Blood Money

3

"Danielle?" Trevor says coming into the dark room.

"You don't need to say anything Mr. Williams, I'll stay out of your life as much as possible." Danielle says doing her best to keep from sobbing.

Trevor walks over to the woman staring out at the moonlit garden. "I want to apologize to you for my boorish behavior tonight. You aren't at all what I was expecting and it threw me off."

"No need to apologize Mr. Williams, I'm in your way. At least that's what you see. I never wanted that. I tried to get Max to understand that, but he refused to do so." Danielle says softly not wanting to prolong this time with Trevor.

"No, I behaved horribly. I truly do apologize for my actions and words this night. I have to say that you cook marvelously. Dinner tasted better than anything I've ever had before." He looks at the box in his hand. "And I wanted to thank you for this. I don't know how you could have possibly known..."

Danielle hears his voice as if it's from a long distance and growing fainter.

"Danielle!" Trevor says and manages to grab her before she hits the ground.

"Father!" Trevor yells even as he scoops Danielle into his arms and takes her to the sofa.

Max runs into the room. "What happened?"

"I don't know. She was standing by the window when I came in. I apologized to her and then she fainted. I managed to catch her and set her down on the couch." Trevor runs a hand through his hair. He doesn't want Danielle in the way, but he doesn't want to see her hurt either. At least not after what he's seen and learned this night. He just wants her out of the way.

His father takes out some kind of kit. He pricks Danielle's finger and sets the resulting drop on a strip. "Shit! call an ambulance, Trevor. Hurry." Trevor doesn't hesitate when he sees the worry in his father's eyes.

"Tell them that she's fallen into a diabetic coma. They'll need to know that she's pregnant as well."

Trevor nods although his father has already gone back to doing whatever he can to help Danielle. He sees his father slip something into her mouth.

Max turns to see Trevor watching him. "It's a sucrose lozenge. Hopefully it will help her get her blood sugar up."

The next five minutes are the longest ones Trevor's ever experienced. The look in his father's eyes as he watches Danielle helplessly, once more sends arrows through his chest.

He lets the EMT's in once they get there. They don't waste any time. They take her blood sugar once more and set up an IV with a sucrose drip. 

Now it's Trevor's turn to watch helplessly as they load Danielle up on the ambulance. He looks at his father and is shocked to find him so shattered. They hadn't been married that long and Danielle isn't dead.

Max goes to follow them and Trevor leaves as well. "I'm sorry father. I didn't mean to cause any harm to come to her."

"Not your fault, Trevor. She found out just recently that she's diabetic. She was just really nervous about you coming over tonight. She must not have eaten much today from nerves."

No matter what his father said, it is his fault. She didn't eat because she knew that he didn't approve of her. How does she know him so well? Before tonight he'd hardly spoke half a dozen words to her and those just asking to see his father.

Is she as innocent as she seemed?

Max leaves Trevor there thinking things through as he races off to the hospital to be with his new wife.

Trevor decides to have her investigated. He calls up his favorite investigator and tells him what he wants. He tells him to be very discrete, he doesn't want his father getting wind of this. The investigator assures him that he will be and that he'll have an initial report within twenty-four hours.

Trevor opens the report the investigator sent him. What he reads makes him blanch white. Danielle has had a rough life. Not least of which is the report of her rape. He reads the accompanying medical report. At least ten men. Three of which have DNA on file for previous rapes. She hadn't been lying. There had still been traces of the drug in her system.

Now he feels sick.

Danielle is still in the hospital. His father hadn't left her side.

"Father?" Trevor says picking up his phone and barely glancing at the name that pops up.

"Trevor," Max has to stop and take a deep breath. "I know you don't like her, but can you come to the hospital? I need you right now."

Trevor has never heard his father sound so broken before. He doesn't even think about it. "I'm on my way." He stops long enough to tell his secretary to cancel all his appointments for the day and to send a dozen roses to Danielle's room. He may not like her, but that's no reason to be rude.

Trevor walks into the hospital and goes to the receptionist to find out what room Danielle is in. He's rather shocked to find that she's in an ICU room. He finds his father sitting disconsolately in the waiting room.

"What's wrong?" Trevor demands coming up to him.

"They have her blood sugar up, but she's not coming out of her coma. There's a very real chance that she'll die." Max says and completely loses all his composure.

Trevor is too astounded to do anything but pat his father on his back. "I'm sorry. I never meant her any harm."

"Not your fault, Trevor. I told you that last night." Max manages to get out in between his sobs. He's had so little time with Danielle and he's never been happier. It just isn't fair to her or him.

Trevor finds himself hoping for his father's sake that Danielle comes out of the coma.

Some time later a nurse comes over to the two men. "Mr. Williams?" They both look at her.

"You're wife is showing signs of waking up. You can go in to see her. Perhaps you talking to her will help her?"

Max gets up and a look of hope comes over his face. He goes into the room and gently takes Danielle's hand. He  says something to her, but he's too far away Trevor can't hear what he says.

"What are her chances, nurse?" Trevor watches.

"If she keeps the baby? Not very good. The best thing for her would be for her to miscarry right now." The nurse says but then colors as she realizes that she shouldn't have said anything.

"I won't say anything, nurse. Thank you." Trevor watches the joy that suffuses his father's face as Danielle wakes up.

It would be in all their best interest if she miscarried or had an abortion. He doesn't want his father to be unhappy. He's not that selfish, he just might act like it though. Still, he can't forget that Danielle had gotten him something he's wanted for a very long time. Something he's never told anyone that he wanted. So how did she figure it out?