A Fallow Heart (16 page)

When he sent Coop a sloppy grin, Coop frowned and glanced skeptically toward Dex, silently asking what was up with Bran’s suddenly loopy behavior.

Dex shrugged as if to apologize, then shook his head. “He’s got a low tolerance for alcohol.”

Cooper frowned and glanced at Bran’s glass. “But that was only his second beer.”

“Okay,” Dexter revised, “so he has, like, zero tolerance for alcohol.”

“Hey, it’s my third. Had one before we came over.” Bran’s face looked bright and flushed as he ordered another draft and wiped a sheen of sweat off his brow.

Coop couldn’t keep from laughing. “That is so ironic. I remember how Em used to win all the drinking contests when we were—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Bran cut him off moodily. “My wife’s more of a man than I am. Zip it already.” But his scowl just as quickly morphed into a proud grin. “She’s so amazing. I am the luckiest man on earth.”

Deciding he liked Em’s husband, Coop shook his head and grinned. That was until Branson decided to press the Jo Ellen subject. “So you’re into Jo Ellen, not Emma Leigh, right? Because you seem like a good guy,” he repeated, and then paused to hiccup; “…and I’d say Joey really needs to get laid one of these days. Like soon. Hell, I doubt she’s had any fun since I met her, which was, what, ten years—”

“Wait one damn second here.” Dex broke in to punch Bran in the arm. “What do you think you’re doing? Don’t go telling some stranger to sleep with one of my cousins.”

Branson blinked. “What?
I’m
sleeping with one of your cousins.”

Dex’s eyebrows snapped together with annoyance. “Well, you’re not some stranger I just met in a bar, either, moron. On occasion, when you’re not acting too stupid to live, you’re sadly my best friend.” Then he cracked a grin before taunting, “Besides, I’m sleeping with your sister.”

Bran’s drunken smile fell flat. He pointed an accusing finger at Dexter. “That’s just wrong, man. I should kick your ass.” But when Bran dove to tackle Dexter, Dex darted out of his way with a husky laugh.

“Ha! Missed me.”

Growing more irritated and less coordinated, Bran stumbled after him, swearing, “Not this time, ass wipe.”

Watching them, Coop took a drink. In all his years of coming here, this had to be the strangest entertainment he’d ever gotten from Rio’s bar. But it was amusing nonetheless. He monitored their chase, ready to intercede before anyone got hurt, while Dex led the drunken Branson around a pool table and past the wall of dartboards until the ladies’ bathroom door opened. Immediately, he forgot about the men.

Jo Ellen was the first to emerge. His heart gave a heavy thump against his ribcage. He tried to forget Bran’s drunken comment—
Joey really needs to get laid one of these days
—but it kept churning through his head, making his skin heat and every follicle of hair on his body stand erect. His mouth watered, already imagining what it wanted to do to those pert nipples he’d glimpsed through her shirt.

His body dominated so much of his thinking as he watched her it took him a second to realize anything was wrong. But the tension on her face, not to mention the strange way all three ladies exited the bathroom, had him squinting in confusion. The pregnant one stayed huddled directly behind Jo Ellen, sandwiched between her and Emma Leigh who brought up the rear, forming a tight little train of follow the leader.

Something was definitely up. He jerked to his feet, ready to help in case he was needed.

A second later, Dex must’ve noticed the anxiety emanating from the ladies as well. He stopped dodging Bran’s clumsy attempts to catch him and jerked to a halt.

“What’s wrong?” When he focused on Lexi’s face, he hurried forward, demanding, “What’d you two do to my wife?”

Jo Ellen cleared her throat. “Um…we…well, we’ve decided her water broke.”

Cooper pulled back and sucked in a breath, noticing Lexi’s wet pants, soaked from her lap to her ankles. Silently, he agreed with Jo Ellen’s summation. But Dex wasn’t so persuaded.

He gaped at Jo Ellen as if she’d spoken a foreign language. Then he exploded, “You
decided
? What, like you took a vote on it or something? Let’s break Lexi’s water. Yeah, that sounds like fun. Jesus.” He ran his hand through his hair, glaring at Jo Ellen. “What the hell?”

“Honey,” Lexi said, slipping from between the twins to grasp his arm.

He clenched his teeth. “No,” he denied heartily. “You…this can’t be. We’re a month from the due date. For God’s sake, we’re fifteen hundred miles from home, Lex.”

“But—”

“No!” he yelled. “You cannot go into labor. End of discussion.”

“Dexter Henry Pratchett,” Alexa hissed, stomping her foot. “I…am…in labor, damn it! Now get me to a hospital before I deliver our baby right here in this bar.” As if to prove she wasn’t lying, she cringed and doubled slightly, grasping her swollen stomach.

It reminded Cooper too much of when Jo Ellen had done that very thing the night she’d miscarried. Fear and panic propelling him into action, he lurched forward to catch her, but her husband beat him to her side, grasping her shoulders and tugging her up against his chest.

“Lex?” His raspy voice mirrored all the anxious emotions bubbling inside Coop…in triplicate.

After a couple hard pants, his wife nodded into his shoulder, her muffled answer coming, “I’m fine. Just a small contraction.”

“Contra—” Dex’s face drained of color. “Dear God, you’re in labor.”

“Yeah, huh. So let’s beat feet to the hospital already.” Em waved frantically toward the exit.

“I’ll drive,” Bran announced, slurring as he tripped after his wife.

“Good,” she started, but pulled up short when she glanced at him and took in his glassy-eyed grin. “Oh my God. You’re
drunk
!”

He hiccupped. “No, no. Well, okay. Maybe a little.”

Em swung around to pin Cooper with an accusing frown. “How much beer did you let him have?”

“Why are you looking at me?” Coop sent her an incredulous blink.

“Because Dex knows my husband can’t handle his liquor!” Emma exploded. “How the hell is he supposed to drive us to the hospital if he’s drunk?”

Coop shook his head. “I don’t know. Why can’t you drive?”

“Because…” She flushed. “I want to sit in the back with Dex and Lexi. You know, to help her breathe. And stuff.”

He refrained from mentioning the woman probably knew how to breathe all on her own.

“Oh, dear Lord.” Jo Ellen sighed out her impatience and took control of the situation. “
I’ll
drive. We can come back later for my car. You two sit with Alexa.” After pointing to Dex and Em, she shifted a leery glance at the drunk. “And Branson can ride shotgun.”

Bran grinned. “Cool. I get shotgun.”

Coop gazed in awe as she gathered up her group like a hen tucking her chicks in around her. What was even more astounding was how they all followed her instruction without question or argument. Honestly, was it any wonder why he was so utterly fascinated by her?

He could envision her at her job, hosting parties, so eloquently and gracefully standing in the center of the room on a raised platform, pointing and assigning tasks with such ease her underlings actually felt honored to attend her. He felt honored simply standing in the same room as her, watching her in all her soft-spoken, yet authoritative glory

They’d nearly made it to the door when he remembered one small detail. “Wait!” he called, hurrying after them. When Jo Ellen paused and turned back to send him a questioning glance, he faltered a step, uncomfortable with her gaze on him, able to see any flaw he might project.

“Yes?” she asked calmly and patiently enough, though he could detect the impatience in her gaze.

He fumbled. “Uh, actually…I didn’t know if you were aware, but they built a new hospital about four years ago. It’s on the other side of town now.”

Jo Ellen’s lips parted as her cheeks paled. “No, I wasn’t aware.”

Behind her, Em muttered, “Shit. How’re we supposed to find a new hospital in the dark?”

With a sigh, Coop pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. “Just give me a minute to pay my tab. Then you can follow my truck and I’ll lead you straight there.”

Jo Ellen shifted in her fancy leather shoes, looking briefly undecided, before she smiled tightly. “That would be so kind of you, Cooper. Thank you.”

Chapter Eleven

Cooper settled himself on one side of the waiting room and eyed the three people sitting across from him. Eyes bloodshot, Bran sipped from a Styrofoam cup of coffee, attempting to sober up. Emma Leigh pressed a cell phone to her ear as she explained to her parents what was going on, while Jo Ellen phoned Dexter’s family to announce the impending early arrival.

It had been about two hours since they’d last seen Dexter and Alexa disappear into the ER. No one had been out to apprise them of any updates.

Leaning back in his uncomfortable chair, Coop stretched his legs out and rested his head against the wall. He tried not to remember the last time he’d been inside the same hospital as Jo Ellen, but it was the only thing he could think about. There’d been an unborn baby’s life involved then too. He could only hope Dex and Lexi’s kid had a more successful outcome than Jo Ellen’s.

God, he still felt like hell about that night.

*
* * *

“You really don’t have to stay, Cooper.” Jerking at the voice near his elbow, eighteen-year-old Coop lifted his gaze to find Jo Ellen’s mother sitting beside him.

He expected both her parents to hate him right now. He’d just spent the last few hours trying to convince them he’d impregnated their daughter…so they’d let him marry her. But only a sad compassion lingered in Tara Rose Rawlings’s liquid grey eyes. She had the same nose and mouth as Jo Ellen. They shared the same shape of the jaw as well. Seeing so much of her, his hands began to quiver a little harder than they’d already been trembling.

Why hadn’t the doctor come out to tell them how she was doing yet?

With a fierce shake of his head, he huddled more deeply into the waiting room chair. “I’m fine.”

Tara Rose lingered next to him, studying him with her quiet watchful gaze. He refused to make eye contact again; he didn’t want her to see all the fear inside him. Despite how he’d offered for Jo Ellen’s hand out of a noble intentions, the truth remained, he wanted her…he wanted her any way he could get her. But if she lost the baby, there’d be no need for him to marry her.

His body shuddered with guilt since a part of him wanted the baby to live for his own selfish reasons.

“Thank you,” Tara Rose murmured, making him jolt in surprise.

Confused, he looked up, against his better judgment. “For what?”

Her smile was rueful. “For sticking by her side when she obviously felt as if she had no one else to rely on.” She reached out and covered his forearm with a warm hand. “As much as her father and I wanted to wrap our arms around her and coddle, we needed to act tough and scare her a little, so she’d understand the severity of what had happened. But…we never dreamed it would upset her this way.” Guilt lined her features, and Cooper frowned as he studied her.

“So you never planned to give her baby up for adoption? You lied to her?”

Tara Rose flushed. “Of course we never would’ve sent our only grandchild to complete strangers.” Sniffing, she fumbled as she opened her purse and tugged out a tissue. After dabbing at her wet eyes, she blew her nose.

Inside, Coop felt hollow and alone. Jo Ellen had never needed his help; he should’ve known her family would take care of her.

Glancing at her mother, he drew in a tight breath. “She’ll be okay,” he said, speaking the words with assurance, thinking if he believed them hard enough they’d come true.

But almost as soon as he spoke, the doctor appeared in the doorway, asking for the Rawlings family. As her parents and three siblings gathered around the physician, Cooper remained stiff in his chair. The doctor’s calm and emotionless voice chilled Coop as he explained how Jo Ellen’s fetus had aborted itself.

Her baby was dead.

“She hemorrhaged a little heavier than usual for these situations, which prompted us to take a few tests. But she’ll be fine. She was, however, so upset we had to sedate her. I’ll allow two family members at a time to visit her.”

Jo Ellen’s mother and father immediately sprang forward. Her three siblings remained squished together, holding hands, as they stood frozen in the doorway of the waiting room.

When Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings and the doctor disappeared, the agony finally claimed Cooper. He bent his head nearly between his spread knees, cradled his face in his trembling palms, and wept.

He wasn’t sure how long sobs claimed him, but he sucked in a surprised breath when someone sat beside him and began to rub his back. He glanced up and was even more shocked to find Emma Leigh watching him with sympathetic but dry eyes.

He wiped at his wet face but couldn’t even remove a portion of the moisture. “Why are you consoling
me
?” he finally asked.