Nickolas-1 (23 page)

He looked over at Devin as his phone started to trill. When Devin looked over at him, he knew it was a payphone call too.

He stood up and went to him as he answered.

“Hello, Grant here. Morgan?”

Nick put out his hand and waited for him to give over his cell.

“...so if you could just tell me how she is, then I’ll come on home,” she was saying.

“You’ll fucking come home now. I’ve been waiting here...mother fuck! She did it again. I swear to Christ, I’m going to...ouch! That fuc...that hurt. What was that for?” He rubbed his ear where his mother had pinched him.

“You kiss me with that mouth, and I’ll paddle you good, young man. You are not too old for me to get medieval on your buttocks, you hear me? Sit down!” Nick sat. His mom had that look in her eye that terrified each and every one of his brothers and him. It said, “I brought you into this world. I will fucking take you out of it too.” They all knew she would too.

“Yes, ma’am. But she hung up...” She cut him off with a look. He stared at her for a few seconds because he could swear that he’d seen that same look on Morgan’s face a couple of times when they’d been fighting.

Nick tensed up when Byron’s phone rang. He started to rise, but Mom just looked. Damn it, he was a grown man. He sat back down.

Nick watched as Byron causally pulled out his phone and winked at him.

Payback was going to hurt him so bad. As if his mother knew what he was thinking, she glared at him again. Damn it all to hell and back.

“Hello, love. Are you all right?”

He waited for some news about her, anything would be good.

“If he comes to the phone again, I swear I’ll hang up and won’t call back again. I’m out of change anyway, and phone numbers to call,” Morgan told Byron. She should have just called him in the first place. But her first thought had been Nickolas.

“She said that if Nicky comes to the phone again, she’ll stay where she is and have the babies on the street corner,” she heard him tell the room.

“I did not! Are you trying to cause trouble? You are, aren’t you? Good then.

Is Mrs. Puck all right? I just heard about it on the news. Who did this, Mr.

Grant?”

Morgan had been coming out of the bathroom when there was a news flash on the television. It had said they were looking for a man who had broken into her home and that she was missing. All she’d been able to think about was poor Nickolas. Well, she thought, that was stupid on her part. All he’d done was yell at her.

“Yes, love, she’ll be fine. Her leg is broken and she’s been sedated. She hasn’t regained conciseness, but Damon said that’s to be expected. You’d better tell me where you are before Nicky breaks my neck.” Morgan burst into tears. She’d been doing that a lot lately and it was getting worse all the time. The stupidest things would set her off.

“I’m in Mansfield on a job site. I wanted to get the pictures before Dr. Grant won’t let me travel anymore. I have a job doing a site for the Mansfield Prison.

Isn’t that wonderful? The only bus I could get back to Columbus is a milk run, some man called it, and we’ve stopped in every little town between here and there.” She waited while he relayed the information, this time telling them what she said. Morgan felt silly crying and was glad Byron hadn’t commented on it.

“Nick would like to know if you need someone to come and get you? He said that he could be there in an hour.”

Alone in a car with Nickolas for an hour. No, and hell no. “No, I’ll be nearly there by the time he gets here anyway. I’m tired and my back hurts. I just want to come home. I should be there by eight or eight-thirty. Tell everyone to go home and I’ll call them tomorrow. I’d better hang up. I only have thirty-three cents left in change and that’s not enough for another minute anyway. So, good-bye.” And she hung up just as the recording was telling her to deposit another seventy-five cents to continue her call.

Morgan went to the little shop just inside the bus terminal and bought herself a juice and a candy bar. Just as she was leaving, she went back and purchased two more candy bars. She was starving and knew she had at least another hour and a half before she could fix herself anything to eat.

Getting on the bus wasn’t easy. The steps were very high off the ground and she was so rotund. Once she settled back against the seat, she thought about her day.

Earlier, she’d met with Libby and finalized the paperwork concerning the money that was to be given to her when Nick’s sons were born. There was also the house and the car. Everything would be in their names, once Nickolas named them. She hadn’t wanted any of it in the first place, so giving it to her children—

no, Nick’s children, she amended—was easy. As soon as the million dollars was deposited, it went directly into another account for them as well.

Libby didn’t argue with her about it. Morgan fully expected her to. She’d even made a few suggestions on what to do about the car. But she felt that as she’d never driven it, Nickolas should be the one who disposed of it.

There was also the file of pictures she’d made for Byron. They were pictures of her in different stages of her pregnancy. Byron had taken most of them, but a few she had taken with the tripod as well. She’d written him a long letter about why she’d given him the file. If the boys ever asked about her, would he please show them how happy she’d been to be pregnant with them? And that her leaving them had nothing to do with them. It was all her fault that she couldn’t make her marriage work with their dad. That their dad was a wonderful man and loved them very much.

The bus pulled onto the highway about ten minutes later and the gentle sway and the soft moonlight shining in the window soon lulled her to sleep.

~~~

The big Greyhound pulled into the bus station at eight forty-five. Nick watched every person who got off the bus, waiting for Morgan. He’d done a lot of thinking since she’d called and she’d been right to hang up on him.

Nick thought about every time they’d been together and how very little they had talked. She would say something, and he’d bark at her. She’d ask a question, and he’d snarl at her. No wonder she avoided him as much as possible. He would too if he could.

When no one else seemed to be getting off the bus, he looked around the terminal. He didn’t think he’d missed her, but she might have seen him first and darted away. If she could even dart anymore. Christ, she had been so big when he’d seen her last. He was just about to go look for her in the bathroom when the driver motioned for him. He walked over to the man and shook his hand.

“You looking for a woman, boy?” He’d not been called boy since he’d been a teenager.

“I don’t need a woman, mister. I’ve got a wife. You shouldn’t be selling women either. It’s degrading and against the law.” He started to walk away, but the man’s next statement stopped him.

“I gots me a pregnant woman on this here bus who ain’t woked up yet. I was wondering if’n you was awaitin’ on her. Pretty little thing too. Looks ready to about pop if’n you asked me.”

“Morgan’s asleep. Yes, she’s my...is she all right?” He moved past the man and onto the bus. He couldn’t see her, so he turned back to the driver.

“’Bout half way back on the left. Be careful of her; she’s been alying like that since we tooked off. She’ll be all kinked up.” Nick went slowly to where he had indicated and found her just where he said she’d be. He kneeled down and looked at her breathing softly all rolled up in a ball. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her brow and she turned to look at him.

“Oh, Nickolas, I was having the most wonderful dream about us,” she said dreamily. She started to move tighter into a ball and sighed heavily. “It’s too bad it wasn’t true. I love you so much.” And she was asleep again.

Nick stopped breathing as he fell back against the floor of the bus. He felt...well, he knew what the term pole axed meant now. Morgan loved him.

Nick looked over as the driver came back to them. He couldn’t think past her words. It was perhaps a few seconds before he realized the man was speaking again.

“...that way you won’t have to carry her out to the parking lot. He said to just pull up out front of the terminal and he’ll wave you through.” Nick was supposed to pull up out front.
Then what
? he thought. “I’m sorry, I...what did you say?” He wanted to shout, “she loves me!” but didn’t think the man would understand.

“Hee hee, you love on that girl right and she won’t be moving off again.

Nah, she didn’t tell me nothing, but I got eyes. I seen the way you looked at her.

Go on now, get your car. I’ll wait right cheer with her.” Nick didn’t know how he got to his car, or how he was able to get around to the bus again, but was suddenly there again. True to his word, the driver stayed with her until he returned.

Nick gently picked Morgan up and lifted her to his chest. She was heavier than he’d remembered, then realized that the only time he’d had her in his arms was when she was in pain or hurt. She didn’t stir much when he got her out of the seat and only moaned slightly when he put her into the passenger seat of the SUV. He was nearly halfway home when he realized he hadn’t thanked the man for his help.

Nick took her to his apartment because the police wouldn’t let them fix the door until they were finished with it. Parking in the garage was tricky because his parking place had a wall next to it on the opposite side and he couldn’t get her out without banging her around. He ended up having the front desk move his car around to the garage while he brought her up through the front doors.

Once he got upstairs, thanking everyone he could that he lived in the penthouse and keys weren’t necessary to open his door, he took Morgan directly to his bed and laid her down on it. As gently as he could, he removed her shoes and socks.

He debated on the rest of her clothes, but she’d be waking up in a strange room and he didn’t want to frighten her anymore than necessary.

After he got her settled, he went into his living room and collapsed in his favorite chair. Morgan Grant, his wife, mother of his children, loved him. He knew he was grinning like a loon, but couldn’t seem to help it.

The next thought sobered him up quickly.
But how do I feel about her?
Did he love her? He honestly didn’t know.

Nick certainly lusted after her. Even as big and full as she was right now, he wanted her. But did he want to spend the rest of his life with her? Did his feelings for her make him want to wake up next to her every morning, go to bed with her every night? Did he want to spend time with her above all else?

Sometimes, he thought. Other times, not so much. But she made him laugh. The unexpected bursts of laughter that surprised him when he did it. Did he love Morgan Grant? He didn’t know.

Nick called his mom to tell her that he’d picked up Morgan at the terminal, and that she was with him.

“Nick, darling, try not to piss her off tonight. She’s had a terrible day and she probably needs her rest. Why don’t you sleep on the ugly couch of yours until tomorrow? That way you won’t wake her and start anything this late.”

“Good night, Mother. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He was still grinning when he went into his room to check on her.

Morgan hadn’t moved. He started taking off his tie as he looked down at her in wonder. She was very beautiful. He pulled his shirt from his pants and unbuckled his belt. Toeing off his shoes, he thought about the children she carried and wondered if they’d look like her. He hoped that one of them would get her eye color. The sheer blue would be breathtaking on a young man as it was on his mother.

Nick sat down on the bed as he pulled his trousers off. As he tossed them across the room, he wondered if she would be hungry when she woke up.

Damon had told him that she was having late pregnancy morning sickness. As he pulled the blanket out from under him and lay down, he thought he’d have to get up early enough to go get some things for breakfast for them. Maybe a few weeks worth of groceries because she wasn’t staying in that house alone. He closed his eyes and pulled her lax body next to his. No, he thought. She wasn’t staying anywhere alone again.

Morgan woke up hot. Her body was drenched in sweat from her head all the way down to her feet. When she tried to move away from the source of heat, it literally pulled her back again. It was then that she noticed the huge arm across her just under her breasts.
OhGodohGodohGod
! Where was she?

Turning slightly, she got a whiff of aftershave and shampoo. Nickolas. Damn it, how had she ended up in bed with him?

Lifting his arm as gently as she could, she tried to slip out from underneath it. It was heavy and she wasn’t in a position to move it high enough over her girth to raise up. She wanted to sit up and was nearly to the desperate point of needing to pee too.

Waking him up was the only solution. She began by shaking him gently.

When that didn’t work, she started rattling him as hard as she could.

“Morgan, if you don’t stop beating on me like that, I’m gonna spank you.” He didn’t even open his eyes. Jerk.

“I have to pee, and I might be sick again. Let me up, hurry.” She might have laughed at the speed he moved off her if she didn’t have her own emergency just then.

Morgan barely made it to the toilet before she started throwing up. There wasn’t much in her stomach, but it still made her ache to heave like this. When she felt she could manage it, she sat down to pee. Those seemed to be the only things she was getting really good at, peeing and heaving.

When she stood up to wash her hands, she noticed blood in her panties. She sat back down so abruptly that she banged her teeth together. Blood. Heart pounding and her head spinning, she tried to think past the noise buzzing in her head. It was no use.

Morgan needed to call Damon. He’d know what to do. Blood in her underwear at eight and a half months pregnant wasn’t the end of the world.

Right
, she thought.

As she stepped out of the bathroom, she noticed that Nick was getting dressed. She must have made a small noise because he turned around to her.