by Alison Mello
Sandra: Thank you, see you soon.
“How the hell did someone get to her? She wasn’t alone the entire night, and I was watching for anything suspicious,” I say, running my hands through my hair.
“Carter, don’t do this. There’s no way you could have seen everything that was taking place in that room. Joan could have easily paid someone to drug her, and we wouldn’t have seen it coming. We have to get her healthy and figure out who is behind this so we can take them both down.”
“Troy’s right,” Richard says as he walks into the room. “The police are at the event questioning guests and the wait staff as we speak. Trust me when I tell you, they will not get away with drugging my stepdaughter. This is personal, and I will see to it that they’re punished.”
A doctor walks into the room. “Fitzpatrick,” he calls out.
“We’re all family,” I say as I step forward.
“Who is her next of kin?”
Sandra steps forward. “I’m her mother.” She points to Troy. “This is her father.” Then she points out the rest of us. “This is her fiancé, her sister, Bella, and her stepfather, so we’re all pretty much her next of kin. What do you have for us, doc?”
“Well, she’s in rough shape, but she’ll be fine. We’re waiting for the test results to know exactly what she was drugged with, but we’ve pumped her stomach and given her some medication through an IV. She should be coming around shortly. I’ll allow a few of you to visit with her, but you can’t all go in at once.”
“Go, Cater,” Sandra says. “She’ll want to hear your voice. I’ll wait here and visit with her when you’re done.”
“Are you sure? You can come too,” I offer. She smiles, and the two of us follow the doctor to her room, where she’s sleeping peacefully in a hospital gown.
I run to her side. “Aww, baby, I’m so sorry about this.” I take her hand and kiss the back of it. Her hand is so soft and warm. “Please wake up, baby. You’re the light in my life, and I need you.” A tear escapes me. “I need you to be my wife. We can spend years together making happy memories and growing our beautiful family.”
Sandra walks to the other side of the bed. “Oh my sweet girl, your mama is here,” she says as she rubs the top of her head. “Please wake up for us. Richard is already working this and wants you to know he will catch whoever did this to you.”
We both sit in silence for a while, watching her sleep. Bella has come in to say goodnight to all three of us. We promise to call her with any changes, so she goes home with Derek to get a little rest, promising to be back in a couple of hours with some food and coffee. Her father comes in next and lets us know that Richard has gone back to the hall to look over the crime scene with the police to see if they have gotten anything out of the staff.
Sandra chuckles.
“What?” I question.
“I was thinking about how flustered she was over the wedding earlier. Do you know even as a child Patricia hated attention and only ever wanted the smallest of birthday parties? Do you remember, Troy?”
“I do. You do know you’re going to have to plan this wedding for her,” he says, looking at Sandra.
“I know, and I’m happy to do that, but I want it to be the wedding she wants.” Sandra wipes some sweat from Patty’s forehead. “My sweet girl is so strong in so many ways, but when it comes to something simple like planning a party, she wants no part of it and gets all flustered.”
She continues stroking her beautiful hair while she sleeps. We all sit in silence as the machine’s beep keeps track of her heart rate. The room is quiet, and I’m starting to doze off on the side of her when I hear her moaning in her sleep. “Pain, so much pain,” she mumbles. I jump up, pressing the button to the nurse’s station.
Nurse Chelsea runs in. “What is it?”
“She’s mumbling that she’s in pain.”
The nurse picks up the chart and looks it over. “I can give her something. I’ll be right back.” She walks out of the room and comes back with something that she shoots into Patty’s IV. “Her test results are back. The doctor will be in to see you soon.”
“Thank you,” Sandra, Troy, and I all say at the same time. She gives us a sympathetic smile and walks out of the room.
A short time later, the doctor comes in. “Well, we know why she collapsed. She’ll be fine. Someone slipped a large dose of liquid GHB into her champagne. Considering it’s a date rape drug, I’m not sure what their plan was, but that’s why she went down hard and fast. If she had been alone, we could have lost her.”
“How long will she be out?” I ask while the doctor is making some notes on her chart.
“Well, that’s hard to say. She could wake in an hour or so, but she’s going to have one hell of a hangover. We’ve been giving her something to help with it, but waking up is up to her.”
He places her chart back at the foot of her bed and informs us this is the end of his shift and that another doctor will be in to check on her in a few hours, but to press the button should we need anything. We all thank him and go back to resting our heads while we wait for her to wake. I lay my head by her leg and doze off, hoping to get a little sleep. I refuse to leave her side even for a minute, but yesterday was a long day and I’m exhausted.
I must have fallen into a pretty deep sleep because I wake to feeling fingers run through the little bit of hair that I have on the top of my head. I jump up to see Patty’s beautiful brown eyes watching me.
“Do you know where you are?” I ask her.
“Yeah, but I don’t remember much,” she whispers.
“You were drugged, baby. I’m so sorry.”
“This is not your fault, Carter,” she says sternly.
“That’s what I told him,” Troy says in a groggy voice from across the room when he hears her. “Welcome back, baby girl.” He gets out of his chair to stretch. He walks over and gently kisses her on the head. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I partied too hard,” she says, rubbing her forehead.
“Well, technically you did. Someone slipped you a lot of GHB. We’ve been waiting for you to wake. Do you remember anything?” Troy asks her.
Her brows furrow. “I don’t. The last thing I remember is…” She pauses to think about it. “I remember being so proud of Carter for his work and the kind words Tobey said about him.” She stops again, and we can tell she’s thinking. “Um…I remember bits of them announcing the silent auction.”
“Don’t stress yourself, darling,” Sandra says. She’s still resting. “It’ll come back to you.”
Patty takes a deep breath. “Do they know who did it?”
“Not that I know of. Richard went back to the hall to question people with the police. I’ll text him right now to see if there are any updates and to let him know you’re awake,” Sandra says as she stretches.
“I need to text Derek so he can fill Bella in.”
“How’s Bella?” Patty asks.
“She’ll be fine once she knows you’re awake. She was a bit scared last night and will be in shortly, I’m sure. She’s promised us coffee this morning,” I say as I shoot Derek a text.
Carter: She’s awake.
Derek: Great, we’re on our way to pick up coffee and then we’ll be there.
Carter: It’s only seven-thirty.
Derek: Try telling that to Bella.
Carter: See you soon.
“Bella and Derek are stopping for coffee and then they’ll be by.” I fill everyone in. “We should probably let the nurses know you’re awake,” I add as I press the button for the nurses’ station.
Nurse Chelsea comes in a few minutes later. Patty is lying with her eyes closed when the nurse whispers, “How can I help you?”
“He wanted you to know I’m awake.”
“Welcome back to us, Ms. Fitzpatrick. How are you feeling?”
“I was drugged. How do you think I’m feeling?” Patty says, frustrated. “I feel like I was drugged. My head hurts, and I feel naus
eous.”
“Patricia,” Sandra scolds her.
“It’s okay,” the nurse says to Sandra.
“Ms…”
Patty holds up her hand, cutting her off. “I’m sorry, please call me Patty.”
“Okay, Patty. I’m used to the frustration you’re feeling. Please understand that although it sounds like a silly question, we need to know how bad you’re feeling so we know how long we need to keep you.”
“Oh, you can send me home. I have a wedding to plan, and to be honest I’m quite positive I know who put me here and I’m tired of her interfering in my life. The sooner you let me go home, the less she wins.”
The nurse sighs. “I’m sorry you’re going through this, but only the doctor can release you and he won’t be making his rounds for a few hours, so please relax. If you’d like, I can give you something for your headache and order you some breakfast.”
“Unless Patty has a diet restriction, breakfast is served,” Bella says from the doorway.
Nurse Chelsea turns and smiles. “She does not. However there are far more people in here than we normally allow. Please keep it down so I’m not forced to kick anyone out.”
Bella runs over and gives Patty a huge hug. “I was so scared,” Bella whispers as they embrace each other.
Bella pulls away as Derek starts handing out cups of coffee and offering breakfast to everyone. They’ve brought muffins, bagels with cream cheese, and cheese Danishes. Bella gives Patty her favorite muffin, and Patty digs in.
“I’m starving,” Patty says as she takes a big bite.
“Do they know who did this yet?” Derek asks as he sips his coffee.
“No, but we haven't heard from Richard yet.” I take another bite and say, “Thanks for breakfast.”
“No problem. We didn’t sleep very well, so we figured we might as well come here. We were getting ready to leave when you texted me.”
“Go slow, darling. You don’t know how that’s going to make you feel, and you don’t want to get sick.”
Bella chuckles. “I’d kill to be able to eat like that.” She quickly covers her mouth. “Really poor choice of words. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I know who it was. Now we have to figure out how to catch her.”
“That may be easier than we thought,” Richard says as he walks into the room, looking completely beat. He’s wearing his tux from yesterday, only now his bow tie is gone and his shirt is unbuttoned slightly. “Your glass was marked so the waiter knew which glass to give you. That means someone was paid to deliver a drugged glass of champagne to you.”
“Do you know who was paid?” Patty asks.
“No, but considering there were only so many staff on last night, it cuts the number down. We’re running fingerprints from the glass now to see who’s come up, but if they don’t have a record it may be harder to locate them. We can ask them to volunteer fingerprints to eliminate them as suspects but most will refrain from doing that because they could’ve touched the glass without knowing and they’ll be afraid it will implicate them. What do you remember, sweetie?”
Patty swallows her muffin and tells him pretty much the same thing she told us. She only remembers Tobey’s speech and the announcement of the prize winners. Richard asks if she can think of anything weird after that point.
“I remember seeing the trays of champagne being passed around. I got excited because it was almost midnight and I couldn’t wait to celebrate my first new year with Carter.” I squeeze her hand.
“Is there anything else you can remember?”
She shakes her head and looks down. “I’m sorry, Richard.”
“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. We’ll catch Joan and whoever she paid to do this,” he says in a stern voice.
She nods. “I wish I could remember something helpful.”
“You did fine,” he says as Derek hands him a cup of coffee. “Thank you, Derek.”
“There’s food in the bag if you need a bite to eat,” Derek adds, nodding toward the bag. I hand it to him and he takes a danish.
“I don’t have a lot of time. I need to get home to shower and then find out where the police are with the questioning.”
A short time later, Richard leaves and the doctor walks in. “Wow, it would appear there’s a party going on in here and I wasn’t invited.”
“You’re absolutely invited,” Patty says, “Especially if you’re here to send me home.”
He laughs. “Well, let me see. How are you feeling?”
“Good now that I ate something.”
He looks over her chart. “How’s your head?”
“I have a slight headache, but it’s not too bad.”
He flashes a light in her eyes, checks her vital signs, and says, “You’re free to go. However, you need to take it easy today, and if your headache gets any worse you need to come back in.”
“You don’t have to worry. I’m sure my fiancé will be glued to my side.”
I grin. “You better believe it.”
The doctor nods. “I’ll have the nurse bring you your things. Good luck to you.”
Bella hands me a bag with everything Patty needs to go home comfortably. “You’re the best,” Patty tells her as the room clears out.
She peels the blanket off and slowly shifts in the bed so I can help her get dressed. A few minutes later, she signs the papers the nurse has brought in and we all walk out the door. Sandra had my car brought to the hospital last night, so I give the valet my ticket and he brings the car around.
Once my car pulls up, Sandra says, “Do you want me to come over?”
“Tomorrow. I want to take the day off, so why don’t we work on the wedding?”
“Okay, I will see you tomorrow,” Sandra says as I help Patty into the Jeep.
I close her car door and both her parents ask me to let them know if anything changes. Of course I promise to let them know immediately. “I really think she’s going to sleep most of the day, but I’ll check in with you both later.”
Patty rolls down the window so Bella can say goodbye while Derek shakes my hand. “Let us know if you need anything.”
“Thanks, I will.” I climb into the driver’s seat so I can get my girl home.
Chapter 17
Patty
It’s been a few weeks since I was hospitalized for being drugged at the New Year’s Eve party and I’m back to being myself. The police caught the guy who managed to drug me, and he confessed to accepting a bribe from Joan. The only problem we have now is that Joan is on the run. The man that helped her is in jail and will be there for quite a while. Since he confessed and made a plea deal, I won’t have to face him in court. Both Carter and I are quite happy about that. Carter has had constant security on me since that night to ensure I’m safe, and no one is allowed near me unless we know who they are.
Although she agrees that it’s much needed, the security has my mother a bit batty with the wedding planning. We all sat down and figured the wedding out and then I gave my mother free reign to do whatever she wanted within my guidelines. Bella, my mom, Mia, and I have all gone dress shopping. The colors have been chosen, and I helped with the menu. Other than that, I put her in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly, and she could not be happier. I told her to make sure I had a fun DJ and she ended up hiring Jake from the New Year’s Eve event, which I was fine with.
She’s due here any minute to pick up Bella and I to go cake tasting together. She insists that I have a say in what my cake looks and tastes like.
“Baby, I have to go to work,” Carter says from the other room.
I walk out. “Have a good day, honey. I’ll meet you back here later for dinner.”
I pull on the collar of his shirt, pressing my lips to his in a heated kiss. He’s been treating me with kid gloves since that night, and I’ve had enough. I want my man back, and tonight I’m going to show him how much I miss him. He wraps his hand around my back as I lick his lips. He opens, giving me full acc
ess, and I pour all I have into this kiss. I need him to know I’m ready and I want him.
He pulls away. “Are you trying to make it hard for me to leave?”
“No, I’m trying to give you something to look forward to when you get home.”
He gives me a dirty grin. “Really? Dinner and dessert?” He asks as I lick my lips and nod. “I’m already starving, but I have to go to work. I have a meeting with that guy from the toy drive today. I’ll see you tonight.” He lifts my chin. “Please be careful while you’re out today,” he says as he kisses me gently.
I roll my eyes. “I will.”
As he walks out the door, he calls back over his shoulder, “Have a good day.”
I sit at the snack bar with my cell phone and a cup of coffee, waiting for my mother to text me that she’s here. The baker that we are going to see is going to show us some samples, and we’ll decide what the cake will look like.
I open my Facebook to find more well wishes from my fans. I’ve already told them I’m home and fine, but the messages keep coming. I open my email to find a message from the editor telling me I’ll have my second round edits any day and she’s wondering if I’m up to going through them. I think to myself, Are you kidding? Send them over. I’m bored out of my mind, but I don’t tell her that. I quickly respond, telling her I’m fine and to send them over.
As I’m closing my email, I receive the text I’m waiting for, so I take my stuff and hurry downstairs. My two security guys are waiting for me when I get down there to escort me to my mother’s car, where she and Bella are already waiting. As I get into the car, one of my guards is talking to my mother’s driver to get the details of our day. They then both rush off to their car so they can follow discreetly as we go about our day.
“How are you, darling?” My mother asks as I get settled.
“I’m fine, Mother. I heard from the editor today. My next round of edits is coming next week. I’m happy to have something to work on since there isn’t much left to do for the wedding.”