More Than a Convenient Bride(11)

Knowing she was bound to get worse before she got better, Luc stayed  with her, and they never did get to finish what they'd started. But as  she told Beth last night, she didn't expect him to drop everything when  she snapped her fingers. Besides, he had just done her an enormous  favor; the last thing she had the right to do was demand his attention.  In fact, without the threat of deportation looming in the future, this  was the most content and happiest she'd felt in months. Any uncertainty  she'd had about her future was gone.

She was confident that it would be smooth sailing from here on out.

* * *

Luc spent his first day as a husband not in bed having phenomenal sex  with his new wife-sex he never planned on having-but instead carefully  monitoring his mother's condition. He felt guilty that he'd had to  cancel his and Julie's plans, but not only had she not complained, or  acted the least bit perturbed, she spent most of the day with him at his  mother's bedside. Her temperature continued to rise, slowly but  steadily all day, even after the nurse cleaned and dressed her wound and  administered ibuprofen and intravenous antibiotics. He was considering  hospitalization when finally, around eight that evening, her fever  broke. He checked on her several times during the night, and by Monday  morning her temperature was holding steady in the normal range and her  wound seemed to be healing well.

"I think I need to hire a new nurse," he told Julie that morning. She  sat on the edge of his bed, looking adorably mussed, watching him get  ready for work. She had offered, for his own peace of mind, to stay home  from work and keep an eye on his mother and the nurse. Which was a bit  like needing a babysitter to watch the babysitter. "This could have been  prevented if she had only done her job. I've stressed to her, more than  once, that the physical exams are critical. And my mother knows better.  If the nurse can't handle her-"

"Your mother really likes this nurse."

"That isn't my concern." Her safety and physical well-being were the only things that mattered.                       
       
           



       

"It should be your concern," she said in a tone so sharp it nearly took  him back a step. "How would you feel having some stranger inspect every  inch of your body twice a day, day in and day out? And don't you think  there would be times when you just wanted to say to hell with it and  take a break? Maybe her nurse was being more compassionate than  negligent. She made a mistake."

He tugged on his shirt and buttoned it, saying, "A mistake that could have cost my mother her life."

"And I'm sure she's learned her lesson."

She damn well better have.

Julie was quiet for a minute, then said, "I've mentioned my nanny Ginise, haven't I?"

"That was the nice one, right?"

"Did I ever tell you why my dad fired her?"

He shook his head, looking thoughtful. "I don't think so."

"I'm sure I told you how strict my father was."

He nodded. From all the stories Julie had told him, to say her father  was strict was putting it mildly. She and her sister were practically  prisoners in their own home.

"Nanny Ginise was hard-nosed when he was around, but when he was gone,  she really loosened the leash. She let me and my sister go to friends'  houses and use the phone. She let us go without tights on hot days. She  let us drink soda and eat candy. Nanny Ginise gave us the freedom to be  kids. Which is eventually what got her fired."

"What happened?"

"One of my friends from school was having a pool party. I begged my  father to let me go. All of my friends were going to be there, including  boys-though I didn't tell him that-but he still said it was out of the  question. I cried and pleaded but he wouldn't budge. But the day of the  party he was away on business and wasn't due back until the following  night. Nanny Ginise let me go. She even bought me a two-piece bathing  suit to wear, since all the other girls would be wearing them and I  wanted to fit in. I mean, what thirteen-year-old girl doesn't?"

He flipped his collar up and looped his tie around his neck. "Naturally."

"Well, my father came home early, and Nanny Ginise had no choice but to  tell him where I was. He charged over to my friend's house, which was  just up the road. The fact that I defied him was bad enough, but when he  saw what I was wearing, and that there were boys there, he went  ballistic. I had never seen him so furious. He pulled me out of the pool  by my hair."

Luc's eyes went wide. "In front of everyone?"

She nodded. "He wrapped me up in a towel and dragged me home. I was  mortified, and as if that wasn't punishment enough, I wasn't allowed to  leave my room for a month. I was a prisoner. He even made me eat my  meals in there."

That wasn't strict, that was abuse. He knew her childhood was bad, but  he hadn't realized just how bad. "How could he treat his own children  that way?"

"Our mother's death really hit him hard. I'm still not sure if he was trying to shelter us, or if he just resented us."

"Why would he resent you?"

"For being alive, when she wasn't. It took years for me to accept that it wasn't my fault. That it was his problem, not mine."

The idea that she grew up so miserable made his chest ache. "And Nanny Ginise, what happened to her?"

"Fired on the spot. Two days later we had a new nanny. Ms. Fowler, a retired headmistress of a private girls school in Wales."

"What was she like?"

"Horrible. She'd followed our father's rules to the letter. And came up  with quite a few of her own. She believed that teenage girls all had  lusty and indecent thoughts and therefore should not be left alone to  their own devices. She forbade us from closing our bedroom doors, and  walked right in without knocking whenever she felt like it. If she  caught us doing something she considered inappropriate she gave us the  switch."

"The switch?"

"Yeah, it was this stick she carried around with her all the time."

Luc blinked. "Are you saying that she used to hit you with it?"

"All the time. Damned thing hurt like a bitch and left nasty welts."

Jesus. Luc actually felt sick to his stomach. "Did your father know?"

"Of course. He was all for corporal punishment."

And it just kept getting worse. "Did he hit you?"

"Me and my sister. But she got the worst of it. I learned to drop my  head, keep my mouth shut and be as invisible as possible. Jennifer was  outspoken and defiant. I remember a time, not long before I left for  college, when she snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to  meet a boy. Our father caught her. There was hardly a spot on her that  wasn't black and blue. He grounded her to her room for weeks."                       
       
           



       

Luc sat down on the bed beside her, at a loss for words. "I don't even  know what to say. I knew your childhood wasn't ideal, but I had no idea  it was that bad."

"I didn't tell you to make you feel sorry for me. I just want you to  try to see things from your mother's point of view. She's a prisoner in a  body that constantly betrays her. I think the nurse was just trying to  cut her a little slack, like Nanny Ginise did for me and my sister.  There was no malicious intent. And I know she feels horrible about it."

Wow, talk about a convincing argument, and she spoke of it so  matter-of-factly, as if it had happened to someone else. And yes,  sometimes he forgot what his mother must go through. How difficult and  unpleasant her life could be. Years ago, before her surgery, she was  active and independent. Now she relied on others for most of her needs.  That couldn't be easy for her. "You're right," he told Julie. "She meant  no harm. If my mother is happy with her, then I'm happy."

"Thank you. You're a good man. And an even better son."

"I don't know about that," he said.

She smiled. "I do."

He couldn't help himself. He had to kiss her. He leaned in and she met  him halfway. He was enjoying this arrangement, and found himself  thinking about her, far more than he should have.

The kiss didn't last long. Julie patted his shoulders and said, "You need to get to the hospital. You'll be late for rounds."

She was right. Typically he looked forward to work, but today staying  home in bed with Julie sounded much more fun. "Maybe tonight, if all  goes well-"

"Yes," she said with a saucy smile, knowing exactly what he was going  to say before he said it. It looked as if he wasn't the only one with  sex on the brain. And if he didn't finish getting dressed and get his  ass out of there, he might not make it to the hospital at all. It had  been a long time since he'd been so hot for a woman he wanted to play  hooky from work.