Emma cried out, rushing to the man. She couldn’t find a pulse and she gently rolled him onto his back. “Millie!”
Millie was already heading to the phone. “Across the street from dozens of doctors and nurses,” she fretted, “and not one of them in here when we need ’em.”
Emma leaned over Kyle’s father, but he wasn’t breathing. Heart racing, she started CPR. Then nearly jumped out of her skin when Kyle crouched beside her. Her eyes met his and he grimly took over pressing his folded fist over his father’s heart while Emma counted beats, then put her mouth over Payton’s, breathing air into his lungs.
She knew it hadn’t been long at all before the bell over the door jangled and the room was filled with medical personnel. But it felt like an eternity.
She moved gratefully aside when a doctor took her place. She pressed her fingertips to her forehead and backed out of the way, tugging Kyle to move, as well.
“That’s Colt Rollins,” she told him when he finally moved. “He’s a wonderful doctor.” She remembered the man from his time at the clinic. He’d been the one to confirm her pregnancy. But shortly after, Emma had heard that he’d left for a position in New Mexico.
Emma pushed Kyle toward an empty booth. “Sit down,” she said softly. “Payton will be all right. Dr. Rollins will see to it.”
Even Jake looked shaken. He walked up beside them, closing his hand over Kyle’s shoulder.
Kyle tugged his tie loose and pulled Emma against him. She went willingly. She rested her hand atop Jake’s and the three of them watched while Colt and two other doctors worked over Payton.
“Oh, my Lord,” Emma said. “Helen Cummings is visiting her friend at the clinic. We have to find her. Tell her.”
Jake started toward the door. “I’ll find her.”
“Does he know who she is?” Emma asked Kyle.
“Yes.”
Emma’s eyes followed Jake as he walked out the door. Then Rachel and another nurse caught Emma’s attention as they arrived with a rolling stretcher, Rachel huffing and puffing and pressing one hand to her side. Emma glanced at Millie, who took one look at Rachel and shook her head, pointing to a chair. “You’ve got no business rushing around like this in your condition, missy. Now sit down.”
Rachel, who did indeed look pale, sat. The doctors strapped Payton onto the stretcher and rolled it toward the door. Emma watched as Colt did a double take when he saw Rachel sitting there. He looked at Payton, who was already being borne to the emergency room just across the way.
Rachel pushed to her feet. “I didn’t realize you were back,” she said to Colt, who was staring at her pregnant belly as if he’d never seen one before. Then he grasped her wrist and pulled her outside.
With Payton, Rachel and Colt all gone from the diner, Emma crouched in front of Kyle, her attention on him. “Are you okay? We could go to the emergency room and wait with Helen and Jake.”
“I’ve hated Payton Cummings nearly as long as I can remember.”
Emma didn’t know what to say.
“But I realize that I don’t want him to die.” He scrubbed his hand down his face, then folded her hands in his. His green eyes focused on her face. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’m worried about Payton and Helen.” She pressed her cheek to his hand. “And you.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
She raised her brows.
“The jerk,” he said abruptly. “Jeremy. Millie called me to tell me he was here. He’s not good enough for you, Emma. I thought for a while that, if you really loved him, I could stand it.”
Emma shook her head and pushed to her feet, tugging at his hands until he stood, also. “He’s gone,” she said dismissively. “And the only man I love is you. Let’s go across the street.”
He didn’t move. He was like an anchor, drawing Emma back toward him. “Why?”
“So we can see how Payton is, of course. The doctors here are wonderful, so I don’t want you automatically assuming the worst.”
“I thought you were the one who came out of the womb worrying.” He pulled her into his arms, kissing her silent.
Emma could do nothing but respond. But her cheeks heated when she finally came back down off her tiptoes and realized that Millie was watching them, a wide smile on her face. She looked away, out the windows toward the clinic. Colt and Rachel were standing just outside. They appeared to be in fierce conversation.
Emma unwrapped her apron and left it behind the counter to Millie’s easy assurance that she’d manage the lunch rush just fine. “There’s so much adrenaline pumping through my system,” she said, “it’ll keep me going until three o’clock at least.”
Emma retrieved her purse and the photos Jake had delivered. “Thanks, Millie.”
Her boss shooed her and Kyle out the door.
Kyle tucked her hand in his and they crossed the street.
Jake had obviously found Helen Cummings, because the two were sitting side by side in the small emergency waiting room. Helen jumped up at their entrance, her face worried. “Kyle. Please. They haven’t told me anything. Won’t you see what you can find out?”
He sighed, gently nudging her back into a seat. “Looked like a heart attack.”
Helen covered her mouth with a shaking hand. Emma sat down beside her and put her arm around her, comforting. “Kyle will see what he can learn,” she assured her softly.
He nodded. Pulled loose his tie another inch and turned toward the desk where a nurse was talking on the phone. But he didn’t have to wait long, because Dennis Reid strode into the waiting room. He stopped to speak to Kyle, then turned to Helen. “Payton is stable for now,” he said, and they all sighed with relief. “He’s conscious and demanding to see the whole lot of you. But I think you’re enough for now, Helen. For the next day or two at least.”
He waited for Helen to stand, then escorted her through the doors leading out of the waiting room.
“Guess it’s safe to go now,” Jake said.
Emma held her breath, looking from one brother to the other.
“There’s room at the house,” Kyle said, “if you want to hang around awhile.”
Emma’s shoulders relaxed.
But Jake shook his head. “Maybe next time.” He smiled faintly. “I’ll do some shots at Chandler’s baptism,” he offered.
Emma knew Jake was only being sweet. He could have no idea how his genuine offer pained her. But Kyle was nodding and shook his brother’s hand briefly. “That’d be great,” he said.
Jake leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Forgot to tell you,” he said when he straightened. “I might bring a date next time.” He smiled crookedly. “You’d both like her.” He sketched a wave and strode through the sliding doors of the emergency room.
Leaving just Kyle and Emma.
Her eyes burned. “I should get back to the diner,” she said after a moment. “Despite Millie’s optimism, she will need help with the lunch rush.” Realizing she’d brought the photos with her, she pulled out the photo of him and handed it to him. “Do you want it?”
“Not that one. I want the photo of my wife.”
“Your pretend wife,” she corrected. But she handed him the envelope that still contained the photo of her and Chandler. She was glad he didn’t want the photo of himself, actually. She could frame it and keep it always. “Will you keep me posted on Payton’s progress?”
Kyle nodded, his expression unreadable.
Emma picked up her purse, clutching it and the photo like a lifeline. “Well, everything is out in the open now,” she said. “I hope you give Payton a chance to explain his side of things, Kyle. He admires you greatly, and he had no idea who you really were.”
He didn’t answer. Not that Emma had expected otherwise. “Give Baxter my best,” she said brightly. “And, um, take care of yourself. Don’t work too hard.” Her voice wavered. She reached up and kissed his lean cheek, then hurried out of the emergency room.
Tears clogged her thr
oat as she jogged across the street toward the diner. Millie took one look at her and told her to go home.
Emma gladly went, cradling Kyle’s picture to her breast.
Chapter Sixteen
The moment Kyle got out of his car, he heard the music. He shut the car door softly and stared up the narrow flight of stairs to Emma’s apartment.
She was playing the piano. And it was as soul-wrenching as it had been that night in Denver.
He climbed the stairs. Grimaced when he found the wooden screen door unlatched. But that didn’t keep him from taking advantage of the unsecured door, and he quietly stepped inside. The apartment was stuffed with furniture from stem to stern.
The piano stood where her round dining table had once stood and was now nowhere in sight. Emma’s back was to him as she sat at the piano and let her fingers drift hauntingly over the keys. Beside her on the floor Chandler kicked his legs, making his canvas seat bounce.
Kyle crossed the room, leaving the thick binder he’d brought with him on the couch before stepping around the crib and changing table. He crouched down beside the baby and tickled his chin. And grinned when Chandler’s mouth parted happily. The baby jerked his feet even more enthusiastically.
Emma closed the piano, not surprised to see Kyle. She’d been aware of him the moment he’d entered the apartment. He’d obviously gone home since she’d seen him earlier, because he’d changed into those ridiculously sexy jeans and a soft blue-and-red polo shirt. “I called to check on Payton,” she said. “He answered the phone in his room himself. I was surprised. But he sounded good.”
“Colt Rollins ran tests. All in all they consider it a mild attack. No permanent damage to his heart.”
“I’m glad.” Her apartment was too close for words. First with the furniture, then, more disturbingly, with him. In the diner and even at the emergency room, things had moved so quickly, so frantically, there’d been no time for awkwardness.
But now, oh, now there was plenty of time. She stood and brushed her palms down the sides of her denim shorts as she scooted the piano bench in with her knee. “Would you like something to drink? Iced tea or…?”
He straightened. “No.” He picked up the photo that Emma had placed on the top of the piano. “Jake sees a lot through that camera of his,” he murmured. “He always did.” He set the photo back on the piano. “I know the exact moment he took that photo. I was looking at you and Chandler. Jake must have looked, too. Because the second one he took showed exactly what I was seeing.”
Emma started to sit on the arm of her couch, but stopped when his intense eyes focused on her.
“It’s as if he could see inside my head with that one photo,” he said. “There you were. Beautiful in white. The loving mother. Everything I ever dreamed a woman could be, but didn’t really believe existed.”
Emma swallowed. “Kyle—”
“Let me finish.”
She sat on the arm of the couch because her knees were simply too shaky to hold her up. “Finish away, sugar.”
He smiled faintly. “Not only did she exist, but she wore my ring. At least for appearances’ sake. And at times she seemed to know me better than I knew myself. I am a builder, Emma. Just like you said. Not with wood or metal, maybe.” He scooted out the footlocker and sat on it, his hands resting on his thighs.
It reminded her of the first day she’d met him when he came to her hospital room. Except this time he wore faded jeans and scuffed athletic shoes instead of a dress shirt and perfectly tailored trousers. But he still smelled like a fantasy come true. Except Emma knew that Kyle Montgomery was no fantasy.
He was a flesh-and-blood man, who’d overcome pain and loss and disillusionment to make a success of himself.
“I decided not to dismantle CCS,” he said quietly.
Relief swept through her. “I’m glad. For you and for Payton.”
“Jake and Trace and Annie, too,” he added. “I’m making sure they’ve got equal interests in CCS. Everybody benefits.” He was silent for a moment. Reached across the space between them and captured her hands in his. “He says he didn’t know.”
Emma didn’t need to ask who he was.
“Not about Sally’s death. Not about the booze or the drugs. He left because she blamed him for Janice’s accident. Says he thought she would finally move on if he wasn’t around constantly reminding her of the drowning.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I don’t know. I’ve spent a lot of years believing otherwise.” He sighed. “But it was a belief I formed from what I knew as a kid. What Sally told us. God knows she wasn’t the most reliable of sources. Payton says he kept paying child support into Sally’s account, but that one day when I’d have been around eighteen his payments came back because the account had been closed. When he looked into it, he came up against a brick wall. We’d been gone for several years. PJ Cummings didn’t exist. Jake and Trace and Annie were in other states.
“When I learned that Payton was back in Colorado, I knew I wanted his company, one way or the other. Chandler and Lydia would have known right off what I was up to, which is why I sent them on a cruise until it was over.”
“You wouldn’t have wanted to disappoint them,” Emma surmised.
“Once you meet them—” Kyle grinned “—you’ll know what I mean. Chandler wouldn’t have been disappointed. He’d just have gone to Payton himself and demanded to know what the hell he’d been doing when his oldest son was stealing car radios to pay for food for his little brothers and sister. He’s an up-front kind of guy.”
Emma was happy to hear it all. She truly was. But sitting there listening to Kyle talk as if she’d actually meet the rest of his family was too painful. She got to her feet. “I’m thirsty,” she said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like something?”
He rose, too. “Emma, sweetness, I’m not here for iced tea.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “Then what are you here for, Kyle?”
Emma frowned with dismay when she heard footsteps pounding up the outside stairs. She pushed a hand through her hair and turned toward the door. It was probably Penny or Millie.
It was Jeremy St. James.
Emma stared at him through the screen door. She felt only irritation at his unwelcome interruption yet again. “Go away.”
He pulled open the unlatched door and stepped inside. “Emma…Good grief,” he stopped short at the sight of all the furniture packed into her small space. Then the corner of his lip curled distastefully when he saw Kyle. “I guess I can see what you did with the money,” he said, turning his attention back to Emma. “Your tastes are more expensive than I’d have thought, darling. Here I gave you dozens of roses and it seems that furniture would have been more to your liking. Oh, that’s the baby over there, I suppose.”
Emma stepped into his path when he started to cross the room. “You have no right to be here, Jeremy. Or is your memory so short you can’t remember that?”
“Things are different now,” Jeremy said confidently. “I’m married.”
“Congratulations. I’m sure you both deserve each other,” Emma said. She would be forever grateful that she hadn’t become Jeremy’s wife. She’d rather have the brief time she’d had with Kyle than a lifetime with the weak Jeremy St. James.
“We’ve decided,” Jeremy said, “that we’d like to raise the baby ourselves.”
Emma sensed Kyle coming up behind her. She was grateful for the hand he closed over her shoulder. If only because it kept her from going for Jeremy’s throat. “If you come within five feet of my son, I’ll—”
“My son, too.”
Emma shook her head. “Go home to your wife, Jeremy. I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”
“Emma, I’m not going anywhere yet.”
“She said get out.” Kyle’s voice was deadly soft.
Jeremy didn’t have the good sense God gave a goose. He looked at Kyle and his lip curled. “She’s good in bed, of course. Wild, actual
ly. But you’ll find she’s expensive in the end. It took my parents fifty thousand to pay her off.”
Emma caught Kyle’s arm before his fist found Jeremy’s sneering face. Jeremy smiled, satisfied. Probably thinking she was trying to protect him or some such ridiculous notion.
“And what does the silly girl do? Goes out and buys a bunch of furniture.” Jeremy started to step around them toward Chandler. Kyle blocked his path.
Emma darted down the short hallway and threw open the closet door. She dug around in the box on the shelf for a moment and came back out just in time to see Kyle looming over Jeremy. She slipped between them, slapping a legal document against Jeremy’s chin. “Read it,” she snapped, nudging Kyle back a few inches with a warning look. “I can handle this,” she murmured, then turned back to face Jeremy. “Refresh your memory, you smarmy twit. That’s your signature at the end of those twelve pages. You very clearly stated you were not responsible for the child carried by one Emma Valentine.”
“You took money in exchange for this document.”
“That’s a lie!”
“My parents said you cashed the check.”
“Did they?” She shook her head, leaning back against Kyle for support. “I believe it would be more accurate to say that your parents made very generous donations to the Dooley Community Church in Dooley, Tennessee, and the Buttonwood Chapel and the Buttonwood Baby Clinic right here in scenic Buttonwood, Colorado.”
Jeremy’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t have.” He waved at the baby grand. “Where did all this come from, then? Darling, you’ve barely got a pot to your name.”
Kyle had had enough. Sure, Emma was more than capable of standing up to the jerk on her own. But she wasn’t on her own; they were together. And if the jerk hadn’t interrupted them, she’d realize that by now. He gently scooted Emma to the side, deftly slipped the legal document out of Jeremy’s slack grasp and handed it to her. “Keep hold of that, sweetness. It might come in handy when I officially adopt Chandler.”
Her eyes widened.
He smiled into her lovely eyes. Then turned to face the jerk. Now he didn’t smile at all. “Emma asked you to leave.”
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