Page 68 of His Beautiful Revenge
He bent down and took her chin between his fingers. “Now, girl, you will start to make this right, so that when Ms. Reddy is murdered, it doesn’t come back to us. Because I swear, Tara, I don’t give a fuck if youaremy daughter …if you bring this down on my house, you’ll meet a fate far worse than she does.”
Zulika opened her eyes and tested herself, searching for the pain. She knew she was on a morphine drip, but still …post-operative pain was a certainty. Yet she felt nothing.
Shit, am I dead?Then she heard voices—familiar voices.
“Zully?”
A child’s voice, followed a man’s deep, mellifluous tones, calling her name.
Yes, yes, I’m here …
She blinked and tried to focus as her vision cleared, then she saw them. She saw them and she smiled.
Ferma. Orlando. Both were grinning like maniacs at her, and she knew without being told what the surgeons had achieved.
She was cancer-free.
Orlando had called Norah and Giacomo after the surgery and now he told Zulika that they were coming over for a week to see her. Norah had called and Zulika could tell she was delighted and overwhelmed, even if she remonstrated with Zulika for not telling her about the surgery.
When Norah arrived at the hospital, she threw her arms around Zulika and the two women hugged for what seemed like an hour. When Zulika drew away finally, both of them were crying.
“You look wonderful.” Norah sniffed, smiling through her tears and Zulika laughed.
“Yes, we both do rock the snot.”
Norah laughed, and Giacomo cleared his throat. “Listen, why don’t we leave you two alone and go grab some coffee?” He bore Orlando and Ferma off to the hospital’s cafeteria.
“How do you feel? Really?”
Zulika nodded. “Seriously, so good. Better than I have for months. I think that’s having the cloud lifted away from me mentally as much as it is physically, you know?”
Norah nodded and grinned. “I do. God, Zul. It’s so good to see you.”
Zulika studied her friend. “And what about you? You’re glowing.”
Norah grinned shyly. “All good, I swear. Now, listen, maid of honor, we have some dress shopping to do when you feel up to it.”
“I’m there. Have you been to the bookstore yet?”
Nora nodded. “We checked in with Fred this morning. That girl is a force of nature. The place looks great.”
Zulika nodded. “Yep, we landed on our feet there.”
“When are you getting out of here?”
“A couple of days, hopefully. No later than Friday, thank god.”
Norah grinned. “The food that bad?”
Zulika snickered. “No, but you know me …I’m fussy.”
“Well, if you’re up to it, Giacomo and I would like to take you out to dinner when you get out of here.”
Zulika smiled. “In that case, I’m definitely getting out of here as soon as possible.”
Zulika was zipping herself into a beautiful red dress. During her sickness, she had lost about sixty pounds from her already slender frame and now she wanted to get her athletic but curvy figure back.
Orlando, already dressed, was watching her from his reclined deposition on the bed. She grinned at his reflection in the mirror. “You know, you could help.”
