***
Nora’s parents lived a little over an hour outside of Philadelphia, but Mercy Hospital was in the center of the city, so Nora didn’t even bother contacting her dad for a ride. Shouldering her duffle bag, Nora dug out her bus pass from the back of her wallet and navigated her way to the hospital. Part of her hoped it would be a wasted trip, that she’d get there only to discover her mom had already been discharged and was waiting for her in the family’s slightly run-down farmhouse. When she got to the tall, sterile building, Nora stood outside for a moment, staring up at the mirrored windows and trying to steel herself to go in and find out how her mom was doing.
She’d always hated hospitals, ever since her three-day stay to have her tonsils removed when she was seven, and she considered herself lucky that she hadn’t had any close friends or family fall ill enough to require hospitalization…until now.
Taking a deep breath, Nora walked through the automatic doors. Despite how early it still was, the hospital was filled with nurses in scrubs moving quickly through the halls, and patients and their loved ones waiting and wondering. While Nora waited at the information desk, she glimpsed a couple of doctors hurrying in one direction or another, and her stomach clenched. Did one of them know what had happened to her mom? Maybe they were on the way to look at her test results right now. Maybe they were headed to a private room to give her father bad news.
“Yes?” A tired looking nurse in pink scrubs motioned to Nora.
Nora swallowed. “My mom had a heart attack. Is she—is she still here?”
“Name?”
“Nora Willson.”
The nurse raised an eyebrow. “Your name, or the patient’s?”
Nora flushed. “Sorry. Her name is Marjorie Willson.”
Turning to a computer, the nurse hit a few keys, and Nora held her breath in tense silence. Finally, the nurse nodded. “Third floor, room 305. You know where you’re going?”
Nora exhaled in relief. “I can find it.”
Pointing over her shoulder, the nurse offered, “The elevators are back there. Next!”
Dismissed, Nora headed in the direction the nurse had indicated, but when she pushed the button on the elevator for the third floor, she noticed that her hand was shaking. Get a grip, she told herself. There’s no reason to panic.
Feeling as if she were seven years old again, Nora stepped off the elevator and glanced nervously down a hallway that smelled like rubbing alcohol and sweat. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she turned left, breathing shallowly. When she reached the room her mom was in, Nora stood outside for a moment, slowly counting to one hundred in her mind. Her nerves weren’t any better when she got through, but she drew a deep breath and realized that she had to quit stalling.
Pushing the door open silently, Nora crept into the dimly lit room. She glanced at the woman on the hospital bed in front of her and frowned; silver hair framed an unfamiliar sleeping face.
“Mom? Dad?” Nora called softly, wondering if she’d got the wrong room.
Her dad poked his head around the curtain dividing the room. “Through here, sweetie.”
Tiptoeing past the other patient, Nora inhaled sharply when she saw her mom. She was propped up in the bed with tubing coming out of her arms and nose, and the woman in front of Nora looked pale, frail, and dangerously ill. She gripped her dad’s hand for a minute before moving closer to the bed.
“Mom?” She leaned over her, and her mom’s hazel eyes fluttered open.
“Hi, sweetie,” she said, her usually strong voice a breathy whisper.
Nora swallowed. “How’re you feeling?”
“I’ve been better.” Her mom smiled ruefully. “How are you, peanut?”
“Fine,” Nora said, feeling like she’d stepped into some surreal time warp. “I got a promotion at work,” she offered, unsure of what to say. What happened? She wanted to ask. How did this happen to you? You’re too healthy for heart issues. But she didn’t know how to say it, so instead she stood beside her mother’s hospital bed feeling like an idiot and talking about her job.
“That’s wonderful news, sweetie!” Her dad beamed at her. “Isn’t that wonderful, Marjorie?”
Nora’s mom’s eyes flickered for a moment. “Wonderful,” she echoed softly.
Nora found her courage. “Mom, what happened?”
“A heart attack,” her mom sighed. “The doctors say it was pretty bad.”
Nora’s dad jumped in. “But you’re doing great, Marjorie. They also said you should be going home soon.”
Her mom shook her head and closed her eyes. “They said it was likely to happen again, Richard,” she said, her voice regaining some of its old strength. She opened her eyes and looked at Nora. “They want me to have surgery.”
Nora’s chest constricted, but she forced a smile. “That’s good, then, right? That means they can fix whatever’s wrong.”
Her mom shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said faintly, sinking back against the pillows. “I’m not sure.”
“Nora, why don’t you come with me down to the cafeteria? Your mother needs to rest, and you and I can grab some breakfast and chat.” Her dad steered her toward the door of the room, but Nora paused at the curtain and glanced back for a moment at her mother. She was already asleep, her chest rising and falling quickly with each breath. Nora’s eyes flickered to the wall of monitors that were plugged into her mom, and she felt a sliver of ice run down her back.
As soon as they were in the hallway, she looked at her dad. “What was that all about?”
“She’s fine,” he insisted, not meeting her eyes. “Just scared is all.”
“Daddy, I’m scared, too. Was it really a bad one?”
He led the way back to the elevators. “The doctors said surgery will fix her right up.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He leaned against the elevator wall and rubbed his hand across his eyes. “Jesus, Nora. It was a heart attack. No matter how bad it was, isn’t that bad enough?” His voice broke on the last word, and Nora shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said instantly, choking up on the words. “I’m just scared.”
The elevator doors opened as her father met her eyes. “I’m scared, too, peanut.”
That admission was harder for Nora to hear than even her mother’s labored breathing. She followed her dad into the hospital cafeteria in silence, trying to sift through her tattered emotions. She didn’t pay attention to what her dad ordered, and soon she was sitting down on a hard plastic bench, staring at a tray of food she had no desire to eat.
Her dad didn’t seem to be suffering from the same lack of appetite; he ate quickly, without stopping to talk, his eyes fixed on the food as he cleared most of his tray in minutes, and then he stood up to get more coffee. Nora stared off into space, barely aware that her dad had left the table. When he sat back down, he leaned forward and looked at his daughter.
“I’m sorry, peanut. This is just all too much.”
She nodded. “So…about the surgery…”
Her dad added another creamer to his coffee. “It’s a bypass. Basically, the doctors want to replace one of the valves in her heart.”
Nora shuddered. “Would it help?”
“It might.” He paused, his eyes drifting around the room before come to rest on Nora. “But then again, there’s no predicting if a surgery like that would keep her from having another heart attack someday down the road.”
His frank answer startled Nora. “Another one?”
Her dad shrugged and stirred his coffee absently. “Now that she’s had one, it’s more likely that it will happen again.” His eyes glistened, and he reached across the table to squeeze Nora’s hand. “I’m not ready to lose her, baby girl.”
Nora choked up. “Me, neither, daddy.”
CHAPTER TEN
Kingston didn’t have time to dwell on the barista too much that week; when he got home from work on Tuesday, he tripped over a pair of beige le
ather pumps. He glanced at the shoes, confused for a moment, and then he looked up.
“Mom,” he said, swallowing nervously. “And Sir. What are you both doing here?”
His mother crossed the small space to kiss him on each cheek. “We wanted to surprise you.”
“It’s certainly a surprise,” Kingston admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “How’d you get in?”
“Oh, your doorman was ever so kind once he learned we were your folks.”
Kingston smiled. His mother could charm a snake right out of its skin, and he had no doubt that the poor doorman hadn’t stood a chance. “I wish you’d have let me know you were coming; I’d have tidied the place up a bit.”
“Yes, this place,” his father said, moving into the kitchenette with a frown. “Beautiful location. How much are you paying in rent each month, son?”
“The bank supplied the apartment.” The lie slipped out before he could think, and Kingston held his breath, hoping his face didn’t give him away.
“Humph,” his father answered. “I should hope so. Didn’t think I raised my boy to be frivolous or wasteful.”
Kingston shook his head hurriedly. “No, sir.” He glanced at the refrigerator. “I don’t have much to offer—“
“Let’s go out, then,” his mother said, looping her arm through his as she slipped on her shoes. “Take us somewhere that’s part of the real New York.”
Kingston chuckled. “I haven’t been here long enough to discover the ‘real New York’, but I’m sure we can figure something out.”
Before he could open the door, his father strode across the room and put his hand on the knob. “After you, sweetheart,” he said, nodding to Kingston’s mother. As she slipped into the hall, his dad put his hand on Kingston’s shoulder, stopping him for a minute.
“You’re doing well for yourself, son. I’m glad that bank realizes what you’re worth.”
He forced himself to nod. “They do, sir.”
“Good.” His dad nodded to the hall, and Kingston followed his mom, his heart racing. Would his father still be proud of him if he knew that Kingston spent every day in a cubicle, not an office, or would he think he wasn’t working hard enough somehow? Kingston shook his head, hoping that his parents wouldn’t ask him too many questions about work. Even though the job had been a promotion, his father hadn’t been impressed when Kingston had initially shared the news. Now that his parents were in New York, he felt a childish desire to make believe his new life was even better than he’d imagined, but he wasn’t sure how long he could keep spinning stories to keep them satisfied.
Luckily, once they’d been seated in a dark corner of the steak house near his apartment, Kingston realized that his mom at least wasn’t interested in hearing him talk about work. In true form, she was on his case within minutes about his lack of a social life.
“How are you ever going to meet a nice girl if all you do is work?” She lamented, picking daintily at her salad.
Kingston sighed. He was tempted to tell her about Carrie’s obvious interest in him, just to get her off his case, but he knew from experience that if he mentioned a girl to his mom, he’d better be ready to propose within weeks. “I don’t just work, Mom. I’m still running.”
She sniffed. “You aren’t going to meet a nice girl that way.”
“I’ve joined another midnight running club,” he said, splitting his attention between both his parents. “It’s a lot of fun.” Tearing off a piece of bread from the bread basket in the center of the table, he added, “I’m training to run the half marathon in the spring.”
His father nodded approvingly. “It’s important to keep your body as strong as your mind.”
“But darlin’,” his mother said, “I want grandbabies soon!”
Kingston sighed. “You’ve got Blake and Shelton,” he reminded her gently. “Have you seen them recently?”
His mother sighed. “Rachel said she’d bring them over next week.” Chewing on the bottom of her lip, she lowered her voice. “I wish she and Mark would figure out this nasty separation business.”
Kingston’s father took a swig of his gin and tonic. “I’ve tried to talk with her about it, but she’s like a bank vault.” He raised an eyebrow at his son. “Has she confided in you?”
He shook his head, thinking back to the conversation he’d had with his sister earlier that week. “No. I wish I knew what to say or do that would help her.”
“Don’t rush into marriage,” his father said, leaning forward to look at him intently. “No matter what your mother may say, son, that’s not a commitment you should take lightly.”
His mother pouted. “But Kingston’s got a good head on his shoulders. I’m sure he wouldn’t make the same mistakes as Rachel.”
Kingston wasn’t so sure that Rachel had made a mistake; he wondered if she and Mark had simply fallen out of love. Given how many of his friends were divorced, he doubted that they’d all “rushed in” as his father put it. But all he said was, “Don’t worry. I’m not thinking about getting married anytime soon. Besides,” he offered with a gentle laugh, “I’d have to meet someone first.”
His mother eyed him intently. “I wish you’d let me introduce you to—“
“No, Mom,” Kingston said firmly. “No set ups. I can find my own girl, thank you very much.”
“But you haven’t,” she pointed out reasonably.
“But I will,” Kingston said, his thoughts drifting to a pair of wide brown eyes that made his heart race.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
That night, alone in her old bed in her parents’ farmhouse, Nora tossed and turned for hours. When sleep finally overcame her, she was swept into a dream about Kingston.
Pebbles hit her window, calling her to lift the sash, and sleepily, Nora swung her feet out of bed and crossed the floor. When she looked down into the moonlit yard, his familiar smile beamed up at her.
Her heart started to beat faster. “What are you doing here?” She whispered, leaning over the sill.
“I’m here for you, hon,” came the soft reply.
Nora swallowed. “How are you going to get up here? My parents--” She paused. There was something about her parents that she was struggling to remember, but it danced at the corner of her memory, just out of reach. “I don’t—” she tried again.
The words had barely left her mouth when she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder, and Nora exhaled sharply. Kingston chuckled, turning her to face him. “You were saying?” His eyes were alight with expectation, and Nora felt her body begin to tingle in response to his intense gaze. He tipped her chin toward his and leaned forward, pausing an inch away from kissing her. His breath was hot on her skin, and Nora tried not to shiver at the delightful sensation. Kingston’s mouth curved into a slow, sure smile, and he inched a little closer.
Nora licked her lips, her heart racing. She’d fantasized about sneaking a guy up to her bedroom when she was in high school, but the couple of boys she’d seriously dated had been just as polite and well-behaved as Nora, and no one ever made her act on her fantasy. Until now, she thought, studying Kingston’s lips hovering close to her face.
Tentatively, Nora closed the distance, bringing her lips against his with a gentle sigh. The kiss was long and deep, and Nora felt the soles of her feet begin to dissolve into the floor.
Kingston’s lips were thick and smooth, and with each kiss, Nora melted a little bit more. He murmured her name against her mouth, and heat flooded Nora’s body as she reached for him, tangling her fingers in his hair. Gently, he ran his hand along her neck, her collarbone, her shoulder, stroking her skin in smooth, sure movements.
Nora shivered and pressed her body against his, beyond caring that her thin night shirt offered little in the way of a barrier between them. Somehow, his shirt was already off, and Nora’s hands slowly began to trace the thick muscles across his shoulders. His arms tightened around her hungrily, and Kingston trailed his lips down her jaw before coming to rest at the holl
ow of her throat. A low moan escaped Nora as his tongue flicked delicately against her skin.
Just when she thought her knees were about to give out, Kingston lifted her up and in one swift motion deposited her on the old twin bed. Gently, he pressed his lean body beside her, and Nora slid over to accommodate him, her heart racing. She tried to deny the knot of longing that had formed in her stomach, but every inch of her being was acutely aware of his flesh against hers.
Never taking his eyes from her face, Kingston slid one of his hands deliberately up her leg, the fingertips skimming over her bare skin like water. Nora’s breath caught as his hand slipped under the hem of her nightshirt, and gently, he started to stroke her inner thigh. A shudder passed through her, and Kingston exhaled loudly in response, stroking faster. His other hand cradled her head gently, and Nora leaned back, arching into Kingston’s touch. She felt as fragile as glass, as if one more touch could shatter her.
The tips of his fingers brushed against her, asking permission, and Nora wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down on top of her. His weight shifted gently against her, his hands still tracing lines of fire across her body, and desperate need welled up in her. Nora opened her eyes and studied his face; the perfect line of his jaw, the generous, wide mouth, before coming to rest on his steady gray gaze. Her hands started to move of their own accord, stroking down the length of his spine before coming to rest at the elastic of his briefs. Slowly, cautiously, Nora slid her fingers under the waistband, and Kingston ground his hips into her in response.
Need overwhelmed her, and Nora pressed her body against Kingston’s solid weight. Everything about it felt right, and Nora’s shyness slipped away in a tangle of sweaty flesh. The blood was pounding in Nora’s ears as she wriggled her hips, trying to slip out of her panties, but the pounding only increased. Startled, Nora realized that someone was knocking on the bedroom door, and her eyes flew open in panic.
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