Page 49 of The Virgin's Baby
Chapter Twenty-Two
Aspen
Houston, Texas – October 1st
The entire month of September had passed with us in Houston with Ransom’s grandfather. The treatment Lucius received was intense. We never knew from day to day if we’d come into the hospital to find he’d passed on during the night or not. I couldn’t leave Ransom alone. It wasn’t in me to leave him.
The semester had been shot. I was able to drop the classes I’d signed up for early enough to be fully reimbursed.
I’d made a decision. Ransom and I sat in the waiting room as a team of doctors were busy in his grandfather’s room. “I’m putting off going back to school until the babies are at least a year old.”
The look on his face made my heart ache, he looked so happy. I knew I’d surprised him. “Are you sure?”
Nodding, I went on, “They’re going to need me. I don’t want a nanny raising them.” I hadn’t talked to Ransom about the thoughts I’d been having. But now seemed like a good time to do that, since we had nothing else to do. “I’m going to finish my degree, but I’m going to take my time doing it. I can take a couple of hours, say three days a week, to finish the degree. I want to focus on our children. Nothing has ever been more important to me.” Then I wondered if Ransom would be okay with me not making any money. “If that’s okay with you of course?”
His eyes narrowed. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Shrugging, I said, “Because I won’t have a job.”
“Like I care about that.” He laughed as he shook his head. “Aspen, you do recall that I’ll be paying you for living with us, right?”
“I don’t want you to do that.” I’d been feeling like that was too much for him to be doing. “They’re my kids too. Why pay me to live with them?”
“I’m going to pay you anyway. No matter what you say.” He smiled, and I found it to be pretty sexy. “You know, that makes me pretty damn happy that you want to be there for the kids.”
“Glad to hear that.” I fidgeted in my seat as his cute smile was doing things to me that I shouldn’t be feeling.
The attraction I’d felt for Ransom never went away. It grew and grew. I was sure that one day or night, I would lose my battle with my will and throw myself at the man.
Our hotel rooms were adjoining each other. We met outside of them each morning before leaving for the hospital where we stayed until night. He and I were together so much more than we’d ever been. Feelings were developing. Real ones.
As the door to his grandfather’s hospital room opened, and the doctors came pouring out, Ransom took my hand. “Let’s go see what they’re doing with him now.”
The doctor in charge came to us. His stoic expression told us nothing. “Mr. Whitaker, Miss Dell.” The doctor nodded. “We’ve got some news I think you’re going to like.”
Ransom let my hand go, and then put his arm around me. I felt his heart pounding in his chest. “You do?”
The doctor nodded. “You see we’ve gotten the test results back this morning. It seems the treatments have worked. There’s no sign of any cancer. The mass in his lungs is gone. Of course, he’s very weak from the treatments, but he’s going to get better from here on out. We’ll keep him here to do physical therapy for another two weeks, but he’s on the road to recovery. The treatments will stop.”
Ransom’s grip on me nearly caused me to stop breathing it was so tight. “He’s cancer-free?” he asked as if he couldn’t believe it.
“He is,” the doctor answered.
Ransom looked at me, and I couldn’t help myself. I burst into tears as he pulled me in for a hug. “He’s going to be okay!”
“I’m not going to lose him,” Ransom whispered. “I’ve prayed and prayed for this news.”
“Me too.” I couldn’t stop crying. “This is a miracle.”
Then I felt something odd. His body shook and a sob followed. This man who’d been so emotionally strong was crying on my shoulder. “He’s going to come home, Aspen. I was so worried that we would be going home alone.” He held me tighter. “I can’t believe this.”
He’d never told me that he’d worried about his grandfather not coming home. It must be because I hadn’t been open enough for him to talk to me about things he feared. “I’m here for you, Ransom. Anything you ever need to talk about, I’m here to listen.”
“Thank you, Aspen. You mean the world to me. You’re everything to me,” his words stirred my heart and soul.
“You mean everything to me, too, Ransom. I mean that.” I kissed his cheek then pulled my head back to look at him.
Seeing tears fall from his gorgeous blue eyes made me want to kiss them all away for him. But I knew this wasn’t the time to do that. “Come on. Let’s dry our tears and go see him.” He let me go and went to grab a nearby box of tissues.
