Her father was sitting up fully when she entered the room with Laurent close behind. She immediately led him to his side.
"Dad, Laurent"
"Laurent, Dad"
Then she held her breath, as her father stared hard at the man that was fast becoming one of the most important persons in her life.
"It's good to see you up, Sir," Laurent said respectfully.
For some reason, that statement made the breath whoosh out of her lungs. She stared anxiously at her father's reaction, but the statement only made him relax his glare. Great. So why had her danger button pinged at that? She had probably been too stressed from the meeting. She didn't doubt that everyone in the room was aware of the significance of the meeting.
"It's good to be up. Rose here says you were a big help. Thank you for that"
"It was a pleasure to be of help, Sir" he responded with his head bowed. He'd sounded exactly the same way as before, but she didn't tense up. The last time had been a fluke then, probably because she'd overthought the whole thing.
She grabbed one of the chairs, drawing Laurent's attention. He smiled at her with a shake of his head.
"How are you feeling, Sir? I heard the doctors have issued the green flag"
"Pretty much. I'll be here for a few more days for monitoring, but otherwise I'm as good as I can be"
Away from their direct line of sight, she rolled her eyes with a smile. It was nice to see that they were getting along. While her feelings for Laurent had started in the line of sex and attraction, she knew she was on the edge of falling into something deeper. And as the only member of her immediate family, she wouldn't get into a serious relationship with someone her father disapproved of.
She could see her father flagging but she didn't want to mention it, sure her father wouldn't want to appear weak in front of another person. So, she was incredibly glad when someone knocked on the door. She opened it the doctor was standing there with a tray containing a change of IV and some other things she couldn't recognize.
He smiled at all of them. "Hello Wendell. How is my miracle patient feeling?"
Her father laughed at that and her jaw dropped. She'd known they knew each other, but she didn't know they were that familiar. His conversations with her had been nothing short of professional. At her father's side, she also saw Laurent staring at the two men with a look she couldn't explain in his eyes.
"Much better, doctor. Much better"
The doctor turned to her with a smile on his face, "It's been a while since the hospital saw such rapid restoration of this kind, Miss Blackwell. Your father is doing so much better"
"Better enough to go home today?" Her father asked and the doctor laughed.
"Nice try, Blackwell. But I won't release you until you can walk out on your own two feets. Now, while I hate to break up what looks like an important meeting" he shot Laurent a questioning look, "I need to examine my patient"
"Of course," she hurried to say. "Dad, we'll see you later. Don't do what I wouldn't do"
Everyone laughed at that, and she kissed her father's cheeks before leaving the room.
LAURENT took a deep breath as soon as he got outside the room. Now that his goal was standing right in front of him, his emotions were getting stronger. As soon as he'd seen the man on the bed, an image of his younger brother struggling for breath had flashed in his head. Sure, his mother carried the bulk of the blame for sleeping around, but what would have happened if Blackwell had just believed her when she'd taken him to beg for help. If instead of calling security on them, he'd just agreed to a DNA test. An image of his brother filled his head again and he blinked back tears.
Brody had always been full of life. Where Laurent has come into the world with a frightfully amount of pessimism for a little boy, his little brother just believed the best in everything. Irrespective of whether they had food in the house that night, his brother saw him as a hero and was always talking about the future where he'd treat all the little scrapes he often got when he fought with people.
Rose stepped in front of him with a nervous smile, "Thank you for coming, Laurent"
He shook his head, putting his acting skills to use, "That was quite scary, babe."
"Why? What made it so scary? You already had a relationship with my Dad"
He pecked her on the lips, "That's definitely not true. I had something of a relationship with my Boss. Today was the first time I met your Dad"
Her cheeks reddened a little as she laughed and leaned against the wall beside him. "Well, that went well"
"Really?"
"Yeah"
His face lit up with a grin he didn't feel, "Cool. Now can we go get something to eat. I remember you mentioning something about a date"
She faced him, "That reminds me. Hope everything is okay now?"
He stared at her blankly.
"You mentioned an emergency"
Oh. "Oh, yeah. Everything is fine now. I'd even forgotten about that. My sister just had a labor scare, her husband assured me that she was fine now" the lie just dropped out.
He knew he'd taken the wrong approach when excitement lit her face, "Your sister is pregnant? How many months? Is she older or younger? Is the baby a boy or a girl?" The questions rushed out of her.
"Uhm. Can we go get that food first?"
"Sure. I want to hear all about your sister. Hope you have pictures?"
He bit his cheek to hide his horrified laughter. Maybe he really should have pursued an acting career. That lie had done more harm than good.
"Let's get to the car first, darling. Where do you want to go?" He pulled her closer and stared at her lips, "Or maybe we can just skip the meal…"
"Can we? She asked eagerly, "I'm not that hungry" she finished with a smile.
Perfect. He was actually hungry, but if he had to choose between crafting an imaginary family, making out with one of the most responsive ladies he'd ever met, or trying to fill his stomach with food…