Sweet Talk Boxed Set (Ten NEW Contemporary Romances by Bestselling Authors to Benefit Diabetes Research plus BONUS Novel) (80 page)

“Then Diane had Grace and seemed fine. That’s why you came home so happy, isn’t it.”

Her eyes started to smart. “I thought it would be okay, that we could have children, that all my fears were for nothing. But now...” She turned toward Marcus. “Don’t you see? All that has changed. I won’t do that—not to you, not to our child, and not to me.” She swallowed hard, waiting for him to tell her he understood, to tell her it didn’t matter or...or something.

But he didn’t. Instead she caught the way his jaw hardened before he opened his door and stepped out.

“Where are you going?” she called out after him.

“You don’t want me to see Diane, fine. I won’t. But I need some time and you need to go see your sister before we can continue our talk. I’ll be at the café across the street. Text me when you’re ready to be honest with me, Charlie.”

“I am being honest with you.”

Marcus’s whole demeanour changed in that moment.

“No, you’re not. You were more honest with me when you were hiding your past than you are right now. At least then I knew that no matter what you were keeping from me, it was because you weren’t ready to share it with me. But right now . . . now you’re just running scared. This isn’t about whether or not you can have children. This is about us. About your faith in us, your trust in me. Go see your sister and ask yourself some really hard questions—and take your time. I love you, but there’s no future for us if all you keep doing is running and can’t trust me.”

She stood still, unable to move while he turned and walked away from her. What did he mean? There was no future? She wasn’t running. She’d stopped—that was what the box and the journals and brining him here meant. Didn’t he see that?

What had just happened?

* * *

With heavy steps, Charlie made her way to the front door and found Diane standing there with Nina.

Her sister’s eyes were clenched, and her whole body shook.

“Oh, look, Charlie’s here now. She can help with pushing Grace.” Nina nodded her head to the stroller behind them, and Charlie found herself rolling her eyes. She’d never liked the idea of the doll, but lately she’d been finding herself loathing any contact she had with it. She didn’t think it was helping her sister, no matter what Nina and Dr. Dube thought. Every time she talked to them about it, they asked her to give them more time, said that they were seeing improvements, but Charlie didn’t agree.

“Good morning, ladies.” Charlie placed a smile on her face even though she felt like doing anything but smiling. “It’s a beautiful day out; are we going for a walk?”

Diane opened one eye a bit and tried to smile, but it ended up looking more like a grimace.

“That’s what I thought,” her sister said. “I saw you outside; who were you with?”

Startled, Charlie looked to Nina, who gave her a bright smile.

“Marcus. He’s here.”

Diane gasped in surprise. “Oh, I’m so glad.” There was a wide smile on her face, and for a moment a look of clarity that Charlie hadn’t seen in a long time. But then Diane seemed to notice the door and she froze.

“It’s okay, Diane. Remember, you wanted to go for a walk,” Nina reminded her.

Diane glanced behind her at the stroller and then at Charlie. “Will you bring her?”

Charlie nodded. If it meant getting outside, she would hold the doll in her arms and coo over it if needed.

“You can do it,” Nina continued. “Just breathe. In and out, in and out.” Nina’s soft, comforting voice eased the tremors in Diane’s body. “We’re going to open the door now. Let’s do it together. Place your hand on the knob...that’s it; you can do it.”

Together Diane and Nina placed her hand on the knob and slowly began to turn it so the door could open. Charlie held her breath, waiting to see whether it would happen, if Diane would actually take a step outside.

Charlie listened to the soft cadence of Nina’s voice as she counted with Diane, easing the panic that had frozen her.

“I can’t do this,” Diane whispered. She glanced back at Charlie and the stroller and then back at Diane.

Nina nodded. “You can. Let’s start by just sitting outside on the porch bench.”

When Diane glanced back, Charlie fixed a warm smile on her face, hoping to ease her sister’s worries. It seemed to work, because it took only a few minutes for Diane to pull herself together and walk out the front door.

Charlie wanted to shout with victory, but instead gave Nina a thumbs-up. For the first time since she entered the hospital, Diane was willing to go outside. It was a step forward, and any step forward was a good one.

She blinked the tears from her eyes as her sister lifted her face and soaked in the sun that shone down on her. She looked alive and free for the first time since Charlie had been home. When she turned and beamed a smile at them before spreading her arms and laughing, Charlie joined in with her, letting all the worry and panic she’d struggled to keep at bay go.

Laughing felt so good.

When Diane walked over and gave her a brief hug, peace settled in Charlie’s heart. Maybe her sister was going to be okay. Maybe things were getting better; maybe there was hope at the end of all this. She gladly relinquished her hold on the stroller and let Diane push it along the path.

“Should we stop at the playground on our way back?” Diane asked over her shoulder.

Charlie and Nina exchanged a look.

“We could,” Nina said. “I wouldn’t mind sitting at the benches there and enjoying the fresh air for a bit.” Her cell phone rang and she stopped to look at the screen, then waved Charlie on.

Charlie wrapped her arm through Diane’s and they walked together. “Aren’t you glad we did this? It’s so beautiful out.” She caught the way Diane kept trying to slow down to listen in on Nina’s conversation, and truth be told Charlie was also a little curious.

“We really shouldn’t listen,” Charlie whispered to Diane.

“Why not? We always used to with Mags.” Diane winked.

Charlie marvelled at the change in her sister. Yesterday she wrote in her journal for four hours straight and had no idea Charlie sat in the same room with her. Today . . . a completely different person.

“We’re making progress,” Nina said quietly, and yet her words seemed to carry on the wind.

Charlie tried to pick up the pace of their walking in order to increase the distance between them and Nina, but it was as if Diane had dug in her heels.

Charlie turned to give Nina a look, a signal to maybe turn away, but she wasn’t fast enough.

“Yes...we’re just headed on a walk,” Nina said. “The little one is with us... It’s a step. ...Well, at this point I’ll take what I can get.”

There was a little gasp from Diane, who stumbled forward, pushing the stroller ahead of her. At first Charlie didn’t think anything of it—it was a stroller with a doll—but then it registered that they were at the crest of a small hill and the stroller was gaining momentum as it rolled downward. She caught the look of horror in Diane’s gaze before her sister took off, running after the stroller.

Charlie ran after her, but knew she had no chance of reaching Diane. Before and up until her pregnancy, Diane had been a runner, and a good one at that. She watched in fear as Diane caught the stroller just moments before it jumped the sidewalk and onto the road. A pickup truck screeched to a stop feet away and the horn blared. But it was as if Diane didn’t see him or even hear him. She bent down into the stroller and Charlie heard her talk to the doll.

“It’s okay, baby; Mommy’s got you. Mommy’s got you,” she frantically whispered to her child.

“Diane!” Charlie called out to her, her heart about to push out of her chest.

Nina appeared at Charlie’s side and grabbed hold of her arm for support. “Don’t. Do. That. Again.” Nina sucked in a deep breath after each word.

“She was going to get run over.” Fury filled Diane’s face.

The tension between the three women was palpable.

“My God, Diane. You could have been hit.” Charlie’s body shook as she stood there. She hugged herself as a means to calm down, but inside everything was screaming, literally screaming, that her sister could have been seriously hurt over a doll.

Over. A. Doll. Charlie forced herself to breathe, her nostrils flaring at the action.

“Grace almost was!” By now Diane had tears coursing down her cheeks, but Charlie could see fury mixed with the fear in her eyes.

She should walk away. She needed to walk away before she said anything she’d regret later. “How could you be so foolish?” The words rushed out before she could even stop them. She refused to look at Nina; right now she was just as angry at that woman as she was at her sister.

Her sister could have been hurt. Diane would have flung herself in front of that truck if she had to in order to save her “child.”

Nina rushed up and gripped Diane’s arm. Her eyes were wide as she just looked at her and then back at Charlie.

Charlie knew in that moment that Nina felt the same way.

This wasn’t okay. Not by a long shot. They never should have let her bring the stroller. Never should have encouraged her bonding with the doll. 

“I’m sorry,” Diane said. “I tripped and let go of the stroller. Oh, my God, Nina. Grace could have been hit!” Diane placed her hand on top of Nina’s and squeezed. “I almost lost her.” Her voice hitched before she collapsed on the ground, her knees buckling from the stress. She grabbed onto the stroller and pulled herself up, staring inside before looking over her shoulder.

“She’s okay. Still asleep. She never knew what happened,” Diane said.

“Of course she didn’t,” Charlie muttered under her breath. Nina scowled, and Charlie’s eyes narrowed at the look. What? She was through with this charade. Through with the coddling . . .

Enough was enough. Something had to change, because it was obvious Diane’s treatment wasn’t working. If she needed to, Charlie would find a different doctor for her sister.

She wasn’t about to lose her over some fantasy world she’d created in her own mind to protect herself from the harsh realities of life.

Except...what was Charlie doing to deal with those same harsh realities? Was she really running away, as Marcus had said? That wasn’t what she wanted. She’d accused Walter of doing the same thing...and said she didn’t recognize him anymore. Was that how Marcus felt about her?

The sinking realization of what she could lose hit her.

Marcus, please, let’s talk.
She sent him a text and waited, praying he would respond right away.

I think we both need some time. I’m headed to San Antonio to meet with Sabrina to discuss my contract. I’ll be back in two days.

Remorse ripped through Charlie’s heart. He was leaving her and it was her own fault. What had she done?

CHAPTER TEN

Last night had been the worst night of her adult life. She’d slept alone in her bed, her phone beside her waiting for Marcus to text or e-mail or call...to communicate in some way, but by the time she’d fallen asleep after four in the morning, there’d been nothing. No word.

She walked around the house, moped, really, feeling very unsettled. As much as she knew she needed to head to the hospital to spend time with Diane, she didn’t want to. She had things she needed to work through instead, things she needed to figure out.

She understood why Marcus hadn’t called last night. He was giving her time to really work through things, really figure them out before he talked to her. She got the need for space, but she didn’t like it.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and when she saw Nina’s name pop up, Charlie knew a moment of panic.

“Is everything okay?” she asked. After yesterday and Diane’s reaction to the stroller rolling down the hill, Nina gave her something to help calm her, and Charlie had left to come home to an empty house. She should be used to it by now—Marcus had been here only a day—but it was enough to make her realize just how empty and alone she felt.

“Diane is wondering where you are.” There was a lightness to Nina’s voice that eased the worry inside Charlie.

“Is she doing okay?” She headed up the stairs to get dressed. If her sister was wanting her, she’d better go.

“She is. Are you?”

Ever observant, Nina was.

In her room, Charlie looked at the box from the storage locker that sat on the floor by the bed.

“I have some things I need to take care of this morning, but how about if I come for an early dinner instead?”

“Let me ask her; she’s standing right here.” Nina muffled the phone and Charlie could hear her talking with Diane and her sister responding. “She’s asking if you can bring cupcakes and then maybe watch a movie after dinner?”

“She what?” That would mean Diane leaving her room. “Nina, is she really okay?”

“We were in the dayroom today and Diane noticed the television in the corner.” There was laughter in Nina’s voice, and in that instant Charlie’s heart lightened.

This had to be a sign that Diane was getting better. It had to be.

“Tell her it’s a date. I’ll bring her favorite cupcakes and she can pick the movie.”

Charlie sat down on the bed and just let her soul rest for a moment. Yesterday was the first time Diane had wanted to go outside. Today she went into the dayroom and she specifically requested that Charlie come see her. She was getting better; she had to be. Logically, Charlie knew that for every step forward, there were sure to be two or more steps back . . . but emotionally this was a good sign, and she would take it for what it was.

No matter what, there would be a long road ahead for Diane, and Charlie knew that if she was to be of any use to her sister, she needed to deal with her own past.

Marcus had known that.

Going through her journal the other night had been eye-opening, and reading her aunt’s note...healing. But the journal wasn’t the only thing in her box.

Marcus must have known that too. Maybe he’d even read the journal.

She lifted the box onto the bed beside her and gently withdrew each item.

Baby shoes all three of them had worn, even little Christopher. A baptismal gown made of satin. Children’s books her mother had read to her as a child, and at the very bottom of the box a stack of letters, wrapped in string.