Long Time Running - By Hannah Foster Page 0,51

quaked as the violent seizure took hold and she crumpled to the floor.

"NAT!"

Chapter 16

Horrified, Eric stood frozen in his spot for just a minute as Nathalie writhed on the floor in the grips of major seizure before he rushed to her side. Dropping to his knees, he carefully rolled her on to her side while he cradled her head in his lap. He brushed her hair from her face as her body spasmed and shook violently.

"Nathalie!" he cried urgently.

The seizure had no sooner stopped then another one started. Her muscles were coiled and rigid as she continued to shake. Reaching into his pocket he fished out his cell phone and called 9-1-1. He barked orders into the phone before snapping it shut. His heart twisted as she contracted and trembled before finally subsiding in a heap.

Reluctantly leaving her, he sprinted to the couch and grabbed the blanket that had been wrapped around her while she had been wrapped around him only a few short hours ago. Having covered her to ward off the chill, he gently rubbed her arm as he waited for the ambulance.

"I don't hate you," he said, his voice shaking. "I don't - I could never. I don't want you thinking that."

She was unresponsive to his touch. Years of medical training were of little use in keeping him calm. His heart thundered loudly inside his chest. He had never felt more useless than he did right at this moment.

He rushed to his feet as the paramedics pounded on the door. Giving them the quick facts of her condition and then stood out of the way as they started to work. Panic crept up inside him as she failed to react to any of the stimuli they tried. Tears formed in his eyes at the realization that her last conscious thought was that he loathed her, that she believed he took her to bed only to exact some kind of misguided revenged pained him in a way he was unprepared for. He directed them to take her to Manhattan General and followed them down in the elevator.

Sitting beside her in the ambulance, he curled his fingers through hers and bringing her hand to his mouth, dropped a soft kiss on it. "I don't hate you," he repeated, whispering. "You...you m-matter very much to me."

As the ambulance sped through the busy Manhattan streets, he continued to grip her hand hoping that they weren't too late.

#

Andrew and Sarah walked in silence to his office. As the door opened, Jack looked up expectantly. Seeing his aunt, he put down his book and ran to her, throwing his arms around her waist. She hugged him tightly in response.

"I bet you have a ton of questions," she remarked softly.

He nodded in response without letting go of her.

Children had never been part of the plan for her. Ambitious and driven to succeed, she had always been singularly focused on her career. She had little time for relationships or dating of any kind and that was just how she liked it; things were both safer and easier if you didn't have to let anyone in. When Nathalie had called and told her that she was no longer able to care for Jack, she had supported her decision to place him for adoption.

Prior to flying to Tanzania, she had contacted several agencies to find out what the best options were. Once with Nathalie they had spoken long into the night on more than one occasion as to whether or not this was the right decision. Nathalie had been paralyzed by fear and gripped by nightmares, whether awake or asleep. It had not taken Sarah long to agree with her sister's decision. However, she had not been prepared on the long journey home to actually fall in love with Jack. He was a smiling, happy baby and by the time the plane had touched down in New York she was less sure of her sister's decision. She had truly believed all Nathalie would need was a little time and she would change her mind.

And so against her better instincts and flying in the face of the tightly constructed world she had built for herself, she had decided to keep him until Nathalie was ready to take him back.

But the anguished, regretful phone call never came and before Sarah realized it, she was too attached to the little boy to let him go. But no selfish deed goes unpunished and as she felt him hugging her, the price