Nick was so thrilled to hear the note—however faint—of teasing in her voice that he had to resist the urge to laugh. “Because the relationship had ended, I didn’t think rehashing it with you was the best course of action.” Tanya shot him a look that said, quite clearly, Oh, come on. “It’s true. The relationship was over before I left Chicago, and then you and I…well, finding you again put anything to do with the Chicago Sutcliffes far from my mind.”
“But her dad—he’s your boss, right?”
“Tanya, I swear that, from this point on, I will consult you early and often. You have my word.” He cleared his throat. This was it—he was all in. “So, I’m thinking about quitting my job, but I’d like to get your input on that decision.”
She gasped again. Too much more of this and she’d be in danger of hyperventilating. “You what? But your case! You have a life here!”
He traced the curve of her cheek again. “I am not giving up on this case. I can work for the tribe directly. And I have a life, all right—but it’s not here. My life is with you and Bear, Tanya. My life is out on our land. Or near it. I could always buy that house. It’s only an hour away from the rez. Or we could get something closer, but that’s still, you know…”
“Nice. Nicer than what we had growing up.” More tears, but this time, she was grinning through them. “Like we always talked about.”
“Like I promised you,” he agreed. “But I’d want to get married—I don’t want what we have to slip away again because of misunderstandings.” Her mouth hung open in sheer shock. He couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not. She was kind of freaking him out. Heck, this whole conversation was kind of freaking him out. He’d been so wrapped up in Bear’s surgery and his case that he hadn’t spent a whole lot of time thinking about what came next. But it felt right—more right than anything had felt in a long, long time. “Will you marry me? I can’t lose you again.”
“Oh, Nick, you mean that?”
“I love you. No matter what happens, I’m not going anywhere. And that’s a promise I will keep until my dying day, babe.” Then, finally, he kissed her.
She threw herself into the embrace, which he took as a yes. The kiss deepened—he’d missed her so much these last few days—but then the weirdest noise came from behind them. It was small and almost mewing, like a kitten crying out for the very first time.
Tanya jerked out of his arms. “Did you hear that?” Hope burned in her eyes.
He nodded, afraid to hope. They both turned to the bed where their son lay.
Bear’s head moved—just a little—his mouth opened, and the noise came out of it again. Small, yes. But a sound, nonetheless.
“Bear!”
Tanya rushed to the boy while Nick all but threw himself out the door, hollering for every available nurse, “He’s awake! He’s trying to cry!” Then he hurried back to Tanya’s side. Holding hands, they listened together as their son made his first sounds.
Somehow, it just felt right.
Epilogue
Nick pulled into the driveway of his house and sat, enjoying the last few minutes of silence as he mentally packed away the day in court and geared up for the long night ahead. He liked this house. They’d lived in the rental while this one was built on the edge of the rez. Tanya had wanted something that wasn’t hers or his, but theirs, so he’d hired an architect and let her go crazy. The only things he’d demanded were a master suite, a home office and a four-car garage. Between the long winter months and the child seats, he didn’t get to drive his Jag as much these days. However, he wasn’t about to sell that car. It had a place of honor, next to the family SUV and his truck.
Mentally, he was already thinking about what the fourth car would be—after he won his case and got paid out of the settlement. Midwest Energy was on the ropes, and everyone knew it. Their lead lawyer had asked for a meeting first thing tomorrow morning. Nick knew a settlement offer was headed his way—but he also knew it would be a pitiful, lowball offer and that he was going to do everything but throw it back in their face.
Midwest was going to pay for the cleanup and the extensive medical bills their pollution had generated, that much was certain. After Tanya’s testimony—two days of her being the calm, reliable witness he’d always known she would be, combined with the photos of Bear coming out of his surgery wrapped in tubes and wires—Midwest knew they had lost the battle and the war wasn’t far behind. It was their call—they could pay for it voluntarily, or they could wait until the jury handed the Red Creek Lakota one of the biggest financial rewards in the country. Either way, Nick would make them pay.
The case had taken up years of his life, but he hadn’t minded. He worked for Emily Mankiller directly now, and she was a more engaging boss than Marcus Sutcliffe had ever been. He’d gotten comfortable being on the rez again. In fact, Emily had asked him to stay on after the case as the lawyer for the tribe, but Nick wasn’t a tribal law specialist. He wanted his own environmentalist firm. He had a feeling that a lot of people—Lakota and non-Lakota—were watching this court case. He suspected he’d have more cases than he could handle once the verdict was in, but he wouldn’t have to bow and scrape to anyone. He’d be his own boss. Even though he missed a doorman on those days when he had to get out the snowblower and clean off his own drive, he still wouldn’t trade this life for his old one.
He saw the curtains move and Doreen’s face peek out. She’d been staying at the house to help out Tanya while Nick was in the final leg of his case, but she had what Tanya had declared was a “hot date” tonight. Nick tried not to think about what that entailed, and instead focused on the fact that his mother-in-law was healthy enough to help out around the house and enjoy an active social life. Not bad for someone who’d been having strokes for a year.
Nick grabbed his laptop and headed into the house. “I’m home,” he announced. “Everybody still pregnant?” was all he got out before the ball of energy that was his son came barreling down the stairs.
“DADDY!” Bear, now three, tackled him hard and low, just at the knees. It took everything Nick had to keep his footing. “Daddy, you’re home! I had the most funnest day ever with Nana! She took me to the store and let me pick out my very own apples—you and Mommy can’t have them, but Nana got some for you to share. But you can’t have my apples, ’cause they’re mine, okay?”
Nick swooped his son up into his arms. “Slow down there, little guy. Something about apples, you say?”
“Daddy!” Bear did his best interpretation of Tanya being frustrated. “You’re not listening to me!”
Nick smiled and hugged his son. “Yes, I am, Bear.” The boy squirmed out of Nick’s arms and was gone in a flash, announcing Nick’s arrival to his Nana. Some days the verbal barrage was overwhelming, but on those days, all Nick had to do was think back to the silent little boy he’d first met. He’d take all the talking, every day of the week.
Tanya popped her head out from the kitchen, followed shortly by her enormous belly. “Oh, thank heavens.”
Standing behind his wife, he reached around and patted her belly. “How’s my baby girl today?”
“Active.” Tanya leaned back into him. Nick savored the feeling of her against him. He’d missed everything the first time, but nothing—not even the biggest case of his career—would keep him from Tanya’s side this time. “Bear is all yours tonight, by the way.”
“I’d rather be all yours, babe.” She smiled as she arched back to kiss him on the cheek. He cupped her belly, feeling the whole thing jump with each active kick. Somehow, it just felt right.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
* * * * *
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One
Standing in the hospital waiting room, Bria wrapped her arms around herself as she tried to chase away the chills. It did no good. In spite of the fact that it was early June in Texas and already extremely warm, she couldn’t seem to stop shivering.
Terror like nothing she had ever known had clawed at her insides as she’d helplessly watched the angry bull slam Sam into the fence, then pummel his limp body repeatedly with its large head. Thankfully, the bull didn’t have horns and therefore Sam hadn’t sustained any puncture wounds, nor had he been stepped on by the massive animal. Nate and Sam’s foster brothers had immediately jumped into action and diverted the bull’s attention as quickly as they could. But it seemed as if they’d all moved in slow motion and took forever to get the beast away from him so the emergency medical crew could move in and take over.
She drew in a shuddering breath. There was no getting around it, she was responsible for Sam’s accident. If she had only waited for another day, another time to bring the divorce papers for him to sign or if he hadn’t seen her and been distracted, she wouldn’t be standing in the waiting room while he underwent tests to see just how badly he was injured.
But the rodeo was only a two-hour drive from her new home in Dallas and she had wanted to get the papers signed and everything finalized before she started her new job as a marketing consultant for one of the major department stores. If she hadn’t run into a traffic jam on the interstate, she would have arrived with plenty of time to get things taken care of and left before the dangerous bull-riding event even started.
Her breath caught on a sob. It didn’t matter why she had been running late or that she had wanted to get on with her life. Sam was the one having to pay the price for her impatience.
“Have you heard anything, Bria?” Nate called from somewhere behind her.
Turning around, she watched Nate and his brothers hurrying down the hall toward the waiting-room entrance. Tall and ruggedly handsome, all five men were cowboys from the top of their wide-brimmed Resistol hats to their scuffed Justin boots. All six of the boys Hank Calvert had fostered had grown up to be extremely wealthy men, but to the outward eye, they were down to earth, hardworking cowboys who passed up designer clothing in favor of chambray shirts and jeans. Nate was Sam’s only biological sibling, but the other four men they called brothers couldn’t have meant more to them if they’d had the same blood flowing through their veins.
“Th-They just took him…to the imaging department…for X-rays and a scan of his head,” she said, unable to keep her voice from cracking.
Nate stepped forward and, putting his arms around her, pulled her to his broad chest. “He’s going to be all right, Bria.”
“Sam’s as tough as nails,” Lane Donaldson added. The same age as Sam, Lane had a master’s degree in psychology that he used quite successfully as a professional poker player. Bria didn’t think she had ever seen the man look less confident.
Ryder McClain, the most easygoing of the group, nodded. “Sam’s probably already being a pain in the butt about getting out of here.”
“I hope all of you are right,” she said, feeling helpless.
“Can I get you something, Bria? A cup of coffee or some water?” T. J. Malloy asked solicitously. He was the most thoughtful of the brothers, so she wasn’t the least bit surprised that T.J.’s concern extended to her.
“Get some coffee for all of us, T.J.,” Nate commanded, without waiting for her to respond.
“I’ll go with you to help carry everything,” Jaron Lambert offered, turning to follow T.J. Stopping, he turned back to ask, “Do you want anything else, Bria. Maybe something to eat?”
“Thanks, Jaron, but I’m not hungry. I doubt that I could eat anything even if I was,” she said, thankful to have Sam’s brothers with her. They treated her like a sister and she was going to miss them terribly once the divorce was final and she was no longer part of their family.
“Come on and sit down,” Nate said, guiding her over to a bank of chairs along the far wall. When she sat, he asked, “Did Sam regain consciousness in the ambulance on the way over here?”
She shook her head. “I think he was starting to come around when they took him back to the examination room, but they told me I couldn’t stay with him and that the doctor would come out and talk to me when he knew something.”
Unable to leave the rodeo they had coordinated to honor their late foster father, the men had sent her to the hospital with Sam, while they attended to dispatching the livestock Sam’s company had provided for the various events to the next rodeo on the schedule. She knew it had to be extremely hard for them not to have dropped everything to go with their brother to the hospital, but they had done their duty and seen to Sam’s interests when he couldn’t.
“Is everything over with for this year’s memorial rodeo?” she asked, knowing the bull riding was usually the last scheduled event.
“Yup, we got everything taken care of,” Lane said, lowering his lanky frame into one of the chairs. “There’s nothing for you to worry about right now, except being here for Sam.”
“I wish they would come out and tell us something,” Bria said, unable to sit still any longer. She walked over to look down the hall toward the room where they had taken Sam.
What could be taking so long? she wondered as she spotted T.J. and Jaron returning with several cups of coffee. The longer it took to hear something, the more worried she became.
“Still no word?” T.J. asked as he stopped to hand her a cup. He had no sooner gotten the words out, when a man in blue scrubs and a white lab coat entered the waiting area.
“Mrs. Rafferty?” he asked, walking over to her.
As she braced herself for whatever news he came to deliver, Sam’s brothers rose to stand with her. “I’m Brianna Rafferty,” she said, surprised that her voice sounded strong when her nerves were anything but steady. “Is my hus…is Sam going to be all right?”
“I’m Dr. Bailey, the neurologist on call this evening.” His expression gave no indication of what kind of news he had to tell them. “Let’s sit down and I’ll explain what’s going on with your husband.” Once they were all seated, he pulled up a chair to sit across from them. “Sam regained consciousness just before we took him to Imaging for the CT scan and X-rays, which is a good sign. And there was no evidence of broken bones.”
Apparently sensing she needed support, Nate took her hand in his and asked the question that she couldn’t. “Why do I hear a ‘but’ in your voice, Doc?”
“The scan showed that Sam suffered a severe concussion, but there were no signs of bleeding in his brain, which is good,” Dr. Bailey explained. “There is, however, some swelling.”
“What does that mean?” Jaron demanded. With his raven hair and dark demeanor, Jaron was the type of man other men rarely had the nerve to cross.
“There may or may not be complications.” Dr. Bailey met their worried gazes as he continued, “The next twenty-four hours should tell us if the cerebral edema will get worse. If that happens, we may have to take him into surgery to remove a section of his scull to relieve the pressure.”
Bria covered her horrified gasp with her
hand.
“I really don’t think that’s something we’ll have to do, Mrs. Rafferty,” Dr. Bailey hastily added. “I’ve been monitoring his condition since he was brought into the E.R. and the swelling doesn’t show signs of worsening. But even if that isn’t an issue, we’ll have to watch for other neurological problems that wouldn’t show up on a scan.”
“What kinds of problems are we talking about here?” Ryder asked, looking as if he would like to punch something. A rodeo bull rider, normally the man was absolutely fearless. But Bria knew his frustration was a mask for the fear they all felt for Sam.
“With brain injuries there’s always the possibility of memory loss, problems with reasoning abilities or a personality change,” the doctor answered. “I’m not saying any of those things are inevitable or that they would be permanent if they do present, just that there are those possibilities.”
“Dear God, this can’t be happening,” she said as tears spilled down her cheeks. Sam was so strong, so self-assured, it was impossible to think that he might end up having problems. That she had played a part in his being injured in any way was almost more than she could bear. But she couldn’t live with herself if he had long-lasting problems because she’d chosen today to end their marriage.
Nate protectively put his arm around her shoulders. “When will we be able to see him, Doc?”
“We’ve put him in the Intensive Care Unit for closer observation and he’s resting comfortably. But two of you can go in to see him for a few minutes now, then again every two hours or so.” The doctor stood up and shook their hands. “I’ll let you know more after I assess his condition in the morning. For now, I’ll have one of the nurses direct you to the ICU waiting room upstairs.”
As the man walked away, Jaron patted her arm. “It’s going to be okay, Bria. Sam will get through this without any of those problems.”
A Man of Distinction Page 16
