Lucky took a deep breath and trailed after Cammie, finding her in the bedroom pulling on her long nightshirt. It was white with a little yellow chick on it. The baby bird wore glasses and held a book in its hands. Beneath it, in red letters, it said, “Smart Chick.” For some unexplainable reason, Lucky found it sexier than the tiniest, silkiest lingerie.
“What are you grinning at?”
He shook his head, deciding that based on the hard set to Cammie’s mouth, this was not the time to tell her how hot she was in her silly, shapeless nightshirt. “You’re still mad.”
She stared as if he’d sprouted a second head, before rolling her eyes and muttering about his genius potential.
“Cammie, I don’t expect you to understand, which is why I didn’t tell you about the money.”
“I’m your wife. Something that big, you tell me about,” she advised as she fluffed the pillows on her side of the bed, punching at them angrily. “We could use that money.”
“I can win that much in Denver. I can win more than that.”
“It’s not guaranteed, Lucky. This is. If you take your father’s money—”
“No!”
Cammie jumped at the ferocity of his response and Lucky felt like a heel.
“Cam, you know I care about you and will do anything I can do to get you what you need, but you can’t ask me to take that man’s money. Doing that would be like selling my soul to the devil.”
“I’d sell my soul to the devil to help you,” she said so low he could barely hear her, but loud enough to wound him.
“It’s not that I don’t care about you, Cammie. I’m going to win the purse in Denver, and I’m going to take care of you, I promise.”
“You just don’t get it.” She sat on the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. “I want you here. It’s not about the money.”
“Then why are we arguing about the money?”
“We’re not! We’re arguing because you’re choosing pride over what’s best for us!”
“What?” Lucky threw his hands up in exasperation. “I took a job I didn’t even want on my big brother’s ranch for you! I feel like a damn baby tugging on his coattails, but I’m doing it anyway so I can take care of you!”
“I’m not a child,” Cammie shouted back. “I don’t need you to take care of me. Dammit, I just need you to…to…” She turned her face away, but not before fresh tears flooded over.
“You need me to what, Cam? What do you need from me?”
“If I have to tell you, it isn’t real,” she said softly before rolling onto her side and shoving the pillow beneath her head. “I don’t want to talk anymore. I just want to sleep.”
Lucky took one of the pillows from his side of the bed and turned for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“The couch. I’m letting you sleep.”
Lucky left the room, the sound of Cammie sniffing back sobs tearing at his heart. They hadn’t even made it a month without him making her cry. He reached the couch and fell back onto it, burying his face in his hands. He prayed Cammie would sleep well once her tears stopped falling. He knew there was no hope of the same for him.
****
“Keep scrubbing like that, honey, and you’re going to put a hole in it.”
Cammie glanced up from the table she was wiping down to see Flo frowning at her as she counted out change for a customer, and straightened. Her back ached with the movement, joining with the pain already attacking her legs, but she pressed on, just as she had been pressing on every day since Lucky left her two weeks earlier. He hadn’t even said goodbye. She’d awakened to a handwritten note explaining his absence. The most infuriating part was that in his note, he’d said he’d left for her.
“Hear from Lucky?” Flo asked as Cammie joined her behind the counter, her voice kept carefully neutral as she rolled silverware.
Cammie grabbed some napkins and started helping. “He sent me his winnings from Dallas.”
Flo’s eyebrow arched at that, but thankfully she didn’t voice the thought Cammie could see stirring around in her head. Why hasn’t he called? Oh she supposed she could call him, but why? He was the one to leave, and without a proper goodbye at that. He should be the one to call and make amends, or better yet, come back home.
“Big winnings?” Flo finally asked, breaking the silence.
Cammie shrugged, wincing at the stiffness in her neck and shoulders. “He did good, but the purse wasn’t that large. The real money is in Denver, or at least that’s what he says.”
“Honey, I couldn’t run a diner in this town, mingle with all these ranchers and wannabe cowboy superstars and not know about the upcoming rodeo in Denver.” She shook her head. “I can certainly understand him competing in Denver. It’s a big purse, and it’s not so far away. What I don’t get is why he jumped back on the circuit now. I thought he was working with his brother.”
“Chance gave him the time off. I’m sure they’re in touch frequently. Lucky doesn’t have to be there at the ranch to help him with the horse breeding.”
“I imagine it would certainly help if he was,” Flo murmured. “And shouldn’t you know for sure if they’re in touch? Doesn’t he call home and tell you what’s going on?”
Cammie pressed a hand to her belly as a wave of nausea rolled over her. “We haven’t talked about that,” she answered, not quite lying, but feeling as if she were and hating it. Flo was like a mother. She should be able to talk to her openly and honestly about her marriage. She imagined she would be able to, if her husband loved her.
Another wave of nausea rolled over her and she took a deep breath. She’d done a lot of thinking over the time Lucky had been gone. She had no clue why he’d married her. Maybe it was guilt over the baby she now knew she wasn’t pregnant with, or maybe he simply saw his brother get married and thought he should, too. Whatever his reason, it wasn’t because he loved her. His father had two hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of proof.
“Honey, are you all right? You look kind of green.”
Cammie wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and it came back with a sheen of cold sweat. “Yeah, I’m good. I think maybe I’m coming down with a bug.” She turned her head to find Flo studying her with narrowed eyes, head cocked to the side. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Flo grinned. “I was thinking maybe you were pregnant, but probably too soon for that.”
Cammie noticed the diner in the corner swallow down the last of his cola. She quickly went to refill his glass, escaping any further conversation about pregnancy and children. She knew it was inevitable that people would eventually ask when she and Lucky were planning on having children. Heck, after their quick marriage, she was sure half the town already thought she was pregnant, Flo included. She didn’t want to field any questions on that topic so soon.
The bell over the door chimed as Delia Mayberry entered the diner. Cammie groaned as the busybody took a table that allowed her a view of the entire dining area. She was sure it was intentional.
“Sweet tea?” she asked as she approached the table, already knowing Delia’s order. Veggie salad. She ordered the same thing every visit.
“My usual,” the meddlesome blonde answered. “You already know that.” She took a long moment to study Cammie, gaze lingering on her belly. “I heard Lucky headed out on the circuit after your quickie marriage. I hope things are all right.”
Cammie turned away, rolling her eyes as she walked behind the counter to fill a glass with sweet tea. Knowing Delia’s order by heart, Flo had already put it in and the salad was ready to go out.
“You want me to take it out to her?” Flo asked as she started placing the rolled silverware into a tub.
As tempted as she was to say yes, Cammie knew she would still have to deal with the woman at some point. “I got it, Flo.”
“You don’t look well,” Delia commented as Cammie set her order in front of her. She sipped the sweet tea. “The first pregnancy is always the ha
rdest.”
“I’m not pregnant,” Cammie stated firmly, “and you can spread that fact to the masses along with the other gossip you’ve collected this week.”
Delia’s eyes widened as if surprised someone would take offense to her remark. “Now, Cammie, there’s no sense getting upset about someone noticing. Why, you’re not even showing yet. You just look a little unwell, which is certainly understandable given your state. I had it easy. My husband was at home, which—”
“I’m not pregnant,” Cammie repeated, placing her hand on the table as her vision went black for a moment. She thought she might have swayed, but couldn’t be sure if it was her moving or the diner. “Not everyone has to be pregnant to get married, like you were.”
Delia straightened in her seat, head held high. “You can think whatever you want to think about me, Mrs. Masters, but my husband never left my side. Where, exactly, is yours?”
“Delia, if you’re so happy with your life and marriage, why do you feel the need to meddle in everyone else’s?”
In the back of her mind, Cammie wondered why she just didn’t walk away, then realized she couldn’t. Her hand on the table was the only thing keeping her from falling right over.
“Babydoll,” Flo called out from behind the counter. “Are you all right over there?”
“She looks like she’s about to throw up,” Delia answered for her. “Please go be sick somewhere away from my table,” she continued. “There’s no need to continue acting as if you’re not suffering morning sickness when everyone in town knows the only way you could have gotten Lucky Masters to marry you was to get him to knock—”
There was a loud smacking sound and Delia’s head snapped back before Cammie’s vision went black again.
This time, the darkness took her under.
Chapter Fourteen
“You’ve got two seconds to explain why in the hell I didn’t know you were sick,” Kenzie said as she stormed into the hospital room. “And don’t tell me this is just a bug. You’re in a freaking hospital bed with an IV drip in your arm!”
Cammie blinked, water filling her eyes from the heat behind them, and studied her friend. Kenzie’s hair was haphazardly tousled, no doubt the result of raking her hands through it as she waited to be allowed into the room, her light blue T-shirt a rumpled mess. “How long have you been waiting out there? How’d you know I was here?”
“Long enough to know this hospital has the most uncomfortable chairs in the world in their waiting room. Luckily, I spent most of the time pacing, too scared to sit still.” Her friend frowned. “And to answer your other question, this is Cook County. When an ambulance comes to take someone, the whole town buzzes with the news, especially when Delia Mayberry is telling everyone about how she was attacked.”
“Attacked?” Cammie struggled to remember what had happened before she fainted.
“You slapped the taste buds right out of her mouth,” Kenzie explained, a smile lifting the corner of her mouth, but she quickly sobered, worry once again replacing the twinkle of amusement that had briefly shone in her eyes. “What’s wrong with you, Cam? How bad is it? Whatever it is, it’s affecting you bad enough that you slapped a woman. That’s not you.”
Cammie averted her gaze as heat rose to her face. Apparently, news hadn’t gotten back to Kenzie about her little altercation with Stacy Cove at the wedding, and she wanted to keep it that way. “I have a rare autoimmune disease.”
Kenzie blinked as she stood above her, her brow crinkled in confusion. “What’s that mean? What’s it called?”
Cammie sighed, having dreaded this moment. She knew without a doubt that what she would say next would totally freak her friend out, and she didn’t want to upset her. “It’s a disease similar to lupus but not exactly. Doc Hollis has spoken with several other doctors, and none of them have seen or heard of anyone with this exact—”
“Oh no!” Kenzie’s hands flew to cover her mouth as her eyes widened to twice their size. “They don’t know what it is! How can they treat you if they don’t know what they’re dealing with?” She started pacing the room at the foot of the bed. “We have to get you to a specialist, someone who knows what they’re doing.”
“Doc Hollis has already made the arrangements for me to see a specialist, and he’s been in contact with someone he knows for a while now,” Cammie interjected before her friend could get too worked up. “They have good ideas about how to treat me. I just need the right medication.”
She stopped pacing to look at her. “Where is it? Have you started taking it?”
“They think the best thing for me is a combination of medication that’s pretty new…and experimental.”
Kenzie shook her head. “No, you will not be their guinea pig. There’s got to be something else.”
There was something else, but Cammie knew her friend wouldn’t like it. “Doc Hollis has also advised me...that I need a kidney transplant.”
Kenzie stood motionless, her mouth gaping open.
Cammie sat up in the bed. “Say something.”
“When do I get tested?”
She blinked. “What?”
“You need a kidney, and I have one to spare,” Kenzie said matter-of-factly. “How soon can they test me?”
Cammie stared at her friend, dumbstruck. They’d been friends a long time, sure, had been there for each other during good times and bad, but never had she thought anyone would just offer an organ to her as if it were nothing.
Kenzie looked back at her, waiting for an answer, ready to be tested for a procedure that would involve major surgery, but her own husband wasn’t even there to do so much as offer an aspirin for her pain. Tears flooded her eyes, and before she could even consider trying to blink them back, her chest racked with sobs as the floodgates opened.
“Don’t cry.” Kenzie rushed to her side and sat beside her on the bed, wrapping her in a one-armed hug. “Shhhh…it’s going to be okay. We’ll take care of you.”
“You and Chance?” she asked between sobs.
“Of course,” her friend answered softly. “You’re not just a friend. You’re family.”
“The sister-in-law in name,” she sobbed. “Does Lucky even know I’m here?”
“You’d be family even if you and Lucky hadn’t gotten married,” Kenzie said as she pulled away enough to push an errant lock of hair back from her face. “Chance has been trying to get in touch with him. He’s in Arizona, competing.”
“Of course he is.” She sat back against the pillows, sniffling as she wiped her eyes. “Where else should a man be when his wife is in the hospital? Oh yeah, that’s right. With her!”
Kenzie sighed heavily. “Chance and I knew something was up with Lucky, even though he wouldn’t say. He took the job on the ranch in order to get health insurance, and he was in a rush to get out on the circuit. Now we know why. He’s taking care of you.”
As if she hadn’t felt worthless enough, any hope she had of Lucky having any sort of true feelings for her flew out the window. “So, he married me so he could cover me under his insurance. He married me out of pity.”
“Now, wait a minute.” Kenzie shook her head. “There’s a big difference between pitying someone and providing for them out of genuine love.”
“Love?” Cammie scoffed. “His father offered him money, a lot of money, and he wouldn’t even take it. His pride wouldn’t allow him to even though it was enough to pay for the medication I need without him having to leave me. How could he love me and do that?”
Kenzie pulled away, rising to her feet to stand next to the bed. “Has Lucky ever told you about his father? Has he told you anything about his childhood at all?”
She swiped at the wetness dampening her cheeks. “I know his father never had anything to do with him, and that his mother died of an overdose, so I can put two and two together. I know they weren’t exactly happy, but if I were him, I would put that all aside and do what I had to do to take care of the person I loved. But that’s the differe
nce between us,” she added. “I love him. I always have. He doesn’t love me, and I was a fool to think that emotion would just magically grow after we got married.”
“You’re not Lucky. You weren’t raised the same way he and Chance were,” Kenzie explained. “You’re looking at this based on what you think you would do had you walked in their shoes, but you haven’t. Your parents died when you were young, and they loved you with everything they had before that, so all your memories of them are good. Your grandmother took you in out of love and nurtured you into adulthood.” She chewed her bottom lip a moment before continuing. “It’s not my place to tell you Lucky’s story, but I promise you, you have no idea what it would take for him to take anything from his father now. I’m still amazed he didn’t beat the stuffing out of the guy when he showed up here.”
Cammie sat in stunned silence. She’d expected her friend to commiserate with her, had even debated telling Kenzie how she felt for fear that she’d hate Lucky, but instead, she was taking his side! Suddenly, she backtracked over everything she’d said and every thought that had went through her mind since Lucky had turned down his father’s offer. Had she been selfish to expect him to take his estranged father’s money? Could she possibly be wanting him to do something a good wife wouldn’t ask of her husband? Was that why he left?
“I don’t blame you for being hurt and even resentful,” Kenzie said as she sat back down on the bed and took her hand in hers. “Just don’t jump to conclusions that Lucky doesn’t care about you, or that he’s a bad guy for not taking his father’s money. The man has been through a rough time. It took so long for Chance to consider himself worthy of love. With the things Lucky has been through, I can’t begin to imagine how messed up he is inside...but he married you. He chose you.”
Cook County Cowboys Page 20
