Thirty-Six and a Half Motives: Rose Gardner Mystery #9 (Rose Gardner Mystery Series) (34 page)

Skeeter had saved Mason without being coerced. He really had changed.

I looked at Maeve and considered forcing a vision to see if Mason would survive, but I was too chicken to see the future. If I saw his death, I’d have no idea how to change it. Maybe Jed was right. Maybe sometimes you just needed to accept fate.

A murmur swept through the group as a man in surgical scrubs appeared at the opposite end of the room.

My heart stuttered with fear. I gave Maeve a tiny push. “Go. It will take me forever to get over there. I’ll catch up.”

The older woman looked torn, but she crossed the room toward the doctor. Jonah met her halfway. The doctor talked to her for a few seconds before Maeve’s legs buckled. Jonah and the doctor led her to a chair someone had vacated.

I felt lightheaded, but I stayed on my feet. I had to know.

I had to hear the words.

But then Jonah stood and looked around the room. “He’s okay. He’s going to be okay.”

That was all I needed to hear.

Everything went black and the next thing I knew, I was back in my bed, Neely Kate hovering over me like a momma duck.

“I’m fine, Neely Kate.”

“You just passed out for fifteen minutes. You are
not
fine.” Fear filled her eyes.

I grabbed her hand and stroked her knuckles and stared into her face. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

“Who said you were?”

“You’re stuck with me for a good fifty years.”

“Fifty?” she scoffed. “I was thinking more like seventy years. We’ll be past ninety, wearing those purple dresses and red hats.” Then she scrunched up her nose. “Although I look terrible in purple. It makes me look washed out.”

I grinned. “Then we’ll start our own red hat club. We can wear pink dresses. You look great in pink.”

“I do,” she said. “It makes my skin glow.”

My smile fell. Seeing Maeve’s terrified face had taken a lot out of me. “I want to see Mason.”

Neely Kate turned serious. “He’s still in ICU, but Maeve said they expect him to be moved to a regular room tomorrow.” She paused. “You’ll still be here. After your faintin’ episode, they want to keep you another night for observation.”

Violet came to see me in the early afternoon, holding an envelope. Neely Kate stood to leave, declaring she was going to grab some lunch.

I’d been dozing, but I forced myself awake, a task more difficult than it should have been. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to see you this morning.”

Violet laughed despite the tears in her eyes. “You have an excuse this time. Besides, I wasn’t even home. I just got back into town.”

“What’s in the envelope?”

“Your test results.”

I sucked in a breath. “Am I a match?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t open it. Technically, they’re your results. You’re supposed to be the one to open them.”

I took the envelope, looking at the seal. “You didn’t peek.”

“No.”

I grinned. “Wonders never cease.” The old Violet wouldn’t have hesitated to check it out.

“I was too scared.”

I chuckled, then winced as pain shot through my head. So maybe she hadn’t completely changed, and I was okay with that.

“Will your face scar?” Violet asked.

I gingerly touched a swollen cheek. “Neely Kate says they took X-rays while I was out and nothing’s broken. It’s just swelling. They told her it will go down.”

She grabbed my hand, looking serious. “I just want you to know that no matter what the results say, you’re still my sister. And I will love you even if you look like Quasimodo. I might even allow myself to be seen in public with you every once in a while.” Then she cracked a grin. “But only at Walmart. Or the Chuck and Cluck. And only after dark.”

I burst out laughing, then instantly regretted it. I closed my eyes and waited for the room to stop spinning. “Why, Violet Beauregard, you just made a joke.”

“A bad one, but I’m trying.”

I cracked my eyes open.

“Life’s too short to waste it,” she said. “I know you learned that lesson last June.” She grinned. “But we both know I’m slow to catch on.”

I handed the envelope back to her. “Open it. I can’t read anything with my double vision. You read it and tell me what it says.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

I tried to watch her, but I was getting nauseated from the effort of keeping an eye on the both of her. I closed my eyes for a moment to let them rest, then forced them open when I heard her gasp.

“What?” I asked, watching her through cracked eyelids. “What does it say?”

Tears streamed down her face. “We’re sisters.”

“I know that already,” I said impatiently. “I want to know if we’re a match.”

She nodded, her chin quivering. “Yes. We’re a match. It’s truly a miracle.”

“Oh, thank God,” I said, dangerously close to tears again. “When can I donate?”

“Obviously not now. Even if you
were
ready,” she said. “I need to go through several rounds of chemo and radiation. You can donate once they’ve killed everything off.”

I wished she hadn’t used the words
killed off
, but I focused on the positive. “So a few months?”

She nodded.

“I’ll be waiting.”

My eyes drifted shut again, but I heard Violet whisper in my ear, “I love you, Rose.”

The sun was setting when I woke up next. Skeeter was sitting in the chair beside my bed, balancing his laptop on his leg. He glanced up, his eyes softening when he saw me staring back.

“Hey,” he said, closing the lid and setting his computer on the nightstand as he stood.

“Hey, yourself,” I said groggily. “You look all legit with your laptop.”

He chuckled. “I don’t keep my books in old ledgers you know.”

“What about spiral notebooks?” I asked.

“Try QuickBooks.”

“Hey, me too,” I said, forcing my eyes to stay open. “Did you get in trouble with the state police?” While Carter has assured me that wasn’t the case, I wanted to hear it from Skeeter himself.

“I’m just fine,” he said softly. “Don’t you be worryin’ about me.”

“Carter said they’re gonna be watchin’ you.”

“Which was part of the reason I was on my laptop. I already told you the above-board businesses have been outperforming the under-the-table ones, especially with all the turmoil the last few months. Jed and I are going to make a bigger push on the ones approved by Uncle Sam.”

“So you’d give up bein’ king?”

“No.” He paused. “Remember when I told you someone has to be in charge, and I’m a better alternative than a lot of men? I still believe that to be true. Things are too shaky for me to just abdicate. So I’ll do as much as I can legit and work on keepin’ the peace in the underworld.”

“Sounds like you’re doin’ something selfless, James Malcolm,” I teased.

“God, no,” he said in disgust. “Say that in public, and I’ll call you a dirty liar.”

“I suppose I owe you another six months,” I said, turning serious. “For savin’ Mason’s life.”

He lifted a shoulder and grimaced. “That was a freebie.”

“You were right,” I said, fighting to keep my eyes open. “When you told J.R. you had changed. You have. You care about people.”

He leaned over and tenderly kissed a spot on my forehead. “That was all you, Rose.”

I grinned. “I might have pointed a thing or two out to you, but the rest was all you.”

He quickly changed the subject, then called Jed to bring us hamburgers and fries. Jed and Neely Kate ate with us, and I managed to keep down a few fries.

The room was dark when I awoke, but Jonah was dozing in the chair beside me. A tablet and his bible sat on the nightstand—he’d clearing been working on his sermon.

I watched him sleep for a few minutes, not wanting to disturb him, but once again, I realized how lucky I was to be blessed. My entire life, I’d struggled with being alone. Now my cup overflowed with friends.

I fell back asleep, surprised to find myself alone when I woke up again. To my surprise, I was also hungry. Sunlight streamed in through the window. I pushed the button to call for the nurse.

When Neely Kate showed up, she was happy to see the nurse had removed my IV and that I’d had few bites of toast and Jell-O.

“She said I could go home in a few hours. After the doctor makes rounds.”

“That’s good news,” she said. “Muffy is stayin’ with your brother-in-law. We can pick her up on the way.”

“I want to see Mason.”

Neely Kate studied me for a moment, then nodded. “Fine, but you have to ride in a wheelchair this time. Jed’s not here to carry you back.”

My head felt better, but I nodded in acceptance. I wasn’t sure how strong I’d be coming back. I had a feeling the guilt from seeing him would tear me apart.

She procured a chair, then pushed me toward the elevator, chattering on and on like a magpie. I didn’t pay attention to a word she said, but I was grateful to her nonetheless. The silence would have strained us both.

Once we reached Mason’s room—thankfully a regular room—Neely Kate pushed my chair aside and knocked on the door. Maeve answered, looking exhausted and thinner than I’d ever seen her.

“Rose,” she said, smiling. “You are just what the doctor ordered. Mason’s been asking about you nonstop. I wouldn’t have put it past him to crawl down the hall to see you. But it felt wrong to ask you to come.”

“Rose has been the same way,” Neely Kate groaned. “I had to force her to use a wheelchair to come down here.”

“How’s he doin’?” I asked, twisting my hands in my lap.

Maeve’s smile fell. “He’s sleeping right now. He’s been in a lot of pain, and his spirits are low, but I think you’ll be a good cure for that.”

I nodded. I hoped so.

Neely Kate pushed me into the room and next to his bed. He was connected to various tubes and monitors, and like Maeve had said, he was sleeping.

Tears filled my eyes as I took in his pale face. He’d gotten shot because of me.

But then his eyes fluttered open. He smiled when he saw me, and some of my worries faded.

Neely Kate leaned toward my ear. “Maeve and I are going to get a cup of coffee. Press the call button if you need a nurse.”

“Okay.”

As soon as they left the room, I stood, pushing the wheelchair a few feet away.

“Rose,” he said, sounding hoarse. “You shouldn’t—”

“Hush,” I said, taking his hand in mine. “I’m only in that thing because it was the easiest way to get Neely Kate on board with comin’ to see you.”

He looked up at me, worry in his eyes. “You’re okay?”

“I’m fine. A concussion and some broken ribs. I’ll survive.”

“Your face . . .”

I grimaced, then flinched from the pain. “Everyone keeps telling me how bad it looks, but Neely Kate has shrouded the mirror. She even makes me eat my Jell-O with a plastic spoon so I didn’t accidently see myself.”

He squeezed my hand. “You’re beautiful.”

My heart melted. I loved this man something fierce, but I couldn’t ignore my unsettled feeling. “You saved me, Mason. And then you almost died. Because of me.”

“Sweetheart,” he said, searching my face. “I love you. I would do anything to protect you.”

I nodded, tears filling my eyes. “Me too.”

He smiled. “I know. You’ve proved that time and time again. Only, I was too stupid to acknowledge it.”

“Mason, no.”

“Rose.” He waited. “In some ways, I’ve treated you no better than Joe did.”

“That’s not true!”

“It is. We both know it’s true.” He paused. “I’ve never known anyone like you.”

I cringed. “I think that was a compliment.”

He chuckled, then tensed with pain. “The highest of compliments.” He looked down at our clasped hands and stroked the back of my knuckles with his thumb. “Sometimes I forget how young you are.”

My chest constricted, sending pain through my broken ribs. “What does that mean?” I asked, my voice sounding strangled. “I’m twenty-five years old, Mason. I’m hardly a child.”

His gaze lifted to mine. “But you were until last year when your mother died. You’d lived such a sheltered life. And then, like a butterfly, you were set free.” His eyes glistened. “But Joe held you back. We both know it, and I think Joe knows it, too, when he lets himself acknowledge it.”

I shook my head, ignoring the pain that shot through it. “What are you saying, Mason?”

“I’m saying you’ve only really been free for eight months, and during that time you’ve been in two serious relationships. You’ve never had the chance to find out who you
really
are.”

I started to cry. “That’s the biggest load of dog crap I’ve ever heard, Mason Deveraux. I know exactly who I am.”

“I think I’ve known it for a month or so, maybe even since our pregnancy scare. I would have married you in a heartbeat. I’d marry you right now without a single regret. But I never stopped to ask myself if
you
were ready.”

“Then why don’t you ask me, Mason?” I said, getting angry. “I love you—” My voice broke. “I risked everything to save you. How can you doubt me?”

“Oh, Rose. Sweetheart.” He lifted his hand to the back of my head. “I have never once doubted that you love me. When you love, you love with your whole heart. You glow with it. I know how blessed I am to have that.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I’m holding you back.”

“No.”

“
Yes.
Tell me the truth. Over the last two days, how many times have you thought of me or wanted to talk to me?”

I sucked in a breath, sending daggers into my side. “That’s not fair.”

“No, it’s not. I haven’t been fair to you,” he said. “I’m thirty-three years old. I’ve had my fun, but now I’m ready to settle down. I’m ready for a family.”

“And so am I.”

He shook his head. “
No
, you’re just starting to live your life. You need to experience it before you can settle down. You may be twenty-five, but you haven’t had a chance to experience a full life like most twenty-five-year-olds have. I don’t want to steal that from you. I don’t want you to resent me for it later.”

“How can you say that?”

“You found it liberating to do what you needed to do without checking in with me,” he said softly. “Look deep inside and tell me I’m wrong.”