Fall On Me (27 page)

I didn't have an answer for her.

"Things would be very different for you and
Hope if Kyle had been raised by his father, Lee," Linda said softly
and I immediately tensed and looked down at my daughter. I knew
what she meant. If Kyle had been raised by his father, there was a
very high possibility that I would be a single mom right about
now…"Although, if Frank had lived he would have loved that little
girl," she mused. "His gene pool is still strong," she gushed.
"Just look at those blue eyes…"

"Didn't Frank love you back?" I asked in
confusion. "How come you never married or lived together?"

Linda smiled sadly. "Yes, in his own way he
loved me, but Frank was fiercely loyal to his wife's memory–very
much like Kyle is to you. He never loved me the way he loved her."
Linda sighed heavily. "I stood faithfully by his side for nearly
thirty six years, gave up my dreams of having children of my own,
and in all those years he was never truly mine. She was the love of
his life and he was the love of mine."

"That's…so sad, Linda," I whispered as I
wiped a tear from my cheek. "I'm so sad for you."

"Don't feel sad for me," she said as she
reached over and grasped my hand gently. "I had thirty-six
wonderful years with the man I loved. He may not have loved me the
way I wanted, but he gave me the world, Lee." Her eyes gleamed with
mischief as she smiled at me knowingly. "And the sex was out of
this world. The man was gifted."

Uh…I barely managed to restrain my hands from
covering my ears. "That's very…nice," I mumbled, red-faced and
mortified. "Sounds like he was very, uh…generous."

"He was," Linda agreed dreamily. "Except when
it came to giving his heart. He only gave it away once, and when
his wife died, she took it with her."

"So, she got the best of him," I stated as I
tried to make sense of what she was telling me. I was finding it
really hard to understand why Linda wasn’t bitter. I know I would
be. I'd been in her shoes once, when I suffered months of being
second best to Rachel. It was one of the most hurtful things I'd
ever endured and I couldn’t imagine spending the best years of my
life feeling that pain. That constant feeling of worthlessness-of
not being good enough–it could break a person. It had broken me…
"And you…" I looked up at her face and frowned. "What did he give
you, Linda–besides a job and a generous sex life?"

She looked down at Hope and smiled. "He gave
me Kyle."

"You really love him, don’t you?" I said, my
voice thick with emotion.

"It's impossible not to love Kyle," Linda
chuckled. "You should know that better than anyone, Lee. He has
something inside of him, something special. Given the chance, he's
gonna show the world what he's made of. Boy's gonna shine. Just you
see."

"No wonder Kyle worships you," I whispered,
more to myself than to Linda. She was an incredible person and
would have been a wonderful mother…No, she was a wonderful mother.
She was a mother to Kyle.

Linda stood up slowly, achingly slowly, and
moved towards the mini bar in the corner of the room and for a
moment I thought she was going to pour herself a drink until she
knelt on the floor and pulled a set of keys out of her jacket
pocket. "Kyle's a top shelf drinker," she joked as she unlocked the
drawer that was embedded in the bottom of the bar. "I doubt he's
ever looked close enough to know there's a drawer down here." I
watched in fascination as she removed a thick brown folder from the
drawer before closing it and locking it.

"What is that?" I asked, my curiosity getting
the better of me as I stood up and walked over to her.

"Kyle's life," Linda said. "Or at least his
life from the age of twelve." She placed the folder into my hands
and smiled. "Take care of this for him, Lee. He doesn't know it
exists and he's not ready to handle what's inside yet. Keep it in a
safe place until the time comes. You'll know when he's ready. Give
it to him then."

"I am so confused right now, Linda," I
confessed. "Why are you giving this to me? Why can't you give it to
him?"

"He's yours now. This falls on you," she
whispered. "There's no more I can do for him." I could have sworn I
saw a deep pain in her eyes, but when she blinked it was gone,
replaced with her usual crinkled kindness. "Protect him, Lee, and
stand by him. He's going to need you."

"What's going on…?" My question was
interrupted by the sound of the office door swinging open.

"That fucking man," Kyle hissed as he stormed
into the room with his jacket thrown over his arm and his tie
hanging loosely around his neck. I leaped in surprise and Linda
placed and gentle hand on my arm to calm me. "Linda, you're gonna
have to go through that will, word for fucking word. I
cannot
work with him anymore. I can't."

"Calm yourself, Kyle" she chuckled as she
winked at me before walking over to my fiancé. I stood with my
mouth hanging open, holding god knows what in my hands. What the
heck just happened?

"Don't let him antagonize you," she crooned
as she patted Kyle's slumped shoulders as he leaned over his desk.
"That's what he wants, Kyle. You know this. Your father wants you
to screw up. Don't give him the satisfaction."

'He doesn't know it exists and he's not
ready to handle what's inside yet.'

With Linda's words of weirdness drumming in
my ears, I slipped the folder behind my back before moving over to
my daughter's stroller. Kneeling down, I tucked the folder into the
basket underneath her seat and covered it with some diapers.

"You okay, princess?" I heard Kyle ask.
Peeking up, I nodded and smiled as reassuringly as I could.

I was okay.

I hoped he was, too.

****

Kyle

"Have you been taking you meds?" I asked Lee
as she stepped out of the bathroom. She had to take a tablet every
day to make sure her body didn't reject her new kidney. The doctors
had also warned us that her skin would burn more easily because of
the anti-rejection meds. I'd bought a truck load of sun-cream the
day I brought her home from the hospital. I was so nervous about
messing this up. It wasn't like making a normal mistake where I had
a chance to fix it. This was her life. Anymore mistakes could kill
her…

"Yes, Kyle," she replied as she swept her
hair back from her face before securing it with a hair tie. She was
walking slower than her normal snail pace and it was bothering the
hell out of me. If she didn't feel well she needed to tell me. I
hated feeling powerless and Lee's health made me feel that way. She
was so fucking fragile and she didn't even know it. I knew for a
fact that was her second shower today and she'd been moving around
like an old lady. If she thought she could hide the fact that she
was in pain from me with a smile then she was wrong.

I watched as she climbed onto our bed and
crawled over the bed to where I was resting against the headboard.
"Kyle, I'm okay," she assured me as she kissed my cheek. "I
promise. I'm just tired and Hope is getting heavy. She actually
pulled herself along on her belly today. It was just for like two
minutes," she gushed as she sighed happily. "But it was
amazing."

"You need help," I muttered. Christ, I
couldn't turn my back on the woman for a minute. Maybe I should
have kept her in the hotel. At least I had staff to do the things
she shouldn't be doing. I knew she was upset that I made her stay
with Linda when I went to Denver, but I'd needed to be focused when
dealing with my father and worrying about whether Lee was okay or
not was something I couldn't afford. I trusted Linda. I trusted the
woman with my life. She was the only person I would entrust the
safety of my girls to and if she would come with us, I would move
her into the house with us this very minute, but the woman was set
in her ways.

Knowing the girls were safe with Linda was
the only thing that kept me calm during my meeting with David. If I
could fire him I would, but I'd be going against my grandfather's
wishes. David and Mike were to have employment in the hotel chain
for as long as they desired and there wasn’t a damn thing I could
do about it. The only positive thing was the fact that David was
based in our hotel in Denver and I used the hotel in Boulder as my
headquarters. I was stuck with Mike working here, but I'd take him
any day over his daddy.

David Henderson was a fucking snake. He was
watching every move I made, especially since the shooting. I knew
he was waiting for me to screw up and I knew he wouldn’t think
twice about swooping in and trying to take over. There wasn’t much
he could do with regards to a takeover. I didn’t answer to a board.
I didn’t answer to a soul–well, with the exception of Linda. All of
this was mine. Solely and completely on my shoulders. But David
wanted this particular hotel. There was nineteen others, besides
this one, and I could relocate him to any one of them, but it
wouldn’t appease the fucker. Frank had started here. This was where
it all began. He'd built his empire from the ground up and this
place had been his pride and joy–his most prized creation. I wasn’t
a sentimental person, but I guessed that was what was driving
David. He wanted the reins of his father's centerpiece. That was
the impression I got when he started sprouting shit during our
quarterly meeting this morning…I was distracted and he was lurking
in the shadows waiting to pounce. I couldn't afford to make a
mistake. I couldn't take my eye off the ball. Not around him.
Asshole…

I'd been expecting a battle when I brought
Lee home, but she'd surprised me by being all cuddly and clingy
instead. I wasn't complaining. I loved a cuddly, clingy Lee. I'd
take that version any day over a silently seething Lee. But, Jesus,
I definitely needed someone here to keep an eye on her. I couldn't
take her everywhere with me and I didn't want her on her own.
Rubbing my face with the palm of my hand, I sat forward and pulled
her gently onto my lap. "Is this place too much for you? Is it the
stairs? What do you need, princess?"

"Kyle," she said in a firm voice as she
cupped my cheek. "I am fine. I'm going to get tired sometimes and
yes, there will be days when I will have some pain. But that
doesn't mean I'm dying. I need you to relax. And no, I don't need
help, okay?" She focused her stare on me. "I'm doing better. I'm
getting stronger."

I heard what she was saying, but my fear was
overruling her logic. "You heard the doctor," I muttered. "No heavy
lifting or strenuous activity for six months."

"And I'm not," Lee coaxed as she stroked my
chest with her hand. "I haven't been doing any of those things.
Calm down. I unpacked a few cases and bathed our daughter. Nothing
hardcore I swear."

"No contact sports." I listed off another
rule as my brain went into overdrive.

"You forgot to add no babies for the first
year," she said sarcastically as she used her fingers to list off
each rule. "Which isn't likely since I only have one tube and
haven't had a period in a year," she muttered before adding, "or no
breastfeeding." I flinched with guilt.

All your fault, asshole…

"Princess…"

"Take my temperature daily," she growled
adding another finger as she climbed off my lap. "Weigh myself
daily. Take a weekly urine sample. Maintain a healthy diet. Have a
low salt intake." She stared meaningfully at me. "Do you want to
scare us both to death by going on and on about something we can't
change?"

"No," I mumbled awkwardly.

"Then stop worrying about something we can't
change," she said as she climbed under the covers. "You are going
to give yourself blood pressure."

"Check blood pressure…" I blurted out before
wisely shutting my mouth.

Lee rolled her eyes at me before turning on
her side–away from me. "Stop talking, Kyle," she said with a
sigh.

After a few minutes of me keeping my mouth
shut, Lee rolled onto her back and grinned up at me. "Wow, you
actually listened to me," she teased. "I'm shocked."

"I have been known to listen on occasions," I
smirked. "But you might wanna memorize this moment because it
probably won't happen too often."

"Oh no," she squealed as she sat up quickly.
"I forgot the turkey, Kyle."

What the hell…"The turkey for what?" I asked
her, confused as fuck.
Talk about a conversation turner…

"For thanksgiving tomorrow," she said
quietly, eyes wide and lonesome. Her brows furrowed for a moment,
her expression pensive and I knew she was thinking about
thanksgiving last year… God, I was such an asshole to her. She'd
been pregnant with the twins–neither of us had known–and sick all
day. She'd stayed in her room all day and every time I'd worked up
the nerve to go upstairs and talk to her, she'd been locked inside
that god-awful bathroom, vomiting her heart out. Jesus, thinking
back to those days made me feel sick. The suffering she'd
endured…Even now, a year later, I was still mad as hell at myself
for not recognizing the signs. "Did you forget it was tomorrow,
too?" she asked in a soft tone as she looked down at me.

"No, baby, I remembered," I said in a gruff
tone. I knew thanksgiving was tomorrow and I also knew that we had
an unlucky streak when it came to the holidays. The way I was
feeling right now, all I wanted to do was boycott every damn
occasion and wrap her up in my arms. "Screw the turkey," I told
her. "And forget about Thanksgiving. Let's do a Halloween on it and
pretend it's just another day."

Lee worried her lip as she looked up at me
with wide gray eyes. "You're sure you don't mind?"

"Positive," I murmured as I settled down on
my back and pulled her on top of me so that we were chest to chest.
"So, did you have fun with Linda?" I sighed heavily and stroked her
back. "I know you're pissed that I dragged you out of bed so early,
but I can't concentrate worth a damn when I'm not with you."