One Secret Night, page 16
part #3 of Ivy Avengers Series
“Raith.” A frail hand touched his arm.
His dad stood by him and draped a light jacket over his shoulders. The jacket his easily chilled dad had worn in the late-fall Houston day.
“All we can do is wait,” his dad said.
For the first time in his life, he was grateful his dad was here. Slipping his arms through the jacket, Raith left it unzipped and sat next to his father on one of two chairs beneath a TV hanging on the wall. Raith wasn’t interested in passing time by watching TV. If he could be in the E.R. with Autumn, he would.
“Why did your car explode?” his dad asked.
Raith lowered his head, only then realizing he’d tipped it back. “Apparently we’re getting too close.”
“To what?” Almost immediately after asking, Leonardo said, “Never mind. I know you can’t tell me any details. Just answer me one question.”
That depended on the question.
“Was it special?”
“Was what special?”
“The night you spent with her?”
Raith could only stare at his dad.
“Your personal assistant told me when I called your home phone.”
Desi. Raith was going to ring his scrawny neck.
His dad didn’t press the issue. Instead, he began talking about some memories he had of his mother, about how it had been in the early years when Malcolm was a toddler. The drinking had been normal back then, not every day and not in excess.
“I wish we could have stayed that way,” he finished by saying.
Raith rested his head back against the wall behind him as his dad talked. The stories relaxed him and took his mind off how worried he was for Autumn.
All of that fled when he saw a doctor heading toward them. Back came the anxiety and a deep-seated fear of losing a woman he cared for, maybe more than he could handle.
Raith stood, his father slower in doing so.
“Raith De Matteis?” the doctor queried.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Autumn is resting comfortably now.”
Relief rushed over him before the doctor continued.
“She had quite a blow to her head. It took thirty stitches to patch her up. Fortunately, she didn’t suffer any fractures to her skull. I think she’ll recover just fine, however, the potential for brain trauma from a blast like this can’t be dismissed.” The doctor lifted his hands, palms out. “A car bomb like this one delivers two punches. First, you have the shock wave, and then you have the wind from the blast. The wind shakes your head violently and very quickly.” He moved his hands to illustrate. “It’s the amount of energy released in that short period of time that does the damage.”
“Are you saying she’s going to have brain damage?”
“Not at all. I’m saying if she does, it will be minimal. But given that she’s never had any type of blow to the head or any concussion before this, I think her chances are good she’ll skate right through this. She’s got a pretty good concussion and a few cuts and bruises, but otherwise she’s fine. Doing very well.”
Raith nearly sagged with relief.
“And another bit of good news is the baby is also doing very well.”
Raith froze, his mind shutting down to everything other than what the doctor had just said.
“Baby?”
His dad patted him on the back. “You should have told me, son!”
“Autumn is a lucky lady,” the doctor said. “If you’d have been any closer to the bomb, she and the baby may not have survived. You, either.”
“W-wait just a minute,” Raith said, shaken to the core. “What are you saying? Autumn is pregnant?”
“Oh, boy. You didn’t know,” his dad said.
The doctor looked wary. “She’s right around six weeks.”
He didn’t have to do the math. All at once he realized why she’d tried to contact him. It wasn’t to ask him why he left without saying goodbye. Those times he’d noticed her mood. Not drinking. She’d been thinking about the baby. A baby, for God’s sake! One she’d decided not to tell him about. Why? What had changed her mind? Nearly being gunned down? Did she blame him?
Did any of that matter?
Raith staggered backward until he felt a chair behind him. He sat down.
He wasn’t happy with Autumn for keeping a secret of that magnitude. He also wasn’t happy with what it meant for his future.
He looked up at the doctor and his dad, whose illness was not apparent right now with his look of gladness. “When can I talk to her?”
“She’s awake now.”
Raith stood from the chair.
“Raith—” his dad stopped him “—go easy on her.”
The way she’d gone easy on him? Not telling him about the baby?
“Where is she?”
The doctor told him which recovery room she was in and he headed there.
* * *
Autumn’s head hurt so much she was nauseated. Or maybe it was the pain medication. She couldn’t tell. She just wished it would stop. The gash was on the left side of her head toward the back, so she could at least rest her head without putting pressure on the wound.
Hearing a sound at the door, she looked there and saw Raith. He bore an intensity that went beyond concern for her. He had to know she was all right by now. Had the doctor told him about the baby? They’d run some tests to make sure the baby was okay. They must have communicated that to Raith and his father, who entered the room behind him.
Raith stopped beside the bed. “How are you?”
“I’ll be fine.” She met his green eyes warily.
He didn’t say anything else, and Autumn could feel the unasked questions.
“Raith...”
He put his hand on hers. “Not now. We can talk later. You look like you’re in a lot of pain.”
Her heart melted all over itself in response to his thoughtfulness. Maybe he wasn’t so mad, after all, or disappointed.
“I’m going to go find Garvin,” he said.
“Why Garvin?”
“He was there when the car exploded.”
He was? “Garvin planted the bomb?”
“Why else would he be there?” He gave her hand a halfhearted squeeze. “Get some rest.”
“I’ll stay here with her,” Leonardo said.
Raith gave him a nod. “Thanks.” With that, he turned and left.
Her melting heart cooled. He was obviously upset over the news, probably angry with her, too.
Leonardo moved to the chair beside the bed and sat with an exhausted sigh.
“I wouldn’t worry,” Leonardo said. “If he’s talking to me, he’ll easily forgive you.”
“You’re his father.”
“You’re his girlfriend. Soon to be more, I’d venture to guess.”
“I’m not his girlfriend.”
“You’re something if you’re pregnant by him.”
“That was a one-night thing.” She found it peculiar how easy it was to talk to him. “The only reason I’m with him now is because I got in the way when he was after someone in Iceland.”
“What were you doing in Iceland?”
It wasn’t a typical destination. She explained what happened and everything up until the explosion.
“Well.” Leonardo marveled over the tale. “I knew Raith had a dangerous job, but I’d never have guessed he was some kind of secret agent.”
“Rebel.”
“But an honorable one, judging from what you’ve told me.”
Yes, honorable.
“He was always that way when he was a kid. Loved superheroes. His mother bought him action figures and movies, coloring books, you name it. If it had anything to do with superheroes, Raith asked for it.”
“Is that why he went into the military?”
“No. He joined that to get away from me. But he went into politics for that reason. He dreamed of changing the world.”
“But then he realized what everyone else does. Politicians don’t change anything. They just get rich and make all their friends rich.”
“When they follow the rules.”
Autumn breathed a laugh that hurt her head. As she winced, she said, “That’s the part that drove Raith out of politics.”
“Rebel. You should get some rest.”
“You should, too.”
“I’ll sleep in the chair. I won’t leave you here alone.”
Autumn sighed and felt more relaxed than she had since long before the explosion. “You’re a good person, Leonardo. My baby is lucky to have a grandfather like you.”
Leonardo didn’t respond right away. She sensed he was a little choked up by her compliment, and sad that he most likely wouldn’t be around for the birth of his grandchild.
“Did you meet Malcolm’s kids?” she asked.
“Yes.”
That was a blessing. “Good.”
A few moment passed before he said, “My son will be a fool if he lets you go.”
* * *
Garvin wasn’t at the gun shop and shooting range, but Raith had convinced the man behind the counter to tell him where he was. Raith pulled up as Garvin was leaving. The muscular, five-eleven man turned to another one who’d followed him out of the restaurant. Ralston. Garvin and Nash Ralston had met for a lunch meeting?
Raith ducked into the covered entry of the neighboring business as the two shook hands. Ralston climbed into a sedan waiting at the curb and Garvin walked down the sidewalk in Raith’s direction.
He waited for the man to pass, turning toward the door and pretending to be about to go inside as he passed. Then Raith followed Garvin. Two blocks later, Garvin walked into a parking lot.
Raith stopped him at a white Dodge pickup truck. “Garvin Reeves?”
Garvin froze as he reached for the door handle of the truck. “You again.”
Raith walked around to the driver’s side and shoved the man so that his back was against the side of the truck. “The last time I saw you, you watched your handiwork. You almost killed Autumn.” And her baby. His baby. Their baby...
“What? You think...” Garvin pushed Raith’s arm, breaking his hold on his shirt. Raith was too distracted by his thoughts to prevent it.
“I didn’t set that bomb if that’s what you’re suggesting,” Garvin said.
“You were standing right there. I saw you.”
“Yeah, so?”
“If you didn’t plant the bomb, who did?” He didn’t believe for a minute that Garvin hadn’t done it.
“How the hell should I know?”
“What were you doing in that alley?”
“Having a cigarette.”
Raith grabbed him and shoved him against the truck again. “Why were you there?”
“I didn’t see who put the bomb on your car,” he said. “I got there too late.”
“I’ll ask you again—why were you there?”
Only a stony silence answered.
Raith debated forcing the truth from him, but the doctor’s announcement snuffed that otherwise natural instinct out. Violence could make Garvin talk. Well-strategized violence. Violence that didn’t kill, but violence nonetheless. But he wouldn’t use it now. Somehow learning he was going to be a father changed him. What kind of role model would he be if his profession led him to beat people up to get information?
Without a word, Raith turned away, certain of only one thing—he was finished with violence.
Chapter 14
Autumn was released from the hospital and her head hurt unbearably by the time they reached the hotel room. In the elevator she began to feel nauseated. She saw Raith watching her and Leonardo watching the both of them. Raith had had a hands-off attitude ever since he’d heard she was pregnant, but she was too sick to care. All she wanted was a hot bath and a cozy bed with a chick flick and painkiller that was safe for the baby.
The elevator doors opened and Autumn pushed off the wall. Her stomach churned.
Raith appeared next to her and put his arm around her. She leaned gratefully against him.
Leonardo took the room key from Raith and opened the door for them.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Raith,” Leonardo said. “Carry her.”
Autumn saw Raith glower at his father before lifting her. She felt so terrible that she couldn’t protest much. “You don’t have to carry me.”
“Too late.”
“You’re only doing it because your dad told you to.”
“I’m not twelve, Autumn.”
“If you were twelve you wouldn’t be able to carry me.”
That triggered the hint of a smile, which amazed her. They needed to talk, but she wasn’t well enough yet, not for a conversation like that.
“Where to?”
“I would love a bath and then bed with a movie.”
He looked down at her, any trace of a smile vanishing. She had her arms around his neck. Warmth enveloped her as she felt snug in Raith’s arms. Even if it was short-lived. Even if temporary. She felt so lousy that she sponged up this brief sparkle of good feeling.
“I think I’ll retire to my own room,” Leonardo said. He’d told her that Raith had arranged for him to have the adjoining suite.
Raith stopped with Autumn in the middle of the living room and turned to look at his dad. “Are you all right?”
A cheerful but cynical rise of Leonardo’s brow accompanied his grin. “Fine. Going off to bed. You take care of her.” He walked to the door of the adjoining room.
The click of it closing left her alone with Raith. She looked up as he looked down. Their eyes met.
She almost told him he could leave her alone when he walked with her to the bedroom. He set her down near the bed.
“I’ll get your bath ready.”
“You don’t have to.” Standing with a throbbing head, churning stomach and legs that barely supported her, she sat on the bed and put a hand on her forehead.
Raith went into the bathroom without comment. She listened to the water pour into the tub and yearned to be in it more than she’d yearned for anything in a long, long time.
Emerging from the bathroom, Raith asked, “Is there anything I can get you?”
She bit her lower lip, hesitating. She immediately thought of candles, sparkling mineral water, bubbles...the works.
“I’ll call room service.”
His announcement had the same effect of medication to alleviate her current symptoms. Heat against sore muscles. Relief from an aching head. Calm.
“Get ready for your bath,” he said.
She smiled through her haze of pain. He spent a few long, intimate seconds looking at her before he first turned the water off in the bathroom and drained it so it wouldn’t get cold and then left the room. While Autumn undressed, she listened to his deep voice asking for candles and sparkling water and bubble bath. She hadn’t told him what she desired. He even added flowers.
Slipping into her thin, soft pink robe, she reclined on the bed to wait, resting her head back against pillows. About ten minutes later, room service arrived and Raith directed the man into the bedroom. The hotel attendant pushed a cart that had several candles, three bouquets of colorful flowers and a bottle of bubble bath.
Raith stood in the doorway, fingers stuffed into his front pockets, looking like an awkward teenager. The man set up the bathroom and turned on the faucet before coming back into the room. Raith tipped him and then the man left.
The smell of a fragrant bubble bath lured Autumn off the bed. Raith saw how slowly she moved and came to help her. She welcomed it, so exhausted and achy that even being naked in front of him didn’t bother her...or have the effect it ordinarily would.
The hotel attendant had placed two bouquets on each corner of a marble ledge that ran along the wall and some candles between. The third bouquet and more candles were between two sinks on a marble counter adjacent to the tub. A wonderful aroma filled the bathroom. Beyond the end of the tub, a floor-to-ceiling window displayed a view of city lights. The toilet was in a separate enclosure and the shower was behind the tub and sinks.
“I feel better already,” she said, placing her book on a marble ledge beside one of the bouquets. She always brought a book with her when she traveled.
He said nothing while he waited for her to undress. The warm, bubbly water, the candles and flowers, and the magnificent view she’d have during her bath kept her enthralled until she glanced at him before stepping into the tub.
His eyes smoldered with restrained desire.
She reached out her hand, asking for help. He stepped forward as though jerked out of a stupor and held her around the waist. The feel of his muscles through clothing redirected her pleasure from bubbly water to him.
He lifted her and deposited her in the water, then guided her to sit. She sank back, her body going beneath a thick layer of bubbles. She stared up at him as he lingered. His gaze traveled down as though seeing through the bubbles to what lay beneath.
Then he straightened.
He stood there as though undecided as to what to do. Something told her he’d like to stay with her. Something else told her he was still upset about the news that had surely rocked him. A man like him didn’t think about babies. Preventing them, maybe. Not having them. He thought about doling out his own brand of justice. They hadn’t had a chance to talk about it.
“Raith, I’m sorry about the way you found out,” she said.
She noticed how he tensed and wasn’t sure he’d reply, but finally he did. “When were you going to tell me?”
She remained silent. She had gone back and forth between deciding to tell him and not.
“You wouldn’t have told me?”
