JASON
After a quick text to tell Britt that I’m about five minutes away, I get my first text from her. Go to your place, not mine.
Calling her, I get her voicemail. She hasn’t spoken to me at all. I suppose the pre-nup has made her mad. I had an idea it would, but she has no idea of how badly I want her money protected.
The whole thing with Beatrice and the baby has me afraid of what might possibly happen in the future. I asked Jackson to get with Britt’s lawyer to come up with a pre-nup to keep her money safe.
He told me she refused to sign the paper that would allow him to confer with her lawyer on the agreement. When I called to explain things to her, she refused to answer.
And now it seems she doesn’t want me in in her home!
To say this day has been long isn’t even close to how I feel. I have jetlag from the hours spent in them in the last twenty-four hours. I have a headache the size of Texas and my insides actually hurt, as I feel terrible about what the woman I love has gone through.
My cell rings and I see it’s Beatrice.
My God. What now?
“Hello.”
“Thank God you picked up, Jason! It’s Morgan.” She breaks down and I hear a shuffling noise.
A man says, “Hey, I know we’re the last people you want to hear from. The baby is really sick. He has pneumonia.”
“Who is this?” I ask, as I drum my fingers on my leg.
“This is Bea’s brother, Cullen. I know the story about you and my sister. I know you may not be my nephew’s father. But this baby needs help my sister can’t afford. The doctors here aren’t doing all they can because Bea doesn’t have health insurance. I know this kid might not be yours, but, man, he needs your help right now.”
An irritation runs through me, making me itch. “What the hell can I do?”
“At the very least, could you get on the phone with the hospital and tell them to get little Morgan to the best hospital for him and that you’ll pay for it all?” he asks me.
I can hear Bea crying in the background. I need Britt here to tell me what to do. Then it hits me. I can make this decision on my own.
“Can you give the phone to whoever can make that decision, Cullen?”
“I can, and let me tell you something, Jason. There ain’t a member of this family who thinks Bea did right by doing what it is she’s done. Not a one of us. But she’s ours, and this baby is ours, too. If it turns out he ain’t yours, we’ll gladly pay you back every last cent you spend on saving him for us.”
“You don’t have to worry about doing that. I got this. And thanks for calling me.” I sit up a bit straighter as he hands the phone off to someone else.
A woman says, “If we’re to send him to the hospital he should be in, I’m going to need a valid credit card with at least a hundred-thousand-dollar limit, sir.”
“Not a problem. My cards all have higher spending limits than that. I want that baby taken to the best place for him,” I tell her as I take my wallet out.
The cab driver calls out as he stops. “Here we are.”
“Shit,” I hiss. “Hey, I didn’t get a chance to tell you to take me to my place, Ralph.”
“Not a problem, Mr. Brennan.”
The great thing about public transportation is they never get pissed about taking you one more place. The money makes it no problem at all.
“I’ll need a copy of the credit card emailed to our billing department and then we’ll get the child transferred,” the lady says. “I’ll send you the email address in a text, okay?”
“That will be fine. I’ll get it back to you as quickly as you send it.”
With the end of the call, I find my pulse higher than usual and sit back to take in deep breaths. No blackness is coming in, but a strange sensation is creeping over me.
Closing my eyes, I lay my head back on the seat and rest. I’ve been going and going for a long time now. I need rest. I need lots of rest.
Before I know it, the cabbie is calling out to me, “We’re here, Mr. Brennan. Your place.”
“Oh!” I shake my head and hand him a hundred. “Keep the change.”
He shouts out his thanks as I get out. I didn’t take any luggage. I had it sent home. The lobby looks almost foreign to me as I walk in. It’s been nearly two months since I’ve been here.
Up my private elevator I go, and when the doors open I find my penthouse empty. “Britt,” I shout.
Nothing.
My cell dings and I look at it to find the message from the hospital. “Crap! I must have fallen asleep!”
Quickly, I open it and send back the information they need to take care of the baby. I get back a message from the hospital telling me they’ve completed the transaction and are sending the baby on to the Children’s Hospital in Dallas.
Falling on my sofa, I lay back on it and put my feet up on the coffee table. I’m tired as hell, but it makes me feel good to help the baby. If he’s mine or not, it makes me feel good to help him.
So I call Bea. She answers with a sob. “Thank you, Jason.”
“Yeah, not a problem. Hey, I can set your family up at a hotel near the hospital. Call me and let me know which one is closest and I’ll get as many rooms as you need for as long as he’s in the hospital.”
“Really?” she asks with tears in her voice. “Jason, after what I did, you would do that for me?”
“You, no,” I say. “The baby and the people who love him, yes.”
“I’ll make this up to you, I swear it,” she says.
“All I ask is that if he’s mine, work with me, not against me. I’m sorry for my part in our relationship too, Bea. None of what we did is his fault. I’m coming to terms with that. And I know this is probably emotion talking, but fuck it! Even if he’s not mine, I’m going to set up a fund for the little guy. He’ll never want for a damn thing. And if I’m not his dad and the man who is won’t do right by him, then he can still carry my name and I’ll be his daddy.”
“Oh, Lord, Jason!” she says with shock. “Are you messing with me?”
“I am not messing with you, Bea. You can take my words for the truth. Please keep me posted on his progress, will you?”
“Of course. Jason, thank you. In a million years, I never expected such a thing. Not ever. Thank you. I have to go. They’re moving him now. Thank you. God bless you, Jason.”
“God bless you too, Bea. And may God bless and watch over Morgan. Call me when things settle, okay?”
“I will. Bye, now,” she says, then ends the call.
My heart thumps in my chest and I feel hopeful for the baby. I don’t really know what’s gotten into me all of a sudden. I feel happy about it, though.
The smell of cigar smoke wafts around my nose. I look around and see no smoke. “Hello,” I call out.
Then I remember that no one has a key to my private elevator. Not even Brittany. I never got around to giving her one.
A shadow moves across the room in front of me. “Who’s there?”
The smell is getting stronger. I’m freezing all of a sudden.
“I’m okay,” I hear, as if it’s a whisper on a breeze.
“Who?” I ask as I sit up and look hard into the darkness of the large living room.
No one answers me. Then I feel a sudden jolt on my right side as a flash of light fills the room. The taste of cinnamon and sugar hits my tongue, and I remember breakfasts with my grandfather.
We loved to eat that when I visited him. One tear runs down my cheek as I ask, “Are you here?”
The chandelier above me starts to shake and flicker as I look up at it and laugh. “You are! Gramps! I love you! I miss you! You have no idea. I never got to say goodbye. I never got to tell you that I loved you. You were taken away in that ambulance and I didn’t see you again until you were in that box in that funeral home. Gramps, I have so many questions.”
The lights go completely out. My heart sinks, then comes back as they light all the way up. Higher than the lights have ever been. So much light is coming from them, I’m afraid they’re going to bust. In a flash of intense light, they go out and the only thing left is the taste on my tongue.
The faint smell of my gramp’s cigar is in the air. The elevator door opens and in that bright light stands my angel.
“Britt,” I say as I sit on the sofa and wipe the tears from my eyes.
“You smoking in here?” she asks.
“Something like that.”
Her silhouette moves out of the elevator toward me. “I’ve missed you,” she says.
Rising, I go to her and take her in my arms. “I’ve missed you, pumpkin.”
Her lips touch mine and I see it all. My future. And it’s not at all what I expected!