The Lies That Save Us (The Broken Heart Series) (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was late afternoon when Max stepped into Alexa’s room with Keith.  What he saw made him smile.

Alexa continued sleeping peacefully, and there with his head on the bed beside her was Cayman, leaning over from the chair.  On the bed beside Cayman lay the book, “Green Eggs and Ham” open, but not finished.  

“Looks like he read himself to sleep,” smiled Keith. 

“Yeah, sure looks like it,” chuckled Max.

“I’ve missed her Keith, I’ve really missed her.”  Max smiled admiringly at his daughter.

“Oh, she has missed you as well.  Not many days went by she didn’t talk about you one way or another.  You were always her hero.”  Keith grinned as he spoke.

“I never told her the truth about her mother.  She still believes LeAnn died in childbirth.  She was always so small, too small to understand.  Then suddenly she was old enough to understand, but I couldn’t tell her without telling her what I actually did for a living.  I keep wondering if that decision, to not tell her about my work, was a mistake.”

“No, Max,” said Keith firmly.  “You probably saved her life.  If those men even thought she knew more, they would have tortured her until she spilled it all, then they would have killed her.  I would think an idiot could have seen that she didn’t have a clue about your life.  It’s just a good thing Dixon was there to at least offer some protection.”

“Yes, I owe Dixon a great debt.  It’s got to be hard to be thought of as a traitor and then have to integrate back into the team.  We’ll have to help with that.

Max gazed at Keith with warmth, his eyes moist with tears that did not fall.

“I can’t thank you enough for looking after her.  I suppose she didn’t think she needed a lot of looking after.  I hope she wasn’t a pain in the butt for you.”
  He said softly.

“Are you kidding?  I missed nearly all the years of her life as a child, and clearly all of her young adult life.  It was a pleasure, every minute. 

“I was afraid she wouldn’t see the ad I placed in the Page newspaper.  I was hoping it was something she would be interested in.  It paid off in a big way, and I was so glad to see her arrive in Startup.  I suppose they’ll move away from there now.  That will be the hardest thing for me.”  Keith gazed at Alexa with a mixture of pride and sadness.

Max clapped him on the shoulder.  “Couldn’t have asked for a better brother, you know.  It helped me a lot knowing you were there with her.”

“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”  Keith said, tearing up a little and blinking them back.

Alexa stirred just then and smacked her lips, trying to get some moisture into her mouth.  She turned her head slowly, eyes still closed and moaned softly.

“Cayman…Cayman…” she whispered, then mumbled several unrecognizable words.

“She’s crazy about him, you know,” said Keith.  “From the first minute she saw him, but darned if she would admit it.  You’re right about the stubborn part.  I do believe she got that from you.”

“Well,” began Max, a little wistfully, “she got a lot of that from her mother.  Wish she could have known her, but I guess it would have been like looking in a mirror.  Maybe they wouldn’t have gotten on so well, being so much alike.  I guess we’ll never know the answer to that one. ” Max smiled sadly.

***

Alexa awoke to a feeling of fog.  There were soft voices around her and she panicked for a moment, wondering if now they would finally finish their job.  She moved her legs, moved her fingers, her arms.  She could feel the clean sheets against her legs, smell the sterile hospital room.  She wasn’t in the warehouse and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Slowly her mind remembered hearing her father at her side when she was taped to the chair.  She remembered whispering his name.  Was it really him?  Had she been dreaming?

She tried to force her eyes open but they simply would not cooperate.  Her mouth was dry and she needed water.  Were her eyes still so swollen she couldn’t open them?

Gradually the fog lifted and she tried to blink.  Her eyes opened.  The light in the room was bright and blinding.  Everything around her was a blur.  Someone was sitting on the bed beside her.  She moved her head to the right and saw silver hair. 

Was it true?  Had it really been her dad that rescued her from the cartel?  Was he really there?

Alexa forced her eyes to focus on the person beside her.

“Daddy…?  Is it…you?”  her mouth was dry, her voice hoarse as she whispered the words.  “How…?”

She’d buried her father, watched his casket put in the ground.  She was the first to throw a handful of dirt over it.  How is it him?  How could it be him?

“Yes Princess, it’s me.  I’m right here.”  Max picked up her free hand and held it gently in his.  No one had called her princess for a very long time.  It was her dad’s pet word for her, had been for as long as she could remember.

Tears filled her eyes as she squeezed his hand.  A soft cry left her throat as she focused on her dad.  “It’s you?  It’s really you?”

“Yes, Alexa, it’s me.  I’m here and I’ll never leave you again.”  Her dad whispered as he lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed her.

She smiled weakly, trying to soak it all in to a head that just wasn’t accepting logical thought.

“Where…am I?”

“You’re in the hospital, Alexa.  You were in pretty bad shape when we brought you in.  I’ll explain all of it to you when you’re better, but for now, we’re a family again.”

“How long…been out?”  Her voice was still so dry and she coughed bringing horrendous pain to her sides. “Water, please…” she said trying not to cough again as she held her side.

Max quickly grabbed the water pitcher and poured some in the cup.  He put it to her lips, cradling her head with his other hand.

“Mmm…good…good…thanks,” she whispered.  That felt much better as the pain in her side subsided. “Where were you?”

“They’ll be plenty of time for all of that later.  You had surgery, honey, and you’ve had a rough go of it.  Let’s just think about getting you better for now.  It’ll give us something to talk about when we get you home.”  Max patted her hand and smiled at her.

Alexa looked to the end of her bed and saw Keith standing there.

“Hey, Keith,” she said a little stronger.  “How did you get here?”

Keith chuckled, “Well, we do have modern transportation these days, you know.”

Alexa smiled as her dad touched her cheek.

“Honey, I want to introduce you to your Uncle Keith,” said Max, smiling.  “He used to throw you in the air when you were tiny and make you laugh and laugh.”

Her eyes closed for a moment and she remembered a dark haired man throwing her in the air.  It was an early memory and she smiled.  She remembered him chasing her playfully around the living room.  The memories were fuzzy, but she remembered bits and pieces.

“You’re…you’re…my uncle?”  she asked, trying to digest this new information.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Max patted her hand.

“He was in the same situation I was, only for probably twenty years, instead of one, like me.  Every time we tried to bring him out, that same cartel came right after him.  It was decided he would stay hidden until we could stop them altogether.  That’s why you don’t remember him, and that’s also why he couldn’t say anything to you.  He’s the one that came forward with the additional funds for the diner.  Knowing you, that’s been bugging you as well.”

“Are you kidding me?” 
she exclaimed in her still raspy voice.  Her eyes were wide with surprise.

“How many times did I talk to you about that?  You are a
great
liar, Uncle Keith, but thank you for helping me get the diner, really.  What an amazingly generous thing to do.  I’ve wanted to say that to my benefactor for the longest time.”

“You’ve said it over and over.  You just didn’t know you were saying it to the one that gave you the funds,” Keith smiled proudly at her.  “You’ve done incredibly well with the diner, Alexa, incredibly well.   My little donation just makes me part owner, right?  So I have an interest in how things go there.”  He laughed at his own joke. 

“It absolutely does!  I told you how you reminded me of my dad, didn’t I?  I said it all the time!” 

She smiled at him, still weak, but gaining her voice.

“I kept telling him that, Dad, because he’d do things that just looked like you!  Now I know why.”

Suddenly she realized someone was missing.  She felt a stab of fear pierce her, rising
up from her stomach like bad heartburn.  Her eyes widened and filled with tears.

“Where’s Cayman?  Daddy, where’s Cayman?  Is he okay?”

Her voice was loud enough that it woke the sleeping Cayman on the other side of her.  He sat straight up and winced at the pain in his hip.  Still a little groggy, he had to take a minute to remember where he was.  It didn’t take him long, and he blushed at the open copy of “Green Eggs and Ham” lying on the bed. 

He gasped as he realized Alexa had woken up.  He grabbed one of his crutches and stood up beside her bed.  Lifting her hand softly to his lips he kissed it, never taking his eyes from hers.

“I was reading to you, did you hear me?”  He said, grinning.

Her tears fell as she gripped his hand.  She was so thankful he was alive, the fear she’d felt in that moment faded slowly leaving a lasting impression
on her heart.  She couldn’t live without this man, she didn’t even want to try.  She wouldn’t take her eyes from his, feeling his hand in hers, trying to make herself believe he was alive.  There was so much she wanted to say.

“I’m…I’m so sorry, Cayman, so sorry.  I thought I’d never see you again and all I could think of was how I’d  never get to tell you how sorry I was for treating you the way I did.”

Cayman softly put his finger over her lips to shush her.

“You were smart to not trust me, Alexa.  Once I got my emotions mixed up with what I was supposed to be doing, I did a lousy job of being professional.  I should have watched you better; I shouldn’t have let you go into that shop by yourself.  It’s me that’s sorry.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” she said with a smile.

Taking a deep breath and wrinkling his eyes, he moved slowly through the pain in his hip.  He bent over the bed and planted a
gentle kiss on her lips.  He didn’t care that her father was there, he’d wanted to do that from the minute he got to the hospital.  The warmth of those lips heated him through and he kissed her again and again.

“Alright already!” exclaimed Max.  “Am I going to have to get a bucket of water?”

“A hose might be more appropriate,” laughed Keith.

Cayman winced in pain as he stood again and Alexa caught the look on his face.

“You’re hurt!”  she said, concerned.  Then she laughed and said, “Again?”

“Yeah, well, it would seem loving you is going to be one of my most painful experiences.  Can’t seem to keep you away from the gunfire for some reason, and when I try, it hurts.”

“Don’t make me laugh,” said Alexa as she gingerly held her side.  “It hurts to laugh.”

“Yup,” said Cayman looking from Keith to Max, “heard that one before, too, and from those very same lips.  This relationship could be very dangerous for me.”

Alexa lifted her hand and slapped him playfully on the arm.

“You better be nice to me or I’ll tell your mom.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The room erupted in laughter.  Patrick had just walked into the room when Alexa made that announcement.

“She knows Mom?”  Patrick said in surprise.

“No, she doesn’t know Mom,” said Cayman with a smile, “but she knows enough about her to know she would automatically be on her side with finally having another woman around.”

“A wise woman, indeed, your mother,” said Max walking up to stand beside Cayman.  Placing his arm around his shoulder, he smiled down at his daughter. 

Alexa smiled at Cayman. 
She was thoroughly enjoying the corner she’d put him in. 

“You know, Alexa,” began Max, “I have always thought of this young man as the son I never had, his brother as well.  We’ve been in some pretty tight scrapes and they’ve saved my life more times than I can count.”

“Back atcha,” smiled Patrick, “I’m sure the count of who saved who the most would end up in your favor.”

The feeling in the room was family.  It felt like a family separated for some time had now found their way back to each other.  Alexa smiled and then put on a mock frown.

“Well, I guess that does it for you and I, Mr. Richards.  I can’t be making out with my brother anymore, now can I?  How gross is that?”

There was another eruption of laughter.

“You’re all going to have to leave if you keep this up,” warned Alexa.  “I told you it hurts to laugh.”

Cayman cleared his throat and looked at Max.

“About that…I have a question for you, an important one.”

“Now, that sounds serious,” smiled Max.

“Maxwell Menetti,” said Cayman, clearing his nervous throat, and stepping back a bit so they stood face to face, “I would like to ask you for permission to marry your incredible daughter, if she’ll have me.”

“Well, I can’t speak for her, of course, because she’d skin me alive,” he laughed, “but I can’t think of a thing that would make me happier.”

Cayman looked around the room and grinned.  He moved the chair away from the bed and set his crutches against the bed.  He started to kneel down on one knee.  The pain in his hip wouldn’t cooperate, so he awkwardly stood again and inched as close to the bed as he could, pulling a small box from his jacket pocket.

“Alexa Menetti; I’ve looked my whole life for you.  From the minute I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the one I’d searched for.  If you’ll have me, I promise to cherish you until the day I die.  You will always be my priority, my beautiful soul mate, my wife.  Alexa, I love you, more than I love breath itself.  Will you marry me?”

He handed her the box with an amazingly large diamond engagement ring sparkling in the light. 

Alexa’s eyes filled with tears as she reached for his hand. 

“Yes…Yes I will marry you, and cherish you as well for the rest of our lives.  I love you, Cayman Richards.  I always will.”

Cheers erupted in the hospital room.  Soft, not so explosive as they would have been if they hadn’t
been
in a hospital room.  Cayman flinched again at the pain in his hip as he bent over and kissed Alexa.

He stood and took the ring from the box, placing it proudly on her finger.  The diamond nearly covered the whole of her finger below the knuckle. 

“I just have one question for you, Cayman,” she said seriously, struggling to take her eyes from the gorgeous stone.

“What?”  he said, his nervousness gone.

“Are you gonna cringe like that every time you kiss me?”

“Now, you might think that is a negative thing, my love, but it is merely a manifestation of how desperately and completely I love you.”

The room filled with a moan from the whole group, except Alexa. She grinned at him encouragingly instead...

“You can call me ‘my love’ anytime you want to.”

She pulled him down into another kiss, ignoring the pain on his face.