Chapter Six
Cami sat with Roman the day that his doctors were talking about waking him up. It was still early in the morning. She reached for her phone and saw a message from Cicely, so she called and her Mama picked up right away.
"How are you doing baby girl?" Mama asked.
Cami hadn't had a chance to talk to her mother, so she hadn't told her anything at that point because she didn't want to text it. As soon as her mother asked how she was doing, she felt her throat tighten and her stomach clench. She had held in so much emotion over the time she had been there with Roman in the hospital, and only when she heard her mother's voice did she feel as if she could let it all out and allow herself to release.
"Mama," she said quietly, "Roman's in the hospital. He was in a boat accident; his boat sank and he almost drowned, but he was rescued, and he's been at the hospital recovering ever since. The doctors have him in an induced coma so he can heal. It's been so hard. I've been here almost the whole time. His secretary Janine and I take turns being here with him so he's not alone."
Her Mama gasped and cooed to her. "Oh my Lord, honey, I'm so sorry to hear that. It's tragic news. What do the doctor's say about him recovering?"
Cami took a deep breath and let the stress out. "They say he is getting better. They're going to let him come out of his coma today. I'm so anxious for that. I can't wait for it to happen! It's been so hard sitting here watching him go through this."
Mama agreed with her. "I bet honey; that's the baby's father, and no matter how you two are getting on, it's always hard to deal with bad things that happen to the other parent of your child."
Cami decided to tell her Mama everything. "Well, that's not all, Mama. His wife came by the day he was brought in. Janine and I got here first and we were so worried about him, but she came in and she didn't even look at him at first. She found out about Emma and me and after that, all she wanted to do was yell at me and argue with me. She didn't even say anything about Roman. She admitted to me that she has been cheating on him and having an affair, and I guess she's worried that he's going to leave her.
"I'm only worried about him making it through this ordeal. She hasn't been back to see him, not even once since she left the first day he was here. I just can't believe her, Mama."
Her Mama made a disgusted sound on the other end of the phone. "What kind of woman is she?" Cicely wasn't asking, she was pondering it. "What have you been doing with the baby while you've been at the hospital? Has she been with you the whole time?"
"Yeah, she's been here with me and we've been looking after her daddy," Cami said softly. Emma was sleeping just then, nestled in her car seat. Cami smiled at her.
She heard her Mama hum thoughtfully. "I think you need some help, baby. I think I'll come down and give you a hand for a while. I can work from there for a couple of weeks. Are you moved into your condo yet or are you in the hotel still?"
Cami smiled wide. She was always glad to see her mother. "Oh Mama, really? I'd love that! I am still in the hotel. The condo is ready, but because we've been here at the hospital, I haven't had a chance to move in yet. That sort of got moved to the back burner. We're just focusing on Roman right now."
"Well, it sounds like you could use some help from your Mama. I'll come down tonight or in the morning, depending on flights. I can't wait to see you, honey. I'll get a hotel room and then when we get you moved into your new place, I will stay with you." Mama smiled through the phone at her daughter, and Cami could hear it.
"Thank you, Mama, I can't wait to see you." She grinned and they hung up. She looked over at Emma and whispered, "Your grandma is coming little girl. Everything will be alright when she gets here." Then she looked back at Roman and took his hand in hers. "Everything is going to be alright."
Janine came into the room a short while later and Cami hugged her. They had grown closer during their time at the hospital and by that point, considered each other friends. Cami didn't to say anything derogatory about Denise, and Janine was more concerned about Roman's well-being than talking about his wife. They were anxious to see Roman when the doctors let him wake up.
"He's got more color today!" Janine noticed that when she walked in the room. It was true; he had been recovering well while he rested, and it encouraged the ladies and the medical team that was helping him.
Cami looked at Janine with excitement and told her about Cicely.
"My mama is going to come down and help me with Emma while we get Roman through this recovery. She's going to help me move, too." Cami smiled in relief and happiness.
Janine grinned. "Well, I want to meet her while she's here, so let's be sure and have dinner one night during her visit."
Cami nodded. Then she looked at Janine and asked a question that had been weighing on her heart since she had met Denise. Roman’s wife had left the hospital the first day and had not been seen since.
"Who will be taking care of Roman while he recovers at home? I know you can go and help him, but I think it would be unbelievably awkward for me to be there helping. I would only be there to do that, but I think Denise wouldn't like it." Cami sighed sadly.
Janine raised an eyebrow and said, "I could try to send her out of town with her mother. I seriously doubt that she would be of any help to Roman at all. Short of that, though, I think we're going to have to hope for the best with her."
Cami frowned. "That's what I thought."
Neither of them could think of a way around it, and they both knew that they'd have to trust Denise to help take care of Roman as he healed.
The medical staff woke him up that afternoon and at first he was disoriented, but after some time and some explanations, he understood what happened and where he was.
When the medical staff had left him in the early part of the evening, he was finally able to talk with Janine and Cami. He looked at them both and offered them a tired smile.
"Thank you both for being here. It means the world to me.” He squeezed Cami's hand.
Then he lowered his brows and asked quietly, "Where is Denise?"
Janine narrowed her eyes a bit. "Denise came the first day you were here." she answered. "She hasn't been back since, but she did find out about Emma and Cami."
Roman closed his eyes and groaned. "Oh no. What happened?" he asked, not sure he wanted to know.
Cami pressed her lips together, wondering how much to tell him. "Well, she came in and saw Emma and I here and wanted to know who we were, so I told her. I said I was a friend of yours, and told her that Emma is your daughter. She was really upset, of course, and she wanted to talk with me in private, so we did. She told me she had an affair and wanted to know if you were leaving her. I said I didn't know. She seems really worried about it. She left and we haven't heard from her since."
Roman turned his head and looked at the wall. His expression was stoic. He didn't expect much of Denise, but he would have expected her to at least be present at the hospital for him during such a traumatic experience.
The knowledge that she had practically deserted him, especially after having an ongoing affair, cut at him and dismay clenched at his heart. He wondered what they had left for each other in their marriage. Cami, seeing his distress, smiled and said lightly, "My mother is coming to visit. so she'll be here to help with the baby and the move. It'll free me up to help you if you need it."
He closed his eyes a moment and then turned to look at her with a smile of thanks. Her warm brown eyes were a comfort to him; reassuring him that he was not alone and that he had support from her. He knew Janine would be there for him as well; she was always there for him.
"I would love to meet her," he said quietly, looking at Cami. "I'll be home for a while, but we can work out a visit."
Cami nodded and held fast to his hand. She was relieved beyond measure to see him recovering physically, but she could see that he was struggling internally, and it made her feel bad for him and wish that there was something; anything, that she could do to ease his frustration.
Mama was able to fly into town that night, and Cami picked her up at the airport and drove her to the hotel where she was still staying. Cicely was delighted to see them both, and spent the evening cuddling with her granddaughter.
When Roman awoke the next day, he felt much better. The last thing he had remembered before going under the water was seeing his boat sink, and the memory made him nauseous. He tried to keep it out of his head as he focused on healing and getting out of the hospital. It bothered him that he had so much to do and less time to do it in because of the boat wreck.
A short time after he finished his breakfast from his hospital bed, his cell phone rang and he saw that it was Allen.
"Hello?" he said, glad to hear from anyone in the outside world, and especially from his star employee.
"Hey sailor, how are you holding up?" Allen asked lightly, but still with an air of concern.
"Oh, I'm cruising along," Roman half-joked back to him.
"Janine has been keeping me up on everything. It's been pretty bad for you the last few days. It's good to have you at least talking again." Allen's smile could be heard through the phone line. "I'd come in and see you, but the nurses are only letting family in right now."
Roman laughed a little. "No problem; I'm not sure I'm up to visitors anyway, but it would be good to get out of here and get back to my life again. What's been going on at the office?" he asked with interest.
Allen spoke proudly, but without boasting. "Well, I've been talking to Senator Johnson and he is really interested in the boat, but your wife just won't quit bothering him and Carmen, and it's sort of driving an awkward wedge into our sale to them.
“They don't like her, and they feel that if they buy the boat, they might be putting themselves too close to her through you. As if they might be expected to have you both out on the yacht with them and be friends with her. They don't want that."
Roman sighed heavily and covered his eyes with his hand. "I was worried that she might do something like that. She's so set on being socially admirable. She's the very definition of a social climber. Denise is dead-set on being friends with them so everyone else will be impressed with who she is and who she hangs out with, but she isn't actually interested in being friends with them for their own sake or for their own merit."
Allen tried to be nice, Roman could hear it, but it was tricky to do. "Well, she needs to back off the Senator, or he's going to go buy a yacht somewhere else."
Roman nodded. "I understand. I almost don't even blame him." He rubbed his forefinger over his chin thoughtfully and said, "Allen, do you know what it is in particular that they don't like?"
"They think she's exactly what she is; a social climber who has no real depth in her own self or any interest in anyone else for any good reason." He coughed lightly. "They really like you and me, and Edward just loves Captain Heatherwick. They just don't want to be around her at all. They feel that if they buy the yacht from you, then they may be obligated to be with her for social events and neither of them wants that."
It had been weighing on Roman's mind, and he decided to discuss it at least a little, with Allen. "I'm not sure I'm going to stay with her, Allen."
Allen didn't sound surprised at all. "Really, Roman? Why not?"
Roman looked out of the window at the small part of the city that he could see from his hospital room. "Well, for a lot of reasons; we're really not that much in love anymore, she had an affair and I caught her in it red-handed, and she says she wants to fix our marriage and work on it with me, but I just haven't seen any commitment from her toward that end at all.
“Granted, I've been laid up in a hospital bed, but you'd think that she could at least come by and see me."
Again, Allen did not sound surprised. "She hasn't been there to see you?"
Roman shook his head. "No, she hasn't. She came once the day that I was admitted and that was it."
"Oh yes... the day she found out about Cami."
Roman was startled. "How do you know about Cami?"
"Janine. She told me about Cami and little Emma the day that they first came to see you. To be honest, I was really glad to hear it. I've thought for a long time that you need someone good and positive in your life, and I think you got a shot at it, Roman; I think you have a real shot at happiness with those two, but I understand that you are married and committed to Denise.
“I'm really sorry to find out about her affair. I always wondered, but I had hoped that I was wrong about her that way."
Roman sighed. "I wish I hadn't walked in on them. I may never get that moment out of my head. I know that Janine feels the same way you do about Cami. I guess since I've been out of it here at the hospital, they've become good friends. You know, Janine can't stand Denise.
“But right now, Cami and I have decided to just be friends and be there for each other and raise Emma together. I feel like I have to at least give my marriage one more chance; like a last shot before I give up on anything."
Allen's voice sounded like he didn't think Roman should do any such thing, but he didn't say it. "Well Roman, do what's right for you, no matter what anyone else says. That's the best you can hope to do.
“In the meantime, I'm going to keep working on the Senator and try to convince him that Denise isn't part of the yacht package."
"Thank you, Allen. It’s a huge relief to me to know that you're there, and that if anything should happen, you will be well able to handle it. I'll be back as soon as I can be. Thanks again." Roman smiled a little and hung up the phone.
His mind had been so full of tangled worries; his work, his wife, Cami and little Emma, and needing some peace to consider all of them had led to his being in the boat wreck. Now he was sitting in a hospital bed, still wrestling with his worries and problems
Roman gave himself the best thing he could give himself, and that was time. There was no rush to work through anything just then, and no need to hurry any decisions. He decided that as long as he was in the hospital to rest, he would take full advantage of it and think about everything else when he got home.
The only thought that crossed his mind was whether or not he should call Denise, but when he mentioned it to Janine, she said she had let 'The Wife' know that he had woken up and that was all there was. She knew he was awake and she still had not come back to the hospital. He saw Cami and Janine, he got to watch them with Emma, and the day that the doctors said he would be leaving to go home, he got to meet Cicely.
Cami walked through the door with a big smile and their daughter, and she was followed by a well-dressed woman; thick bodied but not overweight, heavy chested, with black hair down to her shoulders. She had wide brown eyes and full lips, and an air about her that commanded respect and radiated strength and love.
Cami stood at the foot of his bed while Emma squealed at him and cooed, and Cicely walked to his bedside and took his hand in hers.
"I'm Cicely, it's nice to meet you. Roman. I wish it was under better circumstances." She smiled down at him and put her warm hands over his. It made him think suddenly of his own mother who had passed away years before. Her gentle touch was comforting to him, and he could see in a minute that she was a woman who loved and defended fiercely.
"Hello Cicely, it's so good to meet you. Thank you for coming in here!" He smiled at her. "It's easy to see where Cami gets her beauty and her strong character."
Cicely laughed quietly and said, "So, they tell us that they are letting you go today. How do you feel?"
Roman shrugged. "I feel better than I did when I woke up, and I feel alive, so that's the most important thing. They've taken good care of me in here, and I can't ask for much more than that."
"How long will your recovery period be?" She looked at him with kind eyes.
He tilted his head. "Well, it's supposed to take six weeks, and we're already coming to the end of the first week, so we've got a way to go. But it will happen. I come back for checkups a few times, so those benchmarks will tell us how I'm really doing. I have high hopes."
The corners of his mouth turned up a bit. "I've had good company here in the hospital, and a great staff. I think it's been the key to my recovery." He smiled at Cami, and thought again for the umpteenth time how beautiful she really was.
Cicely patted his hand and let it go. "I hope you heal soon. If there is anything that I can do for you, please let me know."
He knew that she meant it and he was grateful for her thoughtfulness. The doctors and nurses came bustling in around him, unhooking him from everything and getting him ready to be released. An hour later, he had been signed out of the hospital and was being driven home by Janine. He'd said goodbye to Cami, Emma, and Cicely at the hospital and it hurt his heart to know that he wasn't going to be seeing them more than once a day, now that he was going back to the house with Denise.
He wondered what he would find when he went home, and deep down, he wasn't looking forward to it.
When he went through the doors of the huge house, it was quiet. No one was there to greet him. Janine looked around and scowled.
"I told her you'd be coming home, and I expected her to be here to help you." She gave one sweeping dirty look to the empty space where his wife should have been and then turned and smiled at him. "No matter. We'll get you set up in the guest room downstairs here. I don't want you trying to go up and down the stairs to your bedroom while you're still on crutches," she said and then walked toward the guest bedroom beside the library.
Roman followed her. He knew she was right; it would be much easier to navigate the downstairs rooms than it would be to try to get up to the second or third floor with crutches. For all the richness and convenience of his massive home, he had not put in an elevator, so he hobbled into the guest room and took a look around.
He hadn't been in it for a while, and it wasn't as big as his room, of course, but it was quite clean and it looked really comfortable. Janine got him all set up and then looked at him as she was leaving.
"You let me know if you need anything, and you’d better tell me if Denise gives you any grief. I know you can take care of yourself, but if she isn't an absolute angel to you while you're healing, she is going to catch hell from me." Then she smiled at him, hugged him, and walked out, leaving him to rest.
He laid back in his bed, worn out from the trip home and the excitement of the day, and before he knew it, he was sleeping.
It was hours before he woke, and when he did, the house still seemed quiet. He got out of bed and hobbled into the kitchen for a meal and some water to take his medication, and he was surprised to see Denise and her mother sitting at the table, talking in low tones.
They both looked up at him and Agnes narrowed her eyes at him and glared. "Well, look who it is. The wandering philanderer back from the grave."
He looked at her for a moment, wondering if she knew her daughter had been having an affair, and took a deep breath. "Hello, Agnes."
He turned and headed toward the sink. He was stunned when Denise hopped up and rushed over to help him. She pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, and then handed it to him.
He stared at her for a second. "Thank you," he said quietly, and that was all he said because he didn't know what else to say to her. She wasn't really a deeply compassionate person, or terribly thoughtful.
She seemed somewhat agitated, and she twisted her fingers round and about each other as she looked at him, almost in desperation.
"We need to talk," she said thinly. He looked at her face and saw worry in her eyes, and something like panic, but not quite as dramatic. He nodded.
"Alright. Can we go somewhere private or does your mother need to be in on this conversation?" He wasn't sure what she needed to talk to him about, but he knew better than to suppose that it would be just the two of them without checking.
She looked over her shoulder at her mother, who was still shooting daggers at Roman, and then she turned her eyes back to him. "It'll just be the two of us. Let's go." she walked beside him as they made it back to his room downstairs and he climbed into bed with a sigh.
He got comfortable and looked up at her. "What is it?" he asked in a tired voice.
Denise shifted uncomfortably and then sat on his bed beside him and laid her hand on his leg. "I found out about your kid," she said quietly.
Roman nodded. "I know. I heard about it when I woke up at the hospital."
She leaned forward, moving closer to him. "I'm sorry I didn't come see you, but I just couldn't stand that place, or stand being around that woman you were with. It was just too hard for me, and I knew that if anything bad happened, then they'd call me and of course, I would have come to you, but I knew that as long as I didn't hear anything, then you were okay, and I didn't have to worry about you.
“I knew you were being taken care of and that was all that mattered to me. I just wanted to know you were alright without having to get into any weird fights or arguments with that woman."
Roman could understand her point, but he still felt like he had been deserted. He felt like she should have been there, no matter what.
Denise inched even closer to him, sliding her hand up his leg a bit further. "I had some time to think about it while I was waiting for you to come home, and I wanted you to know that I've accepted what you did, and we've both made mistakes, and I still want us to work on things together. I still want to try to fix our marriage. I'm going to be a step-mom to that kid, and I will do my best to try to be a nice one."
Roman was shocked. "You are willing to take on the role of a step-mother? You're ready for that?"
She shrugged and leaned close to him, just over his chest. "It's what I have to do to keep you and help fix our marriage, so yeah, I can give it a try. I don't want anyone thinking that I'm trash because I let you down. If I become the kid's stepmother, then everyone will think I'm a saint for taking in your bastard child, and it will look better for me, and it will help our relationship because then we can stay together as a... a family."
She almost stuttered over the word family. He stared at her. "My child is no such thing, and if you do want to stay in this house, you will never refer to her as that again. Her name is Emma. You may call her Emma, and that is all you may call her, other than my daughter."
Denise shrugged and nodded her head. "Sure, no problem. I can do that. I'll call her Emma. Let's just try to work this out together. Let's fix everything together," she said, smiling at him and leaning down so that her face was close to his.
Roman couldn't remember the last time she had been that close to him. Her hand slid from his leg over to his groin and she began to massage him. His eyes widened in surprise as she lowered her head to his and kissed his mouth softly.
"See? We can work this out." She kissed him again and he just looked at her for a long moment as she brought her lips to his again and opened his mouth with her tongue, moving her hand more firmly along the length of him that was growing stiff with arousal. She smiled sensually and whispered against his mouth, "There we go... isn't that nice? Isn't that what it's supposed to be like for us, my husband?"
She opened his robe and slid his shorts off of him as he laid there and looked at her with uncertainty and a growing ache in his loins. Denise kissed him softly from his mouth down his chest to his stomach, and then looked up at him playfully from his thighs.
"I'll have you feeling better in no time. You'll see," she said with a sultry voice. She kissed the tip of his erection and worked her lips down the shaft of it, flicking her tongue over it until she opened her mouth wide and enveloped him in it, sucking at him softly at first, and then with more voracity as she got more excited.
Pleasure burned through him and he closed his eyes, letting it wash over him. Roman tentatively lowered his hands to her head and slipped his fingers into her red curls, feeling their silkiness and bending his fingers in their thickness. She worked away at him, making his breath grow short as he began to gasp and pant, his eyes closed and his heart pounding wildly against his chest. Just before he could climax, she pulled her lips from him and straddled him there in the bed, plunging him into the depths of her and riding him hard as he grasped her hips and held her tightly to him.
"I've missed you," she whispered as she leaned over him and kissed him firmly, crushing her lips against his. He opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment, and she took his hands and lifted them to her voluptuous breasts.
The feel of her flesh beneath his hands had once been as familiar to him as breathing, but now it seemed foreign, it seemed strange, and as she rocked her hips over his, his mind turned to the one who he wished was with him in his bed, one who had felt better in his arms and connected to his body than anyone had ever felt to him, and his pleasure skyrocketed.
He pushed himself into her over and over, his hands clasped tightly to her breasts, listening to her moan and cry out in pleasure, and all the while, his eyes were closed and his mind had taken him back to the night on the yacht with another woman, a dark skinned woman who had loved him as he had never been loved. His body tensed and arced as his orgasm rushed at him full force and he came like an explosion inside her body... inside..."Cami... my Cami..." he cried out in his powerful release.
Denise stopped short and looked down at him with wide eyes.
"What did you say?" she asked in horror.
He opened his eyes in realization and looked back at her. "I'm sorry... I.... it must be the medication I don't know what I was thinking." He almost whispered it.
Denise yanked her body from his and climbed off the bed, pulling her clothes back on. "I know what you were thinking, and it's something you can't ever think of again. That's what it means when we say we are going to fix our marriage. It's just you and me and no one else."
With that, she turned and stomped out of the room and Roman closed his eyes, wondering what on earth he had been doing, thinking about Cami at a moment like that. Cami was his friend... she had been a lover once, and he admitted to himself that things had gotten hot with her when he had kissed her at the hotel, but he had to stay focused.
She was his friend and nothing more. He was married, and he could not use Cami or try to make her his mistress. That wasn't the life he wanted for himself or anyone else, including Cami and Emma. They all deserved better.
He mentally chastised himself for his carelessness and swore to himself that it wouldn't happen again. His tiredness overtook him and he fell asleep, but in his dreams, she came to him again. In his dreams they were on the boat and they made love and laughed together, shared each other's company, danced and held each other beneath the stars, and loved each other.
When he awoke the next day, he had breakfast with Denise in the kitchen and he realized that she was watching him like a hawk as she moved around the room. She seemed nervous and ill at ease as she sat with him, almost like she was twitching.
"Roman, I was thinking... after last night," a disgruntled look crossed her face, "I think we should go away together for a little trip, when you're feeling better, and spend some time alone. What do you think?"
He realized then, as he looked at her, that Cami had completely unsettled her, and his calling Cami's name out the night before had undone her. She was absolutely insecure about it and about her relationship with him.
"Listen, Denise, if this is about last night, then you don't need to worry about anything. I'm sorry about my mistake, and it was indeed a mistake, she and I aren't anything more than friends, and it was probably just all the medicine that the doctors have me on right now. I don't want you to worry about anything, alright? Try to let that go as much as you can." He felt badly about it, but there was no way to undo it.
She blinked at him a few times and then scooted her chair closer to him. "Well, we have to start working on fixing things between us, so I want to lay some ground rules down. I understand that you want to see your kid-"
He shot her a serious look and spoke in a strong voice, "Emma, her name is Emma. Use her name."
Denise shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Alright, then, Emma. I understand you'll be wanting to see her, so I was thinking that she could come over here when you want to see her, and then you don't have to go to... her place to see her. That way you don't have to be around her." She smiled brightly at him.
"You and I can set up a room for Emma here, and she can spend time with us here. Her mother can drop her off and pick her up at our door, and then you don't need to be at her place and be around her. That's what I want to do about it." She looked as if the matter was finished.
Roman thought carefully about what she was saying. He knew she was trying her best to keep him away from Cami as much as possible, and he could understand why, but he could not understand the ache in his heart at the idea of not seeing Cami. He felt like Denise was stealing away his opportunity at a friendship with her, and it hurt him.
He also knew that there would probably be better times to discuss it, and better ways to handle it, than to argue with her over breakfast when he had called out Cami's name during their intimacy just the night before.
"We'll have to figure it out as we go along, but for now, I guess that will work." He sighed. He was meeting Cami later to see her new home, and he would talk with her then.