“Yeah. We all did. Along with rest of the world. You really spilled your guts.”
“I know. But it was something I needed to do. I can’t help it if Dad is angry.”
Lizzie patted the mattress beside her, and Carrie took the cue to sit. “Look Carrie, you know how much I love you, and I know the struggles you’ve gone through. After last night, Dad was pretty worried about you.”
“It looked to me like he was pretty angry.”
Lizzie shrugged. “Okay, maybe a little of both. I know Dad’s tough. But after the interview today, he seemed different. Softer.”
“Maybe becoming a grandparent has mellowed him.”
“Maybe. But I speak for all of us when I say that we only want the best for you. Dad loves you.”
The baby whimpered in her bassinette. Little arms and legs freed themselves from the tight wrap. Lizzie moved to go to her, but Carrie beat her to the punch. “No way! Auntie wants a chance to hold her niece.”
“Great. While you’re at it, you can change her diaper.”
“No problem. I could use the practice.”
“Do you think your old Dad could help you, Carrie?” The two girls looked up at the man in the doorway. He held a pink teddy bear and a bouquet of flowers. “I brought a few things. I hope you don’t mind.” Planting a kiss on Lizzie’s cheek, he placed his goodies on the bedside table. “So I see your sister made it. You must have high-tailed it from the city. You were just on television an hour and half ago.”
“I’m sorry I missed the birth. We got here as fast as we could.”
“We,” he said like a declaration. “You must mean, Hollister.”
“I think I feel like brushing my teeth,” Lizzie said and slid off the bed. “Why don’t you two chat?” The door closed behind Lizzie, and Carrie scooped up the whimpering child, more out of comforting herself than the baby.
Langley paced across the room and stopped in front of the window. “So, you had a pretty dramatic night last night. And you pulled yourself together today for an interview on national television.” He turned around to face her. “That’s impressive.”
“Thank you.”
“You know your mother used to watch ‘The Olivia Show’ all the time. She called her the Hollywood Mother Teresa. I guess she helps a lot of people through charity and what not.”
“She’s big into that.”
“I was thinking that maybe today you might have helped some people. I mean, by telling your story and about your faith, and your capacity to overcoming personal issues.”
Carrie smiled at the thought. “You think?”
“Well, you helped me.” He sat down beside her on the bed. “You reminded me the importance of forgiveness, and how a person like me is better off leaving the judging in God’s hands.” He lowered his gaze to the floor. “I didn’t know you knew I told the doctors to deliver the baby. And I never told you because I didn’t want you to blame me.”
”I know Daddy, and I do understand.” Carrie looked at her father. He didn’t seem the rigid, emotionless man she was used to. He was gentler, his voice deeper, and when he looked at her he almost smiled.
“If I’ve been hard on you, it’s because I love you, and I worry about you. And I had good reason to worry. You were very sick for a long time.”
“But I’m better now. And I know you think Ty is to blame for a lot of things.”
“I blamed him because he was convenient. I realize that now. And when I watched that interview, I was prepared to hate him. But God help me, all I could see was love in his eyes.”
“He does love me. And I love him, and I know that me being pregnant and not married embarrasses you.”
“I already talked to the Archdiocese. They’re reviewing the situation, but given my history of service, I think they might work around it. They even mentioned a new project in Mexico. I know its more travel, but we go where God takes us.” He reached for the baby and brought her against him. “The most important thing to me, though, is that you’re okay. A chance to bring a new life into the world is the biggest gift the Lord can bestow.”
She watched her father cuddle the child, planting a kiss on her hat-covered head. At that moment she did feel blessed. A second chance at love, at happiness, and motherhood. She ran her hand over her belly and rested her head on her father’s shoulder. “Thank you, Daddy.”
***
“So what are you going to say to him?”
Ty brought the plastic cup of black sludge to his lips. He’d been rehearsing a bunch of monologues in the half hour he’d been sitting outside of Lizzie’s room. None were working for him. “I don’t know,” he said and groaned. “Whatever it takes, I guess.”
“I suppose this is as good time as any to invoke your acting talents.”
“Nothing to act, man. I love the girl.”
Russ patted him on the shoulder. “Right answer.”
Ty stood up when the door in front of them opened. Deacon Langley emerged with a smile, but when he saw Ty, it slowly faded. “There you are, Russ,” Langley said. “I was wondering where you went.”
“I thought I’d get a cup of coffee and let you visit with the girls.”
Langley nodded then glanced at Ty. “Well how about you get another one, while Ty and I chat.”
The two men stared at each other under the fluorescent lights. Buzzers and bells sounded in his ears, and his nose stung with the scent of antiseptic. Ty had played this scene before. In a hospital like this, in a hall like this, a half a decade ago. This time, however, he’d play it differently, with different words and different direction. This time it would turn out right. “Look Deacon, I wanted to apologize about last night. I know that was quite a scene-”
“Hold it, Hollister.” Langley held out his hand. “I have a few things I’d like to say to you, too.”
Langley nodded to the door next to Lizzie’s, and Ty followed him in to the empty room. Dusk had settled, and the place was dark, but neither made a move to turn on a light. Ty took a deep breath. The sweat pooled on the small of his back, and the hair stood up on his neck.
“I think I owe you a ‘thank you,’” Langley said.
“For what? Getting your daughter pregnant?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “That’s not what I meant, but in a way I guess I’m grateful for that. Being a grandfather is a wonderful thing. As is being a father. You don’t strike me as someone who would know anything about that.”
Ty folded his arms against him and raised his chin. If this was the Deacon’s way to urge him to bow out, it wasn’t working. “If you think you can come between Carrie and me again, that’s not going to happen. I’m not leaving her. Not this time.”
“And I don’t want you to.” He took a step toward him, straitening the cuffs on his raincoat. “I saw that interview today, and I realized that maybe I never gave you enough credit.”
“You don’t give your daughter enough credit.”
“Maybe so, but you can’t blame me for trying to protect her. That’s why I’d like to offer you my gratitude. You seem to share the same concern for her as I do, and I appreciate that.”
Ty swallowed, letting the words settle around him before he opened his own mouth. “Jordon, you need to know a few things, too. First of all, I’m not saying that I’m a saint, but there was no woman in my hotel suite the night you came to see me. Those things you found were Carrie’s.”
Langley cringed. “I realize that now.”
“And second, I don’t plan on going anywhere. I don’t know if she’ll have me, but I’m asking Carrie Ann to marry me.”
Ty braced himself for protest, but none came. Langley simply nodded and pulled his gloves from his jacket pocket.
“Then you have to understand something too, Hollister. The decision I made when Carrie was in the hospital was made out of love, not hate. If someone told you that your child would certainly die, and you could somehow prevent that, well there really wasn’t anything to decide in the
first place, was there?”
Ty nodded. He did understand. He also knew that this time, things would be different. “Look, I can’t guarantee she’d have a quiet life, but I’d make sure it will be a happy one.”
“Don’t tell me. It’s her decision.” He slipped his glove on his left hand, but stopped short with the right. He extended it to Ty. “Peace?”
Ty looked at it a moment, before looking Langley in the face. Slowly, he unfolded his arms and placed his hand in his. “Peace,” he mumbled, with a small but solid shake.
“Well, I have to head home,” Jordon said. “The Inn employs a small staff of parishioners to help in a pinch, but they could use an extra set of hands. Give my best to Carrie?”
“Of course.” Ty stood stunned while the Deacon headed out the door. He expected a showdown or at least a long winded scene, where he would have to bite his tongue and plead his case all at once. But instead he was offered an olive branch. Maybe the Deacon practiced what he preached after all.
He opened the door and shuffled into the hall. It was deserted now, and the artificial lights had softened for night time. The only sounds, the hum of chatter from the nurse’s station, and the muffled cries of newborn babies, echoing from the nursery at the other end of the hall.
The door to Lizzie’s room stood open a crack, just enough to see inside. Lizzie slept, while Carrie sat in the rocking chair by the window. The baby was in her arms, and if he had to guess, he’d say she’d probably been there for a while.
He stood there a moment, marveling at the love in Carrie’s eyes as she gazed at the tiny child. She was a natural mother. Caring, selfless. He realized she was never the one who needed him. Her illness, her travails, she would have come through just fine if he had never been there. She was the one who rescued him, all one hundred and two pounds of her. From the uncertainty of his life, and the hollowness of his existence. Without her, he’d be nothing.
She was his Carrie.
“How long have you been standing there?”
Ty pushed himself off the doorframe and came into the room. “Not long. I didn’t want to wake Lizzie or the baby.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about either one. They both sleep like rocks.”
He crossed the shadowed room and slipped his hand over her shoulder. The baby breathed deeply with her little pink lips parted. The paleness of her skin against the new-born blush reminded him of peaches and cream.
“She has red hair you know.”
“Hmm?”
“Red hair,” Carrie repeated and gently pushed her tiny hat aside to show him. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
“She’s your niece. I guess she’d have to be.”
For the first time, Carrie turned away from the baby and smiled at Ty. “Where have you been?”
“I went to get a cup of coffee and had a talk with your father.”
“God, he didn’t make a scene did he?”
“No,” Ty said and chuckled. “But I sort of did.”
“Goodness Tyler, do I have to hear this, or can I just read the account in tomorrow’s Page Six of The Times?”
“No, it’s not like that. We talked about a few things, and I think everything is going to work out okay.” He ran his hands over her hair. “I was proud of you this morning in the interview, by the way. That took a lot of guts.”
“I want things to be different this time. I want us to be happy and have a healthy baby. The stress of hiding everything was too much.”
He understood exactly what she meant. He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her. “May I?” He held out his hands for the baby.
“Tyler, she’s sleeping.”
“Let me hold the baby, Carrie.”
She rolled her eyes then eased the blanket into his arms. “Be careful of her head.”
The baby stirred then relaxed with a deep breath. Ty smiled. Man, did he want this more than anything. Carrie was right about keeping secrets and holding back. It was time to tell her the whole truth.
“I knew what your father did, Carrie.” The sound of his own voice echoed in his ears. He bit his lip and stared down at the sleeping child, too afraid to look anywhere else.
“What?”
His heart pounded, and his throat constricted to a lump. “I didn’t tell you I knew you had the baby, because I thought you’d be angry at me for letting it happen.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “What are you telling me?”
Afraid his limbs would no longer be trustworthy, he stood up and eased the baby into the bassinette. This was it. The last secret. The last obstacle that stood between them and the truth.
“I know you thought I left because I was angry or disappointed in you, and at the time I thought it was better that way. You would hate me, and I was okay with that because I figured I had caused you enough grief. You had your family to take care of you.”
He looked down at the sleeping child and tucked the blanket tighter around her. Tears pooled in his eyes. Five years before he had stood in a room much like this one, staring down at a little creature who looked a lot like the one he stared down at now. “I knew your father authorized the birth. I hated him for it but I see now he had his reasons. But that was my child. Our daughter.”
In the light from the hospital hallway, he saw the tears reflect in her eyes. She covered her mouth with a trembling hand. “Oh, my god, you saw her? I mean, she...we had a baby girl?
“I bribed a nurse.” He dragged a finger across his damp cheek. “It was important to me that I knew she at least existed even if no one else did. I named her, Carrie.”
Carrie’s lips trembled. “Oh my God.”
“The nurse gave me a slip of paper with her official name and a piece of her hair in an envelope. I’ve carried it with me ever since.” He looked at her through cloudy eyes. “Jamie had red hair, too,” he whispered. “Just like her mother.”
He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out the yellowed paper. Carefully, he unfolded it in front of her. It read ‘Jamie Carrie Hollister, April 10’ and stuck in between the wrinkles were the finest strands of red hair.
“Oh, my God.”
“Baby, in my heart I never left you. I knew it, Layla knew it, and now you do, too.”
“Your tattoo. J.H.” She pulled up the sleeve on his arm. “That’s not from some movie. That’s us.”
“I didn’t mean to lie to you about it. I just figured you’d never see it.” He brought her in close, resting his cheek on the top of her head.
“I never gave up on you, Tyler. There were times I wanted to and needed to. But I couldn’t.”
It occurred to him that he was the one who had given up on himself. No one, not fame, money, or a material trappings, he could think of, could pull him from the grips of despair. It was the Herculean strength of this tiny woman’s love that redeemed him.
“I told your father I wanted to marry you.”
“You did?” She raised her brow and looked at him. “That was gutsy.”
“Safest place to do it. I figured if he came after me with a shot gun, the emergency room was close by.”
“Maybe it was good to catch him now. He’s so excited about being a grandfather. What about you?”
Ty looked down at her. “What about me what?”
“Are you excited? I know this came out of nowhere. And if this affects your career-”
“Who cares about my career, Carrie Ann?” He brushed his hand over her cheek. “If there was ever a role I wanted to play, this is it.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“I want to get married right away. I was thinking Christmas if you aren’t too busy.”
“Tyler, if this is a proposal, the one we scripted in front of a camera was better than this.”
“Okay then, how about I start over and begin by telling you how much I love you?”
“That’s better.”
“And what if I told you, I can’t wait for you to
have our baby, and I intend on taking care of you and our family for as long as I live.”
“Keep going.”
“And I want to marry you as soon as possible.”
She nodded her head, as if assessing his performance. “Very nice, Hollister. Well paced, very heartfelt. I especially like the little tremor in your voice and the tears in your eyes.”
“So what’s it going to be Lexie Love? Yes or no?”
“Yes!” she blurted and wrapped her hands around his neck. “Now hurry up and kiss me.
Epilogue
Ty awoke to the muffled sound of his newborn son’s cry, and the shift of the mattress as his wife attempted to answer it. “Hey, what are you doing?” he whispered. “You promised me you’d let the nurse take care of the baby over night.”
“But he’s crying.”
“If you were in the hospital like you should be, the baby would be in the nursery, and you wouldn’t even know he was crying in the first place. Now come on, you gave birth an hour ago and the nurses have to check him out before they let you have him back, anyway.” He wrapped his arms gently around her and eased her back on the pillow. “You know, you promised me if you had the baby here at the farmhouse you’d rest more.”
“I feel fine. I’m just a little sore. Pushing out your nine pound son was a lot more painful than I bargained for.”
“I noticed. I think you fractured my hand.”
“Sorry about that.” She looked up at Ty and smiled. “I also find it fitting that your name sake chose to make his debut in the wee small hours of the morning. He must be a night person like his dad.”
“We can only hope. Can I get anything for you? Something to drink, eat?”
“No, just you.” She pulled his arm around her, but when he grazed her breast she winced.
“They hurt, huh?”
“They’re just full already.”
“You want me to ask the nurse for some pain relievers.”
“No!” she said. “I don’t want anything to get in the milk for the baby.”
He felt helpless and hated it. “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do?”
After a moment she rolled over and brought her hand to his cheek. “Honey, I know you want to help, and believe me I want you to. But at this moment I’m perfectly content with being right here in your arms. That’s all I ask.”
Undercover Heat Page 26
