How could he know so well how to calm her? And why was he being so kind to her? She couldn’t handle any more emotion on top of all that she was already dealing with. The tears that were just below the surface spilled silently down her cheeks. She tried to brush them away surreptitiously, turning her face to the window. But she must not have done too good a job of hiding them because she felt Max’s handkerchief being pressed into her palm.
“Here.”
When she took it from him, he held her hand for a moment more, squeezing it gently before releasing her. That just made the tears flow harder. She sniffed and searched for tissues. She didn’t want to blow her nose into Max’s hanky. She leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes, ignoring the scenery which normally she enjoyed, trying to center herself. She needed to be calm when she got to the hospital.
When they walked into the hospital almost three hours later — the I80 was a mess coming into Manhattan, and finding parking was another challenge — Tina had her game face on. She walked beside Max, who made no attempt to do anything other than be by her side. His presence was curiously soothing, and she appreciated how much he seemed to understand her need for space and for support at the same time. She thought idly, as they waited for the doctor after she told the nurse at the desk who she was there to see, that he must be really good at his job.
“Ms. Cooper? I’m Dr. Rampersad.”
Tina looked round to find a rail-thin Indian gentleman with a stethoscope draped around his neck approaching. She stood and shook hands, and introduced him to Max, wondering why she did so. There was a flicker of something in his eyes as she looked at Max, but she ignored it. She had other things to worry about.
“Please have a seat,” the doctor said. “This morning, your grandmother suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, which means that a blood vessel ruptured and blood leaked into the surrounding brain tissue. It is putting pressure on her brain. There is also the concern that she is losing oxygen to that part of her brain. She has not been conscious since, and the prognosis is grim.”
“Was she ill before?” Tina asked. “The last time I spoke to Sister Mary Louise, she said Grannie was no worse than before.”
“There was no sign of any illness, according to the Sisters,” he confirmed. “But they reported that she woke much earlier than usual this morning complaining of feeling giddy. The nurse on call took her blood pressure and it was higher than normal, but not so much as to suggest that she was on the verge of such a massive stroke. However, they gave her a double dose of her blood pressure medication on the advice of her doctor, whom they called after calling 911. She lost consciousness before the paramedics arrived.”
Tina swallowed. “How much longer do you think she has, Doctor?” She didn’t really want to hear the answer, but she knew she needed to know.
“There’s no way to know, I’m afraid. Your grandmother is too frail for surgery, which would relieve the pressure and improve her chances. However, even if she were not, the possibility of another stroke, or of heart failure is greater, given the advanced nature of her disease. Currently she is on life support.”
Tina looked over at Max, who had been listening intently. She felt helpless. She didn’t even know what questions to ask. Max spoke for the first time, addressing the doctor.
“What are Ms. Cooper’s options, Doctor?”
The doctor got that odd look in his eyes again for a split second, and then he blinked and they were gone.
“We will certainly keep her grandmother here to see if she will regain consciousness and to see how she responds to the treatments we are providing. However, Ms. Cooper may choose to remove her from life support and have her committed to hospice care.”
Tina gasped, and Max reached for her hand. The doctor spoke into the painful silence. “There is no need to make a decision immediately. We will continue to monitor Mrs. Blackwood’s condition throughout the day. You are free to remain or to leave and return later.”
“May I see her, please?”
“Yes, of course. Please follow me.”
Tina wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted her. Her grandmother was almost lost under the tubes and wires that attached her to the life support systems. She was thin and frail, and Tina’s heart broke at the sight. She pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, glad of its support for her trembling limbs.
“Oh, God!” she whispered, reaching a trembling hand to touch her grandmother’s. “Grannie, it’s me, Leontyne.” She sniffed, tears crowding her throat. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I wanted to tell you that I love you, and to thank you for looking after me when Mama died. I wouldn’t be who I am today without you, Grannie.”
A sob escaped, and she removed her hand from her grandmother’s so she could grip her own together, digging her nails into her flesh to ground herself. Crying would help nothing, and only made her feel worse.
“I wish you would get well, Grannie. Who am I gonna share Cora stories with if you leave me? Who will I laugh with over my antics when I was little?” She sniffed again. “What am I gonna do without you, Grannie?”
Struggling against more useless sobbing, she swallowed and waited until she could speak again to say, “I’m just going to leave for a little while, Grannie. I have a friend whom I need to say goodbye to but I promise I’ll be back, and I’ll stay with you as long as you need me to, okay? Just hang in there for me.”
Rising, she kissed her grandmother’s cheek, surprised at how warm her skin felt. Then she turned to Max.
“I guess I’d better let you go,” she said. “I’ll walk you down.”
She walked out of the room and he followed her silently, not speaking until they were once again in the parking garage. Peter had appeared miraculously as they walked toward the SUV.
“I’m not saying goodbye quite yet, Tina,” Max told her. “You may be here for days, so you’ll need some clothes.”
“I already have a suitcase…”
Tina, be reasonable, that’s too big for what you’ll need. Let me take you home, so you can pack a weekender or something. Then you can have something to eat and I’ll bring you back.”
Feeling too tired to argue, she let Max take over, and a couple of hours later she was back at the hospital carrying a small duffel bag with a change of clothes, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Max had insisted that she take her laptop and charger, and she also had her phone. They got back to the room and Max set her bag down and then turned to face her. Tina felt as though her world, already broken by her grandmother’s health crisis, was about to fall apart. She didn’t understand how this man had come to be so important to her in such a short time, but she knew when he left she would be devastated. Still, she put on a brave face.
“Well, it’s time to go, huh?” She extended a hand to him. “It’s been nice getting to know you, Max,” she said. “You’ve been very kind to me, and I want to thank you for rescuing me, and for being here with me today. I appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your vacation, and have a safe flight home.”
Max pulled her into his arms by the hand she extended to him, and hugged her. “I have sent you my cell phone number,” he said, releasing her. “Please call me if you need me, Tina. And if you don’t, I will call again in a couple of days to see how things are, okay?”
She nodded, overcome by emotion. She closed her eyes against tears, this time for a different reason, but they flew open when she felt his lips on hers.
“Take care of yourself, little one, until I see you again.”
He kissed her again before she could respond, a deeper, fuller kiss, and then he let her go. She watched as he got into the passenger seat next to Peter, and she waved as Peter tooted the horn and drove sedately out of the parking garage. As she walked back up to her grandmother’s room, she wondered what he meant by seeing her again. Then she remembered that she had agreed to be his date at the coronation. Her smile was sad as she wondered if she would even be able to make it. Everything would depend on her grandmother’s condition.
The rest of the day passed in uneventful silence in her grandmother’s room, except for the machines hissing, whistling, and clicking. Tina tried to write but got very little done, and instead spent most of the day watching her grandmother’s face and re-reading the notes she had been making of her grandmother’s memories. She only left the room to eat, and when night fell, the nurse gave her two pillows to prop behind herself to make the chair she was sitting in more comfortable for sleeping. She put her feet up on the end of her grandmother’s bed, slid her bottom down in the chair, and tried to nap.
Max called the next afternoon, after almost a day of her doing nothing but watching her grandmother sleep. “How is your grandmother, Tina?”
“No change, I’m afraid. She’s unconscious, and still on life support. Do you think I should pull the plug and let her go in peace, Max? Is it wrong of me to want her with me to the bitter end?”
“It isn’t wrong to want her to stay, but you must also think of what will be best for her. I don’t know your grandmother, but you do. What do you think she would want you to do?”
Tina loved that he gave her logical options without making her feel like a selfish bastard. But she wasn’t sure what her grandmother would want. She decided to let things remain as they were for the time being.
“So, when are you going back home” she asked, needing to escape her sad thoughts.
“I will leave in two more days,” Max told her. “May I come back for a visit before I go?”
Tina’s breath hitched in her throat. “Oh Max, that’s so sweet of you. You didn’t have to ask. Of course you may!”
“I will see you tomorrow, then,” he told her. “Be well, Tina.”
“Thank you. You too. Bye Max.”
The silence on the other end of the line felt like a death knell to Tina. She shivered at the thought. It was wonderful to have Max around, even if she wanted to resist him, but she could not allow herself to depend on him. He would be gone for good in a couple of days, and she would do well to remember that.
Chapter 9: A Death in the Family
Max had tried to wait the two days he had told Tina he would wait before calling her, but after the half day he had spent without her, and the night when his dreams had all been of her, he knew he wouldn’t wait. He had to return to Lauenstein, but he knew he wouldn’t go before he saw her again, touched her, and had tasted her. His heart hurt at the thought that she might have to go through her grandmother’s death alone, with no one to help or support her. He wanted to be there for her, and it tore him apart that he couldn’t be.
Still, he knew that now was not the time to drop his little bombshell about his true identity. The last thing Tina needed right now was another revelation that would rock her world. He would tell her when she got to Lauenstein. He had already made the arrangements for her stay, and though he had been tempted to, he managed not to purchase her tickets. He would, however, upgrade them to first class once they were bought. If he could, he would send his private jet for her, but his country’s regulations did not allow for anyone to fly in the royal jet without a member of the royal family also being on board.
He stood under the spray of warm water in the shower, his mind wandering back to the dream that had woken him from a troubled sleep to a wet spot in his shorts that had happily not made it to the sheets before he flew out of bed. He had known, after that first kiss by the cabin that Tina would wreak havoc with his equilibrium, but he had not known that she would become the woman he fantasized about, even in his sleep.
“If I promise that you won’t get hurt, will you let me teach you to ski?” he had asked her in the dream.
“Max, I have two left feet, poor balance control, and a fear of heights. I’m not a skier!”
Her protests had morphed to groans of pleasure after he had pulled her in for some persuading kisses. The next thing he knew, she was flat on her bottom, laughing up into his face as he had fallen on top of her. Then their eyes had connected…and the dream had shifted to his bed, with Tina naked above him, writhing and crying out his name as she rode him.
Now, as he washed himself to remove the evidence of his lust, he wished they were that far along in their relationship that she could take his body, own him, and bring them both to a crashing orgasm like the one that had had him calling out in his sleep loud enough to wake himself. Feeling grateful that Peter’s room was not too close to his own, he thought ahead to the day he had planned. He had already asked Peter to pack a picnic lunch. He would take her away for a few hours to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters Museum. She needed happy memories as her grandmother declined, and he wanted those happy memories to include him. It would be a good way for her to get a few hours away from the bedside of a dying relative without being so far away that she would be out of reach in case of emergency.
He dressed quickly, thinking back to the moment when the doctor had looked twice at him. Max was certain that eventually the man would figure out who he was, but hopefully he’d be gone by then, and since the hospital was a busy research hospital, he had little doubt he would be quickly forgotten. That was the third reason for his decision to take her away from the hospital for a few hours…he could be with her without being readily recognized. The less time he spent under the watchful eye of her grandmother’s neurologist, the better for both of them.
Downstairs, he grabbed a cup of coffee and called his father.
“Good afternoon, Papa,” he said when his father answered. “How are you feeling today?”
“No worse for wear, my son,” the older prince said. “I am looking forward to your return tomorrow.”
“As am I, Papa. You will be pleased to know that I have chosen the woman who will be my partner for the coronation.” He waited, knowing how the news would please his father.
“Who is this woman?”
“Her name is Leontyne Cooper, and she is an American authoress. I met her this week, quite by accident, as it happens.”
Max told his father about how he had come to meet Tina, and waited for the expected questions.
“I do not doubt your good taste, my son, but are you sure that this woman is worthy of the honor you bestow upon her with your invitation? And how do you know what she will be like in the circles in which she will be moving for the event? How do you know that you can count on her to behave circumspectly? We do not want this important celebration to become a sideshow for the world.”
Max smiled. Those were all good questions, and he was glad that he could easily answer them, and allay his father’s concerns.
“She doesn’t know who I am, Papa,” he began, but was interrupted before he could go further.
“I don’t understand. How can she not know who you are, but be the one you escort at your coronation?”
Max explained, including his decision after her grandmother’s stroke, to keep it from her until she arrived in Lauenstein.
“Are you sure that is wise, my son? Although you have not said as much, I know you well enough to know that you have some interest in this woman beyond her role as your partner for the coronation. Women do not like to be deceived, and she might very well see it as a deception. What will you do if she refuses to attend? It will be too late then to find a suitable partner.”
His father had a point, but Max couldn’t think about it now. It was too late, and he really couldn’t imagine telling Tina who he was when she was so overwhelmed with worry about her grandmother. And if he were to be totally honest, he didn’t want to risk her changing her mind. He would find a way to persuade her to stay once she was there, if she got angry with him. Something told him she would.
“I am confident that I can bring her round if she gets angry with me, Papa.”
His father chuckled. It was a rusty, broken sound, but his amusement was clear. “I remember a time, in the early days of our marriage, when I was that certain of your mother. She did not speak to me for two weeks, except when we were in public and she had no choice. And I spent t
hose two weeks in the guest wing.” His voice grew wistful as he spoke. “I miss my love.”
Max’s heart wrenched in his chest as he listened to his father. What it would be to have a love so strong, so pure!
“I know you do, Papa. I miss her, too.”
A long sigh followed before his sire said, “If you are serious about this woman, you must ensure that she can withstand the pressures of being the consort of a Sovereign Prince. You need a strong woman beside you.”
“She is very strong, Papa,” Max said, acutely aware that he had just made an important revelation about his feelings for Tina.
His gut told him she would be his ideal mate, his best partner, and if they could get past the obstacles to falling in love, she could be his one true love. He already felt affection for her; he was already on his way to falling for her. He hoped she was, too, and that she would forgive him for keeping such an important secret from her for as long as he thought he needed to do so.
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