CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
When Nick woke up, he was alone in the room. There was a faint light
coming from under the bathroom door and he assumed that Morgan had gone
back to the bathroom. He stood up and stretched and realized it was full dark
out. He must have slept the full day away. He actually felt pretty good.
Nick walked over to her bed and groped around for the light switch for the
lights on the back of her bed. The sudden light illuminated the entire room and
he immediately knew something was wrong. Shit! She was gone. He went to the
nurses’ station to ask where Morgan had gone.
“Can you please tell me when Morgan left? I was supposed to take her home
with me, but I must have fallen asleep.” Damned girl, he was going to strangle
her when he found her.
“Dr. Grant? She left you a message.” Nurse Fist handed him an envelope,
went back behind the long counter, and flopped, no other word for it, back into
her chair and went back to playing solitaire on the computer.
Dr. Grant,
I hope you enjoyed your nap. I’ve gone home. I don’t want anything from you.
Morgan Becky
P.S. You snore.
Yes, when he found Morgan Becky, he was going to strangle her good. But
first, revenge. Smiling, he left the hospital and made a few phone calls.
“Mom, its Nickolas. I need your help. Morgan is refusing to marry me and I
was wondering if you could please go over to her apartment and talk some sense
into her for me?”
“Of course. Why is that silly girl refusing to marry you? You’re a good catch,
and my grandbabies need a father. Not to mention the last name of Grant. I’ll go
over there first thing tomorrow.” Oh yeah, he thought. Revenge is going to be so
sweet.
“Not too early. I’m on my way there now, and I want to talk to her. Tell her
what’s going to happen with our future.” He was hoping that anyway.
His next call was to his brother Devin. He wanted to make sure there was no
way Morgan was going to be implicated in the murder of Denty. And that she
would never see the inside of a prison cell again.
“No, she won’t. Those pictures she took did the trick. The man’s name who
killed Denty is Marty James. He’s an ex-cop on the police force from somewhere
out West. He and Denty go way back and were lovers at one point.” He could
hear the hesitation in his voice. There was more.
“Tell me. I’m on my way to Morgan’s house right now. The little imp left the
hospital even though I expressly told her not to.”
“She doesn’t strike me as the type to just obey without question. If it matters
at all, Nicky, I really like the girl.” He stopped and leaned against the car.
“Yeah, it does. I like her too. Of course, I want to choke the girl most of the
time, but I think I really like her.”
“There are two minutes of video on the phone she recorded when she was
pushing buttons.” He was quiet for so long, Nick was afraid he’d lost the call and
started to pull the phone back to check when Devin spoke again. “Nicky, what
she endured...what they did to her was so much more than she told us. I...you
should see it. I’ve been a criminal lawyer for a long time now and I was... No
person, especially not a woman, should go through what she did. Ever.”
Nick didn’t want to see the video; he didn’t even want to think about it. But
he needed to be able to help her. “I’m going to go get a few things from my
apartment and then go get a few things here in town. I need you to get my house
opened up and ready for us sometime tomorrow. I’ll meet you here tomorrow
and see it then, all right?”
They agreed to meet at Muddy Misers in the old Putmun district. It was his
favorite restaurant in this area, and served the best ribs in all of Ohio as far as he
was concerned. He hoped Morgan thought so too.
Nick thought about her on the way over to his apartment. He’d treated her
badly from the very beginning. When he thought about the night he’d...he hadn’t
made love to her, but had basically raped her. And had created children by that
act. He knew that now. Hell, he’d known it then. He wondered if she’d ever
forgive him. He wasn’t sure he could forgive himself.
While he was at his apartment picking up a couple of changes of clothes, he
called his good friend Thomas Shane. Thomas owned one of the most prestige
jewelry chains in all of the Eastern part of the United States, and he lived right
here in Zanesville. He made arrangements to meet him at one of the local
branches in half an hour.
By the time Nick arrived at Morgan’s apartment, it was after midnight. He
thought about taking a room for the night and seeing her first thing in the
morning, but every light in her apartment was ablaze so he went to the back
entrance. The bar was still open for business and the noise was horrendous. His
children wouldn’t be living here, that was for sure.
He rapped twice on the door and waited for her to answer. He looked
around the small area behind the bar and thought it was a nice and peaceful.
Someone had put in a small koi pond and there were several chairs sitting
around the entire wooded area. There was a large chimney pot sitting on a
bricked part of the patio with a stack of small cut wood sitting next to it. There
were potted plants, flowers of every color and hue one could imagine crammed
in and around everything. On a cool night like this in early June, he could just
see the two of them sitting together in the swing under the large maple a few feet
from the pot. He was still smiling when Morgan opened the door. But it faded
quickly when he saw that she’d been crying.
“What’s happened?” He started to step into the room when she pressed her
hand into his chest to stop him.
“Go away. Why do I have to keep telling you that? Is it just too much for
your simple mind to comprehend? Here, let me help you understand. Then, next
time, because I have no doubt there will be a next time with you, you may just
leave when I say it. Go, as to leave behind, go away—to move along; travel;
proceed. Away, in another place, in another direction—be gone. Understand?
Good, good-bye.” She almost had the door shut again, but he was just a little
quicker.
Without thought to what he was doing, he cupped his hand behind her head
and pulled her to his mouth. Heaven, he was tasting heaven and he didn’t know
if he ever wanted to give it up.
She was stiff and rigid, not yielding to him at all. But as he pulled her body
to his, he felt her lean into him slightly at first, then more as the seconds passed.
He captured her moan in his mouth, tasting her as she opened to him, for him.
Stepping more in the room, he moved her, shifted her around until she was
nearly back against the opposite wall, him pressing against her.
He could feel every curve of her body, including her belly hard against him.
Her belly, swollen with his children, their children. He reached down and ran his
hand across her mound and felt the first kick against his hand and at his groin.
Before he could register what he’d felt, he was doubled over in pain.
“Ah, Morgan ...” was all he could manage as he fell to the floor. Damned
woman had kneed him hard.
~~~
Morgan couldn’t believe he’d shown up. But then when he’d kissed her, she
didn’t know what to think. For that matter, how to think.
He’d been lying on the kitchen floor for nearly ten minutes now. About five
minutes ago, she’d taken him in a cushion from the couch and a blanket from the
bed. She couldn’t shut the door completely because he was still hanging half in
and half out of it. She didn’t want him to freeze while he was laying there.
Stupid, arrogant dickhead. What was he doing here anyway?
Morgan looked up as, a few minutes later, he staggered in the part of the
room she’d set up as her office. When he first showed up, she’d been finishing up
on Byron’s site. He’d startled her out of her zone when he’d knocked. She almost
hadn’t answered it, thinking it was the Sugars again, but looked anyway. Now,
looking at him, she wished she hadn’t.
“That wasn’t playing fair. Kicking a man there hurts worse than anything
known to man,” he said as he fell onto her couch.
“Oh, well, next time, I’ll pull out a gun and shoot you there. Maybe it won’t
hurt you so much, but I’m betting your recovery time is a lot longer. What are
you doing here at twelve-thirty in the morning anyway?” She looked down at
her screen when the noise alerted her that the program she was loading was
finished. She clicked on the next part of his site and ran it.
“I told you that you’re coming home with me. Since you seem to like it here
better, I’ve decided to move in with you. I brought some of my things. I’ll have
the rest brought over tomorrow sometime.” He nodded toward the garment bag
and suitcase just inside the door to her apartment.
“Oh no, you don’t. There’s barely enough room in this place for me and my
stuff. You are not moving in here too.” She stood up, but too quickly, and had to
grab the table for support. He was there in a flash. And before she knew it, he
had her scooped up in his arms and was sitting on the couch with her in his lap.
“Sit still before I paddle your butt. You know, you need a keeper. What
would you have done if you’d of fallen on your face and hit your head?”
“It’s a stupid question since I wouldn’t have been getting up because you
wouldn’t be here to aggravate me. Let me go, you pigheaded swine.” She
struggled harder to get off his lap. In her haste to move, she inadvertently
realized he was aroused. She stopped and looked at him.
“Sit still, Morgan, or we won’t be going anywhere for a very long time. I
want to talk to you.” His voice was huskier and harder.
Well, she hadn’t meant to do anything to him. Morgan blushed all the way to
her toes. Men could be turned on by the weirdest things, she thought. “I want
you to let me go. I don’t...just let me sit over there and I’ll listen to you.” For
several seconds, she didn’t think he was going to let her. He moved his arms
from around her and she scrambled to the other side of the couch, as far from
him as she could get.
“You’re having my children, Morgan, and I don’t want them raised by
strangers. I want us to raise them.” Of course he would. His family would do a
good job of it too, she thought. She’d seen them all with Meggie. She knew
they’d love these too.
“I don’t know what that has to do with you moving in here. If you want to
adopt them, then all right, I guess. There were only a few stipulations to the
adoption I wanted. I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that.”
“How much? How much to adopt my own children, Morgan?” His voice
had changed again. She looked at him sharply. He was angry. Well, so was she.
“Money. It all boils down to money with you, doesn’t it? If anyone wants
anything from the exalted Nickolas Grant, there must be a monetary gain for
them, right? Well, fuck you. One million dollars. You give me one million dollars
and I give them to you, no strings. Now that we have that settled, I want you to
get out. And stay out. If you come near me again before the deal is closed and
you have your children, then I will put them on the black market and you’ll
never see them again.” She got up, went to the door, opened it, and waited for
him to go. Her heart was crushed and she was barely holding onto her tears and
anger. When he picked up his things and walked out the door, she closed it
quietly and clicked the lock.
Walking back to the living room, she sat down where he’d been sitting,
pulled the little blue sleeper from her pocket and burst into tears, sobbing into
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“You sure you want to do this? It doesn’t seem all that smart to me,
especially coming from you.” Devin had been arguing with him for nearly two
days about the money to Morgan. Devin wanted to set it up as a trust for her,
given to her as soon as Nick had the babies. But Nick had his own ideas.
“No, this is how I want it. Those are the terms I want, and she’ll either abide
by them, or I’ll sue her ass. I’m tired of fucking around with her.” And he was
too.
“You know that by you marrying her, she’d be able to receive alimony from
you when you divorce. Because the way you two fight, it could only end that
way or death for one or both of you.”
“She’s the one who wanted the million. She’ll have it. But on my terms. You
have the house ready for her?”
“Yes, it’s in her name, along with the checking account and car. Nicky, if she
didn’t hate you before this, she certainly is going to now.”
Nick didn’t care how much she hated him. In fact, he relished the idea of her
hating him. If she hated him, then she couldn’t pull him back into her web. And
maybe he could get over this obsession to be with her. He wanted things he’d
never…things he had never thought to have.
Nick frowned when he thought about her asking for the money. Well, he
thought again, she hadn’t asked for anything. He’d asked. He could still see the
look of hurt on her face when he’d asked her how much. But it was an act; he
knew it was.
“Just make sure she signs the contact as soon as possible. I want to get things
ready on my end and ensure that everything is ready for my sons.” He walked
out of Devin’s office and up to his own. Without speaking to the new secretary,
he went into his office to start his day. He’d been missing too much work lately
and needed to get things back on an even keel again.
“Dr. Grant, your mother is on line one,” the disembodied voice said over the
intercom on his desk. He’d been sitting there for nearly an hour and he hadn’t
even signed into his computer. Shit.
“Hello, Mom. What’s going on?” He’d been avoiding her too since leaving
Morgan’s house. He’d just remembered to call her and tell her not to go to her
house just as she was pulling up in front of Morgan’s apartment that morning.
He’d only told her that he no longer needed her to persuade Morgan to marry
him; he’d worked out an alternative solution.
“I want you to meet me for lunch today. I’ll see you at Bergen’s at one
o’clock.” He could tell by her voice that she was upset about something, but
decided not to ask.
“I have other plans that I—”
“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. I didn’t ask you to meet me, Nickolas
Patrick. I said to meet me. And you had better not be late.” And then she hung
up.
Nick knew he was in deep trouble if she was using his middle name as well
as his first full name. He tried to think about what he’d done, and the only thing
he could think of was Morgan. She’d called her.
Looking at the clock on his wall, he realized he had about an hour before he
had to meet his mom, so he called Damon. He knew that Morgan had a doctor’s
appointment today at ten and he wanted to know if she’d shown up and what
was going on.
That same morning after leaving her apartment, he’d had Devin draw up a
temporary contact with her stating that she would see the doctor of his choice
from now on. It had taken him the better part of a day to convince Damon to take
her as one of his patients. Morgan had given Damon permission to give Nick any
information he wanted about her pregnancy, so he was invoking his rights by
calling.
“It’s Nick, did she show up?” Tansy had answered the phone when he’d
called and when he told her who he was, she seemed less than happy to speak to
him. Tough.
“Hello, to you too. Yes, she was here. I did a thorough exam and the babies
are fine. She gained three pounds, which is normal this late in the second
trimester. Their heartbeats are normal, and they are very active,” he told him.
“How did she look? Is she eating? I mean, I read that the babies will gain
weight whether there is sufficient intake from the mother or not.” He’d been
reading a lot too. Damon had given him four books and he’d bought nearly all
the ones he could find at Borders Books.
“I can’t tell you that. The babies are fine. They appear to be gaining weight
and are active.” Something was off. The last time Morgan was in his office, he
had gone on for hours about her health, blood pressure, and her ankles swelling.
“What do you mean you can’t tell me? It’s a simple question. Is she all right?
“I mean I can’t tell you anything about Morgan. I can give you any
information you want about the infants, but according to the contract she has
with you, you aren’t to get any more than that. I kinda like it too. So, you can
threaten me all you want. But that’s the way it goes from now on.”
Nick realized that Damon was enjoying this. Damn it all to hell. Why did his
family like her better than they did him? He knew the answer to that. Because he
was being an ass.
“So you’re telling me that if her ankles were swollen up to five times their
normal size, you wouldn’t tell me?”
“Nope. Not unless it was going to harm the babies. Then I’d be obligated to
tell you, sorry to say.”
“Damn it, Damon, this is serious. Is she all right? I demand that you tell me if
she’s eating properly and is healthy.”
Nick heard Damon laughing, braying actually, as the phone went dead in his
hand. He’d hung up on him. His own brother had hung up on him.
Nick was five minutes early for his lunch date with his mom. Bergen’s was
busy, as they normally were on Fridays, but he had no trouble finding her. He
kissed her on her offered cheek and sat down after she did.
“When are you marrying Morgan? I heard from her that you’re setting the
entire thing up. She was just to show up and shut up.” His mother had always
been one to cut right to the point.
“Ten o’clock tomorrow morning, in Judge Carlton’s chambers. I didn’t tell
her she had to shut up; I merely suggested she hold her tongue. And I gave her a
choice of wedding plans. She’s the one who said she didn’t care.”
“Well, I’m going to be there. And you’ll give her your grandmother’s ring
too. If you’re going to go through with this farce, then you might as well go all
out.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the little jeweler’s box and slid it
across to him. He opened the box and looked at the ring that had been in his
family for seven generations.
It was a round two carat emerald with six quarter cut diamonds surrounding
it. The band itself was wide, nearly an inch, and made of twenty-four carat gold.
Each Grant that gave it to his wife added another diamond to the set. Last time it
was used, when his father had married his mom, he’d had to have a second band
added to hold his diamond. The small band that accompanied it was still nestled
in the box. Neither he nor any of his brothers had used the ring because his
mother had simply refused to let them, telling them that their choice of women
was wrong and she wouldn’t let this ring be lost to some bimbo. Turned out, she
was right to refuse. He wondered why she was letting him use it for Morgan.
“I can’t give her this. She and I aren’t marrying for anything other than
purely selfish reasons. Giving her something that means so much love to one
another would be a travesty. No, I have a ring already for her.” He pulled his
own box out of his jacket pocket and handed it to his mom.
This ring was vastly different than the one his mother had given him. It was
also different than the one he’d gotten from his friend Thomas the other night.
This one was a simple band of twenty-four carat gold and a single half carat
diamond. He wasn’t even sure of her ring size and had gotten the smallest one
they had, not even taking the time to have the ring wrapped for her.
“Nicky, don’t do this. Don’t do this to her or yourself. Call this off. Please?”
He wondered if Morgan had anything to do with this and decided that she
hadn’t. She wouldn’t get her million if they didn’t marry.
“I have to. She’s being well compensated. Don’t worry about little Miss
Becky. She’s going to come out smelling like a rose and on her feet for the first
time in her life. She’ll have money and lots of it. I’ll have my sons. That’s all that
matters.”
It occurred to him then that it did matter. It was beginning to matter a great
deal. Pushing that thought away, he picked up his menu to order, trying not to
think about the constant pain around his heart.
~~~
Morgan didn’t have any female friends to help her with her dress, so she
didn’t dress up. She had purchased her first maternity top yesterday at Wal-Mart
and was wearing it with a pair of nice maternity Capri pants she’d purchased at
the same time. Her shoes were a pair of sandals that she’d had for some time. She
just washed them in the sink and slipped them on. Her ankles hurt too much and
she couldn’t bend over to tie her shoes so she was glad for the simplicity of the
ones she had on. Besides, it wasn’t as if this was a happy occasion anyway.
Morgan arrived at the courthouse at nine-thirty and sat in the little alcove
waiting for this dickship to show up. She smiled at the name she’d dubbed Nick
with. She thought it suited him perfectly. She heard them before she saw them,
and was standing when his entire family came around the corner. Meggie broke
from her father and ran to her, arms wide open and a huge smile on her face.
Morgan went down on one knee to receive Meggie and her hug. It felt so
good that Morgan didn’t want to let go. Finally, Meggie pulled back and kissed
her cheek. Morgan struggled to stand up and was nearly there when she felt a
hand at her elbow. She turned to thank whoever it was, but her throat closed off
at the sight of Nick all dressed up.
He’d worn a suit and tie, as had the rest of his brothers. She ducked her head
down to hide the sudden tears and pulled away from him. Mrs. Parker hugged
her next and told her how lovely she looked with her hair down. The truth was,
she didn’t have the energy to braid the long tresses and just left it down most of
the time anyway. She didn’t go anywhere, so what was the point?
“Let’s get this over with, shall we?” Nick said gruffly.
As he nodded at Devin, he stepped forward and gave her the final copies of
the contracts. She’d had a copy delivered to her yesterday by courier and Libby
said it was right. She was to move into the house on Beckon Way right after the
ceremony. She’d had her things picked up by a moving company just this
morning and they were on their way to her new home. At least for the next few
months anyway. There was also a new car in the garage and a live in nurse to
care for her. She was going to go by the contract to the letter, nothing more, and
nothing less.
As soon as she delivered the twins, the house, the car, and any money in the
account was hers. The million dollars would be deposited into the same account
within twenty-four hours after he left the hospital with his sons. Nick was taking
care of all bills she’d incurred as the result of the pregnancy; everything else was
hers.
Morgan signed all the copies and was given one to take home. Another was
to be given to her lawyer, Libby. She didn’t know what happened to the other
two, but assumed that Nick got one, as had Devin.
The judge that was to marry them was a really nice elderly gentleman with
gray hair and twinkling eyes. He asked her if she had any family to stand up for
her before they started and she told him no. He nodded and stepped away from
her and to the Grants. At five minutes till the hour, two people showed up to
stand with her as family. Judge Carlson had called his wife Tess and she’d
brought her sister Caroline along too. Morgan was so touched she had to excuse
herself to go to the ladies room and compose herself. Tess followed and helped
her pin a beautiful rose to her shirt that she’d brought from her own garden.
“Teddy said you didn’t have any flowers either. I was working in the yard
and had just cut this when he called. It’ll be just lovely with your red hair and
all.”
So Morgan Becky became Morgan Becky Grant fifteen minutes later. The
ring that Nick had brought for her didn’t fit, so neither of them exchanged rings.
She was fine by that, less she’d have to return it when this was over. But he
assured her he’d get it resized and have it to her soon.
“I don’t want it. Keep it, or take it back. I’m fine without it.” She expected
him to make a snide comment, and he probably would have too, but Damon
stepped between them at the last moment and kissed her on the cheek,
welcoming her to the family. They’d had their “vows” altered to suit their
predicament, so the words “love,” “honor,” and “till death we do part” had been
omitted.
Mrs. Parker asked her to have an early lunch with them. Thankfully, she’d
not said celebrate. Morgan declined. She said she was tired and wanted to take a
long nap before going to Columbus later that afternoon.
Morgan was getting into the taxi to go back to the apartment when Byron
came out of the courthouse. He hugged her tightly for several seconds. By the
time he pulled away, she was crying openly.
“I’m so sorry, baby. Will you ever forgive me?” he said to her. She’d
delivered his site to him yesterday morning. She looked at him confused. “For
telling Damon you were pregnant. Nick might never have known if I’d of kept
my mouth shut.”
“No, he would have anyway. I’m required by law to tell him. You have
nothing to be sorry about, Mr. Grant. Things will work out, you’ll see. And
they’ll be raised in a good home with opportunities that I never had. You’ll see.
It’ll all be fine.” She hoped so anyway. At least that was what she kept telling
herself. With another hug, she was off.
Tune in next week for Chapter THIRTY-NINE
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Ruby Erickson was the best OR surgeon the small hospital had. Management had mandated that the doctors were to turn away any people for treatment that couldn’t pay. Under strict orders to follow the rules or else…Ruby operated on the young woman anyway. She’d never live long enough to survive the trip to County.
Josh Ewing was suffering from a bad breakup. He had moved to the small town to get away from his cheating ex-girlfriend and former best friend and partner. His sister Bri was here and was all he had left in way of family. When Bri comes up missing, Josh is beside himself with worry.
He finds his sister in a small hospital listed as a Jane Doe in critical condition. When he finds out that the doctor who saved her life had lost her job because she didn’t turn his sister away, he wants to do all he can for her…
She cut Josh off with a finger punching to his chest. “You’re damn right I saved her life. And do you think that because you put money in my account or paid nearly a hundred grand to my loans that I’m somehow going to be beholden to you? You fucking bastard, take it back. All of it, right now.” Josh shook his head and braced his arms over his chest as if to do battle. Quentin took a step back now. He wasn’t stupid. “You heard me, I want you to take back that money now, or so help me you’re going to need it for your own hospital bills.”
“Even if I could—which I don’t care if I can or not—I won’t do it. You risked a great deal to save her life, and I pay my debts.” Ruby growled and took another step toward Josh. It took Quentin several seconds to realize that something had happened in that short period of time.
Ruby didn’t have time for a mate, not now not ever. Josh wasn’t happy about it either, but discovered once he got past her stubborn surface, that she really was a rare gem.
But trouble doesn’t elude them for long. That ex-girlfriend of Josh’s was into some heavy stuff―things he didn’t know about―things that could get them all killed―things that put them all on the radar of the wrong people…
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Kathi S Barton
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