“Mr. Paulson, you have to get back in bed.”
“I’m going to check on my neighbor next door. You don’t mind, do you?”
The nurse’s face fell and he knew he was correct. Steeling himself for their protests, he pushed on. “Either bring the IV poles or I’ll rip the bloody things out,” he softly said. “You aren’t stopping me.” He hurt like hell. He wasn’t nearly as steady on his feet as he pretended to be, but he had to see for himself.
Finally giving in, the women followed him. Tyler paused at the drawn curtain. He thought he was prepared for anything, but the sight of Tom’s handsome face battered and bruised nearly beyond recognition almost brought him to his knees. He grabbed the end of the bed and held on as his knees weakened.
“Oh, my poor, sweet Thomas,” he whispered.
The nurse took his arm. “Let’s get you back to bed.”
“I wish to sit with him. Get me a chair, please.”
“Mr. Paulson—”
He couldn’t pull his gaze from Thomas. His tears flowed. “Please,” he begged, “just let me sit with him for a while. We’ve been together seventeen years. Surely you can’t deny me a few minutes with him?”
She finally relented, setting him in a recliner on Thomas’ left side, with pillows and a blanket to make him comfortable. She brought in a portable cart with monitors and reconnected him, and hooked him up to an oxygen cannula. “Look, don’t get me fired. Worse, you’re gonna get your wife pissed at me.”
He shook his head and held Thomas’ hand. “I’ll handle her,” he said, his eyes never leaving Tom’s face. “I need to talk to his doctors. Please.”
* * * *
Tyler spoke to Tommy’s doctors, his own doctor, and called Bob’s cell. Fortunately Nevvie was on the phone with Eddie when Tyler called Bob.
“Don’t tell her you’re coming. I need to see you right now.”
“Déjà vu all over again,” Bob quipped.
“Don’t make jokes. It hurts too much to laugh.”
“Sorry. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Tyler still sat at Thomas’ bedside when Bob arrived.
“Close the doors and curtains, please,” he asked.
Bob did, giving them more privacy.
“How is she? Really?”
Bob shook his head. “Again with the déjà vu. Didn’t I have this conversation with her a few years ago in this same ICU? Do you have an asshole administrator on your case, too?”
Tyler managed a wan smile. “Seriously, how is she holding up?”
He leaned against the wall, on the other side of Thomas’ bed. “She’s been better. We had a close call when she found out about Tommy.”
Tyler knew Bob wasn’t telling the full truth but didn’t press further. “My poor girl. What would we do without you, Bob?”
“Yeah, you say that now. Wait ‘til you get my bill,” he teased. “She seems a lot stronger today. I think the shock has worn off. With you awake she was like a new woman when she got back to the house. If one of you had died I think she’d be in a hospital bed, too.”
“According to them, I did die.”
“Yeah, but you damn paranormal authors are like vampires, just keep coming back.”
“Ow! Bob, please. No jokes.”
“Sorry.” He looked at Thomas. “How is he today?”
“They can’t tell us anything. It’s wait and see.”
“I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but we need to look to the future. That’s what you pay me to do.”
“If he can’t go back to work?”
Bob nodded. “Who runs the business, should you sell it, all of that. He could be back at work in a month, he might be dependent upon the two of you for the rest of his life.”
Tyler willed Thomas to open his eyes even though he knew medication kept him in a coma. How was their poor girl supposed to take care of both of them? Tyler knew he was her emotional support, but Thomas was every bit as much a grounding foundation for him as for Nevvie.
How did they manage without him?
“We don’t need to decide all that today, do we?”
“No. I just need you to keep it in the back of your mind. Nevvie is in no condition to think about it. I haven’t even mentioned it. I’ve already talked with Kenny and Maggie. For the duration, I’m supervising operations at Kinsey Consulting. Nevvie needs to focus on you guys and Adam.”
* * * *
Nevvie drove Peggy and Karen to the hospital. She felt a lot stronger knowing Tyler was awake. How long could she stall him? Certainly once they removed the breathing tube he’d be asking questions and she couldn’t keep lying to him.
They walked into the ICU. When they approached Tyler’s bed, Nevvie panicked when she didn’t see him. The door and curtain to Tommy’s bed were pulled closed.
They found Carol. “Where’s Tyler?”
“Calm down.”
Peggy tapped Nevvie’s shoulder and pointed as Bob emerged from Thomas’ alcove. Nevvie glared at him and pushed past, freezing when she saw Tyler seated next to Tom’s bed. He looked up at her.
She turned on Bob. “You told him? I trusted you!”
“Nevvie.” Tyler’s soft, firm voice stopped her in her tracks. “Come here, love.” He held up his hand and, unable to resist him, she went. “He didn’t tell me, sweet. I figured it out.” He pointed to the duty board. “I saw it on there. And I saw this.” He touched Thomas’ ring on her hand.
She closed her eyes and cried, kneeling in front of him, her head in his lap.
“Shh,” he soothed, stroking her hair. “It’s okay. I’m all right.”
“I didn’t want you to worry. I was afraid it would…that you would…” She couldn’t continue, sobbed against him.
“Love, didn’t you know I’d figure it out sooner or later?”
“I didn’t think that far ahead,” she admitted. “I had you back. I didn’t want to lose you again. I wanted to wait until I knew you were stronger.”
“I’m all right, sweetheart.” He looked at the others. “Can we have a few minutes alone, please?”
Bob walked outside to wait with Peggy and Karen.
“Love, stand up.”
She did.
He held Thomas’ hand. “Let’s put that back where it belongs.”
She cried and slipped the ring from her thumb onto Tom’s finger. Tyler captured her hand. Together they held Tommy’s.
“Love,” he whispered, meeting her eyes, “he
will
come back to us. Please don’t stress yourself. You need to stay calm for him and for Adam.”
“He told me on the phone, before he left Ft.Myers, while you were in surgery…” She closed her eyes. “He told me to tell you he loves you. That if I saw you first, to tell you for him.”
Tyler somehow managed to hold onto his composure. “All right, love. Thank you.” Talk about irony. She’d told Thomas to relay the identical message to him after Alex stabbed her.
He kissed Tom’s hand and gently placed it on the bed, stroked him with his fingers. “Help me up, please. And call the nurse. I think Peggy and Karen should be alone with him, if they choose. I’m ready to go back to bed.”
As Nevvie and Bob helped the nurses settle Tyler, Peggy and Karen hovered around Thomas. Finally, thirty minutes later, they came to Tyler’s bed.
“Hiya, Blue Eyes,” Karen said, her voice much softer and more somber than normal. She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “You sure are a frickin' drama queen, you know that?”
He weakly smiled. “I’m sorry I scared everyone.”
Nevvie had sat at his side, holding his left hand, ever since he’d returned to bed. “Quit apologizing, Tyler. Next time you don’t feel good you’re getting dragged to the doctor, like it or not.”
“Yes, love.” He looked at Peggy. “Thank you, Mom.”
“For what, sugar?”
“For saving my life.”
“You think I’m letting you get outta raising my grandson, you’re off your nut.” Her tone sounded ragged but she smiled. “You just get better so you can help Nevvie with Tommy.”
“You’d better believe it.” He squeezed Nevvie’s hand. “Did you eat today?”
“Not yet.”
“Go eat,” he ordered. “I’ll be here when you get back.” He gently tugged on her hand. She stood and kissed him.
“You’d better be here.”
“Not like I’m running a marathon this afternoon, pet.”
Nevvie visited Thomas again before she left. She leaned over and placed a long, lingering kiss on his forehead and stroked his arm. “Come back to us, Tommy,” she softly pleaded. “Please. You have to come back to us. We love you.”
They rode to the house in silence. Nevvie called Eddie to bring the baby home.
Eddie arrived after Nevvie had finished eating. Bob had gone to his office but would return later, and Pete had errands to run. Karen and Peggy drove to the grocery store to get more food before April and Cheryl arrived.
Eddie’s red eyes and puffy nose betrayed him. He handed Adam to her and smiled. “There’s Momma, you big chub.”
Adam babbled and grabbed Nevvie’s hair. She closed her eyes and inhaled clean baby scent. Eddie was, not counting Peggy and Karen, the world’s best babysitter. “Thank you, Eddie. I appreciate it. I don’t know what I would do without you and Pete.”
He touched her shoulder. “Hey, you don’t ever have to worry, you know that. Whatever, whenever you need something, you say it and it’s done.”
“You want to go say hi to them?”
He looked at his feet. “Pete warned me maybe I shouldn’t see Tommy yet.”
“Well, he’s out. It won’t bother him if you cry.”
He rubbed his nose. “I don’t want to get Ty worked up.”
“It’s okay,” she gently said. “The evil genius has assured me he won’t go into shock if we get emotional around him.”
He sniffled. “Okay. Yeah, I’d like to see them.”
She installed the car seat in Tyler’s Lexus and loaded the baby and his stuff. Eddie followed her to the hospital. The found Tyler sitting up in bed, dozing.
When he heard them he opened his eyes. “Hey.”
Eddie leaned over and gave him a careful one-armed hug. “Man, don’t you ever scare us like that again, you friggin’ jackass.”
“Thank you for taking care of them, Eddie. You and Pete are truly the best.” He reached for the baby. Nevvie shook her head. “No, you can’t lift him yet.” She carefully laid him next to Tyler. The baby looked up at his father and smiled, softly babbled.
“Are you sure you should bring him in here, love?”
“I wanted him to see his daddies. I know I shouldn’t bring him in the hospital, but today I had to.”
“It’s okay, sweet. I understand.”
Tyler stroked the baby’s hand. Adam grabbed his finger, squeezed it. Nevvie sat next to the bed and rested her chin on her arms on the bed rail.
Tyler looked at Eddie. “Did our little demon give you any grief?”
Eddie finally smiled. “The Ant tried to eat his way through house and home. I should have nicknamed him ‘the Termite.’ He’s always fun to have around. My sister’s kids are all obnoxious teenagers now. They won’t make me an uncle again for a few years yet.”
Carol came in to check Tyler’s vital signs. “Sorry to run you guys out for a few minutes.”
“That’s okay,” Nevvie said, scooping up the baby after Tyler gave him a kiss. “I appreciate you giving us the extra time. We’ll go see Tommy.”
The nursing staff kept the curtains drawn around his bed. Nevvie turned to Eddie. “He looks a lot worse than he is. Keep thinking that, okay?”
“Okay.” His eyes already brimmed with tears. He wiped at them with a handkerchief.
The lights over Tom’s bed were dimmed. It did nothing to soften his ugly black eyes and other injuries.
Nevvie looked at Eddie. He clapped a hand over his mouth, trying to choke back his sob. She slipped her free arm around his waist and hugged him.
“He’ll be okay, Eddie. I know he will. Tyler said he will, so it has to be true, right?”
Eddie nodded a little too strenuously. He took a deep, gasping breath as he finally dropped his hand. She encouraged him to sit by the bed while she stood at the end, stroking Tom’s right foot through the sheet while she balanced the baby on her hip. She’d need to find out about physical therapy for him, one of the doctors had mentioned it.
After ten minutes, Eddie was more than ready to go. Nevvie carefully held Adam close to Tommy, reaching out his hand so he could stroke his father’s cheek.
“Poppa’s going to be fine,” she whispered. “I know he will.”
They stopped by Tyler’s bed one more time to say good-bye before they walked out to the parking lot. Eddie slumped against his car and cried. Adam reached for him, also crying, which set Nevvie off. The three of them cried together, Eddie’s arms wrapped around her and the baby, for several minutes.
Eddie finally composed himself. “Let me know when you need me to take him again, okay?” He chucked the sniffling baby under his chin and blew a raspberry at him. Adam immediately smiled, babbled, and blew one back.
Nevvie laughed, trying to wipe her own tears. “Thanks. With Cheryl and April around they’ll want to spend time with him, but they’ll only be here a couple of days. That’ll give you time to recharge,” she joked.
He kissed her on the forehead. “Anytime, Nev. You know that.”
He left. She buckled the baby into the car seat and headed for the house. She beat Peggy and Karen home by a few minutes. Nevvie handed Adam off to Karen and helped Peggy unload and put away the groceries. When Peggy went to change clothes, Nevvie pressed a check into Karen’s hand.
“Nev, what’s this?”
Nevvie held Karen’s hand closed around the check and kept her voice low. “I’m going to need you here, and I know you can’t afford to take time off work. This is between you and me. Don’t you dare think about saying no. You let me know if it’s enough to pay your bills. If it’s not, I’ll give you whatever you need. I don’t want Mom running herself ragged.”
Karen’s eyes watered as she hugged Nevvie. “Thank you,” she said. “This is one time I won’t argue with you.”
Nevvie and Karen had grown close since Nevvie joined Thomas and Tyler. Nevvie knew Karen didn’t discuss her finances with her family. Karen did okay, but she was too proud to ask for help and, like most people, she couldn’t afford to just take off for long periods of time.
“Will your boss give you the time off?”
Karen wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and slipped the check into her pocket. “Yeah. I’ve worked for them for years. They were going to let me use my two weeks vacation and then the rest as unpaid leave.”