A Taylor-Made Life (26 page)

His face looked pinched, and he forced
out, “Call Dr. Monroe.”

Dr. Monroe stood by Gavin’s bedside. I
sat and watched as he read through the charts. Gavin finally slept
comfortably, but the severe pain lasted for almost three hours
before we were finally able to ease him. That had been the worst
three hours of my life. Watching him writhe in pain was hideously
hard. It had taken all I had not to totally freak out.

Mom stood behind my chair with her
hands resting on my shoulders.

Dr. Monroe leveled his gaze at me.
“His kidneys are only functioning at forty percent. He has an
infection. I’ve started heavy doses of antibiotics, but this set
back will disable him permanently. His body is beginning to fail
under the cancer. It’s spread from kidneys to liver and lungs. I’m
afraid we’re reaching the end of his quality of life.”

A lump formed in my throat, and I
glanced at my precious husband. From the outside, his body gave
little indication of the disease. “What do we need to
do?”

“I’ll allow him to go home as long as
he has a twenty-four hour nurse to administer his medication and
provided he remains in bed.” He walked over and stared into my
eyes. “I’m afraid the days of romance and roses are over. It’ll be
a hard road from here on out.”

My voice wobbled. “How
long?”

The stout little doctor shook his
head. “That depends on a lot of factors, including his will to
survive. But my best guess is less than six months and probably
closer to two.”

I nodded. The doctor dropped his gaze
and left. I stood and walked to the window, looking out over San
Francisco Bay, the city that had become my home in the last six
months.

The October wind wisped across the
darkened bay, pushing the fog like a tugboat. A few of the
brightest stars twinkled in the twilight. Summer had come and gone,
and I’d barely noticed. Time was funny that way. It kept ticking
whether you paid attention or not. And if you didn’t keep up, it
left you behind.

I turned to Gavin. At times I almost
believed it would last forever, but nothing had changed. Except now
I wanted him to live more than I wanted to breathe. And the thought
of losing him seemed worse than death itself.

“You look tired, honey. Go home. I’ll
stay with Gavin tonight.”

Startled out of my thoughts, I looked
up at my six-plus-months pregnant mother. “I’m not the only one who
looks tired, and my guess is that Aaron Michael is not gonna let
you rest on this fine hospital-issue bed. You go home. I’m not
leaving him.”

“Aaron Michael? Is that his
name?”

I smiled sadly. “That’s what we
decided.” Time seemed so short. Barely a blip. Why did I always
have to race against it? I worried that Gavin wouldn’t live to see
his son.

The quietness of the room pressed in
on me. “So what’s being pregnant like?”

She stared wistfully past me. “The
physical aspect is a little strange. You feel like you’re not the
most important thing anymore, not even to your own body. It’s like
an alien invasion.” She focused on me, her gaze dropping to my flat
stomach. “But the anticipation of having a child. Wondering what
he’ll look like, act like…. Well, you should know, because I’m sure
you’re feeling some of that.”

I nodded. “And when the baby comes?
How does that feel?” The thought of holding my baby, Gavin’s baby,
gave me comfort.

Mom stared at me and sighed. “When the
baby comes and you hold her in your arms, it’s like you’re holding
a little piece of heaven.” Tears welled in her eyes.

The hormones made her cry even more
than usual, which was a lot.

The other day she’d dropped her wool
hat in a puddle and started bawling. When I told her she couldn’t
just cry at the drop of a hat, she laughed hysterically at the
irony but still kept crying. I knew the pregnancy was messing with
her emotions. We all had so much on our plates.

“What do you know about Gavin’s
mom?”

I shrugged. “Just what little he’s
told me. He hasn’t talked to her in over ten years. I know she
tried to reconcile with him, but he wasn’t interested. Why? What
are you thinking, Mom?”

“Honey, you have to see how dire the
situation is. Your strength is going, too. I’ve seen how late you
sleep and how your body is easily fatigued. The dark circles under
your eyes are a clear indicator. And I know how you’ve tried to
cover up the bruising. I’m still not convinced you shouldn’t do
that last chemo treatment.”

“We already talked about this. I’m
waiting until right before Aaron is born. If I take chemo now, I
won’t be able to stay with Gavin.” My voice broke. There was no way
I was leaving him to go sit in a hospital. “He needs me, Mom. I’ll
be fine. I’ll make it.”

She knew it was useless to try to
persuade me, so she let it drop. “All right. But in a month or two,
I’m not even going to be able to walk. I can barely waddle around
now. I swear this baby is gonna be ten pounds by the time he’s
born. You are in no condition to take care of Gavin either. We need
help. I think we need to call in reinforcements.”

“I agree. The doctor expects us to get
a twenty-four hour nurse. If we need to, we’ll hire
more.”

“That’s not what I mean, Taylor. He
needs emotional support and encouragement. Hell, we all do. Even
your poor father broke down on the phone a minute ago. He loves
Gavin, too.”

“I know he does.” Hearing that Dad
cried was a blow. I’d never seen him tear up in all my years. “What
are you thinking?”

She gave me a guilty shrug. “I’ve done
a little investigation and found Gavin’s mother.”

“You did
what
? Oh, Mom.” I
banged my head against the back of my chair.

“Don’t ‘Oh, mom’ me. It needed to be
done. He can’t leave this world without seeing her, and I believe
she wants to see him.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m a mother. That’s how. She wants
to see him. No matter what’s happened. And he needs to see her. You
know I’m right.”

I frowned but nodded. “From the minute
he told me about his mom, I realized he needed to patch things up
with her.”

* * * *

“Remember, Taylor, no woman in her
right mind could benefit from those pictures getting out.” Brad
placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. “You
sure you don’t want me to go in there with you?”

I took a deep breath and gathered the
severance agreement and personnel file from the desk. “No. I can do
this. I have to do it, or no one will believe I can run this
company, especially not the judge.”

After the meeting last week, Rick and
Charlie had filed an injunction in District court, claiming that my
dad did not satisfy the definition of family in their Partner
Contracts and could not rightfully hold a position in the company
without their consent. They petitioned the judge to remove him and,
either, force me to run the company on my own, or hand the
operations over to them.

Brad had filed an Amended Answering
Statement and Counterclaim, listing their underhanded dealings and
attempts to take over the company. Because the agreements specified
final and binding arbitration, Brad also asked the judge to kick
the case back into arbitration, which meant a private hearing, no
trial by jury or lengthy appeal process.

The judge had ordered the parties to
arbitration, and, while, I didn’t understand the logistics of all
of it, Brad was convinced it was a good thing.

“
This’ll be a piece of
cake. I know you can get her to sign the agreement.” Brad’s
confidence in me was comforting.

I shot him a half-hearted smile. If
Nancy signed the contract, Rick and Charlie couldn’t use her
evidence during the case. But if I couldn’t get Dragon Lady to
sign…I didn’t even want to think about that outcome.

Now, all I had to do was get Nancy
Heath, the Dragon Lady of HR, to sign a severance agreement barring
her from disparaging comments in exchange for a year’s salary and a
favorable recommendation. If the woman refused to take the deal and
aligned with Rick and Charlie, Brad seemed to think we could spend
years in litigation. If she signed the agreement, it would be a
death sentence for the partners’ bid to take over. Just like the
Death Knell in
Rist
when a kingdom warrior defeated an enemy
of the crown, I was ready to see this sorceress out on her virtual
ass.

Only this wasn’t a computer game. This
was real life, Gavin’s life and his work.

My legs wobbled, but I made it to the
door. My fingers trembled but still turned the knob. I’d lived
through stress before. Sometimes we’d have to wait days or weeks to
hear if I would live or die. My first boyfriend had dumped me in
the hospital, my best friend died from the bone marrow transplant
that should’ve saved her. This woman was nothing compared to that.
I had this. Easy peasy. A shudder rippled down my back. Now, I
needed to convince my body.

I stepped into the conference room and
shut the door behind me. Nancy greeted me with a smirk. Thomas sat
to my left as a witness. I lifted my chin and sat opposite the
woman.

“Thanks for waiting.” I laid my files
out on the table, doing my best to steady my hands.

“Young lady, what are you doing here?”
The woman’s venom sank in like cobra fangs.

Thomas shuffled in his chair like he
was about to go off on her. I shook my head at him. “Nancy, as you
can probably guess, we’re letting you go. I have a Severance
Agreement and a certified check.”

I handed her the contract.

She skimmed the pages. “You think you
can get me rid of me so easily? You know Rick and Charlie will
double this.”

Brad had coached me for this argument.
“That’s true, but any agreement they make will be void when they
lose in arbitration. And you, of all people, know they don’t have
the law on their side.”

“As long as you live. If you don’t,
there’s no one to take over.”

I smiled, but my breathing came out
ragged and uneven. The cruel woman had no idea what it was like to
face death. I held her gaze. “No one to take over? Is that what you
think?”

“That’s what I know.”

I pulled the black and white sonogram
picture from my file. My fingers lingered for a moment before I
slid it across the table.

Nancy narrowed her eyes. “What’s
this?”

“That is Aaron Michael Taylor, my son,
Gavin’s son. My egg, his sperm, in the womb of my mother, who is
our surrogate.”

Nancy’s face paled, and she looked as
if she would slide off her chair and hit the floor.

I gained confidence with every passing
second. “You know what that means. Even if both Gavin and I die—”
My heart skipped a beat. “The baby gets the company, and my dad
will be executor. No judge or arbitrator will side with Rick and
Charlie.” The coup was complete. The look on Nancy’s face said it
all.

The wicked woman frowned in defeat.
She pulled the agreement toward her and picked up her
pen.

Gavin punched hard on the down arrow
with his index finger. “Take that, cheetdeath20.”

“Oh. No. You didn’t!” She glared up
from her laptop.

He gave her his best smug
smile.

“You’re toast,
Ogger
15
.”

“Ogger19, honey. Taunts will not save
you. Just because you can fire the meanest bitch in California
doesn’t mean you can beat me at my own game.” He crossed his arms
over his chest and stared at her. “Take ‘em off. You know the
rules.”

He mentally congratulated himself on
challenging his wife to a little side wager striptease. And she was
down to her unmentionables. He licked his lips in anticipation. It
had taken the best gaming of his life to win the four rounds, but
she’d been shedding her clothes for the last two hours, and he’d
yet to lose a single piece.

She glowered then reached up, unhooked
her bra, and let the straps fall from her shoulders. His heart rate
spiked, pumping blood freely, especially to his lower regions. He
abandoned his laptop for the nearly naked beauty in his
bed.

He pushed her back on the mattress and
kissed her slow and deep, savoring each brush of her lips against
his.

She flattened her palm against his
chest and stared with concerned eyes. “Are you sure, Gavin? Dr.
Monroe said no more.”

“Are you going to deny a dying man’s
last request?”

“You’re not seriously gonna try that
tired line on me, are you?”

“If it was good enough for you, it’s
good enough for me.” He dramatically threw his forearm over his
brow and bellowed in a falsetto voice, “
Kiss me, Gavin. You have
to kiss me or I’ll die
—ouch!”

She pinched his left nipple and
twisted. “I did not sound like that.”

Barely able to catch a breath, he
collapsed next to her and turned to face his beautiful wife. The
gleam in her eye and the rapid rise and fall of her bare chest told
him everything he needed to know. She wanted this—
him—
as
much as he wanted her. He reached for her.