Sterling Silver Linings

By Noell Mosco

Find out how The Unexpected Series ends. West and Nora, Brax and Ashna; between the love, the drama, the highs, the lows--is life too rough on these people or will happily ever after be the ultimate ending?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Noell Mosco
• Release date: Aug 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370244522

Noell Mosco

I'm a 30-something woman who works a full-time job in the physical therapy field. I've loved writing for enjoyment since I was 11 years old but never considered it as anything more than a hobby. I live in southwestern Pennsylvania, born and raised, with my husband and furbabies. I enjoy travelling and would love to be able to do it professionally :)

Book preview

Sterling Silver Linings

The Unexpected Series Book 4

A novel

By Noell Mosco

Copyright 2016 Noell Mosco

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for purchasing this book. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed, reproduced, scanned, or copied to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Please do not participate in piracy of copyrighted material. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. All characters and storylines are the property of the author. Thank you for your support and thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Disclaimer

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Let it be known - this novel is written as fiction. 36 Kings, Copper Crossfire and

The Fingers of Fish are bands that I created in my mind, as is CloseUp! Other products/services/brand names in the book may resemble real ones and no infringement is intended.

Dedication

For my Girls

Who talk me down when I want to walk away,

Who keep me sane during my day job,

Who give me advice, ideas, and tough love,

Who all just help.

This one is for you.

More books by Noell Mosco

Stand Alones:

Unfamiliar Faces

These Walls

The Unexpected Series:

The Unexpected Beautiful

Falling Deeper

Asking For Forever

Sterling Silver Linings

Prologue

The hospital smelled of disinfectant and desolation. The waiting room was dull and boring. A television was mounted on the wall in front of them but no one was watching it. They occupied four chairs—West’s mother and step-dad, Claire and Paul, sat beside West and Nora leaned against his other side. Nora’s head rested on his shoulder as she snoozed into the late hours.

A surgical intern had updated them about an hour ago as to East’s condition, saying only that his surgery was still touch and go. The only information she’d revealed about his condition was that he’d sustained a brain bleed and the neurosurgeon was hoping to salvage everything so that East wouldn’t suffer any permanent brain damage.

Scary shit.

After an eternity, a doctor came to the waiting room and called for the family of Easton Briggs. They all stood up; Nora felt awkward standing with the family, but West held onto her hand so tight that she didn’t have a choice.

The doctor approached them and cracked a half-smile. He’s out of surgery and in recovery. Tonight is going to be very vital. Because of his delicate state, I have to insist that only one person at a time can be beside him once he’s moved into a private room in the ICU. And there’s more. Can I speak to you all privately? The doctor’s eyes flicked to Nora and he followed up with, Family only, please.

West turned to Nora, pulled their joined hands to his lips to kiss her hand quickly. She understood. He turned back to the doctor and followed him down a stark hallway and into a room that looked like it was set up for conferences.

In the privacy of the closed-off room, the doctor introduced himself. I’m Dr. Sheffield and I’m the head of neurosurgery here at Children’s. I’d like to discuss Easton’s condition with you all. I’m going to tell you a lot of information so please don’t let it overwhelm you.

At his words, Claire grabbed West’s hand under the table. She looked positively terrified. Paul, too, held the same expression on his face.

As you know, Easton’s tumble down the stairs resulted in a head injury, bleeding, and then swelling inside his skull. That’s why the surgery was so long. I wanted to make sure I caught all the bleeding. If all goes well throughout the night, he should be in the clear from any long-term damage from the head injury.

They all let out a collective breath.

But I have other concerns. Mrs. Briggs, you mentioned on your report that you noticed Easton walking and running differently the last couple of weeks? the doctor asked, looking at Claire.

Claire looked like the doctor had put her on the spot. It took her a second to find her voice. Yes, Doctor. But he was playing and I thought he was just acting silly. I didn’t really notice it after that. But then he fell down the stairs today and I don’t know why, Claire answered. She didn’t correct him on the wrong name – she’d kept her maiden name of MacKinnon when she married Paul, but that point was irrelevant.

Doctor Sheffield nodded. I’d like to take blood samples from all of you, as well as Easton.

Blood samples from us? What for? Paul asked.

We have to rule out certain things, that’s all. It’s basic bloodwork, mostly. It will also test for genetic diseases that may have caused Easton’s loss of balance. I want to be thorough. With a blood test, I’ll be able to know more.

West’s heart stopped. He never imagined East having a debilitating disease.

Within minutes, a nurse came into the conference room and drew blood from each of them. West stared at his arm where the butterfly needle had been easily inserted and the dark red liquid quickly filled up a small vial.

Before Doctor Sheffield left the conference room, he told the nurse to rush the lab results and to get them to him immediately upon their completion, also stating that he himself would draw East’s blood and have it delivered to the lab as soon as possible.

Back in the waiting room, West sat beside Nora, a replica of a statue. His heart, his head, his body – all stilled with the unknown possibility of his life changing forever with the result of one little blood test.

Nora pulled on West’s hand, urging him to leave the waiting room and take a walk. Let’s get something to eat from the cafeteria. I’m so hungry.

What if the doctor comes back while we’re gone? West asked. Nora normally wouldn’t fight him, but she knew he needed to move around and get some food into his system. He agreed but only if they’d be gone for five minutes. He didn’t want to miss the doctor.

The next hour was torture. Total and utter torture. The lab results came back and were negative for the doctor’s main concern, which had been muscular dystrophy. However, the neurosurgeon intern did not come bearing all good news. Easton did, however, test positive for growth hormone deficiency, which, the intern explained, was a medical condition involving the pituitary gland where the body didn’t produce enough growth hormone. In childhood, it resulted in diminished muscles and small bone development.

That wasn’t all: while the hospital was running the lab results on their blood, East suffered a neurological emergency, his vitals crashed and he was taken into another emergent surgery. Apparently, there was instantaneous and unpredicted swelling against the sutures of his skull-flap and it needed to be relieved and stat. West felt shell-shocked. The intern explained that Dr. Sheffield had successfully relieved the swelling and, to prevent another incident, left East’s skull-flap open. Once East woke up, if he woke up, another surgery would be performed to close his skull.

West sat beside East’s bed alone in the ICU. He held onto his little hand and rubbed his thumb over his smooth skin. They’d waited hours to be able to visit him. He had yet to wake up, and until that happened, everyone was on pins and needles. Just waiting. West had Googled growth hormone deficiency on his phone and found that it was mostly treatable with hormone therapy or injections. Prognosis was good, however…

Thoughts West never wanted to think started to fill his head. Would East live through this? If he did, would he have brain damage? Would East get to finish school? Graduate? Go to college? Get married? Or, worst case scenario – what if East didn’t survive after everything his little body had been through? He fought the tears as hard as he could. He felt like his world was about to collapse. How would he live his life if there was no Easton in it? West shuddered at the thought.

Even though their age difference was huge, West always imagined he and East would remain close, growing increasingly so as East got older. Their age difference would dissipate over the years and West imagined he’d be East’s close confidant during his teenage years and he planned on asking East to be the best man in his wedding someday.

Easton flinched in his sleep and it caused West to come to immediate attention. He held his breath and waited for more to happen, but it didn’t.

Then it hit West in the face like a ton of fucking bricks.

He sprung up from his chair and took one last look at East lying in the hospital bed, dwarfing him even more than normal, before he rushed out of the room. He walked as quickly as he could to the waiting room, where he found the rest of his family. As soon as Claire saw West, she stood from her chair.

Is he okay? she asked, seeing West’s facial expression of excitement.

Yeah, he’s still sleeping. You can go back with him now, he told her, giving her a quick hug. Her eyes, which normally looked so similar to his own, were rimmed with a thick redness and were weary to epic extremes. West pulled Claire into his arms for another hug before she left to go back to sit with East.

West sat down next to Nora. God, Nora. She’d been there with them throughout all of this. Through the crazy car ride to the airport, the stressful flight, the exhausting night in the waiting room…What would he do without her? He slipped his arm around her and she snuggled her head against his shoulder. He leaned toward her and kissed her temple. West then rested his head against hers.

They sat silently for a couple of minutes. Nora could sense West didn’t want to talk about it and she was content in being there for him, lending her physical support and would also lend emotional support whenever it was needed. She wasn’t sure what exactly was happening with East, but she had been praying all night that he was going to be okay.

West pulled away from Nora and turned his head to look at her. Of course she lifted her face to look back at him. Emotions flooded her heart as she saw the fear, love, and sadness etched into the lines of his face. She lovingly placed a hand along his cheek and she offered him the best smile she could find.

Marry me, West blurted out.

Chapter 1

AUGUST

Marry me.

The words every girl longed to hear from the man she loved.

So why in the hell did they make Nora’s heart stop for all the wrong reasons? She was sure her eyes widened at Weston MacKinnon’s simple statement. It hadn’t been proposed as a question; it had been a direct statement toward her. She pulled herself away a little from West’s close posture and gave his handsome face a full-on once-over.

West, she said, hesitation drawn out through her tired voice.

At her resistance, West stiffened immediately. He knew he made a huge mistake in uttering those two idiotic words. Especially now. God, why was he such an imbecile? I’m sorry, Nora. That was—forget I even said it. He shifted his gaze elsewhere in the waiting room of the hospital.

She shook her head no. Hey, she said to get his attention. He refused her, looking anywhere else except at her. They