Most people would never be faced with a situation like that. Adrian came to the hospital to visit and so did Charlotte. Adrian wanted to know what ha...d happened but Nicholas’ lawyer had told him not to talk to anyone about it and so he kept his mouth shut. ‘Dude, I’m your friend, you can tell me what happened,’ he said. He was clearly offended by Nicholas’ reluctance. ‘Look,’ Nicholas spoke to him in a hushed tone, ‘Grace has a gunshot wound to the abdomen, four men are dead and I have. When the phone rang. I ran to the phone,answered it and it was Jim. You ready Sexy, he asked, and I couldn'tcontain myself, Of course I am I answered. He said that he was alreadydown stairs waiting for me. I told him I would be down in a couple andhung up the phone. I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs trying towalk slowly but was so excited about seeing Jim and almost ran to theelevator. Once I was in the elevator, I checked my makeup in the mirrorsto make sure everything was perfect, it. At breakfast each morning, they'd just nod and smile at each other. Discussion was unnecessary.As the day approached, the anxiety level around the house increased palpably. Even with the doctor's reassurance that the procedure was relatively uncomplicated, there was no way to avoid imagining the worst. Jack and Randall were so solicitous that Rita had to shoo them away from her over and over.Randall called his mom and told her about Aunt Rita's impending operation without mentioning any. .Really?”“If you’re not too busy?” Lace said, her voice heavy with a need that spoke to Maria’s own.Maria spared the hammered Roork only the briefest of looks before she nodded emphatically, “Yup. Yes. Definitely, night Roork!”Roork raised a hand, which in the space of half a second had seemingly found its way to holding Zu’gar’s still mostly full tankard, “A’ight! But all sayin’ is two best numba.”“Maybe Roork, look, I’ll tell you what,” Maria eyed Lace and her gold tooth caught the light.