McCade's Wish (The McCade Family Series Book 2)

by McBain, Mara

  “You ready to go, little brother?” Trey asked, clapping a hand down on his shoulder.

  “I’m more than ready. I can’t wait to put this ring on her finger.”

  “Let’s get you to the church then so we can get back here and enjoy the feast the ladies have planned.”

  “If you keep eating like this, big man, your New Year’s resolution is going to be a diet.”

  “Luckily for me, my wife likes me as big as a horse,” Trey said with a shrug. “Besides, if I put any extra on, I’ll burn it off come spring.”

  “Keep telling yourself that. You’re not getting any younger,” he said, backhanding his brother’s solid stomach.

  “Not too old to kick your ass,” Trey growled, knocking off his hat as he caught him in a headlock.

  Catching the new hat before it hit the snow, Cole laughed as Trey dragged him to the truck. The head slap he knew was coming was light and Trey ruffled his hair when he did it.

  “Get in the truck. I better get you there before Adrienne comes back looking for you.”

  “Laugh if you want, but if she says I’m late, I’m blaming you.”

  “That’s okay. I have broad shoulders,” Trey said, sliding behind the wheel with a chuckle. “Smart on your part. I’m not her favorite as it is.”

  “It was a rocky start, but I think she’s warming up to you,” Cole said, smothering his laughter.

  “I’ll take your word for it and stay clear of her purse just the same.”

  “That’s probably for the best.”

  Stopping at the end of the drive, Trey glanced both ways and then paused again.

  “Did you turn the furnace up at your house so everything will be ready for you two tonight?”

  “I did that this morning, and Gen set me up with a good size care package since the cupboards are bare.”

  “No one will ever go hungry if my wife can help it,” he said, shaking his head as he pulled out of the drive. He grimaced. “It’s a sheet of ice under this fresh snow.”

  “I hope the city boy is driving carefully.”

  “Nate’s always been a good driver.”

  “You know how he likes to show off though. He was screwing around the other night and scared Adri. If I know my fiery fiancée, he’ll be in for a world of hurt if he tries that bullshit on her wedding day.”

  “Does she have her purse with her?”

  Trey’s dry question made him laugh. “You’d wish that on the family runt?”

  “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

  Cole shook his head at his brother’s teasing. Trey’s grin twisted into a frown and he slowed the vehicle as they came around the curve.

  “Damn.”

  A heavy cargo truck blocked the road, its front end in the ditch. The door stood open. Down shifting, Trey feathered the brakes as he pulled to a stop on the icy road.

  “That looks like it was a hell of a ride.”

  “Where’s the driver?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll take a look. Stay here.”

  Cole snorted. “I’m not your wife to be protected and bossed around.”

  “Then get your fancy clothes all messed up and face the wrath of Adri. See if I give a shit,” Trey snapped, slamming the door.

  Grimacing, he slumped in the seat. Right or not, Trey didn’t need to be a dick about it. He watched Trey climb up on the step of the large truck to check the inside of the cab. Dropping back to the ground, he looked around, trying to read the scene. Turning his attention to the road as well, Cole looked at the tracks in the snow. Only a couple of cars had been down their road since the snowfall. Nate and the girls would’ve been one of them. One set of tire marks went straight up to the twisted big rig, and likely beyond, but the other set veered to the right, disturbing the roadside drifts. His heart skipped a beat and he fumbled for the door handle.

  He reached the spot a step behind Trey. Looking down in the deep ditch, snow and earth was disturbed and limbs torn from their trees. The mangled remains of the Ford were wrapped around a towering walnut. A strangled bellow broke from the big man’s chest and, mindless of rough terrain, he jumped the drift, skidding and stumbling down the steep embankment with his arms outstretched for balance. Cole was a second behind him.

  “Thank God. Hurry! People are hurt down here,” someone yelled.

  Cole tried to find both his footing and breath as he skied down the slope. His knee found a rock under the snow, sending a stab of pain through his leg. He grabbed at low branches, trying to slow his momentum. Terror coursed through his body making it numb and slow to respond. An explosive curse burst from Trey as the toe of his boot caught, sending him tumbling. He tried to stop his freefall by wrapping his arms around a small oak tree, but the force of his fall spun him around the trunk with a grunt of pain. He rolled several more times before folding around a stump that stopped his descent.

  “Trey!”

  “I’m fine. GO!” he grunted.

  “Cole?”

  Nate’s voice sounded weak and confused.

  “Coming, buddy,” he panted, scrambling the last fifteen yards or so, the side of the car stopping his stumble.

  “I lost it on that sharp bend. The backend came around on me,” a man stuttered from the other side of the wreckage.

  The series of curves were sharp and blind. Nate would’ve had no chance but to ditch it when he saw the sliding trailer at the last minute.

  “I’m pinned. Josie’s bleeding. She’s not answering me.”

  Cole’s heart twisted at the fear in his little brother’s voice. His fingers closed around the door handle. It opened a fraction before catching in the snow and rocks. He yanked again, putting his weight behind it. An arm flopped out of the opening. The familiar Sable fur sleeve made his heart leap to the back of his throat. He froze. Trey appeared on the other side of the car, pushing the truck driver out of his way to wrench open the passenger door. When it caught, the big man stepped around it and ripped it off the hinges with one kick. The violence and urgency goaded Cole back into motion.

  Stepping inside the half open door, he put his shoulder to it. It gave with a groan, folding back. Dropping to his knees, he gathered Adrienne in his arms. Her head lolled on his shoulder, blood streaming down her porcelain face.

  “Adri? Baby?” he asked, voice cracking.

  Nothing. Her body was limp in his arms. He mopped at the blood with his tie, trying to clear the red away to see where it was coming from.

  “I knew you’d come.”

  Gen’s voice was a soft sigh from the other side of the car. He looked up in time to watch her lift her arms to go around his brother’s neck. Tears sprang to his eyes at the worship on her face. Trey’s hand dropped to her belly and for the first time Cole thought about the baby, the babies, he corrected. His hand shook as he slid it inside the heavy fur coat. The dress beneath was satin and his fingers slid across the flat of her belly. She had to okay.

  “Adrienne, please,” he begged, his voice a choked whisper.

  Pulling the handkerchief from his pocket, he held it to the cut matting her raven hair above her ear.

  “Head wounds always bleed heavily,” a soft voice said. Evie whimpered, clutching at her arm as she leaned over the broken seat from the far back of the car.

  Blood streamed from her nose and she wiped at it, looking at her hand as if in surprise.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m having trouble moving my arm,” she said, wincing as she cradled the injured limb.

  “Just hang on. We’ll get you help.”

  “Josie?” Evie called.

  “She’s not moving,” Nate answered. “My leg is pinned. I can’t get out. Someone help her.”

  “Hang on, little brother.”

  “Trey! Cole?” a voice yelled from the road.

  Cole muttered thanks to God as he recognized a neighbor’s voice.

  “We have five people hurt down here. Get some help,” he bellowed back.

  “I think
I can get around the back of the truck. I’ll be back.”

  “Hurry!”

  “Sit right there, darlin’. Just hold on,” Trey said, helping Genevieve to sit on the stump he’d wrapped himself around earlier. Tugging off his over coat, he draped it around her shoulders and then went back to get Evie.

  With the two women cuddled together on the stump, he scrambled back to the car. He brushed past Cole and pulled on the front door.

  “How is she?”

  “I don’t know. The only wound I can find is this gash on the side of her head, but she won’t open her eyes,” Cole choked, cradling Adri closer.

  “Hang on, little brother. We’ll get help,” Trey grunted, digging his heels in.

  The whole car rocked when he yanked on the driver’s door. Cursing, he waded through the snow mounded around the front end to try the front passenger door, managing to get it open a bit before it fell to a couple of heavy kicks. Cole shook his head. The man was an ox. He felt useless at the moment, but he couldn’t force himself to let go of Adrienne.

  “Is she okay?” Nate asked.

  “I don’t know. She’s breathing. There’s a lot of blood,” Trey said.

  Cole craned his neck to look into the front seat. Trey carefully eased Josie down on the seat.

  “What about you?”

  “My leg is pinned under the dash. It hurts like hell.”

  “Can you move your foot?”

  “Yeah. It hurts.”

  “That’s good,” Trey muttered, putting his knee on the passenger floor boards and leaning in to look under the steering wheel.

  “I’m glad my pain brings you joy,” Nate snapped.

  “Calm down, kid. I meant that it was good you can move it and feel it,” Trey said, pushing up on the steering wheel. “We’re going to need something to pry this up to free the leg.”

  “There might be a pry bar in the truck or something you can use,” Cole said, trying to think what was in there.

  “You should take at least Gen and Evie up to the truck out of the cold,” Nate said.

  “That’s a good idea,” Trey agreed.

  “Get the truck driver to help you and I’ll stay here with these three.”

  “How did I know you’d say that,” Trey asked, sliding back out the passenger side. “I’ll be right back. Hang tight.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Nate assured him, at least drawing a snort of amusement from the big guy.

  Watching Trey and the truck driver start working their way back up the hill with the girls, Cole pulled Adrienne’s body tighter and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

  “You have to wake up, baby.”

  “Did you hear that, Josie? I know he’s talking to Adrienne, but it goes for you too. Even if you’re still mad at me, maybe you’ll listen to Cole. You always liked Cole,” Nate said, his voice breaking on a sob. “You always said he was the nicest McCade.”

  Reaching over the seat, Cole squeezed Nate’s shoulder. He wished he had words of reassurance to offer, but his own faith was lacking at the moment.

  “I promise if you give me another chance, I’ll show you I believe in love,” Nate sobbed.

  The devastation in his little brother’s voice only added to the pain in his chest. Hunching over Adri he whispered, “This is really not the wedding day I had planned, beautiful.”

  A soft moan broke her perfect lips. His heart leapt.

  “Adri? Baby? Can you hear me?” He cupped her face, praying, but her eyes remained closed. “If you can hear me, I love you. Our wedding day can wait, just come back to me.”

  “What’s taking Trey so long?” Nate demanded through his tears.

  “You might not remember the crash, but that’s a hell of an embankment on foot. The girls are hurt. He’s hurrying. I promise.”

  “Oh, God. Was Gen okay? Do you think it hurt the baby?”

  “I heard her tell Trey they were okay.”

  “There was so much noise and screaming.”

  “I can’t imagine,” Cole said, looking up at the broken path the car had made through the snow and trees. He dropped his lips to her ear, kissing softly. “It looks like you took a hell of a ride, angel. Wake up and tell me about it. I need to hear your beautiful voice and that husky laugh. I’d give you anything to hear that laugh again.”

  “I’m so sorry. I came around the curve and there was nowhere to go. I-I wasn’t going that fast. They have to be okay.”

  “Just keep praying,” Cole ordered, honestly wondering in that moment if he’d be able to look Nate in the face if he lost Adrienne.

  He closed his eyes and buried his nose in the crook of her neck, breathing in the perfume he loved on her. It wasn’t the kid’s fault, but would it really matter? If Trey and Gen lost the baby, would his brother be able to forgive? The big man’s heart was just starting to heal. Something like this would devastate him. He shook his head. He’d still have Gen, but if he lost Adrienne…clenching his eyes closed he took his own advice and prayed.

  Chapter Sixteen

  He turned the ring box in his fingers as he paced the waiting room. Tucked in the confines of his pocket, the small box felt like a lifeline at the moment. They had pried his hand away from hers, and nothing had seemed real since. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat. Every time tears threatened, he gripped the box and prayed, begging and bargaining with God the way desperate people did. Even while he beseeched God, there was that little voice inside that wondered why this was happening to him. Why let him get so close to happiness, only to have it snatched away? First his daddy, then his mother, and now…He couldn’t even say it. What had he done that God was punishing him?

  “Mr. McCade?”

  Scooting chairs squawked discordantly as everyone stood up to meet the doctor. He paused to look at the expectant faces, his gaze settling on Cole. His expression was serious, but a sense of empathy, no doubt honed by years at his profession, seemed to roll off him.

  “Is Adri okay?”

  “Your fiancée broke her ankle, and there is deep bruising down the left side of her body. She has various cuts, abrasions, and contusions. The worst of which was the cut on the left side of her head where we think she hit the car window. There’s a very nasty bump. We are monitoring her closely to make sure there isn’t any excessive swelling. She hasn’t regained consciousness yet.”

  “Can I see her?”

  “As I said, she hasn’t regained consciousness yet, however, if you wish to sit with her for a short while, I don’t see any problem with that.”

  Cole glanced at Trey. The big man nodded.

  “We’ll let you know when we hear anything about Josie or Nate.”

  Genevieve stepped from the protective confines of her husband’s arms to hug him.

  “Just talk to her. Give her a reason to wake up. Tell her we love her and that I’ll be in to see her as soon as they allow.”

  “I will,” he promised, returning the embrace. “I’m glad you and the little one are okay.”

  She squeezed him again, arms around his neck. “I’m praying.”

  He blinked when he stepped back. The intent look she was giving him said she knew. Was it a woman thing or had Adri told her? He forced a small smile. It didn’t matter. They needed as many people praying for them as they could get, and maybe Genevieve was in better standing.

  “Thank you,” he choked out and turned to follow the doctor down the hall.

  She looked like an angel covered in the stark white sheets and her black hair spread over the pillow. Pulling up a chair, Cole eased down beside her, wincing as the gash in his knee spoke up. Kneeling in the snow had numbed it while they were waiting for help but now, in the hospital, the rock’s damage was more evident. He fingered the tear in his new suit pants. Blood stained the shin and more stood out on his shirt and jacket. Some was his, some hers, their blood mixed. He wiped his hand on a clean spot before he laced his fingers through hers.

  “Hey, beautiful. I’m here. Sorry about e
arlier. They wouldn’t let me stay with you. I guess I would’ve been in the way, but I didn’t go far. Everything is going to be okay. You just need to open your eyes and let me see those emerald sparklers. You know, as much as I love your ring, the stones aren’t as bright as your eyes,” he said, swallowing hard.

  His words sounded like babble to his ears, but he didn’t know what else to say. He wanted her to know he was here.

  “It looks like Gen and the baby are okay. She said to tell you that they love you and that she’ll be in to see you as soon as she can. I pulled rank. I know she’s your best friend, but you’re the woman I love.”

  A sob broke his words and he shook his head viciously. He would not cry. Crying felt like giving up, and there was no quit in him. If sheer will power could bring his woman and child back to him, then they were safe. He leaned forward, placing a reverent kiss on her belly.

  “Come back to me, Adri. I need you. I love you. You need to open those pretty eyes so you can make an honest man out of me,” he said, forcing a tight hopeful smile. “I can’t wait to see what our little ones look like. Do you think they’ll have straw colored hair like me, or your shiny black locks? I’ll have to whittle a big club if we have daughters as gorgeous as their mama. Come on, baby.”

  He talked to her until he was hoarse and still he rambled on. Declarations of love flowed seamlessly with stories of his childhood and promises for their child. Nurses came in and out, one sweet enough to bring him a cup of coffee. Adri had moaned when he’d mentioned their wedding at the accident scene so he droned on, confident she could hear him, and refusing to allow her to think she was alone.

  “Nate’s out of surgery. They set his leg the best they could. The doctor said he’ll probably have a limp, but he should be okay with some time.”

  He looked up to see Trey and Gen standing in the doorway. He offered a weary smile and settled back in the chair, but didn’t let go of Adri’s hand.

  “That’s good.”

  Trey shrugged. “I told him that he sits behind a desk anyhow. He’ll be fine.”

  “I’m sure the runt appreciated that.”

  “He had a few choice words that he didn’t have to go to college to learn,” he said with a chuckle. “How’s she doing?”