Forever After (Unrestrained 5)

I ended the call, turned off the car, and went upstairs to the apartment.

Karen was walking around with Sophie on her shoulder, moving between the stove where dinner was cooking and the counter where Sophie’s bottle of breastmilk was warming in a container of hot water.

“Drake,” she said with a smile. “How is everything? How is Justice McDermott?”

“He’s still alive,” I said and threw my coat and scarf on the back of the sofa. I went to her and took Sophie from her arms. I kissed Sophie’s cool plump cheek and smiled at her. In return, she gave me a huge smile. I glanced over at Karen. “He’s very sick.”

She made a face. “What are his chances?”

“Fifty-fifty,” I said and removed the bottle from the warm water, testing it on my wrist to see how warm it was. It was perfect so I went to the living room and sat on the sofa. I lowered Sophie into my arms and held the bottle for her. She took the nipple hungrily and sucked away, her little hand reaching up to touch the bottle. I thought that she would usually be touching Kate’s breast, and felt bad that she was being bottle fed instead of being with her mother, but I was glad to be able to feed her.

“You received a few calls that went to your answering machine,” Karen said, her voice soft. “I couldn’t help but overhear them. Detective McDonald called as did a woman called Lara. And a Mr. Dupuis from the Board.”

I nodded and met her gaze. “You know about the court case.”

“Hard not to, since it’s all over the papers,” she said and wiped the counter.

“It’s not true,” I said and watched Sophia drink her milk. “She’s out of touch with reality.”

“I know,” she said and came to stand beside the sofa, watching me feed Sophie. “Dave told me as much. Said this woman was probably suffering from erotomania.”

“Something like that,” I said, not wanting to talk about Lisa. “We had a brief relationship in a previous life. She imagined the rest.”

“She sounds crazy,” Karen said. “Delusional. Maybe bi-polar and having a manic phase, concocting fantasies about things. I’ve seen it before, sadly.”

I nodded and pulled the bottle out of Sophie’s mouth so I could burp her. I put her onto my shoulder and she did not like it one bit, arching her back and screaming at the top of her lungs. I caught Karen’s eye and we both smiled.

“She loves her bottle,” she said. “You’re lucky you can go from breast to bottle like that with no nipple confusion. I didn’t have that kind of luck, and my daughter stopped nursing completely.”

Just then, Sophie let out a good solid burp and so I laid her back down again and popped the bottle back into her eager mouth. She sucked away happily once more, the redness to her face fading, her eyes heavy. She’d sleep soon.

Karen went back to the stove and continued to stir the very delicious smelling dish she was cooking. My stomach rumbled but I wanted to get back to Kate as soon as I could.

When Sophie was finished with her bottle, she gave a little squeak when the bottle came out of her mouth but I managed to slip her pacifier back into her mouth and she closed her eyes and sucked away happily. I stood and walked around with her on my shoulder, knowing that she’d soon fall asleep.

At that moment, I felt so happy, with my beautiful baby in my arms. If only Ethan was well and Kate wasn’t so exhausted with new motherhood, and if only Lisa was in jail and the court case over, and if only the publicity surrounding the case was gone, I might consider myself the luckiest man in the world.

I was a lucky man, but there was going to be a lot of hell to get through in the next few hours, days and weeks.

I had to be strong for Kate.

Chapter 10 : Kate

The hour that Drake was away was hell.

Elaine and I sat in the waiting room, hoping to hear word that my father was on his way to ICU, but there was still no word of his transfer. I was beginning to panic even more than I had been. While Drake had said that sometimes, surgical patients have to wait in post-surgical recovery for as long as they were in surgery, most of the time they came out as soon as their vitals stabilized.

By my count, my father had already been in recovery for as long as he had been in surgery.

I went to the nursing station. “Is there any news?”

The young nurse with dark hair and a kind face gave me a sad smile. “I’m sorry Mrs. Morgan, but he’s still up there. We have his

ICU room ready, but he still needs more time. I promise as soon as I get any word, I’ll let you know right away.”

I nodded. “Thank you, and I’m sorry to keep bothering you.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said and smiled.