Page 1 of Inevitable Secrets

One

The linoleumunder Taylor’s silver, strappy, multi-thousand-dollar shoes was incredibly ugly. It was a brown, patterned mess and between that and the smell of whatever it was that hospitals smelled like, Taylor thought she was going to be sick.

The shine of the hideous floors reflected the glare of the ceiling light into Taylor’s face as she sat, arms crossed, leaning forward on her knees. Taylor examined the tiles and tried to lose herself in the buzzing of the fluorescent light. She was desperate to think about something, anything else besides the fact that Derrick was in emergency surgery for a gunshot wound, but the floor wasn’t a very helpful distraction. She swallowed her fears down, but they just rose again in her throat all acidic and burning.

He hadn’t moved. He had just laid there on the ground, totally still, his face void of color. Despite her attempts to distract herself she kept going back to her last view of Derrick, still despite her calls to him. Motionless even when the medical team had arrived and loaded him onto a stretcher and then into a waiting ambulance.

As Derrick was being loaded into the white box, Taylor had scrambled to her feet. She was ready to follow as he was wheeled away, but Henry interjected. He threw one of his arms around her and stopped her from getting into the ambulance. Instead he loaded Taylor into an SUV that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and climbed in beside her as the ambulance doors were slammed shut.

“Go!” Henry shouted to the driver, which sent the vehicle screeching loudly away from the chaotic scene.

“What are you doing? I need to go with him!” Taylor demanded, trying to shove past Henry’s immovable frame and get to the door handle. “Get out of my way! Let me out of here!” she shouted, her voice becoming shriller as she made no headway in her quest to get out.

Henry gripped the sides of Taylor’s arms. “Taylor!” he shouted, giving her a gentle shake, allowing her to focus on him and silencing her. “I am taking you to him,” he said slowly and firmly, pulling Taylor out of her frenzied state momentarily.

Taylor looked up and realized their car was in fact tailing the large white box with flashing lights. “Is he okay?” she asked Henry desperately, hoping he had some insight that she didn’t.

But Henry remained stoic in his answer. “I don’t know,” he answered truthfully, “but they are all working very hard in there to try and make sure he will be.” Taylor felt a tear fall from her eye at his omission. They didn’t know—no one knew if Derrick would be okay.

“Wait, where’s Marty?” Taylor asked in a sudden flare of panic.

“The Fletcher family security team got her out of there,” Henry answered flatly as he scanned the world around their car.

“Good,” Taylor said, “that’s good.” Marty was safe. Taylor gave herself seconds to absorb the one shred of good news she had.

And now, hours later, she sat in a room with hideous linoleum tiles, wipeable plastic furniture, and horrid fluorescent lighting, hoping with every fiber that Derrick was going to pull through this. She smoothed her hands down her ball gown and scanned its current state—bloody. There was so much blood on it, Derrick’s blood. Once again, a shiver ran down her spine as panic took hold. She looked at the clock and saw over two hours had passed since she had arrived and still she knew nothing, had heard nothing. Doubt rolled in and she shook her head quickly trying to brush it away, but instead it brought hot tears down her cheeks.

“He’s gonna be okay, Mrs. Preston-Fletcher,” Mick said from his post beside the doorway.

Taylor had forgotten he was even in the room he was so quiet. She tried to muster up a smile for him but her face wouldn’t comply. “Thanks Mick,” she acknowledged hoarsely, as more tears careened down her cheeks.

The huge man came over and crouched before her, and still he was a foot higher. “I’m serious, Taylor,” he affirmed to her. “Mr. Fletcher would never leave you,” he said as he stooped his head lower to look in Taylor’s eyes. “He loves you. I have never seen love so strong in anyone. He would never leave you like this,” Mick said nodding his head at Taylor.

Taylor felt her chin tremble and then her head went naturally to Mick’s shoulder and his arms enveloped her. Taylor let all the tension inside of her go and she sobbed into his suit. How could she not have told Derrick that she loved him sooner? How could she have ever denied that she loved Derrick? Regret was eating away at her as she sat there, hoping and praying she was going to get the chance to tell him how much she loved him.

The door to the room swung open and crashed against the wall behind it, sending Taylor jumping away from Mick in surprise, and Mick spinning around and drawing his well-concealed gun at the intruder.

“It’s me!” Charlie called out, hands up. “It’s just me!”

Mick rose slowly, keeping Taylor shielded behind him, harnessed his gun, and went back to the door, closing it behind Charlie. He took his post as if he had never moved.

“Taylor,” Charlie said as he took her in. By his tone Taylor could only assume she was a huge mess. Charlie crossed over to her, his shoes clicking on the ugly linoleum on the way, and took Taylor into his arms. “How are you?” he asked.

Taylor could only shake her head in response, as she didn’t trust her voice.

Charlie leaned back, pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped Taylor’s cheeks as he kept an arm around her. “Have you heard anything?” he asked as he smoothed the fine linen down her cheeks.

“No,” Taylor whispered.

Charlie nodded, but Taylor didn’t miss the way his eyes shot over to the wall clock and widened a bit. “Taylor, why don’t we take you home to change—”

“No,” she said a little louder this time.

Charlie was silent for a moment, seeming to try and choose his words. “We don’t know how long they will be, sweetheart,” he explained softly. “You may be sitting here for a while and you might be more comfortable—”

“Charlie,” Taylor cut in softly but firmly, “I appreciate your concern, and I love you for it, but I will not be leaving this hospital without my husband.”

“But—”

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