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Authors: Cynthia P. O'Neill

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BOOK: Learning to Let Go
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I zoned out on all the various issues that could go wrong. All I could think about was how I needed to hide her away from Chase and make it impossible for him to find her. I just kept nodding and agreeing with my dad until he finally finished, looking back and forth between Grace and me.

“So you both still want to do this?

We nodded in agreement.

“Are you going to call her parents yet?” he continued to push.

Grace handled that one, thank goodness. “When she wakes up, I’ll make sure she talks with them and her brother. She’ll be the one responsible for telling them, though, not us.” She looked over at me and gave me a small grimace of a smile.

My dad sighed in resignation. “You have to be responsible about this, Garrett,” he stressed. “Regardless of the medical professionals and supplies I can get you, this is still
serious
business. She’s recovering from head trauma.”

I hugged my dad close, encouraged by the squeeze he gave my shoulders, and nodded to Grace, who practically scurried away to make a list of what we’d need. I placed a few calls to Thompson and began putting my plan into action, offering to pay through the nose to make this all happen within a few hours. We knew Chase had to be watching the hospital from somewhere, looking to gain re-entry, so he’d have to see us moving Laurel. We needed a decoy.

Within hours, Grace was in a wig and a hospital gown and comfortably resting on a gurney. She was rolled down toward an awaiting ambulance to transport her and my brother, Jonathan, dressed like me with a baseball cap, to the Orlando Executive Airport. A flight plan had been put in place to make Chase believe that Laurel was being flown home to the safety of her family in Blue Ash, Ohio. We hoped to trap Chase trying to follow them. If we couldn’t, then the plane would take off and head toward Ohio in hopes that he would flee the area.

The plan worked like a charm and he tailed the ambulance to the airport. Unfortunately, he ducked into a hanger and seemed to vanish into thin air when the authorities were in pursuit, which made us believe that he had someone assisting him in alluding capture. Now we just needed to figure out who was helping him.

While Grace and Jonathan were throwing Chase off the trail, we were able to sneak Laurel out a back entrance and into an unmarked ambulance for transport to my beach house in South Daytona. One of my security team followed not too far behind with Grace and my brother, who had managed to change clothes and sneak off the plane dressed as part of the readiness crew.

During the ride, Laurel started moaning. The nurse who came with us checked her vitals and said that they were beginning to indicate a waking pattern, assuring me that her moans and groans were perfectly normal.

“How long before you think she wakes up?” I wondered.

“I wish I could answer that, Mr. Waters. For some it might be a few hours, others, it takes a day or two. It all depends on her willingness to return to reality.”

 

 

The drive was uneventful and my father, along with Thompson, had pulled through for me, calling in every favor they could to have a room already prepared for Laurel. It was times like this that I was thankful for the money I had accumulated. You’d be surprised what you could pull off with the right amount of cash and people wanting to help someone in need. If I didn’t know I was in a beach house, I’d swear the room we had prepared for Laurel was in a hospital.

Dr. Peter Givens, my dad’s personal physician and friend, who’d retired recently, offered his services to us, along with his nurse, Lynne. They helped get Laurel settled and were shown to the rooms they would occupy during their stay here. They monitored her vitals and adjusted her medication accordingly while I took over her everyday needs, still refusing to let anyone other than me touch her personally.

Grace and Jonathan arrived a short while later and were given a room right next to Laurel. I had arranged for Grace to take a leave of absence from work to help assist with her cousin. My brother would stay for only a couple of days before returning to Orlando to help my VP run the company in my absence.

“My security team has already dropped by my brother’s place and packed bags for both of you, along with some items for Laurel,” I said as I gave Grace a tour of the house. “If there’s anything you need that wasn’t packed, I’ll have one of my team escort you shopping tomorrow.”

To my surprise, Grace came up and hugged me tight. “Thank you, Garrett. I don’t know where my cousin would be without you in her life.”

I breathed a sigh of relief that we managed to pull off the plan. The house had been prepped in record time, Chase was on a wild goose chase, everyone got here safely, and Laurel was stable for the time being. I just hoped Grace and I were doing the right thing by not telling her parents and brother yet, at least not until she was further into her recovery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mind was racing with images of Chase coming after me. I knew I blacked out as soon as I hit Garrett’s penthouse. I remembered some of the conversations, but didn’t have much recollection of things beyond that. I knew my mind was floating in and out of consciousness over the last couple of hours—or was it days? I didn’t know. I could feel the gentle whirling of air into my nose and the sound of soft beeps ringing in my ears.
Oh God, NO! Please don’t tell me that I’m in the hospital. I won’t let him win this time. He ruined me last time and made me withdraw from life, but not this time!

I felt weak and sensed that my body had been battered. I could feel someone bathing me and whispering sweet words of love. It was my Garrett. He was taking care of me. I wanted to reach out to him, to grab for his hand and let him know I was here; unfortunately, my body didn’t want to cooperate with my mind and the darkness soon drew me back into slumber.

“We have a confirmation the perp is in the building,” a strange voice said out of nowhere.

“I hope they get the jerk this time,” Grace said in the distance.

Please, no…not Chase! Not here while I can’t defend myself!

Someone squeezed my hand. “I promise to protect you, my love. I’ll never let you out of my sight again and I’ll earn your trust back. Somehow.” It was Garrett, his voice filled with anguish.

“Stop blaming yourself, Garrett. If it hadn’t been for you, she would’ve never fought back. How many times do I have to tell you that this is
not
your fault?” Grace’s voice was determined.

This wasn’t his fault. I needed to wake up to tell him.
Come on and move, body. I need to see Garrett and tell him Grace is right.

The more I willed my body to move and the more I thought about Chase being in the building, the more I started to freak out. I don’t know how, but I felt myself scream and my body shot upright, surrounded in pain.
Please make the pain go away. This hurts to be like this.

“She’s having a fight or flight reaction to the situation,” a familiar, authoritative voice said. It sounded like Garrett’s dad; we must be at his hospital.

I felt a coolness enter my skin, trickling up my arms and down my legs.
He must be giving me medicine. That feels so much better.
My body started to collapse and I felt Garrett’s hands gently lower me back to the bed. I could hear “transport,” “call in some favors,” and “donation” before I succumbed to the darkness and all was silent.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but when I woke this time, my nose detected a difference in my surroundings. I was no longer in the sterile environment of the hospital with outside noises in the distance. Now I could just make out the sound of waves and the sweet smells of vanilla body wash as the cool water caressed my arms and then my legs.

“You’re safe now, darling. There’s no way Chase could get to you where we’re at.”

His hands were gentle as he continued to bathe the remainder of my body. I was ashamed when I felt his hands part my legs to clean me.
Why had I played into Chase’s advances? I know I needed a distraction to grab the frying pan to defend myself with, but could this damage have been avoided?

I knew I wasn’t able to respond to him verbally, but somehow my body seemed to react because I felt my face flush as he touched the parts of me that set me on fire.

“I’m just cleaning your wounds, Laurel. The nurse will be in here to doctor them soon.” Garrett’s voice was soft as a whisper and felt reassuring to my ears. “Could you grab her nightshirt and help me dress her, Grace?”

I felt two pairs of hands gently shift me and dress me in a soft, comfortable shirt. I tried to move. I wanted to help them, but my body felt like a lead weight. I felt trapped in a dark room, just waiting for someone to unlock the door so I could emerge back into my life.

Another set of footsteps entered. “Her vitals are improving,” a soft female voice said. “I’ll be giving her a shot of some lighter pain medication to help with any discomfort.”

I felt the coolness of medication enter the IV. The soft sheets that were against my skin were pulled back and my legs parted again.

“All of her wounds seem to be healing nicely,” the voice continued and I felt a gentle touch of cream being worked into the damaged areas. There was a little sting, but it soothed within seconds. “I’ll be back to check on her in an hour.”

“Thank you, Lynne,” Grace and Garrett replied in unison.

Darkness surrounded me again and I felt myself fall into a lighter slumber. I don’t know how long I was out, or when I started to come around from the grogginess. I could tell that the room was darker than before and could almost see a soft glow to the left side of me. Soft snores were coming from somewhere nearby.

My body felt lighter than it had during previous awakenings. I tried opening my eyelids to see if I could work even one small area of my body. To my surprise, they started to open and I could see that the snores came from Garrett, who had a chair pulled up and was resting his arms and head on the bed near my hand.

I looked around the room and realized that I was in a hospital bed in someone’s house, not an actual hospital. The walls were painted a light tan and the floor had a decorative rug over stone tile. The windows were dark, so it must be nighttime. I glanced over to see a bathroom across the way and the slight glow of a light coming from beside me on the nightstand.

I moved my lips, which, to my surprise, felt smooth. Someone must’ve been putting balm on them to keep them moist. I looked down to see my arms cozy in some kind of blue nightshirt, with comfortable gold sheets and a blue afghan covering me from the waist down. I tried moving my legs but instantly felt some discomfort, like they’d lost a battle with a cat’s claws. I focused, instead, on my hands and arms. As soon as my left hand, the one near his head, shifted, his eyes popped open and he looked up at me.

“Oh, thank God, Laurel.” He sighed. “You’re back.” His face was etched with worry lines and his eyes threatened to spill over with tears, one actually managing to escape and trickle down the side of his face. “I’ve been waiting to see those sparkling hazel eyes of yours.” He instantly reached for my hand and began to kiss it, placing it against the stubble of his face. “I’m so sorry for everything. You don’t know how much I’ve missed you, how much I want to make things right between us again…” Before he could say anything further, Grace came bounding through the doors.

BOOK: Learning to Let Go
5.18Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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