by Francis Ray
“Hello.”
“Sabrina Thomas, please. Kara Simmons.”
“Just a moment.”
“Morning, Kara. I guess you heard about Stephen through the grapevine. Sorry. I haven’t called,” Sabrina said, sounding tired.
“Stop talking nonsense.” Kara wrapped her arm around her waist. “What can I do to help?”
“Just keep praying,” Sabrina said. “He came through the night all right. Cade is with him now. He made the difference. If…”
“He was there, and that’s what matters,” Kara said, hearing the strained emotions seeping through Sabrina’s unsteady voice. “I can be on a plane and there by noon.”
“No. I appreciate the offer, but there isn’t anything you could do.”
“I could be with you.” Kara sat behind her desk. “You’ve been there for me too many times to count.”
“And you for me,” Sabrina returned. “Besides, you’ll be able to tell me all the gossip when I get back.”
Aware that Sabrina needed to get her mind off Stephen if only briefly, Kara said, “I was barely through the hospital door before I heard people talking. The big question is if Cade was already there with you or if he flew down to do the surgery. I gather his office manager isn’t talking.”
“I wish others would take a clue from her,” Sabrina said, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.
There wasn’t enough privacy in the waiting room for Sabrina to tell her whether either speculation was right. The important thing was, he was there. “Is everything all right between you two?”
There was a slight pause. “I’m not sure. It’s complicated.”
Kara leaned forward and propped her arm on her desk. “I know complicated. Mother can’t stand Tristan. We had lunch here yesterday since Mama is still complaining that she doesn’t feel well and I don’t want to leave her. I can tell he questions my sanity for staying with her.”
“And you love them both.”
“Tristan kind of snuck up on me,” she admitted. “I actually teared up last night when he dropped by unexpectedly just to check on me. I wanted to go with him so badly.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I’m not up for hearing any more of Mama’s criticism,” she admitted. “Besides, I have enough on my mind with the open house this weekend. His mother is showcasing my paintings.”
“You’re going to be a sensation. People will love the paintings as much as the house.”
Thankfully, Kara didn’t become nervous as she usually did. Tristan was making a believer of her with regard to more than just her paintings. “I’ve made two sales already. The builder’s wife came by, and she wants the paintings in the dining room. She and her husband live a couple of houses down from Tristan. They’re coming over to his place tonight to look at more.”
“I knew it! You’re going to be a sensation. I want a full report.”
“You’ll have it. By the way, is your phone off on purpose or do you need to charge it?”
“On purpose,” Sabrina admitted. “I knew you’d track me down. I took the week off, but I left a message for my supervisor yesterday about Stephen. Most of my friends and relatives are here. I figured you’d send an e-mail to the neighbors.”
“Good thinking. I’ll let you go. Call me if there’s anything I can do.”
“I will.”
“Bye. Love you.”
“Bye. Love you too, and thanks for the call.”
Kara hung up, then punched in Tristan’s number.
“Hi, honey.”
Just hearing that made the tears she’d held at bay threaten to fall. “I—” She swallowed.
“Are you hurt? Is your mother at you again?” he asked, his voice rising.
She wasn’t surprised by his question. “It’s Sabrina. Her brother was injured yesterday. Cade is there. He-he did the surgery. She didn’t say, but it must be bad since he’s still there. He always monitors his patients if they’re critical.”
“Do you want to fly down? I can go with you.”
It didn’t surprise her that he’d asked. “No. I asked, and she said not to come. I-I don’t know.”
“She’s your friend and you feel helpless since you’re not there for her.”
“Yes.” Was there ever anyone who understood her better?
“You have an incredible capacity for love.”
And the reason people ran over her. Instead of making her feel better, she felt worse.
“I have a lot of contacts in Houston. Why don’t I come over? I can make some phone calls and at least we can make sure they have some decent coffee and food. Call Sabrina back and ask her to find a place to set things up and ask how many people.”
That would be costly. She didn’t hesitate. “Can you take any of the paintings to pay for everything? I put the money you paid me in a CD.”
“Don’t worry. It’s a gift from both of us. I’ll be there in fifteen.”
“We could handle everything over the phone.”
“But I couldn’t hold you, kiss you, reassure you. Bye, honey.”
Kara replaced the receiver, a small smile on her face. It was wonderful having a man you could count on, a man you didn’t have to be afraid was using you. She just couldn’t let herself believe it would be forever. She’d just enjoy the time they had—at least try to with her mother’s outspoken disapproval.
Lifting the phone, she called Sabrina back, pushing her own problems away.
* * *
Sabrina had forgotten what money, power, and respect could accomplish. When she told her grandfather what Kara and Tristan planned and that they needed a place to set up, he’d made a phone call. In less than five minutes a representative from the hospital was there to show them a room on the same floor. They even brought in a recliner so her mother could stretch out if she wanted.
Food for at least thirty people along with two servers arrived thirty minutes later. Kara hadn’t listened to her when she said six people. She probably remembered that her parents had lots of friends and associates.
It didn’t take her long to appreciate the refreshments when, besides the people coming to visit them, the chief of staff, the head of neurosurgery, and a couple of board members stopped by. They knew her father and grandfather, but Cade was the big draw.
She didn’t have to be a mind reader to know they wanted him to relocate there. They hadn’t been so insensitive as to say anything, but between their effusive praise and their repeating “we need a skilled neurosurgeon like you” it wasn’t hard to get the picture.
Cade had quickly drank his coffee and gone back to Stephen’s room. The men were left looking uncertain, and Dr. Fielding miffed.
She’d waited until the room was empty to go get Cade so he could eat and relax in peace. Her mother had called her over and asked her to make sure Cade ate something. “I will,” she said, happy that her mother had noticed and cared.
It took a bit of doing, but he came back to the makeshift lounge. She prepared him a plate and placed it on the table. “Please sit down and eat.”
“Quite a spread.” Cade took his seat at the conference table. He’d changed into another scrub suit.
“Thanks to Kara and Tristan.” She made a face and stepped behind him to massage his shoulders. “I told her six people. This is for thirty people easily. I told the two servers we didn’t need them. This is costly enough. Kara can’t afford this.”
“She’s probably not worried about cost. She wants to help a friend.” He leaned back and stared up at her. “You’re a good friend.”
She couldn’t resist brushing her lips across his. “Some people make it easy to love,” she said, her mouth inches from his.
“Sabrina, I told you—”
“And I told you I’m not giving up on us, so tell the bigwigs here that they can’t steal you from Texas Hospital in Dallas.” She laughed. “You can bet the people in Dallas won’t be happy when they hear about this.”
“I’ve already had
two ‘important’ calls. One from the hospital administrator and the other from the chief of staff in Dallas. They wanted to know if there is anything else I need to keep me happy.”
“Smart thinking on their part. Stop picking at your food,” she said. “You think I can go peek in on Stephen when you’re finished?”
“I thought he would be fully awake by now.” Twin furrows raced across his brow.
Her hands trembled. “Stephen was always a sleepyhead. He made me late to school more times than I can count.”
Cade squeezed her hand. “I bet you were a bossy big sister.”
“I prefer decisive.”
“Figures.” He finished his quiche and juice, then stood and reached for her hand, squeezed it again. “Let’s go.”
Cade didn’t pay any attention to the people waiting, or at least he tried to tell himself that. But it seemed, each time he entered the room, there were more people there. They might have been visitors for the other patients, and perhaps a few were, but the majority of them were for Stephen. Cade was glad for the young man. He needed their prayers.
Inside the cubicle, he released Sabrina’s hand and went to the bedside. Removing a penlight from his pocket, he lifted Stephen’s eyelid. The pupil constricted. He breathed a sigh of relief. Progress. The vitals were stable and good. It was up to a higher power now.
He looked up to see Sabrina watching him closely. She trusted him to make this right for her. He did what he never had in the past, said a prayer and offered hope when he wasn’t sure. “What are you going to tell him when he wakes up?”
Her smile trembled. Going to Cade, she slid her arms around his waist and just held on. “That I love him. That I found a man to love and he can play the overprotective brother. That he can’t—” Her voice broke.
Cade’s arms closed around her protectively. “Don’t give up hope. You’re the strong one.”
She sniffed and lifted her eyes to his. “Because you’re here. If you weren’t, I don’t know how I would have gotten through this.”
“Bree.”
Cade and Sabrina jerked toward the bed. Stephen’s eyelids fluttered. Opened. “Bree.”
Laughing through her tears, Sabrina caught her brother’s hand and tried to stay out of Cade’s way as he checked her brother’s neuro signs. “I’m here, Stephen. I’m here and so is Mother, Daddy, and our grandparents.”
“How do you feel?” Cade asked.
“Head hurts.”
“I’ll bet.” Cade took Stephen’s hand. “Squeeze. Good. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Frown lines pleated his brows. “Playing ball.”
“You were hit by a line drive, but you’re going to be all right,” Sabrina said. “Can I go get Mother, please?”
“Mother’s here?” Stephen asked.
“Where else would she be?” Sabrina asked. Then, realizing what she’d said, looked up at Cade. His face was closed. “Cade—”
“Go get his mother.”
“We’re going to talk,” she said, then rushed out of the room to tell her parents.
* * *
Where else would she be? Sabrina’s statement rang in Cade’s ears as he slipped from Stephen’s room and left the ICU. There was no place for him there. He’d served his purpose, just as he had when the man who raised him used him for free labor, just as the patients did when he helped them. No one wanted him for just himself.
Lifting his hand to push open the waiting-room door leading into the hallway, he wondered if anyone ever would. The people who loved Stephen certainly hadn’t.
“Cade Mathis, you come back here.”
Cade spun on hearing Sabrina’s voice. He was as surprised to see her as to hear the sternness in her voice.
Sabrina caught his hand. “I love you. I’ll keep telling you until you believe in us. I’m not letting you go. We had a shock, but we can get though this.”
Cade wanted to love her, but seeing all the people who should have been his family, he felt like an outsider. “There is no place in this family for me. I gave them Stephen back. Good-bye.”
He turned away from the tears in her eyes. Just keep walking, he told himself as he headed for the doctors’ lounge to change clothes. Don’t hope. You always end up with the shaft.
In his street clothes, he rode the elevator down to the first floor. The sun was bright, the air muggy. He’d never felt worse or more alone. He was afraid this time the ache wouldn’t go away.
He stepped off the sidewalk and started across the drive to his rental. He needed to call his office and have Iris get him the first available flight back to Dallas, but putting one foot in front of the other took all the strength he had. He fished the car keys from his pocket.
“Cade Mathis!”
Hearing Sabrina’s voice, he hung his head, silently admitting to himself why he was walking so slow. He wanted to see her again. Yet, he wasn’t sure how he could handle seeing her, wanting her, and knowing their impossible situation.
Or was it? His steps slowed.
The man who had raised him had been a cruel, lying bastard who wanted to hurt Cade with every self-righteous breath he drew. He took pleasure in Cade’s pain. The best way to do that was by telling him his socialite mother hadn’t wanted him.
“Cade.”
Sabrina cared about people. She fought for what she believed in. She wouldn’t love a selfish woman who only thought about herself and her social standing.
Finally, he turned and frowned. Sabrina wasn’t alone. Besides her parents and her grandparents, it looked as if most, if not all, the people in the waiting room were following them. “Why aren’t you all upstairs with Stephen?”
Swallowing, Sabrina’s mother briefly touched his shoulder. Her teary gaze held him. Her lips trembled. “Because I wanted to introduce my son.”
He felt a tightness in his chest. He swallowed, swallowed again to ease the constriction in his throat. Son. He’d waited all of his life to hear his mother say that one word. Sabrina stepped beside him, slipped her hand into his and squeezed.
Mrs. Thomas’s smile tremulous, she faced the people behind her. “Thank you for coming with me. I want to introduce someone I’m very proud of, my son, Dr. Cade Mathis, a gifted neurosurgeon. Because of him, Stephen is alive.”
People stared from Cade to his mother, their mouths gaping. Questions swirled around them. A young man in the back cracked, “I defy anyone to do our unusual family tree.” People laughed.
Sabrina briefly leaned her head against Cade’s shoulder. “He might be fighting it, but he’s also the man I’m going to marry. You’ll all receive wedding invitations.”
There were more shocked whispers from the older adults, and the younger ones applauded. Smiling, her mother’s parents ushered everyone back into the hospital.
Cade was too emotional to speak. His mother and her parents had looked at him with pride and love. His mother’s husband had slapped him proudly on the back.
“You’re not alone anymore.” Sabrina hugged him. “You just have to believe it, and we’ll go from there.”
He wanted that more than anything.
“Mother and Granddad made a horrible mistake, but they did it out of love,” she whispered. “Sometimes love isn’t easy, but it’s worth the risk.”
Staring down at her, he realized again how much courage Sabrina possessed. She wasn’t afraid to lay her feelings out there for him and all the world to see. He pulled her to him. He had to be just as brave. The past needed to stay in the past. “You make me weak, but you also make me believe.”
She hugged him harder. “I love you, Cade. Nothing will ever change that.”
He smiled. “I finally believe you.” Lifting his head, he told her about meeting his father and finished by saying, “Grandfather”—he paused as if savoring the word—“was right. My father hadn’t wanted me.”
On tiptoe, she kissed him on the lips. “We do.”
“I might have a half-brother and a niece,” he said
, excitement in his voice. “When things settle in my head a little bit, I plan to do some checking.”
“I’ll help. We’ll find them.”
He placed his forehead against hers. “You’re always there for me.”
“Where else would I be?” she said softly.
He recalled her saying the words in relation to her mother and Stephen. Loving someone meant being there for them. “When you come back, we need to talk.”
Uneasiness entered her eyes. “Am I going to like this talk?”
Laughing, he kissed her long and hard. He never wanted her to regret loving him. “I certainly hope so. I’ll call you tonight.”
Her smile returned. “I’ll be waiting.”
Cade got in the car and pulled away smiling.
Twenty-two
Kara should be feeling great. Sabrina had called to tell her that Stephen was awake and steadily improving. And Kara was days away from the open house. She should be hopping with excitement. She wasn’t.
She was driving to Tristan’s house later. The sundress she had on was five years old, the small yellow-and-purple flowers faded. She wished she had a pretty summer dress to wear to meet the wife of the builder whose luxury home her paintings were displayed in.
Kara was sure the wife would look great, and so would Tristan’s mother, if she happened to drop by. Kara always felt like an old shoe next to her. She’d caught his mother a couple of times looking at her with a frown. She could almost hear her thinking Kara needed a major wardrobe makeover.
Unwillingly Kara recalled Tristan’s ex-wife’s condescending comments about her clothes. Yet, not once had Vera ever made Kara feel uncomfortable in any way. She was always warm and solicitous, but she still probably wondered what her gorgeous, well-dressed son was doing with Kara.
Kara wondered herself. She heard the kitchen timer go off and headed in that direction. All she needed was to burn her mother’s food. Opening the oven, she took out the smothered steak and sat it on the stove, then mashed the potatoes with real butter and cream. Her mother demanded both.
