Anything but Love

by Celya Bowers

  Her admission was like music to his ears. “So we eat steaks tonight in celebration?”

  “Well, at least you’re not patronizing me,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Baby, I have to know. Do you feel anything for James?”

  “Sorrow, maybe, but little else. James can be very determined, and he seems to think he and I should reconcile. He knows all about you, so you’d better watch your back. He’s not above doing something to you to get to me.”

  Cole didn’t doubt it for one minute. “I’ll be careful. Between our exes, we could be on one of those talk shows.”

  She looked at him, then moved on top of him again. “You don’t have to tell me. Now that all that’s been resolved, I say no more talking, at least with our mouths.”

  Cole was all for that. He kissed her as he eased inside her body, taking them all the way to paradise and then some.

  * * *

  By the time Cole returned to his house, he barely had time to shower, dress, and get to the hospital to tape the PSA and do the interview. It was an afternoon he was not looking forward to at all.

  His phone rang just as he was getting out of the shower. He hurried to it, hoping it was his son. He was taking him to the hospital to watch the taping of the interview. But it wasn’t his son. It was his ex-wife. He knew Charlie had given her attorney his home phone number. With a sigh, he picked up the phone. “Hello, Gabriella.”

  “Cole.”

  “What can I do for you?” Or to you.

  “It’s about Taylor. He wants to come home. Do you really want me to initiate this nasty lawsuit against you?”

  “Gabriella, do what you have to. I’ve told Taylor what you’re planning to do. I gave him the option of returning to New York if he wants.”

  “So?”

  “He’s not coming back to New York, so let the games begin. I can have him testify about all the lies you’ve told him over the years about me. I don’t know how good your suit is going to look then.”

  “I can say you coerced him into coming to Texas,” Gabriella said in the voice that had won her many movie awards. “I can say you aren’t a good role model.”

  “Ditto, babe. See you in court.” He hung up the phone and continued getting dressed.

  One crazy ex down, one to go, he mused. He glanced at the clock. Kendall should be at work by now, he thought. Their morning session had lasted longer than he had anticipated. But it was worth every minute of it.

  His cell phone rang. “What is it now?” He snatched up the phone, unfolded it, and grumbled into the phone, “What?”

  “Mr. Highpoint?” a male voice asked.

  “Who wants to know?” Cole hadn’t recognized the voice.

  “My name is Jason. I work with Holly.”

  Great, now she’s conned some poor schmuck into doing her bidding. “What is it now, Jason? Tell Holly the answer is still no.”

  Jason cleared his throat. “This is about Holly, but not what you think. I’m risking my job just calling you.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Since her meeting with you didn’t go as she expected, Holly has come up with some kind of crazy scheme to make you take her back. I really think she’s not in her right mind, and you should be very careful. You remember what she did to you the last time.”

  How could he ever forget? “Oh, yes, I remember. You have any idea of what she plans to do?”

  “Since her first plan didn’t work, she’s looking at the doctor. She might just misquote her. I wouldn’t put anything past her.”

  Cole didn’t doubt what Holly was capable of for one second. “Look, Jason, I really appreciate the heads-up. I’ll be on the lookout.” He ended the call and threw the phone on the bed. Today might have started out great but, with the last two phone calls, his life had just taken a nosedive. He had to save Kendall.

  * * *

  Kendall walked into the hospital, instantly noticing the chaos. Cameras were being set up near her office. The hallway was littered with cameramen, reporters, and a lot of people she didn’t want involved with this project. Kendall locked eyes with Holly. She was dressed in a dark suit.

  “Kendall, I’m so glad you finally made it.” Holly looked at her slim gold watch. “We just have time to run through the segment before we start taping. Is Cole with you?”

  “No, he’s bringing his son with him. I’m sure he’ll be here shortly. I don’t need to rehearse anything unless you’ve changed the questions you gave me yesterday.”

  “I might throw in a few new questions. I’ll need to check with Cole first.”

  “I’ll be in my office,” Kendall said, walking down the cluttered hallway. She entered the room and took a deep breath. Holly almost seemed normal. Maybe Cole was overreacting because of their past together. Kendall hoped so.

  Jami opened the door and stepped inside. “I want to talk to you, Kendall.” She closed the door and walked to her desk.

  Kendall watched her friend take a seat in the leather chair. “Sure, Jami, what is it?”

  Jami took a deep breath. “I can’t apologize enough for Dylan this morning. I have enjoyed staying in your home, and I love working for you.”

  Kendall gasped, then laughed. “Jami, I’m not going to fire you for Dylan being a little boy. We usually eat breakfast together, and he couldn’t find me. It’s expected. I had intended for Cole to go home last night, but we fell asleep. So I should be apologizing to you. You know you’re welcome to stay at my place as long as you want.”

  She stood. “Thank you, Kendall. I think you should know that Holly has been here all morning asking very impertinent questions about you.”

  That had Kendall’s attention. “Like what?”

  “She knows that I’m living with you. She wanted to know how many times Cole stayed over. She wanted to know if you got along with Taylor, and she wanted me to go through your bills. I didn’t give her any information because I felt it had nothing to do with the interview. I don’t trust her, Kendall.”

  “I don’t, either.” Kendall walked to her friend and hugged her. “Thank you for telling me, Jami. Holly wants Cole back.”

  “But he doesn’t want her, does he?”

  Kendall shook her head. “No, he says it’s definitely over, and he only went along with this interview thing ’cause it was so important to me.”

  “Yes, that’s what Max said. I just want you to be careful around her. Something about her is making my skin crawl.” Jami left the room.

  Kendall sat in her office waiting for all the players to get in place. When she heard the commotion in the hallway, she ran out of her office. As if the day couldn’t get worse, Karl, Jami’s husband, was making an appearance.

  He stood in front of the nurses’ station, calling Jami every name in the book and then some. Kendall wanted to defuse the situation before Max got involved.

  “Karl, now is not the time to do this.” She approached the large man. As she came within smelling distance of him, her nose turned up at his rancid odor. Kendall glanced at the cluster of people and waved them away. The fewer people involved in this mess, the better.

  “You damn bitch,” he roared at Kendall, but pointed at Jami. “You got her thinking she don’t need me, and she’s not going to live without me.”

  Kendall realized Karl was high as a kite. She didn’t have much experience handling drug-induced fits, but knew making him angrier wasn’t the answer to the problem.

  She looked at Jami’s frightened face. Tears were streaming. “I’m sorry, Kendall. I called and told him that I’m going to file for divorce,” Jami croaked.

  In any other circumstance, it would have been the right thing to do, but today, of all days, it wasn’t. “Karl, why don’t we go talk about this in my office? Maybe we can figure out a solution to satisfy everyone.”

  He rubbed his head as if he were thinking about her proposition. “I need you to just shut up.” He paced the area in front of the desk and began talking to himself.


  Kendall really didn’t like that. She noticed Holly slowly making her way to the front of the crowd. Surely, this stupid woman could see this was a volatile situation.

  But Holly had her own agenda. She started throwing questions at Karl, sending him into a more agitated state. “Mr. Lewis, what do you plan to do today? Are you going to take the doctor hostage?”

  Kendall took a deep breath. Thanks, Holly. If he wasn’t thinking about it, he is now!

  Karl looked in Holly’s direction. “You’ll be the first to know.” He stared at his wife. “How could you do this to us? You know I love you. You know you can’t make it without me. I’ll make sure of that!”

  Kendall had to do something. The situation was a powder keg and Karl held the match. The more he spoke, the more afraid Jami became.

  Before she could think of a plan, Karl came up with one of his own. He stepped toward Kendall. “I’m tired of you messing up my life. I knew she had nowhere to go, but you took her in. If I could have gotten past your guard, I would have killed you and then her.”

  Kendall opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly felt a crushing blow and everything went black.

  * * *

  Cole entered the hospital just in time to see Kendall hit the floor, hard. Some large African-American man stood over her limp body with a gun in his hand, aiming it at her.

  Cole took off in a full run and tackled him hard. When they hit the floor, the gun went off. With the sound of voices ringing in his ears, he wondered if he’d been shot. He couldn’t die. Not now. Not when he and Taylor had reconciled. Not when he’d found Kendall and discovered what love really was.

  “Cole, are you all right?” Max asked.

  He heard his friend. That had to be a good sign. He rolled over and opened his eyes. “I’m not dead.”

  “No, Karl accidentally shot himself.” He nodded toward Karl’s limp body. “The best docs are working on Kendall. Karl hit her with the butt of his gun.”

  Cole struggled to sit up, using a nearby wall for support. “Go work on Kendall. She’s going to be pissed if you’re not by her side.”

  Max smiled. “You got that right. Sit tight, I’ll be back.” He went over to Kendall just as they loaded her on a stretcher.

  If Cole had had the strength, he would have been by Kendall’s side, but the hallway kept spinning. When his brain was finally working again, he remembered his son had accompanied him. Where was Taylor?

  “Dad, are you okay?” Taylor sat beside Cole on the floor. “They took Kendall upstairs. Max was examining her, then he looked real funny. You know, like on ER or something.”

  The information finally filtered through. Kendall’s office was on the ground floor of the hospital. The second floor held the critical care unit and surgical department. If Kendall was there, something was wrong. Cole had to find out what was going on. He attempted to stand, but his legs wouldn’t work.

  “Dad, Max said you had to sit still.”

  “Something is wrong with Kendall,” Cole said. “I have to find out.”

  “No, Dad. You can’t do anything right now. You can’t even move,” Taylor said.

  “You’re right. I want to help, but…”

  “I know that feeling,” Taylor said, wrapping his arm around his father.

  * * *

  Holly witnessed Cole and his son’s tender moment after all the chaos settled down. She felt tears racing down her cheeks. She tried to wipe them away, but it didn’t seem to work. The faster she swiped them away, the faster they came. She realized she was crying, not just a sniffle here and there, but really crying!

  Jason came up beside her and handed her a small box of tissues. “Hey, you never cry.”

  She turned to him and, for the first time in their three-year friendship, saw him for the jewel he was. He’d been by her side when no one else would acknowledge her existence. He’d talked her out of some of her more insane ideas and listened when she ranted like a madwoman when Cole wanted nothing to do with her.

  She hugged and kissed him. “Thank you for being my friend.”

  He smiled down at her, wiping her eyes. “You know I can’t let you go to jail. Who’d go to the baseball games with me?”

  Holly looked over at Cole and his son, then back at Jason. “I’m so glad I didn’t go through with my plan. I have to tell Cole how sorry I am.”

  Jason shook his head. “Honey, I think you should leave well enough alone.”

  Holly looked up at him. He was right, of course. She should just leave well enough alone. “All right, Jason, let’s go home.”

  CHAPTER 30

  A few hours later, Max walked into Kendall’s hospital room. Due to her condition, she’d been admitted.

  “Max, whose idea was this?” Kendall asked. She tried to look stern but, in the generic gown with all kinds of machines hooked up to her body, she looked scared. “I feel fine. My headache is going away.”

  This was going to be hard. He pulled one of the chairs near the bed. “Normally, you wouldn’t have to stay in the hospital. But there’s a little hiccup in that.”

  She rubbed her head. “What did Karl hit me with? I’m filing charges as soon as you find my clothes.”

  “Kendall, we need to talk.”

  She stared at him. “You sound serious. What’s wrong? Is Jami all right? What happened to Karl?”

  “Will you just slow down? I’ll tell you what I can, but first I need to ask you something.”

  She struggled to sit up. “What?”

  “Have you been feeling off lately?”

  “I’ve been eating a lot of meat lately. My cholesterol is up, isn’t it? I’m going to kill Cole.”

  Max was getting nowhere fast. He was going to have to take control of the situation, or this was going to turn into a comedy act. It was going to have to be tough love or nothing. “Kendall, you’re pregnant.”

  She looked sideways at him, then laughed. “That’s funny, Max. Not.”

  “I’m not kidding, Kendall. You’re knocked up. About three weeks, as far as I can tell. But that’s not the big news.”

  “Max, I’m not pregnant. There’s no way I can be pregnant.”

  “You and Cole were having sex. Either you guys didn’t use any protection or you’re lucky enough to be the one person that defies latex.”

  “I just can’t be,” she whispered. “They said it wasn’t possible.”

  “Start from the beginning,” Max said. He’d known her long enough to know when she was hedging.

  She reached for a tissue and wiped her eyes. “Remember when I caught James in bed with the nurse? Sure you do. Well, I had just discovered I was pregnant. After that I went away for a month and I had an abortion. There were a few complications with it, and the doctor told me that conceiving would be very unlikely.”

  Everything after that fell into place. “You came back and divorced James and started InfaCare for the baby you lost.” He shook his head. “Damn you, Kendall, you’ve been carrying this around for the last five years. You couldn’t even tell me?”

  “No one knows. I couldn’t bear to tell anyone. I just focused on work. I just don’t understand how I can be pregnant.”

  “Well, try to get your head around the fact that you are pregnant. Here’s something else to ponder: You’re having twins.” He grinned at her. “I think you and Cole deserve some kind of award, considering you didn’t use any fertility drugs.”

  “Twins! Are you nuts?” Kendall sank back against the pillows. “Cole is going to have a cow.”

  “Probably so. Do you want to know the rest of the story?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It’s good,” Max said. “When Cole saw Karl knock you out, he tackled Karl. They struggled, then the gun went off and Karl was shot. He wasn’t killed, but he might wish he were. After being charged with bringing a loaded gun into the hospital, beaning you over the head, and threatening Jami, he’s going to be in jail a long time.”

  “Good. How’s Jami?�
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  “Waiting to see you. Cole is still downstairs. I’ll go get him. He wasn’t seriously hurt, just had the wind knocked out of him.”

  She nodded. “Thanks, Max. Don’t tell him about my condition.”

  He kissed her on her forehead. “I won’t, but I will call Zenora. She’ll be so happy.”

  She rubbed her stomach. “Are we talking about my mother?”

  * * *

  Kendall wiped her eyes after Jami’s visit. Was this what she had to look forward to for the next eight months? Now she waited for Cole’s appearance. She wondered how he would take the news. Would he blame her?

  Cole walked in with a dozen roses. He set them on the counter, then leaned over the bed and kissed her. “I was so worried. Taylor is downstairs talking to Jami.”

  He looked as tired as she felt. “I don’t remember much of what happened, but Max brought me up to speed. I can’t believe you tackled Karl. Thank you.”

  “He hurt you,” Cole said simply. “I had to do something. If I had my way he’d be dead right now.”

  More tears. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me. I love you, Cole. Before you say anything, I have something to tell you.” She took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”

  “What? That’s not funny.”

  “I know, that’s why Max had to tell me twice.” She waited for a response.

  He stood and paced the room. “How far along?”

  “About three weeks.”

  He chuckled. “Guess it happened that time I took you to lunch.”

  She remembered that day well. They never made it to the restaurant. Instead they had stopped at the motel and feasted on each other. “Yes, probably so. I know this wasn’t on your agenda.”

  He stared at her. “Who says?”

  “Cole, you and Taylor have just started mending fences and you have this lawsuit thing going on.”

  “None of that matters. You matter. My baby matters.”

  “Babies,” she corrected.

  “Say what?”

  “According to Max, I’m having twins.”

  Cole sat down in the chair with a thud. “Two babies? I can’t believe this. How on earth did that happen?”