Noble Love (The Nobles of Sweet Rapids #1) (12 page)

I
saiah was sound asleep, with Tessa wrapped in his arms, when the suite's phone rang at three in the morning. Rolling over, he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Why the hell haven't you been answering your cell?"

Isaiah shot up at the frantic tone in Ian's voice.

"What's wrong?" he asked, snatching his phone off of the dresser.

"Mom's been trying to call you. You guys need to meet me at the airport right now."

Sure enough, there were several missed calls and texts from both his mother and Ian.

"Dad's in the hospital," Ian said.

The next couple of hours were a blur. After those four words from his brother's mouth, Isaiah told him they were on their way. He woke Tessa and they hurried and got dressed. Their bags were already packed since their original flight was supposed to be later in the day, so they just grabbed them and left.

The flight that took only a little over an hour, felt like the eight hour drive it took to get from Vegas to Reno.

As Isaiah sat with his brother on one side of him, and Tessa sat on the other side, holding his hand and soothingly rubbing his arm, two words kept flashing through his mind.

Heart attack.

When the plane landed, they rushed to the hospital that their father had been taken to in Carson City.

"We're looking for Isaac Noble," Isaiah told the attendant when they arrived.

"Room two oh four," she said, giving them a soft smile.

Isaiah and Ian hurried down the corridor and entered the room. Isaiah's heart slammed into his chest when he saw his father lying on the bed with his eyes closed. Irene was sitting by his side, holding his hand. She looked up, and her face was stained with dry tears. She stood on wobbly legs, and both Isaiah and Ian went to her, wrapping their arms around her. After she embraced both men, she said, "Let's step outside."

Her voice sounded raspy, probably from crying, Isaiah gathered.

As soon as they were out of the room, Ian asked, "What happened?"

Irene shook her head, eyes filling up with tears. "He was working late in his office at the house. I went down to check on him and found him slumped over his desk." She covered her mouth to stifle a cry and Ian pulled her into his arms.

"What's going on now?" Isaiah asked. "How is he?"

Their mother pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes. "He's stable. But he's going to need surgery. I spoke to your sisters and they're on their way home."

Isaiah looked at Ian. Their flight from Vegas to Reno had been pure hell, and they'd been in the same state. They both could feel their sisters' anxiousness, flying all the way from Paris.

"When will he have the surgery?" Ian asked.

"They're going to continue monitoring him for a few days, make sure he remains stable and then perform the surgery." She pulled away from Ian. "I'm going to go back in there with him and let him know you boys are here."

"Let him rest," Isaiah insisted. "Just come and get us when he wakes up."

Ian nodded in agreement. "We're not going anywhere."

Irene finally noticed Tessa for the first time. "How are you, sweetheart?" she asked.

Tessa moved closer and gave the older woman a quick hug. "I'm okay," she said.

Irene headed back into Isaac's room and they moved to the chairs in the waiting room.

Isaiah turned to look at Tessa. "You don't have to stay," he said, wearily.

Tessa took his hand in hers and interlocked their fingers.

"I'm not going anywhere."

A few hours later, Irene came back out. "Your father's awake."

Tessa lifted her head from Isaiah's shoulder. When he looked at her, she smiled. "Tell him I said hello."

Isaiah nodded, and then he and Ian went into the hospital room.

"My boys," Isaac said, with a normal wide smile. He was sitting up in bed and Irene was fluffing his pillows. He looked at his wife. "Sweetheart, it's fine. Thank you. Can you give the men a minute?"

Irene nodded, smiling. "Is Tessa still out there?" she asked Isaiah.

"Yes ma'am."

"I'll go see if she'd like to grab a cup of coffee with me. You boys want anything?"

"No ma'am," both Isaiah and Ian said.

Once she was gone, they turned to their father.

"How are you?" Isaiah asked.

Isaac stretched his large arms out wide, grinning. "I'm still here."

"You look good, Pop," Ian said, moving closer to Isaac's bed. He leaned down and gave their dad a long hug, before Isaiah did the same.

"Apparently I'm not as invincible as I thought I was," Isaac said.

"Maybe now you'll follow Mom's strict diet and stop sneaking all that unhealthy junk," Ian grumbled.

"I already promised her I would," Isaac swore, holding up a hand.

"Good," Isaiah said.

"Look," Isaac said, his face growing serious. "Before your mother gets back and before your sisters get here, I want to talk to you boys."

"What's up, Pop?" they both asked.

"I'm going into this surgery in a day or so," he started. "If something goes wrong..." Isaac cleared his throat. "If I don't make i–"

"Pop," Ian said, shaking his head. "Don't talk like that."

"You'll be fine," Isaiah added.

"You boys will be the men of this family," Isaac went on. "I need you to look after your mother and your sisters. Isaiah, you make sure Noble Naturals continues to thrive. Ian, you make sure to help, and your sisters too. Do I make myself clear?"

When neither Isaiah nor Ian spoke up, Isaac asked the question again, much more brasher, "I said, do I make myself clear?!"

"Yes, sir," they both said quietly.

Isaiah refused to believe that anything but the best outcome would happen with his father's surgery. He looked good right now. The color was back in his face and he looked and sounded like he always did.

Everything was going to be fine.



"The girls should be here by this evening. They had a layover in Frankfurt."

Tessa watched as Irene's hand trembled as she looked at her watch. She'd been surprised when Isaiah's mother came out of Isaac's hospital room and asked if she would walk with her to grab some coffee, which she quickly agreed.

The machine finished filling up Irene's cup and she grabbed it. Moving over the condiments, she tried to grab the cream, but her hands were still shaking uncontrollably.

"Let me help you, Mrs. Noble," Tessa said, quickly.

"Thank you, dear," Irene said, clasping her hands together as Tessa fixed her coffee for her. "It's a sad day when you can't put together your own cup of coffee."

Tessa didn't say anything, just finished her coffee and handed it to Irene. They moved to sit in a bank of chairs.

"This is all my fault," Tessa heard Irene whisper.

"Your fault?" she asked. "How?"

"I
knew
he was sneaking those foods that are now on his restricted list after he got diagnosed with high blood pressure. But instead of getting on him and telling him to stop, I just let it slide; thinking a little extra something here and there wouldn't hurt anything. And now he has to have a bypass. What if something happens?"

Tessa heard Irene's light sobs and she did the only thing she could think to do. She pulled the older woman into her arms and held her.

"We have to stay positive, Mrs. Noble. Have faith that everything will work out."

After a few moments, Irene pulled away. "Did you stay here all night with Isaiah?" she asked.

"Of course," Tessa said. There was no question where she would have been.

"You must care a lot about my son."

"I do," Tessa said, with no hesitation.

"Do you love him?"

Tessa's mouth fell open at the question. "I do."

Irene gave Tessa a small smile. "Have you told him?"

Tessa thought back to their conversation at dinner the night before, after Ian had left and how she'd almost slipped and said Isaiah was the only Noble man she loved.

"In so many words."

"Don't waste time on 'in so many words'. If you love him, say the
exact
words." Sighing, she added, "Life's extremely too short and precious."

I
saiah, Tessa, Ian and Irene were sitting in Isaac's room several hours later when the door burst open and Isabella and Ivy flew in.

"My girls are here," Isaac said, as they rushed to his bedside, both of them hugging him. "If I'd have known all it would take is a heart attack to get all four of my kids in one room after so long, I'd have had one a long time ago."

The women gasped at his words.

"Isaac Noble," Irene said, glaring at him. "That is a poor joke."

"Yeah, Dad," Ian said. "Not cool."

"I'm sorry," Isaac said, still holding both girls in his arms. "I'm just glad to have all of my kids together. Despite the circumstances."

"We were coming home soon anyway," Isabella said.

"Yeah, for Isaiah's film," Ivy added.

Isabella and Ivy didn't leave Isaac's side for hours. They fussed over him and at him about his eating habits and he fussed at them about staying away from home for so long.

When evening arrived, Isaiah pulled Tessa out of the room.

"How are you?" she asked, as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. He returned her embrace, inhaling deeply, taking in the scent of whatever hair products she'd used. She'd told him that she used their family's products but over the last few weeks with her spending more and more time at his place, he'd seen it first hand.

"I'm as good as I can be right now," he said.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Isaiah?"

"You can go home."

At the shocked expression on her face, he pulled her into his arms again, "I'm grateful for you being here, really I am. But you've got to be exhausted. You should get some rest."

"I'm not going to be able rest while you're here worried out of your mind."

"You slept in a chair last night, sweetheart. I can't ask you to do that again."

"You don't have to ask me to do that. I
want
to be here for you, Isaiah."

"I'll be fine. We're just going to be sitting around during Dad's surgery. Go home, rest and I'll call you when he's out of surgery."

Tessa pulled her lip into her mouth for a second then nodded. "Okay, but if you need me, call me."

He nodded and pulled her into his arms for another hug. When she pulled away, she ran her hand down his cheek before she grabbed her purse and headed out of the hospital.

"You sent her home?"

Isaiah turned to find Isabella standing outside of their father's hospital room. Nodding, he said, "I didn't want her suffering another night in these horrible chairs."

He pulled his sister into his arms and gave her a tight hug. She and Ivy had been stuck to their father like glue since they first arrived.

"You love her, don't you?" Isabella asked.

Isaiah didn't speak, but he nodded his head.

"It's obvious," Isabella said. "You're different with her."

"What are you two out here talking about?" Ivy asked.

"How Isaiah's all in
love
with Tessa Everett," Isabella said, with a grin.

"Oh," Ivy said, waving her hand. "If that isn't the most obvious thing in the world."

Isaiah rolled his eyes. "We can discuss this later," he said, wrapping his arms around both of his sisters' shoulders. "Let's go back in there with Dad."

The next morning all four of them stood around their father's bed as the nurse prepped him for surgery. Isabella and Ivy hugged Isaac first, followed by Isaiah and Ian.

"Remember our talk," Isaac ordered quietly to both men.

When they stepped back to stand next to their sisters, Isaac looked around at all four of his children.

"I haven't said this nearly enough, but I'm proud of you. All of you. It may not seem like it at times, with the way I'm always fussing...but I am. You all make the Noble name proud."

Isaiah noticed his sisters wiping tears from their faces and he felt a lump of emotion in his own throat.

They followed the nurses out of the room as the rolled Isaac off to surgery.

The only thing they could do now was wait for hours. They all took their turns doing their fair share of pacing the floor in the waiting room, praying that the doctor would return with good news.

The sound of his mother gasping caused Isaiah to look up. Isaac's doctor was heading toward them slowly, his face somber. The closer the doctor got, the more Irene's head shook in denial.

Isaiah didn't want to believe it either.

"...Complications during surgery...tried to revive him...I'm so sorry."

The words felt unreal. But the pain Isaiah felt, as he caught his mother before she crumpled to the floor sobbing, and the way it intensified when he saw his brother holding both of their sisters, who were also inconsolable, told a different story.

His father...Isaac Noble...was gone.

Tessa couldn't go home. So instead, she went to her sister's place. She'd tried to sleep, but all she did was toss and turn, too worried about Isaiah and his family.

Her phone rang and when she saw Isaiah's name, she quickly grabbed the phone, praying for good news. His father should have been out of surgery hours ago.

"Isaiah?" she said when she answered the phone.

There was silence for a few seconds, and her heart dropped.

"Tess..."

The crack in his voice said it all.

"I'm on my way."

Dana was standing in the doorway, when Tessa hung up the phone. Tessa looked up, shook her head and Dana gasped, covering her mouth.

"Go to him," she said. "We'll take care of the bakery."

Tessa nodded and hurried back to Carson City.

When she arrived, Isaiah was sitting there holding Isabella. Isabella saw Tessa first and she patted his knee. When Isaiah saw her, he stood and walked over and hugged her tightly.

"I'm
so
sorry, Isaiah," Tessa said, her voice breaking as tears filled her eyes.

"He was fine," he whispered. "We spent the whole day, talking, joking, laughing. He was fine."

"Where's you mother?"

Tessa noticed Irene was absent when she arrived.

"They...uh...they had to give her a sedative. She's in a room resting. I...I have to start making the arrangements."

"Anything I can do to help, let me know."

"I just...need you here."

"Okay." she said, squeezing him tighter. "Okay."

A few days later, Tessa sat in a pew next to her sister, several rows behind Isaiah and his family as the city of Sweet Rapids said good-bye to one of their most prominent figures.

"I still can't believe he's gone," Dana whispered to Tessa as she wiped a tear away with her hand. Her other hand was being held by Aiden, who was sitting on the other side of Dana. Their parents were on the other side of Tessa.

"I know," Tessa whispered back. "It all happened so fast. One minute we were sitting around his hospital room and everything seemed to be looking up. And now..." She shook her head and dabbed a tear away from her eye.

"How are Isaiah and his family?"

Tessa sighed and looked ahead at Isaiah, who had his arm wrapped around his mother. He'd become more and more withdrawn, and Tessa believed it was because he was mourning the sudden death of his father and trying to be strong for the rest of his family, while making most of the arrangements for the homegoing of Isaac Noble. She hadn't heard from him since the day his father died and he called her.

"Not well."

"Understandably so. If Daddy..." Dana couldn't finish the words, as tears continued to fall down her cheeks. Aiden's arm slid around Dana's shoulder and he held her close.

The ceremony was lovely, albeit sad.

There wasn't a dry eye in the church when Isaiah, with his violin, and Isabella, on her harp, went up to the pulpit and played a soul-stirring rendition of Amazing Grace.

When the time came for the congregation to go around and pay their last respects, Tessa bent down to hug Irene first then Isaiah. He returned the hug, but she noticed it was stiff.

Not wanting to hold the line of people behind her up, she smiled at him before she continued giving her condolences to the rest of the family.

Once the service was over, the pastor announced that a reception was being held at the Noble Family’s home and all were welcomed. There would be no burial service because Isaac Noble's body was to be cremated.

It was heartbreaking to watch Irene Noble stand and say her final good-byes to her husband. She leaned over the casket, giving him one last sad smile and kiss, before her face morphed into pain. Isaiah and Ian were up gathering her into their arms as they helped her exit the church with Isabella and Ivy following close behind.

Tessa and Dana rode with their parents out to the Noble Estate. When they arrived, Tessa went in search for Isaiah. She found him with his brother and a few other men. He had a sad smile on his face as he listened to stories from one of his father's old friends.

When they locked eyes, Isaiah excused himself. He made his way over to Tessa, and took her hand in his, leading her outside.

"Thank you for coming," he said, quietly. He sounded so...robotic.

"I've been worried about you the last few days."

"I haven't called. I'm sorry–"

"You have no reason to be sorry," Tessa insisted. The pain in his eyes broke her heart. "Like I said before, I just...I just want to be here for you in any way I can."

Isaiah nodded, looking away. "I need time."

"Time?" Tessa repeated.

"Time to help my family get through this."

Tessa opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She understood he was still grieving, so she tried to choose her words wisely.

"You're so busy being strong for everyone else, trying to help everyone else get through this...who's going to help
you
get through this?"

Isaiah finally looked at her again.

"Tess–"

She held up her hand. "I understand, Isaiah. I really do. You need to be with your family right now. But just know,
whenever
you need me, all you have to do is call. I'll drop everything and be here for you because..." She blew out a breath. "Because I love you."

She kissed his cheek, before she whispered in his ear, "My ears are
always
available to you and so is my shoulder."

Then she smiled at him as she turned and went back into the house.