AS IT TURNEDout, having Gray’s family with her made it much easier to get started. And what she never would have expected was how readily they accepted her as Gray’s proxy. She knew, of course, this was a sign of their respect for him, but it touched her nonetheless. After years with Leona McCormick, Meredith was conditioned to expect disapproval, but Dahlia Blakewood showed her nothing but kindness. She was the one who ended up making the coffee and serving everyone, including Meredith. Bax produced a folder with the names and numbers of Gray’s doctors, and he reached out to the local neurologist and made introductions.
Dr. Cates had been awaiting their call, and Meredith trembled as she spoke to him. Hearing his disappointment at the two-week delay nearly made her go back on her word. And when he gave her a list of symptoms to watch for, including partial blindness, paralysis, loss of balance, and slurred speech — all symptoms that would require a hasty call to 911 — she thought she might come unglued.
As soon as they’d covered the details to schedule his surgery in two weeks’ time and complete the requisite pre-surgical lab work, Meredith dashed upstairs to check on Gray.
Tiptoeing up to the study, she found him at his desk, hard at work, and clearly alive and breathing. Before she could turn and disappear back downstairs, he glanced up and spotted her.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said, grinning.
That grin. Those words. It was as though someone took a nail gun to her shoes. She couldn’t move.
God, please, don’t let him die.
“Are you okay?”
Still smiling, Gray shrugged. “Under the circumstances.”
“Does your head hurt?” She took two steps closer. Before she’d known about the tumor, the thought of him suffering had unsettled her. Now, she wanted to jump out of her skin.
The smile at his lips dimmed a little, but his eyes still held their usual mirth. “Yes… but I’m all right.”
“How’s your vision? Are you dizzy? Anything else going on?” The questions tumbled out of her in a rush.
Gray chuckled. “Oh, you’ve been talking to Dr. Cates, haven’t you?” His voice was low and playful, completely at odds with the panic she was only just keeping in check.
Meredith nodded. “Can I ask a favor?”
“Anything.” The look in his eyes changed. It would have lit her with fever if she hadn’t been scared to death. Meredith felt its tempting heat, but she pressed on.
“Don’t keep anything from me, okay? Nothing dangerous.”
Gray watched her for a moment, the smoldering look in his eyes softening. He pushed his chair back from the desk.
“Come here.”
She wanted to run to him. She didn’t. “I shouldn’t. You need to work.”
“Meredith, come here.”
She was across the room and behind his desk in one instant, and then Gray pulled her down into his lap the next. This time, he didn’t try to kiss her. He just wrapped his arms around her and held her against his chest.
Warmth surrounded her. His body was hard and soft and massive and welcoming. And she knew it was the best place in the world to be. She looped her arms around his neck and buried her face against him, breathing him in.
Nothing had ever felt this good. No place had ever been this safe.
Any memory of being held as a child now carried the lash of her parents’ rejection. The tenderness of those moments had been immolated the second their front door slammed behind her. So as she clung to Gray, encircled by his ready embrace, it was as though no one had ever held her like this.
As though it was the first time. She held on as if it were the last time, and it wrecked her.
Gray squeezed her tighter, and silence, holy and soothing, fell around them. The rest of the world was a long, long way off. Meredith could hear nothing but Gray’s gentle breathing, the steady beat of his heart, and then the hitch and sniffle of her own sobs.
She felt him kiss the top of her head and the side of her cheek before his lips brushed against her ear.
“Don’t cry, sweetness,” he whispered.
Her voice couldn’t be trusted, so she just squeezed back. How could she feel this way about him and face the thought of losing him?
“No matter what happens, I’m so glad— so glad —we met, Meredith.”
