Page 81 of Secret Husband
“I’ll check on her.” Sadie sent a significant look at her husband, then went upstairs, leaving me with Gunnar.
We stood in a silent face-off for several seconds until he finally broke it.
“Jason said you’ve been looking after her.”
“Yes, and I would have continued, but I cannot stay.” Maya was unable to remain with my father overnight. As much as I would have liked to care for Lauren until she was better, this solution made the most sense.
“Where’s Thad?”
“I do not know. I have been here for several hours, and he has not appeared.”
Gunnar continued to stare at me. I had met him a couple of times when I was starting out in the pros. Back then he never gave me any hint that he knew of my connection to Lauren in college, and now there was no indication that he knew of the upgrade. If anything, he looked perplexed about my presence.
Sadie returned. “She seems to be sleeping soundly. Her temperature is at 99.3, so that’s good. Or better.” She came closer, and I saw the resemblance now. The same silver-eyed gaze searched my face. “Thank you for being there for her, though ...” She looked at her husband. “I hadn’t realized that you and Lauren were close.”
“We have been friends since college. I have left soup in the fridge, but she is over the worst of it and can probably start eating something more solid soon. It is important that she drinks plenty of water.”
Sadie shared another glance with her husband, then smiled at me. “We’ll take care of her. I can text you with any updates if you like.”
“Yes, please do.” I inputted my number in her phone and passed it back to her.
My gaze drifted to the stairs, the urge to go to her almost painful. My wife was my responsibility. “I would stay if I could.”
“We understand. What you’ve done has been wonderful.” She kissed me on the cheek. “I hope we meet again, Alexei.”
With a nod, I left before my feet rebelled and raced up those stairs three at a time.
Chapter Thirty-One
Lauren
* * *
I awoke to find my sister sitting beside my bed.
“Where’s Alexei?”
“He had to leave, but Jason called us.” She leaned over and touched my forehead. “You feel better.”
I felt like I’d lost twenty pounds and about fifty percent of my sanity, but the urge to hurl was no more, so I counted it as a win.
I sat up while Sadie plumped the pillow behind my back, then stood and opened the drapes. She wore one of her gorgeous designs—a lovely coral and white polka dot dress. Sometimes the fact that my sister was a world-famous dress designer blew my mind. Sadie Yates Designs was synonymous with full-skirted, fifties-era, Rockabilly dresses, very forgiving of a woman’s more ample assets. They had never been my style—a little too pretty—but I appreciated how gorgeous they looked on everyone else. At fourteen years older than me, she was a woman in her prime, her strawberry blonde hair still naturally vibrant. She had always been curvy, and those curves suited her well, the perfect advertisement for her brand.
She retook her seat on the bed. “Why was Alexei Nazarov here?”
“He’s helping me land a client, a player he knows. I blew off the call, so he was worried.”
My sister narrowed her frosted blue eyes at me, the ones we shared with our father. She wasn’t happy with that explanation.
I searched for a subject change. “How’s Foster doing? I’m sorry I missed camp the last couple of days.”
“Good. He’s having fun, especially with Alexei as his instructor.” She paused a moment, expecting me to add to the lore about Nazarov. When I didn’t jump in, she went on. “And I think Matti has a girlfriend. He keeps sending pictures of all these iconic places in Europe and I’ve caught the same girl in the background three times.”
“What’s the big secret? He’s twenty-three years old.” My other nephew, Matti, Gunnar and Sadie’s eldest, was backpacking across the pond for the summer.
My eyes alighted on something unexpected, sitting on my nightstand.
“Iggy!” I grasped the bedraggled-looking bear from a shelf and took a closer look. Held together by stitches to his eyes, arm, and the heart-shaped patch on his chest, I gazed on him as happy-sad memories washed over me. “I can’t believe you still have him.”
