Blindsided (Indigo Love Spectrum) (30 page)

Dahlia rushed out of the waiting area and encoun
tered that blasted laughter again. She stomped over to the
nurses’ station and grabbed Jonah by the arm. “Excuse him,” she said to the nurse, who didn’t look at all happy
with the interruption.

“Dahlia?” Jonah jerked his arm away when she
dragged him into a waiting area down the hall. “What are
you doing?”

“The question is what the hell are you doing! My
sister is near death in a hospital room having—God help
her—your baby, and you’re hitting on some nurse.”

“
I’m here, aren’t I? I have tons of paperwork on my
desk, but I’m at this hospital.”

“Tasting the dish of the day.”

“Dahlia.” Jonah chuckled. “Are you jealous, baby?”
His eyes roamed over her body, and approval brightened his dark brown eyes. “You’re looking really good.”

“Too bad you’ll never know just how
good
I feel now.”

He frowned. “Why did you pull me in here?”

“Mostly, to give you a piece of my mind. When I
walked in on you and Leslie in our bed, . . . . . .urt more
than I thought there was pain in the world to feel. You
were my life and Leslie my best friend and my sister, and
you two betrayed me.”

“We’ve had this discussion. One very long discussion.”

“Yes, we have, but I see it didn’t stick with you. Can you commit to any woman?”

“I don’t have to.” He smiled. “There’s enough of me
to go around. I can’t allow any woman to be selfish and
keep me all to herself, but you were special enough to be
Mrs. Baron. I loved you as much as I can love any
woman. That makes you a cut above the rest. And,
damn, woman, you are looking mighty fine.”

Jonah brushed his thumb and forefinger against his
perfectly trimmed goatee and smiled his winning Baron
smile. Dahlia hated his guts, but couldn’t deny his attrac
tiveness. Not that Jonah would let anyone do that.

“You’re still hot for me, aren’t you, Dahlia?” he said.

Anger rose up in Dahlia from Jonah’s gall. “I’m
feeling some heat, all right,” she said.

He beckoned her with his finger. “Why don’t you
come on over and give the Baron some of that brown
sugar.”

“Oh, I have something for the Baron.” She walked
over and slapped him so hard she swore she saw sparks from the contact. “How’s that fire for you, Baron?”

Jonah rubbed his face. An impression of her hand
print appeared on his smooth-shaven, chestnut brown
cheek. “Damn it, woman, have you lost your mind?”

“Not at all.” Dahlia rubbed her burning hand against
her thigh. “In fact, my thinking has never been clearer. If you don’t want a matching look for your right cheek, I
suggest you be quiet and let me talk now.”

Rubbing his cheek, Jonah backed to a chair and sat.

“I was so in love with you, I didn’t see all your faults.
There you were, this attractive man from a successful
family with a bright future ahead of him, and you wanted
to be with me. Back then I thought you were a prize.
Booby prize is more like it. My sister is near death having your baby, and you’re grinning in some nurse’s face and
trying to hit on me. There was a time I believed Leslie
deserved whatever she got for what she did to me, but
nobody deserves the devastation being involved with you
leaves behind.”

“You’re just full of compliments and good will today.”
“The truth hurts, Jonah. And truth is what I had to
face when our marriage ended. I took a good look at
myself and saw the need for change. I made the changes
and am all the better for them. It wasn’t easy, but neces
sary. You could use a few changes in your life, too. You’re
a
heel, Jonah, but you can better yourself and at least try
to be a good example of manhood for your child.”

He laughed, his derisive laughter making Dahlia
wonder why she had tried to reason with him in the first
place.

“Good thing your thoughts of me don’t matter,
Dahlia. I like myself, and I have no plans of changing me.
Of course I’ll take care of the baby, but I never promised
Leslie anything.”

“It wouldn’t matter if you did. You promised to keep
only unto me, and we saw how well you kept that
promise. I guess you said ‘I do’ with your fingers crossed.”

Jonah’s mouth twisted into an annoyed frown. “You left me, remember?”

“I never had you, Jonah. I found that out the hard
way. Were you ever faithful to me?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a straightforward question. Were you ever
faithful?”

“New York is a big city. So, yeah, I saw other girls
when we were together. But when I was with you, I was
with you.”

“Out of sight, out of mind, right? Keep going.”

“When we first got married, I was golden. For the
first three years, there was no one else. It was all about
you.”

“Am I supposed to be excited about that?” Dahlia
closed her eyes for a long moment, calming her growing
anger at Jonah’s nerve. “What changed? What made you
start cheating again?”

“
You. Me. We were moving in different directions.
When we got married, I was happy, but once we finished
grad school and moved to Atlanta, your days grew longer,
as did my hours alone, and I had to find something to
keep myself occupied. You weren’t there. You were always
in Denburg.”

“Don’t you dare give me that!” Dahlia sucked in a
breath. “My clientele was in Denburg. I had to get estab
lished. Did I not ask you over and over again if you were
okay with my long hours? If you wanted me home more?
You always said,
‘No, babe, it’s fine. I support your dream.
I know how important this is to you.’
So don’t you dare
make your philandering my fault! I guess that’s why you
insisted on living in Atlanta and not moving to Denburg.
You’ve never been faithful to me, and you cheated
because you wanted to. Be man enough to say so!”

“Fine. You’re right, I did. I got sloppy. You were in the
dark for years, and then just blew my game completely.”

Dahlia frowned. “Yeah. I came home. And my life
changed forever.”

“That was your choice. You wanted a divorce, so I obliged you.”

“I also wanted a baby, but you couldn’t make that
happen.”

“I made it happen for Leslie.”

“Yes, and this baby will connect you to my sister for
ever, but I hope with all my might she’ll see you for the
loser you are and drop-kick your rotten ass out of her life.”

“I take it you don’t want to be friends.”

“With friends like you?”

Jonah shrugged. “Your loss. Is there a guy?”

Dahlia’s thoughts went to Norris. How she wished she’d taken him up on his offer to come along with her.
She really needed one of his hugs right now. She met
Jonah’s gaze, but said nothing. She wouldn’t discuss her
personal life with him.

“Is that a no?” he asked.

“That’s a none of your business.”

He nodded and smiled. “It’s a no.”

“I’ve said all I need to say to you, Jonah, and heard all
I need to hear. Try to act like you give a damn and go
check on Leslie and your baby.”

Dahlia left the waiting room and rode the elevator to
the chapel. She lit a candle and sat in a middle pew.
Words of prayer filled her head and softly spilled from her lips. She prayed for her sister and the safety of her
little niece or nephew who may have already entered this
world, for Norris and Reese to grow closer with their
time together, and finally strength for her family and
herself to deal with all the things they had coming their
way, all the time wondering if she were crazy for coming
back here.

* * *

“It was crazy to make her come back here.” Norris
looked in the direction of Reese’s bedroom, where she’d been unpacking her things for the past two hours, as he
spoke with his sister on the phone. “I know she’s angry,
Julia, but I’d rather her yell at me than give me the silent
treatment.”

“Norris, I’d be giving you the silent treatment, too. I
used to think you were up with the times,” Julia said.

“I’ve heard this speech from Dahlia. You don’t have to
give it to me again.”

“Oh, so you talked to Dahlia. How is she?”

“She’s been better. Right after we talked she learned her
six-and-a-half-months pregnant sister was hospitalized.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Is her sister okay?”

“I don’t know. Dahlia flew to Atlanta this evening.
Her plane landed about an hour or so ago.”

“That’s too bad about her sister, but I’m glad you two
are talking.”

“I wouldn’t get too excited. She’s still not in con
fessing mode.”

“But talking is good. Soon everything will be just the
way you want it. One of us will finally have that elusive
family.”

“Let’s hope. So, what prompted your call?”

“We promised to work on keeping in touch, so I’m
doing it.”

Norris laughed. “And what else?” he asked.

“Okay, I called for another reason, too. I talked to
Lane earlier, and our visit is set. We’re coming to
Denburg. We’ll finally get to meet Reese.”

“That’s great, Jules. When?”

“We should arrive early Wednesday afternoon and
stay for ten days.”

“I can’t wait to tell Reese.”

“
No, don’t tell her. Let’s surprise her. You can take her out to lunch somewhere, and we’ll show up. A wonderful
little family reunion.”

Norris laughed, thinking of his mother’s face at the
idea of such a gathering.

“What are you laughing about?” Julia asked.

“Mom at a reunion with the three of us and Reese.”
Julia scoffed. “Please. Who’s inviting her? That
woman has been blowing up my phone. Do you know what she wants?”

“Uh-huh. You. She wants her time with you.”

“Just one more reason she’s not invited. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

“See ya, Julia.”

Norris knocked on Reese’s door. She had said all of
two sentences to him since arriving at his place Saturday
night. Her request to attend church services with the
Monroes had turned into an all-day vacation from his
company. When she returned before six Sunday evening,
she had locked herself in her room for the rest of the night. Ten o’clock Monday morning, she still remained
in her room. Times like this he wished her bathroom was
down the hall and not adjoined to the bedroom. At least
then he’d see her.

“Reese, are you going to come out today?”

“I don’t know,” she answered. “I don’t feel good. I
think I’ll just stay in bed.”

Don’t feel good?
Norris knocked again. “Reese, I’m
coming in.” She pulled the covers over her head when the door opened. “What’s wrong?” he asked, approaching the
bed. “Do you have a fever?”

“It’s my stomach.”

“You need an antacid or something?”

“No, I just want to be left alone.” She curled into the
fetal position under the covers.

“Have you eaten anything?”

“Norris, I’m not hungry.”