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“I told Daddy everything."
"And?"
"He just wants me to be happy."
"Good, because I’m not letting you go."
"I’m so tired. Will you stay? I’m afraid if I fall asleep, you’ll leave,"
"Never." He promised her. “I cleared my schedule for the day. I’m here, darling. I’m right here and I’m not leaving."
"Good." She squeezed his hand and closed her eyes.
"Maxwell?"
"Yes, baby?"
"I love you."
He felt something shifted inside him. "And I adore you."
Just inside the doorway, Joseph stood transfixed. He’d arrived at the hospital a few minutes after and was told Maxwell Callister was in the room with her. Now, standing here and listening to them, he felt like he was invading their privacy.
He was about to leave when Maxwell turned and saw him standing there. Looking back at the woman in the bed, his woman, he thought fiercely, he realized she was asleep. Gently prying her fingers from his, he rose and turned towards the door.
"I don't want to leave her for long."
"There’s a private waiting room-" Joseph gestured towards a door a few feet away.
"She’s lost a lot of weight."
"Yes. I should’ve realized that something was up with her." Walking over to the tray that had been provided for them, Joseph poured water into a glass. "Anything for you?"
"No." Maxwell wandered over to the window. It was the height of summer and the flowers were blooming in colorful profusion.
"She was extra busy and I didn’t think anything of it. Leaving early in the morning and coming back late at night had me wondering, but I thought nothing of it. That's why it slipped my attention she wasn’t eating. When she did eat, she was bringing it back up.
Her mother was the same. She was sick for six months and unable to keep anything down. It got so bad she had to be hospitalized. That's the main reason Alessia was an only child. I couldn’t bear for her to go through anything like that again."
"How bad will it get?" Maxwell asked tersely.
"Audrey was sick for six months. They were able to give her pills then so it wasn’t as bad."
"I can’t bear that this is happening to her."
Joseph looked at the man who still had his back turned. He wasn’t someone he would’ve chosen for his beloved child. Too rough, too ruthless and his background was a mess but what he’d witnessed in that room was etched on his mind.
"You’re with someone else, aren’t you?"
Maxwell turned then, a grim smile touching his face. "It was just for show. Alessia hurt me badly. She was supposed to join me at a vineyard I’d purchased in Italy and when she called at the last minute to say she couldn’t make it because you were ill, I decided that was it.
I was through bending over backwards to please her. I wanted to hurt her the way she was hurting me. I told myself I was moving on from her, but that didn’t happen." He rubbed his hands over his face.
"When I saw her at the gallery, it brought home to me that what I felt for her was never going away. I’ve been travelling for the past month, but I’d made up my mind to contact her." He let out a sigh. "Now she’s lying in that bed looking as if she’s about to disappear."
"You love her."
He smiled at that. "More than my life. Look, I know I’m not who you want for her, but I’m sticking, even if I have to glue myself to her."
