14. Gemma

"Barbie"s bes... best friend is named M...Midge," Jewel reads aloud haltingly from her book, her little finger tracing the words. "Barbie and Midge like to play dress-up to...geth...er."

I smile and nod encouragingly from the chair beside her hospital bed. "That"s right, baby. You"re doing great!"

Internally, I"m a mess. Sebastian isn't here and I miss him.

I keep flashing back to our dragonback rides. He's taken us on several over the past couple days and Jewel is in heaven. Sebastian has been by our sides non-stop, but today for the first time since we married, he had to go to some business meeting and I can't help the anxiety surging through me.

He's coming back, Gemma. He's an important man. He just had business to attend to, that's all, I keep telling myself.

Hell, on the Forbes 400 list, he's number three—yes, I googled him. Of course he needs to conduct business sometimes.

It"s just... everything about that man is amazing. The way he"s stepped up, no questions asked. The way he treats Jewel like his own. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know? For him to realize what a mess he"s gotten himself into and hightail it out of here.

He's shown up day after day, being ridiculously perfect. It"s enough to make a sleep-deprived, coffee-guzzling cynic like me start to believe in fairy tales. Or at least in really, really good men.

The problem is, Jewel... she"s getting worse. Even getting out of bed is becoming too much for her. She"s just so tired all the time.

A light knock on the door interrupts my musings and I glance up to see Sebastian poking his ridiculously handsome face in.

"Knock, knock," he says with a crooked grin. "How are my two favorite ladies doing?"

"Daddy Sebby!" Jewel"s whole face lights up and she makes grabby hands at him until he swoops in to plant a big kiss on her cheek.

"Hey there, Rare Jewel. Whatcha reading?" He settles his big frame on the bed next to her.

As Jewel regales him with the latest adventures of Barbie and Midge, I take a moment to just...look at him. At them. My little family.

And then Sebastian stands up, something clutched in his hands. Wait, is that...a syringe?

"Sebastian," I say slowly, eyeing the thing warily. "What is that?"

He flashes me a reassuring smile as he fiddles with Jewel"s IV. "This is the rarest medicine on earth for our Rarest Jewel."

I stare at him, my mouth opening and closing like a trout. "But...what...how?"

Sebastian just shakes his head, almost imperceptibly, the implication clear. He"ll explain later. I watch as he injects the contents of the syringe into Jewel's IV line.

"All done," he announces, giving Jewel"s nose a playful boop.

Jewel suddenly bursts into a bout of giggles. "It tickles!" Her little nose scrunches up. "Like bubbles in my tummy."

Sebastian chuckles. "Bubbles in your tummy, huh? Must be a side effect."

Jewel"s giggles dissolve into a yawn and as her eyelids start to droop, Sebastian tucks the blanket around her and hums softly until she drifts off.

I"m still staring at him as he straightens, trying to wrap my brain around...well, everything.

"Sebastian," I whisper, glancing between him and our now-snoozing kid. "What did you do? How did you?—"

He presses a finger to my lips, stopping my inquisition. "Shhh. Not here. Let"s go for a walk, yeah? She'll be out for a while and you look like you could use some fresh air."

He"s not wrong. I"ve been cooped up in here for so long, I forgot what the outdoors looks like. So I let him lead me out of the room and down the hall, my mind whirring with questions.

As we step out into the sunny California afternoon, I spin to face him. "Okay, spill. What was in that syringe? Where did you get it? Is it safe? Is it legal? Because I swear, Sebastian, if you just shot her up with some black market snake oil?—"

"Whoa, whoa, hey." He grasps my shoulders, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles. "Give me a little credit here, hot mama. You really think I"d do anything to put Jewel at risk?"

I deflate, my cheeks heating. "No, of course not. I"m sorry. I just..." I blow out a breath, my shoulders sagging. "I"m just scared. I"m so scared all the time."

His expression softens and he draws me into a hug, his strong arms enveloping me. I tuck my face into his chest and breathe him in, letting his warmth and solidity ground me. "I know, baby. I know. But I swear on my life, that medicine is the real deal. Remember how I told you I would stop at nothing to find her a cure?" I nod against his chest. "Well, I meant it. I called in every favor, pulled every string, and managed to get my hands on the one thing that will give our girl a fighting chance."

At this point, I have no choice but to trust him. We're out of any other options.

Sebastian makes idle chitchat as we stroll at an easy pace across the manicured hospital grounds, sun on our faces and a gentle breeze stirring my loose curls. It"s nice. Peaceful even, if I can get my brain to stop playing twenty questions with Jewel"s miracle cure.

After about thirty minutes, we make our way back inside. Sebastian guides me to the elevator bank and I lean into him, my adrenaline-fueled nerves giving way to bone-deep fatigue.

The elevator dings our arrival on the pediatric floor and the doors are barely open before a nurse comes barreling toward us. Her eyes are wide, cheeks flushed, and she"s got a pointer finger jabbing in our direction.

Oh God. The oxygen rushes from my lungs in a dizzying whoosh. This is it. The moment I"ve been dreading for six long years. They"re going to tell me that Jewel?—

"There you are!" she says. I've been looking for you."

I grasp Sebastian"s hand in a white-knuckled grip, the fluorescent lights suddenly too bright, the squeak of the nurse"s rubber soles too loud. I sway on my feet, a clammy sweat breaking out across my brow as my vision goes spotty around the edges. I"m vaguely aware of Sebastian barking questions at the nurse, but it"s like my ears are stuffed with cotton. All I hear is the roar of my pulse, the thready mantra of "no, please no" looping in my head.

And then a single sentence gets through, shattering my spiraling panic.

"Gemma, it"s a miracle!"

A miracle? What does that?—?

My legs are moving before I even register the impulse, Sebastian"s steadying grip on my arm the only thing keeping me from face-planting as I tear down the winding corridor, dodging nurses and bewildered orderlies.

"Please," I rasp to no one in particular as I skid to a halt outside Jewel"s room, my trembling hand on the knob. "Please, let her be?—"

I crash through the door, nearly stumbling into the head of my daughter"s pediatric specialist team, Dr. Rajiv.

His normally dour face is split by a blinding grin, the fluorescent lights bouncing merrily off the top of his shiny bald head. He looks positively giddy, not a state I"ve ever known the man to adopt before now. It"s a little terrifying, to be honest.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Jewel shouts, then bursts into giggles.

"Ms. Carter, I was just coming to find you."

"Mrs. Dabertzholder," Sebastian corrects with a growl.

"Uh, right, pardon me, Mr and Mrs. Dabertzholder?—"

"Just tell me what's going on with my daughter!" I shout, my very last nerve frayed thin.

Dr. Rajiv chuckles—actually chuckles! "See for yourself." He gestures to the bed and I nearly collapse when I take a good, long look at my baby girl sitting up in bed, her cheeks flushed with healthy color, eyes bright and sparkling.

I rush to her bedside on wobbly legs, hands and eyes roaming every precious inch of her, cataloging each minute change. The hollows of her cheeks filled out, the bruised half-moons beneath her eyes faded to near-nothingness. She"s practically glowing.

How can this be?

"Wha—?" It"s all I can manage, my tongue suddenly leaden and useless. Sebastian appears behind me, palm curled around my shoulder, grounding me with his touch. I barely notice.

Heart lodged somewhere in my esophagus, I inch my way into the room...

I gather her up in my arms, pressing frantic kisses to downy hair, plump cheeks, the tip of that pert little nose. I"m laughing and crying and probably getting snot all over her, but I can"t bring myself to care because this is a miracle. A living, breathing, giggling miracle.

"Jewel?" It comes out a broken whisper, tears already making hot tracks down my cheeks. "Oh my God, baby..."

"What...?" I croak, the question implied as I glance between Dr. Rajiv and my beaming husband. "How...?"

The doctor spreads his hands, wonderment plain on his face. "I"ve never seen anything like it. It"s utterly unprecedented. Total remission of all symptoms. Not a trace of her disease to be found. If I wasn"t witnessing it with my own eyes, I wouldn"t believe it."

Dr. Rajiv shakes his head. "We must run tests, of course. Full work-up. Document every?—"

"Whoa, whoa," Sebastian cuts in smoothly. "I think Rare Jewel has been poked and prodded enough for one lifetime."

I nod emphatically, pressing Jewel a little closer to my chest. The idea of subjecting her to even one more needle makes me want to scream.

"Here"s what we"re going to do, doc." Sebastian"s using his business shark voice now, crisp and leaving no room for debate. "We"re going to take our daughter out of this hospital." A delicious shiver snakes up my spine at his commanding tone. "Right now. Today."

Dr. Rajiv"s mouth opens and closes, goldfish-style, his forward momentum stalled by Sebastian"s unyielding resolve. I smother a grin in Jewel"s hair. That"s my man. I should probably care more about protocols and medical anomalies and science-y breakthroughs. But honestly? I don"t give a single, solitary damn.

My gaze meets Sebastian"s over Jewel"s head and we share a moment. One of those deep, soulful connections that speaks volumes without a single word.

And then Sebastian says loudly to the doctor, the nurses, to anyone within earshot, "Our family is going home."