Broken Vows (Domestic Discipline Romance) (21 page)

They scrambled, but they were waiting when it landed. It was the first time Josh or Jenny had been on a helicopter, but after the first ten terrifying minutes in the air, they settled in. It was not any worse than the small commuter flights they had taken out of New York City or from Denver to Durango. The pilot explained they were traveling faster than a commuter flight at 140 to150 miles per hour. Josh was glad it had stopped snowing. He could not imagine hurtling through the dark and snow.

After what seemed an interminably long flight, they landed in Durango in an empty parking lot. Two police cars with flashing lights and headlight beams illuminated the lot acting as directional guides. It was snowing in Durango. Someone waved them over to a green SUV parked to the side.

"Hi, I'm Kevin's father, George. He sent me out here to get you folks."

"Thank you," Josh said, helping Jenny into the backseat and throwing their overnight bags on the floor. "Are there any updates?"

"She is awake and making sense. The immediate danger seems to be over," George reported. "I don't know much more. Mostly, the wife and me have been babysitting. You have some real sweet little ones."

"Thank you."

As soon as they went through the emergency doors, Kevin met them.

"She is alert and responding to the medicine to lower her blood pressure. It is almost at a safe level now. We have been watching those damn numbers drop for hours. The doctor won't talk to me directly, but Mila has allowed me to be in the room with her when he is talking to her, so it's the same thing. She has signed the papers authorizing a C-section. They are taking her into surgery in a few minutes.

"Can I see her first?" Jenny exclaimed.

"Yes, until they come to prep her for surgery," Kevin said. He walked over to the nurses area introducing Jenny and Josh.

"Only two visitors at a time," the nurse said, leading them into the room.

"Mila." Jenny gently hugged her sister as Josh leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.

"I'm okay," Mila assured them. "There were no warning signs, if there had been, we could have taken preventive measures. Kevin took care of everything, though. The doctors believe a C-section will expedite the whole process and I will recover faster."

A team of orderlies came in, pulled the curtains aside, and spoke to Josh and Jenny. "I'm sorry, but you have to leave. You can go to the waiting room on the surgical floor."

"Okay," Jenny said, hugging her sister again. "Mila, do you want me to call Mom?" she whispered.

Mila shook her head firmly and spoke to the orderlies. "Can you give me thirty seconds of privacy with my sister?"

The two men nodded and moved away. Josh also began to move away, but she grabbed hold of his sleeve. Mila turned to her sister and brother-in-law and whispered. "No. I do not want Denise here. I do not want her in my life. I had a will written a couple of months ago. If anything happens to me, you and Josh are to take my child and raise him. Under no circumstances is Mom to have any contact with him."

"Ma'am," one of the orderlies said.

"I'm ready," Mila said bravely.

* * *

"I wish we had more time," Jenny said as they moved back to the waiting room. Kevin motioned them to follow him. He pushed open a door to show George and Gina Carter sitting in a room with the children. Gina was holding Adam as he drank from a bottle, and Emmie was sitting in George's lap watching cartoons on TV.

"Mommy, Daddy!" Emmie squealed, running to them.

Adam's head jerked in their direction. He knew those words and he let out a wail.

Josh went over and lifted Adam into his arms as Jenny fell to her knees hugging Emmie. Then they switched children for more hugs and kisses.

"Let's gather all this stuff and move it to the third floor," Kevin suggested. "The C-section will be about an hour and she will be in the recovery room anywhere from an hour to two."

"Why don't we take the kids and go to the cafeteria for breakfast first," Gina suggested. "I think we could all use some coffee."

"Bless you, Mom," Kevin agreed. Then he disappeared for forty-five minutes.

* * *

"I hate this," Josh exclaimed, looking at his watch for the millionth time. He looked up when Kevin reappeared. "Where have you been?"

"In surgery with Mila," Kevin said matter-of-factly. "They only gave her a local, they wanted her awake if possible. I figured she needed someone to hold her hand and coach her through it. I didn't think Jenny was a good candidate since she faints at the sight of blood, so I went. It's pretty gutsy to watch your own C-section. I was there until they took the baby. It's a boy… and so far, so good. They gave her something stronger to put her out when they got to the stitching part, so I left. They generally don't like anyone with patients while they are in recovery, except nurses."

Josh looked to Jenny in surprise, but she only smiled.

"How was your trip to Vail?" Kevin asked.

"Great, until a certain phone call this morning," answered Josh. "How is everything here?"

"The fence was progressing like gangbusters until snow delayed work for two days, which is fairly standard for this time of year. Fred Jamison and his crew are probably back to work today. He generally has to lay off his crews at this time of year, so they are happy for the extra hours. After we had finished Mila's kitchen, I turned my men loose on the kitchen in the main house, which they have gutted already. The good news there is that when we removed the linoleum, we discovered it was glued to the original flooring."

"What was the original flooring?" Josh asked.

"A natural Jasper Tile," Kevin answered. "All it needs is polishing. I left it until you could see it for yourself. You can take pictures to send Mr. Mitchim. It would be a shame to cover the tile, but everyone has different tastes."

"Why would anyone cover it in the first place?" Josh asked.

Kevin shook his head. "I have stopped trying to figure out why people go to the time and trouble to destroy beautiful finishes. You are lucky, though. Whoever installed the linoleum did not use a nail gun. I mean, old Mr. Bentley must have paid a professional to do it. The housekeeper would not have been able to do it by herself. She is probably the one who ruined the cabinets by painting them. Thank God, she did not attack the wood surfaces in the main living area, library, or office. If she had messed with those areas, it would have been criminal."

"I agree," Josh said. "Kevin, I know you have a business to run, but it looks as if I'm going to get very busy, very quickly. I have a business deal in the pipeline and will need to depend heavily on you to keep the work on the main house organized and completed."

"I am okay with it. I like digging into big projects and the Bentley house fits the bill. By the way, my crew is back at Mila's place today. She won't be able to do any rehab work for a while, and she has the baby to consider now. I couldn't have her return to a mess, so they are painting, tearing out the rest of the carpeting, and either repairing or laying new wood floors. The hospital won't release her for at least another three days, which gives my crew enough time to complete the work. I also went ahead and ordered replacement bathroom fixtures along with a vanity. If you don't like what I'm doing, I will take the hit for it."

"Whatever you have decided will be good," Josh said.

"Dr. Garvin," Kevin said, getting to his feet when he saw the physician come through the double doors.

"Mrs. Grayson?" the doctor asked.

Jenny jumped to her feet. "Is she okay? Is the baby okay?"

"Both are doing well," Dr. Garvin explained. "The C-section went smoothly, and we are moving her into recovery now. The nurses will keep an eye on her until she comes out from under the anesthesia. We will continue treating her for high blood pressure and eclampsia for about six weeks. After that, she should return to normal. You can go in for a few minutes after she wakes up. It should not take long since we only administered light anesthesia. By the way, you have a nephew, six pounds two ounces. He's in the nursery."

"Thank you," Jenny and Kevin said in unison.

* * *

Jenny walked with Violet and Tyrell to the main house. They heard a lot of loud activities as they approached. Workers were framing a section of wall on one side of the room where glass would separate the open-floor main living space from the two-story library. On the other side of the room, laborers were removing the wall between the main room and kitchen. It was not load bearing, so it did not require new beams. They were not complicated jobs, but they generated enough debris to make it look like a major construction zone.

"Where is your hard hat?" Josh demanded of Jenny as he strode through the demolition.

"I am not in the construction zone," Jenny complained. "Tyrell and Violet are about to leave."

Josh followed them back through the house out to the Land Rover. "Thanks for sticking by us, it has been a rough couple of days," Josh said to his brother and sister-in-law.

"We are family," Violet said with a smile. "We may be back in February if we can swing it."

"Bring the kids," Jenny said. "If we go back to Vail this season, we will take ours, probably Mila and little David Kevin as well."

"
Big
Kevin too, if I'm not mistaken," Tyrell said.

"Shush," Violet said. "They aren't to that point, yet."

"She named the kid after him," Tyrell protested. "If we can see it, how come she can't?"

Violet rolled her eyes at him. "Do you have the address of the local airport programmed into the GPS?"

"Are you sure you don't want us to drive you?" Josh asked.

"You have work to do," Tyrell said. "We have already figured out the logistics. We'll leave the Land Rover in the airport parking lot. Kevin will take Jenny to pick it up when he goes to his shop this afternoon."

Jenny continued explaining the plan. "I will retrieve the Land Rover and then run errands. I want to see Mila and baby David Kevin at the hospital. She says she is going to call him Davy. I also need to stop by the gallery to check with Julia, and go to the grocery store. Imagine a shopping trip without fighting with kids. It works for me," she said with a smile. "The only thing better would be if they released Mila today."

"That is wishful thinking," Josh admonished lightly. "The doctor said it would be tomorrow at the earliest."

After hugs and goodbyes, Josh and Jenny waved them off and went back inside for hot coffee.

"We are back to normal," Jenny said.

"Not quite," Josh objected.

"Well, besides Mila and the baby, but that situation will straighten itself out in no time."

"There actually is more." Taking Jenny's hand, he led to the couch to sit down. "There is something I need to talk to you about."

"You are suing Pugh and Barkley again," Jenny guessed.

"Yes and more," Josh admitted. "I should have told you this a while back, but we were getting along so well, I did not want to tip the balance."

"What do you mean?"

"I have invested most of the money we received from the Pugh and Barkley settlement with a new company opening here in Colorado, Peak Designs."

"That's Brice's new company," Jenny exclaimed.

"
Our
new company," Josh corrected. "Brice, Bill, Matt,
and me
, we are in this together. It is going to be based in Montrose."

"Does that mean we have to move again? Well, I knew this respite couldn't last forever. I knew at some point you would have to go back to work full-time. I like having you around, though."

"I still plan to work primarily from home. Remember the man I was talking to in the bar our last night in Vail, Mr. Whiting? Turner and Whiting Contracting disqualified Pugh and Barkley as designers for the Richfield Towers Project in Stanford after a disastrous presentation by them. Then they mothballed the project. Mr. Whiting told me he wanted to resurrect the project, and he offered me the chance to lead the design project. I sued Pugh and Barkley over this exact project. The settlement gave me the rights to all the work I had done on it since Pugh never signed off on or paid for my designs, in direct violation of my contract. David Pugh, corporate asshole he is, has cost his company millions, but I retained the rights to my work."

"So you plan to submit your designs to Mr. Whiting's company," Jenny guessed. "All this is legal?"

"Absolutely, the arbitrators and lawyers determined the designs were my property and signed off on it. A big reason Tyrell won my case was Pugh did the same thing to other contract employees who also sued them. Bottom line, my designs are my property. The point is I have done most of the work already, and Brice will help me tighten them. If Peak Designs gets this project, Jen, it is big, really big. We will not be a struggling company bidding for anything and everything to make a name for ourselves.

"I am committed to it, but not at the expense of you or our kids. I won't do that ever again," Josh promised.

Jenny was quiet for a minute. "I am proud of you, Josh. This is what you worked for all these years. Your work deserves recognition. You never answered my question. Does this mean we have to move to Montrose?"