38. A Good Ending

38

A GOOD ENDING

" T hanks for giving me a hand with this," Zane said four days later when they were outside and lifting wood to bring in for shelving units. "I swear to God those sisters are never done with things."

Aster laughed. "I'm learning that. But since their business is booming, it's not for me to complain."

He'd been crazy busy doing all sorts of things in the building, moving machines, working on equipment, fixing small repairs that needed it on his own.

He'd found out last week that Rose and Poppy wanted shelving units installed along one wall in the new addition to hold and organize fabrics and supplies better than having it all in the storage rooms.

They dropped the wood down that Zane and he were unloading from where the delivery truck had placed it.

"Daphne all settled?" Zane asked.

He'd moved his sister into her cabin on Monday. Though it was a holiday, no one cared, and his sister was dying to get into her own place and start her new life and career.

It's not like it was much to move. The place was furnished, Poppy buying everything new. Daphne had bawled her eyes out when she'd seen the eleven-hundred-square-foot place that had been completely remodeled and looked like it came right out of a showroom.

Daphne had been speechless and Poppy was quick to say they wanted to make sure the person who took care of their kids had the best so they stayed. But if Daphne ever wanted to move out, it would be a nice guesthouse in the future.

He was glad the pressure wasn't put on his sister to never be able to move on, but for now, he didn't think his sister wanted to ever leave the property of the McGill estate.

"She is," he said. "Happiest I've ever seen her. She deserves it."

"Just like you deserve to be here too," Zane said.

He smirked. "Dude, you really have changed and gotten all mushy."

"Ass," Zane said.

His phone rang in his pocket so he pulled it out. "Hey, give me a minute, I need to take this." He noticed it was Tucker calling him and knew the sentencing was coming after the guilty verdict a month ago. "Hi, Tucker. How did it go?"

"Great," Tucker said. "We got the man. We've suspected for a while who hired them and they finally crumbled. Both are going to serve twenty years but could have gotten much more. The man behind it was arrested and charged. That will be another long drawn-out legal battle, but it's good to know it's over."

"Carrington has to be relieved," he said. He knew he was. The teen texted him a few times a week, just checking in with him or him with her. They'd talked twice when he felt she was struggling, but he wasn't so sure he knew what to say himself.

He didn't seem to have the nightmares she did, but in his mind, he'd seen so much more in his life. She still had that threat hanging over her head.

"She is," Tucker said. "She wants to talk to you. She's right here."

"Hey, Carrington," he said. "Congrats on this."

"I know," Carrington said. "I can't wait to ditch the bodyguard, but Dad says not yet. He just won't follow me around everywhere."

"Little steps," he said.

"Thank you again," Carrington said. "I mean it. I don't know that I'll ever be able to thank you enough. I can't even imagine what could have happened."

"Don't try to imagine it. Don't think of it at all. No need to let your mind run where it never went. It's only going to work you up."

"I know, I know," Carrington said. "I understand. Dad said he's looking for a house to rent there for a week or so this summer. We'll let you know, but we'd like to visit if you're around."

"I'm not going anywhere," he said. "Let me know when."

He heard Tucker's voice in the background. "Dad said I need to let you go," Carrington said. "I'll text you soon."

"Thanks, Aster," Tucker said, getting back on the phone. "I'll be in touch soon."

"Bye," he said and hung up. He turned to Zane. "They got the guy. The other two are going away for twenty years."

"Sounds like a good ending to me," Zane said.

"Just about perfect in a way," he said.

He and Zane got to the pile of wood and picked it up, bringing more over, and the pain shot right through his chest into his shoulder and had him dropping the wood and his right hand going over his heart. He gasped for breath.

"What's wrong?" Zane asked.

"Nothing," he said. "Give me a second."

He felt like he was going to pass out, his left hand was going numb fast and he started to shake it out.

"Fuck that," Zane said, pulling his phone out. "I'm calling an ambulance. Sit down before you pass out."

"No," he said. "It's fine. It's letting up. I'm getting the feeling back in my arm."

He was flexing his fingers and moving them. The pain was still there but not as much. At least he didn't feel as if he was going to throw up.

"If you don't let me get an ambulance here, then I'm taking you to the ER. No arguing."

It was that Army Commander look in Zane's eyes that told him he had two choices. Go in on his own or be brought in.

At least he gave him the chance to make his own decision.

"We can go," he said.

"Smart choice," Zane said.

They walked over to Zane's truck and got in, his buddy driving faster than normal and getting them to Lawrence and Memorial in fifteen minutes.

They got checked in and had to wait, but by then the pain wasn't as bad and he felt like an idiot being here.

It wasn't as busy as it could have been, but they still waited over an hour before they got in.

Zane had been on his phone texting Lily to let her know what was going on and where he was.

Aster hadn't texted Raine. She was teaching and there was no way he was going to bother her. He was positive this wasn't that big of a deal anyway and he'd let her know later. Maybe.

No, he'd tell her. But he didn't even know what to say just yet, so for now, it was best to wait it out.

"You don't have to wait here with me," Aster said.

"I'm not leaving," Zane said. "Unless you want to get Raine here or your sister?"

"No," he said. "Neither needs to be worried right now. I hope Lily doesn't tell Poppy and Poppy Daphne."

He hadn't even thought of that. He was just thinking of Raine, as he wasn't used to having family around.

"Lily won't say anything to Poppy," Zane said.

"Good," he said.

The curtain pushed back and a nurse came in. "I'm going to get your vitals. It says here you had chest pains and loss of feeling in your left arm. You had open heart surgery a year ago."

"Yes," he said, going through his medical history again. "My last cardiologist appointment was fine."

"That's good," the nurse said. "But that was then and this is now. I'm going to get you hooked up for an EKG and then the doctor will be in and we'll run more tests for sure."

"I'm sure," he said, preparing himself to be here most of the day. "You don't have to stay."

He pulled his shirt off and saw Zane's eyes go to his chest and the scar. "I'm not leaving."

"I figured you say that," he said, sighing.

His EKG and echocardiogram came back fine. Just what he'd figured.

He'd been in this room for two hours so far watching TV and chatting with Zane and waiting to be discharged, but then twisted and got a sharp pain again in his chest. The alarms were going off and the nurse and doctor ran in.

"The EKG still isn't showing heart damage," the doctor said. "But you're in pain and your heart rate and blood pressure are high."

"No, shit," he said, breathing in deeply.

"Can you order an MRI for me to look things over?"

He turned his head when River walked in and asked that. "What are you doing here and how did you find out?"

"I read your echocardiogram," River said. "The cardiologist on call isn't available and I'm certified to look things over in situations like this. I pass it on if it needs something more. Yours is fine. But you're not."

The pain was subsiding again. "What do you want to see?" the ER doctor asked. He hadn't caught the guy's name and it didn't matter in his mind.

"Aster had open heart surgery due to a gunshot to the chest. Yes, he had damage and repairs around his heart, but the notes said the pain is in his shoulder and under his armpit at times, right?"

"Yeah," Aster said.

"I want to see if there are bone fragments that might not have been noticed at the time of his injury. They could have moved around in his body," River said. "Call it a hunch at this point."

Something that never occurred to him.

The ER doctor said, "Get it scheduled. We can at least try to rule it out if anything."

The ER doctor left after that. "Thanks," he said to River.

"Don't thank me yet," River said. "You need to tell Raine you're here."

"I'd rather wait," he said. "You can't do it. That's a HIPAA violation."

Zane coughed in his hand when Aster said that.

"You're right. I can't. But don't think she isn't going to find out another way."

"What are you laughing at?" he asked Zane when River left.

"He's not wrong," Zane said.

"I'll deal with it when I have to."

Which was two hours later when he returned from having his MRI and just had to wait for the results.

River had said he'd get them read as soon as he could.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me you were here," Raine said almost stomping in.

"How did you find out?" he asked.

"Ivy," she said.

He should have figured. He didn't even need to ask how Ivy found out. It had to have been from Lily most likely. Zane was still sitting there grinning.

"Guess I can leave now," Zane said.

"Yeah," he said. "I can't even be pissed because it's not like I asked you not to have Lily tell Ivy."

"That's right," Zane said. "You only mentioned that Poppy didn't tell Daphne. I gave you a few hours to come to your senses and realized it wasn't happening."

Raine had steam all but coming out of her ears. Zane left quickly after that.

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't want to worry you," he said. "It's not my heart."

"The fact you are here tells me you're worried it might be your heart," she said. "You should have told me."

He saw the tears gathering in her eyes and realized that he made a huge misstep here.

"I'm not used to people worrying about me."

"But you knew enough to make sure your sister didn't find out but not the woman you love."

"I'm sorry, Raine. I didn't even think about Daphne. It wasn't until Zane brought it up when we were here that I asked if he could make sure Poppy didn't say anything if she knew. It could have been too late at that point. I'm not used to having people around worrying about me, but I did think of you right away and knew I'd tell you tonight when I got home. If it was my heart and serious, I swear to you, I would have made sure you were called. But once they said that was all fine, I felt the worst had passed."

She was staring at him, trying to determine if he was telling the truth, he could see.

"You're not lying to me?"

"I haven't lied to you about anything," he said.

The fact he hadn't told her about the money he had in the bank hadn't been a lie. It was just something he didn't share.

Maybe it was wrong on his part, but he wasn't going to think about that right now.

"I want to be so mad at you," she said.

"I know. I see it. I'm sorry I worried you. That is what I was trying to prevent."

"Tell me what is going on since your heart is fine," she said, sitting down. "There has to be something wrong. Can they figure it out?"

"He's got two pieces of bone and some scar tissue," River said, coming back into the room. "Scar tissue around your heart and upper chest, you know about that. It happens and not this problem."

"No," he said. "Where are the bone fragments?"

River put his laptop down. "Guess you told Raine."

"Ivy did," she said.

"Don't get her worked up again," Aster said. "I just calmed her down."

"Raine doesn't get worked up much, but you can deal with that," River said, grinning. "Here and here are the pieces of bone. My guess is the bullet caused it and they were moving around and not noticed at the time."

"I'm pretty sure they were more worried about repairing everything else," he said drily.

"Exactly. But now, this one right here, it's pressing against your radial nerve."

"So if it's removed this all goes away?" he asked.

"That's not for me to say," River said. "For now, it's not life or death. I'm sure the attending physician will be in to talk about that. Nothing that absolutely needs to be done today."

Aster nodded, relieved it appeared to be something as simple as a stupid piece of bone floating in his body and pressing against something.

"Then let's get you out of here," Raine said. "Because we've got some talking to do."

Guess he wasn't going to get let off the hook as he'd hoped.