“What would it take for you to believe?” he asked. A growing darkness welled inside of his gut. “What do I have to do to prove to you that I did not do anything wrong with Nascha?”
“Micah—”
“Listen to me, Savannah Woods. I told you I did nothing to that woman. She obviously sabotaged the procedure herself in order to get back at me because I found you more beautiful than her.”
“Oh please!” Tisha and Connie both groaned.
“You two stay out of this,” Micah said in a low, dark tone. “This is between me and Savannah.” The truth of what he said struck him as poignant in the midst of the seething turbulence of his mind. It had always been between him and her. Heaven and hell, paradise and oblivion. It began and ended with them both.
“You have some nerve—” Tisha started to say.
“Tisha, Connie. Go and pray for Liliana right now,” Savannah told them, her eyes never leaving his. “She needs your prayers.”
“Don’t give in, Savvy!” Connie exclaimed. “Don’t let—”
“Thank you, girls. Now, go pray for Liliana.”
Micah gave them little heed as they reluctantly shuffled into the room where a little girl fought for her life in the midst of all this crazy. The door was left ajar but Micah went over and closed it firmly.
“What more do you want from me, Savannah? After three years, you contact me and asked me to come back into your life. I drop everything to come to your side. Everything, Savannah. I stay here and come up here every day just to be with you. I open myself up to you. I tell you I love you, that despite everything, I want you to be my wife. Why doesn’t any of that prove to you I’m innocent?”
Micah’s whole body trembled from head to toe, locked in a whirlwind of emotion too muddled to distinguish. All he knew was that the woman he loved more than anything else in the world was killing him.
“You didn’t come,” she said in a soft voice.
“Huh?” What was she talking about? “I’m right in front of you.”
“You didn’t come when I needed you the most, Micah.” Her quiet voice, in contrast to his, had the ability to reign in the tornado and force himself to listen to her words. He sensed there was something significant she was trying to tell him.
“What are you saying?”
“When Nascha died, you weren’t there.”
He rolled his eyes and dragged his fingers through his hair. “I’ve already told you multiple times that—”
“That’s all you’ve done. Talk. You’ve said many things but none of them can truly impart your guilt or your innocence.”
“I’m not following you.”
“Why do you think I asked you to come to her funeral?” Her eyes swelled with tears. “It was a private affair so we didn’t have to worry about any interruptions. There were no cameras or reporters to ruin and cheapen the event. Only a very few close family members and friends. That’s all that was there, Micah.”
“I had no respects to pay to Nascha. None at all.” He cut the air with his hand.
“You say things like this and you don’t consider my feelings.” Her fingers had curled into a fist. She stood before him, glorious in the rose bloom rage that encapsulated her body. A tear flowed on her left cheek. The blue eye reminded him of sparkling crystal. “Nascha Dubois was my friend, Micah. Despite how you perceive her, she was the one who helped me get to the place where I was in the industry. She called in favors, she gave me tips, she connected me. I would not have gotten that far if it wasn’t for her. Due to her influence, even when I left, I was able to start my business because of it.”
“You didn’t need her! Savannah, you’re beautiful.” Every time I look at you, I find something more lovely about you, he almost added. “You didn’t need her for anything. She just made you think that.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then what, pray tell, is the point? God Almighty knows I am sick to death of that woman. She’s dead for Pete’s sakes. Why does she still hold sway to what’s between us?”
Why can’t she just die already?
“Because you didn’t come to her gravesite. That proved your guilt more than anything else!”
The words slashed through him with the sharp edge of a knife. “What—what—do you mean?”
Even as he asked the question, he could almost hear the answer.
“I reached out to you because I was having doubts. Doubts about what Nascha was saying.” A strained expression hardened her features and she wiped angrily at her cheeks. “Although I had seen the damage inflicted on her, I started to have second thoughts. They weren’t grounded in anything concrete. Just a…feeling.”
Micah felt a cold wind sweep through him. “You had doubts?” It was the first time he’d heard of this.
She nodded and turned a little away from him. “When I wrote that letter to you, I knew you’d read it. I hadhoped youwould read the message between the linesbefore you tossed it in the garbage. I was trying to tell youon paper what I couldn’t face to face. But I knew that if you’d come, if you took the time to get on a plane, then I would know you had nothing to do with it.”
He hadn’t thrown awayherletter. He wanted to but in a dash of insanity, he kept the letter in one of his college medical texts.
“I waited for hours, Micah. When the grave diggers started putting her in the ground, I went away to let them do their good work and then I came back and waited some more. I was trying to hold on to this feeling that once you arrived, everything would be all right. We’d stand side by side in front of her tombstone and we’d be able to work this out. Your presence, simply being there at the most difficult time in my life, would have been what I needed to know you had nothing to do with Nascha’s desire to commit suicide.”
Micah breathed in and out of his nose. His back had tightened in almost painful realization. There was a strange kind of logic to her words. He’d always patted himself on the back that when it came to admitting his love for Savannah, there wasn’t anything wrong with throwing his pride out the window.
But what about when someone had hurt him like Nascha? When someone went out of their way to destroy you? When death had taken her, he hadn’t reacted with humility or remorse. He’d responded with unadulterated satisfaction. Joy, in fact.
Shame crawled over him. He knew his scriptures: But I say: Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way you will be acting as true sons of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust too.
The last thinghefelt forNaschawas love. If anything,he gotto the point wherehe was very close to hating her. There had been real fear Naschacould have made him lose his license for somethinghehad never done. Her death had made it all go away.
The more he thought about it, a bit of his self-righteous bluster left. Hadn’t Tisha and Connie told him how much Savannah had suffered? A breakdown. His woman had had a breakdown.
Was he so wrapped up in his own heartache, he neglected Savannah’s?
“But when you didn’t show up,” she sighed out, pulling the end of her braid, “when you stayed away, I knew. That’s why I said nothing you can say would change my mind.”
Now that he saw it from her point of view, he couldn’t blame her.
He’d gone about thisthewrongway. So very wrong.
The phone buzzed in his coat pocket. He thought about ignoring it, but then wondered who could possibly be calling him at this hour of the night. It was about three-thirty in the morning.
When he glanced at the caller ID, he frowned. He turned a little ways from Savannah. “What is it, Tabitha? Why are you calling me so late at night? Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“Dr. Reddington, I’m sorry to call you so late but I couldn’t not tell you. You need to come back home. Now.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Tabitha, what do you mean I have to come back home now? I told you I’d be back in about a week or
so.”
Savannah wiped the dry salt residue from her face and listened unashamedly to Micah’s end of the conversation.
“Who came to see me?” There was a fierce frown darkening his face. What could be giving him that look?
Forget about the phone conversation. Who in the world was Tabitha?
Savannah remembered the first day Micah came, he had made the stray comment about lipstick. She had dismissed her thoughts about him having a woman. After all, it was no business of hers. And although he had not revealed whether he had any love interests after her, it didn’t mean he’d been a monk, either.
Three days ago, it would not have mattered. But now, the seething question took control of every thought. She had the right to probe into his past dalliances with women. They were engaged, weren’t they?
Oh, wait. They weren’t. She had just thrown his proposal, which she accepted on the other side of the door,in his face. Therefore, she had no right to pry into his personal life.
Savannah reigned her thoughts back in as she tried to hear more of the conversation. Micah had little to say. The only thing she could tell was that whatever he was listening to made his amber eyes wide as dinner plates. His skin blanched and brought out the red freckles.
“When did all of this happen?” Micah asked Tabitha.
Savannah folded her arms and glanced at the window to Liliana’s room to meet the twin glares of Tisha and Connie. She mouthed the words, “Did you pray?”
They nodded like reluctant children. The nurse who had been watching them gave Savannah the thumbs up sign.
How could someone be so interested in another person’s life? Savannah shook her head.
Turning back to Micah, she caught him in a distracted stare focused on her. The phone remained glued to his ear and she could make out a little bit of the woman’s voice tinged with hysteria.
Who is Tabitha? Savannah thought again, angrily.
No, stop wondering about it. It is no longer any concern of yours.
Like heck it isn’t, another part of her shouted. You can lie to yourself all you want to, but can’t ignore the truth.
What was the truth then?
Savannah bit her lip as Micah turned a little away from her.
The truth was that she loved Micah Reddington. Like any jealous woman, the idea of the man she cared about with her whole heart giving his heart to someone else raised a line ofhackles down her back. It couldn’t be another woman. He had asked her to marry him, didn’t he? Micah wasn’t the kind of man to propose marriage to one woman while pursuing a relationship with another.
But he had changed over the years they’d been apart. The scandal had proven to completely morph him into an almost stranger.
Yet, this early morning proposal showed the glimmer of the man he once was. The one who loved her endlessly.
Why had she told him all those things?
“Tabby, there’s gotta be more to this than what you’re telling me.”
What was Tabitha telling him? Was she pregnant perhaps? No! Micah had made it clear to her when they dated he wouldn’t want to be in any position to father a child without the banner of his name and the legality of marriage.
What was wrong with her? Didn’t she tell him that nothing he could say would change her mind about his guilt?
“What would it take to prove my innocence?” His words echoed back in her mind.
Savannah glanced back her friends but they’d gone to sit in the chairs in the room. Their faces were hidden in dim light but she knew without a shadow of a doubt, Tish and Connie’s gazes were locked on her.
When she told Micah the reason for why she invited him to Nascha’sfuneral, a subtle change hadcomeover him. His eyes had lost the belligerent look andhe grew more thoughtful. Had anything she said penetrated his skull?
Had anything he said penetrated her skull?
After all, he was here in a supportive capacity. Dr. Yamaguchi and the other personnel of the burn unit were sterling examples of their profession. They, with the help of God, had brought back her niece from the brink of death. Liliana was cared for with the highest regard to her comfort and condition.
There wasn’t any reason for him to be by her side.
Savannah spread her hands out before her. She chanced a glance at Micah to see that he’d moved a few feet away. He spoke in low tones, too low for her to hear. By any stretch of the imagination, she had no business being in the hall. A slight sound at the window withdrew her contemplation from her knuckles to see Tisha and Connie gesturing in no uncertain terms to come into the room where they could give her the lambasting she was sure she deserved.
Savannah turned her head away. No, she wanted to stay with Micah.
A bolt went down her back. Was it really that simple? After all the hurt, the pain, the tears, and bitterness, she wanted to stay with Micah.
Her heart thumped inside her ribcage. When he hadn’t shown up at Nascha’s funeral, she’d taken his absence as sign of guilt. But she wasn’t being fair. If Nascha had indeed lied about him, as he constantly reiterated, going to the funeral would have been more than most people, even she herself, could take.
Micah had pride. She knew that. But he also had a human heart. A heart which was as flawed and conflicted as anyone else’s. His absence could have easily meant he was free of wrongdoing. Staying awaywould have been the best thing hecould do.
Why were all these strange new ideas coming to mind now? Was it because hewasstill engrossed in conversation with Tabitha?
Savannah dropped her hands to her side. In this moment, the memory of her selfishness haunted her. He did have a life she’d taken him from. He had to go back to her.
But what about being his bride? That brought her up short. Yes, what about it?
“Savannah?”
She came out of her muddied thoughts to see Micah before her. “Yes?”
“I have to go.”
Some part of her expected to hear him say those words. Hearing it confirmed sent her into a panic.
Micah couldn’t leave. Liliana was still on that machine. She needed his comfort.
What about all those noble thoughts about letting him go back to his life? a nasty voice shouted at her.
Lies. All of it lies.
She didn’t want him to leave. Not now…or ever.
“Why do you have to go?”
His eyes slid away from her. A muscle clenched in his jaw. “I can’t say.”
A cold, harsh wind brushed her skin. “You can’t say? Why is that?”
He turned back to her. “I’ve got my reasons why. I want to keep it to myself.”
“Do you?” She couldn’t keep the bite out of her voice.
“Why are you talking to me in that tone?”
“What tone? I’m just curious is all.” Could he tell she was doing the very best she could not to beg him to stay?
“You sounded like you were upset.”
“I’m not upset at all,” she lied, working to keep her tone amiable and nonchalant.
Why are you lying? Just ask him not to go.
“I see,” he said. He rubbed at his forehead as if to rid it of some stain. “I think we’ve said all we need to say to each other.”
“Yes, we’ve said all we had to say.” He would know she rejected his marriage proposal. That she still found him guilty. Why would any man stay under those circumstances?
“Well then, I guess this is goodbye then.” He shoved his phone into his inner jacket pocket. “Bye, Savannah.”
She smiled. Her lips stretched beyond the point of elasticity.
“Don’t go.”
Micah started and his eyebrows rose into his hair line. She’d been so determined to show off an air of indifference that it took a few seconds for her to grasp those two little words had come from her.
“Savannah?”
“Don’t go, Micah.”
He stuffed his hand into his pockets. “Why don’t you want me to go?”
�
�I need you here with me and Liliana.”
He made a harsh sound. “Liliana is under the finest care in the world. She’ll be all right.”
“I still want you here with me.” Her lips hurt from the false smile on them.
“I told you I have to leave now. I can’t just hang around here anymore like a fifth wheel.”
You’re not just hanging around here. You’re my rock, my help. I can’t deal with this by myself.
“Who is Tabitha?”
Savannah wished she could take back the question as soon as it left her mouth. Why did she have to go and say that?’
“Why do you want to know? You’ve made it clear how things are between us. You can’t trust me and you don’t love me. All you want is me at your beck and call, like a good little puppy.” Micah’s voice held venom.
“That’s not true at all. I was just curious. And I don’t see you in that light.”
Was that how he perceived things? A man to dance to her whim?
“Give my regards to everyone. I’ll call my parents and tell them I have to go.”
He whirled on a foot and walked down the hall. With each step he took, she shook with the urge to call him to her. Finally, she pressed her lips together to keep from uttering the words. Soon, he blurred from vision as he turned the corner and out of sight.
The door to Liliana’s room opened. “In here. Now.”
***
A matter of national security.
Micah moved around in the hotel room, befuddled by the events of the past few hours. Of all things, Tabitha’s call ranked among one of the oddest he’d ever had.
“Two women came into the office today. They were from the FBI. They made it clear your presence was required on behalf of the U. S. government.”
What in the world could the U. S. government want with him?
Micah finished packing his suitcase and zipped it up. He paid his taxes all the time. He’d never been one of those people who tried to get around the law. His father once remarked, “Al Capone killed a bunch of folks in his time. When he finally was sentenced to imprisonment, it was because of taxes.” In the same vein of thought, he kept his business legitimate and solid. No underground procedures for him. Nor did he even prescribe to that school of thought.
The Cure (A Michigan Sweet Romance #1) Page 14