Texas Gold (19 page)

Of course, she’d seen for herself that God didn’t work like that.
 

When she walked through the double doors of the emergency room, she saw Scott and Celinda sitting in the waiting room and Julie talking on the phone.

Scott stood and walked to her side. His words a crazy echo making their way through her jumbled thoughts. “The doctors are in there with him now, Mal. They said he’ll be moved to CCU as soon as he stabilizes.”

She nodded. For some reason all her words seemed stuck in her throat.
 

As soon as he stabilizes was good. That meant they expected him to make it. She held on to that belief as Scott hugged her to his side.

Even held in her brother’s arms, she felt alone. Afraid.
 

They walked to the line of white vinyl seats and sat to wait.

She’d always hated this hospital. Its blue walls and Lysol smell and faint, steady beeps of machines set up to tell if someone would live or die. This same room had haunted more than one of her nightmares.

The last time she’d sat in this room, she’d heard the steady death-squeal of a flatlined monitor as it announced the end of her mother’s life. Would the same sound usher in her father’s death?

 
Oh God, please no. Please. I’ll do anything.

Vaguely, she heard Julie say she’d finally reached Jen and the others.
 
They were all on their way.

For the first time in years, her whole family would be together. Why did it have to come at the expense of her father?

What a mess. Brenton took off out the door of his office, past the inquiring faces of Serendipity Main Street and tried not to think of failure.

He was used to winning, and damn it all, he wasn’t willing to lose this battle.

But before he could even attempt to make things right with Mal, he had to find Nina, make sure she understood he’d make everything okay somehow.

Hopefully, his headstrong daughter and her friend weren’t out looking for trouble.
 

Two hours of fruitless searching later, he turned the truck toward home. Might as well wait her out. She’d be there soon enough. Furious and full of fire.

And once she finished letting him know just what she thought about the firing of J.D. Baber, he’d explain what happened, and then, all would be well.

It had to be.

As he hung up on Mallory's answering machine for the fifteenth time, he kept telling himself that.

It had to be okay because he didn’t want to leave Serendipity any more than Nina did. A couple hours later as he stood looking out the window, he saw a flash of headlights on his open gate.

Slowly an almost ancient car made its way up the hill to the house.

When Nina jumped out and waved to the unfamiliar person in the driver’s seat, Brenton held himself back from moving forward.

But when Nina walked in the door, saw him standing there, waiting and marched past without a word of acknowledgment, he’d had enough.

“I’m not going to ask who that was or where you’ve been because I know you’re upset, but don’t you think you owe me at least a chance to explain?”

She paused, sending his an aloof, almost freezing glance. He’d perfected it himself at very nearly her age, so he couldn’t be too upset by it. “No. I think you’ve pretty much ruined everything. Not only will everyone at school hate me, but you’re responsible for Coach Baber leaving the softball team, too. Thanks, Dad. I think I can live without your explanations. I’ll just go on up to my room and start searching for a good boarding school now.”

For a second, he thought about letting her comments pass, ignoring his own questions.
 

“I’m glad to hear Jen’s still talking to you. If she weren’t, I’d tell you she wasn’t a true friend after all.”

“Whatever. Don’t try to change this to a conversation about me. You’re the one who messed up here. And I guess if you have something to say, now is as good a time as any to say it. It’ll save time for later.”

She looked put upon, hands on hips, mouth set in a straight line. Waiting but not really listening.

And it burned him up that he had to explain anything. Still, he would at least try.

“First, I am not responsible for Mallory’s father losing his job.”

Uh-huh.” She sounded completely disbelieving.

But he continued. “And second, I’m certainly not responsible for Mallory quitting.”

“Dad, I hate to break this to you, but you came to town and met with the mayor. You gave him all he needed to get Coach Baber’s dad fired. And you sent John to the board meeting today. So even if your hands aren’t dirty, you’re still guilty of everything.”

He had to admit part of what she said was true. But still...

“I didn’t send John anywhere. And the board was considering this decision long before we moved to town.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t change your image problem a bit. Forever, we’ll be known as the family that brought down the Babers. They’re like a dynasty or something, Dad. It was hard enough being your daughter before. Now it’s going to be impossible. And I really like it here. I don’t feel ridiculous around the kids here. No one talks about scoring drugs or flying to Europe for the weekend. No one’s going to audition for a role in a movie or trying to make it with a modeling agency. Kids here are normal. I wanted to be normal, too.”

She threw herself in his arms with those words and he wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

“Honey, you are normal. You’re perfect.”

She held on to him like she hadn’t in years. “No I’m not. I’m the rich girl. The city kid. I wear the wrong clothes. I don’t even own a pair of boot cut jeans. And I don’t want to! I drive a car and I hate duelly trucks with diesel engines. I don’t drink beer. I don’t put out. The only boy who even looks at me is Kevin, the boy who brought me home. And Jen is my only real friend, and now she’s going to hate me too.”

Brenton wasn’t sure what to say. He had no idea what magic words would make her feel better, so he simply brushed her hair and let her cry and thanked God she didn’t do what she didn’t do.

Finally as her tears subsided, he spoke. “I can’t make this all better, Nina. You’re you, and that’s important. Don’t ever sacrifice your standards simply to fit in. You lose yourself when you do. I think Jen will probably be a better friend than you’re giving her credit for, and if the other kids don’t like you because of your likes and dislikes, that’s their loss. I think I might be able to help with the part dealing with the Babers, though.”

“Really?”

Her unsure voice cracked on the word and he nodded. “Yes. But, I’ll need your help. Yours and Jen’s.”

Tears in her eyes, she waited and listened as he told her his plan. When he finished, she nodded. “Okay. I think it might work. But are you sure you want to wait until tomorrow?”

She dove right in. A true partner in planning.

“I think I better give this a little time. But we’ll have to get started immediately in the morning. Are you sure you’re up to it?”

She nodded. “I’ll just go call Jen. If she‘s still talking to me, I’m definitely in. If not, we’ll just have to rethink.”

Tears forgotten, she took the stairs to her room two at a time and Brenton breathed a sigh of relief. Raising a teenage daughter alone was full of pitfalls. Shoot, he still remembered telling her she couldn't shave until she was fourteen. When he’d seen her the next morning, she’d shaved her arms, fingers and all. He’d learned then that there were times he had to listen to all of what she was saying.

Now that she was on his side, he could return to working on Mallory. Maybe he needed to hear all of what she was saying. If only he could figure out what exactly that was. He knew one thing for sure.

He loved her. Completely. Totally. And he wasn’t willing to walk away without a fight.

Starting tomorrow morning, he’d prove it to her.

He turned toward his office at the same time he heard Nina walking back down the stairs.

“Oh, Daddy, it’s too late.” She held the cordless phone from her room in her hand and a look of shock covered her face.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” He crossed the floor to her as tears that had welled in her eyes finally fell.

“Jen said her grandpa’s in the hospital. He’s had a heart attack, Daddy.”

Oh Lord. Mallory was going to do something stupid like blame herself for this. She had to be going through hell right now.

He turned to the door. “Come on, we’re going to the hospital.”

He didn’t let himself think about the fact that he was the last person Mallory or her family would want to see.

He didn’t care.
 

Mallory needed him whether she knew it or not.

And somehow he’d make her see that.

Chapter Thirteen

Mallory felt like the hospital halls were suffocating her by the time they moved her daddy to CCU. He didn’t look good when she’d taken her turn to see him. His eyes were closed, his face pale, the lines around his mouth etched even deeper than they had been before.

The doctor seemed fairly sure J.D. would be fine, that this was a wake up call. For now, they were keeping him drugged and asleep. Giving him a chance for rest.
 

Toby’d made it in from the coast and he was trying to talk her into going to the cafeteria to get something to eat. But she wasn’t interested in food.
 

The doctor said too much stress had contributed to the heart attack, and she knew just what her daddy’d been stressed over.
 

And now that the doctor said J.D. needed his rest, Celinda was refusing to budge from his bedside. Usually at a time like this, her prayers would have provided comfort. For some reason all they did right now was aggravate the tar out of Mallory.

She knew Toby was right. She needed to get out for a minute at least. Jackson and Keith were on flights to DFW and, thankfully, Carolyn had volunteered to pick them up because she didn’t figure her brothers needed to be driving any more than she did just then.

Too much coffee had left her feeling jittery, and Mallory knew she could easily blow up at the slightest provocation.

She moved away from Toby, pushing his hands away from her shoulders and walked to the window at the end of the hall.

Outside, life continued as usual. Cars sped by and rain had started to fall. If she breathed just right she’d be able to make a fog circle on the window to write her name in. That’s what she’d done in the ER when her mother’d died.

She heard Carolyn playing cards with Jen, heard Scott telling Tim he’d have to go take care of the horses soon. Heard Julie’s cell phone ring.

She wanted to hear her daddy asking them what in the blue blazes they thought they were doing hanging out in the CCU waiting room.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Brenton Alexander had blown into town, into her life, like a secret killer storm and now they were all paying the price.

She heard Jen saying “Uno,” heard the nurses talking about a new intern who needed to order meds for a patient in pain, heard the door to the waiting room open.

And then, for just a second, she didn’t hear anything.

She lifted her head from the window at the same time she heard Julie whisper, and she knew who was there.

Turning, she saw she was right.

For whatever reason, Brenton had decided to make this even worse than it already was.

She could see Julie telling him now wasn’t a good time, could see the way her brothers stood watching her and then watching him. But he didn’t look at anyone other than her. He didn’t even seem to hear a word Julie said.

If Nina hadn’t been standing behind him looking almost as devastated as she felt, Mallory would’ve told Brenton just what she thought. But she couldn’t do it when she saw the hopeful look on the girl’s face, at least not here in the open.

Her footsteps sounded amplified as she trudged the last few steps to meet him.

“Brenton.”

“Mallory.”

They didn’t touch, didn’t say anything else, but Mallory felt the air around them constrict, heard the unspoken words, the accusations.

Finally, she broke the silence. “Let’s step outside.”
 

He followed, and she knew he did so only because Nina was there in the room.

Her brothers might have followed them if she hadn’t given them all a look that said this wasn’t their fight and there’d be hell to pay if they involved themselves before she asked them to.

She led the way down the hall, to the elevators and down to the first floor. Mallory didn’t care about the rain, she wanted to be outside, wanted to be able to scream at him if need be.

And if he had a problem with that, too damn bad.

She hit the door to the ER parking lot and turned to him. “You have some nerve.”

He didn’t bother to answer. Just stood there, silent, ready to let her scream to her heart’s content, and that made her even more angry.

“The doctor said this heart attack was brought on by stress Brenton. Do you really think your presence will alleviate my daddy’s stress?”

“I didn’t come here for your father, Mal. I came here to make sure you weren’t sitting around blaming yourself for a medical condition you had nothing to do with.”

For a few seconds as she felt the rain falling down her face, felt it dripping off her nose, she thought about yelling back at him that he had no idea what he was talking about. But the longer she stood there thinking about what she wanted to say, the less she felt like saying anything.

And then Brenton’s arms were around her, making her feel more safe, more comforted than she had all day. Had he only left her bed this morning? Had she told him she loved him only last night?

It felt like years ago.

For a few seconds she let herself relax. Closing her eyes, she let herself memorize the feel of his arms around her, his chest pressed to hers, his scent.

And then when she thought she might finally be able to speak she stepped away. “I get this funny feeling you think this will all work out. That you took a gamble and it’ll pay off just like it always does.”

He stood there, his hands to his side and shook his head. “Don’t reduce this to business again, Mal. You know it’s more than that.”