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Chapter 124: Kidnapped
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2022-11-24 14:32:56Related chapters
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 125: Ladies who have tea
ALISON"All right, I admit it. This place is lovely." I sipped tea from my paper-thin china cup and sighed in contentment. "Tell me why we haven't done this before. Little sandwiches, scones, and three levels of the most delicious pastries . . . this is heaven." "Well, I'd do the I told you so dance, but I'm too busy letting this clotted cream give me an orgasm." Darcy popped a corner of her scone, covered with the fluffy cream, into her waiting mouth. "So good." She moaned her appreciation. Emma and I exchanged indulgent smiles. Darcy had been a fairly quiet, serious, hardworking nurse practitioner when I'd arrived in Harper Springs. But since reigniting an old flame with her football-player first love, getting pregnant and married, she'd definitely loosened up."I wonder if they'd consider catering my bridesmaids' luncheon," Emma mused, nibbling on a cookie. "I planned to do it at the farm, but I don't want Anna to cook-not that I don't love her food, I do-but I'd like it if sh
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 126: House hunting
NOAH"Hey. Noah, right? Do you have a second?" I paused just outside the door to the weight room, turning to see who was calling me. When I realized who it was, I forced myself not to grimace. "Ah, sure." I let go of the door's handle and shifted the bag on my shoulder. "Good to see you again, Ms. Connors." "Please. It's Juliet." She glanced around the wide hallway. The place was busy since practice was scheduled to begin in a couple of hours. "Can we go sit down over by the windows?" I nodded my assent and followed Juliet a few yards down to a rounded nook made up of solid glass. The view from there was spectacular at night, taking in the city lights. A couple of chairs faced the windows. Juliet sank into one, and I dropped my bag to the floor and took the other. "It's kind of bustling around here today, isn't it?" She peered around me to look at a bunch of guys shouting insults to each other as they headed down the open steps. "Yeah, most of us like to maximize our hours
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 127: Bedside Manner
ALISON"But he's going to be okay, right, Doc? We caught it in time?" I squeezed the bony hands of the woman sitting next to me in the family waiting room on the med-surge floor at Tampa General. "Yes, ma'am, Mrs. Rooney. Thanks to you insisting that your husband come in to see me, and the two of us getting him to the hospital fast enough, I don't expect there to be any complications. Appendectomies are fairly straightforward procedures these days. And since the appendix hasn't ruptured, that's a point in our favor." "Oh, thank you so much, Dr. Wakely. I just don't know what we would have done without you." Tears trembled on her eyelashes. "No other doctor would've opened up the office on a Sunday just to see one patient." "Well, if I'd realized what was going on, I might have just made a house call and saved you the trip. But it's probably good I didn't, since it was easier to get Mr. Rooney here from my office." "That's true. I'm not sure we could've gotten him here in tim
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 128: Pain management
ALISONWhen I opened the curtain next to his bed, Noah's eyes were closed and his breath was coming fast. Sweat dotted his forehead. It was so incredibly frustrating that I couldn't do anything to help him-nothing but sit here and hold his hand. "Hey." I spoke softly so as not to startle him. "I'm back." "Yeah." His voice was gravelly, and he coughed a little. "What's the news?""Well . . ." I decided to lead with the positive. "I talked to the doctor in charge of your care for now, and she's sending an order for more pain meds. The nurse should be here soon with that." "Okay. That's good." His eyes met mine, and I wanted to cry when I saw the helpless fear there. "What about my leg? What are they saying about it? Are they going to set it or something? Surgery?" I took a deep fortifying breath. "They sent for the orthopedic doctor who usually deals with this kind of injury. Apparently, he's the top of the field. The best of the best." I was babbling and making up some of this
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 129: Benched
NOAH"Spencer! What's your lazy ass doing laying around when we've got a game this Thursday night?" Coach bellowed as he stalked into my hospital room, and I winced slightly, imagining that other patients up and down the hallway were wondering who'd let a bull moose loose in the hospital. "Sorry, Coach. Looks like I'll have to sit out Thursday night's game, but I hope I'll be back on the field in the next couple of weeks." I answered him with as much confidence as I could muster, even knowing all the while that it was mostly bravado. There was no way I'd be playing football for at least a couple of months. If we managed to get into postseason play, there was maybe a chance I'd be ready to go back, but for now, my doctor was making no promises. "Yeah, so I hear." Coach crossed his arms over his chest and glowered. "That hit got you good. Cruyholder, the guy who took you down-he's been mea culpaing all over the fucking place since Sunday." He shrugged. "Not that there was anything h
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 130: Stretching
ALISONMy therapist's office was situated in a lovely old Victorian house down a residential street in Bayerton, about ten minutes from where I lived. My doctor in Philadelphia had recommended Brooke Slater, with whom she'd worked in a large Richmond, Virginia practice years ago before my former doctor had moved north and Brooke had gotten married and relocated to Florida. In the two years I'd been seeing Brooke for bi-monthly sessions, we'd developed a friendly sort of relationship that didn't violate the patient-therapist boundaries-but that at the same time made me feel more comfortable about sharing my deepest thoughts with her. Sometimes our conversation before or after my visits wandered into something more akin to girlfriend chatter. Today was such a day. I'd taken advantage of my short day at the office to drive into Tampa for some shopping before rushing back to Bayerton for my late-afternoon appointment with Brooke, and on impulse, I carried the large paper bag from the
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 131: Wedding buddies
NOAH"Noah?" The voice behind me as I stood under the portico at the hotel was hesitant but oddly familiar. I turned around to see a drop-dead gorgeous total babe approaching me from the direction of the lobby. "Uh . . . Alison?" I croaked like a boy going through adolescence. "Hey. Um, wow. You look . . ." I gave a little cough to try to get my voice back under control. "Amazing." Her cheeks flushed a very pretty pink. "Thank you. You don't look bad yourself. Actually, if I'm going for brutal honesty, you look a hell of a lot better than you did the last time I saw you."I grimaced. "Not hard to do. I was pretty wrecked that day." "Yeah, I know." She glanced around us. "So you're staying here, too?" "There wasn't a lot of choice. Emma said all of the out of town guests who weren't being put up by people in Harper Spring were coming to this hotel. It was nice of them to spring for the shuttle." "Nice, yes. A good idea, absolutely." Alison tilted her head. "Think about all
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Diagnosis: Love Chapter 132: Beautiful
NOAH"And now, by the power vested in me by the state of Florida and by God Almighty, I now pronounce you man and wife." The minister beamed down at Emma and Deacon. "Deacon, son, you may kiss your bride." There was spontaneous applause among all of us witnessing the marriage, followed by a outburst of awwwws as Deacon framed Emma's glowing face with his hands and bent his head to kiss her. Next to me, Alison sighed, and I smiled. I got the sense that the good doctor liked people to think that she was impervious to things like romance and sentiment, but the expression on her face as our friends had made their vows gave lie to that idea. This was the first wedding I'd attended since Ang had died. I'd had a few invitations from teammates and cousins since her death, but I'd made an excuse for every single one. I'd known all along, though, that I couldn't miss Emma's big day. She was too good a friend for me to hurt her that way. In addition to our close friendship, she and Deacon
Last Updated : 2022-11-24
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Diagnosis: Love Chapter 193: As long as we both shall live
NOAHNoahIt was a beautiful day for a wedding. We gathered at mid-morning under the covenant oak on Jimmy and Anna Girard's farm. Alison and I had decided that since Emma and Deacon's wedding had been the start of our love story, we should say our vows under the canopied branches of that same steadfast tree. We hadn't wanted anything grand or involved, but it was important to us that the special people in our lives were present. So when Alison and I joined hands and made our vows, among those surrounding us were Emma and Deacon, Darcy and Jackson, Jenny and Nico, Mira Hoskins, and all of the people who worked with Alison in her practice. Maggie Corning, the midwife, and Brooke Slater, Alison's therapist, were there, too. My family had flown down en mass from Wisconsin and other key points around the country. My mother couldn't stop smiling, and my dad looked proud. Even my brothers and sisters and their families were behaving themselves. And then of course, there was the Tam
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 192: Happily Ever After part 3
ALISONA human being can accomplish almost any task while sobbing her eyes out. I'd known this from experience in my past life, but after Noah left that afternoon, I went about proving it all over again.I cried as I wiped the table and counters. I wept as I took out a frozen macaroni and cheese to eat for dinner. I sobbed as I climbed the steps and listened at the baby's door-she was still asleep in the crib. I sniffled as I switched a load of newborn clothes from the washer to the dryer.He was gone, and I was alone. Again. Naturally.The hell of it was that even as he'd pleaded his case to me, even as he'd told me that he loved me, I'd known he was telling the truth. I believed him. But I couldn't trust what he thought he felt, not when people changed their minds about being in love all the damn time. People claimed to love a friend or a child or a lover, and then they changed their minds. It happened. I knew it first-hand. I'd experienced it over and over again before I was t
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 191: Break
NOAH"Where's the baby?" Alison walked into the kitchen, her face etched with fatigue. We'd had a long and trying few days as Evangeline had apparently been going through a growth spurt: she nursed almost constantly and was difficult to console the rest of the time. She'd fought sleep, and she'd cried piteously no matter what we'd tried to do. The pediatrician had assured us that this was normal and we'd get through it, but privately, I thought he was a heartless imbecile who clearly didn't understand that our daughter was advanced and needed more attention than the typical newborn. But finally, today we'd caught a break. Alison had gone upstairs to take a shower-her first in three days-and somehow, I'd managed to get the baby to sleep without the benefit of a boob. More than that, I'd actually laid her in the crib without waking her up. I was pretty satisfied with myself, all in all. I was also crossing my fingers that she'd stay asleep long enough that her mother and I could d
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 190: Parenthood
NOAHParenthood was amazing, fulfilling, beautiful, awesome . . . and exhausting. The first few weeks of baby Evangeline's life at home were a blur, a constant, never-ending whirlwind of feeding, and changing, and washing, and catching whatever small bites of sleep we could whenever she slept. People came to visit and brought gifts and food, and I was pathetically grateful for that, because I didn't have the energy to cook, and both Alison and I were tired of takeout. The one factor that made everything survivable was the baby herself. God, I hadn't known how much I was going to love this ten-pounds of tiny, perfect human. I'd never anticipated that staring at her sleep for an hour was better than four quarters of football. Or that catching what might have been a smile could make me feel as though I'd just witnessed greatness. What was some missing sleep compared with noting how well my two-week-old daughter could lift up her head?Even so, as much as I was ga-ga over my baby gir
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 189: New life
ALISON"Congratulations, mama! You're at six. I think it's time to break your water and get things really going." It sounded like a great idea to me, but I saw Noah's lips go white. "Are you okay?" I asked, rubbing my fingers over the back of his hand. "You look a little green." He swallowed, his throat convulsing. "This is the only part I'm a little, uh, squeamish about. I watched that birth online, and breaking the water looked-intense." Maggie chuckled. "Stay up there by Alison and keep your eyes on her face. We don't need papa hitting the floor and suing the hospital." Noah did as he was told, watching me intently as if waiting for me to show some sign of distress. "Does it hurt?" he asked quietly. "The water part, I mean." I shook my head. "It feels a little weird, but not-oooooh!" I gasped as I felt the gush hit my inner thighs. "Okay, then. Eyes here, Noah. Come on. We're in this together." After that, it felt as though everything got a lot more serious. The con
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 188: Giving in
ALISON Spoiler alert: having sex with Noah did not start my labor.But it sure was worth the effort. Two days after that monumental night-and after we'd given it the good old college try several more times-we went to Maggie's office. I was in a rotten mood-being a million years pregnant can do that to a person-and poor Noah looked a little haggard. He'd been sleeping with me in my bed (we both clung to the excuse that if I went into labor, I'd want him closer than across the hall), which meant that he woke up whenever I had to climb out of that bed to pee. He thought I'd been exaggerating about how often I had to go. He was quickly disabused of that notion. After a quick exam, Maggie made some notes on her tablet and then turned to the both of us. "So listen," she began. "Do you want to have this baby?" I stared at her as though she'd lost her mind. "What the hell do you think I've been trying to do for over three weeks now, Maggie?" I bellowed. "Of course, I want to have th
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 187: Finally, at last
NOAHNow I got it. The night we'd first had sex-the night after Emma and Deacon's wedding-we'd challenged each other to come up with the sexiest, most outrageous names for cocktails. Alison was playing the game again."Ohhhhh." I grinned. "I still don't believe that last one is legit.""It totally is. The bartender confirmed it." With a smile that was deceptively seductive for an extremely pregnant woman, she reached down to grasp the bottom of her oversized T-shirt-which was not so oversized just now-and lifted it over her head. I helped just to make sure she didn't topple over in the process. It was the first time I'd really seen her without a shirt in many months. My first few impressions were awe at the size of her swollen middle. I knew she was huge, but damn. The skin was stretched as tight as a drum, and her belly button looked like a cork just about to give way. And her boobs-they were incredible. Within the utilitarian maternity bra, they were still the sexiest breasts
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 186: Things you shouldn't ask
NOAH"What's the world record for the longest pregnancy ever?" I glanced up at Alison from the book I was reading. We were both lying on her bed while a movie that neither of us was very invested in played on the TV. The couch downstairs had become too uncomfortable for her over the past week or so, so we'd begun hanging out here in her room. It was strictly for comfort, though; we stayed on top of the covers, with Alison on one side while I stuck to the other. It was a king-sized bed with plenty of room for us. But while we hadn't hesitated to cuddle and kiss on the sofa, something about being on the bed made us more cautious. I didn't know why, exactly; Alison was so tired of being pregnant that she wasn't up for much of anything other than television lately. She'd stopped going into the office after her due date since she'd already arranged with Dr. Johanson to cover her hours. So we were both at home now all the time . . . just waiting.She really was huge. While the ultraso
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 185: Trust love
ALISON"Read me that last part again?" Noah and I were sitting in the nursery, surrounded by boxes, gift bags, and about a million pieces of a pine crib. He had spent the last two weeks focusing on the nursery. He'd painted the room a lovely pale yellow color, insisting that I stay with Emma and Deacon at the cabin for the two nights after he'd completed the first and second coats so that I didn't have to inhale the paint fumes. Together, we had selected the crib and the dressing table. Noah's mother had sent us the cradle that all of her children had slept in, and that was already set up in my bedroom.Now, with my due date less than ten days away, we were finally tackling the project of building all of the furniture that hadn't come pre-assembled. I squinted at the paper in my hand, trying to decipher the words."I'm pretty sure that this was translated directly from Swedish by someone who didn't speak English," I commented. "It doesn't seem to make sense.""Does it say at wh
