Page 116 of Born for Starlight

“That needed to happen.”

“You’re going to get your phone when we get back to the States,” Bruno said drily.

“That’s too late.”

“Live with it,” Billy muttered.

Julian glared at him.

"You'll get an exclusive, Julian," I said. "The whole story. When I'm ready to tell it."

That shut him up.

“Miss Drakos?”

We all turned to see a nurse walking into the waiting room. It was the same nurse from before. “The man you’ve been waiting for is out of surgery. It went very well. He’s in recovery. You’ll be able to see him soon.”

“That’s wonderful!” Julian grabbed me and crushed me in a huge hug. I struggled, but finally gave up and let him hug me.

When he was done, I stepped back and looked at the nurse. “Graças a Deus.”

Ana smiled at me. "Ele vai ficar bem, senhora. Ele é forte."

“She says he’s strong and okay,” Jase translated for me, but he didn’t have to. I understood her.

“Obrigada,” I thanked her.

I shook my head. I'd spoken Portuguese again. God, it was time to go home. Not to California, to Jasper Creek. But I wasn’t going back there alone. Yeah, my brothers were going with me. But there were two others I wanted to bring home. One who would probably be surprised, one I would have to be very careful with.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“You need to learn patience,” Zoe said.

“Really? Really?” I heard my voice getting louder and I wanted it to stop but I couldn’t seem to make it. “You, the queen of impatience is telling me to be patient?!”

I looked around the table of women who were all looking at me with concern and sympathy and I wanted to throw them out of my house. And the paperwork. God, all the paperwork that was spread out on the table was killing me!

It had been six and a half weeks since I’d last seen Luzia and seven since I’d seen Matthew, and I was at the end of my rope.

“Angelica, it’s coming together,” Maddie said softly. “I talked to the people at the international adoption commission in Maranhão, and they said that everything you had sent them was in order.”

“Then when can I go and pick up Luzia?” I practically yelled.

“Don’t yell at my sister,” Zoe yelled at me. “She’s the reason things have been going so well for you. You needed someone here in the United States who knew the system, and nobody knows it better than Maddie does, so take it down five notches.”

I dropped my head against the table, letting my forehead bounce. Then I looked up at Maddie. “I’m so sorry.”

“Angelica, on a scale of one to ten, you are a two when it comes to difficult clients. Trust me, I understand your frustration.”

“Yeah, frustration,” Zoe muttered. “Then there’s the fact that Matthew took a powder, and she’s not getting any.”

“The bastard,” Chloe chimed in.

“That’s not true. He’s kept in touch.” Kit defended my man.

I turned my phone over and scrolled down where I could pull up the few texts I’d received from Matthew. One a week. He kept promising he’d come to Tennessee, he just had a few things he had to wrap up. I hadn’t bothered to reply to the last two. Either he was going to show up or he wasn’t. I was sick of just receiving meaningless promises.

He'd called exactly once, the day after he walked out of the hospital. Three minutes. He was okay, he had something to finish, and he'd explain everything when he could look me in the eye. Since then, he didn't pick up when I called. To hell with him. But then he would ask about Luzia. When he did that, I couldn’t help but respond. I’d tell him what was going on, and he’d ask relevant follow up questions and I’d answer them. But then when I’d ask him where he was, or what he was doing or when he’d be back? Radio silence.