In the tense silence, an announcement came over the hospital speaker. “Code Blue. Cardiac, Suite B. Code Blue.”
All the blood drained from Jason’s head to his feet, leaving him light-headed. “Suite B? That’s where they took Meghan.”
Darla turned toward him, reaching out her hand, when a loud crash shattered the quiet. They all three turned at once to find feathers and blood on the waiting room window. Another bird had hit the glass.
TEN
“Was that a bird?” Patsy rushed to the window as Darla’s limbs turned to jelly. Aunt Clara had predicted a bird would hit the window—but twice? Virginia’s theory had held true the first time. Mr. Fluffybottom had died. Could this bird have just announced Meghan’s death? Didn’t Code Blue mean the patient was in cardiac distress? It couldn’t be Meghan, it just couldn’t.
Jason ran from the waiting room, his face pale with worry.
“Jason?” She followed him down the hallway toward the nurses’ station. Without thinking, she wrapped her arm around his waist as he stood at the high counter, needing to hold on to him in case it was Meghan who was in trouble.
“Was that Code Blue for my daughter, Meghan?” he asked the nurse as soon as she ended her call.
“The Code Blue was in Suite B where they do testing,” she said, appearing unconcerned.
“Yes, I know that.” Jason spoke through gritted teeth. “That’s where they took my daughter.”
Finally, the nurse registered the gravity of the situation. She rushed around the end of the counter toward the double doors. “I’ll check. I won’t be a minute.”
As soon as the nurse disappeared into the suite, Jason pulled Darla into his arms, holding her head against his shoulder. He seemed to need her as much as she needed him. She had just met her daughter. It couldn’t end this way. There was so much she wanted to tell her, so much she wanted to learn about her. Meghan was Jason’s only child. He’d raised her from infancy. How frightened he must me. She tightened her arms around him while they held on to one another.
The nurse returned in a moment, as promised. “I’m so sorry,” she said, rounding the counter. Darla’s knees gave out. Without Jason’s support, she’d be a puddle on the floor.
“Was it Meghan?” Jason croaked.
“No, I’m sorry that announcement frightened you. It was another patient.”
Jason’s full weight sagged against her, but she wouldn’t let him go. They’d both had the scare of their lives. “She’s okay,” Darla whispered in his ear. “Meghan’s alive.”
“Thank God.” He smothered her in his arms; his heart pounded against her ear.
“Your daughter is just about through with her testing. They should be bringing her back to her room any moment.”
The good news seemed to have finally sunk in. Jason dropped his hold on Darla, cleared his throat, and turned toward the nurse. “I…um…thank you for checking.” He swiped his hand across his brow and tucked his hands in his pockets. “How is the other patient? The one who coded.”
“Unfortunately, he died.”
Jason’s head snapped around in Darla’s direction and their eyes locked. They were thinking the exact same thing. The bird that had hit the glass had brought a warning of death. Virginia’s old wives’ tale had been accurate two times. Aunt Clara had said a bird would bring a message of love and that Darla should open her heart. Her warning made no sense.
“That’s impossible, right?” Jason chuckled, smiling down at Darla with a look of confusion. “Just an old wives’ tale.”
“I don’t know. It’s happened twice. There must be something to it.”
He shook his head and glanced over his shoulder, as if the answer was somewhere down the hall. “I don’t get it, but…” Turning back to her with his eyes hooded and emotion playing on his face, he gave her a tender smile. “Meghan’s okay.” He brushed the back of his hand down the side of Darla’s face. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you here.”
Before she could blink or register the emotion behind his words, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her like his life depended on it—deep, needy, but so incredible, her heart raced. She reached up and grazed her nails down the back of his neck, rising on her tiptoes as he let out a soft moan. This was crazy. They were locked in a fierce kiss under the glaring fluorescent lights, but she didn’t want him to stop.
Their kiss was interrupted by the clang of swinging doors and rattle of wheels. He dropped his arms and ended the kiss with an embarrassed grin, then stepped back. It had happened so fast, Darla’s head spun. He’d kissed her right in front of the nurses’ station, unfazed by their surroundings. Meghan emerged through the double doors, pushed in a wheelchair, appearing no worse for wear after the testing. With arched brows, her gaze darted back and forth between them.
“What are you two doing out here?”
With a quick side glance, Jason cleared his throat and sidled up to the wheelchair. “How’d it go?” He placed his hands on the metal handles and took over pushing her back to her room.
“The nurse said the doctor would meet with you as soon as the results were available.”
“Okay. But how do you feel?”
“Fine.” Darla trailed behind, watching the connection between Meghan and her dad.
“No aftereffects?”
“Nope.” Meghan covered her stomach with her hands. “Other than I’m starving. Do you think you could go out and get me something? I can’t take much more of this hospital food.”
“Sure thing. Want a turkey sub?”
“Yes! Oh my gosh, that sounds good.”
“From Frank’s Deli? American not provolone. Hot peppers, no pickles?”
It was obvious they were close. He’d raised her, so he knew everything about her—her history, the way she thought, her likes and dislikes—even the way she liked her turkey sub. Darla knew very little about her daughter but was so grateful she’d get the chance to learn. That Code Blue had scared her to pieces. It made her realize their time could be short, so she needed to tell Meghan everything, including her conception. She would run it by Jason before she shared the story with Meghan to be sure he felt she could handle the truth. But first, she needed to apologize to Patsy.
Once Meghan was settled back in her room, Jason left to pick up the turkey sub and Darla went back to the waiting room, hoping to find her cousin. She was sitting in the same chair, flipping through a magazine.
“Meghan’s back in her room,” Darla said, taking a seat beside Patsy.
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, that Code Blue was for someone else. He died.”
Patsy dropped the magazine on the table. “I knew it. Mom always said when a bird hit a window, someone was going to die.”
“It’s apparently true because Fluffy died the other day after a bird hit the window at Sit and Sip.”
“You told me.” Patsy visibly shivered from the odd coincidence. “Just be glad it wasn’t Meghan.”
“Believe me, I am.” Darla settled back into her chair and turned to Patsy. “I’m sorry.” She gathered Patsy’s hand in hers. “I shouldn’t have screamed at you like I did.”
“It’s okay. I should’ve kept my big mouth shut. I didn’t mean to spill the beans about the governor. It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. You know that man makes my blood boil.”
“I know.”
“But I didn’t tell Jason any of the gory details.” She patted Darla on the hand and leaned in close. “Hey, that Jason is a looker, isn’t he?”
Heat blossomed in Darla’s cheeks. Yes, he was handsome, and kind, and a good father, and his kiss made her insides quiver. “He is.”
“I saw the two of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kissing. I was standing in the hallway.” Patsy smiled slyly. “What’s going on with the two of you?”
“There’s nothing going on.”
“You can’t kid a kidder. I saw that kiss.”
“It was nothing. He was just overcome with emotion. We thought Meghan had died.”
“That’s it? Just overcome? You sure about that?”
Darla wasn’t sure of anything. He thought his daughter had died when the Code Blue went over the loud speaker. He was relieved when he found out she was okay, so he unconsciously kissed Darla. If she hadn’t been there, he might have kissed the nurse. That kiss didn’t mean anything.
Even if by some miracle Jason was attracted to her, his feelings for her would flip when he knew the truth about Darla’s relationship with Meghan’s biological father. The only person who knew the truth was Patsy. She hadn’t told her parents or her siblings and hadn’t confided in a friend. There were three people who knew her history, and one was sitting in the West Virginia statehouse, under its golden dome, fooling people with his family-first agenda.
“Hey, where did Patsy go?” Jason startled her out of her thoughts. She spun away from the waiting room window and slapped on a smile.
“Oh, she went to the hotel. She’s staying with me tonight.”
Jason slipped his hands inside his pockets and glanced at the floor, then out the window. His awkwardness probably had something to do with that kiss.
“Meghan finished her sub and is taking a nap. She wants to meet Patsy when she wakes up.”
“Patsy would love that. We were going to get a bite to eat, if you want to join us.”
“I don’t want to leave Meghan.”
“We could bring something back for you.”
“Sure, that would be great.”
Darla stepped toward Jason as he turned his focus on her.
“Jason.”
“Darla.”
They spoke at the same time and fell into nervous laughter.
“You first,” Darla said, pressing her hand against her roiling stomach.
“I…uh…just wanted to say that…” He raked his fingers through his thick, silver hair. “Earlier at the nurses’ station—”
“You don’t have a thing to apologize for. You were upset and not thinking clearly.” Darla grabbed her purse off the coffee table and tucked it tight against her side. “Just wipe it from your mind.”
“Is that what you want to do? Wipe it from your mind?”
“You were just overwhelmed.” She brushed past him on her way to the door, but Jason reached out a hand to stop her.
“I didn’t kiss you just because I was overwhelmed.”
“Your emotions got the best of you.”
“That’s not it. Would you stop trying to pull away from me?”
Darla glanced down at his hand, still wrapped around her wrist. She gave up her escape plans and looked into his face, serious and intense.
“Look, I’m not good at flirtation and I don’t play games. I like you—a lot. Once Meghan’s out of the woods, I’d like to take you out, like on a real date. Get to know you on a personal level.”
Her heart was pounding wildly as she tried to come up with a logical reason why they shouldn’t go out, but the truth was she liked him a lot, too. A rare experience for her.
“We live hours apart.”
“I have a feeling you’ll visit pretty often now that you’ve met Meghan.”
“I hope so, if she’d like me to.”
“Of course she would.”
Glancing past his shoulder through the window where the sun hung low in the sky, hope swelled in her heart but just as quickly deflated. Neither he nor Meghan would want her around once they heard her story. What she wouldn’t give to spare them the horrid details, but it was only fair they knew the truth. It wasn’t often she considered letting a man into her life, convinced she was happy being single. How disappointing to finally meet someone she could truly care about, only to lose him because of her stupid mistakes.
“Well?” Jason didn’t seem ready to drop the subject.
“You’re a wonderful man, but—”
“Okay, I know where this is going.” He dropped her arm and tucked his hand in his pocket. “You’re not interested in me. I get it.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“It’s okay. I took a chance.”
“And I’m glad you did. Under better circumstances, I’d love to go out with you.” She tugged his hands out of his pockets and held them in hers, hoping he didn’t notice the dampness on her palms. “You’re a wonderful man, a great father, and so handsome.”
“Just like that guy from Mad Men?” He chuckled, but Darla didn’t laugh along.
“I don’t get many offers for dates, so—”
“I don’t believe that.” He entwined his fingers with hers, and she thought her heart would burst.
“It’s true. But, seriously, please don’t feel I’m turning you down because of anything you did or didn’t do.”
“What else am I supposed to think?”
“Once you hear what I have to say, you’ll retract your offer.”
“I doubt it.”
She squeezed his hands and dropped them, taking a step back as she draped her purse strap over her shoulder.
“Whatever faultless image you’ve dreamed up about me is all wrong. I’ve got a skeleton in my closet that has haunted me for eighteen years. It’s guaranteed to scare you off.”
“You keep hinting about what happened to you before Meghan was born. I now know the governor is Meghan’s biological father. What happened between the two of you?”
Darla became light-headed, afraid she would puke right there in the waiting room, but it was time she confessed. Rather than telling Jason the story right in the middle of the waiting room, where other patients’ loved ones came and went, she suggested they go outside.
“There’s a park across the street. We can talk there.” He might as well learn the truth before he got any more notions of them dating.
He followed her down the hall, into the elevator, and through the revolving doors to the waning sunlight, all the while not speaking. What was the best way to begin? She needed to explain how she’d gotten herself into this mess in the first place. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him watching her, waiting for her to speak the awful truth of her pregnancy. Her heart was racing and her breaths were shallow, but she would get through it. Maybe after she spoke the words, she’d finally feel free.
“There’s a bench.” Jason pointed to a deserted, wooden bench under a spreading oak tree. “We can talk there.”
“Okay, sure.”
When they sat side by side, he reached for her hand, but she pulled away, tucking her hands under her legs.
“Darla, whatever it is you’re about to tell me, it’s not going to change anything.”
“You say that now.”
“I mean it. I know we haven’t known each other long, but it can’t possibly make a difference. You gave me my daughter, and I’ll be forever grateful.”
“She was the only good thing that came out of my relationship with Clyde Fletcher.”
“Did you have a relationship? Like in the true sense of the word?”
“He raped me. Does that count?” She looked down at her lap, took a deep breath, and raised her chin, staring across the park toward a sparkling fountain. “But I guess I had it coming.”
ELEVEN
March, 2000
The vacuum cleaner roared to life as soon as Darla flipped the switch. Someone had flicked their cigarette, missing the ashtray, leaving gray flakes scattered over the beige carpeting. It was probably Billy Ben, the parts manager. He told her dad he was trying to quit smoking, but she knew he snuck in the office after hours to have a cigarette. She’d caught him puffing away in the bookkeeping office last Saturday when she showed up to clean at Fletcher Ford, her part-time job for the past year and a half.
It wasn’t so bad working on Saturday mornings. While all her friends got to sleep in, she put in three hours of dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning toilets. She had saved four hundred dollars toward a car she planned to buy as soon as she got her license next year. B
ecause of her job, she didn’t have to ask her mom and dad for money to go to the movies on Friday nights or out for pizza after football games—money they couldn’t spare.
Back and forth, back and forth, she pushed the heavy upright. Her arm and shoulder began to ache, so she switched hands. Once she finished this office, she’d clean Mr. Fletcher’s. He wasn’t usually at the dealership on Saturdays, which was fine with her. There was something creepy about how his eyes bugged out and his porcelain veneers gleamed as he smiled. Sometimes after she got home from work, she would entertain her sisters and brothers by imitating Mr. Fletcher’s twangy accent and good ole boy mannerisms. Dad would yell at her, “Hush up, Darla Jean. If it weren’t for Mr. Fletcher giving me a job, we’d all be living in the streets.” Her dad had worked for Mr. Fletcher as a mechanic for the past ten years after getting laid off from the chemical plant.
“Well, looky here, if it ain’t Miss Darla Jean Heartwood in the flesh.” Clyde Fletcher snuck up behind her and squeezed her shoulders in his big hands. “And mighty fine flesh it is.”
She flipped off the vacuum and spun around to face him, brushing his invisible germs off her shoulders. His big, bulbous eyes trailed from her head to her toes, stopping a bit too long on her breasts. He hadn’t paid any attention to her until about a year ago when her body had seemed to change overnight. She’d gone from wearing a training bra to a 32C in a matter of months, and her mom had to take her shopping for new pants. It was like someone had pumped a bunch of air into her chest and rear end. Everything had puffed up.
“Hi, Mr. Fletcher.” She backed away from him, hitting her back against the filing cabinet.
“Good morning, Darla. Have I told you lately what a fine job you’re doing? I’m considering giving you a nice raise.”
“Thank you, Mr. Fletcher.” Why couldn’t he look her in the eyes instead of at her boobs? At school if a boy did that, she’d tuck her finger under his chin and force him to look up. Eyes up here, buddy. If only she could say that to Mr. Fletcher.
Whatever It Takes: A Highland Springs Romance (Whatever Series Book 4) Page 9
