Just the Man She Needs (15 page)

“Ashton, how is he? Tell me what happened? Is he all right?”

Ashton appeared startled at first as his head came up suddenly, and he blinked several times, as if to assure himself that she was not a mirage. “Felicia. I don’t know how he is yet. He ate something that he’s evidently allergic to. Eartha thinks it was endives. It’s the first time he had those. They’ve pumped his stomach and given him medicine, but he’s still not himself. He’s full of gas, has chest pains and stomach pains. And the worst part is that he can’t stay awake.”

She pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down. “The medicine may be making him sleepy. Excuse me. I want to speak with the nurse.” She rushed to the nurse’s station. “Miss, I saw a bubble in the intravenous feeder.”

Without a word, the nurse bolted from her desk and ran down the hall to Teddy’s room. When Felicia arrived there, she found the nurse adjusting the tube. After she finished, the nurse examined Teddy with her stethoscope, and Felicia could see the woman breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness you were here,” the nurse said as she left them.

“What was that about?” Ashton asked her.

She didn’t want to alarm him, so she said, “That tube wasn’t set up properly, and I told the nurse.”

Ashton’s eyes narrowed. “That nurse seemed frightened when she ran in here. Whatever it was, was serious, wasn’t it?”

Felicia nodded. “Yes, but all’s well that ends well. Right?”

He took her hand and held it. “Thank you for coming. I hope you don’t like endives.”

“Actually, I do,” she said. “Anyway, you’re not sure what caused it, are you? Perhaps it was a combination of things.”

“That’s what the doctor said. We gave them a list of everything he’s eaten today and the time he ate it.”

“Ashton, do you mind if I get a closer look at him. I want to see him.”

“Of course I don’t mind.”

She leaned over and looked at the small replica of Ashton. “He’s a beautiful child, Ashton, and he’s so much like you.” She continued to look at Teddy, and suddenly she leaned down and kissed his cheek.

“Why were you shaking your head?” Ashton asked her.

“I—I just can’t figure how anybody wouldn’t love him. He’s…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He squeezed her fingers. “That’s all right. I often think that myself. He’s a wonderful child. I’m…fortunate to have him. He’s…” His voice broke, and when she put her arms around him, he relaxed in her embrace. “He’s got to be all right. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

She held Ashton close while she whispered a prayer for the child’s healing. “He’ll be fine. I’m going to the cafeteria and get you something to eat. Would you eat a ham sandwich and drink some coffee?”

“I don’t want you to leave, but I’m hungry. I didn’t get any lunch today, and I didn’t have a chance to eat dinner.”

“Would you like me to call the housekeeper? She seemed upset when we spoke.”

“Good grief, I forgot that. You can’t use a cell phone in here, so if you’d call her while you’re in the cafeteria, I’d appreciate it. Her name is Eartha Clarke.”

She stopped at the nurses’ station. “Nurse, Teddy seems so…so pallid. Do you think he ingested something poisonous?”

“No. He’s allergic to something, but don’t worry, he’ll come out of it. He’s already much better than when he came.” The woman’s arms stroked her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. “We can be thankful that your husband noticed the changes in Teddy and got him here in a hurry.”

“Thank you,” Felicia said, and hurried to the elevator. She should have told the nurse that Ashton was not her husband, but if she did that, she wouldn’t be able to stay with him. When the elevator reached the basement, she stepped out and dialed Ashton’s home phone number.

“Miss Clarke, this is Felicia Parker,” she said, when the woman answered. “I’m at the hospital, and Mr. Underwood wants you to know that the nurse thinks Teddy is out of danger. I don’t know what time Mr. Underwood will be home or whether Teddy will be with him when he gets there.”

“Thanks for calling me, Miss Parker. I’ve been out of my mind. Lord, if anything happened to Teddy, I’d die. The precious little thing is like my own child. I’m so glad he’s going to be all right. Do you think I should keep Mr. Ash’s dinner warm?”

“I doubt it. Get some rest. Goodbye.”

She bought the sandwiches, coffee for each of them, and some grapes. When she got back to the room, the nurse was examining Teddy, and Ashton paced the floor with a frantic expression on his face.

Felicia rushed to Ashton. “What is it?”

“He began to perspire, so I called the nurse. I thought he was getting better, and this…this—”

She put the food on the table beside Teddy’s bed and went back to Ashton. “I know you’re worried, but have faith. He’ll come out of it a well and happy little boy.”

“I want to believe that.” He walked over to the nurse. “Why doesn’t he wake up?”

“The medicine makes him sleep. He should wake up in about half an hour, when the medicine wears off. Talk to him. He’ll recognize your voice. Right now, all his vital signs are normal, but I’ll ask the doctor to take a look at him so you’ll be less stressed.”

The nurse left them, and they sat on the side of the child’s bed and ate their sandwiches. Ashton nearly spilled the coffee when Teddy said, “Where are we, Daddy?”

He put the coffee on the table and gathered Teddy into his arms. “We’re in the hospital because you ate something that made you sick.”

“As soon as I drank that juice, I started to hurt.”

“What juice did you drink?”

“I don’t know what it was. Can we go home?”

“I’ll ask the doctor.”

“Who’s she, Daddy?”

“Her name is Felicia, but you have to call her Miss Parker.”

“Do you have any little boys for me to play with, Miss Parker?”

“No, Teddy. I wish I did.”

“Oh. Maybe my daddy can find you a little boy. Daddy, I’m hungry.”

The muscles of Ashton’s face worked furiously, but he didn’t manage to hold back the grin that altered the contours of lips. “Out of the mouths of babes—”

“I know the rest,” she said.

Immediately, Ashton’s mood switched to serious. “You can’t know what it has meant to me that you came here tonight,” he told her. “I won’t forget it. I’d never felt so alone.”

“What else could I do? I know how much you love him, and I knew you were miserable. It didn’t occur to me not to come.”

“Excuse me a minute,” Ashton said to Felicia. “I’ll be right back.” He placed his son in bed and pulled the sheet over him. “I’ll be right back, son.”

“I’m going to be sick,” Teddy said.

She grabbed the towel at the foot of his bed, picked him up and held him while he gagged. “What on earth?” Ashton said when he came back. “What…Good Lord!”

“It’s dangerous for a child to regurgitate while lying down,” she said. “Anyway, he warned me.”

“But your dress. It’s—”

“It’s hardly soiled at all. The towel caught most of it.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Parker.”

“Ashton, would you wet this washcloth in some cold water, please?” She laid Teddy on the bed. “It’s all right. You were a smart little boy and you warned me.” She took the wet cloth from Ashton and washed Teddy’s face. “Don’t you feel better?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She leaned over and kissed Teddy’s cheek. “You’ll be well and back home in no time.”

“Gee,” he said. “You smell so good. Can I have another kiss?”

She didn’t look at Ashton, but cradled the child in her arms and kissed his cheek. She knew that Ashton hadn’t been ready for her to meet his son, for he had avoided inviting her to his home. But she wouldn’t refuse the child a kiss, and especially not since she enjoyed the exchange. When she straightened to a sitting position, he grabbed her shoulders with both hands and, standing behind her, said nothing, but communicated with a gentle touch an emotion that she knew possessed him. After a minute, she turned and he pressed her face to his belly.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Looks as if it’s out of my hands.” She didn’t ask what he meant, because she knew.

A little after seven the next morning, the doctor told Ashton that Teddy could go home, but that he shouldn’t eat anything exotic for the next two days. “He’s in no danger, Mr. Underwood. You’ll get a report on what we think caused this as soon as I get it from our laboratory. Fine boy you have here.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” He left the hospital with one arm holding Teddy and his other hand locked tightly with Felicia’s hand. It had been one of the most stressful nights of his life, almost as bad as the hours in which he’d waited for Karla’s decision as to whether she would marry him and deliver the child or have an abortion and go her way.

“I’ll take a taxi home,” Felicia said. “There’s no point in your dragging Teddy by my place.”

“You’re right. I’ll grab a couple hours of sleep and call you later. I won’t thank you, because I can’t.” He leaned forward and brushed her lips with his own.

Teddy held out both arms to her. “Can I have a kiss, too, Miss Parker?” She kissed Teddy’s cheek and, to Ashton’s amazement, Teddy’s face shone with the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen on his child. Teddy waved at her. “Goodbye, Miss Parker.”

“Goodbye, Teddy.”

“Why can’t she come with us, Daddy?”

“She has to go to work.” It was a lame answer, and he knew it wouldn’t be Teddy’s last question about Felicia. The child had the memory of an elephant, and he would nag until he either lost interest or got an answer that satisfied him. “She smells good, Daddy.”

Didn’t he know it! “She does, indeed, son.”

In spite of his happiness in learning that Felicia was there for him if he needed her, in knowing that she hadn’t hesitated to hold Teddy at the risk of ruining her dress, and in seeing in her the maternal instincts that Eartha lacked and Teddy needed so badly in a woman, he felt that his life was suddenly being orchestrated for him.

That afternoon, less refreshed after a short nap than he would have preferred, he opened his copy of the
New York Evening Journal
and turned directly to Felicia’s column. He read it and relaxed; the editor hadn’t changed one word. He looked at his watch and saw that it was exactly one-thirty, an hour before the markets closed.

He phoned his broker. “Any action on Dream today?”

“Quite a bit in the last hour. It’s up four dollars a share, and I expect it will really jump tomorrow, after people read the afternoon papers.”

He thanked the man and contemplated his next move. Smith obviously hadn’t increased his shares, because he would have bought a big block. So far, so good.

Felicia telephoned him one evening and told him that her brother would be in town to see a play, and that she would like them to meet. As he listened, the feeling resurfaced that he wasn’t running his life.

Nonetheless, he told her, “I’ll be delighted to meet your brother. Is he the one who’s a law professor at GW?”

“Yes. I only have one brother, Ashton. How about dinner at my place Friday at seven?”

“I’ll look forward to it. I presume you brother will be staying with you.”

“Unless he has some connections that he hasn’t told me about, yes. How’s Teddy?”

“As good as new. He considers the trip to the hospital to have been a great adventure.”

“He’s a child who gets to you, a chip off the old block. Did you discover what made him sick?”

“Eartha makes a tea of aloe and rosemary for her arthritis, and he decided to taste it when she left the kitchen. Whether it was that drink or the fact that he drank it after eating ice cream, we don’t know, but we’re sure the aloe triggered it. He’s used to food seasoned with fresh rosemary. I gave him a good talking to, and he convinced me that he won’t drink anything unless either Eartha or I give it to him.”

They spoke for a few minutes. “If your brother is leaving Sunday, can we have dinner together Sunday evening?”

“I’d like that,” she said. “I’ll wear my horn-rimmed glasses and reddish-brown wig.”

“Your
what?
”

“That’s what I had on when Eartha phoned me the night Teddy got sick. I figure no one will recognize me, and you won’t have to get bent out of shape.”

“Well, at least you’ll look normal when I see you Friday night.”

Now what? He wondered how much Felicia had told her brother of their relationship, and how modern an outlook her brother possessed. Oh, hell, I have to trust her and my feelings for her, but I’ll be damned if I’ll be backed into marriage. When I’m ready for that, I’ll shout it so loud that it’ll echo from the mountains of Switzerland.

He arrived at Felicia’s apartment precisely at seven o’clock, wary, but sure of himself. He’d sent her a bunch of purple-and-white orchid sprigs and a basket containing three bottles of wine, one red bottle of Châteauneuf du Pape, and two bottles of Pouilly-Fuissé, a white burgundy, earlier that afternoon. He rarely took advantage of his wealth to put special touches on little things, but he knew that Felicia’s brother would watch his every move, and he wanted her to be proud of him.