“How is he, Doctor?” Dee stood when the doctor who was looking after her dad approached.
“As fortune would have it, the paramedics immediately noticed the signs of the distress of an imminent heart attack. He should make a full recovery. Smoke inhalation can do this I’m afraid.”
Max clutched her hand smiling, encouragingly as tears flowed.
“Thank you. Can I see him?”
He shook his head. “I’d wait until the morning. He needs to rest right now.”
Dee nodded. “Yeah, yeah.” Max squeezed her hand.
“Thanks, Doctor. Any chance she can have a quick peek just to make sure?” Max asked. “It’s been a hell of an evening.”
The doctor frowned then looked directly at Dee. “I’m sorry. Were you in the fire too?” Dee nodded. “Of course, of course.” A nurse was passing by. “Nurse Franks, please show these visitors to the ICU for Mr. Lawrence. This is his daughter and...”
“Sister-in-law,” Max replied.
“Excellent.” His beeper went off and he looked at the message. “Sorry, I have another emergency,” he said before rapidly leaving the area.
“This way, please.”
They followed Nurse Franks.
†
Gene woke and frantically looked around her for anything familiar. There wasn’t anything. She was in a strange bed in a sterile room. Thankfully the blasted oxygen mask was gone, and the only other living body she saw was from an odd angle in the room that allowed her to see a nurse talking on the phone at the reception area.
Where was Dee? If she were okay, she’d be here. Gene knew she would. Maybe she didn’t mean all the things she had said. Was it really her grand-mère at Desrosiers or a figment of her imagination, because surely she would have been here? What about Felix? He hadn’t looked well and that was an understatement. I guess I’m alone. Why I feel that is a surprise. I deserve it, my god it should have been me, not poor Charles.
The sound of the door closing broke her out of her angst and she swallowed hard at the sight of the visitor.
“Grand-mère,” she whispered.
“Ah, at last you are awake. I was beginning to think you didn’t want to rejoin the real world.”
There was a low chuckle and she knew that this was real. Memories could trick you, but no one could ever mimic that tone.
“Grand-mère, have I been asleep long?”
“Yes, Cherie, twenty-four hours to be precise. I don’t know what you had been doing before the fire, certainly it expended all your energy.” The older woman sat and placed her cane alongside the chair near the bed.
“Impossible I only sleep for about five hours a day. They must have given me drugs.” Gene shook her head.
Raised eyebrows greeted the suggestion. “Perhaps. However, you are awake now.”
“Have you been here all this time?”
“Many hours, but I needed sleep too, and you were well taken care of.”
“Yes, I’m sure I was. After all, this is a hospital.” Gene’s heart sagged.
Her grand-mère shuffled around in the chair, possibly to get comfortable, then quietly replied. “Oh, I didn’t mean the hospital. Your Dee was by your side when I couldn’t be.”
“Dee was here?”
“Don’t sound so shocked. You said she was special in your life and she certainly is. Her father is in intensive care. He had a heart attack from the fire. Dee has great courage.”
“Felix had a heart attack? Is he going to be okay?” Gene fought with the covers to extricate herself from the bed. “He saved my life. I need to see him.”
A frail looking but strong hand held her back.
“He is going to make a full recovery. Dee will be back in,” she consulted her watch, “about now.”
The door opened and Dee breezed in.
“Sorry I was so long, Amalie. Here you go, coffee black. I had to go to the café across the …Gene, you’re awake.” Her eyes widened.
Gene saw Dee’s hands tremble as she placed the two coffee cups on the table and then moved to the opposite side of the bed from her grand-mère.
“Thank god you are awake. Hell, Gene, when you didn’t wake I thought I’d lost you.” The emotional reply accompanied tears and her hand was clutched tightly.
“I’m sorry.” Pathetic, sure.
“I said to Amalie that if you didn’t wake soon, I’d try to wake you.”
“How would you do that?” Gene smiled.
“Well everyone knows, don’t they? With a kiss of course.”
Gene looked at her grand-mère and she saw something she wasn’t expecting, a smile so wide it lit the room.
“If I fall asleep, do you think you could try?”
Dee laughed and bent closer. “I love you, and I’d prefer you awake.” Then she kissed Gene and her life stopped in that moment. This was real, nothing to do with money or prestige or anything else, it was simply love.
†
Quinn leaned into the warm body that clasped her in a gentle hold. If anyone had told her that in the space of four days, she would have found love, almost lost her life in a fire, and made friends that would last a lifetime, she would have told them they were crazy. Then again, some like Charlie, who would never be forgotten in her lifetime, would not be surprised. She looked at Simone’s profile. They say you can learn a lot from someone sleeping, and she hoped that was the case because this woman, almost joined to her hip, looked happy. There was a slight curve to her full lips as she slept with an adorable snore. I wonder if she knows she does that? Quinn smiled and gently traced the smile and was surprised when her finger was taken into Simone’s mouth and nipped gently.
“Hey, I didn’t think you were awake. Sorry if I woke you.” Quinn moved closer and their eyes were barely inches apart.
“If it’s you I don’t mind at all. However, we’ve been in bed for almost a day and I need to eat. What can I get you?”
“I thought I was feast enough.” Simone giggled, and the happy sound made Quinn’s heart swell. “An omelet, and I guess I should check my phone to find out if anyone cares if I’m still alive.”
“Quinn.” Simone left the bed, and reached for a robe before a sad expression covered the beautiful face.
“I’m sorry. I guess I still have this singular attitude.”
“Do you want to continue with that or accept that some people in your life are here to stay and…love you?” Simone had her back turned unable to see Quinn’s reaction.
What a question.
“I guess you do. Omelet it is then.” Simone left the bedroom and Quinn had time to reflect on what her answer would mean to the rest of her life. Then she scrambled out of the bed and looked around for her clothes but didn’t see anything, so she dragged the sheet off the bed, draping it around her, and then headed for the only room that emanated any sound.
Opening the door, she smiled as she saw Simone cracking eggs at the kitchen bench counter.
“Simone.” There was no response except what she thought was a stiffening of her back. “I hate being tied down…”
Simone raised tear-filled eyes and began to speak and Quinn held up a hand.
“Let me finish please.” There was a faint nod. “I come from a background of controlling people. I have a few friends and when I say few you can count them on one hand in fact probably a couple of fingers. I’ve had a damn sight more lovers and that isn’t a good thing believe me. What I want to say is if you are prepared to make a go of this, I want to also…believe me…I do.” She held up her hands and the sheet fell. Scrambling to retrieve it her hands were taken, and she was pulled into a close embrace.
“Leave it. I adore you naked and I’m one of those that love you, Quinn Merchant.” Their lips locked and nothing else mattered.
†
Megan bit the bottom of her lip as she stared at Felix. He was sleeping comfortably the nurses said. That didn’t dissolve the guilt she felt that gnawed at her soul for not even knowing he had been in trouble until the morning. In the space of a few hours she could have lost not only Felix, but Dee as well. She had been too drunk to know a terrible event happened suddenly, involving the ones she loved the most.
“What kind of wife and mother does that make me?”
She lifted the bandaged hand closest to her and placed it to her lips. “I’m sorry, Felix, I promise never to drink again. All I want is for you to come home to me.” Tears slipped down her cheeks and some landed on his hand.
“If you stop drinking, who will I share our Sunday wine over dinner with?”
The words were the last thing she expected, and they disarmed her. True, they sounded weak, but she looked up into the loving eyes of the man she had married decades before because of just that trait. She let out a sob and moved closer to touch his pale face.
“I thought I’d lost you when Max told me what happened.”
“Well never believe anything Max says, unless it’s about coffee,” Felix rasped.
“Max’s been a rock to me, as well as Alice and Dee. Last night she sat in the corridor, with Dee or on her own when Dee went to see Ms. Desrosiers.”
“Is Gene okay?”
Megan frowned at the familiarity. “Yes. Felix, when you feel better, I need to tell you something important.”
Felix sighed. “I’m sure there are lots of important things, love, but right now I can’t seem to keep awake. Will you be here when I wake?”
Megan smiled and squeezed his hand. “Always.”
He smiled and drifted off to sleep.