“That has been said,” he allowed.
“That’s breakfast for two, right?” Sean put in hopefully.
“Of course.”
“Feel better already.” Sean grinned. “Of course, making himself the hero here, there’ll be no living with him now. Good luck to you, Teresa.”
A strained silence erupted suddenly as everyone in the room remembered at once that Teresa was on Tesoro only temporarily. Taking a breath, she swallowed hard and said, “Congratulations again, Melinda. Your baby is gorgeous.”
“Thanks.” She took Teresa’s hand and held it for a second or two, offering silent support. “Once I get out of here, come to the house. I’ll tell you all of my horror stories.”
“Can’t wait.” Teresa smiled, then walked around the end of the bed to join Rico.
“We will see you soon.” Rico lifted one hand to Sean and slipped out the door, drawing Teresa with him.
As they walked down the hall and passed the nurses’ station for the last time, Teresa said, “That was nice of you. Sending them breakfast, I mean.”
“It is a small enough thing to do.” He tried to shrug it off and hit the elevator button for the ground floor. In moments the doors had opened again and they were striding out of the hospital into the cool of early morning.
“You really don’t like being told you’re nice, do you?” She studied his profile.
“Only because I’m not. And you would have said the same yesterday.”
Her steps faltered a bit, but she caught herself and hurried on. True, after he’d climbed out of bed the day before and looked at her with ice in his eyes, she wouldn’t have called him nice. But he had a heart, she knew he did. She’d just seen evidence of it. And five years ago he had offered that heart to her.
Was she solely to blame for the changes in Rico? And if so, how could she undo it?
Once they were in his car and buckled up, she asked, “How will Sean get home? We brought him here.”
“I’ll have someone bring his car to the hospital for him.”
Teresa smiled. “Nice again.”
He blew out a breath and glanced at her. “Expedient.”
“You can’t convince me, Rico.” She shook her head and relaxed back against her seat, giving in to the fatigue that had suddenly begun to drag at her. “You’re a nice guy and that’s not a bad thing.”
“Don’t make me what I’m not, Teresa,” he warned and fired up the engine. “It won’t serve either of us.”
Sunrise streaked the sky with soft colors that grew bolder nearer the horizon. The ever-present wind sighed through the opened car windows.
She understood what Rico was trying to tell her. But in the soft light of the breaking dawn, she looked at him and saw him for exactly what he was.
The love of her life.
Eight