by K. M. Scott
He answered a few seconds later, and in the background I heard music playing. “Hey, Dad! Did you forget Summer and I are on vacation?”
Not even bothering to answer his question, I said, “Ethan, your mother is in the hospital. I don’t know what’s wrong. We just got here.”
I hesitated to say what I wanted to say next—that he should get there as soon as he could. I didn’t want to think I needed to mention that, but what if I didn’t? I’d never forgive myself if the worst happened and my son never got to see his mother again before she…
“What? When?”
“She’s at New York Regional near the house. I have to call your sisters. Please come now.”
“Dad, what are you saying?” Ethan asked with utter fear filling his voice.
“Now, Ethan. Please.”
“Okay, Dad. We’re leaving right now. I’ll get there as soon as I can. Tell Mom I’m coming, okay? Make sure you tell her, Dad. Make sure.”
I hated hearing that kind of fear in Ethan. He hadn’t sounded like that since he was a little boy and we wouldn’t let him see Diana because she was so sick. Now he sounded the same way, and just like that night, it broke my heart.
“I have to call your sisters, son. I’ll see you soon.”
He didn’t answer, so I told my phone to call Tressa. Since Killian was away on his work trip, she’d still likely be working in the office. I called her cell anyway so I didn’t have to call more than one number.
She answered and with a chuckle said, “Dad, I thought you and Mom had a date night tonight. I’m guessing this is why she thinks you have to do that in the first place since you shouldn’t be thinking about work and should be focusing on her.”
“Tressa, your mother’s in the hospital. New York Regional near the house. They took her into the ER a few minutes ago after we rode together in the ambulance here. Whatever you’re doing, I want you to come.” I took a breath and added, “Right now, honey.”
“Dad, what do you mean? Why would Mom be in the hospital? What happened?” she asked, sounding more like a frightened little girl than my grown daughter.
“I don’t know, Tressa. We had dinner and everything was fine. She said she needed to run upstairs for a minute, and then I found her on the stairs. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t say much, but she said she thought it was allergies. I don’t know. Then just before we left the house, she closed her eyes and…”
“Dad, I’m leaving work right now. I’ll be there as fast as my car can get me there. She’s going to be okay. Don’t worry. Mom’s strong. Don’t forget that. I’ll see you in a few minutes, Dad, okay?”
“Okay. I have to call your sister,” I said, not knowing why I mentioned that since it didn’t really need to be said.
“Go call her and I’ll be right there. Mom’s going to be okay,” Tressa said, trying to calm the panic in her voice but failing.
I ended the call and told my phone to call Diana. Of all the kids, she was the one I worried about the most.
“Daddy, why are you calling me? What happened to date night?” she asked innocently.
“Diana, honey, something’s happened. It’s all going to be okay, so I don’t want you to worry. Your mother is in the hospital near the house. I want you to come up, okay, honey?”
Without her saying a word, I sensed her terror. Maybe I shouldn’t have told the kids to come quickly. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I was wrong and they didn’t get a chance to see their mother.
“Daddy, what are you saying? Is Mommy going to be all right? Why is she in the hospital?” Diana asked, her voice shaking.
“It’s going to be okay. I just want you to come to the hospital, honey?” I said in the best steady voice I could muster.
But it didn’t work. She began to cry. “Daddy, what’s going on? Why is she in the hospital?”
With tears in my eyes, I told her what I knew. “We had a wonderful dinner, and we were about to have the peach cobbler she baked for dessert. She ran upstairs for a minute, and then I heard a noise and found her lying on the landing having a hard time breathing. I called the ambulance and they rushed her here. She’s getting the best care around, so just come. I’m sure everything is going to be fine, but I want my kids around me while we wait to see what the doctors say.”
“Okay, Daddy. I’m leaving right now. But Ethan’s on vacation with Summer. What about them?”
“I called him. He’s on his way. I’ll see you in a little while, sweetheart.”
“I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”
“Good. I’ll see you soon, honey.”
I ended the call and stood on the sidewalk unsure where the hell I was. I’d been walking as I spoke to the kids, and now I realized I’d wandered all the way to the front of the hospital.
Hurrying back to the ER, I looked around unsure who to talk to. With three children, I’d been to this hospital more times than I cared to remember, but now I didn’t seem to know where to go or what to do.
Staff rushed by me as I stood near the nurses’ station waiting to speak to someone about Nina’s condition. A man with a bloody arm from what looked like a gunshot wound raced past me, followed by three woman and a man who pulled a sheet in front of him to create the makeshift hospital room for the man in the ER. My mind travelled back to when I was shot all those years ago, and I wondered what the circumstances of his accident were. Who shot him? Why? Was he in shock? Of course, he was in shock. He had to be.
My mind drifted back to Nina, and some part of my brain reminded me of what Tressa said. Nina was strong. She probably just needed some medicine. Maybe a shot. They gave shots for allergic reactions, didn’t they? She was probably right when she thought it was allergies. She was just having an allergic reaction, and she’d be fine when they gave her a shot.
Then some other part of my brain woke up and reality set in. What the hell was wrong with her? I’d never seen her like that. That was no allergy attack. Pollen didn’t do that to a person.
She couldn’t die. I couldn’t do this without her. I couldn’t live without her.
“Mr. Stone?” I heard a male voice ask, and I turned to see a man about my height with silver hair and faded blue eyes looking at me.
“Yes. My wife was brought in by ambulance a little while ago. I was trying to find out where she is,” I said, partially lying since all I’d done since I entered the ER was get lost in my head.
He extended his hand as he explained who he was. “I’m Dr. Rankin. I’m the physician attending to your wife. Mr. Stone, we examined her to find out if this episode is indeed an allergic reaction, as you told the paramedics, but her breathing is still in distress, and her vital signs are alarming. We need to get your wife stable, first and foremost.”
“She isn’t having an allergy attack?” I asked as my hopes that this could all be solved easily began to fade away.
Frowning, he shook his head. “No. We gave her epinephrine, but nothing’s changed. We need to get her heart rate and breathing under control now. We want to minimize the possibility of her brain swelling.”
His words hit me like a lightning bolt. “Her brain swelling? What?”
“The human brain will swell if we don’t get the heart rate normal and quickly. I know this is going to scare you, what I have to say, but I think a medically induced coma will help her while at the same time allow us to diagnose what’s wrong.”
I staggered back, shaking my head in disbelief. “What? What are you saying? A coma?”
The doctor reached out and gently grabbed my forearm. “I know it sounds scary, but in cases like your wife’s, it’s to safeguard her from getting any worse. We need to find out what’s going on inside her, and we need to intubate her, but we can’t do that on a patient who’s conscious. I wish there was another word other than coma, but it’s all I have. What I can tell you is once we find out what’s wrong, we’ll be able to bring her out of the coma. It’s basically just a chance for her body t
o go back to normal and to protect her brain.”
My mouth opened, but I didn’t know what to say. The thought of Nina in a coma, no matter what kind it was, made me feel like my world was spinning out of control. The kids hadn’t even had a chance to get there to see her yet, and this silver-haired man stood there staring at me and waiting for my approval to put her into a coma.
“I need to see her. I can’t make any decisions without seeing Nina.”
His expression told me that wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear, but I didn’t give a fuck about disappointing him. He nodded and turned before saying, “Follow me. I’ll take you to your wife.”
Every step felt like my feet were made of lead. How could I say he could do this to her? A coma? How could I let him do that to her? On the other hand, what if this was the only thing that could help her, like he said?
The doctor pulled back the white curtain and quietly said, “We need to get this under control as soon as possible, Mr. Stone.”
I stepped forward toward where Nina lay in a hospital bed, her eyes closed like they had been when I last saw her as they rushed her into the ER. My body felt weak, like all my strength was being drained from me as I tried to decide what to do to help her.
Taking her hand, I gave it a gentle squeeze and leaned over to press a kiss onto her forehead. She looked so beautiful even now as she struggled to get a breath in. I needed to say something, knowing she would be able to hear me even if her eyes were closed. She needed to know I was there with her and by her side, as always.
“Nina, I’m here, honey. I’m here.”
I waited for her to respond, but her eyes remained closed, so I continued, “The doctor says they need to get your breathing calmed. He says the best way to do that is a medically induced coma. I know that sounds scary, but you’re going to be okay. I promised you that. You just take the time you need to rest so they can find out what’s wrong and make you better. I love you, Nina. I’ll be right here by your side the whole time, and I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
God, I wished she’d open her beautiful blue eyes so I could see them before I told the doctor to go ahead with what he needed to do.
From behind me, he said, “We want to diagnose her as quickly as possible. I don’t know how long that will take, but please know we’re doing everything we can to find out what’s going on so we can work to help her as fast as possible. She won’t be in the coma a minute longer than absolutely necessary.”
I leaned over her again and pressed my lips to hers. “I’m right here, Nina. I’m not going anywhere, honey.”
Again, I waited for her to open her eyes, but she didn’t, so I brought her hand to my lips and kissed it before following the doctor outside to the desk so I could sign the release forms. All I wanted was for the woman I loved more than life itself to be well again, and I prayed to God I wasn’t making a mistake.
“How long will she be in this…” I couldn’t bring myself to say the actual word now.
Dr. Rankin patted me on the shoulder and gave me a sympathetic smile. “We’re going to do everything we can to make your wife get better, Mr. Stone. She’ll be moved to ICU, and I want to warn you that the next time you see her, she’ll be hooked up to machines. Don’t get scared, though. They have a job to do, just like we all do. When you can see her, I’ll have someone come find you, so why don’t you go get a coffee in the cafeteria and something to eat?”
I nodded as if I understood what he was saying, but in truth, while I heard the words, none of them seemed to make sense. Nothing about what had happened with Nina made sense. One minute we were flirting with each other like kids and making plans for our big date night tonight, and the next minute I was signing papers to have her put into a coma.
How was it that our life had changed so quickly from one we loved to one I feared could be over at any moment?
Chapter Six
Tristan
I sat beside Nina’s bed holding her hand as more machines than I’d ever seen in one place beeped and hummed behind her. I hated this room with its nondescript tan walls and white industrial tile floor, and I’d only been there for ten minutes. Every fiber of my being cried out for me to scoop Nina up into my arms and take her out of this place where everything sounded and felt alien and cold.
What I hated most was how powerless I felt sitting there doing nothing but questioning how this could have happened. Had I been so thoughtless and absent recently that I hadn’t noticed the woman I shared everything in life with had been getting sicker by the day right in front of my eyes? What kind of husband was so neglectful to miss the signs that must have been there before today?
Laying my head on the bed next to her hand, I closed my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Nina. Don’t leave me. I can’t imagine my life without you.”
I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. The kids would be there soon, so I had to make it seem like I wasn’t falling apart every five seconds. They needed me to be strong like I always was.
Just over thirty years we’d been together. God, I’d give anything if I could have more time with her. I had everything a man could ever want in the world—money, power, more things than I’d ever need in a lifetime—but I’d give it all up just to see Nina open her eyes and be well again.
I could still remember the first time I saw her beautiful blue eyes. Her gaze met mine at that art gallery where she worked, and for a moment, the world stopped. I’d gone there to see the woman Karl considered to be a problem, and I’d thought I knew everything about her.
Until I walked into that building and saw her.
I didn’t know what I expected her to look like. I knew how old she was and her name, along with all those ugly details of what my father and brother had done to her father. But I hadn’t thought anything of what Nina Edwards would look like.
Beautiful women were part of my life. The actresses played their part so my every move became part of Page Six. Not that I cared much about any of that, but over and over Karl had told me how important looking like a Stone was to the success of the company. So I went out with women I didn’t care much about, and none of them made me want anything more than a night or two.
And then I saw Nina.
We came from two different worlds, strangers who likely wouldn’t have crossed paths if it wasn’t for what my family had done to hers. That terrible crime my father had committed against her father tied us together even before I laid eyes on her that night at the art gallery. It plagued my mind for so long that I had to do something to protect her.
I’d planned on that something to be what I did any time a problem came up in my life. I threw money at things. At people. At problems. It’s all I’d ever learned from my father. Something bad happened? Throw money at it. Throw money at the people who can fix it and the ones who want to make it worse. There was never any problem that couldn’t be solved with money.
So I went to that art gallery not giving a fuck about art and thinking I could fix what my family had done with some money. It’s all I had to give Nina Edwards. I couldn’t give her back what my family had so heartlessly taken from her. I couldn’t make it possible that her father could be alive to see his daughter live the life he always wanted for her.
I couldn’t do anything except throw money at the problem and hope it helped. It always had when my father and brother did it, so why wouldn’t it help with her? They never lost a minute of sleep worrying about anything because the Stone fortune could always buy a clear conscience.
So why wouldn’t it work for me too?
That’s what I walked into that gallery thinking. Everyone around us stared at the women with me as we slowly made our way toward whatever piece of art was first inside the door. I never cared about art. I was only there to see Nina and to try to start making amends for the horrible things my family had done. The gallery’s patrons stood commenting on how lucky a man I was to be with all those women surrounding me, but I didn’t care about that either.
&
nbsp; All I cared about was finding some kind of peace so I could stop hating having the last name Stone.
And then I saw her. Nobody at that gallery looked at her like they stared at the women with me. Nina Edwards appeared to be some nobody dressed in a bad get-up serving drinks and cocktail wieners to guests in an effort to help her boss sell some artist’s work.
That’s what people thought of her. They didn’t look twice at her, even though there was something in her beautiful blue eyes that said she deserved a second look.
Lowering my head, I kissed Nina’s hand as it sat motionless on top of the white sheets of her hospital bed. What I wouldn’t give to see those eyes right now.
“You had no idea how beautiful you were that night. Even dressed in that ridiculous outfit that boss of yours made you wear, you were stunning. You were a ray of light shot directly into my world so full of darkness.”
I instinctively waited for her to respond with something sweet like she always did when I told her how she rescued me back then. Even now, I had a feeling she didn’t understand how she honestly changed my life from one that had been nothing but meanness and ugliness to one that made me think I didn’t want to live alone anymore.
To one that made me want to take a chance on loving another human being again.
Still, all these years later, I looked back at the man I was then and wished I could have been the man I am now for her from the beginning. I couldn’t, though. I didn’t have the knowledge or experience required to let someone into my heart like she did.
So I played games. I kept her wondering by throwing money at our relationship because I didn’t know how to love her.
Yet she stayed, and slowly but surely with every smile and every time she trusted me chipped away at the walls I’d built up around me all my life. People liked to say I swept her off her feet. Maybe I did. I played every romantic card I had to impress her because I wanted her to want me.
But more than that, I wanted to be around her because of what she made me feel. Her openness and kindness brought out things in me that no one had ever believed existed inside me before. I was a Stone, after all.