“What is it?” Natalie asked, putting her hand on his knees. His eyes flicked down at her touch. “Did you guys meet with the doctor?”
Derek nodded. “He said when swelling went down enough, he’d toggle back on the sedation medication and start to wake him up.”
She clapped her hands together. “That’s wonderful news! He’ll be awake soon.”
“What do you think will happen then?” His voice had lost its hard edge as hope started to creep in. “You saw what happened the last time he laid his eyes on me.”
She didn’t respond, didn’t want to recall the resentment between father and son, the years of indifference exposed with all its ugliness in a few minutes. She’d been a witness to emotional pain that had nothing to do with her, yet now she was entwined in it.
“He would have thrown me out of his office if he could.”
She looked at him, ignoring the doubt in his eyes, preferring to deal in truth.
“You didn’t give him a chance.”
He stared at her. “What did you expect me to do, Natalie?”
“Talk to him, Derek,” she said gently. “Just talk to him.”
His biceps curled around his knees even tighter. “You can’t talk to a closed door,” he muttered stubbornly.
“Or a closed heart,” she replied as she sat up, clutching the blanket around her own bent knees.
Derek dropped his arms. “But what if he opens his eyes and he sees the same person? What then?” he asked, sounding defeated.
“You have to show him you’re different. That you’re trying.”
“But how?” he challenged.
“Just by being there.”
Derek nodded and fell silent, seeming to weigh and measure her words. Her advice was matter-of-fact, but his entire future lay within those words.
A bird chirped nearby, punctuating the lush stillness of the room.
His head tilted up. “It’s almost sunrise.”
She lay back down and turned her head toward the window.
The sky had begun to shed its stars for a faint hue of pink, yet there was still a little night left. A little more time for the two of them.
She opened the blanket, exposing her nakedness, inviting him into her need.
He stared longingly at her body, and her skin tingled and puckered in all the places his eyes roamed.
“Come on in, where it’s warm.”
Where I can pretend you will be forever.
Could he feel her love for him in her eyes?
He slipped off his shoes, then his socks, and she marveled silently at the enormity of his muscled feet. Wordlessly, he lifted his shirt up and over his arms, then slid his pants and underwear off. His desire for her reared forth, blameless and beautiful.
He lay beside her and nestled his face in her neck, molded his body to hers, as the emotions he’d held in all day finally found a place for release.
She hardly knew Derek, but was content with discovering him, as he was discovering himself. So she stroked his hair, the curves of her neck wet, and hoped her gentle touch would speak the words she longed to say.
You belong here.
With me.
At least for now.
And she held him as night turned into day.
Chapter 11
Late that morning, Natalie woke to the wail of sirens and no sign of Derek. Panic laced through her as she threw off the blanket and stood at the window. A police car sped past Belle Amour and stopped at another home a few doors down the street.
She sighed in relief, grateful for the wake-up call and that Derek wasn’t hurt. She looked around the room and noticed his clothes were gone. Where was he?
Although they hadn’t made love last night, the intimacy that transpired between them was just as magical. The sunlight flowed through the windows and heated her face, while at the same time mocked her desire to grasp and hold on to everything that had happened between them. To keep him near her.
Yet she knew Derek was like a dream that you wake up from and then try to sink back into its velvety pleasure, but it always escapes. Making you wonder if you even dreamed at all.
That was Derek. Sleek and sexy and independent. Always driving toward the goal, which most likely did not include her. She would do well to remember that.
Still, she quickly gathered everything and went down the stairs, hoping to catch him by surprise in the shower. But he wasn’t there, so she bathed alone and made a decision: she would leave for New York today. She was confident that Derek would take the next step and reconcile with his father. However she wasn’t so confident in her ability to prevent herself from falling deeper in love with Derek. So, she had to leave.
After dressing, she grabbed her suitcase and went downstairs.
She found Janet in the parlor, clipping coupons.
“Good morning! I’m late,” she lamented, waving one in her hand. “New ones come out in tomorrow’s paper and I still haven’t clipped the ones from last week.” She chuckled. “Guess I could use some of your time management advice.”
“As organized as I am, I never had the patience,” Natalie commented, entering the room.
“Wes and I save a ton of money every month when we use coupons. I clip and he pulls the carts and stocks everything. It’s a team effort.”
Natalie smiled. “Are they at the hospital?”
Janet nodded. “Wes got back around 6:00 a.m. He slept a few hours, showered, and they both left here about nine-thirty in the truck. Did the sirens wake you?”
Natalie nodded and sat on a Victorian settee, likely the same one Derek had slept on the first night they’d arrived.
“I’m so sorry. The Powells. They must have a faulty alarm system that goes haywire every couple of days. Are you hungry?”
Natalie started to decline the offer, but she was starving. “Yes, but I know I’m way past breakfast, so I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”
Janet slipped a wad of coupons into a purple appendix folder. “No trouble at all. I’ve got fresh-baked biscuits and the coffee is fresh-brewed.”
“But it’s almost time for lunch,” Natalie protested. “I don’t want to keep you.”
“Thankfully my red-hatted guests are all over at a local flea market today and won’t be back until tea time.” She stood and made her way to the kitchen. “Make yourself at home while I get you some breakfast.”
After she left, Natalie squirmed a little on the uncomfortable relic. The settee was so tiny. How had Derek fit, let alone sleep? She couldn’t sit five minutes in that thing, so she got up and started walking around the room.
The red-and-pink floral wallpaper was too formal and overwhelming for her taste. It made the room feel even more cramped. There were no pictures on the walls, except one, and it looked so woefully out of place that she gravitated toward it.
The frame was that cheap gold-plated style that chipped easily. She recognized Derek and the much slimmer version of Wes. The boys’ heads were tilted toward a pretty woman with an asymmetrical bob sitting in the middle. She assumed that was their mother. A much younger version of Pops stood behind, his hand on Derek’s shoulder.
While their poses were somewhat stiff, their smiles appeared to be genuine. They looked happy, but Natalie knew from experience how easy it was to fool the camera. She’d done it plenty of times.
Natalie turned as Janet entered the room. She set down a tray with coffee and muffins and walked over.
“Check out the high-top fades.”
Janet laughed. “Certainly a throwback to simpler times, or at least it seemed like it back when we were kids.”
“How old were they then?” she asked, pointing to Derek and Wes.
“In that picture, Wes is six and Derek is eight. Aren’t
they adorable?”
Natalie nodded her head in agreement. “They’re both so cute,” she exclaimed.
Of course, she favored Derek. His eyes had that innocent spark that few children seemed to have today.
“They look happy.”
Janet shrugged. “As happy as they could be growing up at Pinecrest. It’s cleaned up now, but it was rough around there in the ’80s and early ’90s.”
“I once knew someone who grew up there. The stories he told me gave me nightmares for a while.”
Natalie started to tell her about Jamal but then she’d have to go into how she became a psychologist and why she wasn’t one now.
It was bad enough that Janet had recognized her from her ice-skating days. She seemed to be the curious type, but not in a spiteful way, and Natalie thought that under different circumstances they would probably be friends.
Natalie turned toward the photo and studied Derek’s mom. What kind of woman would abandon her husband and two sons?
“She was pretty, wasn’t she?” Janet commented. “Too pretty for her own good.”
“What happened to her?”
Janet shrugged. “Pops and Wes don’t talk about her and I don’t ask.”
Natalie turned away, suddenly angry, and her heart went out to the three men whose lives had been devastated.
She sat and poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Was Wes affected by his mother’s abandonment?”
“It’s an interesting question,” Janet replied, refilling her mug. “I like to think that’s why he is such a good provider, why he takes care of me and enjoys doing it, because he wasn’t taken care of by his mother. It could have turned out worse.”
Natalie sipped her coffee. “Derek and Wes were very lucky.”
“It wasn’t luck,” Janet insisted. “It was good parenting. Pops is a good man.”
“How often do you see him?” she asked.
“He comes over every week for Sunday dinner. All the guests are gone by then, so it’s our time to unwind. He loves my roast turkey!”
“Does he ever ask about Derek? Talk about him?”
Janet hesitated as if she were unsure how much to reveal.
“No,” she said finally. “But every now and then he’ll look around the table like he knows it’s not complete without Derek.”
Natalie could empathize with Pops. Mealtimes were definitely better with family. She rarely ate at home, telling friends it was because she hated to clean. If you don’t cook, it’s really easy to keep the kitchen clean. And because they knew she was such a neat freak, they accepted her explanation.
But the real reason was that eating alone reminded her of all the nights she’d spent with her sitter instead of her parents. It reminded her of how alone she felt in the world.
She bit into her muffin and said a quick mental prayer for a speedy recovery for Pops and healing for the fractured Lansing family.
Janet’s phone vibrated. “Excuse me,” she said, quickly walking out of the room.
Natalie barely had time to swallow another bite of her muffin before Janet returned.
“That was Wes. Pops is waking up,” she said excitedly. “We’ve got to get to the hospital right away.”
Before Natalie could say anything, Janet had picked up the breakfast tray and walked into the kitchen.
“I was planning on going back to New York today,” she revealed.
Janet’s face fell. “Can you put it off a few hours? Derek wants you there.”
“He said that?” Natalie asked, not bothering to hide the surprise on her face.
“I didn’t speak to him directly, but Wes told me he did.” Janet paused and gave her a strange look. “Why do you find that so hard to believe?”
Natalie’s cheeks warmed under her inquisitive gaze. She’d forgotten that Janet was under the impression that she and Derek were together as a couple.
“I—I just figured Derek would only want his family around.”
“Honey, the way he looks at you, you’d think you were his wife. The man clearly adores you.”
Although Derek had told her he was falling hard for her, she wasn’t so sure that equated adoration.
Perhaps his feelings for her were merely the result of a set of circumstances: a romantic location, mutual lust that could not be ignored and spur-of-the-moment emotional need. All those things could be the beginnings of love, but could not sustain a long-term relationship.
“Look, he even left the key to his car,” Janet teased, dangling them in front of her. “Now that’s a man who is in love.”
On their way to the hospital, Janet yammered on and on about her “coupon wins,” but Natalie hardly heard a word. All she could think about was Derek. Sure he trusted her with his car, but would he trust her with his heart?
* * *
There was a yellow taxi waiting outside the hospital and Natalie wished she had the guts to hop in, even though it would cost her a small fortune to take it all the way back to New York. Quickly, she nixed the idea. She’d promised she would stay until he and his father were reunited and she would keep her word, no matter what the outcome would be for her and Derek.
Her stomach was in knots as she followed Janet to the neurological unit on the top floor. Pops was out of intensive care and in a regular room. When they entered, the two brothers were sitting, flanking their father’s hospital bed. A nurse was there, as well, checking vital signs.
Derek turned and his warm smile chased away her nerves. He stood, walked over and embraced her.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered, his lips brushing the most sensitive part of her earlobe.
She hugged him back, wondering if he could feel her shiver in his arms, before they returned to Derek’s place by the bed.
“How’s he doing?” Natalie asked, watching Pops. Although he was still asleep, every few seconds his fingers would grasp the blankets.
“Stable,” Wes said, accepting a kiss on the cheek from his wife. “The doctor said he would be waking up soon.”
The nurse took the blood pressure cuff from her patient’s arm and placed it back in the wire basket of the portable machine.
“His blood pressure is back within normal range,” the nurse commented in a starched tone. “He’ll be up and at ’em in no time.”
“Then we’re all in trouble.” Wes quipped. His wisecrack had everyone laughing, even the nurse.
“You guys have been wonderful,” Janet remarked. “I’m sure staying with him by his bedside for hours had something to do with his quick recovery.”
Derek waved her compliment aside. “We just did what needed to be done.” Natalie saw him meet Wes’s eyes. “We’re family.”
Wes cracked a smile. “It’s about time you realized that, man!” He squeezed Janet’s waist and she yelped. “It also helps to have two beautiful women at our sides, doesn’t it, bro?”
Derek draped one arm around Natalie and looked down into her eyes. “More than you’ll ever know,” he murmured.
Their gazes locked and for once she wasn’t uncomfortable with the fact that Wes and Janet were watching. She knew that the passion in his eyes wasn’t for show, it was for real.
Pops grunted and everyone held their breath as he slowly turned toward Wes and opened his eyes.
He blinked. “Wes?”
Wes took his hand. “Yeah, Pops. I’m here.”
He stared for a moment. “Where am I?”
“In the hospital,” Wes replied.
“You fell in the parking lot of the high school,” Janet added. “You gave us a pretty bad scare, but you’re doing good now.”
“Tell that to my head,” he rasped weakly. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.” Moments later he turned his face toward D
erek and his eyes widened.
“Hey, Pops.”
His father started to lift his hand, but then took notice of the IV taped to the top of it. Derek reached over and gently squeezed his fingers, his lips curving into a half smile when his father squeezed back.
Pops looked him up and down. “How tall are you now?”
“Six-six,” Derek responded proudly.
Pops mustered a low whistle. “Sit down. I’m likely to break my neck looking at you from this angle.”
His smile faded at his father’s gruff tone, but he obliged and pulled the chair alongside the bed, somehow managing to not crush his knees.
Natalie held her breath as both men remained silent, each one likely waiting for the other to make the first move toward reconciliation.
Pops spoke first. “I guess I can’t slam the door in your face now, huh?”
The gruffness in his voice was still there, but it was softer and more round, and suddenly Natalie realized he was holding back tears.
Derek noticed, too, and gave him a worried smile. “You had every right. I’ve been such a jerk all these years.”
Pops made a face and shook his head. “A father’s supposed to set an example, not act like a child.” A deep sigh rattled out of his chest. “No, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, too. More than I care to admit.”
As he looked at his sons, he held out his other hand, and Wes took it. “But you both turned out to be fine young men, so I guess I did something right.”
“You did more than do things right,” Derek insisted, and Natalie could see the love he had for his father in his eyes. “You’re the reason I’m where I am today.”
Pops ran his tongue over his dry lips and cracked a grin. “Imagine that. Even though I can’t shoot a free throw to save my life.”
Derek put his hand on his father’s shoulder. “Then I’ll teach you.”
“That’s going to take a while,” he replied, looking doubtful. “How long are you here for?”
“As long as you need me,” Derek responded. There was a long pause, and Natalie said a mental prayer. “I want my family back...that is, if you’ll have me.”
Pops opened his arms and his eyes twinkled. “You’re not too big to give your old man a hug, are you?”
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