120 days... (30 page)

“You won’t have to worry about that.” Ethan’s voice commanded the room. “We all know what we are going to have to do, all you need to worry about is resting and growing a baby.”

“Oh, is that all?” Her lips quivered as she smiled up at him.

“Yep, that should be easy for you. Do you see everything you’ve already tackled and won? This is a cakewalk.”

“I’ll remind you of that.”

“You do that.” He squeezed her shoulder and left her alone with her staff for a moment.

“No tears. No special treatment,” she told them. “I need to know you’re going to do everything you’ve always done for this resort, no matter if it is myself or Ethan giving the orders.”

Bethany was the first one over to her, enveloping her in a huge warm hug. “Girl, whatever you need, any time of day, or night, I’m here for you.” She pulled back and looked Sam in the eye. “You hear me, I’m here for you. Everyone needs help, ask for me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sam smiled at her through the tears. This was just as hard as she thought it was going to be. “You’re the one who should be scared. Ethan is going to be your boss for a while.”

“Ha, that pussycat? He’s met his match in me. I’ll keep him in line and keep things running smoothly. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

“Thank you.”

When Bethany moved aside, Phil stepped up and looked at her. She felt like he was studying her, trying to figure her out. “You should have told someone sooner. You needed someone here on staff who knew your history, could help you if you needed it.”

“No one needed to know before now. I had everything under control. Now that I need help, I’m asking for it.”

“You’re going to have to share your records with me.” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“I know, and I’ll make sure you have everything you need. I promise.”

“We’ll take good care of you and your little one. You know Ethan will be there for you too.”

She tried hard to keep the tears from falling. “I know you will. Now go on before you make me cry.”

Tracy came up to her and shook her finger in Sam’s face. “You have to let me know what you want to eat. You know I can cook anything. I’ll make sure you’re hooked up for every single craving you have.”

“You’ll be the first to know. You might want to stock up on chocolate though.”

“Yes, I can do that.” Her voice quivered.

“Stop, no more tears, we’ll be fine. Now, go and see if you can find a new cake recipe for Ethan to try out. You know how much he loves cake.”

“Okay. I’m so happy and sad for you at the same time. You finally have everything you ever wanted, Ethan is a good man. I’ll be praying for both of you.” Tracy sniffled and walked away.

She spent a few minutes talking to a few other staff members. When Ethan walked back in, everyone went quiet.

In the silence of the room, she took the mold he had brought into the room and placed it on the table. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand over the cement, and carefully pressed down. It was colder than she thought it would be. She couldn’t look up at her staff who were watching her make her handprint for the Legacy Wall. There would have been no way she could have kept it together. As it was, she could hear some of them trying to hold their sobs back. When she was done, Ethan was there to help lift her hand and wipe it clean before she used a stick to write on it.

Quickly, she drew a butterfly in the corner before the tears clouded her vision and she stood up and left the room.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of construction planning and making sure Ethan knew everything he could about the resort. Luckily for her, he picked things up quickly and since he did have a background in business, most of it he already knew. She also appreciated the fact that while he may have other ideas on how to run things, he was learning the way she wanted things done first before making any suggestions.

The amount of rest she needed surprised her, between work and reading up on pregnancy, she didn’t have much time for anything else, and Ethan was making sure she didn’t overdo it. She almost scoffed at the idea, as if her body would let her. She also realized how much she missed spending time with her guests, not to mention going on adventures with them. As she sat on her porch swing with paper and pen, she tried to come up with a schedule where she could get back to having fun again. There was a reason they said laughter was the best medicine.

When she heard Ethan approaching, she smiled. She already knew he’d have a funny story or two to tell her, and something to eat. The staff had taken it upon themselves to make sure she was overloaded with all the right foods to help not only her baby, but foods which were said to help prevent cancer.

“There’s my beautiful lady.” He slid next to Sam and put his arm around her. “Come here often?”

“Every day.”

“Well then, lucky me.” He held a bag up for her. “Look what I have for you.”

“Food?”

“Yes, food, but you’ll love this.”

“I’m waiting.” She held her hand out.

“Close your eyes . . . Come on, you trust me. Just close your eyes and open your mouth.”

“No tomatoes.”

“I know what you like and what you don’t. Give me a little credit.”

She sighed, closed her eyes and opened her mouth. When he placed something chocolatey and sweet on her tongue, she moaned. “Oh my.”

“Exactly. Is it the best thing you’ve ever had? If I do say so myself, hiring that pastry chef was a great idea. It’s also giving Tracy more time to work on the meals, which is where her passion is.”

“I have to agree with you, even though I hate to feed your ego.”

“You should see what he’s planning on making for Halloween. They’re going to be creepy looking but oh so tasty.”

“Oh, Halloween.” She sighed.

“What? I thought that was your favorite holiday?”

“It is, I don’t know where the time went. I don’t have a costume.”

“Seriously? Sam, one of your extra rooms upstairs has only costumes in it. Surely you can find something there to wear.”

She shrugged. “I try to do something different every year.”

“It’s okay, you can recycle, and it’s kind of the ‘in thing’ right now.”

“Ha-ha. Maybe you’re right.” She stood up. “You need a costume too.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. You pick yours out. I’ve got this whole Halloween thing handled.”

“That scares me a little bit.”

He bent his fingers into claws and laughed like an evil genius would. “And you should be.”

“You’re hopeless.” She turned to walk away from him.

He came up behind her and gently wrapped his arm around her waist. “Hopelessly in love with you.”

Sam smiled and leaned back into him, knowing, no matter what the future held, the moment was perfect.

“Are you ready yet?” Sam asked Ethan through the closed door of the spare room.

“I bet this is a first, a woman waiting on a man to finish getting ready.”

“Don’t you start with me, mister! I’ll open this door right now and ruin your surprise.”

“Hey, cut me some slack. This is harder than I thought it would be.”

“Do you need me to zip you up?”

“Ha-ha. No, I’m ready. Stand back, I’m coming out.”

“Oh my,” Sam said as she looked him up and down and then nodded. “Oh, yes. That’s working.” She gestured for him to turn around. “Let me see if the backside is as good as the front.”

“Samantha!”

“Come on, you can’t come out dressed like Thor and not expect women to drool over your body. And move that cape out of the way so I can see your butt.”

“So you’re saying you like my body.”

“No, Mr. McGregor, I love your body.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “But why Thor? Don’t get me wrong, it’s working, but I never would have guessed you’d pick out this costume.”

“Simple, my dear, you know what Thor does in the movies. He meets this beautiful mortal woman. They spend some time together. He falls for her, but he has to leave. He’s got these responsibilities to take care of back in his realm.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But he never forgot her. He wanted to go to her, but his duty to his people was strong and the Bifrost is broken. Then she needed him. She had a sickness in her blood. He did everything, taking her back home to be treated by his people, even asking the brother he no longer trusted to help him save her. He defied his father, the king, committed treason to help her. In the end, he gave up the crown, what he’d been born to do, to rule the seven realms, for her. There was no other superhero I could be for you but Thor, because I’d do all of that and more for you.”

The words he spoke touched Sam so deeply she felt every broken piece of her put back together, simply by the love of this good man. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

“I think I do, the very same you’ve done for me. Healed me, made me better, given me back hope.” He pulled away and looked her up and down. “Now, just what are you dressed up as?”

“What, it’s not obvious?” She giggled. “We must be connected, although a different comic. I’m dressed up as Dr. Jean Grey from
X-Men
. She’s powerful, caring, and a scientist.” Sam shrugged. “I’m trying to be positive.”

“It’s totally working.” He pulled her into his arms. “Now, let’s go have some fun.”

“You know, the ladies are going to be all over you.”

“Of course. That’s the other reason why I picked this costume out.” He looked at her with a straight face for all of ten seconds before he started laughing. “Nah, they all know I only have eyes for you.”

He swept her up in his arms and danced her back into the bedroom while singing the song “I Only Have Eyes for You” to her.

Six Months Later

Day 68

Ethan–

I needed you to understand where I was coming from. From the very start, I thought I’d create this journal for you, so in a way, you could take this journey with me. But it’s also something for the future so you can always have something of mine to remember me by.

There’s no denying the fact any longer. I knew I was never going to get better, but for so long I wasn’t getting worse. Now I know, I don’t think I’m going to make it one–hundred-and-twenty days.