by Melody Eve
Inside, the music plays low, and there are several empty tables available. It’s the middle of the week, and as far as going out drinking goes, it’s still early. I sit and wait, my anticipation building steadily. How is he going to explain being committed to a mental hospital for such a long time? I don’t actually have any proof that happened. David only brought me a photograph of Roman and Millie on their wedding day. He didn’t have any papers saying Roman had been hospitalized. David probably read that in an old tabloid in the archives of the library.
“Aria.” His husky voice speaking my name causes a shiver to race up my spine. It’s been less than a day, and I already miss him.
“Hi, thanks for coming.” His expression is one of hurt.
“Of course, I would come, from anywhere, anytime, day or night.”
A waitress approaches our table. “What can I get for you two tonight?” she asks Roman directly even though she’s acknowledged there are two of us at this table. It’s clear that only one matters to her.
“I’ll just have a draw, Aria?”
“Water is fine, thanks.” The flirtatious waitress walks away swaying her thick hips, but it’s all for naught. Roman’s eyes are on me and only me.
“I had a visitor tonight,” I say at the same time he says, “I heard you spoke to Leeza.” We smile, and he says, “You first.”
“Thank you. So, David paid me an unexpected visit tonight.”
Roman’s brow furrows deep, and the muscles in his jaw tighten.
“What did old lover boy have to say this time? More denial stories about the photos of him and Lynn?”
“No, but he did bring a photo.” I watch a bit of the color in his cheeks fade.
“Oh really? What of?” He leans back, and the fluorescent pink light overhead plays havoc with his hair making it look like it’s on fire.
“You and your wife on your wedding day.” I just put it out there, no buffer, no padding.
“I see. And he thought it important to show you that, why?”
“Really? You’re seriously asking me that?”
“I don’t see what it has to do with us.”
“It has everything to do with us. Your deceased wife looks like my twin sister.”
“You both have some similarities, I’ll admit, but come on, everybody has a type, don’t they? Mine have blonde hair and , what of it?”
I lean forward and cross my arms on the table. “You know it’s more than that. I used that same line on David to shut him up. It worked with him, but I’m smarter than he is.”
“Damn right you are,” he murmurs under his breath.
“He also told me you were committed into a mental hospital for two years when you were younger. What was that all about?”
His scowl deepens, and he leans forward again so our conversation is more private. “You spoke to my sister, isn’t it obvious?”
“If it were, I wouldn’t have asked you now.”
“I lost my father, my wife, and my unborn child within months of each other. I became depressed and eventually suicidal. My mother and Leeza got me the help I needed, which, by the way, only took six months. I don’t know where the hell he got his information, but it’s not accurate.”
“You tried to kill yourself?” He winces.
“I was overwhelmed with grief and guilt. It was my fault Millie and the baby died. If I had changed that damn lightbulb when she asked me to, she wouldn’t have been doing it when I was out of town. I didn’t keep her safe. I failed at being a husband and a father. They were the only thing keeping me going after my dad died. The promise of a new life, a baby, a daughter to raise as my father had raised me. And then it was all gone in a blink. I wanted to go with them, my heart ached so badly to see my baby girl.”
As if a faucet were turned on, tears are flowing down our faces. The pain he endured all at once was so much that he wanted to join his family in death. I can’t say I wouldn’t have wanted the same.
He reaches across the table and takes my hands in his. “That was the lowest part of my life. I’m better now, it was situational. I don’t suffer from depression anymore. I simply needed help getting through that time, and I’m not ashamed of it.”
Our drinks arrive, and we hardly look at the waitress. She doesn’t say a word, just sets his beer and my water down and walks away.
“Of course not, you shouldn’t be. I’m grateful your mother and sister saw what was going on and took action. A lot of families wouldn’t have done that.”
“Those women are my rock. And as far as the similarities between you and Millie, I will admit that was why I fell for you. But once I started watching you, learning your likes and dislikes from afar, that’s what sealed the deal for me. I loved your giving spirit, your honesty, the way you smile at every customer, even the ones you know can’t afford to buy a book. You’re the only woman I ever want to be with. I took one look at you, and I knew God had given me a second chance. He was rewarding me for not giving up after Millie and the baby died. I knew if I was patient and waited for you, I would eventually get my chance. And here you are.”
I tip my head back and try to blink back the tears, but it’s hopeless. Roman drops my hands and tosses a fifty on the table. “Come on. I’m taking you home.” He rounds the table and helps me to stand, but I sway and fall into his arms. “Aria? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I’m dizzy, and my head has been hurting more and more often.” It’s hard to see out of one eye, so I close it. He scoops me up into his arms and carries me out of the bar. The few people populating the place stare, and I swear a woman fans herself like this is the most romantic thing she’s ever seen. I want to tell her I feel like someone is stabbing my head with an ice pick and this is far from romantic, but we are out the door in seconds.
Roman puts me in the front seat of a Lexus SUV and buckles my seat belt. “Do you want to recline?”
“Yes, please, just a little.” He moves the seat with a button, and I close both eyes. The hospital isn’t far, and we’re there in less than thirty minutes. He pulls up to the emergency room entrance and carries me inside ignoring a security officer’s offer of a wheelchair.
“She had a brain injury about ten days ago. Her headaches have become more severe and more frequent, and tonight she had a bout of dizziness,” he rambles off my symptoms to the person at the desk.
“You can put her in a wheelchair, sir, and wait in the waiting room. Someone will be with you in a moment.”
“She could be having a stroke. If you don’t treat her immediately, she could have extensive and permanent brain damage.” He leans toward her and whispers, “I am Roman Forrest. I donated the money to build your new mental health wing a year ago. If you don’t get somebody out here to take care of her right now, I swear to God, I’ll ruin this hospital in the media.”
An older nurse with a blonde no-nonsense haircut and glasses appears from a small triage room directly behind the desk. “Yes sir, right away, Mr. Forrest. Just bring her back here,” she says waving us behind the desk. The older nurse glares at the receptionist, and I want to burst into flames of embarrassment that Roman has thrown his weight around for me like that for a headache.
I’m in too much pain to complain, though, and I let the team of professionals converge on me. The doctor arrives within minutes, and Roman is filling him in on my fall in the shower, how long I was unconscious, my stitches, the tests they ran in Mexico, and on and on until it all sounds like the teacher on the Peanut’s show. Wah, wah, wah.
The staff draws my blood, examines my head, I go for another scan of my brain, and finally we are left alone in a room for a moment. I reach out and take his hand through the bars of the gurney I’ve been placed on. “Stop bullying the staff. It’s probably just a migraine headache.”
“Have you had migraines before?”
“Not like this.”
“Then hush and let me do my thing.”
“It’s not fair to the other people who were wai
ting.”
“Maybe not, but I’m not going to let you die sitting in a waiting room to be fair.”
He’s afraid I’ll die. Now it makes sense. Of course, he would do whatever it takes to make sure I’m all right. I am his second chance.
“I’m not going to die. I think I’ve been overdoing it since the accident. I’ll take it easy now that I’m home.”
“You’re damn right you will. I’m taking you home with me when we leave here. I don’t want you out of my sight. I also don’t want that ex of yours showing up at your apartment again trying to discredit me. How dare he go looking into my past. He’s a meddling fool. If he doesn’t leave us alone, I’ll sue him for everything he’s worth, which isn’t much by the way.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean he lives way beyond his means. One wrong slip on the field, and the two of you would have been bankrupt. He spends his money faster than he earns it. Your whole wedding was paid for by credit cards. Didn’t he share any of this with you?”
“No, we had separate finances. I assumed he was doing okay because of the way he spent money like it was growing on trees.”
He gives me a disapproving look. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m just glad I was watching out for you. He was leading you down a road of ruin.”
“Thank you.” I squeeze his hand.
“For what?”
“For everything, keeping an eye out for me, saving me from a miserable two weeks of drowning my sorrows in Cancun, remodeling my apartment,” I say that last bit about my apartment with a wry smile. “Is that why you wanted to take me to London?”
“Yes, partially. I wanted you to see London, but I wanted you to meet my mother and sister, too.”
There’s a gentle knock on the door, and a female doctor steps inside. “Ms. Savage?” she asks.
“Yes.” I try to sit up, but she shakes her head.
“No, you stay down, that’s fine. I’m Dr. Savanah Blade, one of the ER doctors on staff here. I’d like to discuss your test results. Is it okay to go ahead or would you like your friend to leave the room?” she adds quickly, directing her comment to Roman as if it’s an apology. “I’m required to ask.”
“He can stay,” I say.
“All right. Your MRI shows recent trauma consistent to the injury you received in Mexico. Brain injuries are not to be taken lightly. Your recent headaches and dizziness are occurring as a result of stress. You should have been put on bedrest for two weeks minimum when the accident occurred. I understand you traveled overseas and back since then?”
“Yes.” I feel so stupid now. This doctor is making it sound much more serious than I had been lead to believe.
“That’s likely why you’re having trouble now. There are no brain bleeds or evidence of further damage, but you’ll need to stay off your feet for a week. If you don’t think you can do that, I can admit you to the hospital here where we can make sure you rest.”
“No. She can come home with me. I will look after her full time for a week and make sure she never sets a foot off the bed,” Roman says with steely confidence.
I don’t miss the glint in Dr. Blade’s eye after Roman’s statement. She’s too professional to let on, but I know what she’s thinking. I wish he would trap me in bed for a week too.
“Is that all right with you, Ms. Savage?”
“Aria, please, and yes, that’s fine.”
“Okay. I don’t see any reason to keep you any longer. I’ll refill your prescription for pain medication, and you can go home. I want you to follow up with our neurologist in a week. This is his card, the phone number to make an appointment is on the back.”
“Thank you very much, doctor,” Roman says taking the card from her.
“The nurse will be in soon to give you your discharge instructions. Take care.”
“Thank you,” I say, and she’s out the door.
“See, I’m not going to die.”
“I shouldn’t have taken you to London. I thought it would be relaxing.”
He’s beating himself up for taking me on a dream vacation. “Stop, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m fine, take me home.” I reach up and cup his cheek bringing him down to kiss me.
Half an hour later, we are pulling away from the hospital when I realize I have no idea where he lives. “Do you live in the city?”
“I have an apartment here for late nights, but no, I live an hour away in Lake Forrest.”
“Lake Forrest, but of course.”
He smiles. “It was a coincidence. My father bought the house twenty years ago. We all live there together when Mom and Leeza are home. Don’t worry, though, there’s plenty of room for everyone.”
“Are they home already, too?”
“They should be soon. They took my jet.”
“How did you get here so fast then?”
“I was on the same flight with you. I sat eleven rows behind you.”
“You what? But… I never saw you.”
“I wore casual clothes and a baseball hat. I didn’t want to upset you, but I couldn’t let you go all the way home alone. It was a brutal flight. Don’t ever run away from me again and make me sit in coach with screaming babies and smelly people. I don’t know how you sat next to that lady and her child all those hours. That’s probably why your head is worse.”
He was sitting behind me the whole time. “You’re unbelievable. How close have you been following me for the past six years?”
“Not that close. You’re easy to keep track of. You have a very set schedule. You go to work and home most days and, on the weekend, you stay in. It wasn’t until you started planning your wedding that it got more difficult. That’s how I knew you were engaged, that and the cheesy proposal via big screen at a Cubs game,” he scoffs and rolls his eyes.
It’s true, the proposal was far from original. It was just David’s style to do it in a very public, flashy way that made him look like a big hero. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he weren’t the star player for the Cubs. He’s a show-off.
“You kept track of David’s and my finances, followed me places, kept my landlord in your pocket. Should I be worried about secret cameras in my apartment or private photographs taken when I wasn’t aware?”
“I wouldn’t invade your privacy like that.” He sounds appalled, but I think it’s a pretty legit question to be asking considering the circumstances.
“I had to ask, sorry.” We ride alone in silence for a while me watching the familiar sights of my hometown go by, him staring straight ahead before he breaks the silence.
“Are you angry with me for what I’ve done?”
I turn to face him, and he keeps his eyes on the road. “To be honest, I don’t know how to feel about it. These are the things I do know, though. One, I love you, and it’s not like the love I thought I had for David. It’s real and substantial, and it has meat and depth and chemistry to it. Two, you love me, too. It may have started out weird and obsessive, but now that we are in each other’s lives, it’s genuine. Three, you always have my best interests at heart from my personal safety to my finances, to my emotional well-being. You only want what’s best for me, and I am lucky to have you.”
He lets out a breath he must have been holding and reaches out for my hand raising it to kiss my knuckles. “Thank you for understanding. I was worried you might think I was crazy and leave me when you found out the truth.”
“Oh, I still think you’re crazy all right, but I’m not going anywhere. Screw what people think, my rebound relationship is going to last.”
He chuckles and kisses my hand again.
I’ve never been surer of anything in my life than I am of us in this moment. We will last forever, just him and I.
The End
For more of Roman and Aria’s story, watch for the second book in my duet coming soon!
Acknowledgments
I would like to start out by thanking my family for being my greatest supporters. I couldn�
��t do this without your patience and love. You’re the best. I love every one of you.
To Sarah at Social Butterfly PR, thank you for supporting me during this first release. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without you. Knowing that you were always right there ready to answer my many, many, questions made this process less stressful. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you better during our long phone chats and I look forward to working with you more in the future.
To Nicki at Booktique Editing, thank you for being patient and thorough with me and my manuscript. You make the editing process a breeze and that’s saying something! I look forward to working with you on my next book.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Shannon, at Shanoff Designs! My cover is absolute perfection. It conveys the feel of my book better than I could have ever imagined, I love it! I’m excited to see what you have in store for the cover of book number two in my duet!
And a big thank you to the lovely ladies who have been kind enough to take a chance on an unknown author by joining my reader’s group, Melody’s Boudoir! I hope to watch this group grow as I release more books for you to drool over.
About the Author
Melody Eve began writing as a hobby in 2014 and slowly learned that weaving stories and creating characters was addictive. Now, after writing for years under other pen names for other people she has decided to write from the heart for herself.
Melody is a tender hearted compassionate woman who would like nothing more than to give every person she meets a happily ever after. Since that’s not possible in real life she does it through her stories.
Stay up to date with Melody by joining her mailing list here.