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Sheree found him there an hour later. The smile on her face said it all. “You did it! The doctor is calling it a miracle.” She threw her arms around him, tears of joy trailing down her cheeks. “Thank you!”
Derek held her close. For the first time in his life, he felt truly grateful to be a vampire.
It was after three A.M. when Sheree persuaded her mother to leave the hospital. “You need to get some sleep,” she said as they took the elevator to the lobby. “You don’t want Dad to see those dark shadows under your eyes.”
“We could have lost him,” Meredith said, her voice thick.
“You heard the doctor. Dad’s going to be fine.”
Meredith nodded.
Sheree looked at her mother, a little surprised to realize that her mother’s distress had been sincere. Maybe she had been wrong about her parents. Maybe, in their own way, they really did love each other.
“How did you get here so soon?” Meredith pulled a lace hanky from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes.
The question caught Sheree off guard. She couldn’t tell her mother the truth, of course. Mind scrambling, Sheree opted for a part of the truth. “I had decided to come home for a visit. A friend of mine has a private plane and offered to save me the price of a ticket. We were on our way to see you when I got your call. Look, there he is now,” she said, before her mother could ask any more questions she couldn’t answer.
“Thank you for bringing my daughter home,” Meredith said after Sheree introduced Derek.
“I was happy to do it, Mrs. Westerbrooke.” He gestured at the cab waiting at the curb. “I took the liberty of calling for a taxi.”
“That was very thoughtful of you. You’ll stay with us, of course,” Meredith insisted as Derek opened the car door.
“Thank you, but it isn’t necessary.” He winked at Sheree as she climbed into the backseat. “I have a place of my own.” He was grateful when she didn’t argue.
They arrived at the Westerbrooke home a short time later. Sheree’s mother bid them good night and immediately retired to her room, leaving Sheree to look after Derek.
“Thank you again,” Sheree said. “If it wasn’t for you . . .”
He drew her into his embrace as tears of gratitude flooded her eyes. He held her until her tears subsided, then wiped the last of them away with the pads of his thumbs.
“You’d better get some sleep, love. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“Do you really have a place here, in the city?”
“No.”
“Then where are you going to spend the day?”
“At Mara’s place.”
“You heard my mother. You’re welcome to stay with us.”
“It isn’t safe, love. Your mother is here and there are servants in the house. It’s best if I leave. Don’t worry, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You promise?”
“I’ll be here as soon as the sun goes down.” Derek shook his head as her thoughts invaded his. Sometimes, as now, being able to read minds was as much a curse as a blessing. “Come on, love, I’ll get you tucked in.”
“And stay until I fall asleep?”
Nodding, he swept her into his arms and carried her up the long, winding staircase to her room, tucked her into bed after she changed into her nightgown.
“Sweet dreams, darlin’.”
“Thank you again,” she murmured, and tumbled into sleep’s waiting arms.
Derek brushed a lock of hair from her brow, then left the house. He had just enough time to hunt and make it back to California before the sun came up.
Early the next morning, Sheree and her mother were back at the hospital. Sheree was relieved to see that some of the color had returned to her father’s cheeks and that he was resting comfortably.
Sitting beside her mother on one of the hospital’s hard plastic chairs, Sheree offered a silent prayer of gratitude that she had met Derek. Without him, she was certain her father would have passed away during the night.
For a time, neither of them spoke, both focused on watching her father’s every breath, tracking the lines on the monitors.
After a while, Meredith took a deep breath and turned toward her daughter. “Tell me about the young man who brought you home. Who are his people? Where is he from? What does he do for a living?”
Sheree shifted in her chair as she tried to gather her thoughts. “Derek’s from California. His parents have a lovely home in the Hollywood Hills. Old money,” she said. Then, hoping to impress her mother, she added, “They also own a castle in Romania.”
“Royalty?” Meredith queried, her eyes suddenly alight with interest.
Sheree nodded, remembering that Derek had called his mother the Queen of the Vampires.
“Neil was upset when you left without saying good-bye.”
“Oh, Mom, stop matchmaking. I wouldn’t marry Neil Somerset for a million dollars in gold. Or Ralph Upton, either. I’m in love with Derek, and nothing you can say is going to change that.”
The argument Sheree saw coming died on her mother’s lips when Dr. Carlson entered the room. He nodded at Sheree and her mother, then checked his patient’s vital signs.
“How is he?” Meredith asked anxiously.
“Much better.” He smiled at the two of them. “Someone must have prayed up a miracle.”
Sheree grinned inwardly. A miracle, indeed, she mused, and his name was Derek.
Chapter Thirty-Four
During the next two weeks, Sheree’s father made a remarkable recovery. She spent her days and early evenings at the hospital, but her nights were spent with Derek. He had never been to Philadelphia, so she took him sight-seeing. Of course, going with a vampire meant they went touring when most of the places were closed. Being whisked into museums when they were no longer open added a bit of excitement to viewing the Rodin and the Woodmere, or touring Independence Hall and the quaint home of Betsy Ross.
Sheree supposed it was inevitable that her mother would continue to delve into Derek’s family, since Meredith was enthusiastic about genealogy and had spent considerable time and money tracing the Westerbrooke line.
Derek sidestepped her questions as best he could, claiming, truthfully, that he had no idea who his grandparents were, or where his mother and father had been born.
“Maybe I should just tell her the truth,” Derek suggested one night as he and Sheree left the hospital.
“Oh, there’s a good idea,” Sheree retorted.
