Rush of Innocence (Rush Series #1) (23 page)

A
sound at the door had her turning her head. A doctor dressed in the standard
white coat walked in, reading a chart. He lifted his head and glanced at her.
He smiled when he realized she was awake.

“Good
morning,” he said before allowing his eyes to drift back to the chart.

She
had so many questions and was frustrated at her inability to ask them.

The
doctor made a notation on the chart before setting it aside to focus on her. He
uncoiled a stethoscope from his neck and inserted one end into his ears before
placing the other against her chest. He moved it around to different locations
on her chest. Seemingly satisfied with what he found, he pulled away and made
another notation on her chart.

“I’m
going to get a nurse and we can remove the respirator tube, all right?” the
doctor asked her.

Doing
the only thing she could do, she nodded her head.

In
what seemed an eternity, the doctor and the promised nurse reentered her room.
Trinity recognized the nurse from her two previous stays in this hospital. The
doctor positioned himself on one side of her and the nurse on the other.

“When
I count to three, we’re going to pull this out. You need to be perfectly still
and exhale as hard as you can,” the doctor said to her. “One, two,
three
…”

The
nurse held her head as the doctor grabbed the respirator plate at her mouth and
began sliding the tube from her throat. She struggled against the natural
inclination to gag against the pressure. The tube felt as it had barbs attached
to the ends as it scraped and seared her throat. Then it was out. Trinity
sucked air into her lungs and they burned like fire.

She
lifted frantic eyes to the doctor and rasped, “My baby?”

“Fine
for now,” the doctor smiled and said. “We’ll keep a close eye, but the baby is
fine for now.”

Trinity
let her head fall back as tears drifted out of the corners of her closed eyes.
She opened them back up when the doctor began speaking to her.

“The
nurse will remove your restraints, but you have to promise to remain on your
back for now. You sustained a gunshot wound to your chest and I don’t want you
moving around, okay?”

She
nodded her head and the doctor gave her one last pat of assurance on her arm
before giving a nod of go ahead to the nurse. The nurse removed the straps,
adjusted her pillows, and poured water into her cup before leaving.

Trinity
moved her now-free arms to place her hands protectively over her stomach. Her
baby had made it. She wondered who else had come out of the warehouse. She
closed her eyes once more as an endless stream of tears poured down her cheeks.

A
sound at the door had her glancing quickly in its direction. Her father stood
in the doorway looking more haggard and unkempt than she’d ever remembered
seeing him in the past. He met her eyes uncertainly before entering the room.
He stood quietly by her bed, obviously struggling with what to say.

“Trinity…
I… you have to understand… there were outlying circumstances… there were
reasons I did the things I did,” her father stammered.

Her
hearts felt frozen in her chest. Even now, he wanted to convince her of his
innocence. As if there could be any way he could explain away what had
happened.

She
lifted a hand to stop him. She was only interested in one thing right now.
“What happened at the warehouse? Was Rush… hurt? Did he make it out? Where is
he?” her chest burned as she struggled to gather oxygen into it.

Her
father blinked his eyes rapidly at her words. It was almost as if he believed
Rush to be of little importance compared to what he was expounding upon.

“Rush
Drayton is perfectly fine. I have no idea where he is, probably at work.”

His
words wounded her. She was lying in a hospital and Rush was at work? Clutching
the sheet between her fingers, she struggled to calm her erratic breathing. She
meant that little to him?

“Tell
me what happened at the warehouse,” she whispered.

Her
father ran a hand through his less than perfect hair. “Drayton called me when
the SUV exploded in his parking lot. Your… body hadn’t been found, so we
assumed someone had you. It was a truly terrifying time for me, I promise you.
To not know if your child is alive or dead is horrific!” her father exclaimed.

She
looked away from him as disgust swamped her. “You should be used to it by now.
You’ve orchestrated just that scenario over and over,” she replied tonelessly.

He
gasped at her words.
“Trinity
Allura
Grace!
That simply isn’t fair… or true.”

She
sighed, suddenly tiring of him. “Please continue.”

He
eyed her intently before complying with her words. “Jim called me. I can’t
begin to explain how shocked I was. I had no idea. He’d gone completely off his
rocker. He blamed me for the death of Adrianna Drayton. I couldn’t believe it.
He told me he was responsible for my shooting and for both your attack in the
alley and the hit-and-run. He said he’d taken you and if I wanted to see you
alive again, I had to meet with him alone the next morning. He was to call me
to set up where and when. Drayton happened to be with me when Jim called. He
made some calls and got in contact with people he knew who could help us track
you down by using Jim’s phone triangulations. From his phone call, we were able
to pinpoint a wide grid, but we needed a narrower one, so I called him early
that morning. We were closer than we thought. Drayton found the warehouse and
went in to get you. And well… you know what happened after that. Drayton tried
to wrestle the gun away from Jim, and the gun went off… killing Jim.”

The
burning in Trinity’s chest had nothing to do with the gunshot wound. Rush had
come so close to dying because of her and her father.

Closing
her eyes, she whispered, “I need to see him.”

“See
who?” her father asked obstinately.

“Rush…
please. I need to see him.”

Silence
met her words. “I’ll make a call,” he eventually said.

“I’m
really tired now. Do you mind closing the door behind you?” she said.

Once
again, silence met her words. “Of course, dear,” he said before he leaned down
to press a kiss to her temple.

She
shrank from his touch.

***

Trinity was in the hospital for almost
two weeks before she was finally released. Rush Drayton never came to the
hospital, nor returned any of her frantic calls. She guessed she deserved his
isolation. But it hurt so very bad. The fire in her chest burned at an
excruciating level of pain. Her father was another constant source of pain.
She’d finally had him banned from her hospital room. She might one day be able
to forgive him, but it wouldn’t be this day.

Dealing
with the police was an utter nightmare and she’d been forced to tell and
re-tell the story more than a dozen times to just as many people.

She’d
been thankful when Gavin Lassiter had stopped by the hospital to see her. He’d
not only assured her she’d have her job when she recovered, but he’d helped her
find a place to live when she was released. She couldn’t go back to her
father’s house. She had all her belongings moved to her new place. While it
cost a small fortune, it was well worth it.

On
the day of her release, she called a taxi to take her to the, as of yet unseen,
new apartment. She’d thanked all the doctors and nurses for their tremendous
care and now sat patiently in the hospital foyer in a wheelchair, waiting on
her taxi. She was folding and refolding the tissue between her fingers, staring
unseeingly at a potted plant at the hospital’s entrance when a familiar face
appeared at her eye level. Hunter
Amhearst
was
squatted down in front of her, resting a plaster-casted arm on his knee.

Her
eyes lit up. “Hunter! What in the world happened to you?”

He
grinned at her question. “I could ask you the same question. Me… well, I guess
you could say I won’t be skiing again anytime too soon. I’m this thing,” he
said as he thumped the hard outer cast, “removed today.
Yea!”

“Oh no!
How
awful. I’m so sorry. I’m glad it’s well enough to have the cast removed,” she
exclaimed.

“What
about you?” he asked.

She
wasn’t sure how to answer him. “Well… I guess I won’t be skiing again anytime
too soon either.”

He
gave have a quizzical look. “Are you okay?”

She
nodded slowly. “I will be.
Maybe not today, but eventually.”

Parroting
her motions, he nodded slowly as well. With another grin, he said, “So… where
have you been hiding the ever popular Mr. Drayton? I haven’t seen him around
lately. Would you happen to know why that would be?” he asked in a tone which
indicated she was the reason for his disappearance.

She
looked down at the now-shredded tissue between her fingers. “No, I haven’t seen
him in a while myself.” Needing to change the subject, she asked, “How’s things
with you and
Sundra
?”

He
again gave her another quizzical glance. “You know about holiday romances… they
hardly ever last past the holiday.”

She
shook her head and glanced away as her eyes misted. “No, they usually don’t.”
She saw her taxi pulling up in the circular drive of the hospital. “Well, that’s
me. Good luck today, Hunter,” she said.

He
stared intently into her eyes for a long time. “Good luck to you, Trinity.
Here, let me help you into your cab.”

Chapter 14

The next six months weren’t easy. The
only thing which kept Trinity Grace going was the life growing inside her.
She’d refused contact with her father and had begun to rebuild her life the way
she wanted it. The daytime hours were easy to fill with busy things of work and
making plans for her and her child. The nighttime hours were the hardest. Her
life seemed so empty then. She missed Rush and wished for the millionth time
she’d given him a chance… had believed him when she’d
had
the chance. The baby moving beneath her breasts let her
remember she’d always have something of him with her.

Today
she was celebrating. She’d officially completed her thirty-second week of her
pregnancy. Today was the day she was going to open the envelope the doctor had
given her a couple months previously telling her the sex of the
child.
She didn’t know why she’d decided to wait until she’d
completed her seventh month to open the big reveal, but it was what she’d
decided… and today was the day.

She’d
made reservations at Cole
Bairs
, an exclusive French
restaurant. She’d made the reservations months in advance and tonight was the
night. She dressed in her only dressy maternity black dress, and slipped her
feet, unfortunately into a pair of black flats – high heels were certainly out
at this stage of her pregnancy.

She
entered the restaurant with a lilt in her step. Tonight she was excited, for
the first time in ages. They sat her at a table for two towards the back of the
restaurant. Cole
Bairs
was fashioned in a historical
building which had been converted into an exclusive… meaning expensive… eating
establishment. They’d incorporated the original brick walls into their décor
with huge fireplaces and small round tables with bright white tablecloths.

She
sat smoothing her dress underneath her while snapping the crisp, white napkin
over her stomach. Normally, the napkin would sit gently across her lap, now it
lay across her small baby-bump. She glanced idly around the room and noticed
all the tables seemed to be occupied by couples, some young, some old. As
melancholy started to overwhelm her, her waiter appeared at her table. As she
was celebrating, she ordered a glass of champagne.

She
removed the sealed envelope from her purse and set it down next to her plate.
When the waiter brought her the champagne, she looked sadly into the bubbles
wishing she wasn’t forced to celebrate this alone. This was something that
normally would be shared by two. She took a small sip of the almost bitter
liquid and let it slide down her throat. She immediately set the glass away…
she was pregnant after all.

With
fingers that trembled, she picked up the butter knife from the place setting
and ran it under the edge of the envelope. She pulled the folded paper out and
took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly before unfolding the paper. With
glassy eyes, she glanced quickly over the paper. A boy, she was having a boy.
Her heart grew and hammered in her chest. She had a son. She swallowed at the
thought of actually being able to visualize her child… her son. She wiped
frantically at the tears beginning to slide down her cheeks.

As
big as the moment was for her, she looked around the restaurant to see if
anyone else had noticed. But she was alone in her momentous joy. She struggled
against the pain of being alone. She lifted her napkin to dab at her cheeks.
The waiter came and took her order and quietly departed. She’d just returned
from what seemed a continuous journey to the ladies room and was smoothing the
napkin across her lap when she raised her eyes and froze.

Sitting
across the room from her was Rush Drayton. What were the odds? The only time
she’d seen him was in the gossip section of the newspaper. He’d had an endless
stream of women on his arm since the last time she’d seen him in his office the
day she’d been kidnapped by James Franklin. The day he’d begged her to believe
he loved her. And here he was on the biggest day of her life… of their lives,
sitting with another nameless woman in a fancy French restaurant.

Her
heart hammered against her ribs at the pain of being this close to him. He was
still as beautiful as he’d ever been. His date, a young, blonde woman, looked
up into his face and apparently felt the same way Trinity had always felt… so
enamored and overwhelmed, wanting so much to hold on to and cling to something
that couldn’t ever really be possessed.

She
watched as he listened politely to whatever she was saying, but even from this
distance, Trinity could see how detached he held himself. She’d assumed it was
only her who brought out those feelings. The woman said something which seemed
to bring his attention back to her as he gave her a smile of apology and leaned
in and kissed her cheek.

Trinity
gasped at the pain which seared her. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t sit
here and watch him touch another… kiss another. She removed enough money out of
her purse to pay for the champagne and rose awkwardly to her feet. She looked
around almost frantically for another way out, but knew with a certainty she’d
have to pass right by him. Swallowing hard, she grabbed the folded paper from
the table and moved swiftly through the restaurant. As she drew near Rush’s
table, she struggled to not look at him… she couldn’t look at him. It’d kill
her to see his gentle eyes on another.

But
as with anything to do with him, her body had a mind of its own. As she drew
near, she lifted her eyes and inhaled deeply when her eyes met his. Her steps
faltered at the intensity of his gaze. She watched as his eyes moved over her
body, then shifted back quickly to her eyes as if startled. For reasons she refused
to analyze, as she passed his table and his seemingly stunned expression, she
carefully laid the folded paper in her hand down next to him. Without speaking,
she moved passed him and silently moved out of the restaurant.

Thankfully,
sitting right outside the restaurant, was a small wooden bench. She sat and
dialed the taxi service to pick her up. She closed her eyes against the pain of
seeing him again. She regretted the impulse to place the baby’s gender findings
down in front of him. He’d made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with her
and their child. She supposed she should be relieved he wasn’t trying to take
the baby away from her. But still, it would have been nice to share the
day-to-day stressors of being pregnant and alone.

Tears
began to stream down her face as pain sharper than any knife pierced her.
Unable to sit still any longer, she stood awkwardly to her feet and began to
move down the sidewalk. She’d gone only a few steps when she heard his voice
behind her.

“Trinity?”

She
froze at the word. No! She couldn’t face him, be in the same space with him. It
would certainly kill her… if not kill her, it would drive her insane. She
stumbled only briefly before beginning to walk quickly down the sidewalk.

“Trinity!”
he said with more force and closer to her.

As
the tears continued to fall, she picked up her pace until she was practically
running from him. He caught her shoulders and swung her around to him. She
stumbled into chest and he wrapped his arms around her. She struggled to push
against his chest.

“Please,
I can’t… I don’t want to see you. Please,” she pleaded.

He
crushed her against his massive chest and held her tightly as she whimpered.

“Oh, my God.
Trinity, how could you do this to me? You promised you wouldn’t
keep the child from me,” he all but shouted even as he held her close.

Through
shuddering sobs, she said, “I wouldn’t keep you from him. I couldn’t do that to
him.”

“I
thought… I mean, your father… I don’t understand. Please tell me what’s going
on,” he demanded roughly against the top of her head.

She
stilled at the mention of her father. With her chest heaving, she pushed
against his chest and he let her go back as far as his arms would allow.

As
she swiped at the tears on her face, she asked, “What about my father?”

Rush
stared down into her upturned face, so many emotions seemed to cross his
features before he answered, “He told me you’d gotten… rid of the baby. That
you didn’t want any reminders of me.”

All
the oxygen gushed so quickly from her chest, she became dizzy and lightheaded.
With more sins being added to her father’s incredibly long list, Trinity began
to swat weakly at Rush’s hands, trying ineffectively to get away from him. She
couldn’t look at him right now. Embarrassment over the lies her father had told,
and the fact Rush had believed that it would be that easy for her to get
rid
of their baby. He’d left her when
she’d needed him the most, and apparently, according to the papers, it’d been
easy for him to move on.

“Well,
I didn’t. Please let me go. I need to go. Please let me go,” she rambled as she
struggled against his arms. He tightened his grip and she fought against him
harder. “I need to go, I can’t be here, please let me go,” she cried.

As
the taxi pulled up close to the curb, she wrenched herself from his arms and
dove into the taxi as he called her name. She looked back and saw him run his
hands through his hair in exasperation.

As
she lie in bed that night, tears finally spent, she knew she was being unfair
to Rush. The blame lay with her father. He’d lied to both of them. Pain
squeezed agonizingly at her heart. She didn’t know what to do. The pain of
opening the newspaper and seeing him with an arm wrapped around a different
woman each week on the society page had been more than she could bear. She
didn’t know if she could stand to have continual contact with him as they
raised a child together… a son. She wondered why her father felt the need to
lie to Rush about the baby? What purpose did it serve for him? She just didn’t
know.

***

The next day, feeling both vulnerable
and confused, she left her office at noon and headed to the museum. The late
summer weather was both hot and humid. She lifted a hand to pull her hair away
from her nape as she walked. She waved to Antonio, who was manning the
turnstile at the museum, and headed to the atrium area. As she’d done a
thousand times in the past, she sat down gingerly on the stone bench and soaked
in the beauty of the space. She was excited as they just installed a new
statue. It was a replica of the Pieta. The smooth marbled
lines
of Jesus’s limp body in the arms of his mother was
the most amazing
thing she’d ever seen. She could sit and stare at it for hours… and she had.

She
placed a hand at the center of her back and rubbed against the discomfort found
there. She was tired today due to a nearly sleepless night the night before.
She still wasn’t sure what to do about Rush. No, that wasn’t true. She knew she
wouldn’t keep him away from his child if he wanted to have that relationship.
She guessed the easiest way was to simply let the lawyers hash out the details.

She
closed her eyes and rolled her shoulders. She could hear people moving about
the room looking at different pieces of art.

She
tensed at the husky voice directly behind her. “I’m told the great Aristotle
said there is no great genius without a mixture of madness.”

She
clenched her teeth to stop her lips from trembling. She opened her eyes and
stared straight ahead. She couldn’t formulate a response to him, so she said
nothing.

“If
that’s true, then I must be an Einstein, as I think I’m certifiably insane,”
Rush continued as he moved around the bench to sit next to her.

Still
she continued to stare straight ahead. She struggled to swallow the huge lump
forming in her throat.

Rush
leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. From her periphery, she
saw him turn his face towards her. “I’ve missed you,” he said huskily.

She
couldn’t stop her chin from wobbling at his words. She dropped her gaze from
straight ahead to her lap, but still didn’t answer. She knew she’d never be
able to stop the tears if she opened her mouth. She did not want to cry in
front of him again.

“I
went by your father’s house last night to talk to you. He told me you’d moved
out, but he didn’t know where you’d moved. I wasn’t sure whether that was a lie
or not,” he said.

“It…
it’s not a lie. I wouldn’t tell him,” she finally answered softly.

“Trinity,
I’m sorry. When your father told me that you’d… told me what he told me, I felt
betrayed. But more than that, I thought it was your way of tying up all your
loose ends, so to speak. Loose ends you deserved to tie up. I was hurt. But I
thought you were justified in your actions after the way things played out
between us. I wasn’t surprised you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“I
don’t,” she whispered, knowing it was a lie but needing to strike out at him.

He
inhaled sharply. “I deserve that.” He was silent for several minutes. “Trinity,
I don’t know what to do here. I’ll do whatever you want. Please know I did everything
I could to protect you… and I’ll continue to do so. Whatever you need is yours.
I love you, Trinity.”