Midnight Remedy (25 page)
Authors: Eve Gaddy
Eventually Piper’s tears slowed and she looked up at him. His heart twisted at the fear in her eyes, tore with his inability to offer solace, to offer a solution.
“It’s not your fault. I’m just so scared. So scared that he’s going to die.”
“I know, Angel, I know. It’s okay. Yell at me if it helps.”
“Eric, I can’t lose him,” she said, her fists clenched against his chest. “He’s so young, he’s only six years old.”
She was counting on him for the answers, trusting him to save her son. And he was horribly afraid that he couldn’t.
His arms tightened around her. More than he’d ever wanted anything in his life, he wanted to be able to tell her that Cole wouldn’t die. But he couldn’t do that. “He’s stable.”
For now
. “We should know in a day or two whether the new drug will help.”
Striving to regain her composure, she sniffed and pulled away from him. “How long is he going to be hooked up to that machine?”
“As long as he needs it.”
“How—why were you here when it happened?”
“Luck. Your call came in while I was standing at the nurses’ station.”
“I’m glad you were here.” She placed a hand on his arm and squeezed it. “I know the nurses would have handled it, but I’d much rather have you.”
And again, he didn’t know how to reply. “Go on back to him. I’ve still got rounds to do and some calls to make.”
“Will you come back to see him later?”
He touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Count on it.” He gave her a last hug and left her.
After that, Eric spent every spare moment on the phone to anyone who knew anything about hantavirus. Information was sketchy, treatment controversial. All he could find was that it was a potentially fatal disease that no one knew exactly how to treat. He did the best he could and prayed that Cole would come out of it. And he tried not to think about the consequences if his best just wasn’t good enough.
All that day and most of the night,
Cole remained on the ventilator. Sometime after midnight Eric came in and found Piper asleep in the chair. He let her sleep until he examined Cole.
“Wake up, Angel.”
Piper opened her eyes and looked at him. Smiling at her, he said, “You need to leave the room.”
“Why?” She glanced at Cole and then sat up and rubbed sleep from her eyes.
“So we can take him off the machine. He’s better, Piper. Cole’s getting better.” For the first time in days, Eric felt like he could breathe again.
Hope blazed in her eyes. “You’re sure? He’ll be all right?” She turned to look at her son again, her hand squeezing his spasmodically.
“His lungs are clearing, he’s breathing on his own. The virus is weakening, the new drug is working. He should improve rapidly now.” Though Cole wasn’t totally out of danger, from what Eric had read, once the new drug took effect the patient showed every likelihood of a full recovery.
She closed her eyes. “Thank God,” she whispered. Reaching out, she took Eric’s hand and cradled it against her cheek. “Thank you. When I thought I’d lose him
. . .
you can’t know what it means to me.”
His gaze held hers for a long moment. “Yes, I can. He might not be mine, Piper, but I love him too.” He wished
. . .
What he wished wasn’t going to happen. Not now, not ever. He would be Cole’s doctor, never his father. Never Piper’s husband.
“I know you do,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I’ve got to tell Mother and Grandpa.”
“Do that.” His grin was weak, but he managed one. “Maybe your mother will quit terrorizing the nurses now.”
From the doorway, she smiled at him. It was one of the most beautiful sights he’d ever seen.
“Oh, I doubt that, she’s been enjoying it so. But I’ll tell them.”
From the moment he went off the ventilator, Cole recuperated rapidly. In a matter of days he left the hospital. It took him a little longer to return to full strength, but within a couple of weeks he was much as he’d always been, full of boundless energy and enthusiasm, an extremely active almost seven-year-old boy.
Piper took longer to recover than Cole did. Each day that passed helped her to forget, but she still thought it a miracle, every time she saw him running and playing. Memories of him lying motionless in the hospital, hooked up to a machine that breathed for him, never failed to evoke a fervent prayer of thanks.
Eric came by often, but he came to see Cole, not her. Piper wondered if he’d managed to get over her as easily as it seemed he had. While he was pleasant to her, he treated her as if she were an acquaintance and not the woman he’d asked to marry him. The woman who had turned him down and was now trying desperately to think of a way to get him back.
While Cole was so dangerously ill, Piper could think of nothing else. Every moment, waking and sleeping, centered around her son and the hope that he would get well, the despair that he might not. But once he was on the mend, she had ample time for reflection. It didn’t take her long to realize that she had been a fool to throw away her chance at happiness with Eric.
Every word that she had spoken, every word he had said to her came back to haunt her. Almost losing Cole had driven her to admit that Eric had been right. Her fear, her mistrust, her guilt were the problem, not Eric’s mistrust. She knew now that he would never have asked her to marry him if he hadn’t resolved his feelings, if he hadn’t believed he could trust her.
And what had she done? What had she done when he told her that he loved her, that he loved her son and wanted them to be a family? She’d thrown it back in his face because she didn’t trust herself. Eric wouldn’t ask her again. It was up to her. If she wanted him, she’d have to fight for him.
The doorbell rang.
Piper took a deep breath, wiped sweaty palms on her dress and opened the door. “Come on in, Eric,” she said, taking the wine he handed her. “I’m so glad you could come.” Her voice sounded calm and confident, she thought, and wondered at herself.
He glanced around warily. “Where is everybody? The place is so dead I thought no one was home.”
“They’re all out. Until very late.”
His eyebrows rose. “Didn’t Cole—”
“I let you think I was asking you to dinner for Cole’s sake.” From under her lashes she sent him a mischievous look. “Because I knew you wouldn’t turn him down.” She watched his expression turn even warier. “Why don’t you open the wine?” she asked, leading him to the kitchen.
He took the corkscrew, appearing to concentrate on the process of uncorking the wine. After pouring it, he handed her a glass. “You look very beautiful tonight.”
She smiled slowly, and thanked him. It was the first personal thing he’d said to her since Cole’s illness. When she dressed she had worried that the midnight blue dress with its low cut neckline was a little too obvious, but he didn’t appear to think so. His gaze, she noticed, had a tendency to drift to her cleavage frequently. No, things might not be nearly as hopeless as she’d feared.
Over a candlelight dinner they made light conversation. “Virginia told me she’s pregnant again,” Piper said when they were nearly finished. “That’s wonderful, but I understand it had nothing to do with my remedy.”
“Afraid not. We switched Randy’s medications around and that solved the problem. But they’re still working on your remedy as an additive.”
“Yes, I know. Dave and I talked about it. He’s very excited about it.”
“If your formula increases the effectiveness of that medication, chances are the press will be on your case again.”
“It’s not important,” she said with an airy wave.
“Not important?” He stared at her. “Since when?”
“Since Cole found out about his father. Now that he knows, the press can’t hurt us anymore. You were right about that, Eric. I should have told him long ago.”
“You did tell him.”
“When it was nearly too late. I seem to have a problem with that, figuring things out when it’s almost too late.”
Eric didn’t answer, but looked at her thoughtfully, his gaze remaining fixed on her face.
“Bring your wine.” She rose and walked to the couch, seated herself and slowly crossed one leg over the other. “Sit beside me,” she invited, patting the cushion. Her hand went to the neckline of her dress and began to fiddle with the buttons.
He crossed the room but didn’t take the proffered seat. Instead he stood in front of her, his gaze traveling up the length of her leg, checking briefly at her cleavage and continuing on to her face.
“I might get a call. For work.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Effie told me you and Dr. Forrest were trading call nights and that the two of you had discussed forming a partnership. She assured me that you were off tonight.”
Eric gave her a dirty look. She smiled blandly in return. “Have you ever been hunting, Angel?”
“Yes.” Her cheeks dimpled. “Grandpa and Sam taught me.”
He muttered something and said, “Did they teach you to stalk your quarry?”
“Mother taught me that,” she said, and gave a gurgle of laughter.
He held his wine glass in his hand, regarding her silently. After a long scrutiny, he spoke. “Are you trying to seduce me, Piper?”
“Now what gives you that idea?” she asked, her fingers still on the buttons at her neckline.
He lifted a shoulder. “If it looks like it and feels like it, it usually is. And this sure as hell looks like it and feels like it.”
“What if I was? Could I
. . .
still?” she asked, her voice husky, hesitant.
“Seduce me?” Once again, his gaze drifted over her. “In a New York minute.”
She let out the breath she’d been unaware of holding. “Good,” she said softly.
He finally sat beside her. “But I told you before, that’s not all I want.”
“I remember. I’ve had a lot of time to think about what happened. Cole’s illness made me think about a lot of things. About loving and trusting and believing. Forgiveness. About being happy with what we have. I’m so lucky, so thankful, because I could have lost my son and I didn’t. And that’s because of you.”
“It’s not your gratitude that I want,” he said harshly.
“But you have it. And you have something else, too.” She drew in a deep breath and reached for his hand. “You have my heart, Eric. If it’s not too late.”
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them. “Do you trust me, Piper?”
“Will you believe me if I tell you yes? If I tell you that I was afraid to trust myself?”
His voice was deep, quiet. “I want to believe you.”
“How could I trust myself when I wanted so desperately to have a normal home life—something I’d never had—that I never saw the signs of Roger’s lies? When I found out the truth it nearly destroyed me, because I hadn’t wanted to know, I’d been deliberately blind. And I couldn’t risk that again, because of Cole.”
“You thought I’d destroy you?”
“No, but I thought you’d realize I wasn’t worthy of you, and that would destroy me. And Eric, you didn’t trust me, not at first.”
“No, I didn’t. Not totally.” He reached out a hand to caress her cheek.
“When Neil told you—”
“At first it mattered, I won’t try to pretend it didn’t, because it did. But I was already falling in love with you.” He took her hand, rubbing her palm with his thumb. “And later
. . .
Piper, I’d never have made love to you that night, I’d never have asked you to marry me if I hadn’t trusted you.”
“I know that now. Maybe I even knew it then, but I was scared. It wasn’t until I faced losing my son that I understood the true meaning of fear. When I thought he would die, I saw how fragile our lives can be and what a fool I had been to throw away happiness. I realized I was punishing Cole, and myself, for a mistake I paid for years ago. And I didn’t have to punish myself any more. All I had to do was trust myself. I love you, Eric.”
“Enough to let go of the past?”
“It’s gone.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her then, a seal and a promise. “I should give you a chance to think about it again, but I’m not going to. We’re getting married. Soon.”