Chris smiled as Sarah came towards him carrying the wonderful gift of their love for each other. His wife still looked pale, but she glowed with a warmth only a new mother had. His love for her went beyond words and was now sealed with the birth of their first child, Adam Jonathon Larabee was perfect in every way. He remembered the doctor placing the newly born child on his mother’s chest and they knew nothing else. The world for the next half hour centered around the hospital bed where he and Sarah counted tiny fingers and kissed wriggling toes. They laughed as Adam wailed his displeasure of the unknown world he now found himself in. Sarah and Adam spent the next three days in the hospital and this was their first day at home alone. Chris knew Buck would be over later in the day and he also knew he and Sarah looked forward to their son’s Godfather’s visit. He also realized he’d probably need to build a new room for the things the big hearted man would bring with him. He laughed as he realized they could barely move around in the nursery because of the gifts from the ladies’ man. One corner was taken up with a new black Jeep with flame colored racing stripes down the side, that Adam would be able to drive in when he was two or three.
Sarah’s eyes twinkled with pleasure as she handed the little bundle to his father. “You hold him while I get his bath ready,” she ordered.
Chris took the child, still unable to comprehend the life they’d been handed, a life that would depend on them to keep him safe. He lifted tear filled eyes to his wife and pulled her close. “God, I love you, Sarah,” he said as he held her in a warm embrace. He placed his head on top of hers and felt his heart leap in his throat.
Sarah turned her head so she could look at the man holding her. “I love you too, Chris,” They both laughed as a sound came from the bundle in Chris’ arm. “I think someone wants our attention.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Chris released his wife and walked to the rocking chair. He removed the three foot Winnie the Pooh teddy bear and placed it on the floor. The bear was another gift from Buck Wilmington. Chris ran his hands through the thick brown curls covering his son’s head. ‘So much like your mothers,’ he thought as he reached for the tiny fingers of the baby’s right hand. He kissed his son’s head and looked towards the boy’s mother. ‘I love you both so much,’ he thought as she turned towards him. Her smile lit up the room and sent shivers through his lean form as he realized these two people, one so tiny and in need, the other so caring and unselfish, meant everything to him. They really were his life, and there was nothing more he could ask for. ‘God, Sarah, you really are beautiful,’ he thought.
“Chris, didn’t you hear me?”
“Huh? What?”
“I said bring Adam over.”
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. He stood up and walked towards the bathing area.
*********~~~~~~~~
Anne continued to bathe her patient and smiled as she saw the look of contentment on his face. She knew it wasn’t caused by what she was doing and wondered where his mind was. Wherever it had taken him he was happy and she put the cloth away and tucked the sheet back over him. She watched the face for a few seconds, again feeling a slight flutter in her heart as she thought of what this man would be like outside this room. She looked towards the door as Buck Wilmington and Ezra Standish stepped inside. She signaled for them to be quiet and the two men nodded in understanding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~**********
“Now, do you remember how to check the temperature of the water,” Sarah asked as she took the baby from his father. She wanted Chris to know everything about caring for their infant son and she could see he was as excited about being a parent as she was.
Chris bent his arm and stuck his elbow into the water and smiled. “It’s perfect,” he told her as he took Adam back.
Sarah stood back and watched as her husband eased the baby into the tub, making sure the umbilical cord remained above the water line. She watched as his strong hands held the baby with more tenderness than most men showed in a lifetime. She moved to the rocking chair and sat down to watch.
Chris picked up the cloth and gently washed the soft skin. He smiled as he realized he was holding a part of himself and Sarah. A perfect symbol of the love they shared since their fist meeting. He once more reminded himself how much he owed Buck Wilmington for introducing him to the beautiful woman who was now his wife and the mother of his son. ‘Life don’t get any better than this,’ he thought as he ran the cloth over the tiny feet.
Sarah watched her husband as he continued to care for their son. She smiled contentedly as she realized he was singing. His voice was off key, but the words were filled with warmth as he looked at their baby.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray...”
Sarah couldn’t help but join her husband in the children’s song and soon both parents were crooning to their newborn. Sarah wore a happy contented smile as she looked at the goofy grin on her husband’s face. His clothes were soaked as he continued to care for the infant. She reached for the cloth in his hand and laughed as he picked up their son and cradled him between their bodies. They held each other close, both sets of eyes staring at the child before them. This was their life, and they’d be content to stay that way forever.
*********~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris sighed as he felt consciousness returning and the wonderful memory retreating. He fought to remain with them, knowing the world he was waking up to would not have the keys to his heart. They’d been stripped from this world at the hands of a woman who still haunted his nightmares. He knew he was losing the battle to stay under as light filtered through his fluttering eyelids and he became aware of the pain surrounding his body once more. His eyes opened and focused on the man speaking to him. He couldn’t help but smile at his long time friend, in spite of the pain his own memories would cause him. Buck had been with him when they’d discovered the flames ripping through his home. He’d been the one to pull Chris away from that fire in spite of Larabee’s hysterical strength. Chris remembered the screams from his family as the fire consumed them along with the rest of his life. Buck would always be a reminder of that, but he was also a reminder of the important times. His first glimpse of Sarah, the growing love, the friendship, and the birth of hope when they held Adam. Everything good in his life could also be linked to this man, and Chris was forever grateful.
“Hey, Stud, how’re you feeling?”
Even the voice could sooth his rattled mind and Chris forced a smile on his face in spite of the nausea and pain. “I’m doing better, Buck,” he answered.
“That’s wonderful news, Mr. Larabee,” Standish said as he joined Wilmington.
“Thanks, Ez,” the blond said and winced as he tried to shift on the bed.
“Chris, Would you like something for pain?” Anne asked as she heard the muffled gasp through the oxygen mask.
“Not right now,” he answered.
“All right, but don’t let it go too long. Dr. Barrett said if the morphine is not working I can increase the dosage until you’re comfortable,” she told him. She knew she’d have to increase it anyway once Barrett saw how much pain he continued to suffer from.
“I will,” Larabee said. Buck and Ezra bit back their laughter as the blond turned a heated, but weak glare on them.
“Sure you will, Stud,” Buck said.
“Mr. Larabee is not known for asking for help,” Standish explained to the nurse.
“Ezra, shut up or I won’t tell you where the damn card is,” Larabee hissed. His words were cut off as he started coughing and wrapped his arms around his chest.
Anne finished setting up the bronchodilator and quickly replaced the mask over Larabee’s mouth and nose. She listened as the coughing continued and breathed a sigh of relief when it finally eased. She saw the gratitude in his eyes and patted his shoulder. “Just try and take deep breaths, Chris.”
“O...kay,” he said as he closed his eyes. The medication eased his breathing, but the attack had brought on the pain.
“Chris?” Larabee turned pain glazed eyes on the ladies’ man. “You need to let her give you something for the pain, Buddy. I’ve known you a long time and you can’t tell me you’re okay.”
Larabee knew his friend was right and nodded slightly, hating that he was admitting to the need for help. To him that was as much as admitting Maguire was still there, still causing him pain.
“All right, Chris, I’ve just increased the dosage. It shouldn’t take long for it to work.”
“Thanks, Anne,” he said and tried to relax into the pillows. He knew the best way to get his mind off the pain was to talk and he knew Ezra Standish couldn’t wait to find out where the ace of spades was. “So, Ezra, would you like me to tell you where the card is?”
“Well if he doesn’t, I sure as hell do, Chris. Where is it?”
Anne watched as her patient breathed in the medication and smiled as he seemed to relax with his friends. She hung a new bag of IV solution and started a new bag of the antibiotic cocktail as Larabee started explaining about the unknown card. She would wait until the others left before checking the foley catheter. Barrett was worried about the possibility of a UTI developing.
“Mr. Larabee, I would dearly love to hear your explanation of the whereabouts of said card,” Standish blustered.
Larabee breathed in the medication and looked at the two men. He didn’t really understand how he knew what he knew, but he was sure the card was nearby, not by distance, but by time. Unlike the gun, the card had stayed with them, only it had somehow returned to where it was meant to be. He looked over the oxygen mask at the curious faces of his friends. “Ezra, call Maude when you get a chance.”
“Call Mother? Now what would possess you to want me to do that, Mr. Larabee?”
“Te...ll her to...” he trailed off as another coughing spurt started.
“Okay, Chris, just stop talking for a few minutes and concentrate on breathing in the medicine,” Anne warned.
“Need to te...ll,” again he coughed and grunted in pain as he felt the mucus come up in his throat. He whipped off the mask and spit it into the basin beside his head. He lay back and felt the mask replaced once more. He knew he was drifting towards sleep but he wanted the gambler to talk to Maude Standish. “Ezra..ca...”
“Chris!” Anne said.
“Call Maude. Tell her...tell her to check the deck of cards....Ace of Spades is there.” Chris sighed as he slipped into a deep sleep and missed the shocked look on the faces of the two men in the room.
“How could that be? How would Mr. Larabee know something like that?”
“Ezra, with everything we’ve seen and everything that’s happened the past few weeks, do you really question what he just told us?”
“No...but...I. How can...how did he...”
“Ez, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to stumble over your words. Why don’t you go call your Mother and see if the card is there?”
“I think I will do just that, Mr. Wilmington.” The gambler looked at the sleeping man, amazed at the news he’d just imparted. Somehow he knew the card would be exactly where Chris Larabee said it would be. “Sleep well, Mr. Larabee. Perhaps I will have news for you when you next wake up.” He left the room in a hurry to find out about the missing card.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ezra hurried outside and took his cell phone from his pocket. He knew his mother was at the villa in Monte Carlo, but he also knew she’d have the deck of cards with her. She called them her lucky deck in spite of the fact she’d never played a hand with them. He pressed the button for the keyed in number and waited for someone to answer the call. He briefly wondered what his mother would think of the question he was about to ask. He sank down on the small bench and listened to the ringing on the other end of the line. The call was answered on the second ring and he asked to speak with Maude Standish. For a hopeless second he though she wasn’t there, but he smiled as her voice came over the phone.
“Ezra, Sugah, where are you?” Maude’s southern dialect came shining through, making her son wonder if a lot of it was an act for whoever she was with at the time..
“Greetings, Mother, I am in a little town called Washoe.”
“Washoe?” he could hear the distaste in her words. “Whatever are you doing there?”
“You remember Mr. Larabee and Mr. Tanner?”
“Of course, Dear, how are they?”
“They were both injured rather severely I’m afraid...”
“Oh dear, I really wish you wouldn’t be involved in such dangerous work. You have to protect those gifted hands of your, Sugah!”
“Mother, I am unharmed and I do enjoy my chosen field.”
“You call your work a chosen field?”
He heard her soft laughter and felt a little of the old anger resurfacing. He pushed it back and turned the conversation to the reason for his call. “Mother do you have your lucky deck of cards with you?”
“Of course, Dahling, you know I never leave home without them. Why?”
“Would you inspect them for me?”
“Whatever for?”
“Do you remember the card that’s missing from the deck?”
“There is nothing wrong with my memory, Sugah. The Ace of Spades has been missing from that deck since your father gifted it to me.”
“Would you check them and make sure it’s still missing?”
“Pardon me, Ezra, but have you been imbibing in alcoholic beverages without your Mother? Those cards are always on my person and that card has always been missing, Dear.”
“No, Mother, I have not been imbibing,” he explained in frustration. A thought occurred to him and he smiled as he realized he should’ve thought of it earlier. “It’s a wager...
“A wager?”
Ezra could picture the smile on her face as her eyebrows rose. The one thing his mother believed in was the power of a wager and he knew he had her attention. “Yes, Mother. I have a wager with Mr. Wilmington as to whether that card really is missing.”
“Well I can assure you it is.”
“Please, Mother, just check for me.”
“Of course, Sugah. Just hold on while I retrieve them.”
Ezra listened to her search through her clothing until she found them.
“How much is riding on this wager, Ezra?”
“Let’s just say it involves your reputation as a magnificent gambler,” Ezra told her and knew he’d used the right words to make her sit up and take notice.
“Are you betting for me or against me?”
“For you, Mother, to do otherwise would mean certain loss.”
“That’s my boy,” she said. “I have the cards.”
“Is the Ace of Spades there?” There was no sound from the other end of the line and he wondered if they’d been disconnected. “Mother?...Mother, are you still there?” He stood up and began to pace in front of the bench.
“How?”
“Pardon?”
“How did you know? How could this be? Where did this come from?”
“It’s there?” He asked as sat back down.
“This has to be some kind of joke. It can’t be real. I mean it’s been missing all these years. How could it just be here now? Is this some kind of practical joke?”
“Mother, I can’t really explain how I knew, but it is the real thing. If you check the card you’ll see it’s from the same deck you’ve always had and even has that little nick in the bottom left hand corner.”
“Yes, I noticed that right away. Ezra, Sugah, this is amazing. I want to know how you did this?”
“It wasn’t me, Mother, but I would wager that deck will bring Lady Luck around you even more than she ever was before.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Yes, Mother, I do. Call it destiny.”
“Destiny?”
“That’s right and now I must get back to mine. Good day, Mother.”
“Goodbye, Dahling, I think a trip to the gaming tables is well advised right now,” Maude said as she made a small pecking sound before hanging up.
‘How did you know, Chris?’He thought as he placed the phone back in his pocket.
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