His father shook his head. “You’re wrong.”
“You weren’t there this morning. She went from begging me not to leave her side to practically booting me out of the room.”
It was a long time before his father spoke again. “Put yourself in her position,” he said finally. “Would you allow yourself to lean on her?”
“I did. I was in her position. She helped me get my medical clearance.”
“And what if you hadn’t been able to get it, no matter how hard you worked? What then?”
“It wouldn’t have changed things between us.”
His father’s gaze was penetrating. “Don’t lie to yourself.”
“What are you saying, that I would’ve ended our relationship because I couldn’t fly?”
Mantis waited, but his father didn’t answer. The longer he remained silent, the more he knew his dad was right. If he’d never been able to fly again, he couldn’t have stayed with her. He wasn’t sure he could’ve stayed in the Air Force.
“You’re running on empty. Get some rest and then go back and see her.”
Mantis nodded. He hadn’t slept more than a few minutes at a time last night, and not at all the night before. Maybe after he got some sleep he’d be able to figure out how to convince her he wanted back in her life, and this time, for good.
Of course that meant she’d have to end things with Dutch. Mantis scrubbed his face with his hand. Was that something he could ask of her? Could he do that to Dutch?
—:—
“I don’t recommend moving her yet,” Alegria heard the doctor tell her parents, but they refused to compromise.
“Before she entered this hospital she could walk,” her father bellowed. “Now she cannot.”
They were proposing she be moved from Stamford Hospital to the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. The doctors there specialized in neuromuscular disorders and were purported to be the best in treating those who had suffered brain or spinal injuries resulting in paralysis.
“Boston is over three hours from Stamford. Your daughter is not stable enough to make that long of a trip.”
Alegria’s father waved his hand in the air. “I have arranged for medical transport via helicopter.”
The doctor shook his head. “I still advise against this.”
Her father was relentless in his determination, not just in this case, in all things. Alegria knew there would be no talking him out of it, regardless of whether she was well enough to fly or not.
“I don’t want to transfer to a different hospital.”
“Manon,” her mother began. “Please do as your father asks.”
She closed her eyes and wished Mantis was here to take her side against her parents. Why had she pushed him away yet again when all she really wanted was for him to be with her?
Chapter 19
Dutch
He nuzzled the n
eck of the sweet-smelling body he spooned, grounding his hardness between the soft cheeks of her bottom—and his eyes flew open.
He moved away from the sleeping form and sat up, looking around him. He had no idea where he was or who the naked woman in bed next to him was.
She groaned and rolled over in her sleep.
“What’s your name?” he asked, trying not to frighten the doe-eyed woman.