COUNTERPOINT
An original romantic serialFrom Alina Adams the author of "When a Man Loves a Woman" (DELL 4/00), "Annie's Wild Ride" (AVON 8/98), "Inside Figure Skating" (METROBOOKS 11/00 & 9/99), "Thieves at Heart" (AVON 12/95) and "The Fictitious Marquis" (AVON 6/95)
Available weekly by e-mail from http://www.AlinaAdams.com
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Dedicated to Helping Children All Over the World
CHAPTER 37
Victoria brushed Robin's cheek with her palm. His eyes widened with the faintest of surprise, followed by a hesitant, almost shy smile of pleasure.
The smile deepened when Victoria raised her other arm, and held Robin's face, cradled, in her hands. His breath wafted along her sleeves, the familiarity nearly making her giddy. She felt as if she were holding Robin's fate, Robin's happiness, in her hands.
It was the last thing she wanted, and for so many reasons, Victoria didn't even know where to start cataloging them all.
He started to say something.
Victoria cut him off.
She shook her head, dropping her hands by her sides, and swallowing hard to keep any unwanted tears at bay, begged him, "Take care of yourself, Robin, please. Don't -- Not because of me -- "
She sensed she was about to lose the battle on the crying-front, and hurried from the room, face averted, heart broken.
She wasn't kidding. She really couldn't breathe.
Eve's cheeks were red from the effort of trying to inhale, her eyes squinted, tears spurting in sync with the saliva shooting from her mouth. Her whole body seemed in on the effort to get at least a sliver of air into her lungs. She'd drawn her knees up to her chest, and stretched her arms out to the sides, as if trying to jam some oxygen into her mouth through manual means.
The sight scared the hell out of Nicole.
In the past, she'd always had a nanny to look after Eve when she got sick -- and the rest of the time, too. Nicole hadn't the slightest idea what she was supposed to do with a five year old who sounded like a choking sea-lion.
But, Nicole had a pretty good inkling of who would.
She picked up the phone, and called Gabriel.
He was at the motel within fifteen minutes, sweeping in past Nicole at the door to swoop Eve up out of bed and into his arms. Nicole's daughter looked at him like Nicole imagined the Christians would at the Second Coming. Eve wrapped her arms around Gabriel's neck, practically choking him. Her knees dug into his sides, like a clinging little monkey. She coughed loudly into his ear, then rested her cheek on his shoulder, exhausted.
Gabriel rubbed her back in soothing circles. "It's okay, my sweetheart." He whispered into her ear, half-turning away from Nicole, as if he and Eve were sharing some precious secret. "I know you feel yucky. But, we'll get you fixed up in no time."
Without a word to Nicole, Gabriel strode into the bathroom, turning the shower on full-blast, hot only. Momentarily letting go of Eve, but, unconcerned, since she was holding onto his neck with such a death-grip, Gabriel used his other hand to, simultaneously, flip down the toilet lid. Then, shifting Eve onto his lap, he sat down on the closed lid, Eve's face turned towards the steaming shower. Gabriel's legs, though, were too long to fit comfortably into the Lilliputian crawl-space available between tub and toilet, so he had to turn his own lower body in the opposite direction, making for a rather comical figure. And a rather poignant one.
Nicole felt utterly excluded. Gabriel's attention was focused solely on Eve, and Eve seemed unaware that there was anyone else even in the room with them. With each cough and tortured wheeze of a breath, she clung tightly to Gabriel's arm, like a lifeline.
"That's a good girl," Gabriel hummed. "Take deep breaths for me. That's right. That's excellent... "
Nicole stood in the doorway, unsure what was expected of her, and unsure of what she even wanted to do. She only knew that -- all of Robin's dismissals of her to the contrary -- she'd never felt so lonely in her entire life.
She wanted to call Eve's name. She wanted to call to Gabriel. But, she felt pretty certain, neither would have any interest in answering.
The wall of heat Gabriel had erected for Eve's breathing eventually wafted its way towards Nicole. It wrapped her in a sticky, moist paste, clogging up her eyes and her mouth and her nostrils, until now it was Nicole who couldn't breathe comfortably.
Without a word, she stepped out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Not so much to keep in the warmth, but, to keep out the image of Eve and Gabriel.
For the next half an hour, Nicole sat just outside her bathroom, doing nothing more productive than staring out the window, at the 7-11 across the way, noting the traffic of the donut-hungry and the nicotine and/or caffeine dependent coming and going through the lazily swinging door. She deliberately kept her mind blank. She didn't want to think. And she definitely didn't want to feel.
Eventually, Gabriel and Eve emerged from behind the bathroom door. Victoria's brother carried Nicole's daughter slung over one arm, in a quasi-Fireman's Hold. He propped up her chest with his shoulder, elbow pinning her knees against his stomach, while her face gently tapped along his back. Eve's hair had fallen forward, obscuring her face. But, even through the moist strands, Nicole could hear that her breathing had grown considerably quieter.
She opened her mouth to ask a question, but, Gabriel raised a finger to his lips, and shook his head, indicating that Eve was finally asleep. He laid the little girl tenderly down onto her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin, and brushing the tangled bits of hair away from her face. Eve didn't budge. She was too exhausted. The only indication of her even still being alive, was the no longer jerky rise and fall of her chest.
Gabriel gestured for Nicole to follow him into the hallway, where he kept the door between them and Eve open just a crack, so as to hear if she called out or needed anything.
Only once out in the hallway, did Gabriel tell Nicole, "She'll be fine. It was just the croup. It sounds scary as hell, but, it's not dangerous."
"Oh," Nicole said. "I -- good."
"It was good that you called me, though. You never know, with respiratory problems. Does Eve have a history of infections?"
"I -- I don't know. I don't think so."
"Well, we'll keep an eye on it. Tell her regular doctor that -- "
"Eve doesn't have a regular doctor." Nicole stumbled, "It's because, I -- we just moved here. Back in Monte Carlo -- "
"What was his name?"
He had her, there. "I don't know."
She couldn't recognize the look on Gabriel's face. Was he judging her? Condemning her?
Pitying her?
All he said was, "I can give you the names of a couple of very good pediatricians."
But, Nicole blurted out, "I want you."