“I'll come have breakfast with you, and take you there.” She nodded, and he kissed her one more time, and then tore himself from her arms and forced himself to walk to his car. But he ran back for one more kiss as they both laughed, and then finally he went home. And true to his word, he was back at eight-thirty in the morning. She hadn't really thought he'd meant it. She had picked up Andy and taken him to school. She was doing laundry and singing to herself when Trygve arrived. And instantly, she found herself smiling.
“Good morning, my love,” he said, coming through the door with an armload of flowers. He was the most romantic man she'd ever known, and the kindest. “Ready for breakfast?” But they never made it to the kitchen. He started kissing her again, and five minutes later they were in her bed, still unmade from the night before, and just as inviting.
“Do you think we'll ever get anything done from now on?” he asked, lying on his side, admiring her for the thousandth time that morning.
“I doubt it. I'll have to give up doing murals.”
“I'll forget writing.” But their schedules were so flexible, their lives so free, their hunger for each other so enormous, it was fun to realize how much time they had to indulge it. “Do they have day care at Andy's school?” he continued to tease, and then kissed her again. But this time she chased him out of bed. It was eleven o'clock and she had to go see Allie. Now that she had started to show some improvement, however small, Page didn't want to miss a moment with her.
He stayed with her at the hospital for the first hour, and then went home to work, and to check on Chloe.
“What about tonight?” he asked hopefully, and she grinned at him in the ICU, and shook her head.
“Andy will be home.”
“Tomorrow?” he persisted.
“He'll be out with Brad for the day,” she giggled mischievously, and the nurse smiled. It was nice to see something pleasant happen for a change.
“Perfect,” he said in answer to her announcement that Andy was spending Saturday afternoon with Brad. “Lunch? Caviar? An omelet?”
She leaned close to him and whispered in his ear so no one would hear them. “How about a peanut butter sandwich and a roll in the hay?” She laughed and he smiled wickedly at her.
“Excellent, my dear, I'll arrange it at once. Chunky or plain?”
“You're crazy!” she said.
“I love you,” he answered, as he kissed her and left the ICU. It was utterly mad but she loved him too, and as Page turned her attention to Allie's lifeless form, she couldn't stop smiling.
Chapter 16
Brad told Andy about Stephanie on a Saturday in June. He had introduced them to each other over lunch, at Prego's on Union Street in the city. Andy looked her over suspiciously, and she chatted uneasily with him. She was wearing tight white jeans and a red T-shirt. And even he would have had to admit that she was pretty, with long dark hair and big green eyes, but it was obvious that Andy didn't like her from the moment he met her. He spoke to her in a surly tone, and he was rude to her several times over lunch, saying unflattering things to her, immediately followed by high praise of his mother's looks and virtues.
“Andy,” his father frowned at him over dessert, “I want you to apologize to Stephanie.” He glowered at him, and Andy stuck out his chin and pretended not to listen.
“I'm not going to,” he said in dark tones to his ice cream.
“You've been very rude to her. You just told her that her nose is too big.” Brad would have smiled at the offense, except that he could see that Stephanie was clearly insulted. She had no children of her own, and she was not amused by him. She didn't think he was cute, she thought he was a rude little boy, and thought that Brad should probably give him a good spanking. He was a brat, and had been horrible to her during the entire lunch. He had also told her that her pants were too tight, and her chest was too small. He had announced in no uncertain terms that his mother had a much better figure, was smarter, nicer, a good cook, and Stephanie probably couldn't cook anyway, and she'd painted a mural for his school that everybody admired. He'd gone on and on, singing his mother's praises, and pointing out all of Stephanie's flaws, both real and imagined. What he had done too, without knowing it, was point out that Stephanie knew nothing about kids, and had a very limited sense of humor.
“I hate her,” Andy growled just barely audibly, staring at the table.
“In that case,” Stephanie answered him this time before Brad could. “We won't take you out to lunch again. We may not even take you out on Saturdays if you hate us,” she said spitefully, and Brad looked uncomfortable. He wanted to support her, but he needed to support Andy too, as long as he behaved himself within reason.
“Of course we'll take you out on Saturdays,” Brad said calmly, looking at each of them, and trying to reach out for Andy's hand to reassure him. He knew how frightened and upset he was, but he also wanted him to get to like Stephanie. It meant a lot to him, and if they started a war with each other, things weren't going to be easy. “I'll always see you on Saturdays, and weekends, and whenever else I can. But it would be more fun if the three of us could be together.”