Page 31 of Born To Be My Baby

"Okay. I'll get it out there right away."

"And then, as far as the reporters go, Sean here has attorneys working on filing a lawsuit. Our attorneys, of course, are going to want to know the extent of Mina's injuries. Before we want to divulge that information, let's just get a few days’ rest. Let's see what police toss at the reporters for their reckless behavior and we'll respond when the time is right. We may also have a personal injury lawsuit against them. Wait - as a matter-of-fact, we do have a personal injury lawsuit that we can lodge against them and their networks or studios, whoever they're working with. And the people in the car in front of you were injured as well. I imagine we can join together in their lawsuit. We'll talk about all that later. I just want you to know there's nothing to worry about right now. There's nothing you'll be able to do. You and Mina both need to rest so that you can heal and we will tackle everything else later. Yeah?"

She swallowed. She looked Brody in the eye.

"Thank you, Brody. Thank you so much." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "How's Katherine doing?"

He nodded, a small grin formed on his face. "She's doing well. Thank you for asking. I'll let her know you did."

Gloria smiled. "I'm sure she cares."

Brody shook his head and grinned. "She's all right, Gloria. She's all right."

It was no surprise that Katherine wasn't Gloria's biggest fan. Brody told Katherine right when they began dating how much he loved Gloria. It didn't sit well. She tried to be cordial to Gloria when they were together. But her smile never reached her eyes, and she excused herself as soon as she could. Gloria understood it. She'd have felt the same way if the situation was reversed.

Brody glanced at Sean and nodded. He packed up his cords and his computer, tucked them in the case. He reached over and shook Sean's hand and then his hand wrapped around her right hand and he squeezed softly.

"You get better, girl. I'm only a phone call away, and I'll check in on Mina tomorrow to see if they'll let me see her."

"Sounds good."

"Take care."

"Drive carefully."

She swallowed a few times to tamp down the emotions running through her. He was a good man. Brody. But she never felt romantic toward him and she knew that hurt him. She didn't mean to hurt him, but she didn't have the feelings. She froze for a moment and stared at the wall before her. Wow, she'd hurt Brody the way Sean had hurt her. She was far from an innocent in any of the hurtful things she had done in her life.

24

The next morning, Sean woke up, opened his eyes, spent a moment looking around the room, and realized where he was. He was on a cot in the hospital. The bed squeaked when he rolled over and he froze. Turning his head slowly, the muscles in his neck ached. That was likely from the accident and not this terrible excuse for a bed, but he wanted to stay with Gloria and be here if Mina woke. He glanced up at Gloria and saw her watching him.

"Morning," she said.

"Good morning. How are you feeling? Do you need ice? Do you need..." He scrambled off the little cot, feeling every ache and pain from his spin in the SUV yesterday. He stood slowly, waited for his body to catch up, then immediately went to the cup on Gloria's table. There were fresh ice chips in it. He hadn't even heard the nurse come in and replace them.

Gloria lifted her hand and chuckled. "It's okay. I picked a couple ice cubes out of there for myself this morning, but go ahead if you need some."

He scraped his hands through his hair, stretched his back slightly, and then sat on the edge of her bed. "How long were you awake watching me?"

She smiled, "Not long, about a half an hour. The nurse said the doctor will be here shortly to talk to us about Mina, and they're going to help me get up so that I can go to the bathroom on my own today.”

"Oh, that's good to know."

"They're taking the catheter out in about a half hour, so I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to ask you to leave while they do that."

He chuckled and shook his head. "No, I don't mind. As a matter-of-fact, if you don't mind excusing me right now, I'm going to use the restroom myself."

She closed her eyes and lifted her hand, then dropped it. She was still groggy from the medication and likely still had a banger of a headache. He frowned slightly and stiffly sauntered toward the bathroom.

After he finished using the restroom, he glanced in the mirror to see the remnants of the accident. Scrapes and cuts from glass and a fine bruise on his cheek and temple. But, otherwise, he'd been fortunate. The way the other vehicle hit them, they spun around. But the tires caught the edge of the road and rolled them over. That's where Gloria and Mina had been hurt. He'd been jostled but didn't hit his head as they had. He remembered hanging on to the steering wheel tightly. That's likely why his arms were sore this morning. Good thing he didn't have to play today.

Taking a deep breath, he exited the bathroom to see Gloria had raised the head of her bed up and was now touching her face.

"You look beautiful." He grinned.

"Right. I'm sure I do. What color am I?"

He chuckled. "You're slightly purple and in a couple of days, you're probably going to be yellow."

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