As the Dawn Breaks (13 page)

Dr. Files, the same middle-aged physician who’s been attending to Katie-bug all week, greets me as I exit her room, with what I guess you can call a smile on his face. “Mr. Basille, I’ve got good news for you and the Ellis’. Do you have a moment?”

“Of course. They just texted they’re on their way down from Lucca’s room to see Katrina for a few minutes,” I reply, my spirits hopeful.

On cue, Sarah and Christian turn the corner down the hall, heading in our direction. Once they recognize we’re waiting for them, they rush their steps until they’ve joined us.

“Leo.” Christian lifts his chin towards me. “Dr. Files,” he repeats the motion at the other man, “what’s the latest?”

Sarah slides her arm around my waist, delivering a quick hug as we all wait for the doctor’s update.

“The surgery yesterday on Mrs. Ellis was indeed successful. The internal bleeding has stopped completely, and the swelling on her brain, like Mr. Ellis’, has begun to subside. We’re keeping her sedated for now, but plan to ease off the anesthesia later this afternoon. She may or may not be awake for this evening’s visitation, but should definitely be somewhat alert by tomorrow morning.” He pauses and pushes his glasses up on his head.

“We will continue to monitor her and to administer the pain meds for at least a few days here in ICU, at which time we’ll run another series of scans, ensuring everything is healing properly. Her diet will be modified, basically liquids for a while, and then we’ll slowly introduce soft foods and so on. Assuming all goes as planned, her full recovery period will be in the range of six-to-eight weeks,” he explains, making eye contact with all three of us. “Understand she’s undergone two major surgeries in the last three days, and thankfully, she’s young and in good health otherwise, but nevertheless, her body will take some time to adjust. If anything else changes, we’ll let you know, but that’s the plan for now.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” we all offer in unison before he walks away.

Smiles are shared all around from myself and the Ellis’ at the good news, and as they go in to see Katrina, I have a moment, one of those moments where everything in life suddenly makes sense, when all the open-ended, unresolved questions all point to the same answer. A moment I’ll never ever forget.

I need to find Trystan.

I need to tell her everything.

I need to tell her she’s
my
answer in life.

I know it all sounds crazy, and there’s a good chance she’ll tell me as much when I unload it all on her, but I have to take that chance. Finding forever happiness is more than worth the risk of temporary humiliation. I will not allow pride, typically the greatest distance between two people, to stand between me and the woman—the life—I’ve dreamed about since the moment she walked away from me over two years ago. I refuse to let that happen again…not without a fight.

Not above using my charming ways, I plaster on my best smile as I approach the nurse’s station right down the corridor. The young woman sitting behind the counter looks up at me and grins with a slight blush. “Good afternoon, Mr. Basille. Is everything okay with your sister? Do you need some assistance with her?”

Glancing down at her badge, I quickly read her name and shake my head. “No, Carrie, my sister is fine, but thank you. However, I do need some help with something.”

“Sure. Whatcha need?”

“A little while ago, I ran into a girl in the elevator, who Katrina and I went to school with. She was running late for her shift, and she said we’d catch up later, but I forgot to ask where to find her.” I run my fingers through my hair with acted frustration, but keep my flirtatious smile locked on her. “I’m pretty sure she’s a doctorate student in the psychology program; her name is Trystan Fields…well, that was her maiden name anyway. I’m just not sure where to find her.” I feel bad for lying to her, but it truly is for a good cause.

She begins typing on her computer before I even stop talking, and I see the recognition flash across her face as soon as she finds Trystan in the database. “Well, I see your friend does indeed have an employee profile here, but other than that, I don’t have much information—not department or schedule. Most people here, especially clinical students and residents, have twelve-hour shifts, so whatever time you saw her getting here, I’d guess she’d get off twelve hours later.” Carrie pulls her eyes from the screen back up to mine, tilting her head to the side. “I hope that helps, hun.”

Another coy smile and a bob of my head before I leave the station, I tell her, “It does. Thank you so much. I’ll be back for the night visitation.”

“See you then.”

The afternoon creeps by, leaving me alone with my swirling anxiety-ridden thoughts. In an attempt to soothe my frayed nerves, I take a dip in the hotel pool, which seems to help a little, but until I get a chance to see her again, to hold her in my arms and tell her everything I want to say, I can’t fully calm down.

Once I’m back in my room, I throw my jeans and t-shirt back on, and then make my way down to the onsite restaurant to grab a quick bite to eat before I head back to the hospital. I stop and pick up a big foo-foo kind of coffee in the lobby, and drop it off for Carrie, the helpful nurse, as I stroll by en route to Katrina’s room.

“Thanks again for earlier.” I wink as I set the drink in front of her, the other nurses standing around openly gawking at me. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, but the guy said I couldn’t go wrong with this one.”

“Awww, you’re too sweet,” she smiles up at me, “and you’ll be happy to know everything’s still looking good with your sister. She’s still not awake, but her vitals are holding strong. I’m sure by tomorrow morning, she’ll be so happy to see you.”

“Not nearly as happy as I’ll be to see her,” I respond candidly, pushing off the counter and turning towards Katrina’s room.

For the entire hour I’m sitting next to the hospital bed, I tell the woman who used to consume my thoughts, day and night, about the one who does now, the one I’m willing to risk it all for. I explain my plan of stalking the doors of the hospital until I see her again, and then everything I want to say to her—all of it, from my childhood to why I moved away—praying she’ll at least grant me the time and listen. I’ll beg if I have to…rent one of those planes that drags messages behind it high in the sky…whatever.

Before I leave, I thank Katrina for bringing me here, to Trystan, yet again. I’d always thought she’d be my ‘one’, but now I know her role was to lead me to
her
. Kissing the top of her head, I whisper, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Katie-bug. Wish me luck.”

Then, with a fervent enthusiasm I can’t quite explain, I go plant myself directly outside the hospital doors, ready to wait for my forever girl.

“I LIKE THE NEW RIDE,”
Leo boasts as we approach my Tahoe, tapping the side of the charcoal gray SUV lightly.

I unlock the doors and we both slide in; turning on the AC is my first priority. “Yeah, well, the two-door GTI wasn’t very practical with the car seat, and I just wasn’t ready to be the minivan soccer mom quite yet.” I chuckle, backing out of the parking space. “My brother-in-law found me a good deal on this, and even though the gas mileage sucks, I don’t drive much or far, so it’s not that big of a deal.”

“It suits you, and good for the beach too.”

My eyes are focused straight ahead, but I can feel his stare locked on me, which is doing nothing to help keep my emotions in check. “So where are we headed?”

“My hotel? I’m staying at the Fountainbleu; we can order some room service and have some privacy to talk,” he suggests.

I can’t help but giggle. “This whole plan seems awfully familiar,” I joke, “and I’m pretty sure I know where it leads too.”

“Trystan, look at me,” he orders, his voice stern but gentle. Thankfully, I haven’t pulled out on the street yet, so I do as he asks, twisting to face him. “
This
will not end like last time. If you walk away again, it will be your choice alone, but if I have my way, we’ll be watching many more sunrises together. Understand?”

Nodding, I suck my bottom lip in-between my teeth, resisting the overwhelming urge to pounce on him right here in the parking lot.
God, this man is sexy, especially when he talks about sharing sunrises.
“I understand, but I was really referring to the sex part,” I whisper hoarsely, my cheeks hot from blushing.

A deep, belly laugh rumbles from Leo as his eyes glimmer with wicked delight. “Oh, yeah? Well, let’s talk first, and if you’re still interested in the
sex part
, I’ll be more than happy to accommodate you wherever and whenever you’d like, beautiful.”

Half an hour later, Leo and I are sitting cross-legged on his hotel bed, surrounded by plates of food he ordered from room service.

“Eat,” he insists, motioning to the food. “You’ve been working all day and you look too skinny.”

Laughing, I pick up a French fry and dip it into the ranch. “You’re just used to remembering me pregnant. This is my ‘normal’ size, silly.”

“Well, whatever…you still need to eat,” he huffs.

I nod and take another bite to make him happy. “All right, who’s going first with this
catching up
thing?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow at him.

He reaches out and grabs my foot, pulling it until my leg is resting across his lap. “I will. Unless you’re gonna tell me you’re involved with someone right now, which I hope isn’t the case, there’s nothing you can say to scare me away from pursuing this…us.” He runs his fingers through his dark hair nervously, eyeing me, waiting for my answer.

“No one other than my baby girl, but she comes first, forever and always,” I declare firmly. “Nothing will ever change that.”

“I wouldn’t expect it to be any other way, Trystan. I’m sure you’re an amazing mom, and I can’t wait to see you with her.” He glances over at the clock and sighs. “I know it’s getting late, so if you get tired, let me know. There’s no way I can cover thirty-five years tonight, because eventually, I want to tell you everything about me. I don’t want to hide anything, but tonight, I need to tell you the important stuff to…to make sure it doesn’t change the way you feel about me, whatever that is right now.”

He blows out a long breath. “I’m not even sure where to start. I’ve thought about this all day, since I saw you in the elevator, and now it feels like a chaotic mess of fragmented thoughts—”

“How about from the beginning? Hit the highlights, whatever parts you feel like I need to know.” I lean back into the fluffy down pillows, focusing all my attention on him.

Lazily brushing his fingertips up and down my calf, his lips pressed in a tight line, he begins to talk. “Right, so you know I was born in Italy; my momma and I moved to the states when I was two and she bounced around from job to job for a little while. Then, she was referred to this couple as a live-in housekeeper. He was a big time pro football player, and his wife was some New England socialite.” He rolls his eyes.

“Anyway, we moved into the small house out by their pool, which was a huge upgrade from the shithole apartment we lived in. Mama really hit it off with the wife, Stephanie, and we ended up staying there. Robert was never really around, always training and traveling, so it wasn’t too bad. I kinda grew up with two moms.” He pauses and looks at me, making sure I’m still with him. I nod and smile, urging him to continue.

“Eat more.” He picks up the cheeseburger and holds it up to my mouth, expecting me to take a bite. I comply. “When I was eight, they had a daughter, Katrina,” he lifts his brow, “the girl I walked down the aisle the day I met you.”