A Father's Stake

by Mary Anne Wilson

  Jack knew all too well where to go as he left the Jeep at the entrance and went after Grace.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  JACK APPROACHED HIS MOTHER, who was standing at the first cubicle. He tapped her shoulder and when she turned, she hugged him fiercely. He glanced over at Gabriella nearby, noticing how pale and drawn she was.

  “I just turned my back for a moment,” Grace’s mother said in a shaky voice, starting to wring her hands.

  “She fell off the horse?” he asked.

  “No, she’d already ridden and done well, but she got up on the fence to watch Walter, the trainer, working a horse and fell backwards. She broke her arm.” Tears were coming now, and Lark reached out to gather the crying woman to her.

  “It’s a messy break,” Lark told Jack, “not a simple fracture. Moses said he needs to get some input before attempting to set it.”

  Jack couldn’t do anything in the E.R. cubicle, but he could make a call. “I’ll be back,” he said and jogged outside, through the security doors and waiting room to the spot where he’d left his Jeep. Taking out his cell phone, he put in a call to an old friend, Bryan Stater, a kid he’d gone through school with. Bryan had left Wolf Lake and become one of the top pediatric orthopedic surgeons in the country.

  The phone rang three times before he heard his friend’s voice, then explained the situation. He gave Bryan the number for Moses, then ended the call and went back inside.

  His mother and Gabriella turned to him as he approached the cubicle. “I called Bryan,” he said to his mother.

  Right then, Moses’s assistant walked up, pulled the curtain back and handed the doctor a house phone. All Jack was aware of was Grace hovering over the gurney that held her daughter, such a tiny thing on the huge bed. Grace was speaking softly to Lilly, whose eyes were closed as she made low sobbing sounds. Her broken arm was elevated on a pillow with an IV attached to her good arm.

  Moses spoke into the phone. “Bryan, yes, that’s about it. I ordered another set of X-rays for the angles.” He listened. “Yes, anything at all. It’s appreciated.”

  He got off the phone, and Grace straightened slightly to turn to him. “Why aren’t you doing something for the pain?”

  “She’s getting pain medication through the IV, and we’re going to fix her up perfectly,” he said, then glanced over and nodded at Jack. “I’m consulting with the best pediatric orthopedist in the country.”

  Grace paled even more if that were possible. “Oh, I don’t know if my insurance will cover that sort of thing.” She shook her head. “I mean, I want the best, you know, I really do, but—”

  “Don’t worry. Bryan Stater is a former local. He knows a whole lot about setting a kid’s broken arm and he owes me and a few people around here, a favor or two.”

  “Thank you,” Grace said, laying her hand on her daughter’s forehead.

  Jack stood off to the side. He hated being in a hospital, especially in the E.R.—too many bad memories.

  Moses spoke to Lilly. “I’ll be right back to give you a ride.” Then he looked at Grace. “I need to check with Doctor Stater, then we’ll get her into an operating room.” He hesitated. “No allergies, right?”

  “None that I know of, but she’s never broken anything before.”

  “That’s great, very good,” he said, patting Grace’s shoulder.

  Jack admired Moses’ bedside manner. He was calming both Grace and the child. And that night in the past when Robyn had been brought in, Moses had been there too. He’d done all he could, both for Robyn and for Jack. A solid rock for Jack in the middle of a life suddenly destroyed.

  Moses looked at Jack closely as he asked, “You okay?”

  “Yes,” he lied.

  He wasn’t, but he couldn’t make himself walk away. He’d called Bryan to pull him into the case, and he should just leave, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave Grace. All he could do was stand there, feeling helpless once again

  * * *

  GRACE REACHED TO hold her mother. “It’s going to be okay. She’s going to be okay,” she repeated, as much to convince herself of that fact as to convince her mother.

  “She just slipped. I was right there, and she twisted and fell back off the top rail.” Gabriella swiped at her face with a handful of tissues. “I grabbed, but I wasn’t fast enough.”

  “Oh, Mom, you couldn’t help it. Lilly’s so quick.” Grace patted her mother’s back. “Dr. Blackstone is very good.”

  Lark nodded. “He’s the best.”

  “See, Lilly’s getting good care.” Grace let go of her mother and turned to the gurney again. As she did, she caught sight of Jack just standing there, watching. Their eyes met, his dark with concern.

  Moses came back in with a team who worked in perfect harmony, getting the bed higher, the IV strapped to the metal side. A nurse took Lilly’s vitals, and someone from the hallway asked, “ETA?”

  Moses looked at the clock on the wall. “Two to three. We’re on our way.” He turned to Grace. “You can walk with her to the doors of the O.R., if you want.”

  She’d go into the operating room with her daughter if she could, Grace thought. Instead she held Lilly’s good hand as the gurney was pushed through the E.R.

  Arriving at the O.R. was a blur. She kissed Lilly, promising to be right there when she woke up. The child’s eyes were heavy, then she smiled faintly, and Grace had to force back tears until the team pushed Lilly through the doors and out of her sight.

  Then the tears came, and she turned, almost running into Jack, who had walked behind her without her even knowing. He looked down at her, and she did what felt to be the most natural thing to her. She walked into his arms and let him hold her against him while she cried. There were no, “Things will work out,” or, “Everything’s going to be okay,” platitudes that came so easily at a time like that. Just his strong arms around her and the sound of his heart beating steadily against her cheek...

  Grace couldn’t let go of Jack. She was afraid if she did, her legs wouldn’t hold her. Thankfully, he shifted, pulling her against his side, and led her back to a waiting room. For three hours, people came and went, Lark, her mother, Mr. Carson, Mallory from the bed-and-breakfast, but Jack never left. He stayed right by her, holding her hand, not needing to talk. But he listened to her, to her guilt over leaving Lilly, at not remembering to take her own cell phone with her on the ride, anything and everything, and Jack just listened.

  Then the door opened and Moses came in. He looked exhausted, but he managed a smile. “She came through it with flying colors. The fracture was complicated, but it should heal completely with no loss of mobility in the arm or the hand.”

  Grace felt the weight of the world slip off her shoulders. “Oh, thank you, thank you. When can I see her?”

  Moses shrugged. “She’ll be in ICU until she comes around. Why don’t you go and freshen up, and I’ll call you or a nurse will call when Lilly’s awake.”

  “No,” she said without a pause, “I’m not leaving. My mother can get me whatever I need.”

  “I didn’t think you’d fall for that,” Moses said with a smile. “Wait twenty minutes, then go to ICU and tell them I sent you. Lilly should be settled there by then.”

  Grace stood, her legs slightly wobbly. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said to Moses.

  “I didn’t do it alone. Doctor Stater was on the line with me the whole time. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

  Jack was beside her, not touching her now, but so close she could feel his heat. She was grateful, so very grateful to so many people. Moses excused himself, and left.

  “Oh, my,” Lark said softly. “That is such good news.”

  Gabriella sat by her, nodding, but still looking pale. “That poor baby.”

  Lark patted her hand, then stood. “Let’s go and see if we can find a toy in this place for Lilly when she wakes up.”

  Gabriella agreed, and the two women left for the gift shop. Grace looked at Jack. �
��Thank you so much for getting me back here, and...and for staying.”

  He turned to her and gently brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “I’m just sorry this happened.”

  “Kids,” she said. “You can’t keep up with them. Things happen, but I’m so grateful that Lilly is getting such good care.”

  Jack looked as if he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t. Instead, he bent and brushed her lips with his. When he drew back, he just gazed down at her. Did she want a man like Jack Carson to love? Or did she want Jack Carson?

  “I’m going to find where ICU is,” she said, not wanting to face the answer to that question.

  He didn’t go with her, but said as she went out the door, “Follow the yellow line on the floor.”

  “Thank you,” she said. The ICU was in the west wing, two floors up. When she reached the admittance door, she ran into Moses. He held the door for her, motioned her to follow him and led the way to one of the glass-fronted rooms arranged around the nurses’ station. Lilly was lying in a huge bed, tubes in her good arm, and her injured arm wrapped in something that looked like an Ace bandage. “She doesn’t have a cast?”

  “She will,” Moses said. “She’s up here until we’re sure from the X-rays that everything’s as it should be. Then we can make a cast that she can draw flowers on.”

  Grace held her daughter’s limp hand, watching each breath she took, listening to the machines by the bed beeping softly in the background. “Are you sure she’s just sleeping?”

  “Half and half. She’s sleeping, but she’s also being sedated by medication.” He looked at the machine with its bobbing graphs and multitude of switches and buttons. “She’s doing very well. She’s a strong little girl. We’ll keep her here for a few hours, then get a regular room for her one floor down.”

  “When can she go home?”

  He shrugged. “Let’s play that by ear. Maybe as early as tomorrow, but it might be a few days.”

  As if he read her mind, he said, “We make concessions for parents so they can sleep at the hospital to be near their kids. Do you want me to set that up for you?”

  “Oh, yes, please,” she said. She wasn’t going to go anywhere while Lilly was here.

  When Moses left, Grace pulled a chair close to the bed and sank down on it, reaching for Lilly’s good hand. Two hours later a tall man with a buzz haircut came into the room with Jack. He smiled at Grace. “Mrs. Evans?” he asked in a deep, resonant voice.

  Grace got to her feet, glancing at Jack, then at the stranger. “Yes, Grace Evans.”

  “I’m Doctor Stater, Bryan Stater. Jack called me about your daughter, and when I got the X-rays from Moses, I decided it would be best if I just came out here in person.”

  He flew all the way from Atlanta? “Thank you,” she finally said, then motioned to Lilly. “She...she hasn’t woken up yet, but the doctor said she needs to remain sedated for a while. They’ll fit the cast when they know the operation was successful.”

  “That’s right. I’m going to review the surgery, but first I wanted to see Lilly and meet you.” He motioned to Jack. “I hear you’re the proud owner of his grandpa’s spread.”

  She nodded. “It’s a long story.”

  “Then we’ll have to make time to talk about it, but right now, Lilly is our most important business.”

  “Yes, yes, she is.” Grace watched the doctor check Lilly and read the chart. The longer he looked and didn’t say anything, the more nervous Grace felt.

  Jack came closer, and slipped an arm around her shoulders. It took all her willpower to not lean into him. “Thank you for calling him,” she said.

  “Sure.” His gaze turned to hers for a long moment. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m not important right now,” she said.

  “Oh, yes you are. You’re the world to that child, and that makes you very, very important.” He tightened his hold on her and she stopped fighting her need and leaned against him.

  “I can’t imagine not having Lilly in my life,” she managed to get out in a choked voice.

  “It’s hard to watch someone you love so much be in pain. So hard. But I’ve got a feeling this is all going to turn out just fine.”

  She heard his words and knew he was talking about loving his wife so much and not being able to do anything to help her. “It has to,” she said.

  Doctor Stater stripped off the gloves he’d been using and walked around to where she and Jack stood. “I give you my word that your daughter will be fine. She’s just going to need some therapy and time to heal, but the surgery looks perfect.”

  Grace felt almost weak. She turned into Jack and buried her face in his chest. She’d be okay. She’d need therapy, but Lilly would heal. Grace felt a hand on her back. It was Doctor Stater.

  “I’ll send them in to get the cast done, then get her in a private room and out of here.”

  Grace couldn’t speak, but heard Jack say, “Thanks, Bryan.”

  “You know I’m there for you, and those you care about.”

  Then she heard the doctor walk out, his shoes tapping on the tiled floors.

  Grace tipped her head back to look at Jack. He’d been terrific, and he’d never have any idea what it meant to her. But she owed him.

  He touched her cheek with the tip of his forefinger. “You know, you need to find your mother.”

  “Oh, my gosh, I forgot,” Grace said. She checked on Lilly one last time, kissed her sleeping daughter, then went with Jack out of ICU and in search of Lark and Gabriella.

  Jack motioned to an arched doorway ahead. “She’ll be in there,” he said. “It’s the main waiting room for ICU.”

  “Oh, thanks,” she said and started toward it, immediately realizing that Jack wasn’t going with her. Before she stepped through the doorway, she turned back and saw Jack leaning against the wall, his shoulders hunched, head bowed. Both hands covered his face.

  She felt sick. Of course. This must be where his wife had died, in this same unit. In a way he must be reliving that time. Her heart ached for him when she saw the weariness in his body, that bow of defeat. Torn between going inside and going back to Jack, she closed her eyes.

  “Gracie?”

  She turned to see Gabriella coming toward her from the square waiting room. Her mother pulled her into a tight hug, with Lark and Herbert Carson right behind her. Behind them stood Parrish.

  “Oh, Mom,” Grace said, tears precariously close to the surface. But she wouldn’t let them fall, not now, not when the news was so good. “She’s going to be okay. Doctor Stater flew all the way here to check on Lilly, and he said that the operation was a terrific success. She might even be able to go home tomorrow or the next day.”

  The room was filled with hugs and smiles. Gabriella was talking about getting whatever Grace needed to stay at the hospital with Lilly, and Herbert Carson apologized over and over again. He said the same as her mom, that he never saw the fall coming. One minute she was on the fence, laughing and clapping. The next thing, she was tumbling over backward. Of course they would pay for all Lilly’s expenses.

  Grace smiled at Lark and Herbert. “It’s no one’s fault. Lilly’s six and she’s lively and curious. I know that. I’m just grateful that you all were there for her, and that you’re here for me.”

  That seemed to do the trick. The tension in the couple eased, and Lark was smiling. “She’s such a darling child. Maybe she and Erin will get along. They’re about the same age. Erin is going to be taking riding lessons, and they could do it together.”

  Grace felt her stomach lurch at the idea, but was surprised when she didn’t refuse it outright. “Maybe they can,” she said. “Once Lilly’s healed, I think she’d love that.”

  They all decided that Gabriella would go back to the ranch with Parrish to pick up the things Grace needed, and Lark and Herbert would go home for now, but be back in a few hours to check on Lilly. Grace wasn’t going anywhere.

  Once they’d left, and the
room was empty, Grace stood very still, then hurried out. But the corridor was empty. Jack was gone. And Grace felt an emptiness that she couldn’t bring herself to examine. Not there, not then.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  GRACE TURNED TO go to the nurse’s desk and ask about Lilly being moved, but before she got there, Moses came striding out of ICU. “Hey, Grace,” he called and hurried over to her.

  For a split second, her heart caught, afraid that Lilly had taken a turn for the worse. “What?”

  “I just wanted to let you know, Lilly’s on her way up to her new room.”

  “What room is she going to be sent to?”

  “It’s 255W. That’s in the west wing, second floor. Private.”

  “Does my insurance pay for a private room?”

  “No, probably not, but there isn’t any insurance involved. The Carsons are paying for all Lilly’s expenses.”

  “Oh, no, I can’t let them do that.”

  “Please, let them do it. It’s amazing how guilt, whether real or perceived, can be assuaged by some form of payment.”

  “Do you really think I should?”

  “Yes, absolutely. That whole family is so caring and generous. I can only imagine how horrible they felt when this happened. They have the special needs kids from the Family Center over to the ranch for riding and hiking, and they’ve never had an accident. It’s just one of those things, but allow them to take care of it.”

  “Okay,” she agreed, then had to ask, “Did you see Jack anywhere?”

  He looked down, then back at her. “He’s gone. He left about fifteen minutes ago.”

  “He didn’t say anything.”

  Moses was sober. “You know about his wife and all?”

  Grace nodded.

  “Well, they brought her here, and Jack stayed with her until....” He shrugged. “I was surprised when he showed up with you. I never would have dreamed he could handle being here again. When Robyn died, he just seemed to lose his connection with life.”

  Grace swallowed the tightness in her throat. He’d lost a main connection when he’d lost the ranch. She knew that, and it brought an ache to her middle. He needed that land, but she loved it too. And she loved—