Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
ANNA
T he day started badly, learning that Nic was the head of a mafia family, and it only got worse when Sophia was rushed to the hospital. I’d never be able to forget the sight of her standing at the top of the stairs, deathly pale with blood leaking from her nose in a steady stream. The look of horror on Nic’s face when he screamed at me to call for help. How shattered Allegra seemed when I woke her and told her what had happened. The way my heart raced as she and I rode in the back seat of the town car which we’d found waiting at the curb, our hands gripping each other’s tightly while the only sound was the prayers Allegra muttered underneath her breath to keep her grandbaby alive. It all replayed in my head, over and over, as I wondered how long it would be before the doctors would come out and tell us what was happening with Sophia.
In the blink of an eye, my anger at Nic for keeping such a monumental secret from me seemed unimportant. The only thing which mattered was Sophia’s health and well-being. My reaction—or lack thereof—to Nic’s place in the criminal world, him calling me his fiancée, and then point blank telling me he wanted to knock me up—all of it could wait until we made it through this crisis. Nic couldn’t afford any distractions. He needed to be strong for his daughter—and so did I. She’d quickly found her way into my heart, just like her daddy had. I couldn’t imagine a world without her in it. I couldn’t fathom how Nic would go on if anything happened to his precious little girl.
Allegra and I almost hadn’t been able to get back to the exam room where Nic and Sophia had been taken, but I refused to allow a simpering nurse who couldn’t be more than a couple years older than me to keep us from them. Allegra looked on approvingly as I begged and pleaded, cajoled and threatened—and ultimately used the DeLuca name to get what I wanted.
“You will take us to my fiancé,” I growled at her, a hint of menace in my tone. “And you will do it immediately unless you want to face the wrath of the DeLuca family once she’s well. Don’t think for one moment that I’ll forget the time you’ve made us stand here when we could be back there comforting Sophia.”
“It’s fine, Sandra,” another nurse chimed in, stepping forward to intervene, her eyes wide as they darted between Allegra and me. “I’ll take Mr. DeLuca’s mother and fiancée back.”
“Fine,” the other nurse huffed, stomping away.
Sandra . I mentally marked the name down for consideration later. I hadn’t been issuing empty threats while I’d been talking to her. The sound of Allegra’s low chuckle had me jerking my head her way.
“What?” I asked defensively.
“You’ve been hiding some fire beneath your nice girl exterior,” she answered approvingly
“She’ll need it to be married to him,” the nurse mumbled as she opened the door to a spacious exam room.
“I thought they fixed it when she had surgery two years ago. Why is she having problems now?” Nic roared at a tall dark- haired man in a white lab coat. “And why has it taken so damn long for you to figure out what’s been going on with her?”
I hurried to his side, tugging his hand into mine and jerking my head towards the exam table where Sophia lay, watching her dad and the doctor with wide, tear-filled eyes.
“Niccolo,” Allegra tsked. “You can’t blame Dr. McGowan for Sophia’s condition.”
“He’s the only one who’s here,” he grumbled.
“Because you’ve probably managed to scare everyone else away,” Allegra chided, eliciting a snort of laughter from Dr. McGowan, confirming how true her words must have been. “Remember, she’s only been seeing him for a few weeks, which is hardly enough time to get the results back from all the tests he’s run.”
“Actually,” Dr. McGowan interrupted their argument. “Most of her tests came back this morning. If you’ll stay with Sophia for a moment, I’d like to speak with her father in the hallway.”
Nic gave Sophia a gentle hug and dropped a kiss onto her forehead before following Dr. McGowan into the hallway. I followed suit, pausing to whisper in her ear. “Love you, sweetie.” Her tiny hands gripped my back as she leaned up to reach my ear. “I love you too, Anna.”
I hurried after Nic, tears streaming down my cheeks at her admission. Both men turned to me when I joined them in the hall, shutting the door behind me.
“As I was explaining to Nic, Sophia’s refractory hypertension has become unresponsive to her drug therapy. When they operated two years ago, her condition was considered improved because her blood pressure was within normotensive range.”
“And now that they aren’t?” I asked, making Dr. McGowan pause and consider me assessingly.
“You must be the Anna I’ve heard so much about from Sophia.”
He moved forward to shake my hand, and Nic tugged me closer to his side. Dr. McGowan sent him a quick grin and took a step backwards, dropping his hand to his side. It was as though he completely understood why Nic didn’t want another man in my space. Some of the tension left Nic’s body. Apparently, they were united in their caveman-ness or some such ridiculousness.
“To answer your question, Anna, I’ve recommended another surgical intervention for Sophia. Her previous surgeon performed an aortorenal bypass with a vein graft, but the conduit has since undergone aneurysmal deterioration. I’d like to go in and use the internal iliac artery as a free graft. They’ve since become preferred for aortorenal bypasses.”
I gripped Nic’s hand more tightly, most of what the doctor had said going straight over my head. I glanced up at Nic, and the blank expression on his face made me think maybe he didn’t understand any better than I did. “Could you repeat that, maybe in English this time?”
“Sorry,” he replied wryly. “Sometimes I slip into doctor-speak and forget most people have no clue what I’m talking about. Basically, the method her previous surgeon used has failed, and I want to reconstruct her renal artery using one from her pelvic region. Recent studies have shown outcomes are much better this way.”
“What are our other options?” Nic gritted out.
The grave look on Dr. McGowan’s face was answer enough, but his words confirmed it. “She needs to have this surgery, Nic.”
I moved even closer to Nic and wrapped my arm around his waist, trying to lend him what little strength I had.
“Do it,” he growled.
Dr. McGowan gave us a jerky nod. “I’ll book an OR and make sure I have the best of the best in there with me. She’ll be in good hands.”
“She’d better be.”
In that moment, I had no doubt Niccolo DeLuca was a very dangerous man. If anything happened to his precious daughter, heads would roll.
Dr. McGowan moved quickly, and Sophia was prepped for surgery and wheeled away from us within less than two hours. Another ninety minutes had passed, and the three of us sat in the waiting room, Allegra and I on either side of Nic. His hand was wrapped around mine, and my head was resting on his shoulder. Head bent, his eyes were closed, but I knew he wasn’t sleeping and Allegra worried her rosary the entire time, lips moving soundlessly in prayer. The moment Dr. McGowan entered the room with another doctor at his side, we all leapt to our feet.
“How”—Nic gulped—“is she?”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Nic,” Dr. McGowan breathed. “She’s in critical condition right now.”
Nic dropped back into the chair, Allegra and I following him down.
“The surgery was tougher on her than I expected, but it was successful,” Dr. McGowan continued.
“She’s a strong little girl,” the other doctor chimed in. “There’s a reason Dr. McGowan is our Head of Pediatrics. He’s the best in his field. We were lucky to lure him away from his previous position, a fact you seemed to be well aware of when you insisted he take your daughter’s case.”
The emphasis he placed on the word ‘insisted’ made me wonder what form of persuasion Nic used to ensure Sophia received the best care possible. I might not have come to terms with his role in the criminal world, but I couldn’t help silently cheering at the knowledge that he’d been able to leverage it to help her.
“My team will keep a close eye on her tonight in the ICU, and I’m hoping to be able to upgrade her status within the next twenty-four hours,” Dr. McGowan added, a slight blush darkening his cheeks.
Those hours passed in a blur, the minutes ticking by painfully slow. Sophia’s condition was finally upgraded to stable. She was moved to a private room on the pediatric floor, one which more accurately resembled a suite in a five-star hotel than a hospital room. Allegra came and went several times over the next few days, bringing many of Sophia’s things to decorate the room. Stuffed animals and toys were strewn about, and flowers and mylar balloons covered most of the available surfaces. Neither Nic nor I had left her side, though. A fact Allegra was quick to point out.
“Go home,” she ordered us bluntly. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my granddaughter, especially since I’ll have the help of the private duty nurse and aide you’ve hired for her.”
I stifled a giggle because it was a little over the top considering she hadn’t even been left alone for a second by Nic or me yet.
“I’m fine right where I am, Mamma ,” Nic argued.
“No, you’re not,” she snapped, her gaze sweeping across the both of us. “And neither is Anna.”
Oooh, she was playing dirty now, bringing me into this. Nic’s head jerked my way, his eyes scanning my face for any sign his mom was correct.
“Look how tired the poor girl is,” she continued. “She hasn’t gotten a good night’s rest since we got here.”
I shook my head in denial, but she just carried on.
“Or a real shower.”
I barely resisted the urge to sniff myself to see if I stank.
“Or decent food.”
And that was the straw which broke the proverbial camel’s back. Nic had me bundled up and out the door while Sophia slept peacefully with Allegra in a chair at her side. When he had me settled in the back seat of the car and slid in next to me, it dawned on me—this was the first time we’d been alone since Sophia had woken up with a bloody nose and distracted us from the argument we’d been having. It was difficult to reconcile the Nic I knew with the one he seemed to show everyone else. I was falling in love with my Nic, but I wasn’t so sure about the other one.