Unlikely Allies (29 page)

Kat moved in, giving what Maggie couldn’t. “If you need anything, call, okay?” Removing the phone still in his hand, Kat punched a few buttons and handed it to him. He nodded and glanced at Maggie. His mouth opened, and he took a breath as if he wanted to say something, but stopped. His eyebrows pinched together, and he shoved a hand through his hair while walking around Kat to Cece’s bed. “Sweet dreams, sweet pea,” he murmured, his mouth pressed against her temple, a heartbreaking, tender kiss.

Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two flecks counted on the tiles so far, Maggie had no idea if he paid her any mind. His silence when he trudged out the door told her everything she needed to know.

Nothing.

And her response had been the same.

M
ORE DOCTORS, NURSES, AND WAITING
while Rick spent an entire evening in the emergency room accompanied by his mom. The next morning and afternoon the hours ticked by in the OR area and then CCU, where his grandfather had been moved. In between visiting hours, he dragged his exhausted body to the fourth floor to check on Cece before he got kicked out of there too.

“Max, gimme a kiss.” At least Cece’s greeting felt wanted and positive. Maggie turned her back toward him and looked through the windows at the downpour.

He gave Cece a peck on her cheek. “How you doin,’ sweet pea?”

“I gotta booboo.” She tilted her head and added a pout, tugging at his heart.

He picked up
Green Eggs and Ham.
“You want me to read to you? It might help you feel better.”

“Ya got gum?”

He chuckled for the first time in what seemed like forever, glancing at the empty wrappers on the rolling cart by her bedside. “You ate them all already?”

Kat entered the room, confirming what he suspected. “Ate is the word of the day. How’s your grandfather?” She set a hand on his shoulder, concern evident in her softening tone and eyes.

A crack of thunder and a lightning flash drew his attention to the window and Maggie, her hands clutched to her stomach. As he watched both he answered her sister. “He’s in the cardiac care unit. They did surgery, a triple bypass this morning.”

“If there’s anything we can do . . .” Kat pulled him into a hug, whispering, “Let us know.” She released him and sat in a chair next to where Maggie stood.

He glanced at Cece, her brows pinched together. She laid her tiny hand on top of his on the railing. “Ya papa has a booboo too?”

Her innocent and sincere distress sent a stabbing pain to his heart, filling his eyes with tears. “Yes,” he managed to choke out, his anxiety growing to greater heights. Flashbacks from thirteen years ago surfaced after he’d been fighting and pushing the painful memories to the back of his mind ever since his mom’s urgent call. Just like he found out about his dad.

“Mama, I gotta go.”

Maggie came to her daughter’s bedside and still hadn’t acknowledged his presence. “Go where, sweetie?”

“See Papa.”

Maggie’s eyebrows scrunched too. “You talked to him this morning.”

“No, Max’s papa,” Cece insisted, throwing the covers off.

“Whoa, stop right there, young lady.” Maggie placed a hand on Cece’s shoulder, settling her against the cushion as Cece sat up. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“The nurses said she needs to walk around. She could go see him, Mags,” Kat chimed in.

Maggie spun around, slicing a finger across her throat. “No, she can’t.”

“I gotta, Mama.”

Maggie faced her determined daughter. “You can’t. He’s not allowed to have visitors.”

Cece squeezed his hand, sorrowful eyes pleading at him. “Max, can I see Papa?”

Maggie’s gasp rolled out swifter than the bursts of thunder outside. Before she could shut down Cece again, he got his two cents in. Bent over the railing, he swept his thumb over her rosy cheek and spoke gently, unlike Maggie’s frantic and pissed replies. “He’s real sick, sweet pea. I can only see him a few times and not for long. He’s not in a room like yours where visitors stay.”

“But I gotta. I wanna give him my wish.” Cece tugged on his hand, sitting up slowly, but ready to go right now.

How could he deny her? She wasn’t just the sweetest little girl he’d ever met, but her desire to help his grandfather in whatever way she thought she could made him love her that much more. If that were even possible. It dawned on him right then; he’d been a goner from the moment he met her. His gaze drifted from Cece to Maggie, and he waited for recognition, hoping her hostility would disappear after hearing her daughter’s profound appeal. If it affected him as much as it did, it had to have a greater impact on her as Cece’s mother. At least he thought so.

Yet again, Maggie’s reaction shocked him. She stormed out of the room, leaving all of them in stunned silence. The rain battering the window resembled the turmoil inside him. He had no idea what just happened, or what could have contributed to the cold shoulder.

Kat bolted out of her seat. “I’ll knock some sense into her.” Before she could leave, he grabbed her arm. “Wait. Let me talk to her. Do you mind?”

She shook her head and went over to the cart, picked up a book, and began to read aloud. He told Cece he’d be back soon and went into the hallway in hot pursuit. Long overdue, he needed to find Maggie and get whatever bothered her out of her system. He couldn’t stand the tension.

Instead of hunting all over the place, he asked the nurses sitting behind a counter outside Cece’s room if they’d seen an auburn-haired, green-eyed woman about this high, placing his hand below his chin. One of them pointed to a lounge at the end of the hall.

He entered the room and all the oxygen in his lungs seized. Hunched over, Maggie’s forearms lying on top of a vent, air blew wisps of hair around her bowed head. He thought he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. The sight of her slouched, depressed state sent a wave of panic and protection through him. All he could imagine would have that impact on her might be Jake. And even though he’d seen that reaction before, this somehow seemed a hundred, no, a thousand times worse. Instead of taking her into his arms, he sat in a chair in the corner, within throwing but not hitting distance. With her volatility, he didn’t want to push his luck, since things hadn’t been going in his favor.

Several nerve-racking seconds later, she tilted her head the slightest bit toward him. Clumps of hair blocked her right eye; the other one, though, focused on him. “You should be with your family. They need you.”

He leaned over, held his weary head in his hands, and massaged his aching temples. Directed to the floor, he said, “What did I do, Maggie? Tell me. 'Cause I have no fucking clue.” When he glanced up, his hands clenched between his legs, he asked her and her behind, which he wasn’t enjoying for once, “The last time I saw you we were in each other’s arms, dancing. Now you can’t seem to get far enough away from me. No, I take that back. You want
me
to disappear. Under the circumstances, I wish we weren’t having this discussion right now, but this can’t wait. So I’ll ask again. Does your attitude have something to do with me, or did something happen with Jake?”

She whipped around and threw her hands onto her hips. “Don’t act like you know anything about me. You don’t. So what? The two of us dancing gives you liberty to make assumptions about me. What did you think it meant? What? What?” Her face turned beet red, and her arms flapped up and down, and as she finished they spread out wide, slapping her hips when she spouted the last question.

Never in his entire life could he recall any person going off on him like she just did. Sure there were plenty of tense and heated moments during negotiations, but never complete and utter disdain. Even though his grandfather could be cruel and often misguided, Rick knew he cared. Maggie not only didn’t give a shit, she couldn’t stand him. Wow, he never could have misread or been more wrong about a woman ever. He wanted to beat the ever-livin’ shit out of someone, and he knew who that would be. Unfortunately, his way-off-the-mark best friend wasn’t anywhere in sight.

The enormity of what this meant hit him. If devastated described what he experienced when his dad died, this moment, the discovery that he loved Maggie and she didn’t—shattered him. A thirty-one-year-old grown man for the first time knew what it felt like to have his heart broken—wrecked, demolished, smashed to smithereens. Slumped over, he stared at the frayed threads in the carpet and couldn’t figure out what to say. When he picked up his head, he didn’t need to. Maggie was gone.

“Mr. Stone.” Rick glanced toward the entrance of his grandfather’s room. The nurse smiled at Rick. “There’s someone here to see you.” She pointed down the hall toward the CCU entry. “They’re waiting out there. Said it was important.”

He got up, curious who it could be. His mom left a few minutes ago, so it wouldn’t be her. When he opened the door and saw Kat and Cece, he almost fell over. After Maggie walked out on him, he hadn’t returned. He needed space, time to think. Now, seeing Cece in a wheelchair, overcoming her situation wearing a big smile, made him feel like a total ass. He should’ve been man enough to at least kiss her bye. He knelt down, taking her hands in his. “I’m sorry I didn’t say good night.”

“I gotta see ya papa.”

He looked up at Kat. “Does Maggie know you’re here?”

“The munchkin needed to go for a stroll. My sister doesn’t need to know where we go or what we do.” Kat grinned, slapping Cece high five. When he tapped the armrest on the wheelchair, Kat beat him to his remark. “She walked out of the room, but we confiscated a chair. I wasn’t gonna have her on her feet all the way up here. Besides, I thought it might get her some sympathy points.”

His legs were getting stiff from his crouched position, and he stood while asking, “And why would she need that?”

Kat pointed over his shoulder. He glanced there too, reading the sign that indicated no one under twelve years old could enter.

“I wanna see ya papa.”

He rubbed his thumb along Cece’s hand, soothing and trying to let her down gently. “He’s sleeping, sweet pea. Besides, the sign says you have to be twelve.”

“Nuh-uh, the nurse said I could.”

Kat slapped him on the shoulder. “Told ya the chair would work. Plus, who could resist the munchkin.” She leaned over and kissed the top of her niece’s head. “Besides, I told the nurse she’d stay just a minute or two.”

“Pwease.” Under normal conditions Cece could be irresistible. Now though, not only wouldn’t she be denied, but her kind gesture made him grieve the loss of Maggie and even more—the family they could’ve had together.

He walked around her chair and grabbed the hand holds. “Ready?”

Cece nodded, and Kat backed up, leaning against the wall. “I’ll wait here.” She slapped the handicapped button and the doors opened.

As he entered, the same nurse came up to them. “Just a few minutes, okay?” She patted Cece’s hand and said, “Your grandpa will be fine, sweetheart. Don’t worry.” Cece sniffled and tucked her chin into her chest. “Your daughter’s beautiful, Mr. Stone.”

Before he could correct her, Cece looked up at him and with a shaky stutter asked, “C-can I s-see Papa now, Dada?”

For the second or maybe third time, he lost count now, his heart crashed and burned. The wind got knocked out of him, not from agony, but the euphoric high that overcame him when she called him dada. Whether she was play acting or not, it didn’t matter. He wanted her to be his daughter. His eyes filled with tears for a whole different reason. Bent over, he placed a kiss above her ear. “I love you, sweet pea.” Cece set her hand on his cheek, hugging and bonding him to her.

“Oh, you two are going to make me cry. You better get in there. Visiting hours are over in five minutes.”

Somehow he found the strength to move, wheeling Cece next to the bed. “He got lotsa booboos.”

He knelt next to her, worry taking over as he examined the wires attached to Grandfather’s chest, an IV, and monitors beeping. Although her request meant well, he hadn’t considered how his grandfather’s condition might scare her. Lowering his tone and as gently as possible he said, “He’s got one right here.” He pointed to the middle of his own chest, his heart. “The doctors said he’ll be fine. He even got up and walked a little like you.”