It's Better This Way(55)

“It isn’t going to be that easy to be rid of me, my love. I have a lot of incentive to live. I only just found you, and I fully intend on sticking around for a good while longer.”

    “Tell me what the doctor said.” She didn’t mention that no one would update her on his condition because she wasn’t family. What she had been able to learn came from Hillary and her contacts within the hospital. She’d never let anyone know, for fear of getting her daughter in trouble.

For the next ten minutes, Heath relayed what the heart specialist told him. He had a follow-up appointment scheduled for the next week. He listed the new medications he would need to take. Julia made a point of remembering each one, so she could research the drugs on the Internet. The more information she had about his heart and the problems associated with this attack, the better she would be able to watch for signs. She wanted to be sure there wouldn’t be a repeat of what had happened, at least not if she could help it.

“If you don’t object, I’d like to go to the doctor with you,” she said. She felt it was important that she know his limitations and was afraid Heath would either forget to tell her or purposely leave something out.

Surprise showed in his face at her request. “You’d do that?”

“Of course. I want to support you.”

He tightened his hold on her and kissed the top of her head. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you.”

“Oh, stop,” she said with a soft laugh.

“Do you think I’m joking? I thank God every day that we’re together.”

She could see how serious he was and wondered if he realized that she felt the same. “I thank Him for you! Oh Heath, you can’t imagine how frightened I was that you weren’t going to survive this.”

    “Like I said, I’m still aboveground, and I intend to stay that way for a long time to come.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Julia told him.

His eyes grew dark and serious before he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. It’d been years since anyone had kissed her with the passion and intensity Heath did. By the time he lifted his head from hers, it felt as if her insides were melting.

He was home and recovering, and that was what mattered most.



* * *



—

That evening, Julia cooked dinner for Heath. Michael called to check on him, and after dinner Adam did, too. It did her heart good to know how close Heath was with his sons. She prayed that at some later date, his sons would accept that she loved Heath and wanted only the best for him.

Earlier, when Heath mentioned his conversation with Hillary, Julia knew she had to make an effort with Michael and Adam, the way Heath had with Hillary. Unsure how it would play out, she decided not to tell him in advance.

Julia felt it was her duty to give Heath the same peace of mind Hillary had given her after talking to him. If she could convince Heath’s sons that she had only their father’s best interests at heart, then perhaps there would be a way for them to forget the distance between the two families. The fact that she was willing to make the effort should tell Michael and Adam she was serious and sincerely cared for their father.

“That was Adam,” Heath said, once he was off the phone.

“Your sons love you,” she said, stating the obvious.

    Heath’s eyes grew wary and he looked down. “I heard how rude they were to you at the hospital, Julia, and I’m genuinely sorry. They should never have spoken to you the way they did. One day, they will apologize, that I can promise you.”

She came to him and slipped her arms around his middle, assuring him as best she could that all was forgiven. “It’s fine. I understand. Your heart attack frightened them as much as it did me. They didn’t mean it. And I refuse to take offense.”

“You’re far too generous.”

“Besides,” she said, smiling up at him, “nothing was going to keep me away from you much longer. I didn’t care if I had to sneak into the hospital in the dead of night, I was determined to be with you.” She would have if the hospital had kept him any longer than the two days. Without Heath’s texts, brief as they were, she would have surely gone mad.

“Speaking of nights, I’ve been working on a little birthday surprise for you.”

“Oh?” He certainly had piqued her curiosity. “Tell me more.”

“I’m not going to ruin the surprise. Because of my recent setback, I’ve had to delay it.”

“Just as long as we aren’t returning to the tennis court anytime soon.”

“This has nothing to do with what you wanted for your birthday, my love. This is actually something else I’d arranged earlier. I had to do a bit of rescheduling while I was in that hospital bed. We will go out for dinner the way we originally planned, just not yet.”

That he would be thinking about her birthday following heart surgery nearly brought tears back to her eyes. Knowing how badly he wanted to do something special for her, she did her best to hold the emotion in check. “You could give me a hint.”

    He shook his head. “Don’t worry, you’ll find out as soon as I can get everything put in place again.”



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