“I’m like a footbridge. A way to get from where you are to where you want to be.” Hudson stared down at her with a small frown. “Once you cross, you no longer need the bridge and that’s alright.”
“No, Brie.” Natalia’s voice was gentle as she stroked fingers through her hair.
It was her hope that her smile showed them she didn’t mind her role. “Bridges are important. I don’t mind. Not even a little.”
Her last memory before sinking fully was the sensation of their clasped hands on her tummy.
Many years in her future, whenever Brie was asked about one of her happiest memories – though she might not confess it – she would remember her afternoon with Hudson and Natalia.
The next morning, Brie planned to call a cab to take her to the clinic but Natalia made it clear that she was picking her up and bringing her home.
As the doctor she’d never met before came in personally to arrange for her labs to be taken – and tested on the spot, Natalia explained that Brie was a close friend who needed as much tender care as possible.
“She’s not a bitch like me, Abraham. She’s sweet and gentle. The facility she almost used tried to shape her into a mannequin.”
Dr. Abraham Geldin looked Brie over from head to toe. “This one? No, no. That would be a crime.” He approached Brie with a smile. “Gabriella, yes darling?” She nodded shyly.
“This figure, the classic hourglass, will come back into fashion one day, God willing, and women such as you will gain the popularity you deserve.” He put the side of his finger on her chin. “My own wife, may she never hear a better offer and leave me, is shaped like you. I know her curves better than my own hand and don’t regret the learning.”
Turning to Natalia, he grinned. “We will take good care of her, Natalia. Do not worry.” He clapped his hands together. “Now! We will get this pain resolved. What cup size are we going down to, Gabriella?”
“The other doctor said a C cup. I just want to look in proportion and take pressure off my back.”
“Okay, right now you are close to an F cup which is far too large for your bones. I think C may be too much of a change. We want to keep the balance with your bottom. I think a standard D cup is a better choice. The weight difference to your back and shoulders will be significant.” He tucked a curl behind her ear. “What do you think?”
“If you think I…I won’t still look too top heavy, that’s fine.”
He nodded happily. “Once you heal, I suggest several chiropractic adjustments and regular massage. You will also want to do lightweight upper body exercises to keep the strength the weight of your breasts always gave you. Yes?”
“Yes. I do yoga several times a week. I hope I’ll have better balance now.”
“Many good changes. Your little bones should have been relieved of this weight long ago. We fix it now. I am excited to get started.” He kissed Natalia on both cheeks. “You made a wise choice to bring her to me. I will have Mala call you when she wakes up.”
“No. I’ll wait, Abraham.”
Abraham gave her a wink. “Ah, she is that important to you. Very well, you may use my office. You know where it is.”
Natalia moved around him and bent to kiss Brie’s cheek. As she stood, she smoothed her hair back. “I’ll be here the whole time. Abraham is the best surgeon on the East Coast and he only employs the best. Don’t be afraid and I’ll see you when you wake up.”
At the door, she turned one last time and gave her a bright smile.
Brie looked up at the doctor who was smiling down at her. “I have known Natalia many years. Never has she seemed so relaxed. I can tell it is you. Have you met Hudson?”
She blushed from every cell in her body. “They’re growing into what they were meant to be now.”
He stared at her silently then nodded with a small smile. “I always wondered what it would take to bring them together. You seem to have been the key. I will get you through this safely.”
An hour later, Brie was counted backwards into peaceful darkness and she wasn’t afraid.
The recovery room was pale green and flooded with sunlight as Brie opened her eyes. A sharp exhale drew her attention and Hudson came into her line of sight.
“There you are.”
“I told you, Hudson,” Natalia said. “Some people take a little longer to shake the anesthesia.” Brie felt unbelievably heavy but managed to turn her face slightly on the pillow to locate the woman on the other side of the bed. “How are you feeling, honey?”
“Weird. I’ve never had surgery before.”
“Hope it is never fucking necessary again,” Hudson said firmly.
Natalia laughed. “He was like this when I had my appendix removed. He’s not very patient and tends to worry.”
She felt his hand in her hair a moment before his lips were on her forehead. “I thought you weren’t going to wake up.”
“I’m sorry. I’m alright.” Glancing down her body, she scowled. “I look like a Macy’s balloon.”
Natalia kissed her cheek. “You’re swollen. It will all be wonderful, you’ll see.”
Over the next several hours, the medical staff continued to monitor Brie while the anesthesia slowly worked its way out of her system.
Hudson spoke little but Natalia was uncharacteristically cheerful and talkative. She didn’t understand the strange tension between the old friends.
“Has something happened?”
Both of them stared at her for a long moment then Natalia looked at Hudson for guidance. “No,” he said firmly. “Nothing. We were worried about you.”
Hudson just lied to me.
Brie knew it to be true but said nothing. She was tired and foggy from the drugs in her system.
It was almost dark when they took her home. They insisted on waiting while the hired nurse organized her prescriptions and helped her change clothes. The drugs lagged for a long time, making her feel sluggish, then wore off quickly.
The strain showed around her mouth and eyes.
“Take the painkillers and rest.” Hudson leaned over and brushed a chaste kiss across her cheek. “Call me if you need anything.”
Part of her wanted to ask him to stay but she wondered at her right to make the request. Instead, she nodded with a small smile. He ushered Natalia from the apartment and Brie could not lie to herself about the sensation of unease that rippled through her.
“Listen to your gut,” her grandmother always said. “When you ignore it, you invite trouble.”
Trouble, it seemed, had Gabriella Hernandez on the radar.
Only when they were in the car did Natalia speak. “You need to tell her, Hudson.”
“No. Not yet.”
His best friend crossed her arms and stared out the window. “You’re making a mistake and it is one that will cost us, Hudson. It will cost us dearly.”
Tugging her arms away from her body, he took her chilled hand in his. “We aren’t going to lose her. I won’t let that happen.”
Her palm came up to caress his cheek. “You think you can control everything but you can’t. You still don’t understand her heart. You don’t understand that her feelings are wound through every cell of her body. She won’t thank you for keeping this from her.”
Hudson said nothing as he stared out the window but Natalia hadn’t expected him to.
He was a man who was accustomed to controlling his world and the people in it. His mother was a naturally gentle woman, almost fragile, and she’d long ago grown used to her son orchestrating her life. They rarely disagreed because Camille’s needs and wants were simple and few.
As his best friend, Natalia often disagreed but not over important matters. As his sexual submissive, it wouldn’t have crossed her mind to balk at his desires.
Gabriella was very different from the two women most constant in his universe. Sensitive but not weak, with her own view of the world and how it should be – despite how it often was – made her moral compass an integral part of her
life.
Right and wrong, especially in this matter, would be very clearly defined in her mind. Keeping information from her would be seen as no better than a lie and she would not forgive a betrayal of her trust easily, if at all.
Natalia sat back against the seat and closed her eyes.
Happiness, perhaps even peace, was within their grasp.
Gabriella represented a blend of the life they lived and they life they wanted. She was lovely, kind, and giving. Something neither of the old friends were but Natalia thought they could be.
She hoped Hudson knew what he was doing.
Chapter Sixteen
The first week after surgery, Brie gritted her teeth through the pain she hadn’t been as prepared for as she thought. It felt as if it went clear to the bone and she was ashamed that she had to lean so heavily on the painkillers Dr. Geldin prescribed.
Lydia, her home care nurse, was an incredible person. Never had she been so grateful for Hudson’s insistence on hiring someone to be with her.
Within the first hour of arriving, she’d made it clear that she was happy to help, hired to help, and Brie was to stop apologizing as if she was a burden.
She was in her mid-thirties and very strong with healthy skin that reminded her of dark chocolate. Short hair, trimmed nails, and a no-nonsense attitude competed with cheerful scrubs in bright colors that made Brie laugh.
Her teenaged neighbor Sita came by every day to visit, check her mail, and run errands for Lydia with a smile. The three of them sat together in the early evening and enjoyed dinners at the small table. Sometimes, they ate the meals Brie prepared before her surgery and sometimes Lydia would cook food she’d learned to make as a little girl growing up in Mississippi.
When she tasted the nurse’s crawfish, beans, and rice, she begged for the recipe. The pineapple upside-down cake she baked was better than any version of the dessert Brie ever had. A cup of her chicory blend coffee was the perfect accompaniment.
The two of them kept her smiling and distracted her from the fact that she hadn’t seen Hudson since the day after her surgery and Natalia had only visited her once.
Awkward didn’t begin to cover it.
Watching a woman she considered a friend put on a fake, cheerful persona simply to keep her from asking questions was almost painful. As she paced from one bookshelf to another, she kept up a steady stream of inane conversation.
Brie couldn’t watch it.
“Natalia. Come here please.” She walked over and perched on the edge of the coffee table but didn’t meet her eyes. “Your loyalty to Hudson should come first. I’m not sure what’s happened but I know you feel caught in the middle. I’d love you to take a deep breath and relax.”
The bright blue eyes that met hers were filled with tears.
“Don’t cry,” she whispered. “I know you’re struggling to be here while you feel conflicted. I’m going to be fine. Go for now. We’ll talk in a few weeks.”
Natalia stood and bent to kiss the top of her head firmly. “I’m sorry.” Then she grabbed her bag and left without another word.
She remembered the day they spent together before her procedure much like a dream and tried to harden her heart against the coming ache they would cause.
Gabriella was not a stupid woman. Often naïve – perhaps even deliberately so – she wanted to see the best sides of people. That didn’t mean she didn’t see the negative aspects of situations and personalities. She simply chose to focus on the positives.
There was no doubt that Natalia was torn. She believed the other woman felt guilty about keeping something from Brie at Hudson’s insistence, but she couldn’t be certain.
They sent her texts and emails to check in and find out how she was feeling. After three days, Brie stopped responding. With nothing new to report and knowing they wouldn’t tell her what was going on, her own replies seemed ridiculous.
She continued to receive them.
Riya and Tawny called every day and sometimes their calls lasted hours. She loved their energy and easy laughter. Insisting on a few days to get her feet back under her and manage the initial pain, they showed up the moment she gave them the all clear with food and DVD’s.
An entire day in their company gave her a fresh perspective and by the middle of the second week, Brie felt stronger, more capable.
She called a cab to take her to her follow up appointment and when she passed Camille in the hallway, they chatted while she waited.
Much of the swelling was down and she was beginning to see the physical changes in her body. The figure she presented in the bathroom mirror wasn’t comical anymore and each day she grew more excited to see the results. She wore the special bra Dr. Geldin gave her and didn’t mind because her breasts ached otherwise.
“Does it surprise you how much lighter you feel?” her landlady asked with a smile.
“I feel better already.”
Camille nodded. “It will only get better, Brie. Just wait. A few adjustments to get the kinks worked out of your neck and back and you are going to feel like a brand new woman.”
Her cab honked out front and she made her way to the street after a quick goodbye.
Though she was early for her appointment, one of Dr. Geldin’s nurses took her back right away. A gentle exam of the incision sites found that the stitches were ready to come out.
After she was dressed, the elderly doctor returned and patted her cheek. “Healing is good, your body is strong, and I am pleased.” He tilted his head. “You feel better, yes?”
“Yes. So much better, doctor. Thank you.”
“This makes my heart glad.”
There were a few new instructions, another prescription for cream to prevent infection, and he kissed both of her cheeks before she left.
Gradually, she started doing her own errands despite Lydia’s distress. After two weeks, she hugged the older woman tightly and made her promise to stay in touch.
She didn’t need to be babied anymore.
Lydia technically no longer worked for her but still showed up once a day, presumably to give Brie another treat to try. Her third visit, she asked her why the woman was still coming by regularly.
“Brie, I received a call from Hudson Winters directly. I assured him you were on the mend and wished to see to the rest of your care on your own. He became…irate. Nothing I could say seemed to give him peace of mind.”
Brie sighed but avoided pressing her hand over her heart. “He paid you to come.”
“I would come anyway, Brie. I like you and I think you pushed yourself a bit too quickly. It took an unusual amount of time for you to shake the anesthesia fog, your surgery wasn’t minor, and he paid the service for a month of care up front.”
“I’m fine, Lydia. I’m healing. Dr. Geldin said everything looks good.”
She nodded with a small smile. “I agree but Mr. Winters is personally invested in your recovery.” With a small shrug, she added, “Another week or two of stopping by to chat isn’t a hardship to me.” One arm slipped around Brie’s shoulders. “What do you say to some daytime television? I think Justin Timberlake is on Ellen again today.”
At the end of the third week, she called to let Eleanor know she was able and willing to return to work. The housekeeping supervisor agreed to put her back on the schedule but only if she worked the business office, where she couldn’t overdo it.
Gritting her teeth, she agreed.
Brie’s clothing fit differently without such enormous breasts. It fell longer on her torso and hung loosely. The morning she was due into work, she was careful with her appearance.
If she ran into Hudson or Natalia, Brie was determined to hide how off balance she felt.
Forty-five minutes before the start of her shift, she took the subway to the station nearest her favorite coffee shop. It had only been three weeks since she’d had one of their cranberry scones and signature coffee but it felt like much longer.
There was no rush. She took her time walking s
everal blocks to the high-rise, her thoughts on everything and nothing.
As she approached the intersection, the light changed, and she stepped into the street.
Drivers in New York paid attention to pedestrians. There were too many not to.
She’d taken three steps through the crosswalk when the sound of an engine drew her attention. One glance to the side didn’t give her time to register what she was seeing.
Then she felt the impact and everything went dark.
“BP dropping…”
“Clear her airway…”
“Get these people back…”
In and out of consciousness, Gabriella drifted, getting snatches of conversation. Her body remained numb to her commands and words failed her.
“Get her up…get her up…”
“En route to Lenox Hill…”
Brie thought about her parents, her sister, and her life. Before she slipped under again, she sent warm thoughts to Hudson and Natalia.
“We’re losing her…”
Chapter Seventeen
Hudson paced the lobby of his building. A call from Eleanor made him leave his office, cancel his day, and lie in wait for the most stubborn…
Suddenly, the door slammed open and one of the vendors from two corners up skidded to a stop in front of Carlo’s desk.
They traded rapid Spanish and when Carlo’s eyes widened, cut to his boss’s face, then back to the man talking, the skin on the back of Hudson’s neck went hot and tight.
The concierge was already moving, talking on the radio, gesturing to the man to lead.
Hudson found himself following the two smaller men out on the sidewalk. That was when he noticed that Henry was outside, standing on one of the benches as he looked down the street.
They were halfway down the block when he saw the ambulance.
Connections happened rapidly in Hudson’s brain.
There was a great divide between the employers of the Upper East Side and the people who worked there. There was no such divide between the workers themselves. They knew one another. Where they worked and for whom. Friendly, helpful, and informative, they were a network that was nurtured and utilized in times of trouble.
Hudson Page 18