7. My Thing
7
MY THING
VIVIAN
As Paris rested after the transfusion, the smile on her face appeared happier than I’d seen her since this entire ordeal began. Although tired, her dive into a lively conversation with Richard about the Amazon River melted my heart. As much as my six-year-old could talk with a man of Richard’s age, I silently wondered why Adrien couldn’t have been a better father to her like this.
Anytime I thought of Richard over the years, he was a youngish thirty something, maybe. Now, perhaps pushing forty? I couldn’t tell, but his worldly experiences, his handsome good looks, his wealth, his designer spicy cologne… all of him screamed Daddy to me in a very, very good way.
Admittedly, older men were my thing… not that I was wondering about my “thing” given my daughter’s situation right now. With Richard in proximity since we arrived in Albany, though, memories of our one night in Paris had been hard to keep at bay. It was special to me, even if he claimed to recall little of it.
“The Globegans!” Paris pointed excitedly at the television screen when her latest favorite animated show came on, and I jumped. Mesmerized by the singing animals on the screen as they visited other animals around the world, she paused her conversation with Richard.
The way he gazed upon my daughter and treated her with respect, like she was a little lady, had me jealous for a moment. Then his gaze met mine across her bed and held there. As if the walls stripped away, and the clock hands moved backwards, we were together again directly under the Eiffel Tower where he’d caught me up in his strong arms.
“You’re beautiful, Viv. Adrien’s a fool. If I had a woman like you, I would—” He stopped short.
“You’d what? Marry me? Whisk me away to your castle?” I teased the suave billionaire who had been a good listener and easy to talk with. He proved exactly who I needed as I left Adrien behind at the club. Besides, I didn’t see Adrien following us. No texts or calls either. I broke up with him and it was as if I suddenly ceased to exist to him.
Well, screw that French bastard.
“Yes. All of it. We’d have the best of everything. I’d ensure you led a charmed life. You’d have whatever you wanted. If you were mine.” Richard’s words were unbelievable, that a man like him would offer me, well, basically the world. This was crazy, like living a dream tonight walking through Paris with him. “Only the best for you. I promise.”
As he finished, the lights of the tower lit up above us, and we laughed at the magical moment, as if the tower knew, right then, to bless us.
He picked me up and swung me around, and when my feet hit the ground, it was more like I landed in the clouds as his lips found mine. Soft, brushing, testing at first, then ending in a tangle of tongues and passion. Richard knew how to take a woman’s breath away.
But still, in the depths of my mind, were thoughts of Adrien, the man I thought I loved…
The doctor’s sudden arrival in the room broke the stare I held with Richard. “How are you feeling now, Paris?” Dr. Ferguson approached, and I gave him room to reach her. He held his fingers on her wrist at her pulse.
“I’m fine. Can I go home now?” She yawned.
“Soon. Let me talk with your mother about that, okay? Get some rest.” The doctor nodded at me and I followed him to the door.
Once there, he explained, “The transfusion helped stabilize her, but we need to run additional tests to figure out what caused the severe anemia in the first place.”
Worry edged into my voice as I asked, “But she’s okay now, right?”
With a gentle yet firm tone, he replied, “She’s better than she was when she came in, but we still want to run tests—leave no stone unturned.”
Richard suddenly appeared by my side, arms crossed, and interjected, “Run the tests. Every one of them. Do whatever it takes.”
I nodded in agreement, and waited until the doctor left before I turned to Richard to address how he’d interrupted, unsure how to feel about it. “Those tests will cost a lot. I would have preferred to review each test and its purpose to ensure there was no unnecessary overlap. I appreciate you being here, but you had no right to jump in like that.”
“You don’t have to worry about the costs.”
“What do you mean?” My head jerked back.
“I’ve taken care of everything, all bills and expenses while we’re here. And not only for you and Paris, but for all the families on this floor today.”
I gasped. “All of them? That’s great, but-but you don’t have to for us. I’d find a way to pay for things.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to. Often my charitable giving each year centers on children’s foundations and pediatric hospitals. It’s my thing, just what I do. Okay?”
“I’m not used to this, Richard. No one has ever?—”
“Well maybe you should get used to it.”
“I-I…” I shook my head at this man with more money than I’d ever see in my lifetime. There was nothing I could do to stop him from spending his money the way he wanted to. “I don’t know what to say. But please, I’m her mother. Let me make the decisions for my child’s care, okay?”
He stepped back a beat, nodding, shoving his hands into his pockets. “You’re right. I overstepped. But seeing her going through this… I only want to help.”
“You are helping. And I don’t even think the words thank you cover how much gratitude I have for the blood donation and everything.”
“Would you like to call the doctor back in here to review the tests?”
I chewed a nail, thinking through everything. “No. It’s fine. I guess I wouldn’t want to cancel a test that might be the exact one she needs. God, this is so overwhelming. One minute life is going along fine and the next something big like this happens.”
“Hey, Vivian.” He rubbed both of my arms and stared down into my eyes. His warm touch drove a thrill straight down my spine. “You’ll get through this. You both will. You have me here, and I’m not going anywhere unless you kick me out. Rex and Chelsea will be here at some point, too.”
“And my brother. I’ve spent years taking care of Paris all on my own, I guess I forgot what it feels like to have others to lean on.”
“See, we’ll get through this. You are not alone.” With a final squeeze, he left me there and he returned to Paris.
As if animated himself, he put on quite the show, recounting his misadventure of getting lost in the Amazon rainforest and coming face to face with a jaguar. A tall tale at best, certainly, but she clung to every word and watched his every movement as he pretended to crawl up trees and peek around bushes and row down the river. It surprised me at how good he was with her.
“Did you really see a jaguar?” She asked. The way the two of them got along tugged at my heart.
Richard brushed a curl behind her shoulder as he replied, “I did, sweetheart. But I was lucky. Jaguars aren’t easy to spot in the wild and when you do, they’re vicious creatures. Maybe one day, I’ll take you to see one—but in captivity.”
I shook my head. He’s paying for everything, for us and at least a dozen families on this floor. Who does that? A billionaire, that’s who. A man with more money than he knows what to do with, and with an enormous heart willing to do good with it. Looking at him, people might see his serious face, and often hear his gruff, commanding voice, but I was seeing underneath all of that. So was Paris.
As I quietly absorbed it all, my thoughts churned with an undeniable attraction toward Richard and how wonderful he was to us, yet I had to keep him at a safe distance because my priority was, and always would be, Paris’s well-being.
When she grew up and was off living her best life, then I could focus on mine and think about finding a man to love again. But until then, my entire world revolved around her.
The next morning, I awoke from the sleeper chair in the room, my back aching, begging me to get up and stretch. Paris remained deep in slumber, while across from me, Richard dozed in a regular armchair that seemed even less comfortable than mine.
It had been an exhausting day and night, and although the hospital usually permits only one parent to stay overnight, it appeared the nurse had made an exception for him—likely part of that VIP treatment reserved for men with a family name worth a fortune.
He had been with us every step of the way. He entertained Paris, stepped out to make calls, returned with snacks and coffee, regaled Paris with more stories, then dashed off to make work calls again. The man never slowed down.
Most importantly, he donated his blood—the very lifeblood she needed to survive. Now a part of Richard Buchanan flowed through her veins, a gift that held the promise of making her stronger. A deep gratitude filled me for that, for him, that I didn’t think I could find the words to convey.
I rose, stretched, and moved quietly across the room, coaxing my circulation back into gear. Eventually, I paused beside him to take in his features: his sculpted bone structure, his well-shaped nose, and the gentle cascade of his dark hair, all balanced like a perfect specimen of a man. Temptation nudged me to trace his lips with my finger, but instead, I ran my finger across mine instead.
Oh, how wildly my heart had pounded during our first kiss beneath the Eiffel Tower.
Paris began to stir, so I glanced over to see if she was waking up. Suddenly, something landed on my hip. Looking down, my breath hitched when I saw Richard’s hand resting there.
“Is everything all right?” His tired, gravelly voice stirred things deep within me, leaving my mouth dry. Part of me wished his hand would linger, explore, seek out the perfect spot that would ignite a spark in me that had long been dormant. I feared I wouldn’t know what to do in bed with him. I’d bet he’d be really good at showing me how this body of mine works again.
I chuckled nervously. “Yes, good. We’re all waking up, though it doesn’t look like this was the most comfortable spot to sleep.”
“It wasn’t, but I’ll survive. How about your sleeper chair?” he joked as he removed his hand and stretched his arms overhead. My eyes drifted to his torso where the hem of his shirt had inched upward, sparking a playful game of I-spy in my mind—I spied a happy trail. I spied the bottom of a six pack of abs. I spied my fingers itching to touch…
“Um, likely better than yours, not by much.”
“Mommy?” Paris called out as she woke, startled by her unfamiliar surroundings. Ignoring any lingering temptations, I hurried over to her side.
“I’m here. Good morning. How do you feel? Bien? ” I gently pressed the back of my hand to her forehead to check her temperature with my motherly instincts. She felt normal—a very good sign.
“ Très bien, ” she yawned, then climbed up into my arms for a hug, careful of her IV.
“Are you fluent in French, Paris?” Richard yawned, too, and he came to stand beside us.
“ Un petite peu, ” she giggled, adding, “Mommy does a lot though.”
I explained, “Madame D’Orsay, who teaches French at the County High School, trades a few tutoring sessions with me for cupcakes a couple of times a month.” I deliberately left out how I often swapped my cupcakes for things I needed around town.
“Nice. To be honest, throughout all my travels I’ve only learned a few key phrases in several languages. Luckily, the translator app on my phone does wonders.”
“Taking the easy way out, huh?” I teased. “I could teach you a few things.”
“I’d wager there’d be a lot you could teach me. Maybe later. Coffee first, am I right?” he said as he put on his coat and tapped on his phone.
“Now you’re speaking my language. Yes, please.” I nodded. “If you don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind at all. I’ll check my emails, and be back soon with a couple of cups. Paris, want some hot cocoa?”
“ Mais oui, ” she grinned.
“That means yes,” I clarified for him.
“Yeah, I kind of guessed that.” He laughed and booped her nose playfully, gave me a wink, and left the room.
Both of us stared after him until he disappeared, and sighed.
“Mommy, can we keep Richard? I like him.” She cracked me up.
“Well, he’s not like a stray puppy, my love. He has his own house and his own life,” I explained gently. He lived in an entirely rich world, far apart from what we knew.
“Oh.” Her face fell. I couldn’t bear to see that, not when she seemed to be feeling better.
“But if we like him, we could see him again.” It was then that I realized how quickly, in just one day, she had grown fond of Richard. It wasn’t just my heart on the line with him reappearing in my life. This time, there were two hearts.