by Tina Beckett
He turned back to say goodbye to Cora, noting his brother’s eyes were on him again. He returned the look this time. “Everything okay?”
“Yep. I need to get Cora home so Chessa doesn’t worry. Besides, I have some drawings I need to get to.”
Felix had once been a respected architect. When he’d married Melody he kept on working, even though she’d been wealthy enough that he hadn’t had to. He’d inherited a fortune after she’d died, but it had meant nothing to him. He’d withdrawn from work and every other area of his life, including Cora. It made Lucas’s heart a little bit lighter to see him showing an interest in something he’d once been so passionate about.
“Anything interesting?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll have to wait and see what it looks like before I decide.”
Kind of like Lucas himself? Waiting to see what things with his brother looked like before going on with his life?
Maybe. He wasn’t sure. He still hadn’t sorted it all out in his head, but he knew he wanted to spend more time with Darcie. Both during their rotation and after it was over.
For how long? Until she left for England?
He slung an arm around her waist, no longer certain of that, despite his earlier lecture. That drawing hadn’t been completed yet. Maybe, like Felix, he should wait to see how things shaped up before deciding things like that.
Felix’s eyes were on them again, although a smile stretched his lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, right?”
“Definitely.” He walked over and kissed the top of Cora’s head then ruffled the fur behind Pete’s ears. “Be good, you guys.”
“We will, won’t we, Pete?”
Lucas gave his brother a half-hug. “You’ll be okay taking them home?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have brought them otherwise.” His brother’s voice was just a little sharper than he’d expected, and Lucas took the time to really look at him. Felix’s skin was drawn tight over his cheeks, but he still had that same smile on his face. Maybe he was just tired. He hadn’t done outings like this in years. Lucas couldn’t expect him to spring from point A to point B in the blink of an eye. It was better not to push for more until his brother was ready.
Just in case, he didn’t put his arm back around Darcie’s waist. That could wait until his brother and Cora were in the car and out of sight. Besides, he didn’t want them to witness him kissing the living daylights out of her right there in the park. Which he intended on doing. Then they could go back to work and act like nothing had ever happened. And hopefully Darcie would be amenable to him driving her home afterward. Enough so that she’d ask him up for coffee?
His brother loaded everything in the car. Cora gave one last wave before she got in and they drove away.
Taking hold of Darcie’s hips, he tugged her close.
She grinned up at him. “You know, I think you might be the one with exhibitionist tendencies, not me.”
“Where you’re concerned, anything’s possible.” With that, he proceeded to do what he’d said he was going to and slanted his mouth over hers, repeating the act until she was clinging to him, and until he was in danger of really showing the world what he felt for this woman. “Time to get back to work.”
Her mouth was pink and moist, and her eyes held a delicious glazed sheen. He’d put that there. And he intended to keep it there for as long as possible all through the night.
And then he was going to invite her to come to dinner with him at Felix and Cora’s house tomorrow evening. They wouldn’t mind, especially since he was the one doing the grilling.
After that? He wrapped his arm around her waist and walked with her the rest of the way to the hospital.
He’d have to see what the drawing looked like further on down the road, but he could afford to give it a little more time to take shape. At least for now.
CHAPTER TEN
LUCAS WASN’T AT WORK.
Darcie did her rounds, trying not to think the worst. He’d been fine at the picnic yesterday. And he’d spent most of last night at her place, making love to her with an intensity and passion that had taken her breath away. After several different places and positions, he’d finally groaned and dragged himself from beneath her covers. “I need to get home so I can be at work on time tomorrow morning.” He leaned over and rested his arms on either side of her shoulders, bracketing her in and swooping down for another long kiss. “My rotation partner is a slave driver. She gets all put out when I come in rumpled, wearing the same clothes I had on the day before.”
“Maybe that’s when she thought you were involved with all sorts of different women.”
He’d laughed. “How disappointing it must be to find out what a square I actually am.”
“Just the opposite. I was jealous of the way the patients in the MMU always seem to fawn over you. I just wouldn’t admit it to myself.”
With a laugh, he’d scooped her up and kissed her shoulder. “See you in the morning, gorgeous.”
That had been the last she’d heard from him.
She’d walked on cloud nine as she’d got ready for work. Then, when she arrived, she eagerly waited for him to make an appearance and toss her one of those secretive smiles she was coming to love.
But there’d been nothing. No phone calls. No text messages. And nothing on the board to show his schedule had been changed.
Surely he’d made it home safely.
And even though he hadn’t said the words, he had to care about her. The way he’d touched her at the park and put his arm around her in full view of his brother and niece had said he wasn’t embarrassed to be seen with her.
She cringed at that thought. That was something the Darcie of old would have worried about. Her experience with Robert had shaken her confidence in herself as a woman to the very core. Lucas was slowly building it back up. Kiss by kiss. Touch by touch. He acted like he couldn’t get enough of her.
Well, the feeling was mutual.
Today she was not going to let his tardiness get the better of her. She was going to simply enjoy what they’d done last night and not worry about anything else. He’d eventually turn up. He’d probably stopped in to see Cora or something. Or maybe he’d had to drive her to school, which he’d said he’d done on occasion.
He wasn’t in bed with someone else. Of that she was sure. Because she was feeling the effects of his loving this morning. It was a delicious ache that reminded her that, no matter who fluttered their lashes at him, Lucas had chosen her.
She sighed and glanced at her watch again. An hour and no word. There was nothing to do but go on with her day and not worry about it. She was tempted to ring his mobile, but was afraid that might seem desperate or needy. So she let it go.
The morning continued to race by at a frenetic pace. Then one o’clock came with no time to break for lunch. She’d just completed one delivery and was heading for the next laboring patient when she saw Isla at the nurses’ station. She hurried over.
“Have you heard from Lucas? Or do you know if he’s arrived at work yet? I haven’t seen him all day.”
Her friend blinked at her for a second and then her eyes filled with something akin to horror. “Oh, sweetheart, you haven’t heard?”
Only then did she see that Lucas’s name had been crossed off today’s rota and Isla’s name was written in instead. That had to have been done after she’d looked at it this morning.
Darcie’s vision went dark for a second or two. “Heard what?”
“Oh… I’m so sorry. I got a call around an hour ago, asking me to step in.” She reached out and gripped her hand. “Lucas is in the emergency department…”
Isla’s voice faded out in a rush of white noise but the words “alcohol poisoning” and “gastric lavage” came through, before a nurse came out of the room of her next patient. “Mrs. Brandon is feeling the urge to push, and she’s panicking. She isn’t listening to instruction, Dr. Green.”
Somehow, Darcie managed to stumble into th
e room, and despite her clanging heart she was able to coax the nitrous mouthpiece from between the woman’s clamped jaws and get her to focus on pushing at the appropriate times. The baby was a large one, and Darcie had to do some fancy maneuvering to get the baby’s shoulders through the narrow space. Then he was out and wailing at the top of his lungs. Darcie wished she could drop onto the nearest chair and join him for a hearty cry. But she couldn’t. And it was another hour of praying for a break before one finally came and she could make her way down to Emergency.
Her heart was in her throat. Lucas had alcohol poisoning? How could that be? She’d never seen him touch a drop of the stuff, except for the sips she’d talked him into taking of her drink. And he’d made the most godawful face once he had. She’d convinced herself he was a teetotaler, that he just didn’t like alcohol. But maybe she’d got it all wrong. Maybe he was a recovering alcoholic. Or, worse, one who binge-drank for seemingly no reason.
But alcohol poisoning was more than just a couple of drinks. It was a life-threatening toxic buildup that came from downing one drink after another without giving the liver time to filter the stuff out of the blood.
Why hadn’t Isla come back to find her as soon as she’d heard the news?
Maybe because she’d been just as swamped as Darcie had been—and just as exhausted. She saw on the patient board that the letters “TMTB” had been scrawled beside two of the names, so her friend had to have been run ragged with those girls—and with all the aftercare that went along with teen pregnancies.
She paused just outside the doors to the emergency department, unsure what she was going to find. Isla would have surely told her if Lucas was in danger of dying, wouldn’t she? Maybe the stomach pumping had done its job and he was already on the road to recovery. Maybe he was simply too ashamed to face her.
As well he should be.
Anger crawled through her veins, pushing aside the worry and fear. If he were an alcoholic, shouldn’t he have told her? Refused that offer of a drink she’d given him?
A thought spun through her brain. What if that sip had sent him over the edge? An alcoholic shouldn’t drink any type of liquor. Ever.
All those late mornings…the rumpled clothes. The surly demeanor when he finally arrived.
God.
She squared her shoulders and stepped on the mat that would open the glass doors and went through. Noise and shouting hit her. The place was just as busy as the MMU had been. Making her way over to the desk and hoping to find a nurse or someone who could provide her with information, she searched the patient board for a familiar name.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of him.
Lucas.
He was on his feet, leaning against a wall. She’d recognize those broad shoulders and wavy hair anywhere. But he didn’t look right. He was slumped, leaning against the flat surface as if he could barely hold himself up.
The waiting room was crowded, but surely he’d been seen already. Alcohol poisoning was normally run up to the top of the list. Could Isla have exaggerated or made a mistake?
At that moment his eyes met hers.
And what was in them tore apart any thought of exaggeration. There was torment and pain in that red, bleary gaze.
So much pain.
Hurrying over, she stopped next to him.
“Lucas, what’s wrong? Are you ill?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, just shook his head. His hair was tousled, and two of the bottom buttons of his shirt were undone, as if he’d thrown himself together in a rush.
“I don’t understand. Isla said something about alcohol poisoning. She wasn’t talking about you?”
“No.” Lucas’s hands fisted at his sides. “Did you think she was?”
“I didn’t know what to think.” Confusion swirled around her head. Why did he seem so angry?
“It’s not me. It’s my brother.”
“Felix?” The sound of a siren drowned out his response as an ambulance pulled up to the front entrance. The sound of slamming doors came and then a gurney rushed in with a patient who was obviously in bad shape from the number of healthcare staff heading toward him. When she could finally be heard again she asked, “What happened?”
Two seats opened up as a couple with a child were called back to one of the exam rooms.
She took his hand to lead him over to the chairs so he could sit down before he fell down. He tugged free of her grip but followed her over to the seats. A chill went through her that had nothing to do with Felix’s condition as they both sat.
“What happened to Felix?”
He propped his elbows on his knees and stared at the ground. Without looking at her, he said, “He drank himself into a stupor.”
“Oh, no.” So it was alcohol poisoning. Isla had been right about that. “What about Cora?”
He gave a mirthless laugh. “She’s the one who rang me this morning. Felix was out all night, and when he finally made it home he collapsed in the foyer. Chessa had to spend the night at the house because she couldn’t reach me. And so here I am.”
Her heart squeezed tight. They hadn’t been able to reach him because he’d been at her house until almost three that morning, his mobile and car keys deposited on her entry table. “I’m so sorry, Lucas. Will he be okay?”
“I don’t know. He may be too far gone this time.”
This time?
Things fell into place in the blink of an eye. This was why Felix had seemed off when she’d met him those weeks ago—why he and Lucas had argued. He was the alcoholic, not Lucas.
“He seemed fine at the park.”
“He was.” Lucas lifted his head long enough to glance in her direction. “At least I thought he was.”
That explained something else. Lucas had seemed light and happy. Happier than she’d ever known him to be. She’d assumed it had been because of their budding relationship. But maybe that hadn’t been the case at all. Maybe it had been because his brother had been doing so well. Maybe all those affectionate touches and looks had been spillover from what had been going on with Felix.
And last night? Had that simply been an overflow of happiness as well?
Her brain processed another fragment. He hadn’t rung her to tell her where he was this morning. Or that his brother was in trouble. He—or someone—had notified Isla instead.
Maybe he hadn’t wanted to worry her.
But surely he knew she’d be frantic when he didn’t show up for work.
Her thoughts spiraled down from there. He hadn’t bothered to tell her the truth about his brother’s condition. Or what he’d been dealing with for who knew how long. He’d led her to believe things were fine. With Felix and Cora.
With her.
Just like Robert had done.
When trouble had come to visit, she’d been the last one to find out—and the result had been devastating.
You’re jumping to conclusions, Darcie. Give the man a chance to explain.
Only he didn’t. He just sat there. She’d had to drag every piece of information out of him the entire time she’d known him. Was this what she wanted? A lifetime full of secrets? Of wondering if things were okay between them?
No.
Something inside her wouldn’t let her give up quite so easily, though. Not without trying one last time to reach him.
“He’ll be okay.” She knew the reassurance was empty. She had no idea exactly how bad things were. Only Lucas and the doctors knew how much liquor he’d ingested or how much damage had been done to his liver and other organs.
“Will he?”
“What did the doctors say?” She had to keep pushing. To see if he was worth fighting for.
Because she loved him.
Oh, God, she loved him, and she didn’t want to have to let him go, unless there was no other option.
“They pumped his stomach. Rehydrated him with fluids and electrolytes. I just have to wait for him to wake up.”
She didn’t understand. �
�Will they not let you back to see him?”
“I needed to think about some things. I’ll go back in a little while.”
“And Cora?”
“She’s still with Chessa. We both thought it best not to have her here until we knew something definitive. She’s already lost her mum. I don’t want her to panic over what might happen to her dad. Unless it actually does.”
“It might not come to that.” She licked her lips and got up the nerve to slide her hand over his. This time he didn’t shake her off. But he also didn’t link his fingers through hers or make any effort to acknowledge the contact. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“If he makes it, he’ll have to go to rehab. A residential one this time. I can’t trust him to care for Cora at this point.”
Which was why he’d been late those other times. Another piece fell into place.
He’d had to take care of his niece when his brother had been too sick or too drunk. And what had she done? She’d yelled at him in front of a roomful of people on one of those days. Guilt washed over her, pummeling her again and again for assuming things that hadn’t been true. For not asking him straight out if something was wrong. Maybe she could have helped somehow.
Maybe she still could.
“If you need me to watch Cora, I—”
“No.” The word was firm. Resolute. “We’ll be fine.”
Another chill went through her, and the premonition she’d had earlier came roaring back to haunt her.
He was still going to pretend that things were okay—shutting her out without a moment’s hesitation. She removed her hand from his and curled it in her lap.
Lucas sat up, his mouth forming a grim line. “I think I’m going to take some personal time. I have Cora to think about, and I’ll need to deal with Felix. I can’t do that and work at the same time.”
Her heart stalled. “How will you live?”
“I have some savings. And Cora’s care comes from a trust fund her mother left for her.”
“I see.” She licked her lips. “How much time are we talking?”
