He smiled. “Would one?”
She smiled too and nodded. “Think about it, Gehring.”
He didn’t need to. He understood what his mother was trying to get him to recognize for himself.
“What’s the worse that can happen if you go to Boston?” she asked.
“She could refuse to see me, rip my heart out, and leave me a shell of the man I once was.”
“Hasn’t she already done most of that?”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“I’m serious, Gehring. Haven’t you already experienced all of that and lived through it?”
“Doesn’t mean I want to again.”
“No? You’re saying she isn’t worth it?”
“Is that what I’m saying?”
“More than my other two sons, you’re the one I’ve always believed would never give up. You’ll fight for what you believe in until the bitter end, and then, you’ll fight again to keep it that way. Don’t give up, Gehring. Keep fighting—not just for what you believe in—for the woman you love.”
“What if I can’t do both?”
She shook her head. “You can do both and pile another ten things on top of them, and you know it.”
“You have such faith in me.”
His mother moved her chair so she could sit and face him. “Yes, I have faith in you. I believe you are a superhero, my sweet son. Don the mask, or the cape, or however your superhero hides himself away from the world, and go out and do what needs to be done.”
“What’s going on in here?” his father said as he walked into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. “You both look so serious.”
“Gehring was just telling me that he’s leaving for Boston later this morning.”
His father poured a cup of coffee. “Good. That’s what he needs to do.”
Mantis went upstairs and took a shower, all the while thinking about the words his mother said. Should he go to Boston? Both his parents seemed to think he should.
He wondered if Doc would mind if he flew the fancy plane there, or if he should make the four-hour trip by car.
“When are you leaving?” his father asked when he came back downstairs.
“Later. I’d like to see Jonas and his family before I go.”
“Who knows when they might get here. Go ahead and leave. You can see them when you get back.
“Hey, Dad, you wanna tell me why you and mom are so anxious to get me out of here?”
“It isn’t that, Son. We want you to be happy, and we both believe the key to that lies in a hospital bed in Boston, where she needs you as much as you need her.”
“I’ve left messages. She hasn’t picked up or returned my call.”
“All the more reason to go. Find out why.”
“I need to rent a car.”
His dad tossed him a set of keys. “It’s in the driveway.”
Mantis looked at the fob and saw the name of a well-known car rental company. He smiled and shook his head. “You have all the answers, don’t you?”
His dad winked. “Always have, Gehring.”
—:—
Alegria wondered what time her parents might show up today.
“The doctor is making rounds now,” said the nurse who came in to take her blood pressure.
If she were still in the hospital in Stamford, Mantis would be here in time to hear what the doctor had to say. Given how insistent her parents had been that she be moved to this hospital, she was surprised it didn’t seem to be a priority for them. Didn’t everyone know doctors made rounds early in the morning?
Alegria moved the blanket and sheet from her legs and willed her toes to wiggle. “Did you see that?” she asked the nurse.
“What?”
“I think my toes just moved.”
The nurse stopped fiddling with the monitors. “Do it again,” she said, watching Alegria’s feet.
“Did you see it that time?”
“I sure did. The doctor will be so pleased with your progress.”
Alegria nodded, finding it ironic that her progress had nothing to do with this particular doctor, or with the hospital her parents had had her moved to. The feeling in her legs was coming back just like the doctor in Stamford had predicted.
“Good morning, Manon. How was your night?” The doctor was studying something on his computer and didn’t seem to notice she hadn’t responded to his question. “I see you believe you’ve had movement.”
That was an interesting way to put it. “I wasn’t alone in that belief.”
“What’s that? Oh, right,” he said, again not waiting for a response from her. “Let’s take a look.”
He moved the blanket and sheet, and put pressure on different places on her legs and feet. She could feel all of it. There was less feeling in some areas than others, but for the most part, it was consistent.
She heard voices in the hallway and recognized her father’s bellow. It sounded as though he was arguing with someone and was exasperated that they didn’t speak enough French to understand him. Both her parents spoke almost perfect English. Alegria didn’t know why they insisted on making whomever they were speaking to struggle to understand them.
Her mother walked into the room, but didn’t speak. Much like the doctor, she didn’t even look at Alegria.
“Hello? Do you see a human being over here?”
“Stop being so dramatic, Manon,” her mother snapped, opening a magazine and thumbing through the pages.
“I want to do another MRI this morning,” the doctor told her.
“Is that healthy? I mean, radiation?”
“MRIs use magnetic frequency, not radiation,” he muttered while making notes on the computer. “Someone from that department will come and get you soon.”
Without asking if she had any questions, the doctor left the room. Alegria caught the nurse shaking her head.
“I need to reschedule your physical therapy to later in the day,” she said absentmindedly, sneaking looks over at Manon’s mother.
“Maman,” Alegria said. “Please return my phone to me.”
“I don’t know where it is,” she said without looking up from the magazine.
“Yes, you do. Go back to the hotel and get it.”
Her mother’s head snapped up. “Pardon?”
“I need my phone. Go get it.”
Her mother stared at her with her mouth open.
“Are you wondering about my manners, Maman? You shouldn’t be. I’ve learned it wasn’t necessary to use them from you and Papa.”
“Votre comportement,” Matille mumbled, resting her gaze on the nurse as though she was suggesting their conversation shouldn’t take place until the woman left the room.
Alegria was accustomed to the nurses’ routines and had a feeling the woman was stalling.
“Since you aren’t needed here, I’m telling you to go back to your hotel, retrieve my phone, and return it to me.”
Her mother stood, but Alegria doubted it was to do as she’d asked. She left the room, and soon she heard her telling Alegria’s father about their daughter’s behavior.
“You’d think I was a child,” she muttered.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“I really need my phone,” she answered just as the phone near her bedside rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey there. You aren’t an easy person to get a hold of.”
She was so relieved to hear Doc’s voice. “I don’t have my phone.”
“I see. How are you feeling?”
“Better. I have movement in my legs. Not a lot, but enough that I’m encouraged.” She didn’t bother explaining that she hadn’t before. There was no question that Doc had been briefed about her condition by Mantis.
“I had a dream about Dutch. A nightmare.”
“Yeah?”
“He was in trouble.”
“Interesting.”
“Have you been able to reach him?”
“I haven’t, but I don’t have any
reason to believe—”
“I’m asking you to make sure he isn’t in danger.”
“I have every intention of continuing to do so.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, unsure if he was angry with her.
“Now I have a question for you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is there a reason you didn’t inform Mantis that you were changing hospitals?”
“It wasn’t intentional. My parents…”
“I would be very disappointed to think you were refusing to communicate with him. We’re a team, Alegria, and must operate as such regardless of any inappropriate relationships you may be in.”
It felt as though Doc was scolding her, and she didn’t like it. “As I said before, I don’t have my phone,” she responded defensively while glaring at her mother who had walked back into the room with her father.
“Alegria, is this a good time for you to talk more candidly?” Doc asked.
“It really isn’t.”
“Roger that. Please call me back when you’re able to.”
“Yes, sir, but I’ll need your number,” she answered. She felt her cheeks heat at having to ask for it, but until she was able to find her phone, she had no choice.
Chapter 21
Dutch
He studied the man who stood before him and who had just threatened him. “What do you want?”
When the man didn’t answer, he sat down on the edge of the bed and rested his hand on the blanket that covered the naked woman’s body. “Is this who you’re here for? I can tell you, if she pleases you half as well as she pleased me, you’ll be a happy man.”
“Silence!” the man ordered. “You know who I want, and it isn’t a whore.”
“Enlighten me.”
“Mantis Cassman. If he isn’t here within twenty-four hours, you’re a dead man.”
Who the hell was Mantis Cassman?
He studied the man who had been guarding him for the last hour, and watched as he began to nod off. That’s what happens when you hire amateurs, he thought to himself.
He almost had the rope binding his hands loose, and once it was, he’d be able to get to the knife he felt in the lining of his boot. Again, amateurs. They took his gun, but hadn’t bothered to look for any other weapons.
Once he got his hands free and slit the throat of his so-called guard, he had to figure out how to get out of a hotel he had no memory of walking into.
Chapter 22
Mantis and Alegria
“You’re sure she’s at Spaulding?” Mantis asked Doc.
“Talked to her a little over an hour ago.”
That would’ve been the answer had Mantis asked when Doc had spoken to Alegria, but it wasn’t what he’d asked.
“She doesn’t have her phone.”
“What do you mean?”
“I had to call her hospital room.”
“Outstanding.” Mantis smiled. “What is it?”
“Third floor, room ten. She had no idea you were trying to reach her, or so she said.”
Mantis had spent the ten minutes before he called Doc, arguing with the woman at the information desk about whether they had a patient by the name of Manon Mondreau. She insisted they didn’t. Now he knew they did.
He punched the button for the elevator and waited impatiently. Maybe he should’ve taken the stairs. As he was about to leave to do so, it dinged and he hopped on.
When the door reopened on the third floor, Mantis stepped out and came face to face with Pierre Mondreau.
“Excuse me,” he said when Alegria’s father stepped in front of him.
“Manon does not wish to see you.”
“You’re under the assumption that I believe you,” he said, maneuvering around him.
Pierre grabbed his arm. “I forbid it.”
Mantis laughed. “Take your hand off of me, or you’ll experience the full force of how angry I am that you’ve kept her from getting in touch with me.”
Her father scowled at him while still gripping his arm. “It’s your fault she’s paralyzed. Does that mean nothing to you? Have you so little regard for her safety?”
Mantis hesitated for only a split second. “I don’t answer to you.” He shoved past him and stalked to the room number Doc had given him. When he stepped inside, he saw the bed was empty.
“Shit,” he muttered. Where the hell was she?
“Psst,” he heard someone say, and saw a nurse motioning at him from across the hall.
When he stepped forward, she held up her hands to stop him from coming closer. “She’s downstairs in radiology,” she whispered. “Go that way.” She pointed in the opposite direction from where he’d come. “First floor, turn right, and then left.”
Mantis mouthed his thanks, hurried down the hallway, and shoved open the door to the stairwell. If he’d come that way in the first place, he might’ve been able to avoid Manon’s father entirely.
He’d just rounded the second corner and walked through the double doors that led to the radiology department when he saw her.
“Mantis?” Her eyes fill with tears.
“Hey there, Flygirl.”
“You came.”
He knelt down next to the wheelchair. “I would’ve been here sooner had I known you fled the state.”
“I’m sorry…my parents…”
“Hey,” he said, brushing her hair from her forehead. “I was kidding.”
“I’m sorry I was so…horrible…to you.”
He’d make another joke about how he was used to it, but right now, she wouldn’t find it funny.
“You weren’t horrible. You were in a car accident, Alegria. Cut yourself some slack.”
“I hate it when I act like them.”
“Who? Your parents?”
She nodded.
“Can I see your wristband, please?” asked a guy in scrubs who walked through the same double doors that Mantis had come through.
She lifted her arm.
“Manon? Is that how you pronounce it?”
She nodded.
“That’s a beautiful name.”
“Thanks,” she murmured.
“A beautiful name for a beautiful woman,” Mantis whispered in her ear.
“Ready to get back to your room?” the orderly asked.
“Not really,” she groaned.
“Why?” he asked.
Alegria looked up at Mantis. “My parents might be up there.”
“I saw them. Actually, I only saw your father.”
“And?”
“I leveled him. He’s probably in the emergency room as we speak.”
“You aren’t serious?” she gasped.
“No. I’m not. Although it was tempting.”
“He’s such a bastard,” she spat.
Mantis could tell the orderly was having a hard time holding in his laughter.
“Sorry,” he said when he realized Mantis was watching him. “My dad is kind of a bastard too.”
“Is he French?” Alegria asked.
“No. Why?”
“No one is more of a bastard than a Frenchman.”
Both Mantis and the orderly laughed.
“What’s your name?”
“Tom,” he answered, pointing at his name badge that had been flipped, so Mantis couldn’t read it.
“Tom…” Alegria murmured and then rested her hand on Mantis’ arm. “Have you heard from Dutch?”
He shook his head.
“Where do you want to go?” Tom asked.
“Do I have a choice?”
“Heck, yeah. You hungry? We can take a side trip to the cafeteria if you want.”
“I’m starving, actually,” she said, smiling.
Would her smile go away if he told her, right now, how much he loved her?
“Oh, wait! Stop!”
“What?” both Mantis and Tom asked.
“Look,” she said, lifting the blanket covering her legs. She smiled up at him while he watched her toes wiggle.<
br />
“Would you mind excusing us for a minute, Tom?”
“Sure thing, man. I’ll be right around the corner.”
Mantis stood in front of her with his hands on the arms of the wheelchair. “There’s something I want to do, but I don’t want to upset you.”
“What?” she whispered.
“I want to kiss you, Manon.”
—:—
It had been so long since she’d felt his lips on hers. There were times she thought she never would again. But before that could happen, there were so many things that needed to be resolved. First and foremost for her, was her relationship with Dutch. He may be avoiding them on purpose, but that didn’t mean she could jump into a relationship with Mantis while she was still technically involved with him.
She reached out and touched his cheek with her fingertips. “I want that so much…” Should she tell him that, right before the car came crashing into the side of Mantis’ dad’s car, she’d decided to end things with Dutch?
Mantis took his hands from either side of her and stood. “I’m sorry,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “I keep crossing the line, even though I promised you I won’t.”
“It isn’t that I don’t want to kiss you. It’s—”
“Dutch. I get it.”
“Please don’t be angry with me. Not now. I can’t bear it.”
He knelt in front of her, cupped her cheek, and looked into her eyes. “Manon, you have to know that I love you. I never stopped loving you.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I still love you, too. My guess is that Dutch knows that as well as we do. Maybe even better.”
“Um…I just got paged for another pickup,” said Tom from around the corner. “You two wanna go to the cafeteria now?”
“Can I take her?” Mantis asked.
“Only if you want me to lose my job.”
“We don’t want that. What do you say, Flygirl? Eat or face the firing squad?”
“Let’s get it over with,” she answered.
“Back to your room, then?” Tom asked.
Alegria sighed. “Yes, please.”
Her stomach was in knots by the time the elevator opened on the third floor. Whatever relief she felt by not seeing her parents waiting in the hallway was soon replaced by dread that they were camped out in her room.
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