Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,76
be here at eight on the dot and I just saw the room service trolley come out of the elevator.” A knock at the door proved him right. He let them in and two trollies rolled in, with bowls of cut fruit, oatmeal, and toast.
It wasn’t the breakfast that mattered though, it was the feeling as each one let it sink in that it was all over that mattered. Laughs broke out spontaneously or sighs as each one came to the same conclusion. It was done. Whatever came next was done for fun.
Matteo was ready for a real vacation. As he looked at his wife, he decided that soon he’d tell her the one thing he’d held back. Those three little words that would make her never stop smiling. Soon.
They stayed in Mexico for one week, each day in a new place before they had to fly Marie back to New York. She’d fallen and her right leg had started to tremble. It had scared all of them so they arranged for someone to pick up the RV and flew directly back home. Matteo drove her to the hospital straight from the airport and her doctor met them there.
“You had a fall, you said?” the doctor asked as Marie began to list things that had been going on lately. They spoke for a while and the doctor sat on the side of her bed while he spoke to her.
Matteo watched from the chair at her bedside, waiting to hear what the doctor would say. “Right, I know where you’re heading with this and yes, I agree, we need to run some tests on you. As you’re so young, I’d like to do genetic testing, to see if there are any mutations there, with your permission? It will aid current studies going on. I’ll have some blood taken for other blood work too, and someone will be up soon to do a CT scan on your brain. That will show us if there are signs of the disease in your brain. Don’t worry, the worst part will be getting the IV.”
“Right. Thanks, doctor.” Marie smiled vaguely, her eyes worried. She looked over at Matteo, heartbreak in her eyes. They’d been having so much fun in Mexico: drinking, eating, exploring, it had all been fun, and then she fell, completely sober, and gave herself a nasty scalp laceration that had needed stitches. She’d just been standing there, talking with Anton, and had been about to turn to talk to Matteo when she just… fell over.
He could see the pain in her eyes, the heartbreak, and could all but see her thoughts. She’d have to leave him, have to run away, but he wouldn’t let her. Whatever happened, he was her husband. He would take care of her for the rest of his life.
“I’ll be back later. The nurse will come in soon and get that IV in, alright?”
Marie nodded and inhaled deeply. “Well, I think we know what the answer is going to be don’t we?”
“I have to admit, he sounds like he’s leaning that way too, Marie.” He was the one that sighed this time. “I’ll be here for you, okay? You don’t have to go through this alone.”
“I know.” Tears broke her voice and fell from her eyes and he was up at once, holding her in his arms as she sobbed on his chest.
He brushed hair away from her face and looked into her eyes. “I’ll comb the world to find something, anything you need, do you understand me? I don’t care if it takes all of our money, you won’t suffer like your mother, hear me?”
“I do, Matteo, I do.” She nodded her head against his chest and pulled away as the nurse came in. “Hi.”
“Hi there, sweetie. I’m going to put your IV in, alright? For now, we’re just going to run saline into you to make sure you’re hydrated, then we’ll take some blood. Then radiology will be up in an hour or so to take you down for your scans, that’s why I have to put in such a large IV. This is going to hurt a little, so be brave for me, okay? I’m sorry, but it has to be done.” The nurse was a red-haired woman with kind green eyes, probably in her 60s, so that reassured Marie, and Matteo too. She had the experience, at least.
Marie held her arm out like a trooper, and the nurse was right, the IV hurt, but