, so you are rescued,” Leesa told him with a laugh. “We have come to give you a breather,” she said, looking at Ebboni.

  “I am not leaving him.”

  Kelly came over and took her arm. “Most of us have been right here where you are, darling,” she told her. “It is scary and draining to say the least. But you need to keep your strength up. We are sneaking you out for a nice luncheon at this delightful and private restaurant we know a few miles from here and we will have you back before your man wakes up. We promise.”

  *****

  They told her stories that had her laughing in spite of her situation. Kelly was the most outrageous as she recalled her pursuit of her husband Kane.

  “I will never forget when Kelly showed up at the restaurant that day,” Leesa said with a laugh. “I had not seen her in years and here she breezes in wearing next to nothing and telling us that she was putting away modelling because it was time to find her husband.”

  “And the minute I saw him at the exclusive club he and the others belonged to I knew it had to be him,” Kelly said airily as she drank her tonic water. “No matter how much he objected.”

  “You were relentless in your pursuit of the poor man,” Carrie said with a shake of her head.

  “What was I supposed to do? The man had it in his head that I was not suitable because I was not of Asian descent and I knew better,” Kelly said with a laugh. They were causing a lot of stir and it was not because there was a royal member among them.

  “What did you do?” Ebboni felt her worries slipping away and was so glad they had persuaded her to come.

  “I showed up everywhere he was and refused to take no for an answer,” she said loftily with a grin. “He caved naturally.”

  “Alexander was an ass when I first met him,” Debbie told them. “He was royalty and he made me know that the very first time. He was entitled and used to getting his own way and he had a burr up his butt.” She smiled whimsically. “He got it inside his head that he was attracted to me and that he had to have me. I gave him a royal run for his money honey.”

  There was noisy laughter around the table at that.

  “Mine was not so romantic,” Carrie recalled. “I had a one night stand with a very rich man while waiting tables at their very exclusive club. I was out of work and pregnant for the el
ite and had no idea what to do. On top of that, his father was such a prick about it. I had never met a more trying set of people and I felt as if I was all alone.”

  “But it turned out okay,” Ebboni said quietly.

  “Honey, more than okay!” Carrie exclaimed. “I fell in love with Patrick not long after and I am still in love with him even though he is a jerk at times but he is my jerk and I would never change that for anything in the world.”

  Leesa leaned over and took one of Ebboni’s hands. “Your man is going to be fine, darling. We have been through tough times in our marriages but one thing that has always kept us from falling apart: love like ordinary people would never comprehend. And we stick together as friends. We are more than friends, we are family and when one hurts all of us do!”

  Chapter 12

  He woke up the middle of the night the third day. The two days had passed and they had not seen signs of him waking up and had questioned the doctors. They had told them that his body was healing itself and that took time. Ebboni was just drifting off to sleep when she heard the groan. Her eyes flew open and she rushed to his side.

  “Theodore?”

  His eyes drifted open and looked at her for a moment as if he was trying to recognize her. “Ebboni?”

  “Oh thank God!” she whispered as she sat on the edge of the bed trying not to jostle him.

  “Where am I?” He looked around puzzled.

  “In the hospital.” She ran her fingers over his face. “Don’t you remember what happened?”

  He frowned a little and winced. “An accident?”

  “At the opening of the apartment building.”

  He started at that. “I fell from the second floor. I was standing at the edge of the balcony one moment and then I was falling.” He frowned. “You were next to me just moments before.”

  “I was. You remember.”

  “All too clearly,” he said grimly, groaning a little as a shaft of pain darted inside his head. “I am afraid I am going to need some painkillers.”

  “I will call for the doctors and I need to let the others know that you are awake.”

  He gripped her hands as she made to get off the bed. “How are you?”

  “I have been better,” she said lightly.

  “I have a vague recollection of you talking to me.”

  “I wanted you to wake up.”

  “So you do care,” he said with his usual careless grin.

  “Who would have thought that?” She tugged her hand away. “I will get the doctor.”

  Ebboni got the doctors and made the calls and then she ran towards a bathroom and making sure that she was alone she pushed open one of the doors and locking it she slid down onto the floor. She buried her head in her hands and sobbed as if her heart was breaking!

  *****

  Theodore listened to the conversations around him with little interest. The doctors had come by and checked him out and the nurses had changed the drip. He had been fed, his mother and sister had been by as well as Eaton, but since his wife had hurried from the room he had not seen her again.

  “Where is she?” he asked abruptly in the middle of the conversation his mother was having.

  “What?”

  “Where is my wife?”

  “I thought you said she went to the bathroom-“

  “Would you go and find her?” he asked, looking over at Eaton who was sorting through the mounds of cards and flowers to give to the rest of the hospital.

  “Of course.” He nodded and left the room.

  He had a pretty good idea where he would find her and he went to the cafeteria to find her sitting there nursing a cup of coffee.

  “Eaton! How did you find me?”

  “I had no idea you were hiding,” he said with raised brows as he pulled out a chair and joined her. “He is asking for you.”

  “I just wanted to clear my head,” she said as she stared down into her cup.

  “I understand. He is awake now and you have no idea what to say to him, how to tell him how you feel,” he said gently.

  She stared at him and felt the tears gathering. “How is he?”

  “Surrounded by the people who love him and yet he is asking for you.”

  “I just need a minute,” she whispered.

  “Is that minute up yet?”

  Ebboni felt the smile hovering on her lips. “Just about.”

  “Good because he needs you.”

  *****

  “Here you are,” he murmured as soon as she came into the room. It was approaching seven and the rounds had been made. “Would you give us some time, please?” He looked at the people gathered in the room, and by tacit agreement, they left, closing the doors behind them. “Come around to my good side.” He indicated his right.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I want my wife next to me. I seem to recall that I have not had the pleasure of your company since I woke up. I really appreciate all the people who came but I only need you.” He had noticed the tear stains on her face and had guessed what caused it. “First you are going to fall asleep in my arms and then when we wake up we will talk.”

  “Is that so?” She put her head carefully on his shoulder. “What about?” She snuggled as his arm came around and held her close.

  “Oh, about the fact that I am in love with you,” he said lightly. “And I should have told you from the beginning.”

  She lifted her head and looked down at him. “I already knew that.”

  “You do?” His thick eyebrows lifted.

  “Of course. Why else would you treat me the way you do?”

  “How?”

  “Like I am the most important person in the world.”

  “Well, you are.”

  “I love you too,” she told him softly.

  “I know,” he said with a grin.

  “You do, huh?”

  “Hmm. You did a good job of hiding it but I am very intuitive,” he told her loftily.

  “I see the accident did not make a dent in your self-confidence,” she said dryly.

  “I doubt anything can accomplish that.” He grinned at her and became somber. “I am here now and we are going to be okay. I want you to believe that.”

  “I do.” She snuggled back into his arm.

  “I have instructed them not to disturb us for the next two hours,” he murmured.

  She laughed softly at that. “We are not in a hotel, Theodore.”

  “The next best thing,” he said with a laugh. “I have not told you that the family contributed enough to this place to rename it.”

  “So I was told.”

  “Go to sleep, baby,” he whispered.

  *****

  It was a week after he was released that she fainted. They had decided to go to the manor to spend the time as his apartment was flooded with curious reporters and his mother had suggested that the home would be more practical for them considering that he was in a wheelchair due to his broken leg. They had been settled in his suite and she had insisted on taking care of him with the help of his mother and sister. She was coming from the bathroom that morning when the room spun with her and she fainted almost at his feet. He dragged himself from the wheelchair and ignoring the pain of his injuries he lowered himself to the floor to check her. “Ebboni.” He shook her but she did not respond. He groaned in defeat as he realized that the phones were all the way over the table and no amount of shouting would cause anyone to come running. He pulled himself to where a chair was and painfully pulled himself up, reaching for the phone. “Mother, Ebboni fainted.”

  When she got to the room with Eleanor behind her, she found him sitting next to her still form.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “The stress of taking care of me I guess,” he said grimly.

  “The doctor is on his way.” Emma chafed her wrists and before long the girl opened her eyes.

  “Emma! What happened?” She tried to get up but they held her still.

  “Yo
u fainted.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I never faint.”

  “You have been running yourself ragged and that stops now,” her husband told her grimly.

  “I am just a little tired.”

  “You are a lot tired,” he told her.

  Just then the doctor came in. “Give her some air,” he told them. He helped Theodore back into his chair before attending to Ebboni. “I am going to examine you, my dear.” He helped her to her feet and onto the bed.

  “It’s just exhaustion,” she protested.

  “We will see,” he said as he started his examination. “Hmm,” he murmured as he peered into her eyes. The three people waited while he did a thorough examination.

  “When was the last time you had your period?” he asked her as soon as he was finished.

  “Why?”

  “I have a strong feeling that you are pregnant. I am going to do a pregnancy test, but I think that is what this is,” he said with a smile.

  “That cannot be possible,” she whispered as she looked around at her husband.

  “And why not?”

  She told him although she would have preferred to do so without an audience.

  “Your body says different, my dear. I would like you to come in for further examination, but I am sure you are with child.”

  They waited until the doctor had left before saying anything. “Darling, a child!” Emma said, clapping her hands in delight.

  “Mother, would you and Eleanor give us a moment?” Theodore asked as he looked at his wife.

  “Of course.” She and Eleanor left the room.

  He waited until they had left the room to speak. “You never said anything to me.”