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Ivy sat on the couch watching T.V. while Howie was on the phone with Nick. They were fully prepared to drop their plans for the day when they found out earlier about Bianca. Nick had assured them she was fine, but the doctors said she needed to rest. He told them to enjoy their anniversary and to visit tomorrow when Bean was more up to having visitors. Now, Howie was calling to check up on her. Ivy turned her attention away from the television when she heard Howie end the conversation and hang the phone up.

“How’s Bean doing?” she asked, the concern written all over her face.

“Nick said she’s feeling better than she was earlier, but she’s just tired,” he answered placing a kiss on her forehead. “I told him we’d be at the hospital in the morning, but if they needed us for anything, to page me or call my cell phone.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“Are you ready to go celebrate our anniversary?” he asked with a sexy grin.

Inwardly, Ivy cringed. She felt terrible about lying Howie and making him think it was their anniversary, but after that phone call she didn’t know what to do. She only knew she couldn’t tell Howie about it…she didn’t need to upset him. Forcing a megawatt smile, she gave him a soft, lingering kiss. “You know I’m ready.”


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Nicole opened her eyes and tried to clear the sleepy cobwebs from her mind. “Brian?” her voice came out a scratchy whisper. She cleared her throat and called again. “Brian?” When she got no response, she got up and looked around. Noticing the house was quiet and dark Nicole got up and turned a lamp on. Looking around she realized she had been asleep on the couch for a while. She finally spotted a note on the coffee table. Scrawled on it was a short, but sweet message:

I’m at the hospital and I’ll be back later. Hope you have a good nap, baby. See ya later. Love, Brian

“I wonder how long he’s been gone,” she said to herself. Looking at her watch she realized it was after five. The darkness outside was caused by an approaching storm. Nicole decided that she should call and check on Brian before the storm hit.

“Hello?” Nick answered Bianca’s phone.

“Nick, hey, this is Nicole. Is Brian nearby?”

“No, Nikki, I haven’t seen him since y’all were here this morning.”

“What?” she asked surprised. “He left a note that says he went to the hospital. Why would he go and not--” she stopped when she realized he had gone to the hospital. “Thanks Nick. I’m sorry I bothered you. Oh, and tell Bianca I said hey.”

Nicole slammed the telephone down in anger. “He didn’t go to see his friend who is staying in the hospital, he went to visit his ‘old friend’ Julie or Gillie, whatever the hell her name is. I hope you had a nice visit Brian.”


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Kevin looked over at Brianna and their sleeping daughter. He smiled and reached over, brushing his hand across Brianna’s cheek. When she turned to face him, he leaned over and kissed her. “I love you, Boo.”

“I love you, too, baby.”

“I was talking to Nick today after his run-in with AJ. You know, he asked me an interesting question.”

“What sweetie?”

Kevin sighed and linked his fingers with hers. “He asked me what I would do if the tables were turned and it was you in the hospital.”

“Why is that so interesting?” she questioned, squeezing his large hand.

“Because I lied to him.”

“You lied to him? How did you lie to him?”

“I told him I would let the police handle the situation and not do anything. Of course I said I’d want to kill whoever did anything to you, but I wouldn’t, he answered. “That’s a lie. If something like this ever did happen to you, I would find that sick person and kill them.”

“Baby, you shouldn’t be worrying about that,” Brianna said softly, trying to comfort him.

“I just don’t know what I’d do-what we’d do-if something happened.”

“Kevin, you don’t need to worry about anything. Everything is fine.”

“I know, baby, but I just wanna make sure you know just how much you mean to me--everyday. Y’all are my entire life and I love you.”

Placing a soft kiss on Kevin’s lips she smiled. “I’m glad you feel that way too, darlin’.”


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****THE NEXT MORNING****

Nick knocked on Bianca’s door and went on in before she could tell him to. Carrying a large teddy bear in one arm and a dozen roses in the other, he smiled. “Morning gorgeous.”

Bianca couldn’t hide her smile. “Morning,” she greeted, her voice still scratchy.

“Guess who gets to come home today,” he placed her gifts down and sat on the edge of her bed. “They’re getting your discharge papers ready right now.”

Bianca’s smile widened. “Really?!”

“Yeah, and your mom is at my house, waiting. She had flight problems and couldn’t get a flight out until last night. But she finally made it. I picked her up after I left here and she looked exhausted, so I gave her my bed and I slept on the couch.”

“Aww, did you? That’s so sweet of you, Nicky.”

“Well, she is the mother of the woman I love. She deserves to be treated like a queen…just like her daughter,” he took her hand in his. Suddenly, his face turned serious and he let out a worried sounding sigh. “Bean, I’m really sorry this happened. If I had acted like a normal person and not been an asshole, we never would’ve started fighting and you would’ve been with me instead of by yourself.”

“Nicky…” she said softly. “This is not your fault. It was going to happen…don’t blame yourself, please.”

His big blue eyes glassed over and he tried to blink back his tears. His voice was shaky. “I just love you so much. And I don’t know what to do. I should’ve been here with you, holding your hand and telling you just how much you mean to me.” A few tears slipped free and crept down his tanned cheeks. “You are everything to me, Bianca, but I bet you didn’t know that yesterday.”

“Nick, I do know that. None of this is your fault,” she tried to make him feel better. With tears shining in her eyes she said, “You know the only thing that I could think about was you. I was absolutely terrified, but I kept thinking about you and how much I love you. That’s the only thing that kept me going. And now we don’t have anything to worry about because it’s over and I’m safe. Everything is going to be back to normal.”

Before either one of them could say anything else there was a loud knock at the door.

“Come in,” Bianca called. I wonder who that is.”

“Miss Parker,” a heavyset police officer entered the hospital room. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I have some news on the man you said attacked you.”

“What?” she asked quickly.

“We have him in custody now, but we’ll need you to make an ID from a line-up. When--”

“I’ll do that today as soon as I’m released,” she answered, cutting him off. “Thank you, Officer-”

“Brigham.”

“Thank you, Officer Brigham.”

“No problem ma’am. Just ask for me when you come to the station.”

When the officer was gone, Nick squeezed Bianca’s hand. “Bean, the man you said attacked you? Do you have any idea who he might be? I mean, if the police have him in custody then you must have gotten a good look at him.”

“Well, yeah, I got a pretty good look at him. In fact, I know him,” she tried to tiptoe around the subject.

“You know him? Who is he?” Nick asked quickly, his concern rapidly turning into anger. “Do I know who he is?”

“It was Eric,” she whispered almost inaudibly.

“What? Eric?” Nick’s voice rose. He could feel his blood boiling. “How the hell did Eric get to you again?!”

“Baby, I don’t know how he managed to do it, but he did,” she said. With a hint of hesitation she continued, “In a way, it’s good that he did.”

“How on earth do you figure it was a good thing?” Nick screeched.

“Because the police arrested him and he can’t hurt anybody else. Now I don’t have to worry about him.”

Nick leaned in and gave Bianca a tender kiss. “Somehow it seems like Eric is getting out too easily. Jail is nothing compared to what I want to do to the son of a bitch. But as long as he can’t hurt you any more, I won’t worry about it either.” I’ll just worry about trying not to kill him today.

“Thank you, baby,” she said quietly.