Sea Glass Castle (The Carolina Coast Series Book 3)

by T. I. Lowe

  As soon as the door shut, Ty pushed off the wall. “My leg is killing me. I’m gonna head out.”

  “They’ve brought cots in so we can stay.” She pointed to the two cots stacked by the opposite wall. Several stuffed animals lined the remaining space along the wall, with helium balloons tied to them.

  “Babe.” Ty tapped his chest. “This isn’t fitting on a cot. I’ll be back first thing in the morning. Give the little man a kiss for me and tell him I love him.” With that, he disappeared quicker than a wisp of smoke in a brisk breeze.

  Words . . . empty words, she thought. Ty was a pro at spewing them out but hardly ever put any action behind them. The sound of the toilet flushing, followed by the water running, drew her out of the dismal thoughts.

  Wes walked back out with Collin cradled in his arms. He was the most rumpled she’d ever seen him, yet the strongest. She could barely swallow the appreciation wanting to spring forth at the sight. Her finger swept the back of her ring as she silently thanked God for sending Wes as an anchor in the midst of this storm.

  As he went to set Collin on the bed, the little guy clung to him.

  “Hole me, Wes. Pease.”

  Wes smiled. “Sure.” He grabbed an extra blanket and tucked it around Collin before walking over to the recliner and settling into it. “Mommy, why don’t you stretch out and keep Collin’s bed warm for him.” Another wink as he rolled the IV pole closer and out of the way.

  She did as he said, turning on her side to watch the two sitting together. Wes squinted at the clock on the opposite wall just as she noticed him holding two fingers against Collin’s wrist to check his pulse. It warmed her how gentle and attentive he was, both doctoring and babying her son at the same time.

  Tears pricked her eyes as she observed the stealth exam Wes performed while quietly chatting with Collin. He gauged Collin’s temperature by pressing his lips to her son’s forehead, checked his feet and legs for any signs of swelling, she was guessing, and then gently checked the three small incisions. After that, he even managed to talk Collin into taking a few sips of water before he dozed off.

  “Why’s he sleeping so much?” Sophia whispered, propping the side of her head in her hand.

  “It’s normal for someone after they’ve been put to sleep to be groggy a day or two afterward. Plus, he’s been through quite an ordeal. You, too, for that matter. Bet you’re worn-out.” Wes looked at her, his eyes filled with empathy.

  “A little.” She shrugged.

  A quiet knock tapped against the door as a nurse tiptoed in. “I’m Annie, the night nurse. I hate to wake him, but I need to check his vitals.” She quickly performed the task, leaving Collin right there in Wes’s arms, as he filled her in on his own examination, confirming what Sophia had suspected he was doing.

  “I’m staying through the night, so if you’ll bring me a stethoscope, a thermometer, and dressing supplies, I’ll take care of him.”

  The nurse’s cheeks pinked. “I don’t mind taking care of him, Dr. Sawyer. It’s my job.”

  “One that I know you can perform beyond well,” he answered in that soothing tone Sophia had heard him use with distraught patients and parents numerous times. “But these two have had a long, rough day. I’d like very little disturbance so they can get some rest. I will call the desk if I need you.”

  “If you’re sure . . .”

  “I am.”

  The nurse tapped something into the computer before slipping out the door. Moments later, she was back with the supplies he’d requested and a cup of coffee. “Please call if you need anything.”

  “Thank you, Annie.” Wes offered her a polite smile before she left.

  “I’m hungwy,” Collin announced, sounding half-asleep.

  Sophia sat up to go find something, but Wes held his hand up and beckoned her to stay put. “Seth is taking care of that. He should be here any minute.”

  As if summoned, Seth bustled through the door, out of breath. “Man, I hope I got everything.” He dropped several bags onto the end of the bed, gave Sophia’s foot a supportive squeeze, and headed over to kneel beside Wes’s chair. “Hey there, feller. Heard you have a boo-boo.” He ran his fingers through Collin’s curls, something no one seemed to be able to resist doing.

  “It’s okay, Unca Sef. Wes and his fwiend fix it,” Collin muttered, producing a delicate chuckle from each adult. He sounded so grown-up.

  “Good to hear.” Seth gave Wes a pointed look with an eyebrow hitched dramatically high.

  Sophia knew they were having one of those twin conversations relayed through gestures instead of words when Wes narrowed his eyes and shrugged one shoulder. She left them to it and began rummaging through the bags. She tore open a new pack of underwear and tossed a Superman pair over to Wes.

  “There should be peanut butter and bananas in one of those bags,” Wes said while cautiously helping Collin into the underwear.

  “There is. I got that healthy natural kind you said to get.” Seth moved back to Sophia and handed her the bag.

  “Collin needs protein and whole foods. It’ll help him heal,” Wes retorted.

  “Yes, Doctor,” Sophia said with hardly any tease. She pulled out the jar of peanut butter and smiled appreciatively. Seth had thought of everything—plates, plastic cutlery, juice boxes, and wet wipes. She quickly sliced a banana and smeared each piece with some of the peanut butter.

  Collin managed two pieces and a slurp of juice. He made a face. “I not wan’ anymore.”

  His appetite vanished quicker than it had shown up, leaving Sophia concerned. “He didn’t eat much.”

  “It’s normal,” Wes reassured her as he popped a banana slice in his mouth and passed the plate as if it were a tray of hors d’oeuvres. Soon the plate was empty and Collin was back to yawning. “Seth, let’s get the little man into his new pj’s.”

  Sophia fished them out and tore the tags off before handing them over to Seth. Both men worked together to get the loose-fit bottoms on, and then in a flash, Wes had the IV unfastened and the prick site taped up.

  “Whoa, look at that.” Seth pointed to the stitched spots on Collin’s belly. “Ain’t you cool.”

  “No. I sleepy,” Collin answered on another yawn as he rubbed his eyes.

  Wes fastened the last button of the nightshirt and settled Collin against the pillows. “Then I think we should say our bedtime prayers before Uncle Seth heads out. Okay?”

  Collin nodded his head and Sophia nearly sobbed. Weston Sawyer was everything a daddy should be. It hurt deeply that Ty had never focused so much attention on their son’s well-being and had never once prayed with him.

  Once the prayer concluded and Seth promised to see them soon, Sophia pulled out a cot and was about to pull out the second one when Wes stopped her.

  “I’m going to sit up and keep an eye on Collin.” He dimmed the lights and sat in the chair.

  “Then I’ll sit up with you.” A quick glance at the clock indicated that more of the day had gotten away from her than she thought. It was already well past midnight.

  Wes shook his head and insisted she lie down. “It’s important you try to get some rest. He’s going to need you a lot more tomorrow.”

  She did as he said. She watched Wes as he studied the computer screen. Every so often, he would walk over and check on Collin. At one point, he moved to her side and pulled a cover over her shoulders before dropping a soft kiss to the top of her head. Exhaustion began sitting heavy on her, so with the assurance that her son was in good hands, Sophia allowed her eyes to close and her mind to rest.

  18

  Sometimes in life a man just had enough. He reached his limit and that was that. By Thursday afternoon, Weston Sawyer had reached his and was ready to call in reinforcements to help him out with it. He wondered if it would put him on the town’s bad side if he took out restraining orders on a half-dozen or so grannies.

  “And how do you know all this?” Wes placed his forearms on his desk and leaned forward, eyein
g the orange-haired gossiper.

  Trudy settled the giant container of catfish stew on the desk before taking a seat. “Bertie brought Ty some cookies to be hospitable, of course.” She straightened her wig and shrugged innocently.

  “Of course,” Wes repeated dryly while watching Dalma plunder through his small office fridge. “Found anything worth having in there?”

  The little lady turned with a handful of berries, using her hip to shut the door. “They ain’t the freshest but will do. You want one?” She held her hand out as if they were hers to offer.

  “You enjoy, but thanks.” Wes sighed, returning his attention to Trudy. “Is Bertie sure? Or is she making assumptions?”

  “Honey, the ole gal may have to wear glasses, but when you catch sight of a naked man that big, there ain’t no way of not seeing it. Bertie said he had enough decency to act ashamed.”

  Wes already knew Ty was stepping out on Sophia. The selfish idiot had shown up at the hospital reeking of the evidence—bubble gum–pink lipstick smeared on the corner of his mouth and smelling of cheap perfume. If Sophia had been in her right mind, she would have realized Ty’s afternoon had been spent with a woman, not at some bogus meeting.

  He had practically pushed Ty out of the room and down the hall, out of earshot. The entire time, a sickly sweet perfume whirled around them. Wes leaned in and gave him a sniff. “That’s not Sophia’s perfume you’re wearing. And she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that tacky shade of pink on her lips.”

  Ty instantly used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth and had the nerve to look at the pink smear with confusion. “What?”

  “It’s on your neck as well.” Wes pointed to the spot near Ty’s ear. “Your child was being rushed into emergency surgery while you were busy tangled up with a woman who isn’t the one you’re claiming as yours.” Wes snorted with enough disgust that the man’s cheeks actually reddened. “Collin and Sophia both deserve better.”

  Ty seemed to be chewing on something and trying to figure out how to spit it out, but he didn’t get the chance. Wes’s pager went off and all focus was back on Collin. He left Ty in the hallway but called out a warning before making the turn. “Just don’t get too close to her or she’s going to smell that rank perfume on you.”

  “Yoo-hoo, sugar. Did you hear me?” Trudy snapped her fingers, pulling Wes away from the recollection of nearly punching Ty right there in the hospital hallway.

  Clearing his throat and rolling his neck, Wes said, “I’m sorry. What was that?”

  Trudy clucked her tongue, admonishing him for not listening, he supposed. “She even made sure it wasn’t our Sophia Grace in there with him before she left. Said it was some bottle blonde.” Trudy wrinkled her nose as if she had any room to judge proper hair color.

  Wes knew he shouldn’t feel relieved that it wasn’t Sophia, but he did just the same. He knew Ty had spent the night at Sophia’s place at least the first night he was back in town. She’d been withdrawn the past few days, and Wes wasn’t sure if she was just recovering from what happened to Collin or if she was putting space between them so she could work things out with Ty. Truthfully, Wes was being cowardly by not sitting down for a talk to clarify all of it. He was also worried he wouldn’t like what she clarified.

  “Scooch over,” Dalma said, tapping Wes on his shoulder.

  His mind was a whirling mess, so he did as she instructed without question. Dalma visited him at least once a week, whether she needed his medical services or not, and pretty much made her tiny self at home. He slowly blinked and watched as she rifled around the top drawer of his desk and unearthed a red sucker. When she moved to the other side of the desk, he rolled the chair back in place.

  “Well, ladies, I don’t know what to tell you. Ty’s a grown man.”

  “Then let me tell you something.” Trudy scoffed. “Someone needs to teach that fool a lesson.”

  The lady carried on and on, but Wes tuned her out as he tried massaging away the headache working on him. Rubbing circles at his temples with his fingertips, he muttered, “I’ll see what I can do.”

  It was his first day back to work since Collin’s surgery, but he was in no shape to work by the time he managed to get the two women to leave. Agnes, subbing for Sophia, had picked up on it and called in the nurse practitioner to handle the afternoon patients while he sat stewing in his office.

  Ty deserved to get caught for what he was doing, but Sophia didn’t deserve to get hurt by it. Snapping out of the angry haze the best he could, Wes picked up the phone to man up to what needed to be done.

  •••

  After work, Wes drove straight to Bless This Mess and met up with August in the parking lot. August led him to the back entrance and they let themselves in. They found Lincoln at a worktable with a set of blueprints laid out before him.

  Lincoln glanced at them. “What’s up?”

  August walked over to a Crock-Pot and gave it a curious look. “Whatcha cooking?”

  Lincoln scribbled something on a notepad before answering, “Furniture knobs. Trying to remove the paint in an environmentally safe way. Gotta protect my wife and kid.” Pride edged into his voice.

  “Well, we got another mother and child that need our protecting,” August said, turning a chair backward and straddling it.

  Wes sat properly in another chair and the other two men turned their focus on him. “Not sure if y’all realized it, but when Ty showed up at the hospital on Sunday, he was wearing perfume and lipstick that didn’t belong to Sophia.” Angry heat started rising along his neck. He opened the top button of his dress shirt and loosened the suddenly too-tight tie.

  “Son of a gun. Did she notice?” Lincoln asked. Wes shook his head. “I think we need to go cut his assets,” Lincoln said real slowly.

  That made absolutely no sense to Wes, nor did it to August either, it seemed, until the artist let out a loud chuckle after several beats of silence.

  “I like how you think, Cole. That’s exactly what we need to do. We’ll cut his assets real good this time.” August grinned wide, his features painted in mischief.

  Wes snorted when understanding finally dawned on him, too. “If Sophia were here, she’d be rolling her eyes and questioning your maturity level.”

  August shrugged. “She ain’t here, so we can handle this punk with as much immaturity as we want this time.”

  “This time? What do you mean by that?” Wes asked.

  August folded his arms on top of the chair back. “Not everything made it to the gossips and headlines when Sophia came back here earlier this year covered in bruises and cuts after that trip to California. Ty flew in a few days later, and Linc and I were kind enough to pick him up from the airport. We drove out to a piece of my family’s farmland where Linc ‘laid hands’ on Ty and carefully explained that he’d better never touch Sophia again out of anger.”

  Lincoln popped his neck and August glared out the window, both seeming to be reliving what transpired. They looked right scary doing it too. Wes decided then and there he never wanted to be on the receiving end of that type of meeting with these two brawny guys, but he sure was glad to have them on his side.

  “Ty came by Sophia’s condo yesterday while I was there. Before I left, he pulled me to the side and swore he’s a changed man. But two of those Knitting Club ladies showed up at my office today to share with me that nothing’s changed.”

  Lincoln dropped the pen, and even though his jaw was covered with a dark beard, Wes saw the muscle ticking. “How so?”

  Wes filled them in on what Trudy had told him while she handed over yet another container of catfish stew.

  “Where’s the stew?” August asked.

  “We’ll worry about that later,” Lincoln answered for Wes as he stood and shoved his feet into a worn pair of flip-flops. “Right now I think it’s time to have a visit with Mr. Football. I heard he’s staying in one of those swanky beach houses on Fortieth Avenue. Let’s roll.”

  The guys loaded up i
n Lincoln’s Jeep, and within ten minutes he was parking behind a fancy Range Rover at a newly built beach house. It was all glass and concrete, nothing like the traditional houses a few avenues south.

  Wes had heard that after Hurricane Lacy took several homes down to their foundations two years ago, a developer swooped in and bought out the homeowners. They came in with a sleek, modern style to catch the eye of a richer buyer. The new didn’t mesh tastefully with the old, so locals had coined the avenue Frivolous Fortieth. Seemed like the perfect address for Ty, in Wes’s opinion.

  It was clear that Lincoln Cole meant business and had not even an ounce of apprehension when he let himself in the front door without knocking. All three stood in a bright-white foyer while Lincoln hollered, “Ty, we need to have a word!”

  Ty limped around the corner, wearing only a pair of boxers and the boot on his foot, looking bewildered. “What do you want?”

  “I think you need a refresher on what we discussed last time.” Lincoln took a step forward with Ty taking one back. Both men were of considerable size, but Lincoln still had Ty by a couple inches and twenty or thirty pounds.

  “I’ve not laid a hand on my wife out of anger since then.” Ty raised his palms while trying and failing to pull off an air of innocence.

  “Ex-wife,” August corrected, and Wes almost shook his hand in gratitude.

  A half-naked woman came into view with her makeup smudged and blonde hair in tangles. She let out a yelp and dodged out of sight.

  “It’s not what it looks like,” Ty said, taking a step to block August, who seemed interested in finding the hiding woman. “She’s my physical therapist.”

  “Oh, so she’s getting paid to have sex with you? I think that’s called something else.” August lifted a thick eyebrow as Lincoln pulled him back by the collar of his T-shirt.

  “What are you doing here?” Ty snapped at Wes as if just realizing his presence, which was probably the case since the two giants had been standing in front of him.