Authors: Tessa Dayne
“I’m sorry ma’am….Evelyn.”
“It’s okay, Molly. So how’s our girl this afternoon?”
“She’s resting comfortably. There’s been no change. I’m sorry.”
Evelyn reached out and patted the young woman’s hand with her own. “Don’t worry about it. Paige is a fighter. She’ll come out of this just fine. You’ll see.”
Evelyn swept by the nurse’s station and headed in to the small room that Paige occupied. Smiling at the young woman, she went over and sat by the bed, reaching for her hand.
“Well, my dear. It seems you are going to get a very important visitor today. Unfortunately, it’s not Jonas, but he sends his love. He also sent you a letter on tape that I will play for you.”
Evelyn produced a small tape recorder and placed the tape inside it. She set it on the table by the bed and as she stood to leave she pressed play. As she closed the door, Jonas’s dulcet tones filled the room.
My dearest love,
It is with a heavy heart that I begin this letter to you. I had hoped to come back to the States and see you by now. I know I’ve been remiss in my promise to be there for you. But I know that you understand just how demanding my time here has been.
We’ve been filming some scenes already and any free time I have has been devoted to learning lines and perfecting the accent I want Francisco to portray. What free time I have managed to find, was spent in London with John and Ollie. Yes, that’s Lachlann and the lad.
I hadn’t planned to go back to London with John, but he insisted that I needed time with the guys to clear my head. He came to Spain and kidnapped me, then plied me with 50-year-old Scotch to pry my tongue loose. Of course it worked. And I am sure they are both very sorry now. I doubt I shut up about you the four days I was there.
Speaking of John, he was coming to see you. He said you weren’t real, just a figment of my over active imagination. I reassured him that you were quite real and quite beautiful. He still didn’t believe me. He said no one alive could put up with my atrocious habits or me.
So when all hell breaks loose, you can rest assured that he’s arrived. I have it on good authority; Darcy’s of course, that the nurses on the ICU floor are quite smitten with John. That will just go to his already over-sized head. Of course, he will have to fight off Darcy too. I rather wish I were going to be there to see that. ‘Especially since John and Ollie….well, that’s another story.
There’s so much I want to tell you, so much I wish I could share with you. I can’t wait until you are better. I
am going to bring you to Spain and show you all the wonderful things here. The bougainvillea are stunning, the weather is beautiful. You’d love it here.
Well, if I am going to get this to you, I had better close for now. I have a friend that’s heading to the States and is willing to take this with her. She’s flying into New York City and from there will overnight this to you at the hospital.
Know that I think of you every second, of every day and that I miss you so much. I love you, with all my heart.
Jonas
~*~
John headed into the hospital through the rear entrance, hoping to slip by any reporters who happened to be covering Paige’s stay. Thankfully, he didn’t see anyone around and slipped quietly to the ICU floor. Once there, John headed for the nurses’ station. He knew that Evelyn and Ian were supposed to be coming into Chicago sometime and he hoped that he hadn’t beaten them in. If he had arrived first, there was going to be some tough explaining to do.
“Uncle John.”
John looked up, hearing his name and sighed with relief. “Ian. Good to see you, boy.” John clapped Ian on one shoulder and with his free hand clasped his outstretched hand. “How’ve you been?”
“Good. Dad said he visited with you and Ollie in London. How was he?”
“Honestly? A mess,” John answered. “He’s blaming himself for not protecting Paige and the baby.”
“That wasn’t his fault!”
Ian protested. “He couldn’t have known that was going to happen. It was an accident.”
“We all know that Ian. Even your dad. But that doesn’t stop him from feeling like it was somehow all his fault. He believes he should have been there to stop the accident from happening.”
“He has to know that no one blames him for the accident, right? It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”
“Unless the police can pin something on Paige’s ex-boyfriend somehow.”
Ian nodded. That was the one thing besides Paige’s complete recovery that they all prayed for. To see Darren Armstrong behind bars.
“Here comes Grandmother. She was in giving Paige a tape from Dad.”
“He could’ve given it to me. I would have brought it over to her.”
“I don’t think he had it finished yet. He gave it to a friend that was heading into New York. She sent it here overnight.”
John shrugged. The inner working of Jonas’s mind wasn’t a place he wanted to go, even when the man was thinking clearly.
“John, it’s so good to see you,” Evelyn said, enveloping him in a warm embrace.
“Hello, Mrs. H.”
“John, how many times do I have to tell you it’s mom? And how are the girls?”
“They’r
e good. They’re with their mum.”
Evelyn nodded, sitting in the vinyl-covered chair. “And Oliver? I haven’t seen him in so long. How’s he been?”
John sat in the chair beside her. “Ollie’s good. He sends his love. He wishes he could be here, but he’s heading back on location.”
“Where’s he filming again?” Evelyn asked. She knew it was somewhere exotic, but she couldn’t keep track of all the places her three boys went.
“Malta. He’s finishing up
The Domain
.”
“Well, you both will have to come for a visit soon. I miss you.”
“We’ll try. Now for the reason I’m here. Where’s this princess I’ve heard so much about?”
~*~
Chapter Sixteen
~*~
March 4
Jonas went through the paces of the scene, his sword clashing with the trainer’s as they practiced the fight scene that was coming up later in the day. He had beads of sweat running down the sides of his face and down his back. It was hot, even though the sun was barely above the horizon.
It would still be snowing in Chicago, he thought. The frosty air, cool against his skin. Snowflakes dancing in the air, landing softly on the streets, the roads, and against his face. The bright sunshine falling on her face, her smile lighting up his heart in ways no one else ever has.
“Jonas!”
Jonas’s head snapped up and he smiled slowly. “Sorry.”
“You need to focus,” Robert Phillips, the sword master said.
“I know,” Jonas said, trying to return his focus to the task. But since he had returned from London, his mind had been more focused on Paige and Chicago than on his lines, scenes or sword practice. He just couldn’t seem to focus on his work.
A sharp sting to his forearm brought him back to the present.
“Damn, Jonas! I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Bob. Really,” he said, wrapping the cloth Bob tossed him around his arm.
“Go to the med tent. Have that arm looked at.”
Jonas nodded, his thoughts already returning to the woman lying in the hospital bed thousands of miles away.
“Jonas,” Bob began. When Jonas glanced back at him, he continued. “You need to get your head back into the
game here. Or I am going to have to put a stop to the extra practicing. We can’t afford for you to get hurt.”
Jonas understood where Bob was coming from. He was a danger to himself and to Bob with his mind being so distracted. The blood dripped between his fingers as he walked to the med tent. Augustus was going to kill him.
~*~
Jonas tested the arm, flexing the wrist back and forth to see how much the movement would pull on his forearm. The arm hurt, but nothing he couldn’t withstand. He was lucky. The wound wasn’t deep and had only required some butterfly stitches. There wouldn’t be a scar, not that he cared about that. If Bob hadn’t eased up a little bit, he could have been seriously hurt with that blow to his arm. Tendons and muscles were easily cut through with swords as sharp as what they practiced with.
“How’s that arm?” Augustus asked, the script in his hand curled into a tight roll.
“I’ll be fine,” Jonas remarked, pulling his jacket back on.
“I don’t know about that, my friend. You have been so distracted these past few days. I am beginning to wonder if you are okay at all. I thought some time in London with your chums would help. It doesn‘t seem to have helped at all.”
“I’m fine, really. I’ll be more careful, Augustus. I promise.”
”Listen, my friend. We don’t start shooting until the end of the month. Go home. See that beautiful fiancée of yours. Get your head back on the job.”
“I don’t need to go home. I am focused on the role,” Jonas protested.
“You protest much too loudly, my friend. Go home. I will see you for rehearsals on the 29
th
and the first day of shooting on the 30th.”
Jonas sighed, reaching an unsteady hand out to clasp Augustus’s shoulder. “Thank you, my friend. Thank you.”
Augustus smiled as he watched Jonas heading back to his trailer, a light bounce in his step. He was thrilled that he could make his new friend happy. And when he got back from the States, perhaps Jonas would be able to concentrate on his role.
~*~
John opened the door and slipped inside his hotel room, still smiling. He had met Darcy and had found her to be a breath of fresh air. He found it absolutely hilarious that she was so
‘in love with him’
. The look on her face when he mentioned his involvement with Ollie had been priceless. The resounding ‘I knew it!’ still had him chuckling.
And if Darcy Milian had been a breath of fresh air, then Paige was the element that sucked all the air from a room. John could see why Jonas had fallen for the woman. She was beautiful. He had talked to her for nearly two hours, telling her stories about Jonas, Scotland, and Ollie and begging her to wake up. He told her how he had kidnapped Jonas and plied him with alcohol to get him to talk about her. And he told her how much Jonas loved her and missed her.
Sighing, John kicked his shoes off and plopped down onto the couch. No matter how much he talked to her, there was no change in her condition. Not even a small blip on the machines monitoring her vitals. It was so disheartening.
He dug into his pocket for his cell phone and turned it on. The hospitals not allowing cell phones, he couldn’t have it on before.
“One missed call,” he muttered. Pushing the appropriate buttons, John got into his voice mail and listened to the message.
“Well, I’ll be.”
John grinned widely. He never thought Jonas would leave a movie set so soon after re-joining the cast. Yet, the message he had just listened to differed with everything he knew about the man. Jonas was not only leaving the set, he was already on his way.