All the Way (Romancing Manhattan #1)(40)

“She’ll go,” Quinn says, earning a glare from his mother.

“High blood pressure can cause those headaches, and the wooziness,” the doctor continues. “So be sure to do that for me. I’m going to give you something to bring it down temporarily.”

“Thank you,” Maggie says. “Does this mean I get to go home?”

“I don’t see why not. I’m going to order that medicine, and we’ll finish pushing these fluids so you’re nicely hydrated. That’s another thing, be sure to drink lots of water. Being dehydrated can also lead to those headaches.”

“I drink plenty of tea.”

“No, ma’am,” the doctor replies. “You need just plain old water. Add some lemon to it if you like.”

And with that, she leaves, and we’re left with a moody Maggie.

“I’m seventy-two years old,” she says with a scowl. “I think I know what I need.”

“You’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met,” Quinn says.

“I’ve met another,” Finn says, and points at me.

“Me?” I demand.

“Oh yeah. You.”

“Pfft. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I really like her, Finn. You hang on to this one.”

Finn just smiles at me from across the bed.



“So, what did Quinn mean earlier?” I ask when we’re finally on our way back to Finn’s place a couple of hours later.

“About the medical issues thing?”

“Yeah.”

Finn rubs his fingers over his lips and then switches lanes.

“When my sister got sick, she and Carter kept it to themselves for a while. I know that neither of them thought she would die from the cancer, given her age and her previous health history.

“So, they decided that they’d keep it quiet for a while and let her get some treatments under her belt before they worried the rest of the family. By the time they told us, she only had about a month left to live.”

“Oh, that’s just horrible, Finn. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I was very angry with Carter for a long time. As you can see, I wasn’t the only one. My dad didn’t take it well either, and ended up passing from a heart attack not long after Darcy died. It was a hard time.

“If we’d known that she was sick sooner, we all would have taken more time to be with her, to spend more precious time with her before she left.”

“It never would have been enough time,” I reply, and lay my hand on his thigh.

“I know,” he says softly. “I get that now. And it was important for her to spend time with Gabby and Carter, to have a life with them for as long as she could. Darcy deserved that. But it was rough to find out that she not only had breast cancer, but that she’d already been through treatments that didn’t work. To be told, Hey guys, I have cancer, and we’ve already tried treatment. I have about three months to live is quite the shocker.”

“They thought she had three months?”

He nods. “But she had one month. We all went to live at my mom’s house so we could be there around the clock and spend as much time with her as we could. I know that wasn’t easy for Carter to have to share Darcy with the rest of us. But we loved her too.”

“Of course you did. There weren’t any other treatments they could try?”

He licks his lips, and his hands tighten on the steering wheel. “There were, but they were expensive, and I don’t come from a wealthy family.”

I stare at him, completely taken aback.

“We weren’t poor, but we weren’t wealthy. The treatment they suggested was in Europe, and we were ready to sell property, take out loans, whatever we had to do, but there was only a twenty percent chance that it would have worked.”

I pat his leg, and he takes my hand in his, then pulls it up to his lips.

“I broke out in my career the following year.” He spares me a glance, then returns his attention to the freeway. “A year too late. I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t help her. And if you think that I don’t think about the twenty percent chance that she could still be here, well, you’d be wrong.”

“It’s not your fault, Finn.”

“We all took it hard,” he says, not acknowledging my comment, “but Quinn really struggled with it, and still does. Losing Darcy and Dad so close together, Quinn now watches Mom like a hawk. He checks in with her every day, and takes her to the doctor for every little thing.”

“No wonder he’s on her last nerve.”

“She’s strong, and she’s healthy. We’ll get the blood pressure thing straightened out. I know she’ll be okay.”

“She will be,” I agree. “But Quinn’s entitled to his feelings, and he loves her. He wants to protect her.”

“He’s always been very protective of all of us,” Finn agrees. “You would have thought that he was the oldest sibling. But it’s gotten worse, and he needs to lighten up on Mom. He can’t micromanage every day of the poor woman’s life.”

“He’ll figure it out,” I reply as he pulls into his underground parking garage. “It was fun to see you all together tonight. Especially after we realized that she’s okay.”