Moments Lost and Found (25 page)

 “I never opened it.” She said softly as new
tears started down her face again, but these were happy tears.

 “Why not,
Cheri
?” he asked so
tenderly as he stroked her cheek, trying to wipe away the tears.

 “I was afraid of what I would find.” Her
voice was so small.

 “And now,
Cheri
? Are you still
afraid?” his eyes showed that he still wasn’t sure of her answer.

Sam shook her head, “No.” she broke into a smile,
“Now I hope that’s what I think it is.”

Laurent’s expression subtly changed from tender to
flirty, “Oh really? And what might that be?”

 “You’re going to make me ask for it?” Sam
said with trepidation.

He chuckled and shook his head, “No, Samantha. Not
this. Other things, you know I like to hear you tell me, but this, no.” he
winked and then took the box from her. He pulled her bag from her lap and put
it back on the table. Then he lowered the bed railing so that nothing was
separating them. His movements were slow and deliberate and Sam watched him
feeling the emotion well up in her. Damn if she didn’t feel like a leaky
faucet, she just couldn’t stop crying.

Laurent lowered himself to one knee, taking her
hand in his. It was her right hand since her left one was in a sling, but it
would have to do. He looked up at her, swallowed, and said, “Samantha Davis,
since the moment I met you, I have thought of no one but you. I can still see
you standing in my conference room, the beautiful Pacific ocean behind you,
framing you. So strong and confident and beautiful. From that moment, I wanted
you in my life. And then I got to know you,” he paused and chuckled, “and the
more time we spent together, the more I wanted to be with you. Only you.”

 “
Cheri
, you are the most challenging,
infuriating woman I have ever met.” Sam shrugged a little, “And the fact that I
am down on one knee in a hospital of all places,” he paused again and shook his
head smiling, “I hope that tells you how much I love you and how much I want to
be with you, forever,
Cheri
.” Now the waterworks really started flowing,
Sam tried to hold it together, but she never imagined she’d ever hear these
words.

 “Samantha Davis, will you marry me?” Laurent
asked and all she could do was nod at first and then he said in his low,
commanding voice, “This, Samantha, I am going to insist I hear you say.”

 “Yes, Laurent. Yes I will marry you.” Sam
said through her tears. He opened the box to reveal the most stunning marquise
cut diamond ring. She held out her hand and then said tearfully, “It’s the
wrong hand.”

He laughed, “Nothing is simple with you, Samantha.
You have to do everything your own way.” They both laughed. Then he tenderly
held her hand and slid the ring on her finger right above her grandmother’s
wedding band. It fit perfectly, like it was meant to be there. Like that band
had been waiting all this time to be completed.

He stood up and kissed her tenderly, her lips
still swollen and sore, he stroked her hair and looked at her shaking his head,
“Samantha” was all he said as he placed feather light kisses all over her face,
at least on all the places he could, minding her still swollen shut left eye.
He pulled back and said, “you know, we still have a lot to talk about,
Cheri
.”

She nodded, “I know. I know we need to talk. But
now, you can’t just walk out and make me decide or choose on my own.” She held
up her hand, showing the ring to him, “This, this means that you stay and we
discuss. Ok?”

He nodded, “Yes, I know.”

 “And we might not always agree on things.”
She said which made him immediately spit out laughing, a very un-Laurent like
move.

 “That,
Cheri
, just might be the
understatement of the year.”

Sam stayed two more days in the hospital. As much
as she wanted to go home, even she admitted that she was in pretty bad shape.

Steve came back to check in on Sam. When he walked
in the room, what Sam saw next made her question if her pain meds were still
playing tricks on her. Laurent got up out of his chair to meet Steve half way.
He put his hands on Steve’s shoulders and kissed him on each cheek then pulled
a stunned Steve into a hug.

 “Thank you for taking care of her while I
was away.” Laurent said to Steve, who wasn’t sure if Laurent was referring to
the time that they were broken up or what. This was the same man who had barely
even acknowledged Steve’s presence over the past year. Steve just nodded and
Laurent said, “I’m going to go make a few phone calls, I’ll be right back.”

Laurent walked over to Sam, leaned down to kiss
her forehead and whispered, “I’ll be right back,
Cheri
.” Sam smiled and
nodded as she watched him walk out, then turned her attention to a
shell-shocked Steve and chuckled.

 “Who was that?” Steve asked as he walked
over to her. Before Sam could answer, for the second time in as many minutes,
Steve was shell-shocked as he looked down at the huge rock on her hand.

 “Oh. My. God! Sammy! What the hell is
that!?!?” he shrieked as he lifted her hand to stare at her ring.

 “The nurses are giving them away to their
best patients.” Sam kidded.

 “Sam, you are an even worse patient than you
are a liar! Is that really what I think it is? You, Sam Davis, are engaged? To
be married?”

Sam laughed, “It’s that unbelievable?” and then
they both laughed together, nodding, agreeing that it was, indeed.

 “I never told you that he left this for me
in New York on my birthday. He was going to ask me then. But, well, you know
the rest.” Sam said sheepishly.

Steve just shook his head, still staring at the
ring. “You know, Sam, you are one of the toughest, strongest people I know…”

 “But?”

 “But, I, I wasn’t sure if you were going to
come out of it.” Steve said, now looking directly into her eyes, and as he did,
his eyes started to fill with tears. “Awww, shit Sam, now look at me.” They
both laughed and then fell silent for a moment.

 “And now, now you think I’m going to be ok?”
Sam asked softly.

Steve nodded. “I know you don’t want to think that
it’s because of a man, and it’s not. It’s because of
him
and what he means
to you, you know that, right?”

Sam swallowed and nodded, “I think I do. You know
how hard it is for me to accept.” At which Steve rolled his eyes. “Laurent was
right, Steve. Thank you for taking care of me. I know I haven’t been easy to be
around.”

 “You can make it up to me by promising to
never break up with that man again. I’ve already gone through it twice with
you. I don’t think
I
could handle a third time.”

They both laughed and Sam nodded, “It’s a deal.”

A few hours after Steve left, Craig stopped by.
Obviously, Laurent had told him what happened. When he walked in, his
expression said it all. In all the months of training that Sam had with him,
she’d never seen him lose his cool. He was always so professional. But he
couldn’t hide his emotions when he saw her. He actually stopped just inside the
doorway to take it all in, and then, once he processed it, he came to her
bedside.

 “How ya feeling, Sam?” he asked.

She smiled. “You should see the other guy.” Which
made him smile, even though she was sure he knew the whole story from Laurent.

The poor guy looked so pained to see her like
this. Sam knew he must have seen much, much worse in combat. “I’m ok, Craig,
honest. And I wouldn’t be this good if it weren’t for you. Thank you for
everything you taught me.”

 “Just doing my job, Sam.” She could tell he
somehow felt responsible, like he had in some way let her down. He looked at
her, but then his eyes fell to the floor, a more comfortable place for the to
rest.

 “Craig, don’t look like that. Seriously, you
saved me from this being a lot worse.”

 “Well, I… God, I don’t know what to say. I’d
love to find the asshole who did this.”

Sam smiled, “You and me both.”

 “When you’re better, we’ll get back to
lessons. Now that you’ve experienced…” he trailed off. “Sorry, that’s probably
the last thing you want to think about.”

 “No, actually, I like that thought. And
you’re right, now that I’ve actually experienced a real attack, I want to get
better, learn more.” Sam said, trying to encourage him, to let him know it was
ok to say the words. But it was clear, the guy felt bad.

 “Hey, Craig, honestly, you must have seen
much worse in your time in the military.” Sam asked as she reached out for his
hand, which he actually took and nodded.

He swallowed and then said, “I’ve seen things that
I wish I could forget, that’s for sure. But it’s combat. You expect it, kind
of. I, shit, Sam, I’ve never seen any of my students actually hurt. I can’t
help but feel like I failed you.”

 “Awww, Craig, you didn’t fail me. Like I
said, it
would
have been a lot worse.” Sam assured him and he nodded.
Thankfully, Laurent walked in, and they exchanged a strong handshake, and then,
Laurent pulled Craig into one of those ‘man-hugs’ where he still was holding on
to his hand, but slapped him on his back.

 “Craig, thank you.” Laurent said earnestly
when they released. It was clear he knew just how bad it could have been.

Craig nodded and smiled a tight lipped smile.
“Well, I’ll just leave you two…” he looked down at the ground, still shaken.
Then he looked at Sam and said, “Like I said, Sam, when you’re better and
ready, we’ll pick up where we left off.”

Sam nodded, “You won’t be able to keep me away.
Thank you again, Craig.” He nodded again, looked at Laurent and gave one of
those silent nods of appreciation, and then quietly walked out.

When they released her, Laurent took her to his
house. He didn’t ask her, and she wasn’t going to argue. Not that she didn’t
think about protesting. Her knee-jerk reaction was worry that she’d seem needy
and dependent on his help. Which she was. Getting around with one arm and one
eye was a struggle. It was do-able, but everything was done at a much slower
pace. Sam always appreciated what she had, but after what she went through, her
limited mobility reminded her of how much she had to be thankful for.

And Sam couldn’t have asked for a more thoughtful,
considerate, doting, overprotective caretaker than Laurent. He barely let her
move without his help. Max and Ben enjoyed the new surroundings, exploring and
sniffing everything. Laurent made it clear who the alpha dog was, setting
boundaries and enforcing them. That first week, he took care of everything. He
worked from home so that he could care for Sam, much to her protestations.
Every meal was taken care of, he drew her baths, fed and walked her boys… there
wasn’t anything Sam needed to do that he didn’t tend to. Which was lovely. But
after a week, Sam needed to get back to some sense of normalcy, she wanted to
get back to what she and Laurent had. Because as nice and caring as this was,
she couldn’t help but feel that he pitied her.

More than that, she missed their relationship. As
loving as he was being, there was a stiffness, a certain distance. They still
weren’t back to their old selves. He was still treating her with kid gloves,
seemingly afraid she was going to break or fall to pieces if they had a real
discussion. Not to mention that they hadn’t yet been intimate. She knew he was
afraid of hurting her arm, but she was starting to worry that it was more than
that. That because of what George tried that Laurent didn’t want to touch her.
Whenever she would sidle up to him in bed, he would caress her gently and then
bid her good night, giving her a chaste kiss on the top of her head, making it
clear that nothing was going to happen. This was not what she wanted to come
back to.

She also had to get out of the house. The cabin
fever was starting to get to her. She needed to get back to the office to get
her mind on something other than healing. Because the more she could only focus
on healing, the more she focused on what happened. She knew that at some point,
she needed to put that behind her and get on with her life.

Sam made the first move. “Laurent, honey, you’ve
been wonderful this past week. I don’t know what I would have done without
you.”

 “Samantha,
honey
, what are you really
trying to say?” he smiled and joined her on the couch.

 “You yourself said we need to talk, and we
do. But we haven’t yet. And it’s been a week. And if we’re going to get back to
normal, to what we had, well, I have to stop being just your patient, and start
being your girlfriend again.”

 “Fiancé.” He corrected her. That was the
first time she heard that word and she flushed. It was odd hearing that word
describing her.

 “Fiancé.” She repeated, and he seemed to
soften.

 “Ok, Samantha, the floor is yours.”

Not surprisingly, Sam started with the easier
subject: work. “I’m feeling better and better, and I need to get back to work.”
Sam paused and Laurent grimaced. “I’ll take it slow, but I want to check in on
things, I need to, Laurent.” She paused and then added, “And, I need to talk
with whomever is heading up TimeCap now and resign the account.” He raised his
eyebrows, but before he could speak she added, “And I need to hire a lawyer to sue
their asses.”

 “You’re going to have to get in line.” He
said smugly. Sam knitted her brows, confused. Laurent started to explain. “Once
I found out that George was their new CEO, and that he chose your agency for
their rebrand, it was all too close to home. I couldn’t believe that it was
just coincidence, so I started digging.” Sam tried to be offended at the
suggestion that she didn’t win the account on merit, but even she knew, by now,
that it had nothing to do with the work. All George ever seemed interested in
was getting to Laurent.

 “When I started The Network, I patented the
distribution technology. I also had NDAs and put non-compete deals and into
place with key executives. Right after George started, our head of technology
began noticing increasing hacking attempts. They were very well hidden, in
today’s day and age, nothing can be completely buried. We found that all of the
attempts came from the same IP address: someone at TimeCap. Then, they poached
a few key execs, doubling their salaries in order to get inside information.
There are a few other pieces my investigators are putting into place, but
suffice to say that when I am through with them, there will be no more
TimeCap.”

 “Then I should file my suit quickly.” Sam
teased.

 “We will work together to make sure that you
are compensated for what their CEO did to you.”

 “Tried to do, Laurent.”

 “Samantha, how can you —“

Sam cut him off. “Laurent, he hurt me a little
bit, but all of this,” Sam gestured to her face, her shoulder, “all of that will
heal.” She took a deep breath knowing this next part of the conversation would
not be easy, or pleasant. But he opened the door, and she needed to get this
off her chest. “Laurent, when I said I need us to get back to normal, I meant
in every way.” She reached out for his hand. “You haven’t touched me since I’ve
been here. You barely even look at me when I’m naked.” Sam started getting
teary, and her voice cracked when she said,  “I feel like you think George
made me dirty, like what he tried to do ruined me for you.”

The expression on his face wasn’t clear. Sam
wasn’t sure if it was more pity, which was exactly what she didn’t want, or
just unease with the topic, or both. “Oh, Samantha,” he trailed off, shaking
his head. “I don’t think you’re dirty,
Cheri
. I, I…”

 “What Laurent? What is it? You can’t even
get the words out you’re so disgusted by me!” Sam’s emotions got the best of
her, which was starting to become the new normal for her. All the more reason
she had to get out of the house and out of her head. But until that happened,
she was one big ball of angst, and she was convinced she was right, and now
Laurent could never want her again.

 “
Cheri
, please, just listen. I’m not
disgusted by you. I love you so much. I’m just so afraid that if we try, that,
well, that it’s going to just bring back horrible memories for you. I’m so
worried that you’re going to relive what happened, and I don’t want to do that
to you, I don’t want to bring you back there in your mind.”

Sam heard what he said, and it actually did make
sense. She wasn’t completely sure she believed him yet, her emotions were still
so raw and fragile. But there was only one way to find out. “Laurent, don’t you
understand that I could never, ever associate you touching me with what that
monster did? And, the longer we wait, the more that the memory of what he did
stays with me. It happened. I can’t change that. But I want to move on. I want
to erase it. I want to think of your hands on my body. I need you to touch me.
I need to know that you still want me. The longer we go without being together,
the more he wins, by keeping us apart.”