SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (38 page)

“There,” the nurse’s voice again. “I gave
him his pain medicine. I’m going to call the doctor. Mrs. Penner, you can use
the call bell if you need me.” I wished that I could remember how to laugh.
Sarah must be driving her crazy. I love my sister, but she is a huge pain in
the ass. I’m not sure how my brother-in-law stands her.

The heaviness of sleep began to tug at me,
and I couldn’t even manage holding my eyes open in a slit any longer. I let
them close, and I heard the hushed voices of my father and my sister as sleep
pulled me under.

*******

When I finally really woke up, I found out
that I’d been in and out of it for four days. Apparently, the day I passed out
and Michael called the ambulance, they did an MRI when they got me to the ER.
They found out why I’d been so tired lately, having the headaches, and being
confused – I had a brain tumor. They took me straight to surgery and removed
it. The doctor just came in to tell us it was benign. I guess I should be happy
that it was at least not cancer, but I was currently in the midst of feeling
sorry for myself.

I can talk, but it’s barely
understandable. The words in my head come out of my mouth all jumbled up most
of the time. I’ve never been so frustrated in my life. When trying to tell
someone that you have to pee becomes an almost insurmountable task, you know
you’re fucked. At one point when my sister and father had gone to get something
to eat and my nurse wasn’t around, I tried to get up. I managed to get over the
side rail and lower my feet to the ground, but the fact that I was tangled up
in all the wires wasn’t why I found myself on the floor a few minutes later. My
right leg wouldn’t move. I took a step with my left and expected the right to
follow. When it didn’t, I went down on my face. I got a lecture from some
terrified nurses – and then they got a lecture from my over-bearing sister. My
dad did what he usually did in situations like that. He stared at me with those
dark, worried eyes and let Sarah take charge. So now, I was relegated to being
completely helpless and totally dependent on everyone around me. I hated it and
every so often I wished that I had just died.

“Kyle?” I thought about not opening my
eyes. I love my sister, but I wish she would just go away and take care of her
family. “Kyle, Greg’s here.” My eyes flew open at that.
What the fuck is he doing here?
My eyes took several long minutes
to focus, but I was getting used to that. When they did, I saw the face of the
man who used to be my best friend. We were so close that he was like the brother
I always wanted and never had. From the time we were little and riding our
bikes in circles around the house, right up to the day I walked in and found
him in bed with the only woman I had ever loved. At least it was before the
tumor and my limbs were coordinated enough to beat the shit out of him. I guess
my weakened state gave him a sense of security now.

CHAPTER
TWO

AMBER

I got out of my car in front of the
hospital and as I was gathering up my things a big gust of wind came up and
blew my papers right out of my hands. “Shit!” I started running around like a
maniac in the parking lot trying to grab them all before they blew away or
someone came along and ran them over. I should have taken the time to put them
all away in my bag before I left the clinic, but I’d been running late since I
opened my eyes and saw that I’d over-slept by an hour this morning.

“Here you go.” I looked up at the sound of
the deep voice. A blonde-haired man with really deep blue eyes was standing
over me as I bent down and tried to fish one of the papers out from underneath
a car. He was holding out a handful of the papers I’d lost.
 

“Thanks, that wind caught me off guard,” I
said as I pushed to my feet and took them.

He smiled. His face was tan, and he was
built like a long, lean surfer. There wasn’t much call for those in Dallas, but
he was really cute – if you liked that type. “No problem. Here, I’ll get the
one under the car for you.” He dropped down like he was going to do a push-up
and held himself up with one arm as he reached under the white SUV. A second
later, he was back on his feet and handing me the lost paper.

“Thank you, I’m such a mess.” The big,
blond guy ran those blue eyes down my body. Although I was dressed for work in
my black scrubs and white lab coat, he was looking at me as if I was dressed to
go out to the club.

“You don’t look like a mess to me,” he
said. Smooth operator…I hate players. He held out his hand and said, “Greg
Falcone.”

Reluctantly, I shook it. “Amber Reed…and
I’m late. Thank you again for your help.” I started stuffing the papers in my
bag. I’d have to organize them once I got inside and out of the breeze…and away
from Casanova. He watched me until I’d stuffed every one into the bag and
locked my car.

Then he said, “I’m on my way in to see my
friend. I’ll walk with you.”

Great.
I wonder if he’d still be so interested if I told him that my boyfriend is a
bull-rider who collects guns in his spare time, drinks like a fish, and loves
nothing better than a good fight.
I thought about Dylan.
He’d come home at three a.m. this morning and as usual, he was to blame for my
bad start to the day. He’d wanted sex, and I tried to say no. I could smell the
whiskey as soon as he’d walked into the room. I pretended to be asleep, but he
knew I was faking it and within seconds of him stripping down and climbing into
bed with me, his drunken hands were everywhere. I eventually gave in just so
he’d leave me alone. The drunken bastard barely managed a few thrusts before he
had his orgasm and passed out. It took me another hour to fall back asleep as
my mind once again went through all of the reasons I should leave him.

My new “friend” Greg and I walked through
the hospital lobby together. When we got to the elevators he said, “Are you
going up?” the truth was that I needed to, but I also needed to get away from
this guy.

“Not for a while. You have a nice day and
thank you again.” I saw it on his face – he was about to really hit on me, ask
for my number or something. I looked away and said, “Oh, there’s my co-worker,
I have to run.” I left him standing there and walked as quickly as I could
towards a group of nurses I didn’t even know. Once I was around the corner, I
slipped into one of the family quiet rooms and tried to organize my mess. I was
here today to assess two patients that were being discharged and the mess in
front of me was medical records that the hospital had faxed to the clinic.

Once I had things at least looking neat, I
took my bag and went back to the elevators where I’d left Greg. I got on and
pushed the number five. My first patient was an elderly lady on the skilled
nursing unit. I stepped off the elevator in front of the nurse’s station and
Addy, a girl I’d known since high school, was there.

“Amber!”

I smiled at her. She and I were never
friends in high school. She was kind of a stand-offish bitch back then, to be
honest. She’s a nurse now, and obviously more mature and professional, but she
still made me slightly uncomfortable. “Hi, Addy, how’s it going?”

She curled her lip. “It was a full moon
last night – they’re still residually crazy.” I laughed. People who don’t work
in health care or law enforcement have no idea how true it is that the full
moon makes people lose their minds.

“Sorry,” I told her. “I’m here to see
Edith Sweetwater.”

Addy rolled her eyes. “She’s one of the
craziest.” From what I’d read of her chart, Edith is a sixty-two year old with
early Alzheimer’s that had recently had a stroke. The doctor thought she would
need speech and physical therapy, and that’s what I was here to assess her for.
Addy showed me to her room and then slipped out quickly. It didn’t take me long
to find out why.

“Lizzy, unhook this bra for me.” Edith was
wearing a hospital gown and I doubted there was a bra underneath it. She was
reaching behind her like she was trying to get ahold of it. Her arms were short
and kind of chunky, as was the rest of her. “Come on, Lizzy, I need to get this
thing off.” I had no idea who Lizzy was, but since I was the only other one in
the room, I assumed she meant me.

“Edith, can we just talk for a few
minutes? My name is Amber Reed-”

“God damn it, Lizzie! Unhook this bra!” I
sighed and went closer to the bed. I reached behind her and pretended to unhook
something, letting my fingers brush against her bare back. I looked at her face
and she looked relieved. “That’s so much better. Thank you, honey.”

“You’re welcome, Edith. Can we talk now?”

“Sure, Lizzy, but hand me the cat first.”
That was about how our entire conversation went. Her speech seemed pretty clear
to me, but it was hard to tell where the Alzheimer’s ended and the problems the
stroke caused had begun. The physical assessment was easier, but it still took
a lot longer than I’d anticipated. By the time I was back on the elevator to go
up and see my next patient on the sixth floor, I was over an hour late.

I read some of his file as I stepped off
the elevator. His name was Kyle Cloud and he was twenty-seven. Six days
post-surgery for removal of a benign tumor located in his pre-frontal cortex,
the doctor was referring him for speech, occupational, and physical therapy.

“When is she going to get here? My brother
is getting impatient!” I walked past the nurse’s station barely registering the
raised voice until I heard the nurse’s response.

“There she is! Amber.” I stopped and
turned around. A woman with long, dark hair and big, angry-looking, dark eyes
was looking me over. I forced a smile. “Amber, this is Sarah Penner. She’s Kyle
Cloud’s sister. You’re here to see him, right?”

I nodded at the nurse, Sue, and looked
back at the other woman. “Yes, hello, Miss Penner. I’m sorry I’m so late, it’s
been one of those days.” The woman’s eyes softened a little bit.

“It’s okay. My brother is just getting
impatient. It’s hard to understand him and he gets really frustrated and
angry.” She and I started walking towards her brother’s room.

“That’s normal – and understandable,” I
told her. “I can’t imagine being able to think clearly, but not being able to
convey what I’m thinking. That would have to be so hard.”

She seemed to soften a bit more as she
said, “Yes, and he’s always been a really independent guy. It’s hard for him to
have to ask for help with everything.”

She led me up to room 612 and as soon as
we walked through the door, my eyes landed on a blond head in the corner. It
was Greg…
just great
. There was
another man there, too, sitting at the bedside. He stood up when we walked in.
This guy was huge and looked like an Indian from one of those old cowboy
movies. My eyes went to the man in the bed. He was looking at me with these
incredibly soulful, dark eyes. His head was still bandaged and he had multiple
IVs running in both of his arms. When I smiled at him, I think he tried to
smile back – but his lips barely moved.

“You must be Kyle. I’m Amber Reed from
Dallas/Ft. Worth Therapy Associates. Dr. Grant wanted me to evaluate you for
some therapy when you get out of here.”

“Yest…oday.” He groaned after the words
came out of his mouth.

I smiled and said, “That’s right, he wants
to discharge you today.” There was that crooked little smile again. He was
happy that I understood what he meant. That was good; we were starting out on a
good foot. I looked at his sister and said, “I’m going to ask the three of you
to step out for just a few minutes while I evaluate Kyle…”

“He won’t be able to answer your
questions. You’ll need me here-”

“Sarah.” The big man spoke in a voice as
big and deep as he was.

Greg got to his feet and although Sarah
looked frustrated she said, “Okay… We’ll be right out in the waiting room if
you need us.”

I gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll come
and get you if I do.” She went with the other two men, reluctantly. I hoped
that no one noticed the way Greg’s blue eyes roamed my body again before he
left the room. When they were gone, I looked back at Kyle and said, “This
sucks, huh?”

That time he managed a much brighter smile
and then he said, “Fucked-up.” It was funny how the powers of profanity seem to
hold on the hardest.

“So, Kyle, let me tell you about our
clinic…” I told him how long Dr. Jasper had been in business, where we were
located, and about our staff. Then, I went on to tell him about the different
types of therapy and asked him if I could give him a little verbal quiz that I
use to assess my patients. He nodded, and I began asking him questions.

I could tell that he knew the answers –
his address, his telephone number, what he does for a living – but most of what
he said didn’t make a lot of sense. He seemed to get more frustrated as we went
on, so I changed tactics and started with my physical assessment. I had him
hold his arms and hands in different positions and squeeze my fingers. His left
hand seemed to be a little weaker than his right, but mostly the coordination
was off. I moved to his legs next. I abruptly felt like a pervert when I saw
most of his body. He had a runner’s body, with long muscular legs and tight
muscles in his biceps. I shook that off and finished my assessment. His left
leg seemed to be impaired, whereas his right leg moved about normally. That was
classic in relation to the surgery he’d had recently.