Неизвестный - 2. Beyond The Breakwater

You’ll get over this. You have to, because I need you so much. Tory closed her eyes as a sudden rush of the emotions swamped her. Then she couldn’t stop the tears, even though she wanted to. “Oh, god, Reese.”

“Tory,” Reese whispered. “It’s okay, love.”

“I was so scared,” Tory murmured, her eyes still closed. “I don’t know how I would manage without you. I can’t even imagine…”

“I love you. I will not leave you.” Reese moved their joined hands until her fingers touched the tears. “Besides, we have a baby coming, and I intend to be there for every second of the fun.”

Tory leaned closer and rested her head against Reese’s shoulder. “Fun. Ha.” But her spirits lifted at the sound of Reese’s steady heartbeat beneath her cheek.

“I can’t wait.” Reese wrapped her free arm protectively around Tory’s shoulders and held her as close as she could. “You should go home, love. You need to get some rest. Especially now.”

“No.”

“Tory, please. Everyone agrees I’m going to be okay, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please.”

“Later. I promise, I’ll go home in a little while.” She lifted her gaze, her green eyes still swimming with tears. “I just need to be with you a little longer. I need to feel safe again.”

Okay,” Reese said softly, her fingers stroking Tory’s face. “Okay, love. Whatever you want. Always.”

They both jumped as a knock sounded at the door. Then it slowly swung open and Bri peered around the corner. Her face lit up when she saw that Reese was awake. “Hey! You okay?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Come on in.”

Suddenly shy, Bri came slowly forward until she stood on the side of the bed opposite Tory, her hands in the front pockets of her low-riding jeans. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Me too, kiddo.” Reese smiled. “You know, I seem to remember you managed to find some food earlier. Any chance of repeating that trick?”

“Sure, if it’s okay.” Bri looked to Tory questioningly.

“Now that we know she’s not going to need surgery, I don’t see any reason she can’t eat. I’ll check with Jill Baker. She’s the attending.”

“How about Bri huts down some hoagies, and by the time she gets back, we’ll have our answer?” Reese suggested. You look ready to collapse, love. Hoagies will have to do until I can get you to go home.

“You mind, Bri?” Tory asked.

“Hell, no. Anything as long as I don’t have to eat what they have in the hospital cafeteria.”

They all laughed and Bri hurried out.

“She’s been here all day,” Tory said quietly. “Nelson was here earlier, too.”

“He see Bri?” Reese’s eyes fluttered closed, and she fought them open.

“Yes. They seemed okay.”

“Good. I’m glad Bri…was here for you.”

“She’s been great. It’s hard to believe that she’s not a kid anymore.”

“Yeah,” Reese agreed. “She is and she isn’t, you know? She’s not a kid, but she’s still…so damn young.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I’m a little…worried…about her.”

“Rest for a little while, honey. I’ll wake you when Bri gets back with the sandwiches.”

“Maybe just for a few minutes,” Reese murmured as she drifted off into healing slumber.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A week later, Kate Mahoney looked up from the newspaper and regarded her daughter with amused consternation. “Reese, darling, I don’t think that’s exactly what Tory meant when she said you should rest today.”

“If I rest anymore, I’m going to be comatose,” Reese complained as she awkwardly pried open a can of primer with her left hand. The right was tucked into a sling across her chest. She wiped her hand on her faded fatigue pants and glanced at her mother in frustration. “I’ve been home from the hospital for four days, and I’m perfectly fine. If there were any real paperwork to do, I’d beg Nelson to put me on desk duty. But until the end of the month, there’s hardly enough of that to keep him busy in the office.”

“I know you’re bored,” Kate sympathized. “But somehow, painting a room does not seem like resting.”

“It’s therapy. She said I could use my hand.”

“No. What she said is that you could start gentle strengthening exercises. I doubt very much that includes wielding a paintbrush.”

“Did Tory assign you to spy on me?” Reese regarded her mother with faint suspicion.

“No,” Kate said with a laugh. “I just happen to like your company. I know once the season starts, you’re going to be too busy even to visit.”

“Shouldn’t you be working in the gallery? Don’t you have paintings to hang or something?”

“The gallery is in good shape. Jean is taking care of everything.” Kate smiled benignly. “I have absolutely nothing on my schedule.”

“I’m not going to do anything foolish.” Reese stirred the paint and sighed. “I don’t want anything to keep me from getting back to work as soon as possible.”

“Tory said it would be a month,” her mother reminded her gently.

“It needs to be a little sooner,” Reese said determinedly. “The stitches will be out in another week, and there’s no reason I can’t start getting some of the strength back in my arm now.”

“If you use it too much, too quickly, you’ll just prolong the swelling.”

Reese raised an eyebrow. “Is the house bugged? Tory said something just like that this morning.”

“No, but I lived with your father for fifteen years, and I’ve seen my share of physical injuries. Marines tend to get banged up a good deal, as you may recall.”

For a moment, silence descended between them.

“I suppose I’m as bad a patient as he was,” Reese muttered. “Do you think we’re a lot alike?”

“Only in the sense that neither of you were ever willing to admit there was something you couldn’t do.” Kate looked away, a distant expression in her eyes.

Reese leaned back on her heels and asked softly, “Do you hate him?”

“No,” Kate replied without hesitation. “I don’t like him, but I don’t believe he ever did anything to intentionally hurt you. Hurt me, yes. But not you. That I would never forgive.”

“He never tried to understand you.”

“I doubt that he could. He couldn’t change who he is anymore than I could.”

“He could learn to accept some things,” Reese said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

“Like the fact that his ex-wife and his daughter are lesbians?”

“Maybe.” Reese’s smile was brittle. “Or maybe just that there are more ways to live than his way.”

“I won’t defend him to you, Reese. Not when he took nearly twenty years that I might have spent knowing you.”

Reese drew a long breath. “Tory thinks I should tell him about the baby.”

“Do you want to?”

“I don’t know.” Reese leaned her shoulder against the wall and rubbed her eyes. “I’m not sure what the point would be. He hasn’t accepted my relationship with Tory, so he certainly isn’t going to accept our child.”

“Perhaps it isn’t his acceptance, but your telling him that matters.”

“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” Reese said seriously.

“You and Tory are about to experience something wonderful, something precious,” Kate said gently. “He’s your father, one of the most significant people in your life. You need to tell him for your own sake and let him deal with his feelings the best way he can. Because if you don’t, it diminishes you and your relationship with Tory.”

“Like hiding being gay to avoid a court martial?”

“Reese, I know how much that bothers you. But, how does the saying go? You have to pick your battles?”