Amber’s mouth worked and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She retrieved her son and informed everyone that they’d be in the waiting room. Then she hustled Will off, her head down and her shoulders bowed.
Seeing this, Vivian straightened. “Is he conscious?” she asked. When Travis shook his head no, she nodded. “I will never forgive myself for this.”
The nurse came out just then, leaving the door open so Vivian could go inside. With her shoulders back, Vivian lifted her chin and marched on inside, as if she intended to do battle with Hal’s illness and physically yank him back from the brink of death.
Watching her, Scarlett sighed. “So much pain, all because of one man’s greed.”
“I know.” He took her hand, tearing his gaze away from the room. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if Vivian can somehow get Hal to regain consciousness?”
“It would.” A half smile hovered on her lips. “That would be awesome.”
But Hal didn’t wake. A few minutes later, Vivian emerged, her expression sober. “Let’s go,” she said. “I know Amber needs to get Will home. I’d also like a shower and a nap. We can take turns sitting up here with him.”
“You all go ahead.” Travis kissed his mother’s cheek. “I’m going to stay here for a bit.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Scarlett said.
Vivian looked from one to the other. “Call me if anything changes, okay?”
Travis promised he would. Together, he and Scarlett watched as Vivian walked away.
“Why don’t you two wait in the lounge?” the nurse suggested. “We have a few more things we need to do with Mr. Gardner. The cafeteria is closed since it’s the weekend, but there are numerous vending machines. We also have free coffee in the lounge if you want that.”
They thanked her and turned to head that way. Scarlett slipped her hand in his as they walked silently toward the waiting area.
At this moment, the room was mostly empty. A large coffee urn sat in one corner. Travis considered getting a cup, but he remembered seeing a coffee shop near the lobby.
“Sit for a minute,” Scarlett urged. “I don’t know about you, but I did a lot of walking today and need to rest.”
“I’ll be back,” he told her. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew he needed to keep moving.
Once he reached the lobby, he saw the coffee shop, but he kept going. Down long corridors, he reached the closed cafeteria, saw the entrance to the day surgery clinic, turned around there and made his way back to the main lobby. He purchased a couple of large coffees and doctored Scarlett’s up the way she liked it.
When he returned to the ICU waiting lounge, he found Scarlett asleep, pillowing her head with her hands. Setting the coffee down carefully on the table next to her, he stood looking down at her, his heart both broken and full.
Hal had been right. Someone like Scarlett didn’t come along very often. Travis had been a fool. And like Vivian, he felt his own measure of guilt over what had happened.
“All along, I thought I was taking care of everyone,” he quietly told a still sleeping Scarlett. “Protecting everyone. Instead, I’ve let down two of the people I care about the most. You and Hal.”
Scarlett opened her eyes, the vivid green a shock of color in her pale face. “You didn’t let me down,” she told him, sitting up and blinking. “Nor Hal. Please don’t allow yourself to even think like that. None of this was your fault. Or Vivian’s.” Her gaze met his. “Must be a family trait,” she quipped. “Blaming yourself for things that are completely out of your control.”
He’d never loved her more. Wondering if she could see the emotion in his eyes, he realized he couldn’t leave something so important to chance. He sat down next to her, leaning over her to place his coffee next to hers.
“I love you,” he said. “More than I ever believed it was possible to love someone.”
To his consternation, her beautiful eyes filled with tears. “Come here.” Voice rough, he gathered her as close as the hard plastic chairs would allow. “Is it really so terrible, me telling you I love you?”
“Of course not.” Her watery smile made him ache to kiss her. “I—”
A nurse poked her head in the waiting room, forestalling whatever else Scarlett might have been about to say. “He’s awake. I’m not sure for how long, though. But if you want to see him, now would be a good time.”
Together they pushed to their feet and walked side by side through the double doors after the nurse.
“You both can go in,” she told them quietly. “Just don’t tell anyone I said so.”
Grateful, Travis nodded. Still holding on to Scarlett’s hand, they entered the small room.
Sure enough, Hal’s eyes were open. They’d propped up the back of his bed and he semireclined. He was still hooked up to multiple machines, but he turned his face toward them, clearly hearing them come in.
“Hey there,” Scarlett said. “You scared us for a minute or two.”
“Sorry.” Hal eyed his daughter, clearly noting the way she and Travis held hands. When he met Travis’s gaze, he managed a lopsided smile. “Glad to see you took my advice,” he said.
“What advice?” Scarlett asked.
“He told me to stop being afraid to go after what I wanted,” Travis replied, squeezing her hand. “He was right.”
Another doctor came in. “I heard you were feeling better,” he told Hal. “So I thought I’d come in and see for myself. We’re flushing your kidneys out now, getting all the toxins out of your system.”
Though Hal nodded, his eyes had started drifting closed. By the time the doctor finished his exam, Hal had gone to sleep.
The next couple of days passed in a blur of hospital and home. Travis tried not to allow himself to be bothered by the fact that Scarlett had not told him she loved him, or reacted in any way—positively or negatively—to his declaration of love.
They took shifts, sometimes going in small groups. Vivian, Amber, Travis and Scarlett. Day by day, hour by hour, Hal continued to improve.
“No lasting damage,” one of the doctors told Travis. “He’s lucky.”
Damn lucky. They all were.
And if Scarlett seemed different, more remote somehow, Travis tried to chalk it up to the constant trips to the hospital and the fact that he was trying to keep the ranch running without his active supervision. They barely had a moment alone together. He wondered if she felt as exhausted as he did.
Finally, four days after he’d been rushed to the ER, Hal was discharged and ready to go home. He still needed his wheelchair, though physical therapy had been scheduled so he could regain strength in his legs.
Travis went alone to pick Hal up. Scarlett, Vivian and Amber were at the main house, putting the finishing touches on a welcome home party.
“About time you showed up,” Hal groused. “I can’t wait to blow this Popsicle stand. I want my life back to normal.”
“Me too.” Travis grinned. “You have no idea how badly. I haven’t been on horseback since this entire thing started.”
“Are you serious?” Hal frowned. “Who’s been looking after the ranch?”
“My team,” Travis promptly replied. “They’re well-trained and hardworking and I trust them. They’ve done a great job these past few days.”
The nurse arrived, pushing a wheelchair. After handing Travis an envelope with all the signed paperwork in it, she turned to Hal. “Are you ready, young man?”
Hal grinned. “I am. It feels good to be wearing real clothes after so long in that awful hospital gown.”
While the nurse wheeled him to the exit, Travis went and got his truck. Once Hal sat securely inside, they started for home.
“Delilah’s been cooking since yesterday morning,” Travis informed his stepfather. “She’s forbidden any of us from even tasting anything, so it’s been torture. The house
smells like heaven.”
Laughing, Hal rubbed his hands together in glee. “I can’t wait. Food hasn’t tasted right for a while. I’m guessing because of Frank’s poison.”
Travis refused to let anything darken this day. “He’s in jail, you’re getting better and you have family who love you who are putting on a hell of a party to welcome you home. Let’s not even say his name today, okay?”
“Okay,” Hal agreed. “I hope Delilah made fried chicken. She knows that’s my favorite.”
Not wanting to tire Hal, they’d kept the gathering small. Just family and a few close friends. Amber had invited Mark, letting Travis know they were a couple. And true to Hal’s wish, fried chicken was on the menu, along with barbecue ribs, potato salad and fried okra. Two large pitchers filled with sweet tea and fresh lemonade sat alongside two pies and a huge coconut cake.
Hal gorged himself until he could barely keep his eyes open. Though Travis tried to get a private word with Scarlett, she kept herself busy helping serve food and then all of the women pitched in to clean up.
Life returned to normal, in a way. Travis had a hundred chores to check on, while Vivian, Amber and Will spent every free moment up at the main house with Hal and Scarlett. Travis didn’t mind. He knew everyone would settle down after a while.
Despite all the hectic activity going on, Travis managed to take a minute to drive into Longview to buy a ring. While Anniversary had a decent jewelry store, he didn’t want tongues to start wagging before he had a chance to propose.
Finally, after Hal had been home three days, when his physical therapist showed up to begin his first session, Vivian and Amber took off. Delilah had to run errands in town, and Travis got a chance to finally be alone with Scarlett.
He caught sight of her slipping from the house to go for a walk, something she hadn’t been able to do in a while.
“Hey,” he called out, stepping outside. “Do you mind if I join you?”
She shrugged, waiting for him to catch up. “Not at all. I just needed some fresh air to clear my head.”
When he finally reached her, they fell into step together and started out down the long drive.
“How have you been?” he asked.
“Fine.” She blinked, tilting her head as she gave him a sideways glance. “How about you?”
The casual mundaneness of the question had him struggling to suppress a smile. He felt giddy and nervous, his heart already pounding long before he figured out a way to ask her the big question. “I feel like you’ve been avoiding me.”
She met his gaze and swallowed. “You’re right. I have.”
“Why?” His voice came out tight. He tried like hell to ignore the sudden knot in his stomach, but he couldn’t shake the premonition she was about to tell him she didn’t feel the same way.
“Because of Hal.” She waved her hands, appearing to struggle to find the right words. “What you told me is big. Important. And life-changing. I didn’t want us to make such major decisions while in the midst of a crisis. We deserve better.” She swallowed again, drawing his gaze to the graceful lines of her throat. “Plus I didn’t want this thing—whatever it is—to be because of Hal.”
“Because of Hal?”
“Yes. Sometimes when people are faced with the possibility of great loss, they reach out for something, anything, to make them feel better.”
Staring at her, he wasn’t sure how to respond.
“What?” she asked, frowning slightly.
“That’s nonsense,” he said. “Take it from me, who apparently has become a master at making up excuses. Hal’s part of our lives. Hopefully, he’ll continue to be for a long, long time. What’s between us has never been because of Hal, and you know that.”
Eyes wide, she slowly nodded. “You’re right,” she whispered. “But I wanted you to be sure.”
“I’m sure. But are you?” Finally, he decided he might as well just say it. “I don’t know how you feel,” he admitted. “About me, that is.”
“You don’t?” Her incredulous expression made him work to suppress a smile. “Seriously?”
The knots inside him had already begun to ease. “Yes, seriously.”
She shook her head. “How could you honestly not know how much I love you? I’ve shown you in every way I possibly could.”
“Maybe I just need to hear you say the words.” He crossed his arms, no longer feeling as vulnerable. Instead, he just felt certain. Certain of what he wanted and needed and could not live without.
“Fine.” Her smile lit up her eyes and his heart. She stepped closer, stopping just a foot away. “I. Love. You. Travis Warren. With every ounce of my heart.”
Though he ached to kiss her, no way did he plan to quit until he’d heard everything he wanted to hear. “How would you feel about making the ranch your permanent home? Anniversary really could use an art gallery. And I really could use a wife.”
“That’s how you plan to propose?” she asked, clearly torn between laughter and incredulity.
Heart singing, he shook his head. “No. This is how I plan to propose.” And he dropped to one knee, digging out a small velvet box from his pocket. “Scarlett Kistler, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she all but shouted. “Of course I’ll marry you.”
Opening the box, he slipped the ring on her shaking finger. And then he did what he’d been aching to do all along. He kissed her.
* * *
Don’t miss out on other great suspenseful
reads from Karen Whiddon:
The Texas Soldier’s Son
Wyoming Undercover
The Texan’s Return
Rock-a-Bye Rescue
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Ranger’s Baby Rescue
by Lara Lacombe
Chapter 1
Emma Foster opened her eyes in the darkness, filled with the sudden knowledge that something was terribly wrong. She listened hard, straining her ears for any noise that was out of place. Nothing sounded amiss—the refrigerator hummed quietly in the kitchen; the ceiling fan ticked softly over her head. But despite the absence of obvious issues, the house didn’t feel right.
She slipped out of bed, stepping lightly to avoid making too much noise. She’d had a devil of a time getting Christina to sleep tonight—her norm
ally cheerful and good-natured ten-month-old daughter was teething and grumpy with it, which made for long nights. The baby had finally surrendered to exhaustion about an hour ago, and Emma had slipped off to her own bed for a few stolen moments of sleep. Everything had seemed fine at the time, but now she couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
She headed for the front door, knowing that it was locked but needing to check it again for her own peace of mind. Sure enough, the dead bolt was secure, just as she’d left it earlier in the evening. The windows were all shut, the blinds lowered into place. There was no sign of any trouble, nothing to explain the sense of dread that weighed on her.
Moments like this made her miss Chris all the more. He wouldn’t have hesitated to wake up with her, to double-check all the locks and peek into the closets and under the beds until she was certain they were safe. He’d been a perfect boyfriend and fiancé—Emma had no doubt he would have been a wonderful husband to her and a fantastic father to their little girl.
For the millionth time, she cursed the driver who had decided sending a text message was more important than paying attention to the road. Chris had stopped at a red light when he’d been hit from behind and pushed into cross traffic, where he’d been hit again by a bus and a garbage truck. Chris had died at the scene before the firemen could even get him out of the mangled wreck of his car.
Emma hadn’t known she was pregnant at the time. She’d been so busy working and wrapping up the plans for their wedding that she’d assumed the fatigue and upset stomach were due to stress. After the accident, she’d been so consumed with grief she hadn’t paid attention to her symptoms. It had been her mother who put two and two together and suggested she take a pregnancy test.
She could still remember the feeling of shock that had washed over her when she’d realized the test was positive. She and Chris had talked about starting a family soon after they got married, but Emma had figured that dream died along with him. Finding out she was pregnant with Chris’s baby had eased her grief a bit and had brought a spot of joy back into her life.
Texas Ranch Justice (HQR Romantic Suspense) Page 23
