ELIAS STOOD THERE.
Crushed.
Why did you let her go?
He didn’t know why he had let her walk away. He was scared by her reaction, that she thought him a fool. But she was right about one thing. He jumped around a lot. Never settling, always running away.
Dr. Wilder was crazy not to give the position to Adeline.
He had thought that when he turned it down, she would offer it to Adeline. It was Adeline who deserved it, even though he knew that if Adeline took it, he wouldn’t see her and their baby would most likely be raised by him and a nanny. But it was what Adeline wanted.
He had really thought that he was doing the noble thing by turning it down, but it was all for nothing. Adeline hadn’t gotten the position and she had walked away from him.
She had walked away from him, just like Shea had.
You walked away from Shea and your family before they did.
And that was a hard thing for him to realize.
You’re an idiot, Elias.
What was he so afraid of?
Rejection.
Which was the truth. He was afraid of rejection. He was in love with Adeline and he was greedy. He wanted them to be a family. He wanted them to be a team, and subconsciously, maybe that’s why he had told Dr. Spiner that Adeline was pregnant.
He’d made a huge mistake and he had to make things right. He had to find Adeline. He had to win her back.
All he wanted was a relationship with Adeline, but he had been too afraid to reach out and take it.
He had been so afraid of getting hurt again, but really, he was the one who was responsible for everything that had happened in his past.
He was the one who was responsible for his own heartache. When he was with Shea, he had been too focused, too busy trying to distance himself from his family, to prove to them he would be a world-class surgeon, that he was better than working in the family vineyard.
Because he did so, he and Shea had grown apart. He couldn’t blame her for finding solace in a man who was there for her.
He had blamed his heartache on her. Heck, he had blamed all his problems on Shea and Aidan, on his father, because it was easy, because he’d put blinders on to his own faults. He’d been an idiot.
And once again, he was pushing away the woman he loved. The woman who was pregnant with his child, because why? Because he was afraid?
He was afraid of settling down and being happy?
He had to find Adeline and tell her that he was wrong, that he was sorry, and that he loved her. He wanted to be a family. He wanted his child and he would go wherever and do anything if it meant that he could be with Adeline.
Elias left the room and looked around, but there was no sign of Adeline anywhere.
“Dr. Turner left,” a nurse said. “She seemed upset.”
“Thank you!” Elias quickly went to get his things and ran outside. He ran all the way from the hospital to the apartment, hoping that she was there so he could talk to her. He knew that she was upset with him, but he wondered if she was upset about the results of the genetic testing too. Dr. Wilder had given her the results, but when he had asked her about it, she hadn’t answered him.
He needed to talk to her and tell her how he felt.
He needed her forgiveness. And whatever the results of the test were, they could work it out. He wasn’t going to leave her. He’d be right by her side the whole time.
He just needed her in his life.
“Adeline?” he called out as he opened the apartment door, but it was eerily quiet and his heart told him that he was too late, that she had left.
He checked her room, but it was empty.
He pulled out his phone and sent a text, asking her where she was, but there was no response.
Come on, Adeline. Let me know you’re safe.
She wouldn’t answer him. He couldn’t stand around here, waiting for her to come back, because he knew she wasn’t going to. He knew her parents lived in Cow Hollow, but Cow Hollow was a big section of San Francisco, and Elias was not going to go running up and down the many streets knocking on doors.
It would take too long.
Instead he texted James.
Long story. Adeline didn’t get the fellowship. She’s missing. Do you know where her parents live?
Now all he had to do was wait, but he couldn’t stay here waiting for her.
Instead he left the apartment and made his way down to the rental SUV. He drove to the children’s hospital across the city.
He needed to be around his family.
He had to face up to what he’d done to Adeline, and he was tired of running from them, too.
When he got to the children’s hospital, he found Aidan wandering around the main lobby with a coffee in his hand.
“Aidan,” Elias called out.
Aidan looked up from his phone. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on our niece and wanted to make sure that Jeffery had arrived.”
Aidan nodded. “He did. Just got here. He’s upstairs with Gabrielle in the NICU. They’re only allowing one visitor in. I’ll be leaving for Napa soon. Shea is coming to get me.”
Elias scrubbed his hand over his face. “How is Gabrielle doing?”
“She survived her repair surgery and she should be right as rain. I just got off the phone with Rosa.” Aidan grinned. “It’s a relief.”
“And Rosa is okay?”
“Yes. Adeline saved her life. I know you were just pretending to be engaged to her, but Adeline is a good woman and it’s obvious you both care about each other. You’d better snag her before she gets away. You two are made for each other, both strong, hotheaded surgeons.”
“Adeline was hardly hotheaded when you saw her briefly,” Elias said.
“I heard rumors and you’re telling me she’s not?” Aidan asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Fine. She’s hotheaded.”
Aidan cocked his head to the side. “You look wrecked. What happened?”
“I blew it with Adeline. That’s what happened.” Elias wandered away and sat down in a chair in the main lobby, dropping his head in his hands. “She’s gone.”
“Gone?” Aidan asked, sitting next to him. “What do you mean gone?”
“She lost the position we were both trying for, and she left, and the reason she didn’t get it was my fault.”
“How?”
“She’s pregnant with my child.”
Aidan nodded. “So that’s discrimination.”
“Yeah, but the doctor in charge laid it all out when we first were applying for the position. Adeline blamed me, because I let it slip that she was pregnant to another doctor and that doctor told our boss. She was angry with me, understandably so, especially when she learned that I turned down the position.”
“You turned down the position? Why?” Aidan asked.
“I realized I didn’t want it. I wanted to settle down and work here. I wanted to come home and I wanted Adeline with me, but I didn’t tell her that. I was afraid she’d reject me. I didn’t want to hold her back. Basically, I’m a fool.”
“Yeah. I would say so.” Aidan sighed. “Look, I know what I did to you was awful. I was jealous of you, you were so smart, and our parents were so proud of you. You had Shea and I was in love with her. You had everything, charm and smarts. I didn’t have anything.”
“You had something I didn’t,” Elias said. “You cared for others. I just didn’t see it. I thought you hated me. And I thought you were Dad’s favorite.”
“And I thought you were Dad’s favorite.” Aidan grinned. “How foolish and stubborn we’ve been. How so like him we both are.”
Elias chuckled. “Great. We’re both like Dad. I never hated you, Aidan. For a while I did after Shea, but really, I think I just missed you. I missed my brother.”
“I never hated you. I spent time being jealous, thinking you were Dad’s favorite. I never saw him being hard on you, only being unfair to me. I missed you too, Elias.”
“I’ve made a right mess of things.”
Aidan smiled. “Well, I think we’re going to be okay, but with respect to Adeline, you need to make things right with her. It’s obvious you both love each other.”
Elias cocked an eyebrow. “What?”
“She loves you and if you can’t see it, you’re blind. I don’t know what it is about her, but you’re different when you’re around her. You need her.”
“I would if I knew where she was.”
“I thought she was from San Francisco?” Aidan asked. “Do you know where in the city she’s from?”
“Cow Hollow.”
“Look it up in the phone book.”
Elias chuckled. “Who still uses the phone book?”
Aidan rolled his eyes. “Fine, then. Don’t find her.”
“What do I say?” Elias asked. “How do—I never thought that I would want to get married again. I wanted it, but I was afraid to—I don’t know what to say.”
“You, the great surgeon, don’t know what to say?”
“Right,” Elias muttered.
Aidan whacked the top of his head. “You tell her how you feel, you numbskull.”
“What if she won’t have me? As much as I wasn’t there for Shea and I pushed you all away, it still hurt.”
“And for that I am sorry, but I don’t think Adeline will push you away. She’s angry now, but if you go to her, if you tell her how you actually feel, she’ll come around. I know she will.”
Elias’s phone buzzed and he saw a text from James, with an address.
“Did she text you back?”
“No, but now I know where her parents live.”
“And you’re going to make it right?” Aidan asked.
“I’m going to try.” He pocketed his phone. “Give the family my best and wish me luck.”
Aidan smiled and nodded. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
“Thanks.”
Elias left and drove the rental to Adeline’s parents’ place in Cow Hollow. He was nervous about laying his heart out there. He wasn’t sure if he was going to able to win Adeline over, but he would do everything in his power to win her back, because he knew one thing for certain.
He couldn’t live without her.
Adeline was curled up on the couch and her mother brought her a cup of tea. Adeline had cried and all her mother had done was hold her.
Until eventually she stopped crying.
Then her mother went to make the tea and Adeline had finally calmed down.
Her heart was broken, and she realized that it wasn’t the job she was mourning, but the loss of her dream. For one brief second, she had thought that she might have it all with Elias, but she had been wrong.
Only this time she really couldn’t run from her problems.
She couldn’t get away from him like she had from Gregory, because she carried a piece of Elias with her.
“Here, have your tea.” Her mother held it out.
“Thanks, Mom.”
Her mother took a seat next to her. “Now, what happened that you, the surgeon who was recently touted in newspapers, were fired?”
Adeline sighed. “I didn’t get that fellowship with Dr. Wilder.”
Her mother seemed confused. “Why? You were the front-runner.”
“She offered it to someone else.”
“That Dr. Garcia?” her mother asked.
“Yes. That Dr. Garcia, who happens to be the father of my baby.”
Her mother’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re pregnant.”
“I am.”
Her mother smiled, and then Adeline saw the worry cross her face. “But...your genetic testing.”
Adeline pulled out the paper. “It’s negative. I don’t have the gene, Mom.”
Her mother began to cry and smiled. “This is wonderful.”
“No, Mom. It’s not. The pregnancy is why I didn’t get the position, and because of this baby, I can’t... I can’t cure TTP.”
“You wanted to cure TTP?” her mother asked, surprised.
“Of course I do,” Adeline whispered. “How could I not? Mom, it scared me watching you go through that and seeing others go through it. That’s why I wanted to get that fellowship.”
“You were doing it for me?” her mother asked.
Adeline nodded. “It was all for you and now...now I’ve lost the position with Dr. Wilder and I won’t be able to do it.”
“Why ever not?”
“Dr. Wilder offered it to Dr. Garcia. I knew he was trouble when we met a month ago, but I fell for it and he took the position from me.” Adeline began to pace. “He took it from me and then he turned it down.”
“He turned it down. That doesn’t sound like a man who was out to get you. He knows about your child?”
Adeline nodded. “He does, but he made it clear he doesn’t want to get married. He said he was going to help with the baby.”
“Maybe he turned it down for you?”
Adeline couldn’t quite believe it. “That’s what he said.”
“If the roles were reversed, would you have done the same for him?” her mother asked.
The old her would have said no, but now she wasn’t so sure.
“Maybe.” Adeline rubbed her temples. “Yes. I love him and I’m happy about the baby.”
“You always told me you never wanted a baby.”
“I was scared, Mom. I was scared by what happened to you.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I saw your grief and I know it was because my birth did that to you. I thought that if I could find a cure, it could make up for what I did.”
Tears formed in her mother’s eyes. “I can’t believe you were doing all this for me.”
Adeline nodded. “Yes. All for you.”
“All I wanted for you was to be happy. That’s all I ever wanted. Did you become a doctor just for me? Are you happy with your career?”
Adeline smiled. “I am. I love being a surgeon and I love being an OB-GYN. I love delivering babies, but...now...”
“Now, nothing. You may not have gotten that fellowship, but you are still a qualified surgeon. Just because you didn’t get this fellowship with this doctor doesn’t mean everything is over. You can still be a surgeon and save lives. You have skills and training and you have a baby on the way. And you can research your own cure if you want. I don’t quite understand it all, but you’re more than capable of doing your own research, aren’t you?”
Her mom was right.
She could.
She’d pinned so much hope on that fellowship, to prove to the world she was the best, but she didn’t really care what anyone else thought.
She just cared about Elias.
“I don’t have Elias.”
“Why not? Have you told him how you feel?”
“No. I’m afraid. What if he rejects me? I don’t want to be hurt again.”
She wanted her happy-ever-after. She wanted her fairy tale, but she was so scared of her dream shattering again.
Her mother stood and pulled her into an embrace. “You’re hurting now. You need to find Elias and make things right.”
“What if I can’t?”
“Then you know, and you move on.” Her mother touched her face. “You need to be strong—you are strong—and you deserve more in life. I love the fact that you wanted to dedicate yourself to solving my problem, because you love me, but you can’t live that way. What would make me the happiest would be for you to live the way you want to. You are my child and your happiness is all that matters to me.”
“I love you so much, Mom.” Adeline held her mother close. “You’re going to be an awesome grandma.”
“I already am a good grandma. Your twin nephews give me a run for my money most days.”
“Right.” Adeline hugged her mother again. “I’ve got to go find Elias. I have to apologize. I’ve made a huge mistake.”
Adeline grabbed her purse and headed for the front door.
She saw that Elias had texted her. She began to text him back when there was a knock at the door. Adeline’s heart skipped a beat and she opened it.
Elias was standing there, looking out of breath and exhausted.
He looked as bad as she was feeling.
“Elias, how did you find me?” she asked, stunned.
“Well, at least you’re not mad at me anymore.”
“No.” She sighed. “No. I’m not. I’m sorry.”
Elias looked confused. “Sorry for what? I deserved everything I got. I’m sorry I blew your chance with Dr. Wilder.”
“There were two of us there in that on-call room, Elias.”
“I very much remember that,” he said gently.
“You were right. I may not have gotten the position I wanted, but my career isn’t over. I’m a surgeon. I’ve learned a lot from Dr. Wilder, but I was kept as a student for so long that I didn’t have the confidence to step up and take what I want. So, thank you for that.”
Elias smiled. “You deserved that position, but not at the cost of your own happiness.”
“I see that now.”
He took her hand in his. “I’ve realized that I’ve done some foolish things too. Things that have been detrimental and could potentially threaten my own happiness as well.”
Her heart began to race. “What’s that?”
“I let you walk away from me.” He touched her face. “I love you, Adeline. I was a completely different person when I met you, and that Elias Garcia would have thrown you under the bus to get that position. The problem is, he would have gotten bored and moved on to the next thing because he was trying to prove something to himself. You changed me. I still don’t know how. I was so afraid of falling in love again, but I do love you.”
Tears stung her eyes. “I love you too.”
Elias cupped her face. “I want you to know, Adeline, that I’m willing to go anywhere to be with you. You lead the way. I realized how much I hurt you when I made the decision to take that job here in San Francisco, but I’ll give it up. I want you to be happy and I don’t want to be apart from you or my child. I want us to be a family.”
Her heart soared. “I want that too. And I don’t want you to give up your position in San Francisco. I want to stay here too. I was so busy chasing my dreams, focused on curing a genetic disease, that I lost track of why I got into medicine. I wanted to save lives and help women bring new life into the world. Honestly, since we came to San Francisco, I’ve been happy here. I’ve been happy leading my own surgeries. I would be happy if we stayed.”
“Really?” he asked, smiling.
“Yes. So, if Dr. Spiner still has a position for me, I would like to take it. This is where I belong. I belong here with you.”
“Oh, I’m sure that Dr. Spiner still has a position for you. You were the one he originally wanted. When he accidentally let it slip to Dr. Wilder that you were pregnant, he was telling her how he planned to poach you. She was none too pleased.”
“Really?” Adeline asked.
“Well, honestly, it’s hard to tell with Dr. Wilder. She’s a bit of a robot.”
“I know.”
“We’ll be happy here, and I’m sorry for what happened. Please forgive me.”
“I’m sorry too.” She pulled him in close and kissed him. His arms went around her, and it felt so right. Like it always did. It felt right to be held by him, to have him close. This was where she wanted to be, but she had always been too stubborn to let herself feel it.
She had been too afraid to open her heart and let love in again.
And even though she didn’t know what the future held, she wanted to discover that future with Elias and their child.
“Well, now what do we do?” Elias asked. “We’re both going to be working in San Francisco. We’ll have to go down to San Diego and collect our things.”
“We will.”
“And we’ll have to find a place to stay.”
“Yes, we will.”
“We could buy a place. I have some money saved away, and given our jobs, it shouldn’t be too hard to buy a nice apartment in San Francisco.”
“How about a house?” she teased. “We’re going to need room for the baby.”
He laughed. “Okay. We’re going to buy a house. You know that it might be easier for us to buy said house if we were married.”
“What?” Adeline asked, stunned.
“I don’t have a ring.” Elias got down on one knee and held her hand. “Adeline Turner, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife? I love you and I can’t picture my crazy life without you.”
Adeline smiled and wiped a tear away from her eye. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Elias grinned and stood, scooping her up in his arms to kiss her. And just as she always did when Elias kissed her, Adeline melted into his arms. Completely lost.
“So, what do we do now?” Adeline said.
“We celebrate. We still have the apartment. Dr. Spiner made it part of my deal. We have it until we can find our own place to live. We could go back there and celebrate?”
“That sounds like a great idea.” Her blood was thrumming with desire, thinking about sharing that king-sized bed at the apartment with him.
“I think before you two celebrate, you should introduce my future son-in-law to me.”
Adeline laughed and Elias set her on the ground as Adeline’s mother came to the doorway.
“Elias, this is my mother, Beverly. Mom, this Dr. Elias Garcia. He’s the father of my baby.”
“Pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Turner,” Elias said, kissing her mother’s hand.
Her mother laughed. “I can see why you like him. Well, you might as well come in, Elias. We have some wedding planning to do, and I think you should stay for supper to meet Adeline’s father.”
“There’s no arguing with her. We’re going to have to celebrate later,” Adeline whispered.
Elias winked at her. “Oh, we will. We have all the time in the world.”
And for the first time since Adeline met him, she finally, truly believed him.
She trusted him.
Her heart was whole.