“I understand. I’ll let you go.”
He nodded, but didn’t leave. “Will you come, Laken? Would you be there with us?”
“Do you want me to?”
His dark eyes were haunted. “It would mean a lot.”
“Then I will. My car won’t hold all of them, but I’ll figure out whose can.”
“Ask anyone here—all of them will want to help. Jackson’s piloting the chopper, but Mackey might—” He looked over her head. “He just walked in. He’ll know who’s got the right vehicles.”
The noise level changed as two men charged in the front door with a stretcher and made their way up the stairs. “That’s Tank Patton and Ian’s foreman Billy. Tank’s in law enforcement and Billy has volunteer fireman training.”
The tension level ratcheted as the seriousness of the situation sank in.
“I gotta go,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She rose and kissed his cheek.
He smiled at her, his eyes somber. “Thank you.” He squeezed her hand. “Look, Laken—”
She was so afraid he was going to say something too serious. “You go on now. Help your brother.”
He looked at her. “I love you. I know you don’t want to hear it, but…you’re it for me.”
Her chest wasn’t quite as tight as before, hearing his declaration. If she could believe in anyone, it would be Michael, but… “Michael, I—”
His eyes were so sad as he waited for a response she couldn’t give. Disappointment darkened his face. Before he could speak, the stretcher bearers started down the stairs with Ian on one side and Bridger holding up an IV bag at the head.
As the procession passed, hands reached out to touch Scarlett and pat Ian, murmurs of encouragement uttered as they descended.
Ian looked around for a second, and she saw his eyes, stark with fear yet determined. “See some of you in Austin,” he said. “Thank you for everything.”
“Hang in there, Ian.”
“Scarlett, we love you.”
“We’re praying for you.” Those sentiments were echoed over and over.
Ian’s gaze caught his brother’s.
Michael nodded and made his way toward them.
He never looked back.
Ian prayed every second of the flight, which seemed to take hours. He only stopped long enough to lean toward Bridger, whose expression was grim when Scarlett couldn’t see him, though he kept up a calm humor to her face.
“I’m not going to be separated from her. These docs won’t know us.”
Bridger nodded. “I’ll talk to them. But you know the first priority has to be Scarlett and the baby.”
“I know, damn it, but she needs me with her.”
“I agree, and in your place…” Bridger shook his head. “I’ll make it happen somehow, but just—things are going to happen fast, Ian. There won’t be time for discussions.”
Ian’s jaw hardened. “I understand, but—”
Michael looked over. “Laken just texted me that they’re all en route and on Highway 290 now. She’s reached out to her friends for any medical connections. She’s got the name of a doc in the ER she says is solid, and he’s on duty tonight. Name is Jake Cameron. Her friend is trying to get in touch with him.”
“Your girl is really something,” Bridger said.
Michael’s expression said volumes. “Yeah, she is. Problem is, she doesn’t really trust anyone. I told her I love her, and all it does is scare her.”
“You’re wrong,” Scarlett said in a faint voice. “It’s what she feels for you that scares her.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve got eyes,” she said. “She looks at you like you’re the last drink of water before the desert. But something’s holding her back.”
Michael looked over at Ian. “Her father abandoned them when she was just a kid.”
Ian’s eyebrows rose.
Michael spoke before he could. “She insists that it doesn’t matter, that she’s long over it.”
Ian shook his head. “She’s lying to herself. Trust me, it matters.”
“Yeah.” Michael exhaled. “Well, I’m trying to take comfort that you and Scarlett got past something similar.” He looked down at Scarlett. “Got any advice?”
She started to smile when abruptly her face twisted. Ian saw her grab for his brother’s hand while she was squeezing Ian’s, too, and he was grateful not to be alone in this.
The air stung with tension.
Ian leaned closer. “Breathe, sweetheart. Pant with me like this.” He demonstrated, and gamely she followed.
When the contraction was over, he looked at Bridger, who used his fingers to flash a five.
The contractions were speeding up.
Scarlett exhaled as the pain eased, then opened her eyes. She glanced at Bridger. “So when do we get to the part where I can yell at Ian?”
Soft laughter greeted her, and Ian bent to kiss her. “You’re really something, you know that?” He stroked her forehead. “I love you so damn much.”
She smiled up at him, her face white with strain, the dark circles beneath her eyes terrifying. She seemed to be fading away before his eyes, but she squeezed his hand and let go of his brother to touch Ian and stroke his face. “Thank you for being here.”
“Try and make me leave.” He kissed her fingers and held on.
They felt it when the chopper began to descend. They heard Jackson speaking into his headset, but the helicopter noise drowned out his words.
Ian knew she was as terrified as he was, so he put every bit of faith he possessed into his expression. “We can do this, New York.”
A little smile in her eyes. “I think I’ve earned being called Sweetgrass by now.”
He smiled back, but before he could speak, the chopper settled, and the doors opened immediately.
Then it was all noise and motion and racing to keep up.
Michael, Bridger and Jackson stared at each other where they stood sentry on both sides of the hallway just outside the ER.
“I thought Ian was going to deck that resident,” Bridger observed.
“Yeah, I heard them call for security. Landing in jail is not what he needs to be doing right now.”
“The doc seemed solid,” Jackson observed. “Glad he let Ian glove and gown in the end.”
“Michael?”
He turned. “Ellie?”
Laken’s friend approached and hugged him. “Is Laken here yet?”
“Nope. They’re still on the road.”
She looked up at Bridger and Jackson, extended a hand as her husband Wyatt approached. “Hi, I’m Ellie Preston, I’m a friend of Laken’s and Michael’s. This is my husband Wyatt.”
“This is Bridger Calhoun. He’s a paramedic and fire chief in Sweetgrass. And this is Jackson Gallagher, who flew us here in his helicopter.”
“Glad to meet you,” Wyatt said, shaking hands, as well. He turned to Michael. “So how is your brother’s wife and their baby?”
Michael gave them a brief synopsis. “Thank you for the connection to Jake Cameron. I thought we were going to be gathering up bail money for Ian when the resident was telling him he had to leave. Scarlett needs him.”
“Jake’s a good guy.” Wyatt looked at Bridger. “I think his wife’s sister is working at the café in Sweetgrass.”
Bridger looked surprised. “The new girl? Chrissy?”
“Yeah.”
Bridger chuckled. “Small world.” Then he looked back at the closed doors. “Sure would like to be in there. It’s the hard part of the work I do. We bring them in, but we seldom know how it turns out.” He looked at Michael and scrubbed his face. “I couldn’t let Ian or Scarlett know how serious the situation was. She could have bled out. You were great back there. If you hadn’t had the presence of mind to elevate her legs…”
Michael shrugged and looked toward the doors. Silence settled over them.
“Could I get you some coffee?” W
yatt asked.
“I could go for some,” Bridger responded.
“Me, too,” Jackson replied.
“Michael?”
“I’d like that. Thanks.”
Wyatt took orders and left.
“Ava and Tom are on their way. Sylvie and Gabe are out of town. Her mother passed away, did you know that?” Ellie said.
“I didn’t. I’m sorry to hear it.” Though he had a hard time caring right now, he began asking Ellie questions about her children, but he couldn’t quit looking toward those doors.
“I’ll stop chattering,” Ellie said.
“No, it’s okay, I just—they’re really good people. This has to come out okay. The whole town will take it so hard if anything bad happens.” Then somehow his antennae felt her before he saw her, and he glanced at the outer doorway just as Laken entered.
“Excuse me.” He didn’t give a damn what anyone thought, including Laken. He needed to be with her. He strode to her, grabbed on tight and kissed her thoroughly.
Then he held on.
She trembled. Leaned back. “Is it bad? Has something happened?”
He shook his head. “No—no, I just—we cut it close, really close. And we’re not hearing anything.”
He saw the others filing in. “That’s just between us, okay?”
She nodded and turned with him.
Gordon, his mom, Ruby, Arnie, Penny, Veronica and Rissa gathered around, their faces worried.
“Mackey let us out at the door. He’s parking Jackson’s Range Rover. James has all the kids at his place. Harley and Melba are helping out, and Celia’s there, too,” Rissa said.
Michael found he could still grin. “Harley babysitting…kinda boggles the mind.”
“What can you tell us, Michael?” his mother asked.
He noticed that she was leaning into Gordon, who had his hand around her waist.
Before he could say anything, Bridger and Jackson emerged, arrowing straight for their wives.
“How is my granddaughter?” Ruby asked Michael, looking years older.
“She’s got a great doctor, Ruby.” He found a smile for her. “We thought we might have to get you to start baking a cake with a file in it when a resident tried to tell Ian he couldn’t be with her.”
A chuckle ran through the group. Ruby smiled past her worry. “He’s generally a reasonable man, but the boy does know how to use his fists when he needs to.”
Mackey strolled up. “He used them on me enough when we were growing up.”
Everyone was trying…but no one was in a mood to laugh.
“So what do we know?” Penny asked.
Bridger recited the facts but once again pulled his punches as much as possible without understating that the situation was serious.
Ava and Tom Sinclair walked in then, and Ellie and Wyatt greeted them. Laken performed introductions, and as was typical of Ellie the Earth Mother, she began taking orders and producing tissues and settling people for comfort.
Michael tried to settle, but he needed to pace. He had done a lot of waiting in his life and usually was considered extremely patient—but he couldn’t manage patience right now. He turned to his mother. “I’m going outside, Mom. I won’t be far.”
“Do you want me to come?”
“No, I’m okay.” She looked so worried. “It’s going to be all right. I just—”
She nodded, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t convinced, and she shouldn’t be.
He wasn’t convinced himself.
He fled out the doors and across the drive just out front, staring across at the busy city street and ready to jump out of his skin.
“I won’t ask if you’re okay,” Laken said from behind him. “I know you’re not, but can I do anything?”
Abruptly, his temper flared. “Like get me some coffee, you mean?”
She looked wary. “Is that what you want?”
That tore it. “Did Jackson offer you a job? Were you ever going to tell me about it or just reject it out of hand, so you wouldn’t have to consider moving to Sweetgrass?”
She took a step back. “How did you know?”
“The question is, why weren’t you the one to tell me?”
“Michael, he just mentioned it this afternoon—a lot has happened since then.”
“Would you have told me? Did you even consider it?”
She glanced away.
“Of course not. You told him no, didn’t you? Because God forbid that you give me an inch, that you relent even a fraction and let me in. You’re not going to give us a chance, are you, Laken? All that you saw, all the people who welcomed you, they’re just—what? A pesky annoyance in your busy climb to…what, exactly?”
She shook her head. “Michael, I don’t—”
“Don’t what? Don’t love me even though I lay my heart out for you to trample on? Don’t like the place that welcomed you so warmly? Don’t want to find a way for us to be together?” He stalked to her and knew he was looming over her but didn’t care. “I’m not your father, Laken. How much more evidence do you need? How do I prove to you that I’m never going to leave you? That I’m the guy who stays, the one you can count on?”
The air stung with his rapid-fire accusations, and he was pretty sure he’d just sundered any possibility of a future with her, but he was too desperate to stop now. “You keep going through life as this island who never lets her heart get touched—but is that what you really want? To always be alone? To never have anyone who will take care of your heart?”
Her yearning showed in her eyes. “I…” She swallowed hard. “Michael, if there was anyone I’d trust—”
“Would trust? What do I have to do to prove myself to you—no, you know what? Screw this, and screw you. I’m tired of being your father’s stand-in, the whipping boy who takes the punishment you want to give him.” He glared his hurt and fury. “I will never get over you, Laken. I’m pretty damn sure I’m going to have a hole in my heart for the rest of my days, and it’s got your name written all over it. But I’m tired of reaching out and having my hand slapped.”
He leaned in again and spoke softly, knowing he’d been harsh but not knowing what else to try. “I’m the guy who stays. I’m the guy who takes your heart in his hands and treasures it. I’m the man who will love you when you’re sick and old, when you have to wear orthopedic shoes, who will still be telling you you’re beautiful when you’re ninety-five. I can’t prove that to you unless you let me, but I know it in here—” He stabbed a thumb toward his heart “—and you know it, too, right there.” He placed his palm over her heart. “We could have it all, sweetheart. We could have the love you saw in my brother and the woman who’s fighting alongside him to keep their child alive and safe in there. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want to know what that’s like, to spend every day with someone who adores you?”
He made himself shut up then and just stood watching her, waiting for an answer.
She stared at him, tears brimming on her lashes, and her face was as open to him as he’d ever seen her. She began to open her mouth—
“Michael, come quick! It’s Ian!” Rissa shouted from the doorway.
He looked at her, and she stared back helplessly, but now was not the time to finish this.
“I’m not leaving you, Laken, not even now, when you’re tearing my heart out.” He grabbed her hand and took off running, tugging her alongside.
His heart was thundering, and he couldn’t separate how much was fear for Ian and how much fear of what she’d been about to say—
Then they skidded to a stop.
His brother stood just outside the ER doors, his eyes wild.
Michael started forward, scared to the bone.
Ian shuddered, then finally spoke. “She’s okay. They’re both going to be okay. We have a daughter.” He looked proud and fierce and absolutely wrecked.
Then he lowered his face into his hands and his shoulders shook.
Gordon reached him first and t
ook his son in his arms. Everyone surrounded him, tears and laughter in abundance.
Michael hesitated. Looked down at her. “Don’t you want that, Laken? That kind of love?”
She sniffed and wiped at her nose, tears spilling from her own lashes. “I do. I really do, Michael. I’m so scared, but…I really do.”
He reached for her then. “Then grab on tightly and hang on. I’m here. I’ll always be here for you.” Joy and relief and exultation soared as he held her close, and her fingers dug into his back. “Thank God they’re okay.” He made himself lean back so he could see her. He cradled her cheek. “And thank God you’re not a coward. You’re not going to be sorry, Laken. I’m going to make you happier than you ever imagined.”
She brushed at the moisture beneath his eyes, then smoothed back his hair. “Let’s go see your brother, Uncle Michael.”
He smiled and walked toward the family he would give her. The town ready to open its heart.
Epilogue
Gordon reached for Sophia’s hand as they stood outside the NICU where Ruby was the first to meet the baby whose safe arrival had been so terrifyingly uncertain.
He turned to her, his expression serious. “I want you to stay in Sweetgrass for a while, and not just because you want to help out Ian.” He gazed into her face, her big, handsome cowboy, weathered by hard times and suffering, and he’d never looked more wonderful to her. “I want you to stay for me.”
When she hesitated, he grimaced. “Oh, hell, don’t I ever learn? Why would you like Sweetgrass any better the second time around? So what I mean is, I’d like us to try again, but I can move to where you live and maybe find an apartment or—”
She didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. She wanted to do both. She rose to her toes and kissed him lightly. “I’m not that same woman, and you’d hate where I live. I’d very much like to stay in Sweetgrass for a while and give us a chance.” When he in turn didn’t respond, she rushed on. “But I can find myself a place there and—”
He yanked her against him in a whoosh. Lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with all the power and pain and passion of their years apart. When he drew back, it was only a breath away, as if he, too, felt how fragile life was, how precious love could be. “Your place is with me. That too caveman cowboy for you?”
Texas Hope: Sweetgrass Springs Stories (Texas Heroes Book 16) Page 21
