Crave (Splendor Book 2) (64 page)

Tessa struggled to hide her disappointment, and tried to sound as supportive as possible. “I understand. I just wish I could be there to help.”

“I wish you were here, too, though in all honesty there wouldn’t be much for you to do in this particular case. It’s certainly not a situation I’ve ever had to deal with before. Now, tell me about the orientation today.”

They talked for a bit longer, until he started to yawn and she teasingly told him to get some sleep since she was evidently boring him.

Tessa had a hard time falling asleep that night, tossing and turning, even getting out of bed a little before midnight to brew some chamomile tea. These past two nights had been the first time in months that she’d been alone in this big house, and she automatically found herself being troubled by her old fears and depression. She drifted into the library with her mug of tea, and reached for one of her mother’s books.

Ever since Ian had surprised her with the books for her birthday, Tessa had read all three volumes at least twice. Ian had just recently heard from one of his rare book dealers that they had a solid lead on the fourth book, and Tessa was eagerly awaiting its acquisition.

The tea and the book seemed to do the trick, and this time when her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep within a few minutes.

***

She knew almost immediately upon waking on Wednesday morning, however, that something was very wrong. She was groggy and disoriented, despite the fact that she’d slept like the dead for hours. Groaning, she reached for her phone and saw she had three voice mails and two texts from Ian, each one sounding more anxious than the last. Without lifting her head from the pillow, she sent him a quick text, apologizing for having overslept, and promising to call him in a little while.

It was when she tried to sit up that she realized several things at once - she was dizzy, oh, so dizzy, and had to brace her hand on the headboard to stay upright; the awful cramps were back except they were worse than she could ever remember, like a knife blade stabbing her in the gut; and she was burning up, her skin hot to the touch, and she realized she had a fever. Her mouth was so dry she could barely swallow, and her head was pounding unbearably.

In dire need of some Tylenol and a glass of water, she stumbled on shaky legs to the bathroom. It was then she noticed the blood trickling down the inside of her thighs, and she tried valiantly not to panic. There was way too much blood, even for the heavy periods she suffered from, and the way it was seeping out in a steady flow made her realize she needed to get to a doctor right away.

Struggling not to pass out, she managed to clean herself up as best she could, forcing back alarm when she saturated a sanitary pad within minutes. She called Ian first, even though he was in Las Vegas, because she desperately needed to hear his calm, steady voice telling her what to do next. She shouldn’t have been surprised when the call went to voice mail, and chose not to leave a message. Simon had the day off today, though she knew he would have come for her anyway, but in the end she called Julia.

“Hey,” trilled Julia happily. “Working up an appetite for that cheesecake?”

“Julia.” Tessa’s voice was whisper soft. “I - no, I can’t make lunch. I’m - sick, something’s wrong.”

Julia was instantly on alert. “What is it, honey? The flu? God, you sound awful.”

“Not the flu. Thought it was my period but - oh, God, the cramps - so painful. And too much blood.” Tessa was fighting off the urge to retch with every breath she took.

“I’m coming over. Right now. Are you calling from your bedroom? Can you get downstairs to open the door for me?”

Tessa was desperately grateful to learn her friend was on the way. “Think so. I’ll find a way. I’m sorry.”

“Stop it. Nothing to be sorry for. Damn it, Nathan’s already on his way to Napa, and I don’t have my car here with me today. I know, I’ll get Travis to drive me, he’s a crazy man behind the wheel so we’ll get there in record time. Tessa - if this gets any worse before we arrive, call 911 immediately, okay? I’m walking out of my office now to get Travis, and I’ll have my phone in hand if you have to call. Just hang on, okay?”

“Okay. See you soon.” Tessa slumped to the bathroom floor, just the effort of talking sapping the little energy she had left.

She half stumbled, half crawled into the walk-in closet to find a pair of slip-on shoes and then grabbed her purse from the bedroom. Somehow she managed to get herself downstairs, largely by sitting and sliding down on her butt one stair at a time. Try as she might, she couldn’t summon the energy to get up off the bottom step, her head swimming nauseatingly and the pain in her abdomen so severe she was sobbing.

While she waited for Julia and Travis to arrive, her fevered brain vaguely recalled that she still needed to call Ian. Once again the call went to voice mail, but this time she left him a short, succinct message.

“Hey, it’s me. Sorry to bother you and please don’t worry because it’s probably nothing. Julia is going to drive me to the doctor’s office just to get checked out. I’ll call you when I know more, okay? Love you.”

Another vicious, stabbing pain ripped through her belly as she ended the call, and she cried out in agony, wrapping her arms around her midsection. She gasped as she felt a fresh gush of blood seep down her thighs, and this time she did panic when she saw the spreading stain on her sweatpants. Tessa had no idea what was happening to her, but she knew this was far more serious than just a heavy period.

The effort it took to crawl to the front door and open it when the doorbell rang depleted what was left of her strength. Tessa wasn’t even aware when she slumped to the ground in a dead faint, and most certainly didn’t hear the alarmed voices of Julia and Travis.

***

Doctors, nurses, and whoever else might have been walking through the hallways at University Medical Center were quick to move out of the way of the tall, dark haired man in the gray pinstriped suit. The look on his face was deadly serious, and passers-by glanced away hastily when they glimpsed the fire in his eyes and the tight set to his mouth. No one would have dared to think of approaching him as he strode purposefully down the hall.

Ian was fighting to suppress the rising panic he felt with each step that brought him ever closer to the visitor waiting room where Julia would be meeting him. The last few hours had been nothing less than nightmarish, and his brain was a jumble of thoughts and emotions, none of which made the least bit of sense right now. He was terrified at not knowing what was going on with Tessa, trying to remain positive and not assume the worst, but also about two breaths shy of a full blown anxiety attack. He was furious at himself for having waited so long to check his bloody voice mail, a full three hours after Tessa had left that last message, her voice barely audible. And he was cursing the casino manager for his treachery that had required Ian’s presence in Las Vegas these past three days. If he hadn’t had to fly out there to clean up the mess, he would have been here with Tessa, able to look after her properly.

Ian had alternately scolded and teased Tessa about the so-called premonitions she felt at times, particularly on Wednesdays, which she still insisted were cursed somehow. But he himself had woken very early on this particular Wednesday, before dawn in fact, and the unsettled feeling he’d had then continued to nag at him all morning. He’d done a full hour of swimming laps in the hotel pool, hoping it would both ease his stress and dispel these odd feelings he kept having. Not wanting to wake Tessa too early, he’d sent her a text before heading off to resume the grueling round of meetings about the increasingly complex money laundering operation. He’d excused himself at various intervals to call her, growing more and more concerned when she didn’t answer her phone or reply to his messages. Then, finally, there had been that brief text apologizing for having overslept, and assuring him she’d call soon.

He’d felt instant relief at that point, assured that all was well, and had returned to the meeting. Things had begun to develop at a rapid pace at that point, and before he knew it the morning had all but disappeared and it was already noon.

In between bites of a hastily consumed lunch, Ian had fielded three rather urgent phone calls from the San Francisco office before he’d finally pulled out his personal phone to check for messages.

The voice mail from Tessa had put him on instant alert, for he could immediately sense the fear in her voice that she had so unsuccessfully tried to mask. But it was the next three messages, all placed from Tessa’s phone but left by Julia, that had sent him into a full blown panic.

The first message had been delivered around 9:30am, and Ian could hear the sounds of traffic in the background.

“Ian, it’s Julia. Call me on Tessa’s phone the moment you get this. She’s being taken to the ER in an ambulance, Travis and I are following behind. Not sure exactly what’s wrong but when she called me this morning to cancel our lunch, she was in awful pain and said she was bleeding a lot. When Travis and I got to your place - God, Ian, she just fainted dead away and all the blood - it was awful. We called 911 immediately and I’d guess right now we’re less than ten minutes away from the hospital. I’ll call you after we arrive.”

Julia’s next message had come about forty five minutes later, and this time the background noise was minimal at best. She’d been struggling noticeably to keep her tone calm.

“Ian, it’s Julia again. I really hope you check your voice mail soon. Look, we’re at the ER now at University Med Center, and Tessa’s being looked over by a team. At first they thought it could be a miscarriage, but one of the interns just popped out and said the ultrasound is indicating her IUD has most likely perforated her uterus. They’ve managed to stop the bleeding but she’s going to need surgery. As soon as I know more I’ll contact you. Call me, please.”

The third and final message had been left just after eleven a.m., and there was no mistaking the annoyance in Julia’s tone this time.

“Damn it, Ian, why the hell aren’t you answering this phone? I’ve tried calling the hotel there in Vegas but no one will put me through to you. Please call me the second you get this. They’re taking Tessa into surgery now to remove the IUD and repair the damage to her uterus. That’s really all I know, they won’t tell me anymore, and it’s like an insane asylum in this place today. Travis has been here with me but he needs to get back to the office, and Nathan is up at the hotel site in Napa today. I’ll stay here and keep you updated but you need to get back to San Francisco right away. And CALL ME!”

What had happened next, in very quick succession, still had his head spinning. He’d called Julia immediately, apologizing profusely for not returning her earlier calls, and demanded an update on Tessa. When he’d learned she was still in surgery, he’d put the next steps in motion with dizzying speed - giving his management team no opportunity to argue with him when he’d announced he had to leave at once; calling to have the corporate jet made ready for a speedy departure; contacting Simon as he gathered his belongings from the suite and arranging to be picked up at the airport in San Francisco; commandeering one of the local hotel staff to drive him to the private airstrip where his plane had been waiting. During the hour long flight, he’d called Julia three times for updates, as well as badgering Jordan Reeves’s receptionist until she’d finally agreed to page the doctor. The affable OB/GYN had called Ian back promptly, and agreed to check on Tessa just as soon as the baby he was scheduled to deliver within the next half hour was born. Jordan had assured Ian that Tessa was going to be fine, that these sorts of things, while rare, were usually relatively easy to repair, and it was highly unlikely that there would be any complications.

But any reassurances Ian had been given were instantly forgotten the moment he entered the hospital. Like most people, he disliked such places, and fortunately had had to spend very little time visiting them. His anxiety only continued to increase with each step that brought him ever closer to the visitor waiting room.

Julia was busily tapping away on her iPad when he all but burst inside the room, and she sighed in relief when she saw him approach. She set her tablet aside and stood. “Ian. Thank God.”

“Where is she?” he demanded. “I need to see her right away. She’s been out of surgery how long now?”

Julia laid a hand on his arm, trying to calm him down. “About forty five minutes or so. But she’s still in recovery, so no one can see her yet. One of the nurses said the surgeon will be out to talk to us any minute now.”

Ian shook his head. “Not good enough. I want to talk to someone now. Where’s this nurse you spoke to?”

“Ian, you’ve got to calm down, okay? I realize all of this has been a shock to you, but you’re not going to help Tessa a bit by freaking out and going into boss mode. Sorry to break the news, but you aren’t the boss here,” she told him sternly.

He heaved a sigh of frustration, raking a hand through his hair. “You’re right, of course. It’s just frustrating as hell. I should have been here, Julia. I should have been the one taking care of her, bringing her to the hospital. And then to ignore all of your messages - Christ, I’ll never, ever forgive myself if she doesn’t come out of this all right.”

“Hush.” Julia took both of his much larger hands in hers. “And don’t blame yourself. Tessa seemed fine when I spoke to her yesterday. I think this happened very suddenly, so there’s no possible way you could have anticipated it.”

Ian squeezed her hand gratefully. “It’s more than that. This damned IUD of hers - I’ve been after her for months to get it removed, to consult with a doctor about alternatives. But we’ve been so busy with one thing or another, she just kept putting it off. When I left her on Monday morning, I could tell she was in a bad way but she kept insisting it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. God
damn
it!”

Julia gave a little start as he slammed a fist against what was fortunately a very sturdy wall. “Why don’t you sit down, hmm?” she suggested calmly. “Look, let me go try and find that nurse, see if she has an update for us. And you look like you could use a cup of tea. Maybe a nice, calming blend like chamomile?”