“It’s good to be back,” he tells her.

  His cousin Carmen hugs him next. “You look so much better after some time in the sun, primo.”

  “I feel much better,” he says with a side-eye glance at me, recognition of the secret we’re keeping from them about his brief setback.

  “How’s my star patient?” Jason Northrup asks when he joins his wife and puts an arm around her.

  “Doing great,” Milo says. “The trip was just what I needed.”

  “You could probably lose the brace at this point.”

  Milo whips it off and tosses it on the floor.

  “Alrighty, then,” Jason says with a laugh.

  “I hate that thing. Not as much as the halo, but it’s a close second.”

  “Everyone hates them. Glad to see you doing so much better.”

  “I’m ready to get back to normal.” We’ve agreed that he’ll tell Jason about the infection when he sees him for the follow-up appointment in two weeks.

  “I’m sure you are, but no heavy lifting or driving for another month. Doctor’s orders. Oh and no charge for this office visit.”

  We share a laugh with them.

  “You had a nice vacation?” Jason asks me.

  “I did. Thank you.” With Milo talking to Carmen, I quietly ask him, “Is this going to be weird between us?”

  “What?”

  “Me dating your wife’s cousin after he was my patient?”

  “Not for me. I’m happy for you guys.”

  “Oh, good. Thanks.”

  “You weren’t worried about what I would think, were you?”

  “Maybe a little.”

  “Don’t be. You’re one of the best nurses I’ve ever worked with, and you’re never anything but super professional.”

  “Thank you for that, but dating an ex-patient is a strange scenario.”

  “Eh, it’s fine. He wasn’t your patient anymore when you started dating. It’s no big deal. With the hours we work, it’s not like there’re a million different ways to meet people. I met Carmen on my first day at Miami-Dade.”

  “I didn’t realize that.”

  “Yep, she was assigned to ‘babysit’ the new neurologist who’d arrived with a checkered record.”

  “You had a checkered record? Seriously?”

  “Yep. I left quite a scandal behind at my last hospital in New York. Google me to read all the sordid details.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  “Then you’ll see why I’m the last person who’ll ever judge anyone.”

  “Are you sharing your sordid past with Gianna, love?” Carmen asks him.

  “Yep. I’m trying to make her feel better about dating an ex-patient.”

  “Ah, I see. Jason and I bonded over his sordid past.”

  “She helped me change my reputation by volunteering my services at Maria’s free clinic. On the first day there, I met Sofia and Mateo and diagnosed his brain tumor.”

  “And saved his life by operating that same day,” Carmen adds.

  “I heard about that, but not the other stuff.”

  “I can’t believe you haven’t heard about the mess I left in New York,” Jason says.

  “No one at work talks about you as anything other than a superstar doctor.”

  “Well, that’s nice to hear.”

  Dee’s fiancé, Wyatt, another brilliant doctor at Miami-Dade, comes up to us and very quietly says, “Jason, I need you to get me to the ER. I woke up light-headed and short of breath, but I don’t want to worry Dee. Can you make up a reason for us to leave?”

  “Yep, I’m on it.” Jason pulls his phone from his pocket. “Mass casualty incident at the hospital,” he says to Carmen. “They’re recalling everyone. You want to ride with me, Wyatt?”

  “Sure, just let me tell Dee.”

  The two of them leave a few minutes later.

  “What was that really about?” Carmen asks me, looking worried.

  I’m not sure if I should tell her what I overheard Wyatt say to Jason.

  “Is Wyatt okay?”

  Since she’ll find out soon enough, I tell her, “He said he was light-headed and short of breath. He didn’t want to worry Dee.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “It could be a lot of things other than his heart.”

  Across the room, Dee is laughing and chatting with Maria, Nico, Sofia and their other cousin, Domenic. I just met him and his new wife, Stacey, who seems very nice. I say a silent prayer for Wyatt, a strong, handsome, incredibly talented man who’s obviously madly in love with Milo’s sister.

  Elena waves me over to where she’s sitting alone at a table set for ten.

  I take a seat next to her.

  “I was waiting to see you to update you on things with the venue. Jared has worked out a payment plan with them that they’re satisfied with, and they’ll be dropping the lawsuit against you this week.”

  “That’s such a relief.”

  “I thought you might say that. Since he’s acting in good faith to resolve the bill, I think it’s probably safe to drop our countersuit against him. But only if you agree.”

  “I do. I want to be done with all this.”

  “I’ll take care of that tomorrow.”

  “Elena… Thank you so much for everything you did for me. I’ll never be able to tell you what it means to me.”

  “I was happy to do it. I want to tell you something about me that I think you’ll appreciate hearing. I lost my grandmother when I was twenty-three. She had an aneurism and was gone so quickly, she never knew what hit her.”

  “I’m so sorry. That must’ve been such a shock.”

  “Until Milo was shot, it was the worst thing that’d ever happened to me. Even worse than the breast cancer diagnosis. Unlike my mother and I, she and I were very close. Much more like friends than grandmother and granddaughter. We talked about everything, even things no one talks to their grandmother about. Losing her left a hole inside of me so big that I thought nothing and no one could ever fill it. But then I met Lo and we had our family, and over time, the sadness faded a bit, even if I still miss her every day.” She places her hand on top of mine. “I didn’t lose both my parents at once, but I lost my most important person very suddenly, so I understand a little bit what you went through.”

  “That’s very sad. I’m so sorry.”

  “Thank you, honey. The reason I’m telling you this is because I understand what a trauma it is to be a young woman who’s lost the most important person or people in her life. For years after I lost my grandmother, I glommed on to my friends’ mothers, my aunts, random women I met through work, trying to fill that terrible void. But it was a void that no one else could fill. I’m not suggesting I could begin to fill the void for you, but I want you to know I’m here for you, whether things work out between you and Milo or not. If you find yourself in need of mothering, you call me. You hear me?”

  I’m about to bawl my head off. “Yes, I hear you, and I’m so deeply grateful for that. Even though I’ve started a successful career and taken care of my brothers, I’ve been kind of floundering for four years, like a boat that’s come unmoored or something.”

  “That’s it exactly. And I truly understand that feeling.”

  “Since I met you and your family, I’ve felt a little less alone.”

  “That’s lovely to hear. We’re always adopting new family members, and we’re glad to have you join us. And I just have to say… I’ve never seen my Milo look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

  “He’s…” I sigh. “There are no words.”

  She smiles. “He’s the best of us. We all think so. It’s been like that from almost the minute he was born. When we thought we might lose him…”

  “I can only imagine.”

  “But no more sad thoughts today. Only happy things.”

  Milo comes over to join us. “Mom, what’re you saying to her?”

  “I’m telling her what a rotten, terrible, no-good, naughty boy you were and how she needs to watch out for you.”

  “Very funny. I was the only one who didn’t give you gray hair.”

  “Until lately, that is. I’ve got thirty new ones with your name on them.”

  “Are you ladies ready to eat?” he asks.

  “I am,” Elena says. “Come on, Gianna, let’s hit the buffet.”

  “Everything okay?” Milo asks me after his mother walks away.

  “Everything is great,” I reply, even though I’m still troubled by the situation with Scott and now worried about Wyatt, too. Fortified by my chat with Elena, I shake off those thoughts and take the hand Milo extends to me, determined to try to make this a good day.

  * * *

  MILO

  The news about Wyatt arrives as we’re sitting around four tables, stuffed to the point of explosion after devouring the Cuban buffet.

  Dee lets out a sharp cry that gets everyone’s attention. She jumps up. “Maria, Austin, drive me to the hospital. Right now.”

  “What’s wrong?” Lorenzo asks.

  “Wyatt’s been admitted,” Dee says tearfully. “They’re not sure what’s going on, but I need to get there. Please. Someone take me.”

  “Come on.” Maria takes her sister’s arm. “We’ve got you.”

  “We’ll be right behind you,” Elena tells her daughter. “Try not to think the worst, sweetheart.”

  “I’m trying.”

  Dee leaves with Maria and Austin. Everly is with his parents because she didn’t feel like coming to brunch today.

  “I can grab a ride with Nico if you want to go home,” Milo says.

  “I’m coming with you. I might be able to help get some answers.”

  “Thank you,” he says, looking and sounding relieved.

  We follow the rest of the family from the restaurant and head for the hospital, all of us praying that whatever is wrong with Wyatt is nothing serious.

  * * *

  DEE

  This is my worst nightmare come true, and the thing is, before we left for brunch, I could tell something wasn’t right with him. He assured me he was fine, but it bothers me that he was obviously lying to protect me from worrying.

  Now I’m frantic after hearing he’s been admitted. I try texting him, but he doesn’t reply. Next I text Jason. And then I wait, hoping one of them might tell me what’s going on.

  Austin drives as fast as he dares to Miami-Dade.

  Maria turns to me in the backseat of the G-Wagon he bought her for Christmas. “He’s going to be fine. He’s the picture of robust health.”

  I appreciate what Maria is trying to do, but he’s still dealing with a heart that should’ve failed him years ago and still could at any time. As a nurse, she knows that better than I do. Traffic makes the ride even more interminable than it already is, and by the time we get to the Emergency entrance at Miami-Dade, my own heart is in danger of failing.

  “You guys go ahead,” Austin says. “I’ll park and catch up to you.”

  I’m out of the car before he finishes speaking.

  Maria is right behind me, but I don’t wait for my sister, who’s moving slowly due to pregnancy.

  At the reception desk, I tell the woman on duty, “I’m here for Wyatt Blake. Dr. Wyatt Blake. I’m his fiancée.”

  “Dee, right?”

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “He’s been asking for you, and I have orders to bring you back as soon as you get here. Right this way.”

  If he’s asking for me and giving orders, he must be okay. That’s all that matters—that he’s okay. If he is, I am. It’s that simple. From the time he first explained his precarious health situation to me, I knew there would be difficult times ahead, but I never expected him to have any sort of medical emergency so soon after we agreed to spend the rest of our lives together.

  I’m in no way ready to lose him. Not that I’ll ever be ready for that. He could live another fifty years, and it wouldn’t be enough for me.

  I hear him before I see him, laughing at something Jason said inside the ER bay where he’s in a hospital bed, attached to an IV pole and several monitors.

  His expression softens when he sees me, and he extends his hand to me.

  I’m in tears as I go to him, taking his hand and letting him draw me into his embrace. His familiar scent is immediately comforting.

  “Shhh,” he says. “I’m all right. I just now got the word that I have pneumonia. My heart is fine.”

  I’m a heap of sobbing woman, soaking up the love of the man who means more to me than my own life. “How can you have pneumonia and not know it?”

  “I’ve felt a little off the last couple of days,” he says as he strokes my hair, “but it wasn’t until today that I started to worry that something was wrong. I’m sorry I scared you. I tried to avoid that.”

  “Don’t do that again. Tell me the truth about what’s going on.”

  “I will, babe. I promise. Now stop crying. I can’t bear to see you upset.”

  * * *

  GIANNA

  I feel like an intruder in an intensely private moment between Dee and her fiancé. I told Milo and his family I’d see if I could find out what was going on. “Sorry to interrupt,” I say from the doorway. “The family is in the waiting room. Is there an update I can give them?”

  “You can tell them I have pneumonia, and my heart is fine. I’m on IV antibiotics for at least the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Of course. I’ll let them know.”

  “Thank you, Gianna,” Dee says as she wipes away tears.

  As I return to the waiting area, I wonder how anyone finds the courage to truly love someone else, knowing that any number of horrible things can happen to the most important person in your life. I’ve already seen how that can happen. Multiple times.

  Wouldn’t it be safer to be alone than to risk heartbreak again?

  I’ve worked myself into a full-blown panic by the time I reach the waiting room, where Milo’s family swarms me.

  “He’s okay. He has pneumonia, but his heart is fine.”

  “Oh, thank you, Jesus,” Elena says.

  Lorenzo puts his arm around his wife. “Thank you, Gianna. That’s such a relief.”

  “How’s Dee?” Maria asks.

  “Better now that she knows it’s not his heart.”

  “How bad is the pneumonia?” Nona asks.

  “Wyatt seems stable. He was talking to and comforting Dee. He’s on IV antibiotics for at least the next twenty-four hours. I think it’s safe to head home. Dee is with him, and Jason is there, too.”

  “Holy shit.”

  Everyone turns to look at Carmen, who has an odd look on her face. “I just had the worst pain after feeling sick all morning.”

  She bends in half when the pain hits again.

  I move quickly to lead her to the triage nurse.

  “I’m pregnant,” she whispers. “If I’m losing the baby…”

  “Don’t go there yet.”

  “I already lost one. No one knows.”

  “Let’s get you checked and see what’s going on.”

  “Will you stay with me?” she asks.

  “Of course. As long as you need me.”

  They take her right back to an exam bay. I leave her only long enough to go get Jason and tell him Carmen needs him. I’ll never forget the stricken look on his face when he realized something might be wrong with her.

  Over the next two hours, I wait with her, Jason and her parents, who came running from the restaurant when they heard she was in the ER. She’s in obvious pain and vomits twice while we wait for the doctors to determine what’s going on.

  “It’s her appendix,” the ER attending says when he returns after a long wait. “We need to get her upstairs for surgery.”

  Carmen’s eyes fill with tears. “The baby…”

  “Is fine,” the doctor says. “We’ll make sure he or she stays that way, okay?”

  Carmen nods and holds tight to Jason’s hand as an orderly wheels her bed from the ER toward the elevator. Milo, Maria and Austin, who stuck around to see what was going on, come to wish her well before they take her upstairs.

  “You’ll be just fine, Car,” Maria says.

  “That’s right,” Jason says even if he looks as freaked out as I’ve ever seen him.

  It would be easier, so much easier, to stay single and avoid all the nonsense that comes with loving someone more than you love yourself. That gives them too much power. It gives them the ability to ruin your life in so many ways, it’d be impossible to count them all. If only the thought of never seeing Milo again wasn’t truly devastating, I’d be so out of here the second after I help send Jason and his wife to the surgical floor.

  I’d never do that to Milo, but the longer this goes on, the more I feel like true love and everything that goes with it isn’t for me. It might’ve been, once upon a time, before the sudden deaths of my parents and everything with Jared, but now I know how fast things can change. I simply can’t go through that again. What if I allow myself to fall irrevocably in love with Milo and he dies, too? Or decides he “can’t do it,” the way Jared did?

  I’ve heard everything he’s said, and I want so badly to believe in the happily ever after he’s offering me. But even someone with the best of intentions can’t keep terrible things from happening, things that ruin someone else’s life because they had the courage to love you. I admit that the news about Scott, coupled with Wyatt’s health crisis and now Carmen’s surgery, has me spinning.

  It’s not fair to Milo to judge him and what he’s offered based on the actions or crises that befall other people. But I want off the merry-go-round I’ve been on since the day I learned my parents were dead in Jamaica. I just want a nice, quiet, peaceful life, and if I have to stay single to do that, then so be it.

  Chapter 21

  MILO

  Something is wrong. Since Gianna returned with a frantic and panicked Jason, she hasn’t said a word to me or anyone.