Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series (26 page)

“
Are you going with Steven?”
he said. It killed him to ask, knowing what the answer would be.

“
He needs me in a way that you
don’t,” she said. Jeff wasn’t so sure about that. He needed
her. But he knew that he would survive. Maybe Steven wouldn’t.

“
Then you need to go to him,”
he said.

Serena put her arms around Jeff
and he hugged her. He didn’t want to let her go, but he had to.
Serena put her lips to his and then she was gone. He looked out of
his bedroom window that faced the front and watched her get in her
car and drive away.

He wouldn’t be able to stay at
Rossetti’s with his broken heart bleeding all over the place.

Chapter
Nineteen

Serena walked up the stairs and
the door was open. She went into the dark room, illuminated only by
the moonlight. He stood looking out the window at the night sky. He
turned around and looked at her. Her heart was sure.

“
I love you, Jeff,” she said.

Jeff walked over to Serena and
put his arms around her. He kissed her and she returned his kiss with
tender love.

“
What made you come back?” he
asked. “I thought you were gone forever.”

“
I was driving over to Steven’s
and something Nonna said kept sticking in my head. It wouldn’t go
away.”

“
What did she say?” he asked.

“
She said that I would know who
loved me the most. And that’s you. You love me the most. You loved
me so much that you let me go. When I realized that, there was no
question in my mind.”

Jeff could hardly believe that
Serena was back there with him. He wanted to remain wary of the
situation, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw nothing but love.

“
I knew that my relationship
with Steven would always have a fatal flaw, his lying,” Serena
said. “I know why he did it and he might never do it again. But I
don’t know that. I would always be wondering about it. Wondering if
he was telling me the truth. I don’t want a tragic love story. I
don’t want to be Jane Eyre.”

“
Who?” Jeff asked.

“
Never mind,” she said with a
soft laugh.

“
I love you,” Jeff said.

“
I love you, too,” she said.
“Forever.”

Epilogue

“
Rosita,” Nonna called from
the kitchen. “I’ve got something for you.”

Rosita, who had been officially
renamed by that point, jumped off Serena’s full belly and ran to
the kitchen for her snack. Jeff put his hand on Serena’s stomach,
taking Rosita’s place.

“
I felt her kick,” he said
with amazement, though he had felt the baby kick many times before.

“
She’s kicking like crazy
these days,” Serena said. “She’s going to be a handful.”

“
Like her mother,” Jeff said
laughing. “And her great grandmother.”

Serena laughed. “God help us,”
she said.

They both laughed.

“
What’s so funny,” Nonna
said, stepping out of the kitchen.

“
We were just talking about
little Elena,” Jeff said.

“
I don’t see what’s funny
about that,” Nonna said, but she laughed too before going back in
the kitchen to tend to Sunday supper.

Jeff took Serena’s hand. “A
year ago, I was so dissatisfied,” he said. “And now my life has
completely changed. I’ve got you and Elena to thank for that.”

Serena leaned over with a little
difficulty. Her stomach was huge. She kissed Jeff.

“
I love you,” she said.

In that instant, Serena could see
the future. She saw their little Elena playing on the patio at
Rossetti’s. She saw Jeff lift her up to look at the stars and the
moon. She saw Nonna teaching her to cook.

She saw the future, and it was
good.

She said a silent thank-you to
her mother, Adrianna, who had loved so passionately. It really did
come down to just one love. There could be no other.

********************

I hope you enjoyed
Serena’s
Choice
. If you join my email list,
http://eepurl.com/Gldqr
,
I’ll let you know when my next novel,
Runaway
, is published.
You can read the first chapter of it here:

Runaway

Nicole was enjoying her last
night of freedom when Norman Bartow called her to tell her Jack had
been in a serious accident.

“
Oh, no,” she said, though
she didn’t mean it. “Is he all right?”

“
He’s got a broken leg. He’s
going to be out for a while. It’s a miracle he wasn’t killed.”

“
What happened?” she asked.

“
He ran into a tree. I don’t
know if he wasn’t paying attention or what, but he ran right into a
tree.”

“
I’ll get there as soon as I
can,” Nicole said, not wanting to go to the ski resort to see about
her injured husband. Not wanting to do that at all, but knowing it
was expected of her.

“
They took him to the hospital
in Waynesville. There are some arrangements that need to be made to
move him back to Rockbridge. I guess you’ll have to take care of
all that. Insurance. You know.”

Yes, she most certainly did know.
It was her wifely duty.

“
Can I speak to him?” Nicole
asked, not wanting to speak to him, hoping Norman would say no.

“
He’s knocked out right now.
They’re giving him a lot of painkillers. How soon do you think you
can get here?”

“
I’ll leave first thing in
the morning,” she said. Norman gave her the name of the hospital.
When they hung up, she went back to the couch where she had been
enjoying a movie, without the constant comments and criticisms from
Jack. She didn’t want to leave, but she knew she had to. She packed
a suitcase that night, and early in the morning drove the two hours
to Waynesville.

Nicole left the mid-March spring
in Rockbridge, Georgia, and arrived at the Waynesville hospital a
couple of hours later. She wasn’t prepared for the cold weather and
hugged her arms around herself as she walked into the hospital. If
Jack hadn’t had an accident, she would be in her house in
Rockbridge, relishing her last hours. But there she was, freezing to
death.

When she walked into Jack’s
room, he was alone. Norman and the other two men who had gone on the
ski trip had left for Rockbridge that morning. Jack lay back on his
pillow in the hospital bed. His face looked ashen. It was the first
time Nicole had ever seen him in a weakened condition. She liked
that.

She sat in a chair near the bed,
but didn’t say anything to him. The longer he slept, the better for
her. The television was on low and she watched the news channel for a
long time. Eventually, a nurse came in. Nicole asked her how long it
would be before they could move Jack back to Rockbridge.

“
I’m not sure,” the nurse
said. “The doctor will be in soon and you can ask him about it.”

Nicole wanted to get Jack back to
Rockbridge as soon as possible. She needed to get back to her own
house where she could figure out how to deal with this unexpected
situation.

The nurse brought a tray of food,
but Jack was still asleep. Nicole ate the meatloaf and mashed
potatoes. She ate the Jello dessert, running her spoon around the
plastic bowl to get every bite of it. Jack started moaning while she
was eating, but he never woke up.

Finally, the doctor came in.

“
He’s got a serious break in
his leg,” he said. “But I think you can move him home tomorrow.”

“
Can I drive him home? Nicole
asked.

“
Yes, that should be no
problem. He’ll have to lie down in the back seat because of his
cast. But it should be all right. He’s going to be bedridden for a
few weeks.”

Bedridden! She couldn’t imagine
Jack in the bed, not being able to move around, not being able to
hurt her.

She was watching an episode of
“Reba” when Jack woke up.

“
Where am I?” he asked.

“
You’re in the hospital. You
broke your leg skiing,” she said.

“
Nicole? Is that you?”

“
Yes, of course it’s me. I
came to get you.”

“
It hurts,” he said.

“
I’ll call the nurse,” she
said. She hoped the nurse would give him more painkillers so he would
go back to sleep. Nicole didn’t want to have to talk to him.

And that’s exactly what
happened. The nurse came in and added medication to Jack’s IV and
Jack drifted back to sleep.

The chair in the room was very
uncomfortable. Nicole spent the night changing positions over and
over, trying to get comfortable. Jack moaned occasionally, but he
never woke up again.

The next morning was a different
story. Jack woke her up from a restless sleep by calling her name,
loudly. “Get over here,” he said when she woke up and looked at
him. “I need you to call the nurse. I’ve got to pee.”

Nicole pushed the button on the
remote and a few minutes later a male nurse came into the room.

“
He’s got to use the
bathroom,” she told the nurse.

“
He’s going to have to use
this,” the nurse said, holding up a plastic container clearly
designed for males to pee in. “He can’t get up.”

“
She’ll do it,” Jack said.

The nurse handed the container to
Nicole and she pulled back the sheets and stuck it on Jack. He peed
like a racehorse. When he was finished, she took the container into
the bathroom and dumped it in the toilet. She rinsed it out in the
sink.

“
What happened to you?” she
said, feigning concern.

“
I don’t even remember,”
Jack said. “One minute I was skiing and the next minute I’m here
in this bed.”

“
Norman said you ran into a
tree,” she offered.

“
I don’t remember,” he
said. “When can I get out of here?”

“
The doctor is supposed to come
in soon. We’ll find out then.” Nicole wished the doctor would say
Jack had to be in the hospital for a week. She would enjoy a whole
week without him. There was so much she could do in a week.

A staff member brought Jack a
breakfast of eggs and toast, which he ate. When he was finished, she
moved the tray out of his way and he flopped back on his pillow. She
turned her attention back to the television. “Reba” was over and
“Will and Grace” was on. She loved “Will and Grace.”

“Turn that crap off,” Jack
said from his bed. “I hate that show.”

“What do you want to watch?”
Nicole asked.

“The news channel. Put it on a
news channel.”

Nicole pushed the buttons
through every channel until she found news. She sat back in the
plastic chair. She was so bored.

Finally, the doctor came in,
carrying Jack’s chart and looking at it.

“You’ve had a bad break,”
the doctor said. “You’re lucky it wasn’t worse than this.”

“He wants to go home,”
Nicole said. “Can I take him home?”

“Yes, he can go home. He’s
got to understand that he’ll be in the bed for a while before he
can start getting up. You need to check with your insurance plan to
see what kind of home care you have. I think he’ll need some help
at first.”

“I’ll call them as soon as I
get home,” Nicole said. She wanted to participate as little as
possible in Jeff’s home care.

“He’ll need help getting to
the bathroom for a while,” the doctor said.

“We’ll manage it,” Nicole
said, smiling at the doctor.

“I’ll let the nurses know
you’re going home. You can pull your car around and they’ll wheel
him out. I’ll send the nurse in.”

After another forty-five minutes
of news, the nurse came in with the discharge papers. A strong
looking man came in with a wheelchair and helped Jack into the seat.
Nicole left the room and went to find her car. She drove around to
the back entrance of the hospital. A few minutes later, she saw Jack
being wheeled to the curb. The orderly helped him into the back seat
and shut the door.

“Get me home,” Jack said.
“Those hospital people are insufferable.”

“I need to call someone to
help me get you in the house,” Nicole said when they were on the
road to Rockbridge. “I can’t do it myself.”

Jack didn’t say anything. She
called his sister, Morgan, and explained the situation to her. Morgan
said she would meet them at their house. When Nicole pulled into the
drive two hours later, Morgan was leaning against her car, waiting on
them. Her husband, Phillip, was looking at their huge oak tree that
took up half of the front yard.

“I don’t know how we’re
going to manage this,” Nicole said. “I think he needs a
wheelchair.”

“Believe it or not, we’ve
got a wheelchair in the trunk,” Morgan said. “It’s Phillip’s
mother’s. We’ll use it.”