by Stacy Eaton
I tapped her nose. “I am.”
“I thought I was dreaming you.”
I kissed her forehead. “I’m glad I’m good enough to dream about.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost seven-thirty.”
She tossed the sheet back. “Oh crap! I need to get back to the hospital.”
“Relax and give them a call. Obviously, you needed the sleep, as did I.”
She smirked my way. “Did we really have sex in the middle of the night? I kind of remember it, but then I thought I was dreaming again.”
I chuckled and reached up to cup her naked breast. “Did you go to bed naked?”
She giggled and squirmed at my light touch. “No, I didn’t.”
“Guess you have the answer to that question.”
She grabbed her nightshirt from the floor and pulled it over her head.
“I guess I do. I need coffee. What about you?”
“That would be great. Do you mind if I shower?”
“No, you shower, I’ll put coffee on and call the hospital. What time are we meeting with your brother—” she paused and spun around on her way to the door, “and my sister! I have a sister!”
I chuckled again. “Yes, you do. I told Roan I would contact him after I got coffee, so let me shower and then I’ll give him a call and find out what’s going on for today.”
Amy stood at the threshold, her eyes running the length of my body and then back up, and she grinned. “You know you look really good in my bed.”
“I’m happy to hear that. I like being in your bed.”
Her face grew more serious for a moment and then she smiled widely again. “Let me use the bathroom first; then I’ll make coffee, and you shower. Then we need to get back to the hospital.”
She disappeared down the hall, and I heard the bathroom door close. I threw back the covers and stared down at my erection. It was going to have to wait until later. I was just about to get up when the bathroom door opened again. I assumed that Amy would head toward the kitchen, but she raced into the bedroom and jumped on the bed, tackling me.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to have sex again, while I’m awake, so I can prove to myself that you’re really here.”
I laughed. “You do, huh?”
“Yes,” she said as she began to kiss my neck.
“I need to brush my teeth,” I told her, and her house phone began to ring. Just as quickly as she’d jumped on me, she jumped off and lunged for the bedside phone.
“Hello,” she answered and then her face exploded into the biggest smile I’d ever seen. “Cammie! How are you, sweetie?”
She grabbed my hand and squeezed as she listened to her daughter’s reply.
“I’m glad you are feeling better. I’m so sorry I’m not there yet. I just woke up a few minutes ago.”
I heard murmurs on the other end of the line, and I excused myself to use the restroom while she spoke with her daughter. When I came back, I had my briefs on, and Amy frowned at them.
I took a seat on the side of the bed, not expecting anything as she listened to her daughter talk.
“Okay, well don’t eat too much, and I’ll be over in a little while. I need to eat myself, and I’m going to bring some people for you to meet.” She listened. “Yes, the friends that waited with me yesterday.” She spoke for a few more moments and then told her daughter she loved her and would see her soon. The moment she hung up the phone, she was crawling back over the bed. “Get naked.”
“Don’t we need to get to the hospital?”
“Yes, but not as quickly. Cammie is eating and then needs to go get a test, so she’s going to be busy for a while.”
“So—we have time?” I cocked a brow her way, and she grinned.
“Yes, we have time.”
The woman had me at yes.
“Roan, Finley, and Wade will be over in a little while,” I told her as I slipped my phone into the pocket of my jeans at the hospital. We had just arrived and were heading up to the Pediatric ICU.
“I figured they would be here before we were.” She winked at me. Our quickie had turned into two not-so-quickies, and we were about forty-five minutes later than we had anticipated.
“Roan said he had to get some work done first. I think they will be leaving the hotel soon.”
We were getting off the elevator, and I began to head toward the waiting room, but Amy pulled me to a stop. “Do you want to meet her?”
I ran my knuckles over her cheek. “You know I do when you think she’s up for it.”
“Then come with me and say hello.”
“I don’t want to get in the way. Besides I thought it was only family.”
“She’s allowed to have visitors now. She had a great night.”
“Okay, then I’ll say hello and then come back here and wait for my brother.”
“Do you think I should tell her about Finley?”
“Does she know you’re adopted?”
“She does.”
“Then you should. I bet she will be excited to know she has an aunt.”
Amy was grinning from ear to ear, her eyes sparkling with so much joy. “I’m excited that she has an aunt.”
“Probably an uncle soon, too.”
Her mouth dropped. “Do you think so? Do you think Finley will marry your brother?”
“There is no doubt about it.”
“How long have they been together?”
“A few weeks.”
Amy spun around and stopped in the middle of the hall. “A few weeks? And you think they are already prepared to commit themselves to marriage?” she laughed.
I stepped closer to her. “When we Waterman men fall in love, we do it fast, and we do it forever.”
“You do?” she asked quietly.
“We do,” I whispered back. “The first time I saw Finley and Roan together, I knew he was already in love with her, and he’d known her for about a week, actually less, I think.”
“And you think they will get married?”
“Yes, I have no doubts about it.”
“Does my sister care about him as much as he does her?”
“Ironically, she told me the other day that she was in love with him.”
“So, if they get married, what does that mean for us?”
I cocked my head to the side. “What do you mean, ‘What does that mean for us?’”
“I mean, we will be brother and sister-in-law.”
“Yes, or we could be more,” I replied, and the two of us stared at one another for a long moment, so many questions vivid in her eyes, but not to be answered now. “But right now, you need to go see Cammie.”
“Yes, Cammie.” She nodded, and we resumed our walk to her room. “Give me a minute, okay?”
“Absolutely,” I leaned down and kissed her sweetly. “Go see your daughter.”
I stood by the door and watched as Amy greeted her daughter. I didn’t have a great vantage point, but it would have to do for now. I was able to see the smile on Amy’s face, the tears that she wiped away, and I could hear the lilt of her laugh at something that her daughter said.
A moment later, Amy turned toward the door and waved me forward. I froze, suddenly afraid to take that step over the invisible line. I’d never been one to date women with kids, and although I someday wanted them, I’d never pictured myself with a ten-year-old. Amy tilted her head to the side as if wondering why I didn’t enter and then I glanced past Amy and my eyes focused on Camelia. In that instant, my worries evaporated, and I fell a tiny bit in love with the little lady who looked so much like her mother.
I stepped into the room and went right to Amy’s side, smiling first at her and then turning my attention to her little Mini-Me. “Hello there, Camelia. My name is Rye Waterman.”
She giggled, “Rye? Like the bread?” Amy slapped a hand over her mouth as she began to laugh, and Cammie giggled. “Sorry, Mom told me to say that.”
I laughed. �
��I was just about to say that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.” I looked between the two ladies, and my heart expanded.
“Sorry, I just had to do that.”
“Uh-huh,” I winked at her. “How are you feeling, Cammie?”
“Better than I did yesterday. My chest hurts a lot, but it’s a good pain, not a bad pain.” She spoke as if it were a little hard to talk, and I wondered if that had to do with the tube that had been down her throat to help her breathe during surgery or if it was an issue with her lungs.
“I’m glad it’s a good pain.”
Cammie looked around on the bed and picked up the dolphin. “You’re the one who brought this to me, right?”
“Yes.”
“Were you on the island with my mom?”
“I was. I met her down there,” I suddenly remembered something, “and I have something else. Your mom picked this out while we were in town shopping one day.” I dug around in my laptop bag for the small package wrapped in tissue paper.
Her eyes sparkled as I handed her the paper, and she unwrapped the necklace and held it up. “Oh, Mom, it’s so pretty! Did you really pick it out?”
“I did,” Amy replied. “That dolphin is handmade.”
“It’s so pretty.”
“I’d put it on you,” Amy started to say, “but we don’t want it to get lost in the hospital.”
“You can wear it for me.”
“I think that’s a great idea.” I walked behind Amy. “Pull your hair out of the way.”
Amy glanced over her shoulder, and I winked at her as I got the necklace situated around her neck. Once it was on, I squeezed her shoulder gently and put space between us again.
“Mrs. Clandestino?” a nurse popped her head into the room. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.” She patted Cammie’s hand and then darted out the door.
“Do you like my mom?”
“Yes, I do. Why do you ask?”
“Because of the way you two look at each other. I haven’t seen my mom happy in a long time.”
“She’s happy because you have a new heart.”
“Maybe,” she shrugged just the slightest bit, “or maybe she just likes you.”
“I hope she does.” Cammie and I stared at one another and then she pursed her lips. “What’s on your mind?”
“Does it bother you that I’m sick?”
“What? No. Besides you’re not sick, you’re recovering from surgery.”
“But we don’t know that my body won’t reject the heart.”
“We don’t know that it will.” Suddenly, I remembered the brief conversation in the car yesterday about Andre and how he didn’t want to be around a sick kid. “Cammie,” I sank into the chair beside her bed and laid my hand gently over hers, “I do like your mom a lot, and I already like you, too. I don’t care if you have an old heart, or a new heart, or if your heart doesn’t want to work right or not. When I care about someone, I care about someone.”
“So, if I was your daughter, you’d still love me?”
“Yes, if you were my daughter, I would still love you—and any man who says that they don’t, or couldn’t, isn’t man enough to be a father.”
Cammie pondered that for a moment and then nodded just the slightest bit before slipping her hand out from under mine and pointing at me. “Okay, then you can date my mom, but if she gets to go back to the island, she’s taking me this time, not you.”
I chuckled. “You got yourself a deal, although I might just have to tag along to make sure you guys are having fun.”
Cammie grinned, and that’s when Amy walked back into the room. She looked between the two of us, and the tension in her shoulders visibly eased that final notch. I held my hand out to her, and she took it and came to sit on the edge of the bed.
“So did Rye tell you that he knew the little boy who gave you his heart?”
Chapter 24
Amy
Finding Rye had righted my world somehow. I had found a strong man, who had a strong family behind him, who had found my family—or part of it anyway—and we were all connected.
I stared at Rye and Cammie talking quietly and thought back on the moment we’d met. We were destined to be here. From the moment that I had turned and laid my eyes on him, my path had not been my own, but one laid down by the grace of God. At least, I wanted to believe that.
Rye had captured my heart the moment he’d stuck his beer bottles in my ice bucket. When he’d purchased those rings, he’d not only banded our fingers, but my heart to his. He’d left me with a way to find him when I’d told him that there was no chance of a future for us, but that hadn’t stopped him from finding me and showing up when I had been in dire need of help—his help.
Now, he was smiling at my daughter and she was pointing at him playfully as I stepped back into the room. Without a moment’s hesitation, I approached Rye and took his hand while I perched on the side of Cammie’s bed.
“So did Rye tell you that he knew the little boy who gave you his heart?”
From the corner of my eye I saw him flinch, but I squeezed his hand as Cammie’s eyes grew wide. “He did?”
“Yes,” I nodded at him to encourage him.
“His name was Chad, and he was thirteen, and he loved to swim.”
“I love to swim,” Cammie said.
“Good, then his heart is in the right place.”
Cammie frowned in thought. “How do you know him?”
Rye hesitated for a moment and then spoke tenderly, “I grew up with his mother. We were friends in school.”
“How did he die?”
“He was in a car accident,” Rye cleared his throat, and I knew he didn’t want to say any more.
“Rye thinks that maybe, someday, his mom might want to listen to his heart again.”
“Really? I think it might make her happy,” my daughter said as brightly as she could.
“I do, too, sweetie.” I brushed hair from her brow, marveling at how much better her color was already. “I have some more good news.”
“More?” she grinned.
“Yes, remember how I told you that I was adopted and a long time ago I had a brother and a sister?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I found my sister.”
She looked perplexed. “How did you do that?”
“Actually, it’s a really long story, but you’re going to get to meet her and Rye’s brother later.”
Cammie yawned. “Okay.”
“Why don’t you take a little nap, and when you wake up, I’ll introduce you to your Aunt Finley.”
“I have an aunt now?”
“You have an aunt now,” I told her as I leaned down and kissed her brow.
Cammie closed her eyes a moment later, and Rye and I walked over to the door.
“She’s like a miniature you,” Rye told me as he took my hands.
“She is.”
“Thank you for letting me meet her.”
“I think she liked you.”
He pulled me closer, peering toward the bed momentarily before he whispered, “You know, she said I could date you.”
“She did, did she?”
“Yep.” He kissed me once.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Then I guess it is just meant to be.”
“I think it is.” He kissed me again. When he lifted his head, we both glanced toward Cammie and found her smiling at us before she rolled over slightly and closed her eyes again.
I followed Rye out to the hallway. “You know, I’m really sorry about all the clothes you bought me.”
“Yeah, we never did talk about all of that, so good thing I brought them all home for you.”
“You did?”
“I did—except something was missing.”
I bit my lower lip, lowering my eyes seductively. “The white outfit.”
“Yes, the white outfit. Why did you bring that one home, and not the others?”
“Because to me, that outfit was like our relationship, fresh, seductive, exciting, and I brought it home to remind me.”
“Just wait until you wear that, you’ll see how seductive and exciting it can be.”
I laughed and kissed him one more time before he headed off to the waiting room.
It was three hours later when Roan, Finley, and Wade arrived at the hospital with lunch. Rye had gone back to the waiting room to work once Cammie was asleep, and I’d hung out in Cammie’s room just watching the screen above her head, totally transfixed by the heart monitor.
“Hey,” Rye said as he popped into the room, “you coming to eat?”
I joined Rye in the hallway and followed him to the waiting room. Finley looked nervous when I stepped in the room, and I gave her an understanding smile.
While I’d been watching the constant and very steady blips on Cammie’s monitor, I’d been dwelling on life and death, my past and my future. There wasn’t much that I hadn’t thought of over the last three hours.
Rye handed me a sandwich at the same time that my cellphone rang. I glanced at the screen. “Oh, crap! It’s work. With everything that’s happened the last two days, I totally forgot to call them.” I got up and went to the hallway. “Hello.”
“Amy, it’s Bruce. How are you? Where are you? I didn’t expect you to answer the phone.”
I frowned. “I’m doing okay, and as for where I am, I’m at Atlantic General Hospital.”
“When did you get back? We’ve been trying to reach you at the resort for two days, but they said you left. No one knew where you were.”
“They found my passport, and I was rushed off the island. When I got back, Cammie was in the hospital dealing with an infection, and then she got her heart transplant.”
“That’s great, but did you get the interview?”
My jaw dropped a little. “Did you just hear me, Bruce? I was rushed off a tropical island because of a category four hurricane to arrive home and find my very sick daughter in the hospital preparing for a heart transplant.”
“I heard that, and I’m glad she got the surgery, but did you get the interview with the chef?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not kidding, Amy. You were sent down there in place of Sasha to get that interview. I can’t believe you didn’t get it.”