Exhale, page 1
Dedication
For Julie.
For Christa, thank you for your belief in me and this story; and Lisa, for all your hard work.
For my lovely mother and sister, for instilling the love of far—off places and magical worlds through words, in me.
For the rest of the Awesome Foursome, without you guys I couldn’t do this. Bec, Kylie, Nicky—you are my writing soul.
And last but not least, my fabulous husband, who thinks my writing romance is ”pretty cool”.
Part One
Now
Seattle, Washington
Chapter One
Gabby winced as sunlight broke through the clouds and glanced off the windshield, striking her in the eyes. She waved her hand at the cab as it pulled up beside her. Sea-Tac bustled with that particular nervous energy common to all major airports. So many people vied for the taxis, she thought she’d never get one.
Mara gestured to Gabby’s bags. “Just the two, thanks.”
The cab driver nodded and popped the trunk.
“How do you travel so lightly? I couldn’t do it,” Mara said. Gabby’s colleague had met her at the arrivals gate, wanting to go over a few of the finer details of their latest merger proposal before the weekend.
Gabby grinned at Mara as she tossed her laptop bag on the backseat. “When you’ve been doing this as long as I have, you learn the hard way to keep it light. Usually it’s only one bag.”
Mara shuddered and stepped into the cab. She scooted over to make room on the back seat. “Doesn’t bear thinking about. So, have you told Matt this is a permanent move?”
Gabby bit her bottom lip and shook her head. Excitement swirled in the pit of her stomach at the thought of telling her son she was finally moving to the States. With her relationship with Brett over, she’d decided this was it.
“No. I want it to be a surprise. The look on his face will be priceless. He’s been nagging me to make the move for ages. I thought since I was here for Taka’s, ah, wedding, anyway, it would be the perfect time to tell him.”
She moved backward, trying to cover her stumble over the word “wedding”. If she didn’t think about it too hard, she could pretend the horrible leaden lump in her stomach was from the in-flight food. Never mind the fact that she’d felt like this since receiving the invite from her son’s friend three weeks ago.
So fast. So damned fast.
She hoped Taka’s mother was wrong about the reason for such a speedy wedding. It would be so hard to hear he’d gotten the girl pregnant. She hoped like hell she’d be able to get through tomorrow without making a complete fool of herself.
What on earth would she do if she lost it during the ceremony?
She really didn’t want to have to sit through seeing him marry someone else. But what choice did she have? She was the silly twit who’d accepted the invitation—something she was regretting a whole lot at that moment. The closer the plane had got to Seattle, the worse she’d felt.
She’d given up pretending her feelings for Taka were platonic, at least to herself. What was the point? Once, the man had been able to blow her mind with a simple kiss, but he was still her best friend’s son, and still too young.
He’d finally found someone. And she was the daughter of a business associate and friend of hers, no less.
That would be the hardest part—knowing the family. She’d met the girl’s father, Jonathan, a few years ago. He’d hired her and her team to broker a merger for one of his smaller companies. They’d become friends. She’d advised him on international expansion, and now his London ventures were gaining momentum. She’d never met Monique, but she’d only ever heard good things about her.
Heaven help her if she hurt Taka, though.
“It’s hard to believe you have a son so old. Isn’t he turning twenty-nine this year?”
Gabby nodded, a small smile creasing the corner of her mouth. “Yeah. What can I say? I was a young mother.”
Really young.
Most people thought he was her younger brother, not her son, and he tended to act like it. They had a much more easy-going relationship than many she’d seen. Their closeness and easy familiarity was something that got them both through her husband’s death twelve years ago. Gabby flopped against the seat back, unwilling to get into the details about her son. It either prompted an ever-growing list of questions, or a stunned, awkward silence. Mara had never asked outright, and she was too tired from the flight to want to deal with the subject.
Shifting on the seat, her neat navy business skirt snagged on a tear in the vinyl. “Oh, damn!”
She lifted up and twisted, grabbing the seat in front of her, trying to unhook herself. The material let go with an audible protest. She tried to see the damage as the driver slid into the front seat. She glanced up to say something to him when a lanky, unkempt figure in the crowd caught her attention through the windshield. Ice washed over her, stealing her train of thought. Her hand clenched tight on the seat back. Disbelief shattered through her, twisting her stomach into knots.
It couldn’t be.
She searched the crowd again. Her heart stuttered back to life when she didn’t see who she was looking for. Shaking her head, she let out a tense breath. No. She was imagining things. The fact that the bastard had been recently released from prison was screwing with her head. The man was in New Jersey, not here. The police had said so.
Matt. Think about Matt instead.
Matt was on the nightshift, so he’d be at home at this time of morning. She relayed the address to the driver, and he pulled into the swiftly moving traffic. She threw one last glance behind her as she clicked her seatbelt into place, and accepted she’d been mistaken.
Her son had finally settled in one place long enough to buy himself an apartment and was happy at the hospital where he worked, mentored by the chief of neurosurgery. Taka had talked up the merits of the hospital he worked at so much so that Matt had applied for a job when his tenure came due. He’d stopped switching cities, claiming he liked it here. It was what she’d been waiting for. She was sick of only seeing him when work brought her close to whatever city he was currently living in.
She loved her job. It was what she’d always wanted to do. She owed her parents big-time for their help in getting her through school after getting pregnant so young. But she wanted a stable base in the States. A place to call home, somewhere close to her son. She’d been living this life for too long. Starting out in international corporate law, then working her way up to being a freelance merger consultant had taken its toll. For ten years now, she hadn’t called anywhere home, never being in one place long enough to put down roots.
Mara pulled a thick folder from her bag, catching Gabby’s attention.
“This is the latest info we have on the Arcos acquisition. Vibrante Holdings wants to pull the company apart and sell off the individual sectors. These are the figures for the last quarter, and here are the proposed sales prices—they came through while you were in the air. Vibrante stands to make an awful lot of money if they pull this off.”
Gabby took the offered sheaf of papers. Stifling a yawn, she tried to follow the stark black printing. Jetlag always hit her hard coming this way across the Pacific. Numbers swam on the page, refusing to focus.
She closed her eyes while Mara continued with the debriefing, glad to be distracted from tomorrow’s impending festivities. She wiggled and found the comfortable spot all cabs seemed to have, relaxing back into it with the papers sitting limp on her lap. The sun slanted through the window, warming her pliant body, sinking her farther into the upholstery of the seat. Her flight from Australia had been crap, the turbulence so severe in places she actually thought she had bruises from all the bouncing around. She’d rest her eyes for just a minute…
Squealing brakes tore her eyes open to stare out the side window across from her, beyond Mara. She blinked, confused. An SUV was on the wrong side of the road, headed straight for them. Her friend screamed. The driver swerved and swore, trying to control the slide of the cab on the slick road.
Metal squealed as it tore. Glass shattered, shards spraying her in the face. She grabbed at the seat in front of her as her body was flung sideways. She glanced up at the driver of the SUV. Terror gripped her insides and twisted sharply as her vision cleared.
Oh God, no. It’s him.
Chapter Two
Taka rubbed the bridge of his nose with the tips of his fingers. He wasn’t rostered on nightshift this week, but he’d still managed to be here twenty-two hours. Somewhere in the middle, he’d managed to flake out for three hours in the doctor’s lounge, but that was it. He sighed and turned toward the elevators.
Hell, I need a shower.
Sandpaper over his eyes would be a blessing compared to how they actually felt. He’d finally finished his emergency surgery, so at least he could go home now. He had one last file to drop off at the triage desk in the ER, then he was out of there.
So far, he’d been able to avoid thinking about the huge commitment he would be making at precisely five o’clock tomorrow evening. Talk about pre-wedding dread. His stomach was so tied up in knots, he hadn’t eaten since yesterday. Or was it the day before?
He smiled at the emergency nurse behind the desk and dropped the file in front of her.
“Here you go, Leticia. As requested.”
“Thanks. I’ll see that Alan gets it. You off home now? You look beat.”
Taka breathed deep. “You bet. I’ll be glad to see the back of this place for a few weeks. I need a week of sleep.”
>
Leticia laughed at him. “Don’t get greedy, now. We can’t have you getting too fresh.”
The ambulance sirens approaching the doors behind him caught his attention. A strange feeling gnawed at his gut as he glanced over.
“You’d better go while you still can.” She glanced up at him from the file. “Good luck tomorrow. You’ll have to bring in some photos for us all once you’re back from the honeymoon.”
Tomorrow.
Matt bugging him about his messed-up life only made it harder to believe he was doing the right thing. He’d demanded that Taka tell him why he was marrying Monique, because he hadn’t believed Taka was in love with her.
He was right.
Taka hadn’t told Matt the real reason. Hadn’t really known how to. The tension that surrounded them when his best man saw Monique would be so thick he wondered if Matt would be able to keep his promise and not make a scene at the actual ceremony. He wouldn’t be surprised if every single photo taken would feature Matt scowling in the background. Taka scraped a hand over his stubble-roughened face. Tomorrow wasn’t going to be much fun if they couldn’t get along.
Taka looked back at Leticia and nodded in agreement, anxiety twisting his gut. “Thanks, I will.”
He sighed and started to walk toward the doors that faced the parking lot. He was going to have to get over this. He’d give it a chance, even though the woman he loved was marrying another man. He had to. He owed Monique that much. He’d messed up, not her. She shouldn’t be humiliated because he couldn’t get his act together. If it didn’t work after that? He would figure that out if it came to it. He rubbed at his stomach. The gnawing deep in his gut got worse.
He stopped and turned.
A gurney burst through the doors. The paramedics were almost running to get the patient into the ER.
“Female, early forties. Roll over. SUV hit the cab she was in. She’s critical.” The paramedic rattled off her list of suspected injuries.
Taka glanced around. The only ones there were interns. The residents on duty were busy with other crises.
He was too damn tired. He should just go home and let them deal with this. But his stomach was revolting on him. He actually felt nauseous.
Something is very wrong here.
They rushed her to one of the trauma rooms across the hall. Taka swore and ran after them, Leticia right behind him. Halfway to the gurney he got a glimpse of the patient. All tubes and wires and long, curly hair. Blood had stained it dark red. It covered everything.
The machine they had strapped to her started screaming as he caught them.
“She’s flatlining! Get me a crash cart, now!”
Taka glanced at the woman’s bloodstained face, and his own heart jolted mid-beat.
Shock stopped him cold. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.
The intern across put his hands to her chest to start CPR, but the angle he was at was impossible. He’d never resuscitate her like that. Seeing his ineptitude sliced through the painful fog that had wrapped around Taka’s brain. Taka vaulted onto the gurney, straddled her hips and shoved the intern backwards.
“Move!”
He pushed at her chest furiously. “Come on! Don’t do this to me. Not now. Breathe, goddammit!”
It wasn’t working.
Buttons flew in every direction as he ripped her shirt open to gain access to bare skin. Cuts and scratches covered her torso, the blood congealing and meshing together in a garish patchwork against pale skin.
Her face and head were bruised and battered from what appeared to be a couple of gashes, and shattered glass from the windows was embedded deep into her skin. He didn’t have time to think what he’d do if she had any brain trauma, because the most talented neurosurgeon they had was her son.
They burst through the doors of the OR. He slipped off the gurney as he was handed the paddles of the defibrillator.
“Clear!”
The screech of the alarm still blared at him.
This can’t be happening.
“Again! Clear!”
Her battered body arched in protest to the treatment. A tiny blip sounded on the monitor.
“We have a pulse!” Leticia spun around and picked up the intubation tube, handing it to Taka. He tilted Gabby’s head back and worked it into her swollen throat. She was fighting him every step of the way.
His gaze lit on her stomach. This was so wrong he almost laughed. “Her abdomen is distended. She’s hemorrhaging. She won’t make it upstairs. I’ll patch her up here, then finish up there.”
Taka tied on his mask and threw scrubs over his blood-stained clothes, firing instructions in all directions.
Leticia grabbed items for a tray. “You talked to her out there, Doctor. Do you know her?”
Taka glanced at her over his mask. “She’s Dr. Winchester’s mom.”
Silence descended on the room, momentarily stopping everything. Shocked faces stared at each other and at Gabby.
“C’mon, people! We can’t screw this up.”
Taka glanced over at the anesthetist, who nodded. Gabby was under.
He flexed his hand. The slight tremor stilled by pure force of will. He picked up his scalpel. The mind-numbing exhaustion had disappeared the moment he’d recognized her. In that one moment, he knew he couldn’t marry Monique. His future was lying in front of him, with the woman he’d dreamed about for years, not in a loveless marriage that would most likely end in divorce. He had to try. Had to give it one last chance to show her he cared, and see if she could ever care for him.
He took a steadying breath and gritted his teeth as he pressed the cold metal to the tortured skin of her abdomen and glanced up at her closed eyes. He couldn’t afford to hesitate now, couldn’t second-guess himself. Not with her.
Don’t leave me. Not now.
Part Two
10 Years Ago
St. Alban, Australia
Chapter Three
She’s wearing it after all.
Matt grinned to himself at the sight of Gabby in her bikini. She hadn’t owned one in years. He didn’t understand why she’d been so reluctant about buying it. She wasn’t old or anything, and looked all right.
He walked out through the French doors near the kitchen, laughing at a stupid joke Taka had told him.
Matt made a beeline for the pool, hopping a little on the hot pavers and wishing he’d thrown on his flip-flops. Gabby splashed out of the beach entry of the pool, pushing her long hair back out of her eyes. The water made it look rich brown, rather than the fiery auburn it was, and dragged her curls almost straight.
She needs to get out more, instead of hanging around here.
His dad had been gone for over two years now, so it was time she met someone. She was staring down at the water and hadn’t noticed them heading for her.
Taka stopped abruptly. Matt turned his head. The guy had been acting weird lately. If he didn’t know better, he’d think his best friend was hung up on a girl.
An expression of both pain and yearning tightened Taka’s face. Matt stared at him, then back at his mother. Realization hit him deep in his gut, sucking his lungs flat.
No. It couldn’t be.
He grabbed Taka’s arm and hauled him back inside before they were noticed.
Taka yanked his arm out of his grasp, surprised at the harsh handling. “What’s wrong? Why did you do that?”
Matt stared at him, astonished. “It’s Gabby, isn’t it? You’re hot for my mother!”
The blood drained from Taka’s face making his golden skin ashen. “What are you talking about?”
“You! You’ve been acting strange for weeks. I just knew you had the hots for some chick, but I didn’t think…”
Taka shoved him into the room closest to them, looking over his shoulder.
“Shh! Shut up, all right? She’ll hear you. You’re talking crazy!” He dragged his hand through his hair. His face betrayed his feelings as clearly as his mouth denied them.
“I’m right! Oh, man.” He couldn’t get his head around it. When the hell had this happened? How? Why?
“No, you’re—”
“How long have you felt like this?” he interrupted, shaking his head.
“Listen to me! It’s not her. I-it’s some girl you don’t know. I wouldn’t do that.” Desperation shone in Taka’s eyes. He grabbed at Matt’s arm.
