Cupid’s Surprises (A Valentine’s Day Romance Anthology Book 2), page 87
One punch did nothing but jar my entire body. The next made small cracks that radiated from the center. One more, and I had the window smashed. I pulled the safety glass out easily after that, and in no time, I had the kid in my arms.
Her body was shaking as she clung to me and put her head on my shoulder. “Are my mommy and daddy going to be okay, mister?”
The sounds of sirens moved in and around us as the first ambulance arrived. I ran my hand over the child’s little head. “I’m sure they’ll be just fine. The doctors take really good care of the people who go to the hospital, and I’ll stay with you until they wake up, okay?”
“Promise?”
“I promise you I will keep you right with me until one of your family members comes for you. What’s your name, precious?”
She pulled her head up to look at me. Her dark green eyes drooped with sadness. “Veronica. My name’s Veronica Snyder and I’m seven.”
“My name is Troy Masterson. Nice to meet you, Veronica.” I leaned down to pick up the soft, pink blanket I’d originally bought for Blyss. The little girl needed it a lot more than she did. Wrapping it around her, I gently pushed her to lie her head back on my shoulder. “You rest. I’ve got you, pumpkin.”
The paramedics who showed up first just happened to be the same guys who picked up Blyss that night at the club. We instantly recognized each other as they came to the car. “Hey, Masterson, who do you have there?”
“I have Veronica Snyder. Her parents are in the car.” I patted her back and felt her nuzzling my neck. “I’ll be taking care of her until we figure out how they are.”
He nodded, and I stepped back to get out of their way as a fire truck came up to help get the others out of the bent car. It took no time to get everyone out, and then they were heading to the hospital. I took the girl and got into the ambulance that took her mother back to where I’d just left.
While one of the men looked after her mother, the other took over, giving Veronica an exam, checking her vitals, and giving me a thumbs up. “She’s good to go.”
The paramedics hooked her mom up to an IV, and in just a few minutes, her eyes opened. Relief washed over her as she found her daughter safe in my arms. “Veronica, are you okay?”
The little girl lifted her head and looked at her mother. “Yes, mommy.” Then she began to cry. “Mommy, you’re bleeding!”
Her mother reached out and touched her daughter’s outstretched hand. “Mommy will be fine. Who has you, honey?”
“Hi, my name’s Troy Masterson. My fiancé is in the ICU ward at the hospital we’re heading to. I’ll be more than happy to keep your daughter safe with me in the waiting room at the emergency room while you’re seen, Mrs. Snyder.”
She blinked a few times, looking confused. “How do you know my name?”
“Your daughter told me.”
A weak smile curved her pale lips. “Oh. Thank you, Mr. Masterson. I’d be thankful for your help with her while things get taken care of. I don’t feel that badly. My head hurts a little, but I think I’ll be fine.”
Veronica smiled and wiped her eyes. “Good, Mommy.”
The woman’s body began to tremble and her eyes went wide. Then she began to convulse. The little girl screamed, and I pulled her head back to my shoulder so she didn’t have to see what was happening to her mother.
“She’s going into shock,” one of the paramedics said as we pulled up to a stop at the emergency room.
“Shh. It’s going to be okay, Veronica. They’ll help her. We’re at the hospital now.” Her mother was taken out of the ambulance as the poor girl cried hysterically. I got out of the ambulance and followed them inside.
“Mommy!” The paramedic gave me a look that said screaming children inside the emergency area that was about to be overrun with the accident victims was a terrible idea. I nodded in silent understanding and took her around to the outside waiting area. I had to calm her down before we went inside. Taking a seat on the bench, I rocked her and shushed her until she was quiet. She’d fallen asleep, and I couldn’t have been happier.
Going inside, I went to the nurse at the check-in area, told her who I was, and said that I had the Snyder’s daughter. I told her I’d be waiting right there with her and to please keep me updated on their status. She assured me she would, and I took a seat at the far end of the waiting area as I knew it was about to get packed in there.
Holding that little girl had me feeling the oddest thing in the world. Normal! She felt at home in my arms. It had me thinking about Blyss and how I’d love nothing more than to start a family as soon as she was able to. I knew she would have healing to do before that happened, but I couldn’t wait to see if she would be up for it.
As I was lost in thought and Veronica was lost in dreamland, asleep on my shoulder, I leaned my chin against her little head. One of the nurses came to me. “Mr. Snyder is in surgery for two broken legs. One of them is very bad and amputation is being considered. Mrs. Snyder has bleeding on the brain. She’ll be taken into surgery as soon as the neurosurgeon arrives, which should be very soon. She’s already prepped. I’m afraid neither of them has been conscious enough to tell us if there is anyone to take care of their daughter. I can have social services pick her up.”
“No way in hell,” I whispered as sternly as I could. “I talked to her mother. She knows I have her daughter. You can ask the paramedics that brought her in if you have to. They overheard us talking. I’ll stay here at the hospital as long as I need to. Don’t worry about me and don’t call social services to come get this little girl, or they’ll have a fight on their hands. Got me?”
“I got you, Mr. Masterson.” She turned to walk away, then turned back around. “You know, a lot of nasty things have been said about you since Blyss Danner was brought in last week. You have a supporter in me now. No one better say a bad word about you when I’m around. You let me know if you need anything. I’ve got your back.”
“Good to know.” I nodded at her. “And thank you. There’s a lot to the story that no one’s been told. I love Blyss more than anything. I’d never hurt her. No matter what anyone thinks.”
She left me with a smile as she went back to dealing with the throngs of people who were converging on the emergency room that night. And she left me feeling a bit better about things. One by one, I could get people to see me as the man I was, not the one the media had made me out to be.
That room began to fill up to more than capacity, and I went to tell the nurse where I’d be taking Veronica. “Hey, since her parents are up in surgery, I’m going to a waiting room up there. I’ll check in with the nurses’ station up there, okay?”
She was so busy all she could do was nod, and I took off. I had to pass the ICU ward as I made my way to the bank of elevators that would take me upstairs. Hesitating for a moment, I found one of the nurses walking out. She stopped and looked at me. “You’ve acquired a little girl, Mr. Masterson. And word has spread like wildfire through this hospital about you.”
“All good, I hope.”
“All good. Great, as a matter of fact. Blyss is asleep right now. Morphine was administered, so she won’t be woken up. But I want to let you know we told her the truth and she also recalled the actual events that brought her to us. When she wakes up, I’ll tell her I let you know that. She was upset when she realized you didn’t hurt her.”
I was more than relieved. “Do you have any idea who I can talk to about seeing her on the up and up?”
“In the morning, about nine, the chaplain might be able to bring you in with him. He’s done that on occasion. Stop by the chapel to talk to him before nine.”
Finally, I’d caught a break. Seems my good deed was giving me some great karma. “I’ll do that. Thank you. Thank you so much!”
With a new light on the situation, I took the little girl up to a much quieter waiting room and relaxed. I’d get to see Blyss in the light of day, I prayed.
Blyss
When my eyes opened, I found Troy sitting next to a man in a pale blue suit. There was a little dark-haired girl on Troy’s lap and she was playing with his cell phone. He sat her on the chair and came to me. “Hey, pretty lady.” He brushed my hair back and kissed my cheek. “I love you.”
He took my hand and I gave a squeeze. “I love you too. I’m sorry …” His lips touched mine, stopping me from saying anything else.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s all understandable. I’m just glad you know now that I wasn’t the one who hurt you. And the man who did that is in jail. He’ll never see the outside world again; I promise you that.”
“When I was falling asleep, I overheard something about you and something about being critical. What was that all about?”
“There was an auto accident just down the street from here as I was about to leave. I helped out with it, and some of the people who were brought in were in bad shape. That’s what that was all about.”
“That makes sense. And who do you have with you?” I looked around him at the other two people and found the little girl smiling at me.
“Hi, I’m Veronica. Mr. Troy is watching me while my mommy and daddy get better.” She gave me a wave.
All I could manage was a nod. “Nice to meet you, Veronica. I’m Blyss.”
“Oh, I know that. Mr. Troy told me all about you and how he loves you so much.”
Heat filled my cheeks as I blushed. “He did?”
“Um, hmm.” She went back to playing with his cell as the other man got up and came to the other side of the bed. “He broke the window of my dad’s car and rescued me. He’s taking care of me while Mom and Dad get better.”
“I’m Reverend Sloan. I’ve come to visit you every day since you were brought here. I can see you’re doing much better than you were, and I heard you’ll be starting therapy to get those body parts moving again. A week in bed can take a month to get over.”
“That long?” I was feeling more than depressed about the amount of time he was talking about.
“Oh, you’ll be moving on your own in a couple of days,” he added. “But you’ll feel the weakness in your body for about a month.”
“Oh, that’s better.” I looked at Troy, who couldn’t stop smiling at me. “Why do you look like the cat who ate the canary?”
“I’m just so happy to be here with you. That’s all.” He kissed my forehead. “I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you. Last night wasn’t enough.” He looked at the reverend. “Being that you’ve been around this hospital a lot, do you know when they’ll move her to a room where I can see her all the time?”
“After she can move on her own.”
I heard several men talking in the hallway, then they came into my room. Suddenly, it was filled up, and the three doctors who came in looked at Troy and the other two people. One of them said, “Mr. Masterson, you can go in to see the Snyder’s now. We’ve put them together. Mrs. Masterson told us she has her mother coming to take care of their daughter. You’ll be relieved of babysitting duty.”
Troy looked anything but happy about that. “Aw, I loved spending time with her.” He went to pick the girl up, and she handed him his phone, wrapped her arms around his neck, then gave him a kiss on the cheek, which I found absolutely adorable.
“I love spending time with you too, Mr. Troy. But can you take me to see my parents now?”
He nodded, then gave me a smile. “I’ll be back as soon as they let me, baby.”
With a quick glance at the doctors, I asked, “Can you please allow him to be here more? It would decrease my recovery time; I can promise you that.”
“We’ll talk about it, Miss Danner. For now, the rules stay in place. He can come in with the chaplain, but that’s it for now.”
“One more kiss, then, please.”
Troy came to me, leaning over and kissing my cheek. He whispered, “Talk them into it. I’ll be around the hospital anyway. I’ll check back around lunch to see what they’ve decided.”
My heart lurched as he walked away, and my heart monitor caught the action. The way it sped up had my doctors looking at each other, noticing the effect he had on me. Troy did too and smiled at them before he walked all the way out. “She loves me, guys. Think real hard about allowing me to spend more time with her. It could be critical to her recovery, after all.”
Pursing my lips, I sent him an air kiss before he turned to leave me. With a sigh, I started in on the doctors, “I want him here with me.”
“You have to understand,” one of them said. “This hospital has rules.”
“Move me, then. Get me out of ICU.” I was determined to find a way for him to be with me. “You have no idea how much I miss him already.”
“Maybe you have an unhealthy attachment to the man,” one of the doctors told me.
It pissed me off. “Look, I know none of you know a thing about me. I’ve never had a family. No one has ever loved me until Troy.”
One of them laid a hand on my shoulder. “Miss Danner, you met that man when you signed yourself up to be sold for the summer months. We are requiring you to see a psychiatrist before you’re released from the ICU. Your confession to never being loved just goes to prove how much you need intervention.”
“Intervention?” I was reeling from the way the men thought they could take me over. “I will gladly talk to anyone you want me to. But I want Troy too.”
“It would be best for you two to have a bit of distance for a while.” the doctor, who was pulling my hospital gown away from one side of me, said.
“I don’t want any distance between us. Ow!” He’d pulled the back of the gown and it pulled at my skin. “That hurts!”
He looked at the man who had the clipboard. “Tell the nurses to change the bandages this morning. Some have slipped off.”
“By the way, I remembered what happened to me. I thought you might want to know that.” I was rolled to one side as they examined my wounds.
“Okay, so you know about that. How do you feel about it?” one of them asked.
“How anyone would feel, I guess. Violated and hurt. But I’ll recover. It was me who put myself in that situation after all. I have no one to blame but myself for what happened to me.”
One of the men made a huffing sound, then said, “Your Dom was in charge. I know how this stuff works, and you’re taking the blame for no reason. I don’t care what you think. He was in charge.”
“I can be a force to be reckoned with,” I retaliated as I felt tugging at my back. “Ow! What are you guys doing back there?”
“Pulling off the bandages so they can be treated again and new ones can be put on,” one of them answered me. “Toby, put down for her to be given a sponge bath before re-bandaging. I don’t like the redness of some of those wounds. And up the antibiotics.”
Another one of them added, “Schedule a CAT scan of her liver.”
“Am I in that bad of shape, guys?” I whined.
“You’re getting better. But you’re in pretty bad shape, yes.” I was rolled over and saw the doctor who’d spoken looking at me with a concerned expression. “When you’re released, where do you plan on going?”
“To Napa Valley with Troy. He and his mother are going to take care of me until I’m better.”
The three of them gave each other looks I didn’t like, then one of them said, “You don’t have anywhere else to go?”
“No, I don’t. I let my apartment go before I left Stanford. I gave my crappy car away. I’m supposed to get whatever sum of money Troy bid for me at the end of the contract between us, which is at the end of summer. But even with that, I’d have to set up a place to live and things like that. Believe me, no matter what you think about Troy, I am much better off with him.”
“Damn,” the clipboard carrying doctor cursed. “You really got yourself into a bind, didn’t you?”
“I suppose I did. I had no idea I’d be getting myself so injured that I’d need help. But it happened and I’ll deal with it.” I was getting tired and the pain of them removing my bandages was getting to me. “Can I have something for the pain you guys are giving me?”
“Can you give us an idea of what your pain level is, from one to ten?”
“Seven. A solid seven. I think some Ibuprofen will suffice.”
“We’ll make that decision,” one of them said. I heard him whispering to the others.
Another one said, “Put her down for some oral Ibuprofen.”
I sighed as I realized just how much control they had over me. I was at their mercy, it seemed. So when they rolled me back over, done with the examination, I let them have it. “Okay, I’m not one to be victimized. The man who did this will not affect me for long. Worse things have happened to me in my life. Things I had no part in. I had a part in what happened to me. Believe or don’t believe it, I don’t care. I want Troy. I know he’s paying the hospital bill. I’m sure if you want me to be watched over full time, he can pay for that extra care to be done in a private room. I want him, end of discussion, or I’ll seek to be moved and complain about no one listening to me.”
With sad nods, they all left me. I suppose they thought me a lost cause, but they didn’t know Troy and they didn’t know me. I wasn’t about to make any rash decisions about the man. I just wanted him around. I trusted him more than I had ever trusted anyone. And I knew I had to take responsibility for what had happened to me.
I could blame Troy. It seemed everyone else was. But what good would that do? The truth was, I’d begged for what I got. He was my Dom, and he felt he needed to give me what I’d asked for so repeatedly. How could I ever blame him for what another man did to me?
The answer was, I couldn’t. It was my fault and I’d accepted that. It also meant I needed to take my time with Troy. Not jump into things. I was too quick to go with my impulses and that had left me in a bad situation—one where I had to depend on others just to survive. I wasn’t about to keep making rash decisions.
I hoped like hell Troy would understand that and not force anything on me, like making a commitment to living with him. I wasn’t ready for that. Anyone could see that.
