Chapter 27
“Maddie.”
She teared up. She’d spent the past hour and a half in the waiting room; it made her feel better to know he wasn’t far from her. And now, she heard him say her name.
“Come closer. You look so beautiful.”
His voice was no longer coarse. But he was pale and looked like he’d lost a lot of weight. He was half sitting up, half lying on his back.
She stepped closer. She’d expected that whatever hair he had would have grown, but someone had shaved his head to newly bald before sending him home. Maybe Annie had.
He reached up and took her hand. “I feel like I’ve been gone a year.”
She nodded, struggling to convince herself that this time, he wasn’t a dream.
His touch was warm.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Rex,” was all she could manage.
He smiled, closed his eyes, and drew her hand to his chest. “I’ve missed you,” he said.
“Me, too, you.”
A nurse entered the room; Maddie remained standing, Rex’s hand still on hers, his heart beating softly against her palm. The nurse checked the monitors and two tubes snaking into his arms. She asked if Maddie wanted to sit.
“Okay,” she replied, determined to keep her hand where Rex had placed it.
Maddie watched as the nurse went over to a chair and removed a large item from it, which she placed atop a storage cabinet. The item looked like a neck brace. A very large one.
The nurse noticed Maddie staring at it. “We’re weaning him off it now,” she said.
“He’s been in it since the accident. Except, of course, during surgery.
” She slid the chair to Maddie, who had almost forgotten that Rex had surgery—two surgeries, she was told, though she supposed there could have been more.
But, as last night’s majordomo had reminded her, Maddie wasn’t family.
She managed to sit while her hand kept contact with his chest.
The nurse made some entries on her iPad, then looked at Rex.
“PT at eleven thirty,” she said. “They can’t wait to see you. And, by the way, welcome home.”
Rex lifted the hand that was not holding Maddie’s. “Thanks, Ruth Ann. It’s great to be back.”
The nurse waved back and left.
“I was in school with her,” he told Maddie. “All twelve years.” He started to laugh, then abruptly stopped.
“Does it hurt to laugh?” Maddie asked.
“Nah. I’m a tough guy, remember?”
“I don’t care if you’re a total weakling. I only want you here. Well, not here in this bed, but here. Near me.” She didn’t know if it was okay to say that, but the words had tumbled out. “It’s been a long haul for you.”
He smiled. “You’re wearing your bracelet.”
She glanced at her wrist; she smiled back. Then she thought about Annie Sutton. But the idea of Annie being—or not being—there no longer mattered. What did matter was that Rex was there and seemed happy to see Maddie.
Glancing around the room, she asked, “How long do they think you’ll be in here?”
“No idea. Days, hopefully. Weeks, maybe. It depends on if I cooperate.”
She knew he’d dredged up his sense of humor to minimize the drama of his situation. If humor helped healing and recovery, Rex was sure to be raring to go in no time.
“But let’s not talk about me, okay?” he said. “I want to know what’s going on with you. Kevin said the bookshop’s coming along, that your dad’s been a big help, and that you’re opening on Memorial Day weekend. That’s kind of incredible.”
“It sure is. Kevin was right. My dad put all the start-up systems in motion—financial stuff, inventory, even a marketing plan for Rafe to handle. But Dad left yesterday, and he’ll be gone until …
” She couldn’t very well say, “Until the baby’s born.
” She blinked and reassembled her words. “Until our grand opening.”
“I can’t wait to see it. Kudos to him for helping out.”
“Kevin’s been terrific, too. And his painter, Dave Erikson? You probably know him, too?”
Rex frowned. “I don’t know Dave well, but I’m glad he’s working out. I’ve known his father, Bud, since I was a kid. He’s a miserable old salt. Not one of my favorite people.” He snorted. “Then again, he might say the same about me.”
Shifting on the chair, Maddie knew this wasn’t the conversation she wanted to be having.
“So …” she said slowly, “you feel okay this morning?”
“Better than okay for seeing you. Probably not okay enough to dance, if that’s what you have in mind.”
She closed her eyes a second. “Well, dancing isn’t on my calendar, either. But I do have some other news for you. But if you’re tired or in pain, it can wait ’til later.”
“No, I want to hear all the news that I’ve missed out on.
And I want to hear it now. Don’t make me drag it out of you.
Wait. Let me guess.” He pressed the fingers of his free hand to his lips and squinted as if pondering.
His cinnamon eyes widened. Then he offered her a wide grin—the grin that she had missed so much. “I know!” he said. “You’re pregnant!”
He was joking, of course. But if he’d come up with anything else, Maddie would have laughed and said, “Guess again.” They might have had a few minutes of silly banter, the kind between two people who had good chemistry.
Instead, she sat, unmoving, not knowing what to say.
Then a dark-haired, mustached man came into the room. He wore a white uniform; an ID card dangled from a lanyard that he wore around his neck. Behind him was a young blond woman wearing white pants, a pink smock, and a similar ID.
“Rex Winsted? I’m Greg and this is Rosie with the ponytail.
Hate to interrupt, but we’re from PT, and it’s time for us to see you strut your stuff!
” He glanced at Maddie. “Your friend will be back in about an hour, give or take.” Then the duo marched over to the bed and Greg started pushing levers and raising the bed rail on the side where Maddie sat, while Rosie tended to the IV poles that apparently would accompany Rex to wherever PT was.
Then Rosie picked up the very big neck brace and assembled it around his neck.
Maddie tried not to look horrified.
“We’ll make sure to bring him back safe and sound,” Greg added. “If you plan to stick around, you might want to take advantage of our wonderful café. It’s not exactly Michelin-starred, but we think that’s only because the judges haven’t been here yet.”
With that, Rosie propped open the door and Greg wheeled the bed away while Rosie then escorted the IV poles beside it.
Maddie caught a glimpse of Rex’s hand as he held it up and waved good-bye.
Sitting in one of the small booths, picking at a Cobb salad, Maddie realized that Greg from PT was right: the café deserved a Michelin ranking.
Maddie figured the food would taste even better if she had an appetite.
Then the baby squirmed, so she knew she needed to keep feeding the poor little thing.
But as she took another bite, she sensed someone standing by her table.
“Fancy seeing you here,” a familiar voice said.
Maddie looked up and saw Francine. She laughed. “As I recall, it’s not the first time both of us were here at the same time.”
Francine sat across from Maddie and set her coffee cup on the table. “A nurse at Windemere said you might be here while our long-lost friend is in physical therapy.”
“You came to see Rex, too?”
Francine nodded, her big, dark eyes shining. “I can’t believe he’s back. My kids are going to be so excited.” She frowned. “Well, Bella will be. Reggie’s still too young to understand much of anything beyond Blue’s Clues.”
“I take it that’s a kids’ TV show?” Maddie knew she had a lot to learn—so much had changed since Rafe was born.
“Yup. He loves it.” She took a swig of coffee. “Have you seen Rex yet?”
Maddie had a bite of the French bread that came with the salad and nodded.
“How’s he doing? Does he look different? Can he communicate okay, or do you have to do the talking?”
Looking perky and adorable as usual, with her twenty-something-year-old’s optimism and the energy to make things happen, Francine once told Maddie she considered Rex her adoptive father.
And right then, it took every bit of restraint that Maddie had not to blurt out the news she was about to tell him—if she ever got to see him long enough and uninterrupted.
“He looks great. A little thinner, maybe, but great.”
Francine’s eyebrows went up. “You’re not prejudiced, right?”
“Maybe a little. But he does look great. Someone even shaved his head. Maybe it was Annie.”
“Or Beth.”
Thankfully, Maddie hadn’t taken another bite or she might have choked on it.
“Beth?” As in the nurse Maddie had talked to?
“She’s a caregiver who was with him at Annie’s.
She’s nice. An older woman. She traveled with him from California.
The doctor wouldn’t approve of him making the trip without medical supervision.
Anyway, Kevin and Taylor came to the hospital last night to be sure Rex was settled, then they brought Beth to the Inn, where she stayed last night.
They picked her up before I left to come here; they were taking her to breakfast before putting her on the boat so she could get back to Logan and fly home. ”
So Beth, not Annie, was the woman in the ambulance last night. In spite of Maddie’s resolution to ditch jealousy, her heart squeaked Yippee, as if she, not Francine, was a perky twenty-something-year-old girl.
Then Maddie had a thought.
“Speaking of Rex,” she said, pausing to gather her composure, “when he’s done with PT, can you give us a little time alone before you come into his room? I need to talk with him for fifteen or twenty minutes.”
It was, after all, past due. For starters, Maddie didn’t think she could hold back another second, and though she was eager to tell Francine about the baby, she also was determined that Rex would be the next person to know.
Francine’s sly little smile indicated that she might already be aware why Maddie wanted alone time with him.
Maddie smiled back.
Hoping that some extra time would enable him to get resettled once PT was done, she sat with Francine until twelve thirty, then made a beeline for Windemere. But when she stepped into the room, Kevin and Taylor were there.
“Hey, Maddie.” Kevin was the first to speak. “Nice to see you again.” He sat in the chair where she’d sat earlier.
“Hello, Maddie,” Taylor said from her post at the cabinet that held medical items she’d apparently been examining.
Rex smiled; his cervical collar was still in place, and he looked worn-out.
The avocado rumbled in Maddie’s tummy. Could she stand to wait another minute? And, with Francine soon to be there, Rex’s room would turn into party central and Maddie would never have a chance to tell him about the baby, maybe not for another day.
No! her insides cried.
So she cleared her throat and said, “Hi, everyone.”
Kevin stood up and offered her the chair.
“Yes, thanks,” she said. But before sitting down, she added, “And I think you’ll both understand if I ask you to do something that’s important to me.”
Kevin pressed his lips together, no doubt so he wouldn’t smile.
Taylor merely leaned against the cabinet, watching Maddie.
“Could you please give me a few minutes alone with Rex? I need to talk with him in private, and I’ve waited a long time.” There, she thought. I said it.
Kevin was the first to speak. “Come on, Ms. T.,” he said in the way he often addressed his wife. “Let’s leave these two alone.” Guiding Taylor from the room, he turned and gave Maddie a salute. “Take your time,” he said.
The door closed and Maddie was left, still standing, with Rex still reclining in the bed.
“Wow,” he said. “I’m starting to think this is serious.” His voice was steady. But if he was conjuring potentially bad scenarios, his calm expression didn’t reveal it.
She dragged the chair close to the bed and sat down as she had earlier.
“It is,” she said. “But it’s a good serious. At least, I think it is.” At that point her courage started to slide. Could she do this? Could she truly tell him? Should she wait …
And then …
“You were right,” she blurted out, “I’m pregnant.”
His face sagged a little; his chin started to quiver. “Oh?” was all he said.
She gave him a minute. Or maybe it was only five or ten seconds. “Oh?” she asked. “That’s it?”
He closed his eyes.
Her heart plummeted to her toes.
“That must be exciting for you.”
Exciting?
“What?” she asked.
His eyes opened again but they were on the bedsheets, not on her.
“Hey, it’s what I get for being gone so long.
” He ran a finger around the top rim of the giant collar as if it had become too tight.
“I’m happy for you, Maddie. And I hope the guy you found is nice.
” He flashed a glance her way. “If he’s not, he’ll have me to answer to. ”
She blinked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He looked straight at her that time. “I didn’t want to rush things with you.
I tried to let you know how I felt, but I guess I did a lousy job.
My bad. But I’ve been away three months.
It never occurred to me you might find someone else—or even want to.
My bad again. I’m sorry. And I only said I’m happy for you because I figured it was what I was supposed to say.
” He closed his eyes again. “Thanks for stopping by to tell me. Now, would you mind asking my sister and Kevin to come back tomorrow? Say I’m tired and sore from PT and I need to sleep. ”
Maddie grabbed his hand, dropped her forehead onto the mattress, and let out a soft groan.
Then she raised her head and said, “I love you to pieces, Rex Winsted. But sometimes you can be a dumb-ass.” She didn’t think she’d ever said that word before, and because she had, she found it rather amusing.
“Don’t worry. I’ll clean up my language before our baby’s born …
which will be somewhere around July twelfth.
About nine months from the day after Cranberry Day. ”
He stared at her. He didn’t move, not that moving was something he was able to do very well right then, anyway.
“Maddie?” he asked with his gentle smile.
“Yes?”
“You’re not kidding, are you?”
She let go of his hand and stood up. Then she opened her cape and cupped her hands around her belly. “If we weren’t in a public place, I’d be happy to lower my pants and open my shirt so you can see firsthand.”
“It’s true? You and I? A baby?”
She nodded several times in rapid succession.
He put his hands to his face and the big lug started to cry. He reached out for her hand, and she took it in hers, and she sat down again, and they cried together.