Read Online Gold Hill by Claudia Hall Christian - Free Book Online

was
out of the worst of the anesthesia to get you,” the nurse said.
“The doctor likes to do that so you don’t see him drooling. He’s in
recovery but you can go home after that.”
    Heather glanced at Sandy.
Sandy nudged her forward. Heather followed the nurse to see her
husband.

Chapter One Hundred and
Ninety-Two Let’s have a
baby!
     
    Wednesday morning — 9:45
A.M.
     
    “ How did it go?” Jill
hugged Heather at the side door to the Castle.
    “ Okay, I guess,” Heather
said. “Blane’s healthy. That’s what the doctor said at least. I
mean, healthy enough to need a new liver.”
    Heather’s face flushed with
despair. Jill hugged her again and stepped aside so that she could
come into the Castle. They took the long stairwell to Jacob’s old
apartment and passed through the bathroom to Jill and Jacob’s
loft.
    “ What happened with
Jeraine and Tanesha?” Heather followed Jill to their kitchen
area.
    “ He has brain damage,”
Jill said.
    “ We knew that,” Heather
said.
    “ He didn’t,” Jill said.
“It was really touching. He was afraid Tanesha would lose faith in
him if he didn’t go to med school.”
    “ He didn’t know we already
knew,” Heather said.
    Jill nodded. She poured two
cups of decaffeinated coffee and gave one to Heather.
    “ Did she tell
him?”
    Jill shook her head. She
held up the milk and Heather nodded. Jill passed her the milk and
Heather doctored in her coffee.
    “ Does he know about his
money yet?” Heather asked.
    “ No,” Jill said. “Tanesha
is adamant that he needs to find that out from
Schmidty.”
    “ Why?” Heather asked. “I’d
want to know right away. I mean, you’re not holding anything back
from me, are you?”
    “ Never,” Jill said. “But
Tanesha . . . You know, she’s been through this so
many times. He seems to really get it now. But he’s never really
understood the repercussions of his addiction. She’s hoping if he
gets it one step at a time, it will sink in. You know, ‘I give in
to my addiction, I get this response’ kind of thing.”
    “ She’s afraid he’ll go
back,” Heather nodded. “That makes sense.”
    “ I understand, I guess,”
Jill sighed.
    “ Trevor?” Heather watched
her friend’s face.
    “ It’s just one of those
things,” Jill said. “What I wanted more than anything was for him
to get better, to stop hitting me, to stop using drugs,
and . . . the
women . . . ”
    She looked around the
loft.
    “ Even though I’m happy
now, I mean, really, really happy now,” Jill said. “A tiny part of
me still wishes Trevor had gotten better like he promised all those
times.”
    “ I still wish my Dad would
come home,” Heather said. “He’d meet me at some pricey place for
lunch and tell me how sorry he was. He’d want to make it up to me
and then would be there, day in and day out. He’d have sage advice
from all of his world travels or that time he was stranded on a
desert island or when he was a Tibetan monk.
But . . . ”
    Heather
shrugged.
    “ Right,” Jill said.
“Delphie says ‘The heart wants what the heart wants.’ I’m glad
things turned out this way. I’m glad my heart wants this
now.”
    “ My heart’s really happy
too,” Heather said.
    “ And Tres?” Jill smiled.
Heather blushed.
    “ I mean, poor Tanesha,”
Heather’s eyes insisted on avoiding the topic of Tres Sierra. Jill
smiled. “She keeps saying that as long as she has school,
everything is all right. It seems to be helping them.”
    “ She’s not allowing
herself to get too dependent. It’s probably smart.”
    “ It’s funny though,”
Heather said. “When I see them together, like this morning, they’re
the picture of love. He can’t take his eyes off her and she
radiates a joy she doesn’t have when he’s not here.”
    “ They’ve always been like
that,” Jill said.
    “ I know,” Heather
nodded.
    The women fell silent while
they drank their coffee.
    “ How’s Valerie?” Heather
asked.
    “