16. Chapter 16 #2
Mia stared at the door, her legal husband having disappeared behind it along with the disrespectful, obnoxiously pretty nurse who had smiled far too much at him. She put her travel mug filled with coffee down and selected a magazine, rolling and unrolling it mindlessly.
When she turned back to her grandmother, she tried for casual. “He’s not really mine, Nonna.”
“But you want him to be.” Evangeline teased slyly, like she was twenty years younger and still making mischief at some family gathering.
Mia’s mouth twisted. For a second, she actually considered admitting it. But then she shook her head firmly. “Nope.”
“Fibber,” Evangeline replied with a very unladylike snort that startled a guffaw from a man across the waiting room, who quickly ducked his head when Mia glared at him.
“I am not,” Mia shot back, though her smile betrayed her amusement at her grandmother’s spunk. “That man is a mystery. I don’t know why, but I think he’s lying about a lot of things.”
Evangeline arched an eyebrow, folding her hands primly in her lap and looking like the picture of elegance. Mia swallowed another chuckle, because this was the same woman who had threatened Raffe with a swift kick in the groin not five minutes ago.
“About what?” Evangeline asked, her voice deceptively casual.
Mia thought about it, her gaze drifting, again, to the door Raffe had vanished through. “Well, for one thing, I found him in a park two days ago, looking like a homeless person.” She frowned, the details tugging at her. “No. That’s not right.”
She opened the glossy magazine, pretending to scan the pages, though her attention never left that door. “He wasn’t actually homeless. He was trying to look homeless. Which makes even less sense. Why would he do that?”
Evangeline hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I think the more important aspect of the man’s character isn’t what disguise he wore, but how he treats a child he has no obligation to help.
” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “From what I gathered last night, Raffe met Freddy when he saw the boy watching a football practice. They talked, and one thing led to another, and a friendship was born.”
Mia tilted her head, absorbing that.
Her grandmother leaned forward, lowering her voice. “And consider this: he married a stranger in order to fight for the right to spend thousands of dollars on medical care for a child that isn’t his. That speaks louder than whatever secrets he’s keeping.”
Mia blinked at that, her chest tightening in a way that unsettled her.
“And,” Evangeline added, her lips curving into a mischievous smile, “you should pay more attention to the way his eyes follow you when you’re not aware.”
Mia gasped, sitting ramrod straight, her heart tripping. “He does not!”
“Oh, he does,” her grandmother insisted with a knowing chuckle. “And so do you.”
Mia’s mouth fell open. Heat rushed into her cheeks. “I don’t… I wasn’t…!”
“I saw you eyeing his butt last night.”
Mia sputtered. “I never—!”
“You did,” Evangeline cut in smoothly, her smirk growing wider.
Mia groaned and covered her face with the magazine, her laughter muffled by the pages. “You’re impossible.”
“You’re smitten,” Evangeline countered, patting her granddaughter’s hand fondly. Then she leaned back in her wheelchair, utterly satisfied with herself, like she’d just won another round of a game Mia hadn’t realized they were playing.
They sat in silence for the next thirty minutes. Both knew if they opened their mouths, the only subject that would come out was Raffe—and neither was willing to risk confessing what was written all over their faces.
Mia wanted to argue with her grandmother’s accusation, to deny it with righteous indignation.
But anything she said would be a lie. Because—blast it—she had been admiring Raffe’s butt last night.
And not just that. She’d noticed the breadth of his shoulders when he’d leaned over Freddy’s chair, the biceps stretching his shirt when he’d lifted the wheelchairs into the back of his pickup like they weighed nothing.
And her imagination… well, her imagination had taken things too far. Straddling those lean hips, feeling those strong arms locked around her, letting herself give in to reckless fantasies.
She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, cheeks burning. She was not that woman. Not with a stranger.
The sound of the door opening spared her from further self-recrimination.
Freddy rolled out first, smiling shyly, far more relaxed than when he’d gone in.
Raffe followed, his tall frame filling the doorway, and Mia’s pulse skipped as her eyes betrayed her yet again, sliding over his broad chest before she forced herself to focus on his face.
There was still tension in his jaw, but less than before. Some of the tension had eased. And, inexplicably, that made her stomach flutter.
Then the doctor entered, brisk and confident, whiskey-blond hair twisted into a no-nonsense knot. She greeted Evangeline and Mia with firm handshakes.
“I understand you’ll both be a part of Freddy’s aftercare and recovery?” she asked.
“Yes,” Mia said at once, while her grandmother nodded primly.
The doctor smiled, the expression softening her professional edges.
She reviewed the surgery plan with them, explaining the check-in times, the pre-op fasting rules, the post-op limitations.
She addressed them as if they were a team.
When she placed her hand gently on Freddy’s shoulder, her voice warmed.
“We’ll get you up and walking again soon.”
Freddy nodded, nervous but hopeful. He glanced up at Raffe, and when Raffe gave him a short nod, the boy’s shoulders relaxed while the doctor said something about the health insurance issues that had been “taken care of”.
When the doctor left, the four of them sat in a bubble of silence, processing what they had been told.
“So, this is going to happen in two days?” Mia asked finally, her voice hushed with wonder. She’d never seen things move so quickly in the medical world. Usually there were months of waiting, paperwork, insurance refusals, excuses. But here… all doors were open. Because of him.
Her gaze returned to Raffe, studying him with renewed suspicion. Who was this man? Who had she married?
Raffe didn’t seem to notice her scrutiny as he explained, his voice steady. “We check in at six in the morning. Surgery will take several hours, but Freddy should be in the recovery room by noon, one at the latest.”
Evangeline clapped her hands, eyes twinkling. “This calls for a celebration!”
“No!” Mia and Raffe barked in unison.
Evangeline arched her brows at them both, clearly amused. “Fine. A quiet celebration, then. With pie.”
Mia shot her grandmother a look, then glanced up at Raffe—and immediately wished she hadn’t. He was watching her, his eyes filled with something she couldn’t decipher. Surprise? Admiration? Or was it something else?
Her heart stumbled, tripping over itself, and she looked away, heat rushing into her cheeks.
Why, after a lifetime of despising her father’s controlling voice, did her body react like this to a man who spoke with such authority? She’d sworn she would never, ever be that kind of woman. And yet here she was, panting like some lovesick fool.
Mia curled her fingers into her lap, determined not to let her grandmother see how rattled she was.
But the smirk tugging at Evangeline’s lips suggested that she already knew.