Chapter Nineteen

~ Beck ~

My legs were shaking as I got off the life flight helicopter and my gut was doing loops. I wanted to drop down and kiss the pavement, but I was too busy hurrying into the executive hanger.

It was my first time flying in a helicopter and I could say without doubt that I never wanted to do it again. Airplanes were fine. As long as I didn't look out the window, I didn't have to see the ground. Helicopters were practically all windows.

When we reached the hanger, we were met by a group of men. They didn't look much like the men that Jake had brought with him. There was a deadly air about them that sent my scurrying behind Jake.

"King, thank you for coming." Jake shook the hand of a very large auburn haired man before turning to the smaller man at his side. "Spencer." He gestured to Scotty's father, who was being wheeled in on a gurney. "This is Mr. Prescott. He had a stroke ten years ago, but I suspect he had a little help staying in this condition. Can you take a look at him?"

"Of course." The smaller man—Spencer—walked over to the gurney. He flashed Mr. Prescott a smile and then began talking to him as he took his vitals. "Hello, sir. I'm Dr. Spencer King, but you can call me Spencer. I'm just going to check you over and make sure that you're good for your flight."

Mr. Prescott must have twitched or murmured something because Spencer glanced over his shoulder. "Where's his son?"

I glanced at my watch. "He should still be having dinner. He has about thirty minutes left to go before he can get out of there. He's got to stay that long to give us time to get everyone settled on the plane."

Spencer turned back to the man on the gurney. "Hear that, sir? Your son will be here soon. In the meantime, let me take a look at you, okay? You have a long flight ahead of you and I want to make sure you'll be safe, healthy, and comfortable."

This time I saw Mr. Prescott's finger twitch.

I rushed over to the other side of the gurney. I grabbed the old man's hand and held it gently between mine. "Mr. Prescott, I introduced myself before. My name is Beck. Uh...James Beckerman." I smiled because I could finally say this. "I'm Scotty's husband."

There was a slight widening of the old man's eyes and he squeezed my hand. I prayed that meant he was in support of our marriage.

"I love your son very much, Mr. Prescott," I stated. "Scotty is a wonderful man. You've raised him well. You should be very proud of him. I am."

The man's lips trembled for a moment before spreading into a small smile. I took that as his agreement with what I said.

"Scotty will be here soon. I promise." God, I prayed I could keep that promise. "And then the three of us are moving to New York City. Scotty's friends from the university have an apartment waiting for us. Jake has a job set up for Scotty when we get there and I'm going to stay home and take care of you until you get back on your feet, so I hope we can be friends."

Mr. Prescott squeezed my hand again.

I took that as a yes.

After Spencer was done checking him over, Jake called him off to one side and handed him the papers and pills he'd had me put in the paramedic bag. Both men seemed a little agitated.

I patted Mr. Prescott's hand. "I'll be right back," I said before walking over to the two men. "What's wrong?" I could tell from the glowers on their faces that something was wrong.

"It's nothing I can prove without further testing," Spencer explained, "but I suspect the symptoms Mr. Prescott is suffering from are not being caused by his stroke."

Scotty and I had suspected that before, but it had been nothing we could prove. We weren't doctors. "How do you know?"

"His vitals show definite signs of improving in-between his medications times. If anything, they should be getting worse, but they're not." He glanced up, shaking his head. "That's not how medications work."

Jake held up the bag of pills. "Could it be the medication?"

"I suspect so," Spencer replied. "It's nothing I can prove without lab testing, you understand, but, unless the nurse was lying when she wrote this stuff down on his chart, he shouldn't be feeling better when the medication is leaving his system."

"I can have Dr. Teller take a look at these pills when we get back to New York," Jake said. "He has a fully functional laboratory set up in my office building. It shouldn't take more than a few hours for him to find out the composition of these pills."

"Have him call me as soon as he knows something," Spencer directed. "I'll give Mr. Prescott a couple of days to rest after we get back home, but then I want him to see a doctor and have a full work-up done."

"Can you recommend someone?"

Spencer nodded. "I have a few friends from my medical school days. I'll make some phone calls and get something set up by the end of the week."

"Is there anything we should be doing for him in the meantime?" I asked.

"I still need to go over his list of medications, but I think making him comfortable is the most important thing. He, surprisingly, doesn't have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, so we're good there."

I glanced back toward Scotty's father. "Is there a chance he could get better?"

"I think there is a pretty good chance of that."

Tears sprouted in my eyes. Scotty would be so happy if he got to see his father whenever he wanted to. If his father was able to recover even half his normal functions, it would be a true blessing.

"Beck, Chelsea wanted me to let you know that she is riding with the movers. She wants to make a stop on the way out of the state to see some relatives and then she will join us in New York."

That would explain why I didn't see her anywhere.

"Scotty should be leaving that stupid dinner pretty soon," Jake said. "We should get Mr. Prescott on the plane and get him settled. My pilot needs to start the preflight so we can leave the moment Scotty gets here."

I nodded and headed back over to Mr. Prescott. I smiled down at him as as I took his hand one more time. "We're going to get you settled on Jake's plane now," I explained. "Jake wants to leave the moment Scotty gets here."

I smiled when I got another hand squeeze. I held his hand all the way to the stairs leading up to the plane and then waited until he had been carried up them by some of Jake's men before hurrying up after him.

I had to stand back as they settled Mr. Prescott in the back bedroom, which was odd in itself. A bedroom in an airplane? This was what being super rich must be like. It was kind of fun to experience it for a little while.

I couldn't wait to be in our little apartment in New York.

After Mr. Prescott was settled in the back, Spencer spent a few minutes with him, making sure he was comfortable. Once he was done, I hurried to take his spot, sitting down on the side of the bed.

"Are you doing okay?"

I received a small smile, which was a plus.

"Are you in any pain?" I asked.

That's what worried me the most.

"I gave him something to calm him for the flight back," Spencer said. "It should help with any pain he was feeling, but not knock him out."

That was good. Scotty was going to want to talk to his father just as soon as he got here. I just worried that something would happen to prevent Scotty from getting here.

I put nothing past Cynthia and my sister.

There wasn't much to do while we waited for Scotty to arrive, so I told Mr. Prescott how we met. I wasn't ready to go into how we got married until Scotty talked to his father.

"Beck!"

My head snapped and around and I jumped to my feet just as Scotty appeared in the doorway. The taller man let out a heavy breath and all the tension faded from his shoulders.

"I'm safe," I whispered before nudging my head toward the man on the bed. "And so is your father."

"Dad."

I stepped out of the way when Scotty hurried over to the side of the bed. It felt like father and son were finally together for good.

"How are you?" Scotty asked, but then he continued talking as if he didn't expect a reply. "I know this is all a big shock, but we're getting out of here and going somewhere safe."

"The doctor gave him something to keep him calm and out of pain during the flight," I told him. "He also wants to set up an appointment for your dad to get a full physical and lab workup after he's had time to settle into our new place."

Scotty had a frown on his face when he glanced over his shoulder at me. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Remember how we suspected Cynthia might have done something to him? Well, we might be right. Spencer said that his vitals are better the longer he's off his medication. Jake's going to have one of his lab guys test out some pills he found at the house and figure out if there is anything dubious about them."

Scotty's eyebrows rose. "Dubious?"

He chuckled when I rolled my eyes, but quickly turned back to his father when the old man let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a small burst of laughter.

When I glanced over Scotty's shoulder, I saw a small spread of Mr. Prescott's lips. It was more of a wobble at the corners, but it was clear he was amused.

I stepped closer to Scotty and rested my hands on his shoulders. Scotty smiled up at me and then reached up and rested his hand on top of mine.

We were going to make a good family.

"I got the papers from the safety deposit box, Dad," Scotty stated. "I sent them to a lawyer friend of mine. He's going to make sure we can get away from Cynthia."

"Once we get to our new place and have some time to get settled in, we'll all sit down with Miles and Jake and discuss everything," I added in. "You wouldn't believe the plan they came up with to get you away from Cynthia. It's a doozy."

"I don't know if anyone's told you, Dad," Scotty said, "but Jake has us set up with a place in his building. Apparently, the security there is top-notch so we don't have to worry about Cynthia or Julia getting up to our place."

Unbelievably, Mr. Prescott frowned.

"Uh...Julia is my sister," I explained. "She's a carbon copy of Cynthia."

"For some reason I have yet to fathom, Cynthia forced me to become engaged to Julia. I think she's trying to mold Julia into her successor."

When the old man's eyes rounded and he started to become agitated, I hurried to reassure him. "No, don't worry. When we found out about the engagement, Scotty and I got married. They can't force him to marry her."

"We do love each other, Dad, and we were dating in secret before this all came up. We both know our relationship would have eventually led to marriage anyway, so we're not exactly upset about this outcome." He smiled as he turned to look at me. "Which reminds me..."

I had no idea what Scotty was up to until he stood up and turned toward me. When he reached for the necklace around my neck. He unclasped it and then shook the ring out onto the palm of his hand.

"It's time to put this where it belongs."

I swallowed tightly past the lump forming in my throat as I watched Scotty slide the ring onto my finger. I had to blink back the tears as I did the same for him.

"That looks good on you," Scotty whispered.

I smiled as I placed my hand next to his and gazed down at the gold rings on our fingers. "They look good on both of us."

They really, really did.

"I'm going to be pretty upset if you ever take that off."

"Not planning on it."

If I had anything to say about it, that ring would never leave my finger. Scotty was truly mine now and I'd fight the devil himself to keep him...and his evil minions.