All I Believe (Firsts and Forever, #10)(73)
“Yeah, okay. Thank you so much for all your help.” I hugged him and Vincent before I climbed into the ambulance. “I’ll talk to you both soon,” I said, and pulled the doors shut behind me.
The moment I sat down, the ambulance started moving. Luca was taking in everything with wide eyes. “You’re going to be okay,” I told him, making a conscious effort not to look worried. “We’re going to take you somewhere safe.”
“Just stay close, okay?” His voice still sounded raspy.
“I won’t leave your side. I promise.” He nodded and let his eyes slide shut as he exhaled slowly. I took his hand after I forced mine to stop shaking.
Chapter Fourteen
The flight to Tahiti took all night, including a stop-off to refuel in Hawaii. Dante had booked us on a private jet, and the doctor and nurse who’d met us at the hospital went with us. They kept Luca comfortable with a steady drip of pain meds, and closely monitored his vital signs. He ended up sleeping through most of the flight, and so did Andreo.
I couldn’t fall asleep, though. My worry kept me up. I watched Luca closely, taking his pulse every few minutes and reading the machines that had accompanied us onto the plane, even though the medical professionals were already doing that.
They were an interesting pair. I found out Julie (the doctor) and Peter (the nurse) were husband and wife, both in their late fifties, and I got the impression they specialized in less than legal medical emergencies. I wondered how long they’d been mob doctors for my family, or if this was a new arrangement.
“Are you a doctor?” she asked me when I took Luca’s pulse for probably the twentieth time and recorded it on a chart I’d made for him.
“No. I used to be an EMT,” I told her.
“Why’d you quit?”
I shrugged and told her honestly, “My personal life imploded, and my career became collateral damage. I’m in law school now.”
“Why law school and not med school?”
I shrugged and said, “I never believed I had what it took to make it through medical school.”
“I think you probably sold yourself short,” Julie said before going to sit with her husband at a little table by the window.
The young, attractive flight attendant brought them coffee and asked me if I needed anything. “Just to get there already,” I murmured. She assured me it wouldn’t be much longer.
My cousin Dante never ceased to amaze me with his ability to get things done quickly, and with perfect attention to detail. Another private ambulance was waiting for us on the island, along with a car and driver since that ambulance was quite small. Only Luca and I could fit in the back of it, and everyone else followed in the town car.
Both the airport and the medical facility where Dante had made arrangements were in Papeete, and it was just a short drive. Soon Luca was tucked into bed in a modern, private room. I’d have been willing to bet it was the most state-of-the-art facility in all of French Polynesia, just because Dante would have made sure of that.
Luca fell asleep again almost immediately, and I sent a text to my cousin Gianni. It said: Hey. So, I’m in Tahiti. I assume Dante told you I was coming, and that basically everything back home is a complete disaster. Where are you and your boyfriend?
He wrote back just a minute later: Zan and I are en route, we should be there tonight. We were at sea when Dante called us on the satellite phone yesterday. How’s your boyfriend? By the way, you’ve told me nothing about him so I’m ticked off at you!
I answered with: He seems to be okay. You and I have a lot of catching up to do. Looking forward to seeing you. I assume your freakishly thorough brother told you exactly where to find us.
Gianni replied: Of course he did. See you soon, Cuz.
I returned the phone to my pocket and watched Luca as he slept. Andreo and Julie, our doctor to-go, came in a few minutes later. They were both speaking fluent French with one of the doctors on duty. As he made a few notes on Luca’s chart, Julie told me, “We’re leaving your boyfriend in capable hands, Nico. Good luck to both of you.”
“Thanks for everything. Are you and Peter flying right back?”
“No. We reserved a cozy cottage on the beach for the next couple weeks. We’ll be following up with Luca when he gets out of the hospital, and in the meantime, we’ll be enjoying a nice little vacation, courtesy of your cousin Dante.”
Once she and the other doctor left, Andreo came up to me and said, “Why don’t you take a break, Nico, and get yourself something in the cafeteria? I don’t think you’ve eaten in hours.”
I shook my head. “I promised Luca I wouldn’t leave his side. No way do I want him waking up somewhere unfamiliar without me.”
“It won’t do either of you any good to let yourself get run down and dehydrated.”
“I know, but I’m not going anywhere. Maybe one of the nurses can bring me some coffee.”
“You’re as stubborn as my brother,” he said as he turned and headed for the door. “I’ll bring you something so you don’t keel over.”
“Thanks,” I called after him, not too loud since I didn’t want to wake Luca.
He returned a few minutes later with sandwiches, coffee and little plastic tubs of tropical fruit salad, and we both ate at Luca’s bedside. Halfway through the meal, my phone buzzed and I pulled it out, read the long text from Dante, and fired off a reply before finishing the rest of my sandwich in two big bites.