Sunday, May 3, 2015

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO & FORTY-THREE is ready to read !!!!!!!!!!


CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Nick had been sitting by Morgan’s bed for the past two days. He’d only left
the hospital once and that was because his mother had threatened to have
Damon sedate him if he didn’t leave for at least an hour. So he did, and was back
in exactly sixty minutes.
“Nicky, any word yet?” Devin had been in and out a lot. He’d been bringing
him food and drinks. He hadn’t eaten anything, but Devin continued to bring
them.
“No, she’s still out. Damon said that she’s healthy and strong and the babies
are doing well so we shouldn’t worry.” Sure, he thought. Not to worry. She’d
almost killed herself getting away from him.
They were both quiet for a few minutes before Nick spoke again. “I couldn’t
tell her I loved her. She ran from me—no, I drove her away because I couldn’t
say I love her.”
“Do you? Love her, I mean?”
That was all he’d thought about since he’d seen her lying there bleeding on
the cold floor in his lobby. And her screams; he could still hear them, echoing
through his head and tearing into his heart like a blade. But it was her words, her
telling him that she hated him that hurt the most. It was right then that he knew
what his heart had been trying to tell him all along. He loved Morgan Becky
Grant. He thought he’d been in love with her from the very first time that he’d
met her only he’d been too stubborn and much too stupid to realize what a
wonderful and giving woman she was.
“Yes. Yes, I love her. There is so much about her that I…she makes me laugh.
I have never laughed so much until I met her. Did you know that she has her
own business? I’ve never met a braver person than Morgan. I don’t think she’ll
ever believe me. But I do. Oh God, Devin, I’ve fucked this up so badly.” He
leaned forward in his chair and rested his head on his hands.
Nick looked up at her as she moaned. She didn’t move so once every shift,
one of the nurses would come in and roll her to her side, one side then the other.
They were doing it for the babies’ sake. Her lying on the bed like that gave them
less room to move and they needed to get into a better position to be born.
It wouldn’t be long now, Damon told him. Morgan would need to stay on
complete bed rest for at least another week before he felt better about letting her
go into labor again. She had been in the beginning stages of it when she’d been
brought in. They’d stopped it with drugs. The loss of blood and the ten flights of
stairs had weakened her and he feared for her health if they didn’t wait. But, he
told him, she would need to be awake before he’d start her labor up.
That had been two days ago. He stood up, walked over to her bed, and
looked down at her. Her skin was warmer than it had been in the ambulance.
Her lips were still slightly blue, but not like they had been. Nick felt for her pulse
and was relieved that it felt strong against his fingers.
“Oh, Morgan, I’m so very sorry for everything I’ve done to you. I want you
to wake up and scream and yell at me. Give me that look, the one that says ‘you
are just too stupid, aren’t you?’ Come on, Morgan, please wake up.” He sat down
again, closer to the bed, and laid his head on her and cried.
~~~
Morgan blinked open her eyes against the harsh light. She didn’t know
where it was coming from, but it seemed to be shining right into her head.
“Hello, Morgan. Welcome back.” It was Damon and he was the source of
light. He was trying to blind her with a flashlight that she could finally see in his
hand. He let her move away from the light.
“Where...where am?” She couldn’t make her words form, but he seemed to
understand.
“You’re in Grant Hospital. You’ve been here four days. You gave us quite a
scare. Please don’t do that again. Do you remember what happened?”
Nickolas. She’d been at Nickolas’ apartment. Sex. She’d told him... Yes, it
came back to her with perfect clarity. He’d said he didn’t love her.
“Yes. When can I go home?” His laughter startled her. She wanted to go
home. There were still things she needed to get taken care of.
“I believe it would be better if you stayed here. At least until the babies are
born. You’ve been in and out of labor for the past four days. Now that you’re
awake, I’d like to deliver them and get them into your arms for a change. How
does that sound?”
“Labor? I don’t...it doesn’t hurt. Shouldn’t it hurt?” She rubbed her hand
along her belly and felt the difference immediately. It was harder and lower.
“You will. I need to call Nicky and let him know...”
“No! I don’t want him here. I don’t want to see him. He’ll...when they’re
born, then he can come. Not yet.”
“I’m sorry, Morgan, but I have to call him. He’s my brother and I can’t...
Whatever differences you two have can be worked out, but he’ll never get this
opportunity again to see his first child born.”
Morgan knew he was right. And, she thought, its part of the contract they
had together, that he be there when they were born. She only nodded and turned
away from him. She didn’t know how long labor was, but it would be over soon
and she’d be moving on.
Nickolas arrived an hour later. Damon told her that he waited as long as he
could, telling her she needed to be prepped anyway.
Morgan was taken down to labor and delivery about twenty minutes after
she woke up. She already had an IV in, so all they needed to do was add another
line to the one she already had running. Damon explained all the equipment to
her and what he was going to use to begin with. She had opted for an epidural
and they were waiting until she was five centimeters before they administered it
to her. Damon had just finished examining her when Nickolas walked in.
“Good timing. She’s moving right along now. You’re at four centimeters
now, so within the next hour, we’ll have Dick come in and give you some happy
meds. You’ll need to be very still when he injects you so you’ll need someone to
hold you. Nicky, can you hold her up while he does it?”
“No, he doesn’t have to. I’d rather...it’s okay. I don’t need him to hold me. I’ll
be very still,” she said.
“Morgan, don’t be stupid. He’ll hold you. Now, I don’t want any more of
this shit going on in my delivery room, understand me? The two of you will
work together on this, or I’ll go home. I’ve got more important things to do than
to watch you two bicker about who does what. I’m in charge, and do as I say.”
Damon looked at her first and when she nodded, he glared at his brother. When
he nodded too, Damon started barking orders to the staff.
“Mom and the others are in the waiting room. They want to know if it’s okay
if they come in to see you before we start.”
Morgan realized that this would be the last time she’d see them. Because
after today, there’d be no reason for them to want her around anymore. She
nodded at him, her throat suddenly closed up tight.
Mrs. Parker came in first, and hugged her tightly. Morgan took her hand and
laid it on the foot she could feel pressing tightly against her belly.
“Thank you, Mrs. Parker. Thank you for everything you did for me,”
Morgan said to her softly.
“Morgan, do you think you could call me Margaret just this once? I was
hoping for Mom, but I’ll take Margaret.”
“Thank you, Margaret. Thank you very much.” With another tight hug, she
left. The men came in next. All five of them huddled around her like a brigade of
troops.
They all hugged her tightly and Spencer handed her a small planter from
Meggie. “They won’t let her come up. But Tansy said she’d sneak her up later to
see you.” Morgan nodded. She was beginning to think that she’d never be able to
speak again around the knot in her throat. A few minutes later, they were
ushered out.
Dick Sergeant came in and told her what was involved in the epidural. She
leaned all her weight forward onto Nick so that Dr. Sergeant could get her back
without any problems.
The pain was horrific and she couldn’t hold back her cry no matter how hard
she tried. Nick started cooing at her, telling her he had her. She couldn’t listen
over the pain. Soon, it was over and she was lying back on the bed.
Almost at once, she could feel the pain recede. She knew the contractions
were getting stronger because the monitor on the wall would beep rapidly when
she had one. Nick had started telling her when the contractions were beginning,
but she wouldn’t look at him, so he stopped.
At six-thirty, nearly five hours after she was injected, she felt the urge to
push. The room became a blur of movements and voices. Nick kept mopping her
face and giving her ice chips whenever she seemed to need them. They had long
given up even the pretense of trying to talk to one another. He just watched her,
and when she must have looked needy, he’d mop.
“All right, Morgan, Nicky, it’s show time. You’re fully dilated and effaced.
The next time you have the urge to push, Morgan, I want you to push from here,
all right?” He patted her bottom as he spoke.
Nick was asked to get up behind her on the bed and hold her up, bending
her at the waist to help with the pushing. He was to keep her focused and to
have her rest between contractions. Without a word, he did what he was asked.
Nearly thirty minutes later, Damon shouted he had a head. Five minutes
after that, he was laying a little body on her lap. Morgan closed her eyes. She
couldn’t get attached to him this late in the game. When the nurse took him
away, she leaned heavily back against Nick before she thought. She started to
pull away and forward when he told her to be still.
“Did you see our son, Morgan? Isn’t he beautiful?”
She didn’t answer because the next contraction hit hard.
Baby boy two didn’t want to be born, she thought. Not that she could blame
him. The world was cold and cruel. Twenty-nine minutes after his brother came
into the world, baby boy Grant two was born.
Morgan was drained and exhausted. By time they had finished cleaning her
up and her bed cleaned too, she was asleep. She didn’t move when they came
into check her, nor did she stir when someone came in and took her temperature
and blood pressure. For a full twenty-eight hours, she slept.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
As soon as she opened her eyes, she searched for the phone. It was time to
go. Morgan knew that the sooner she left, the better off everyone would be. She
reached for the phone to call Mrs. Sugar.
By prior arrangement, Libby would come as soon as she called her. Libby
would come to the hospital and bring Morgan everything she needed to leave
and while she left the hospital, Libby would wait in her bed until some noticed
the switch. Morgan wasn’t waiting to be released. She was just going to go.
“I’m ready, can you come now?” Morgan didn’t even know what time is was
and hoped that she hadn’t woke them up. Mick sounded fine and wide awake
when he answered.
“Yeah, darling. We’ll be there as soon as I can get the car started. Should be
in about ten minutes.”
They were there in seven. Morgan moved to the bathroom and changed with
Libby’s help. She hadn’t realized she’d be so weak. Only having to stop twice,
she was dressed in less than five minutes. She was nearly to the door when she
turned around and put the little planter that Meggie had sent her into her regular
purse.
Morgan was leaving the pink bag behind. There was no way she could carry
it without someone noticing it. Also, she didn’t know if she could look at it again
without thinking of all that she was leaving behind. Kissing Libby on the cheek,
Morgan and Mick left her room. She was crying softly when they got to the
elevators and nearly had to be carried by Mick by the time they got there.
Mick pushed the button for the elevator and looked at her. “Morgan, honey,
I want you to know that we love you like a daughter. In fact, sometimes, I think
we love you more than our own kids. I want you to know this was the hardest
thing I’ve ever done.”
“Thank you, Mr. Mick. I’ll always remember this. I swear I’ll try and keep in
touch with you.” The elevator dinged and she looked at it expectantly.
“I surely hope so. Morgan, I’m so sorry honey. But this is the only way. It
had to be done.” She looked at him, confused, and watched as he walked away.
As the door opened, she suddenly understood.
“Morgan, love, were you going somewhere?”
Damn it. Mick had ratted her out to Nickolas.
“Dr. Grant. I’m going home. We had a deal. I lived up to my part, now I
want you to live up to yours. Let me go home.” If she didn’t sit down soon, she
was going to fall down. Damn him for being a strong man.
“I want to show you something first. It’s just down here.” He stepped out of
the elevator and took her arm and headed them toward the nursery. Not now;
she couldn’t do this now.
“Oh no, I don’t think so. The last time you wanted to ‘show’ me something, I
made a fool of myself. If it’s all the same to you, I’ll just stay right here and you
can show someone else. Someone more in your league.” Okay, the wall was
looking really good right now. Moving toward it, because the stupid thing was
moving, she reached out to touch it. It suddenly wasn’t there. It had moved at
least ten more feet away.
That stupid floor was moving now, so fast too. If she wanted to, she thought,
she could practically touch it without bending over. But the shouting, it had to
go. “Morgan? Morgan!”
~~~
Slowly, Morgan started to make her way up from the deep darkness where
she’d been. She felt heavy and weightless at the same time. She opened her eyes
and looked around in the semi darkness. The hospital again. Damn it, was she
never going to be able to make a clean escape.
“No, I don’t plan on letting you escape again,” Nickolas said from behind
her. She rolled over to her back and looked toward where she thought he was.
He was lying in the bed next to her.
“I thought I was talking to myself. I didn’t realize that I’d spoken out loud.
Why are you here? I thought you’d be home with your sons.”
Morgan wanted to reach up and smooth the hair off his forehead. Touching
him would solve so many of life’s problems, and create so many more.
“I can’t take them yet. I haven’t even been down to see them yet,” he said
softly.
How was that possible? She’d been here at least two days. Damon said that
they were healthy and...oh God!
“What’s happened to them, Nickolas? Are they hurt? Sick? Tell me. Oh, my
poor little... Why are you laughing at me? This is not funny.” She smacked him
on the chest.
“You know, you only call me by my first name when you’re being passionate
about something? Our sons are fine. I wanted to see them the first time with their
mom. You see, I got this delivered the morning before you had them.” He leaned
over and picked up something from the bedside table. “In it is the deed to the
house and an account that gives them all your money. I thought that was a very
strange gesture for a woman who claims she doesn’t know how to love anyone.”
“I loved you and look where that got me.” She regretted it as soon as she
said it. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t...it’s not your fault. I’m just, I’d like for you to go
now.” Morgan tried to roll back over and he stopped her.
“Morgan, I’m the one who is sorry. I was stupid and...” He paused and
looked down at her.
“Yeah, go on.”
He burst out laughing. Then she did something incredibly stupid. She let
him kiss her.
It was tender and soft. Barely a touch to her mouth. His breath was warm,
his tongue hot against her lips. When he pulled her lower lip into his mouth, she
moaned at the sensations he created.
“Oh, Morgan. I do love you.”
Pulling back from him, she looked at his face. Tears had welled in his eyes
and he looked so sad.
“I have to tell you a story. My wife Margo and I had been childhood
sweethearts. I met her in first grade and we stayed as friends, even when I went
to private school. We didn’t always get along. Seldom a day went by that we
didn’t fight about something. As we got older, the fights took on a surreal quality
to them. We’d fight then have this incredible sex. But now I realize that’s all it
was. Sex.
“When I got out of high school and moved home, she was there. One night
after we’d had sex, she told me she was pregnant. I was overwhelmed and
happy. A baby. Of course, we got married a few weeks later, and that’s when
things started getting bad.
“You see, she wasn’t pregnant at all. She’d trapped me. About a month after
our wedding, she started having an affair. I guess I knew she’d been sleeping
around, but I thought after we married she’d settle down. It only got worse.” He
rolled to his back and pulled her to him tightly. Morgan didn’t say anything but
let him talk.
“On our first wedding anniversary, she claims she’s pregnant again.”
He was quite for so long she thought he was going to stop. She knew that
this is what he’d been leading up to. Leaning up, she looked down at him this
time. “It wasn’t yours, was it? Oh, Nickolas... she was a fucking bitch.”
He laughed and pulled her to him again. “My protector. Yes, she was. She
claimed the baby was mine. But I knew that we’d stopped having sex about three
months before this. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been trying to...hummm, lure
me back, but I’d just had enough. Then when that wasn’t working, a couple of
months later, she said that it was my father’s. I didn’t want to believe her. I’m
still not sure, but...”
“They died together. It wasn’t your dad’s either. I just know it. She wanted to
hurt you and found a way to do it. Oh, Nickolas, I’m so sorry.” She huddled
down onto his chest again and cried softly over his heart.
“Morgan, I love you. I should have said that to you long before now. I
should have said a lot of things to you long before now. I want you to come
home with me, build a life with me, for me. I want you to help me raise our
children. I want to have more babies with you.”
“I don’t know how to love anyone, and I’ve no clue about children. I don’t
know if I can do this.”
“Morgan, you gave your entire savings, house, and everything you own to
our sons. What does that say about you?”
“It says that I’m barely making a dent in what you have to give them. It’s all
I had, all I thought I could leave them.”
“Yes, baby, it says you love them. No matter how hard you tried not to, you
still fell in love with them. You were going to leave them a part of you,
something of you, from you. That’s love, and that’s why I love you.” He kissed
her again. This time, it was with love. She could feel it.
“I’m going to go and have the nurse bring us our babies. Then Mom is going
to bring us some dinner and we’re going to have a huge family discussion.” He
hopped off the bed and was striding toward the door.
“Wait! What kind of family discussion? Nickolas, what are you talking
about?”
“Why we have to name them, don’t we?”
Morgan looked at him, really looked at him. Name them? She glared at him
as he came back toward the bed.
“You’ve not named our sons? Right now they are laying down there in that
nursery and people are calling them Grant boy one and Grant boy two. Oh
Nickolas, how could you?” She was trying hard not to laugh; the expression on
his face was priceless. “What do you think the other children are going to say to
them? They will be teased and teased. Is that what you want?”
Nick put his fingers over his lips and seemed to contemplate her query.
“Maybe they won’t notice they don’t have names. Maybe they’ll be so
overwhelmed with our combined beauty in them that the other children won’t
notice. I’ll go get them and we’ll make sure they aren’t too scarred.” His quick
kiss had her reeling.
Morgan sat up a little more in the bed as soon as he left. She was sore and
tired, but she was suddenly filled with…love, she realized. She was filled with
love. When the door opened again, a nurse was pushing a large bassinet at her
with Nickolas right behind her. Morgan couldn’t help the happiness she felt at
seeing her sons. Hers and Nickolas’ sons.
When the nurse handed her the first little bundle, she didn’t know what to
do. Terror at hurting him, dropping him, nearly had her pull away. But the
moment he was settled in her arms, it was as if she’d come home. And when
Nickolas settled down next to her and was handed his blue bundle, everything
came together. Family.
Morgan leaned back against her husband and held her little boy in her arms
and knew what his name was. “This one is Anthony Patrick Grant and his little
brother is Nickolas Markus Grant. They’ll be called Anthony and Markus. What
do you think?”
“I think, love, that is perfect. Absolutely perfect. I love you.”
“I love you too, Nickolas, and I always will.”




Tune in next week  for a start of a new book 



Buy Link for the Box set  grab for 9.99 



Buy links

THE GRANT BROTHERS -
2 DEVIN – http://smarturl.it/devin  
4 BYRON – http://smarturl.it/byron  
5 JAMIE – http://smarturl.it/jamie  


The grant brothers series in reading order 


New Release is Jace 


The Double Deuce Ranch is in trouble. The taxes have tripled over the years, and the repair bills and cost of supplies are more than the Douglas men can scrape together to save the ranch. Short of a miracle they are on the street.
Holly Snow has already bought four ranches this month saving them from the greedy banker. She’ll save the Double Deuce, too, if Georgie Douglas will let her. Something underhanded is driving all the ranches into foreclosure and she is determined to get to the bottom of it. To her, money is no object.
Jace Douglas knows from the moment he sees Holly in that jail cell, beaten but proud, that she is his mate. His cat wants to claim his mate, but he doesn’t have two nickels to rub together, there is no way he is taking her for a mate. He can’t afford her. He is out of her league…
Fate, however, has other ideas, and money, although a huge factor, never is the issue between them. Jace likes to play…a little rough. And Holly might be of a mind to just play along…

 http://smarturl.it/jacePrideDoubleDeuce

Fair warning dark fantasy werecougars  and some bondage in this book please 18 and older

         

                   

                         




Happy Reading 

Kathi  S Barton 














 




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