Under Her Skin

by Michelle Love

  “This is incredible,” Delaney says as she looks out the window, taking in the sights of snow-covered trees with icicles hanging from their thick branches. “What a Christmas day this is going to be. It’s off to such a great start.”

  “It is,” I say, then take her hand and give the top a little peck. “And thanks for the Christmas lovemaking this morning. It was right up there with one of the best times ever. But, with you, every time is better than the last.”

  She giggles, and I watch a light pink fill her cheeks. “It was pretty great, and you’re right. Each time is a little better than the last. Look at that squirrel, Blaine. He’s playing in the snow. How cute!”

  Slowing down so she can watch the little creature as it frolics around in a substance I doubt he’s ever seen before, I watch her instead of the animal. Her face is all lit up as she’s obviously loving this.

  Her cell rings, startling us both and the squirrel, who must’ve heard it too, as he bolts back up the tree. With his antics over, I start moving forward again. We haven’t even gotten out of the driveway yet. We’ll never get anywhere at this pace.

  “Merry Christmas, Mom,” she says, then crosses her fingers. “Did you guys make a decision?”

  She presses the speaker button so I can hear, too, and I find my stomach clenched as I have no idea if I’ll like what she’s going to say. So far, this day has been fantastic. I’d hate for it to get messed up already!

  “I talked to your father and we’d like to come today. If that’s still okay.”

  “It is,” Delaney says, then lets out a sigh. “I have so much to tell you. Your lives are on the edge of complete change, Mom. I can’t think of a better present you will ever get after today. Blaine will get on the phone and make the arrangements to get you two here. Thank you, Mom. I love you.”

  She holds out her hand and looks at her ring, and I can tell she’s fighting herself not to tell her mother over the phone about our engagement. Reaching over, I take her hand and give her a nod, then whisper, “You can tell them when they get here.”

  “Okay. I assume you’ll let us know when to expect the driver?” her mother asks.

  “We will. I’ll call you here in just a little while to let you know. Blaine’s driving right now, but when we park at the hospital, he’ll make the calls he needs to make. Bye now.”

  Her smile makes it more than evident she is one happy chick. “They’re coming around, aren’t they?”

  “And after you give them the news about the house and the settlement amount, I think we will have no problems out of them at all. Add in the fact that we’re getting married and will soon give them a grandchild to spoil, and we’re pretty much golden.”

  Things are falling into place the way I’d hoped they would. Delaney has agreed to become my wife. She’s on board with the baby idea. And now her parents are coming to our home and will soon be on board with our decisions too. I hope!

  “You should let your brother and sister know we have to push back lunch. I say let’s push it back to two or so,” she tells me.

  Handing her my phone, I say, “Give them each a text. I doubt either of them is awake yet. Those office parties can get pretty out of hand. The later lunch may be more of a present to them than you think it is.”

  With a laugh, she takes my phone, taps out the message, and sends it to them. “I wonder if they’ll bring dates today. I’d love to see Kate get a man. She’s so pretty and sweet. She’d make some man very happy.”

  “You know any single doctors?” I ask as I pull onto the highway that’s been cleared of any snow and salted down to prevent any of the falling flakes from sticking.

  “I know plenty of them. I don’t recommend getting into a relationship with one unless you don’t mind spending a ton of time alone, though. They are some busy people. Most have practices they see to all day. They make early morning rounds at the hospital, some as early as five in the morning. Most come back to check on their patients on their lunch hour, grabbing a bite to eat in the cafeteria before going back to their offices. And even after their offices close, they come back and usually stay until nine or so, checking on their patients again,”

  “That does sound like something that would make a relationship tough. Yeah, don’t tell any of them about my little sister. I’d like her to have a man who has time for her. And speaking of time, I’d like you to make sure you’re not put on any more double shifts. As a matter of fact, I’d like it if you told your boss that you can work the morning shift only. That way you and I can spend our evenings together.”

  The way she looks at me has me a little worried as I wait to see why in the world she’d argue about this. “And if my boss tells me she can’t do that?”

  “Then tell her you don’t even need the job. That should make her see things your way,” I say and take the exit to get to the hospital. I’m pleased to see these streets have been cleared of snow as well.

  “I suppose I could play that hand,” she says as she seems to be thinking about it all. “But what if that backfires on me and she tells me she can’t do that and if I need to quit, then let her know?”

  “I doubt it will turn out that way. There is a shortage of nurses as it is. Why let you go just because you want a certain shift? You’re not asking for a lot. And let her know about our plans to have a baby. Because once a baby comes, then I think you’ll need to go to part-time or maybe stop working all together.” I glance at her as I pull into the hospital’s parking garage.

  She’s wearing a frown and that can’t be good. “I think you need to understand this is important work to me. I might go to part-time while our child is young, but when they start school, I’ll go back to full-time. And here’s another thing you need to consider. You, too, can work part time or do some of your work from home and you can also care for our child. It’s not all up to me. We can share the workload of taking care of our children.”

  And just like that, she’s told me how our parenting is going to be, and I have to admit, I love her take-charge attitude. Who knew I’d like a woman who made some of the rules? Not me!

  Chapter 3

  DELANEY

  As we walk into the main lobby of the hospital, I see the lady behind the desk looking at me with laser-focused eyes, and she hurries to come to me, waving her hand at me as she calls out, “Nurse Richards, I have something to tell you.”

  Blaine’s hand squeezes mine and he whispers, “Please don’t let it be bad news.”

  I nod in agreement. “Yes, Mrs. Packie? What is it?”

  She looks into my eyes, and I can see she’s excited as she says, “The little Sanders girl.”

  Blaine interrupts her. “Please stop right there. I don’t want to hear this.”

  “But it’s amazing,” she says.

  Blaine, who was turning away, stops and looks at the woman. “It is?”

  “Yes,” she says, then a smile lights up her face. “That little girl was pulled off the machines last night at her parents bidding.”

  “They pulled her off on Christmas Eve?” Blain asks. “That man stops at nothing to do the most inappropriate things.”

  “I don’t know if he was so wrong this time. Maybe it was a little Christmas magic that helped her. All I know is that she woke up feeling good. When her blood was drawn and sent to the lab, the results were out of this world. Everything was absolutely normal. Not a trace of any abnormalities.”

  “You’re serious?” Blaine asks, then I find him pulling me along behind him as he hurries to the elevator. “We have to go see her!”

  “Blaine, I’m not sure her father …”

  He cuts me off. “He will let us see her. You watch!”

  The elevator opens up, which I’m thankful for because Blaine was eyeing the door to the stairs. A three-flight run of them would not be anything I’d like to do.

  The doors close and Blaine pulls me in for a hug. I can feel his heart pounding hard in his chest. “Maybe our prayers worked, Delaney!”

&
nbsp; “Maybe. Like I said, I’ve seen things happen no one could explain. But you need to know that sometimes it looks like things are in remission and suddenly the disease can come back with a renewed vengeance. I just want you to be aware that could happen.” I watch his face and the smile is still there.

  “I know this doesn’t mean the little girl will never face another bad thing in life. But at least this bad thing may be out of her way. That’s all anyone can ask for.” The doors open and he’s dragging me along behind him, as there is just no way I can keep up. His long legs make such quick strides.

  Every person we pass along the way to Meagan’s room is all smiles. “It’s another miracle!” Nurse Pradhan tells us as we pass her. “A real Christmas miracle!”

  Before we get to Meagan’s room, the door to Tammy’s room flies open, and her mother, Patsy, is wide-eyed. “You two! Oh my God! You’re not going to believe this.”

  Blaine smiles at her. “I know. We heard Meagan is making a recovery.”

  She shakes her head and grabs my hands. “We just got back the results of Tammy’s blood draw this morning.”

  Blaine’s hand starts shaking in mine as he whispers, “No way.”

  Patsy starts jumping up and down. “She’s normal! Her blood count is perfect! She’s in remission is what her doctor just told me. My baby is going to be okay!”

  I hug her as Blaine stands there with his mouth open. “I wonder if anyone else got these kinds of results from this morning’s blood draw.”

  “Congratulations, Patsy!” I call out as Blaine takes my hand and hurriedly goes down the hallway. Little Adam’s room is on the left, only three doors down from Tammy’s, and he stops at it, making a quick knock. “Adam?”

  The door is pulled open and Adam’s father, a young man of only twenty-two, opens it. He and Adam’s mother were only seventeen when they had the little five-year-old boy who has a malignant mass under his right arm. “It’s gone!”

  “What?” Blaine says and hurries to the little boy who is sitting up on the bed, holding his arm up.

  “Look, Mr. Vanderbilt,” he shouts as he runs his hand over the smooth surface where a massive lump was only yesterday. “It’s gone. It just went away. I feel so much better too.”

  Blaine moves his hand over the place the cancer had been. “This is amazing.”

  “We’re waiting on the lab results and for the doctor to come talk to us, but we know it will be great news,” his father tells us.

  Blaine gives the little boy a hug. “I’m so happy for you, Adam. I’ll be back to see what the doctor tells you. I need to check on a couple of other kids.” Taking my hand, he pulls me along as he hauls ass. “Oh, Merry Christmas!”

  I manage to pull the door shut behind us as he hurries toward Colby’s room. When he pushes the door open, we both stare at the clean room, void of any of Colby’s things. “What the hell?” I ask as we walk back out and go to the nurses’ station. “Beth, where’s Colby?”

  “I don’t know,” she says. “I just came on to my shift. I was running a little late. I let the kids open their presents this morning. Rhonda gave me a little time to do that with my family. I’ll check on that for you.”

  “Let’s go see Terry,” Blaine says, then grabs my hand again, and this time I manage to keep up with him as adrenaline is flowing through me.

  I stop him just before he pushes the door open. “Okay, now, don’t get too excited. The chances he’s also got great news are slight. And we don’t want to let him know about the other kids who are doing so well.”

  Blaine nods and pushes the door open. Terry’s mother is in the room, packing up his things. “What’s happened?”

  She looks at us with a smile. “Go to the chapel and find that out for yourselves.”

  Leaving the room, Blaine says, “I want to see if Mr. Sanders will let us see Meagan before we go downstairs.”

  I nod and we go toward her room. At least we know there’s good news, even if the man is still being a jackass. Knocking on her door, I call out, “It’s Nurse Richards and Mr. Vanderbilt. We’d like to ask you ...”

  The door is opened, and I’m caught up in a hug, then I see Blaine is too. Her mother and father are in tears as they hug us. Then they let us go and point toward the chair at the side of the bed.

  There sits Meagan. It’s the first time I’ve seen her out of bed. She has on a red dress and a red bow is taped to her bald head. Her blue eyes are shining like diamonds as she looks at us. “Merry Christmas, you two. Are you having a good one?”

  Blaine lets my hand go and walks over to her, picking her up. He can’t even talk as he hugs her. So I talk for him, “We are having the best Christmas on record. And I think you are too.”

  “I am.” She pushes against Blaine’s chest and sees the tears running down his cheeks. Wiping them away with her little hands, she says, “I’m better now. So you don’t need to cry.”

  He nods and tries to smile, then bites his lower lip—to keep it from trembling, I’m sure. I step up beside him and smile at her. “He’s very happy. Those are happy tears. I’ve never seen him cry those. You’re pretty special to make that happen, Meagan.”

  “Yes, I know that. And don’t worry. I’ll make the most of the gift I’ve been given. I won’t take one single day for granted. I promise.” She hugs Blaine again. “Thank you for your help.”

  He closes his eyes, and I can tell it’s taking everything in him not to fall apart. “We should go see what’s happening in the chapel, Blaine.”

  With a nod, he sets her back down and looks at me. I know he can’t talk yet, and I think Meagan does too. “I’ll be leaving the hospital as soon as I gain five pounds. So I’ll see you around. Maybe we can have lunch together one day.”

  “We will see you every day, Meagan. And I will make it my personal mission to get that weight back on you. So be prepared to eat well, my little princess,” I tell her, then take Blaine’s hand and leave the room, making sure to give her parents a nod as we go.

  Blaine falls against the wall after we walk out and pulls me in for a hug. His body is shaking, and I know this is the most emotion the man has ever felt. I let him hug me until his body stops shaking and he clears his throat. “Okay, I’ve taken charge of myself again and am ready to hear other news. To the chapel, baby.”

  As we head to the elevator, his arm tight around my shoulders, I can feel the difference in the atmosphere. A positive charge is in the air, surrounding us all up here on this floor right now.

  When we get on the elevator, Blaine looks at me with shimmering eyes. “Is this real, baby? Am I dreaming this?”

  “It’s real, Blaine. This is the most miraculous thing I’ve ever heard of. But I have to admit, I’m afraid of what kind of news we’re going to have about Colby. So please hold on for whatever that is.”

  He nods as the doors open and we walk out, heading to the small chapel where I hope to be married on New Year’s Eve. Now, more than ever, I see this place as a place of hope.

  The doors are wide open and Christmas music is playing softly. At the very front of the room, two young men are on their knees in front of the preacher who is praying over them.

  Blaine and I sit in the back, waiting for Terry and Colby. We hold hands and give each other looks of complete joy to find Colby there, next to his friend. I still don’t know what’s going on with them, but I know they’re both alive, and that’s got me feeling better than I did before.

  The preacher ends his prayer and the boys stand up and shake the man’s hand, then turn back and see us. We get up as they hurry to us. Both have the broadest smiles on their faces.

  “It’s a miracle, Blaine!” Colby says.

  Terry nods. “It is! And we both wanted to come see the preacher and give ourselves to the Lord. We’re going to get baptized in a little while.”

  “You can stay for that, can’t you?” Colby asks. “Because after that, I get to go home. Home!”

  “Me too,” Terry says with so much ent
husiasm that it’s heart wrenching. “Home!”

  Blaine has a huge smile plastered on his face. “This is so amazing. I just can’t believe it. All of my favorite patients are better.”

  “All of them?” Colby asks.

  I nod. “Yes, every one of the kids who Blaine’s visited and made friends with have been given great news this morning. Isn’t that something?” I pat Blaine on the back. “Seems his prayers were answered.”

  “You prayed for us?” Terry asks with a wrinkled brow. “Last night?”

  “No, it was very early this morning. And Nurse Richards prayed with me.” He holds up my left hand. “I asked her to marry me last night and she accepted. We’re getting married right here on New Year’s Eve. I hope you two will join us.”

  “For sure!” Terry says and gives Blaine a high-five.

  Colby gives him one next. “Wouldn’t miss that for anything! I’ll be here.”

  “I could use a couple of best men,” Blaine says. “You two want the job?”

  “Yes!” they say, together.

  “This is insane,” I say. “Did you guys see the snow?”

  “We did,” Colby says. “As a matter of fact, when I saw it, I went to wake up Terry so he could see it too. We were together when the lady came to draw his blood, and she got mine then too. And, later, the doctor came and told us the great news at the same time. It was awesome!”

  “I can’t even imagine,” I say. “I’ve never even heard of anything like this. Not ever!”

  “I just wish every child here could’ve gotten the same news,” Blaine says. “But I’ll take what I can get. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, seeing you guys like this. Healthy and happy.”

  “How about a little Christmas breakfast before our ceremony,” Terry asks.

  “You got it,” Blaine says, then we head toward the cafeteria.

  “I’m going to go talk to my boss. You three go eat, and I’ll catch up with you soon,” I tell Blaine who gives me a nod and then a kiss on the cheek.

  “Go show off that ring and make sure to let everyone know about the wedding,” he says as I walk away from him.