by Vivian Arend
Dammit. Jesse caught himself staring at the group of women again, all three of them chatting animatedly. “Fuck. You’re right.
His cousin snorted. “My God, did I really hear those words come out of your mouth?”
“It’s just a visit,” Jesse muttered. “You’re right, though. I can pull my ass out of my head and pretend for a few more days that everything is great.”
This time it was Rafe who grunted.
Jesse turned on him, not even trying to hide his exasperation. “What?”
Rafe hesitated for a moment then hit him with both barrels. “I’ve always looked up to you because you pretty much did whatever the hell you wanted to, and I didn’t do enough of that for a long time. But right now, you’re making a mistake, and I’m going to call you on it. You do need to get your head out of your ass, but you shouldn’t have to pretend that everything’s great. What happened was a long time ago and everyone else moved on. Do the same, and grow the fuck up.”
If they’d been standing anywhere but in public Jesse would have responded to his cousin’s cutting statement with his fists. “Gee, I’m so glad you’re a safe person to talk to.”
“I’m trying to help,” Rafe snapped. “You left. I stayed, and since you’d told me what happened, I watched closer. Every time the Colemans gathered, I listened hard to see if there was any reason you needed to stay away. You know what? In all that damn time I didn’t find a single one.”
“Because it wasn’t about you,” Jesse growled.
“Wrong. They don’t have an issue with you. It’s always been about your feelings and guilt, and I’m telling you, it’s time to move on.”
Lectured by his youngest cousin. Great fucking day.
“I’m not telling you you’re an idiot…” Rafe began again.
“Drop it,” Jesse ordered, turning his back on Rafe. Two more bloody days and he could get the hell out of here.
“Not likely,” Rafe offered. “This is what family does, you know.”
“Kicks you in the balls when you’re down?” Jesse demanded.
Rafe made a rude noise. “Oh, please. That’s a little melodramatic, even for you.”
Jesse whirled, catching hold of the front of Rafe’s shirt in a fist. “You want a fight? You got one.”
“Jesse.”
His name echoed in his ears at high volume, panic clear in the single word. He and Rafe turned toward the girls, expecting to see them making concerned gestures at the imminent fight.
Instead Vicki screamed again as she and Laurel struggled to hold up Dare, her body limp in their arms.
Chapter Seventeen
Situation normal—totally out of my control. Since when did chaos become my status quo? Seems like half of forever…
—Diary entry at eighteen, upon learning via email that her boyfriend had left Heart Falls and wasn’t coming back—
A cloud blurred her vision, and Dare blinked hard as she struggled to put the last few minutes back into order. She’d been talking with Vicki and Laurel, and she’d been watching the horses, and then things got foggy.
She looked up into blue eyes and a stone-cold expression.
Dare laid her hand against Jesse’s cheek. “Wow, you better hope the wind doesn’t change direction because that would be one scary face to be stuck with forever.”
If she’d expected his familiar grin to appear, she’d have been disappointed. What she got was zero change in expression as his gaze darted over her face. “How’re you feeling?”
Two worried faces appeared over his shoulder, Vicki and Laurel, then Rafe was there as well, a furrow between his brows.
“I feel like the ball in the middle of a football huddle.” Dare curled upright, or attempted to. Jesse’s hand behind her back controlled the motion as he slowly allowed her to sit.
A flush of embarrassment hit when she realized she was in his lap and he was on the ground in front of a growing collection of his family. Her right cheek and eye stung.
She lifted her fingers to touch her face. “What happened?”
Laurel grimaced. “Um, that’s my fault. I think I punched you.”
“She was trying to catch you,” Vicki offered quickly.
None of this made sense. “Catch me?”
Dare looked up at Jesse. He was wearing that unreadable expression.
“You passed out,” he said.
“I didn’t—” she protested, then stopped.
Had she?
That foggy blur in her head failed to offer up an answer immediately. She wiggled, testing to see if she had any unusual aches or pains, but everything seemed to be normal. “I did a systems check. I feel fine. Well, other than my…”
She stopped, hand dropping from where she’d been cradling her cheekbone. Laurel looked horribly upset.
Suddenly Dare was airborne. She grabbed at Jesse’s shoulders as he rose to his feet with her in his arms then began striding at high speed toward his truck. “What’re you doing?”
“Taking you to the hospital.”
“Wait a minute.” Dare pushed on his chest in an attempt to get him to lower her to the ground.
His arms didn’t budge. It was like trying to move a brick building.
“Jesse, stop. I don’t need to go to the hospital.”
“You passed out, Dare. This isn’t up for debate.”
Confusion rushed in. “I don’t think it’s as bad as that.”
Another voice joined in. “You’re probably right.” Mike Coleman arrived out of nowhere, his words laying a blanket of calm over her. “But going to the hospital is a smart idea, just to be sure everything’s good. You’re pregnant, after all.”
How on earth was Dare supposed to deny that face? “Well, okay, but I’m sure I’m fine.”
Mike pulled open the passenger door to Jesse’s truck. “Just get checked up. No use in taking any chances.”
“We’ll come with you,” Laurel offered.
Oh God, no. Dare should have seen this coming—it was like being around the Stone boys. Vicki was nodding and Rafe was digging out his keys, and the longer they stayed, the more people would want to join in.
“No, please, that’s fine.” Dare wasn’t going to argue anymore about going, but she didn’t need a crowd along for the ride. “Jesse will take me.”
“I’ve got you.” Jesse all but growled the words as he made sure she was completely settled, reaching over her to do up the seatbelt.
Dare sighed heavily. “My arms aren’t broken. I mean, thanks for helping me out, but—”
“Don’t argue,” Jesse snapped.
He stepped back and closed the door, but even through the closed door Jesse’s father’s soft chuckle was audible.
She rolled down the window to speak to Mike as Jesse raced around to join her. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Maybe it’s from the travel. I am a little tired.”
Mike patted her fingers where they lay on the window ledge. “My boy’ll take good care of you. Call if you need anything.”
They were off. Jesse kept from squealing tires in the yard, but once they hit the blacktop, he hit the gas and pushed the truck to high speed.
“I don’t think we need to—”
The ice in his glare was enough to cut off her suggestion to take it easy.
Dare sat back and held her tongue. If he wanted to add a speeding ticket to his day, that was his business. Fine by her.
His rush meant they were back at the hospital where they’d been the afternoon before in no time flat, only at the opposite side of the building.
He abandoned the truck outside the emergency doors, pausing to snap up a finger. “Stay put.”
Dare rolled her eyes, but a wave of dizziness hit, a rush of fear with it. “No arguments. I’ll sit here like a good—”
Jesse wasn’t there anymore. He was already racing around the truck to jerk open her door.
He lifted her out of the truck, refusing to let her climb down. Then they were through to the emergency desk.
She lay there quietly, Jesse’s fingers in hers as they waited.
Another wave of dizziness struck. Dare closed her eyes against the queasiness, and involuntarily tightened her grip on his fingers. Everything had happened so quickly she’d had no real time until now for anything to sink in. For fear to rub across her nerves like sandpaper leaving her raw and vulnerable.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“It’s going to be okay.” Jesse brushed a loose hair behind her ear, his blue eyes fixed on hers. Dare locked onto his gaze even as her free hand slipped down to cover the swell of her belly.
A soft flutter greeted her, and some of the ice along her spine warmed. “I still feel Buckaroo,” she whispered. “I just—”
They both jerked as the curtain slid back a foot and a bright-faced nurse glanced between them before her gaze settled on Jesse.
“Excuse me, but is that your truck outside the emergency doors? Because you’re blocking the lane.” The nurse tilted her head toward the front. “You’ve got time to go park before the doctor gets here.”
“Screw the fucking truck,” Jesse muttered, before Dare placed her fingers over his lips to silence him.
“Go. You’ve got time. That way we won’t have to worry about hitching a ride to the impound lot when we’re done here,” she managed to tease.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead before leaving at a dead run.
The nurse slid up to the bedside the instant he left. She cleared her throat then spoke softly, gaze fixed on Dare’s face. “Are you okay? Do you need me to help you?”
Confusion and Dare were having a heyday. “What?”
The nurse glanced over her shoulder before touching Dare’s cheek gently. “Are you in a dangerous relationship? I can help.”
Oh my God. “Oh, no, this isn’t from Jesse. Someone bumped me when I fell.”
The nurse waited as if considering.
“Honest to God.” Dare felt terrible for sharing, but no way could she let anyone think Jesse was abusing her. “It was Laurel Coleman. She and Vicki were—”
Thank God for small towns where everyone knew everyone. The nurse’s eyes widened and she interrupted with a gasp. “Laurel gave you a black eye?”
Dare made a face. “Is it going to be black?”
The woman nodded then let out a relieved breath. “Okay, as long as you’re safe, we can move on. I’ll need to take your blood pressure and information. You get to lie still and relax.”
Utterly relieved, Dare obediently held out her arm for the cuff to be Velcro-ed into place, trying to figure out if she felt sick. “If you need me to pee in a cup, I can do that too. On command.”
The nurse laughed. “We’ll just wait for the doctor, if you can wait.”
A list of questions later Dare was alone again, fears slowly spilling into the curtained area like an out-of-control magical vine. She debated grabbing her phone to call Ginny, but scrubbed that idea as soon as it hit. No good reason to scare her family until she knew what was going on.
Then Jesse was back, clutching the edge of the doorframe to stop from flying past her bed.
“You’re a menace,” Dare informed him.
“Where’s the doctor? Why’s he not here yet?” Jesse complained, turning around as if he was going to track down the man himself.
“Jesse,” Dare warned. “Come here.”
He was by her side in an instant. “How do you feel?”
She shrugged. “Physically? Okay. Still dizzy, but everything else feels great.”
His face was tight, and he found her fingers again. “I’ll take care of you,” he promised.
Dare closed her eyes. That tremor of fear was growing. She swallowed hard. “I’m scared,” she repeated. “What if something’s wrong with the baby?”
His arms went around her and Jesse pressed her head to his chest. His heart beat solidly under her ear. “Buckaroo is fine. Take a deep breath, and let’s wait to see what the doctor says.”
They stayed like that for a while, Dare holding back the protests she wanted to make to his calm assurances because he was right. There was nothing they could do at that moment but wait.
The curtain slid back like metal fingers on a chalkboard, and Dare tensed all over as an older man in white doctor’s garb stepped into the space.
He offered a friendly smile. “So, I finally meet another part of the Coleman family.” He shook Dare’s hand then Jesse’s. “Dr. Kincaid. I’ve delivered all Jaxi and Blake’s babies, as well as other Colemans…”
His voice faded as he attempted to tug his arm free.
Jesse wasn’t letting go. Instead he gripped the doctor by the wrist so he could rotate the man’s palm toward the ceiling. Dare and Dr. Kincaid exchanged worried glances before Dare realized Jesse had laid his hand over the doctor’s.
Jesse finally released the doctor, turning to Dare with a nod. “He’s okay.”
In spite of being scared to death, Dare felt amusement creeping in. Jesse had remembered her comment about small hands being important. “You’re a nut.”
Dr. Kincaid gestured for Jesse to move aside. “I’m glad for the vote of confidence. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s happening with you.”
Jesse slipped around to the other side of the bed, and she caught his fingers like an anchor as the doctor checked her, pushing and prodding gently.
Dr. Kincaid listened to her stomach, then pulled the stethoscope from his ears as he offered a gentle smile. “Heartbeat sounds strong.”
Relief hit so hard Dare collapsed back onto the pillow. “Okay.”
“I want to run a few more tests before I let you go,” the doctor warned. “I don’t like hearing that you passed out.”
Dare nodded. “Whatever you think best.”
He pulled a chart over and wrote down a list of items. “You’re going to be here for a few hours.” The doctor glanced at Jesse. “If you need to go—”
“I’m staying,” Jesse cut in.
The doctor held up his hands. “Figured you would. You might need to grab some things for Dare if we have to keep her overnight, though.”
Overnight? All the blood in her body seemed to be rushing past her ears at that moment. “I can’t stay overnight.”
“Of course you can.” Jesse glared at her. “I’ll grab your stuff.”
“But we’re supposed to—”
“You’re supposed to listen to your doctor, and that’s me,” Dr. Kincaid lectured sternly before softening his gaze. “You Coleman women are all the same—stubborn as all get out. Now take it easy, cooperate with the nurses, and I’ll be back in a couple hours to see how things are progressing.”
Then he was gone and a new nurse was there, pushing aside the curtains. Jesse helped Dare into the wheelchair the woman had brought, and the next couple hours were spent waiting for people to poke and prod her. An ultrasound was followed by another test with tabs connected to her belly.
Jesse stayed with her when he could, but there were times he was on the other side of the door and Dare stared at the wall, far too alone with her own thoughts.
Far too alone, period.
She was back in the curtained area, Jesse pacing the floor when Dr. Kincaid returned, his expression gloomy. “One bit of good news—the dizzy spells are caused by an inner ear infection, and we can clear that up pretty easy. But there are a couple tests I’d like the lab in Calgary to take a look at. We won’t get results until Monday, and until we hear back from them, I want you to stay.”
Dare took a deep breath. “Here in Rocky Mountain House?”
“Here in the hospital.” The doctor held up a hand. “It’s completely a precaution. I don’t feel you or the baby are in danger, but there was something on one test I’d like to double-check. I want to be sure we’re treating any issues before they become trouble.”
Which made sense, and Dare got it, she really did, but the hollow ache inside just kept growing.
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
Dr. Kincaid patted the foot of the bed where Dare rested. “Stay here for now. I’ve asked one of the nurses to bring you to another room so we can free up the space in emergency. I’m on call for the rest of the afternoon, but the nurses will contact me if needed. I’ll be in touch with your regular doctor as soon as I can.”
Jesse shook the doctor’s hand then the man was gone. Quiet fell in their small little corner. Outside noises ebbed and peaked as a backdrop to the sound of Jesse’s boots on the linoleum floor as he paced.
Dare worked to take slow, controlled breaths. “Well, so much for dancing at Traders tonight.”
“Hey, you’re going to be fine, that’s the most important thing,” he assured her. “Doctors like to be cautious, that’s all.” He kept pacing as he spoke, and Dare was jealous of his ability to burn off anxiety energy.
It was true what he’d said—she didn’t have to like it.
Now that she knew she was stuck for a few days, she really needed to contact her family. She glanced around the room, shocked that in so small a space she couldn’t find anything easily.
“Where’s my phone?” She leaned toward the side table where her purse had been shoved.
He was there in an instant, all but growling as he placed the bag on the bed beside her. “Don’t overdo it.”
Dare raised a brow, nerves making her speak sharper than she’d intended. “If picking up my phone is going to be the straw that pushes me over the edge, then everything is not fine, Jesse. Don’t baby me.”
“I’m trying to take of you,” he snapped.
God. He was right, but she wasn’t capable of nuance right now. She was about to apologize when a new voice sang out cheerfully.
“Hello, behind the curtain.” The pale fabric slid aside again, this time quieter than before. A dark-haired nurse with stylish dark-framed glasses stood on the other side, wheelchair beside her. “Your chariot awaits.”
“Tamara?” Jesse grabbed the bag the woman offered before turning to Dare. “Another cousin, if you can’t tell. Whiskey Creek.”
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