Nana had been horrified when Anna told her that she’d soon have to leave little Teresa in day care so she could go back to work. That had been the final straw that compelled Nana to get on the plane. Since she arrived, Nana had been taking care of both Teresa and Ethan. Caro had stopped using her after-school babysitter once she saw how well Ethan reacted to Nana’s cooking. Both Anna and Caro finally had the mother they never had. Nana spoiled everyone, and Anna enjoyed every minute of it.
“Welcome!” the senator boomed as he opened the door. Introductions were made and the senator called Emilia over to keep Nana and Baby Teresa company.
“You two, I need with me,” Roberts said mysteriously. Anna looked at Nico, her pulse kicking up a notch. They’d been in talks with the senator for months. He was helping them broker a deal with the medical robotics company.
Ushering them into his study, the senator grinned widely. “We have a deal!” Anna clapped her hands and Nico shook the senator’s hand vigorously. “Thank you, sir, you have no idea what this means to us.”
The robotics company had FDA approval for a remote surgical robot and had a cadre of trained surgeons. As Anna and Nico had suspected, the technology cost way more money than the hospital, or even the government of Guam could afford. The former senator had been working on a deal where Kat would promote the technology using her media contacts and the hospital would allow televised surgeries that the company could use to sell it to other places around the world. The company had made some concessions, but the price was still too high. Tom had tried to work with the legislature, but with the infrastructure repairs needed after the tsunami and hurricane, even his hands were tied when it came to getting more money from the Guam Treasury.
For the past few weeks, Roberts had been trying to sweeten the deal by working his contacts in the military to secure a lucrative contract in exchange for the company giving the surgical robot to Lucas Memorial Hospital for next to nothing. The deal would enable the hospital to do many routine surgeries.
Anna knew that no matter how well Maria was running the hospital, Nico could never be satisfied unless he did what he’d set out to do: bring first class care to the island. Now it was finally happening.
Nico had been working hand in hand with the former senator, using his contacts to makes sure the OR suites were equipped to accommodate the robotic surgeon.
“You want to call your partner and tell her?” the senator asked.
Nico nodded and Roberts pushed a phone toward him. Before he’d left Guam, he’d made Maria a full partner in the hospital rather than just an employee. That way she was able to make some of the major decisions without him. He hadn’t made any promises to return. They were taking it a day at a time. Nana’s surgery and the birth of Baby Teresa had kept them too busy to really think about how they were going to work things out long-term.
Maria answered on the second ring. Before Nico could get a word out, Anna heard the other woman’s excited voice on the line. Anna pressed the speaker button so she could hear what Maria was saying.
“I can’t believe how fast news travels around here. He only proposed like five minutes ago. How did you find out so soon?”
“Maria, this is Anna, what’re you talking about?”
There was a pause and then they heard laughter and a slight crackle as Maria put them on Speaker, as well.
“Hi, Nico and Anna. This is Tom. Maria and I are getting married.”
Now it was Anna’s turn to squeal. The only fly in Nico and Anna’s happiness had been whether Maria would be okay. She’d been suspiciously quiet about how her relationship with the governor was going. Even Nana didn’t have much gossip. Anna had wondered whether they were just being discreet because he was a public figure or whether things hadn’t worked out and Maria was too embarrassed to say anything.
Anna had worried about Maria, and she knew Nico had, too, so the news filled her with joy. She was about to congratulate Maria when the other woman’s gleeful voice burst through.
“Okay, so I know Baby Teresa’s little but I want you to be at my wedding. I want Nico to be my man of honor.”
“Your what now?”
Anna suppressed a grin as Nico made a face at her.
“Man of honor. It’s like a maid of honor, only for guys.”
Before Nico could say anything he’d regret, Anna jumped in. “He’ll be there, don’t worry. He’ll even wear a pink tux.”
Nico made a face. Anna mouthed, “You owe her,” and he wisely kept quiet.
“I want all of you here. You two, Nana, and I want to meet Baby Teresa. Promise me, Anna.”
She closed her eyes. Teresa was only seven weeks old. Anna had gotten her tested for everything under the sun—so far the little girl was totally healthy—but she wasn’t prepared to make a trip to Guam so soon.
Nico saved her from making any promises by giving Maria the news about the deal. Anna stood back as they all discussed the details, including the timing and transfer of funds. Since Tom was in the room, the senator used the opportunity to hash out some of the details he needed to get the contract drawn up.
Anna returned to the kitchen and took Teresa from Nana, using the excuse of having to nurse the baby to get a private moment with her little girl. Looking down at her pink face, feeling her wriggling body, Anna knew she had everything she ever wanted. She kissed her baby on the head. Teresa smelled a little like sour milk, just as Lucas had.
“I’ll do whatever I need to protect you, baby girl. I’m not going to make the same mistakes over again.”
Nico joined her. “You know, it doesn’t matter where we live, as long as we’re together. The only thing that matters to me is my family—you, me, Teresa, Nana, Caro and Ethan.”
Anna lifted her face so Nico could kiss her. In the twenty-four weeks they’d been together, Anna hadn’t had any nightmares. And that was the way it was going to be for the rest of their lives. She was never letting go of her family.
EPILOGUE
“WELCOME HOME!”
Anna smiled at Nico. “I can’t believe you rebuilt it.”
Nico put his arm around his wife and daughter. “I knew that one day I’d bring you back here and you’d look at this place—”
“And feel like I was home.” Anna gazed in wonder at the house in Tumon.
“Come on, Teresa, I’ve got a surprise for you.” Nico had come a month ahead of them to finalize the installation of the robotic surgeon and give Maria a hand with all the new contracts they had to negotiate.
When they stepped onto the porch, he suddenly turned and lifted Anna off her feet. “Nico!”
“Mama baby!”
“Yep, Teresa, I’m carrying your mama like a baby. This is how I always carry her into the house.” They watched Teresa toddle inside.
Anna wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the little crook between his ear and jaw.
Once they were over the threshold, he set her down. Anna gasped. The house looked totally different from the last time she’d been there. Not only had it been cleaned up, but Nico had also bought new furniture. There was a kids play table instead of a coffee table next to the brown leather couch—almost identical to the one that had been destroyed in the tsunami. He showed her around the kitchen, then took her up the stairs. She stopped when Nico turned into what had been Lucas’s nursery. She’d painted it in soft blues and decorated his crib with a nautical-themed bedspread.
“Mama!” Teresa held out her chubby little arms as Anna stood frozen outside the door. She lifted her daughter, taking comfort in her softness. She followed Nico inside.
Her heart leaped into her throat as she took in the room. Nico turned and raised his brows, his eyes seeking her approval. It was Lucas’s crib, now with a pink
and purple hand-knitted blanket inside. The walls had been painted in cream and pink stripes. Teresa squealed as she spotted Miss Molly, her favorite teddy bear that Anna knew they’d left behind in DC. Anna set her down in the crib and watched her girl giggle as she pressed Miss Molly’s tummy to hear the sounds the bear played.
“It’s a duplicate,” Nico mouthed.
Anna circled her arms around his waist. “Thank you, Nico.”
“This is home too, you know.”
She nodded. It was. They’d made a home in DC but standing in the house she and Nico had shared, listening to the sound of the sea lap against the shore, and Miss Molly’s squeaky voice telling them it was time for tea, this felt like home too.
* * *
ANNA HELD TERESA by the hand as she dropped flower petals down the aisle. The flower girl could barely walk, but she was trying her best to make her aunt Maria proud. When they finally got to the front of the aisle, Anna picked her up and stood by Nico. He bent down and kissed his wife and daughter on their heads. Nico was wearing a hot-pink shirt with cream linen pants. Anna was also in a hot-pink dress to match the one Teresa was wearing. While Teresa was in a cream-colored dress with a hot pink sash that Nana had sewn, Anna’s entire dress was made with yards of hot-pink taffeta offset by a cream-colored sash.
She and Nico exchanged knowing glances. They deserved to be dressed in hot pink and frills after making Maria wait until Teresa was almost a year old before agreeing to come for the wedding.
Tom was dressed in a tuxedo and appeared nervous. Anna and Nico had checked in on him earlier and he’d been a basket case, worried that Maria would come to her senses and realize she was too good for him. Nico had assured Tom that he’d had the same thoughts on his wedding day and Anna had shown up anyway.
Anna looked out at the audience and smiled when she saw Nana sitting on the bride’s side with Tito. Another reason they’d made Maria wait was that Nana needed to recover. Her surgery had gone well, but she needed follow-up treatments. Just a month earlier she had received a remission certificate from her oncologist, a proclamation that she was officially cancer-free. The postsurgery radiation and chemotherapy had been hard on Nana but she’d borne it all with a smile, realizing that every day she survived meant one more milestone she got to witness with her neta. First smile, first crawl, first step, first time she said guela when calling out to Nana.
The wedding march had been playing for a few minutes, but there was no sign of Maria. Tom glanced anxiously at the door, as did the priest. They were in Agana, in the church that Tom belonged to. His parents were in the front pew and shifted in their seats.
“I’ll go see what the hold up is,” Anna muttered, handing Teresa to Nico. Lifting her skirt, she went down the aisle and to the antechamber where Maria should’ve been waiting. Luke Williams entered the church. He was wearing his Army Class A’s. Anna knew every single girl at the wedding would be swooning over him all afternoon.
“Have you seen Maria?”
“What? No! I got held up at the base and just got here. They’re shipping me out. I thought I’d missed the wedding.”
“Help me find Maria.”
Anna ran to the little room that was being used as a bridal dressing area. Maria was seated in a chair talking on the phone. “No, call Dr. Balachandra and tell him to examine her. She won’t let anyone else do it. Got it? What else? Oh, come on! I’m supposed to be getting married, I can’t come over right now.”
Luke tapped her on the shoulder and gestured toward the chapel. Maria put the phone on Mute. “Remember that leaky drainpipe we keep having a problem with? Guess what? Now where am I going to find a plumber on a Sunday?”
“Hey, Maria. I got it.”
She looked gratefully at Luke.
“But listen, I have to say goodbye.”
“What!” Maria frowned at him.
“I’m heading back to the mainland.”
“I thought your daddy pulled some strings so you could be here awhile.”
He shook his head. “He called to say something’s come up with my brother. I’ve got to go. But I’ll go deal with the drainpipe. It’s your big day.”
Maria stood and gave him a hug and Anna did the same. They both extracted a promise from him to keep in touch. After Luke left, Maria got back on the phone.
“Maria, you’re supposed to be walking down the aisle.” Anna plucked the phone out of her hand.
“At this rate, I’ll be on the phone while poor Tom waits for me in our wedding bed.”
Anna quirked a brow. “The hospital is that crazy?”
“We still don’t have a CMO, so guess whose life is a living hell?”
“What happened to that last doctor?”
“She quit. I’ve offered the position to Dr. Balachandra, but he won’t take it, either. Says it’s too much pressure.” She eyed Anna. “There’s only one person who can do the job.”
Anna backed away. “Oh, no, I live in Washington, DC.” But even as she said the words, the image of the house in Tumon flooded her mind. “Now’s not the time—let’s get you married. Tom’s probably having a heart attack.”
Grinning, Maria stood. “Good, I don’t want him taking me for granted. Let him sweat a bit.”
Anna adjusted Maria’s wedding gown. Maria’s father had died a few years ago so she was walking down the aisle alone. Her gown was a traditional dress with a beaded bodice and a full skirt and train. The white cloth set off Maria’s brown skin beautifully. Anna returned to her spot beside Nico, nodding at Tom to let him know everything was okay.
This time when the organ started up, Maria was marching down the aisle, her smile so brilliant that she lit up the entire church.
They had written their own vows, and as they went through the ceremony, Anna remembered the words she and Nico had said to each other when they were married.
Anna, I promise to love and care for you, to do everything in my power to make you happy. I give you my heart and soul, to have and to hold, until death do us part.
Nico had been with her in DC for well over a year. Not once in that time had he pressured her to come back to Guam or discuss their long-term plans. He’d helped her finish furnishing the house in DC. Nana had accepted Caro and Ethan as her own family, and Nico loved Ethan just as much as he loved Teresa. Together, they had made a home in DC, but something had always been missing and Anna knew what it was. His heart was in the house in Tumon. That was obvious from the smile on his face when he’d brought them over the minute they landed yesterday.
Once Tom and Maria were married, they exited the church beneath a shower of rice and flowers. There was a small reception at the community center. As Maria got ready to leave for their honeymoon, Anna held out her hand.
“What?”
“Give me your phone.”
“What?”
“You’re officially off duty. I’ll take the calls from the hospital.”
Maria’s eyes widened. “Don’t get too excited, it’s only for six months.” Nico had come up behind her and watched Maria give Anna her phone.
“Are you sure about this?” he said when Anna explained her plan.
Anna nodded. “It won’t be easy but we can do it. I’ll work at the hospital for half the year and then go back and work at the community center part-time over their busy summer months.”
“The best of both worlds.”
Anna nodded. “Our baby girl will be lucky to have two homes. She�
��ll have the love of her cousin Ethan and meet a whole bunch of new family members here on Guam. We have a few years to figure out how we’ll handle school. Let’s just take it a day at a time.”
Nico wiggled his brows. “You know, we can give her some more siblings to keep her company. We can easily fit two cribs in Teresa’s room.”
Anna smiled and let her husband lead her away, back to their home.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from A BAXTER’S REDEMPTION by Patricia Johns.
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Mending the Doctor's Heart Page 22