The Drake Unwound Complete Collection Book 9 (14 page)

After a final trip to the corporate office, where I signed a few papers authorizing a temporary replacement for me, I went to my club and worked out. I needed to build up a sweat and get rid of some of my nervous energy. I showered once more and dressed, before I drove back to the apartment. I called Kate on my way back and asked her about supper. We agreed that I’d stop on the way home and pick up some Thai food, pho and spring rolls as well as a rice dish.

I wasn't up to a scene. Instead, Kate and I sat on the couch and ate our takeout, talked about my day and what I’d done.

I felt quite down, so I lay on the couch with my head on Kate’s lap, and watched the news while she ran her fingers through my hair. I turned onto my back at about ten o'clock and looked up into her eyes, touching her cheek affectionately.

"I'm sorry I'm not up to too much," I said. "I'm a bit exhausted for some reason."

She leaned down and kissed me. "You've had a huge shock. It's understandable."

"Do you mind if we just go to bed to sleep tonight?"

She shook her head. "Of course not." She forced a smile, but I knew she was disappointed that we wouldn't have sex. I couldn’t even think of it for some reason, so as much as I wanted her happy, I couldn’t get past my thoughts of Liam and of my test results.

We went to bed and lay in each other's arms. I was exhausted, but couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned with Kate awake beside me.

I’d get the results in the morning, and my gut was knotted as I wondered if the news would be good or if we’d have to start looking for other matches.

Sleep was a long time in coming.

CHAPTER TWO

I woke to find that Kate was up already, which was unusual, since it was me who had business that required me to leave the apartment. I saw she was sitting at the dining room table so I decided to have a quick shower and get ready, just in case I got a call with the results of the compatibility test.

As I washed, I wondered what would happen if I wasn’t a match and how long it would take to find a suitable tissue donor for Liam. He wasn’t doing well and had one of the most aggressive forms of leukemia, which no longer responded to chemotherapy. Sadly for Liam, it was stem cells or death.

I finished up and wrapped a towel around my waist, then glanced through the bathroom door and saw Kate standing there, watching me.

She smiled slowly and there was a definite expression of desire and lust in her eyes. I left the bathroom and went to her.

"There you are," I said, pulling her into my arms. "I have a meeting with the oncologist about my test results. My tech promised me he'd work on the test last night so he should have finished the tissue study and sent the results over by now."

"How certain is it? As his father, are you more likely to be a tissue match?"

I shook my head. "Not necessarily. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on the roll of the genetic dice. Identical twins are the best source, and then siblings, but sometimes a perfect stranger can be the best match."

Kate put her cup of coffee on the windowsill and leaned against me. "If you are a match, how soon before they start the procedure?"

"Hopefully, right away. Depends on how the oncologist wants to proceed. I won't be feeling too well for a week or so while they stimulate my bone marrow, so I hope we can do our scene tonight when I'm done with all my meetings."

She looked up at me and I could tell she liked that idea.

"I think you're ready," I said and stroked her cheek. I imagined what she would look like as she knelt by the bed, blindfolded, wearing only her hose and garters. "If I tried it too soon, you would've been overwhelmed. Now, you're more familiar with submission so you'll be able to enjoy every element."

She sighed and slipped her arms around my waist. Then, the landline rang and I let go of her, pulling out of the embrace to answer the phone.

"Drake Morgan," I said.

“Hey, Dr. Morgan, it’s Jake at the lab. We got your test back.”

My heart rate increased immediately. "Oh, hello. Thanks for calling. What have you got for me?"

“Good news. You’re a match.”

Adrenaline surged through me. "Are you certain?" I said, my voice choking a bit. I turned away, one hand on my forehead, overwhelmed.

“Absolutely. Test came back and you’re the best possible match.”

I couldn’t keep a huge smile off my face. "Best possible match?"

“Yes. On all markers you were almost perfect.”

"OK, thank you so much for calling."

I hung up, clasped my hands behind my head and just stood there. I looked out of the living room window but didn't really see anything, my mind consumed with the news. Kate came up behind me but didn’t say anything at first.

"I'm so happy, Drake."

I nodded, but didn’t turn around. Then, I exhaled. "
Christ
. I was so worried. There was a chance I wouldn't be a match, so I didn't want to get my hopes up…"

She stood closer then slipped her arms around my waist, laying her head against my back. We stood there for a while, the apartment silent except for the noise from the street that filtered up through the windows.

Finally, I turned around and embraced her. My arms slipped around her waist and pulled her against my body tightly. I had to fight off tears, so I held my breath as I tried to gain control over myself.

The positive test results meant I could save my son’s life—the son I never knew I had and would probably never get to know until he was an adult—if he survived.

Finally, I released Kate because I had to let Michael know I’d be late coming to Africa and wouldn’t be able to take over a slate at the hospital.

"I'll be right back," I said. "I'm going to send an email to Michael in Nairobi that I'm a match and will have to give up my OR time."

She followed me to the desk in the dining room where I had an old computer.

"That's too bad, Drake. I know you wanted to help out." She stood in the doorway and watched as I opened the laptop on the desk.

I shook my head. "What's a surgical slate compared to a son's life?"

Then, my cell phone rang back in the living room, the trill urgent.

"Can you get that?" I asked as I checked my email.

"Yes, sure," Kate said and went back to the living room to my cell phone.

In a moment, she walked back to where I sat and handed me the cell. "It's Maureen."

I took the phone. "Hey," I said and ran a hand through my hair.

“Did you hear?” she said, her voice a bit breathless.

"Yeah, I just got the news. I'm so pleased."

“Thanks so much for agreeing to do this. Chris and I really want you to know we appreciate it. I know you have to change your plans in Kenya…”

"No, it's no problem. I'm glad to help. Anything to help."

“Listen, Drake,” Maureen said her voice lowering. “This doesn’t change anything. Don’t think this means you can get involved, get to know him or anything. There’s enough turmoil in his life without learning Chris isn’t his biological father. It broke Chris’s heart to learn Liam wasn’t his and that I was still sleeping with you. You have to understand. This could have broken us up. Please don’t push. Please keep this limited to making the donation.”

"I
will
," I said, irritated that she was reminding me something I had already agreed to. "I understand."

“Seriously, Drake. No sneaking in to see him or anything.”

"No, I said I
understand
. You don't have to worry. Chris is his father. I'm a total stranger." Emotion built in me and I exhaled in an attempt to regain control. "I'm meeting with the oncology team and will make the arrangements. Thanks for calling."

I hung up and stood there, shaking my head.

"What's the matter?"

"She wanted to remind me," I said and my voice broke for a moment. I took in a deep breath to calm myself. "She wanted to
remind
me that this didn't change anything. I'm still not going to be part of Liam's life. As if I don't already know that.
Jesus
, she must think I'm a real idiot."

I turned away and leaned against the windowsill once more, watching the cars on the street below as I tried to pull my thoughts together. Kate came over to me and touched my shoulder gently. "That wasn't very nice of her, especially considering how cooperative you are."

I sighed. "She doesn't want to screw things up with Chris. He was shocked to learn Liam wasn’t his. It meant she was still fucking me when she was fucking him. That must have hurt," I said and sighed. "They almost broke up about it, so you can imagine how hard this has been for her as well. And for Chris."

"Hard for all of you."

I sighed and said nothing. She stood quietly behind me. I didn't feel guilty but I felt I needed to clarify the situation for Kate. Finally, I turned back to her.

"Kate, she'd like to think I forced her to have sex, absolve her of responsibility for fucking me even after our marriage had failed, but I
didn't
. I remember the last time we had sex vividly. She had sex with me, willingly. She was maybe a bit reluctant at first, claiming she wasn't feeling very romantic, so I," I said, shrugging. "I seduced her. I didn't force her. I want you to know that. We hadn't been having sex very much. I'd been away a lot. I would never force her."

"Of course you didn't, Drake. I know. You wouldn't force her or anyone."

I looked deeply in her eyes to see if she believed me.

"Listen, let's forget about this," she said. "You have such good news to be happy about. Can I get you a cup of coffee? Something to eat?"

"Sure," I said and sighed, brushing my fingers against her cheek. "Thanks. I've got to call Michael, explain things. It's early evening in Africa, so I'll call him at home. He'll understand. He said that if the match was good enough, and I stayed to donate, he could find someone to take over my cases."

"Are we still going to go to Kenya?"

"Not for a while. I'm sorry, it's not only the transplant, but Liam…" I said, taking in a deep breath. "While I'm a perfect match, there are still risks. I want to stay around for a few weeks, see how he handles the transplant. They'll put him on anti-rejection drugs but still, there's always a chance he could reject the transplant—or it could reject him. Maybe not until March, right before class starts depending on how Liam does."

She leaned in closer and hugged me. I bent down and kissed her then buried my face once more in her neck and rocked her for a moment.

"I better get dressed,” I said and pulled out of the embrace. “I have a meeting with the hematologist and later, one with a colleague about a paper we were collaborating on. We'll have to rebook our flights for next month at the earliest, depending on how long I take to recover and how Liam does."

She forced a smile and I knew she was disappointed that we weren’t going to spend much time together. I went to the bedroom while she went to the kitchen to fix us breakfast.

Kate had been so excited to go to Africa and now I was asking her to hold off her plans. She would be upset, especially after I asked her to take a semester off to come with me. Still, I could tell she understood how important this was and squelched any disappointment, putting on a happy face for me.

I appreciated it deeply.

I dressed quickly and had a quick meal of toast and fruit. Then I kissed her after I put my coat on by the front door.

"How long will you be?"

I sighed. "I should be pretty busy all morning. What are your plans for the day?"

"I think I'm going to make a canvas for a painting I'm planning. If we're going to stay for a while until you give the donation and see how it takes, I think I'd like to work on a new piece."

"Oh? You're painting again?" I said, my interest piqued. I felt bad that she had been planning on painting again but hadn’t said anything yet. I had been too busy focused on my own issues.

"Yes, and the painting's going to be pretty big, so I'm going to a friend's studio to start work on it."

"What painting?" I asked, curious about her plans.

"It's a secret," she said, smiling coyly.

"I don't like secrets, Ms. Bennet,” I said and grinned. “I hope you know I'll do everything in my power to find out what it is."

"It's a gift," she said and pouted. "I don't want you to know until it's done."

"Whose studio is it?" I tried not to sound jealous of her time away from me, although I was definitely jealous.

"This young artist from Texas who's here taking his Masters of Fine Art at Columbia. He comes from a very rich family in the oil business and so he has this great studio. I can make the canvas there using his materials, and then work on it, too, if I need space."

"You two close?” I asked, kicking myself that I couldn’t just accept that she had friends outside of our relationship that didn’t involve me.  Still, it alarmed me that she had been planning all this but hadn’t spoken to me about it yet. I’d been neglecting her and would have to try harder.

"He's a good friend from college, but he's a real artist," she said. "Unlike me, who's just a weekend variety."