A Father's Stake (16 page)

When Grace arrived at the ranch, Parrish helped her saddle Lucy quickly, then she started out, wondering if she was crazy. She hoped she could find the trail she’d taken with Jack a few days ago. She soon recognized the way and realized Lucy seemed to know where they were going, although there was no sign of Jack.

Grace was about to give up after they’d made the strenuous climb. It was hot and she didn’t want to risk either herself or the horse by staying out here alone. But just then a low whinny sounded, and when the path led them behind a particularly large rock formation, she found Jack’s horse there, tied to a low shrub.

He whinnied again as they approached, and Lucy stopped right beside him. Grace slid off, tied Lucy to the same bush, then looked up. She tried not to think of snakes, good or bad, as she started the climb. There were no sounds beyond the low moan of an occasional breeze and the chirping of birds. Her boot dislodged a small rock and it skittered down the path behind her.

What was she going to say when she got to Jack? She didn’t know, but she knew she wanted to find him. She had to find him. Her breathing was getting a bit labored when she finally climbed over the shale rocks and onto the ledge that led to the sea of grass.

She watched the rippling movements of the grass in the growing breeze, then noticed the crushed path where Jack must have walked earlier. She’d been right. He was there. She went to the low arched opening and stepped through.

* * *

J
ACK
HAD
BEEN
achingly alone for two years, until the old ranch entered the picture. No, that wasn’t totally true. The ranch had always been there. It was Grace who had come into his life. The rides they’d taken, the talks they’d had, then the kiss.... They’d all made him realize that despite his attempts to survive, he’d hit the end. He hated self-pity, and the old man’s words came to him. “Live your own life. Only you can do that.”

But what if his life right then was the best it would ever get? He had flashes of a future with Grace, things he rejected, things he hid from. Just acknowledging an attraction to the woman made him hurt, and seeing her child only added to the ache for what he’d never had and never would have. It was almost unbearable.

“Jack?” His name came like a soft whisper on the air, and for a minute he thought he was hallucinating, until he turned. His hallucination took the form of Grace in slender jeans, a cropped top and boots, coming toward him. He could see her eyes beneath the straw hat, the deep lavender, soft and gentle. And he could literally feel the loneliness he lived with lifting ever so slightly as she neared.

Without another word, she sank down by him, actually putting her feet over the ledge, keeping a foot or so of space between them. Her eyes were staring off into the distance. He did the same thing, very conscious of her every breath.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” she finally asked.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t even know what to say about anything anymore.

After a few moments, she spoke again. “I am so sorry for all you’ve gone through.”

That hit him hard. He hadn’t expected that, and he didn’t want her pity. Never. His voice was a hoarse whisper when he spoke, and the words were not planned. “Life happens,” he heard himself say simply. “We had ours planned, everything to live for, then it was all gone. Just like that. Gone.” He choked out the last word, and swallowed hard.

“When my father walked out,” Grace said, barely above a whisper, “I made up this game, the ‘What-If Game.’ I even wrote the what-ifs down. What if he left because some bad guys were after him, and he left to protect us? What if he left to make his fortune so he could come back and get us? What if...?” She laughed softly, but there wasn’t a whole lot of humor in the sound. “None of the ‘what-ifs’ prepared me for reality. Not one of them was about him being in a poker game and winning a ranch and giving it to me without ever having to see me. None of them.”

Jack turned enough to see her hands clenched on her thighs.

Grace took a deep breath before continuing. “None of them were about him giving a huge opportunity to a grandchild he’d never met and never wanted to meet. But he did. That’s my reality, and it’s incredible. No more streets we can’t walk on, where no one knows you or cares to know you, or schools where they have metal detectors. I’d felt for so long that I couldn’t protect Lilly, couldn’t provide her with the life I wanted to, and now I can, because of my father.”

He let his gaze slide up the sweep of her throat, the delicate chin lifted just a bit. “I can’t believe he left you.”

She swallowed, then slowly turned to him. There were no tears, just an expression on her face that seemed resigned. “He did. He couldn’t handle a family. He didn’t want to handle a family, and that meant me. But even so, he gave me the one thing I really needed, probably because he simply didn’t want it.”

“What about Lilly’s father?” he asked.

“I told you, he left well before Lilly was born. He didn’t even want to see her. The divorce was finalized by mail.”

He put his hand over hers where it rested on her thigh. “He was a fool,” he said. “To have it all and turn his back on it. A real fool.”

Slowly, Grace turned her hand under his, and laced her fingers with his. It almost made it impossible for him to breathe for a moment. Her heat and softness. He wanted it. He needed it, but he felt so guilty. Robyn was everything to him. He couldn’t just let that all go. He couldn’t just turn his back and pretend that he was a whole man—it wouldn’t be doing justice in a sense, but this woman was truly special to him.

But he didn’t release his hold on her hand. He couldn’t. Then he said something that he’d barely admitted to himself. “I almost can’t hear Robyn’s voice anymore.” He stopped, feeling like a fool, and he would have pulled back from her if her hold on him hadn’t tightened.

The connection overwhelmed him. He felt as if he finally had found a lifeline. No, maybe a mere thread to grasp, but it was more than he’d had before he’d heard her breathe his name. And the old man’s words were there again. “It’s your life to live, Jack, and only you can live it. What it is or isn’t, is up to you.” He felt a lifting of pressure, and he could actually take a breath into his lungs.

He stood, trying to absorb what was happening when Grace moved to stand by him. As if she understood it all, she reached out and went into his arms, hugging him tightly around his waist, burying her face in his chest. Both of them held on for dear life, for what seemed forever.

Until she stirred, moving back enough to lift her arms around his neck and gently pull him down to her. The kiss came from her this time, without hesitation, and as her lips met his, he could almost breathe in the taste of her. That was what he wanted, her, like this, and although it was insane, he cared for her, deeply. It couldn’t be real love. That only happened once in a lifetime, but he also knew that whatever this was, he wanted it. He wanted her.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

G
RACE
KNEW
THAT
she’d become connected to this place, to the land, but she’d had no idea until yesterday that she was becoming connected to Jack. She could almost feel his pain, and she wanted to help him. But she couldn’t. She’d thought she wanted a man like Jack to love, but she’d been wanting Jack all that time. He could touch her on some level no man ever had, but she couldn’t let that happen. He was grieving for his lost wife, and she had no wish to be some “fill-in” for that loss.

She’d made mistakes, one huge mistake, and it had come from impulse and need. She couldn’t let that happen again. Not to her, not to him, and especially not to Lilly. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done, to ease back from his embrace, to give up his heat and strength, and say, “We need to get back to your parents’ ranch.”

Jack reached out and cupped her chin with his strong hand. “How did you know where to find me?”

“Your mother said you probably had to think a lot of things out, and I realized you’d be here.” She tried to smile, despite his touch still on her skin. “I rode all the way up here on Lucy and didn’t fall off. I didn’t even know if I could find the place on my own, but I did.”

“Yes, you did.” His voice was rough, and he dipped his head to hers, his lips brushing hers with the ghost of a kiss this time. But it made her tremble and she moved to break the contact.

“We have to get back.” She needed distance. It would be too easy to just act and not think. Far too easy.

He took her hand in his, leading her back through the opening, across the grass and down the path to the waiting horses. “You actually rode here all alone?”

She nodded. “Your mother was worried, and so was I.”

He came to her, and for a frantic moment, she thought he was going to hold her again, but instead, he lifted her onto Lucy’s back. Once in the saddle, Grace settled, and as Jack mounted his horse, she let him lead the way and Lucy fell in step behind him.

* * *

T
HEY
RODE
TO
the ranch in silence, and Jack found himself starting his own “what-ifs.” What if he could love again? What if he could let someone else become the center of his world? He understood one thing right then. Either he figured out what was happening between him and Grace, or he’d have to give her up.

“Jack?”

He glanced back at her. “You okay?”

“Yes, but maybe you should call your mother and let her know you’re okay?”

He’d turned off his phone as soon as he’d left the ranch that morning. Digging into his jeans’ pocket, he pulled it out and powered it up. “You’re right,” he said as the screen came to life.

He stopped the horse as soon as he saw a number of voice messages. The first few were from his mother, asking when he’d be back at the ranch. He smiled at Grace as she came up beside him on Lucy, but the next message made him freeze.

“Son, please turn on your phone. I need to find Grace right away.”

The next message was more frantic. “Lilly’s been hurt, and we’re taking her to the hospital. Moses is waiting for us at the E.R. She needs her mother.” He drew back, looked at the time and realized the last call was just fifteen minutes ago. He tried to think of what to say to Grace. But she understood something was wrong before he opened his mouth.

“Jack, what’s happening?”

He didn’t hedge. “Lilly got hurt at the ranch, and they’re going to the hospital.”

Her face blanched, and she reached over and grabbed him by the arm. “What happened?”

“Mom didn’t say, just that Moses was waiting for them at the E.R.”

She pulled away, nudging her horse to go, and he found himself riding behind her back to the ranch. He passed their horses over to a stable hand, then followed Grace at a run to get to his Jeep.

She sat rigidly in the seat, her hands clasped tightly in her lap, her eyes straight ahead. “Please, hurry,” she said urgently.

Jack took off for the main road. He pulled out his phone and put in a call to John. “Hey, I need a favor. I’m heading for town and going too fast, but I need to get to the hospital.”

“Who’s hurt?” the chief of police asked immediately.

“Grace’s daughter. I need you to get me through town without any accidents.”

“You got it.” The line went dead.

Jack glanced over at Grace again. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. If he could, he would make a law that nothing bad would ever happen to her, or to those she loved. Stupid. But he meant it, and he knew that whatever was happening between the two of them, it wasn’t going away. The idea that he didn’t want to make it go away stunned him.

Lights flashed ahead of them, then a siren wailed, as John pulled in front of them from a side road. Just minutes later, Jack was heading up the curved drive to the double E.R. doors. Before the car even stopped, Grace was out, running through the automatic doors.

Jack knew all too well where to go as he left the Jeep at the entrance and went after Grace.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

J
ACK
APPROACHED
HIS
MOTHER
,
who was standing at the first cubicle. He tapped her shoulder and when she turned, she hugged him fiercely. He glanced over at Gabriella nearby, noticing how pale and drawn she was.

“I just turned my back for a moment,” Grace’s mother said in a shaky voice, starting to wring her hands.

“She fell off the horse?” he asked.

“No, she’d already ridden and done well, but she got up on the fence to watch Walter, the trainer, working a horse and fell backwards. She broke her arm.” Tears were coming now, and Lark reached out to gather the crying woman to her.

“It’s a messy break,” Lark told Jack, “not a simple fracture. Moses said he needs to get some input before attempting to set it.”

Jack couldn’t do anything in the E.R. cubicle, but he could make a call. “I’ll be back,” he said and jogged outside, through the security doors and waiting room to the spot where he’d left his Jeep. Taking out his cell phone, he put in a call to an old friend, Bryan Stater, a kid he’d gone through school with. Bryan had left Wolf Lake and become one of the top pediatric orthopedic surgeons in the country.

The phone rang three times before he heard his friend’s voice, then explained the situation. He gave Bryan the number for Moses, then ended the call and went back inside.

His mother and Gabriella turned to him as he approached the cubicle. “I called Bryan,” he said to his mother.

Right then, Moses’s assistant walked up, pulled the curtain back and handed the doctor a house phone. All Jack was aware of was Grace hovering over the gurney that held her daughter, such a tiny thing on the huge bed. Grace was speaking softly to Lilly, whose eyes were closed as she made low sobbing sounds. Her broken arm was elevated on a pillow with an IV attached to her good arm.

Moses spoke into the phone. “Bryan, yes, that’s about it. I ordered another set of X-rays for the angles.” He listened. “Yes, anything at all. It’s appreciated.”

He got off the phone, and Grace straightened slightly to turn to him. “Why aren’t you doing something for the pain?”

“She’s getting pain medication through the IV, and we’re going to fix her up perfectly,” he said, then glanced over and nodded at Jack. “I’m consulting with the best pediatric orthopedist in the country.”

Grace paled even more if that were possible. “Oh, I don’t know if my insurance will cover that sort of thing.” She shook her head. “I mean, I want the best, you know, I really do, but—”

“Don’t worry. Bryan Stater is a former local. He knows a whole lot about setting a kid’s broken arm and he owes me and a few people around here, a favor or two.”

“Thank you,” Grace said, laying her hand on her daughter’s forehead.

Jack stood off to the side. He hated being in a hospital, especially in the E.R.—too many bad memories.

Moses spoke to Lilly. “I’ll be right back to give you a ride.” Then he looked at Grace. “I need to check with Doctor Stater, then we’ll get her into an operating room.” He hesitated. “No allergies, right?”

“None that I know of, but she’s never broken anything before.”

“That’s great, very good,” he said, patting Grace’s shoulder.

Jack admired Moses’ bedside manner. He was calming both Grace and the child. And that night in the past when Robyn had been brought in, Moses had been there too. He’d done all he could, both for Robyn and for Jack. A solid rock for Jack in the middle of a life suddenly destroyed.

Moses looked at Jack closely as he asked, “You okay?”

“Yes,” he lied.

He wasn’t, but he couldn’t make himself walk away. He’d called Bryan to pull him into the case, and he should just leave, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave Grace. All he could do was stand there, feeling helpless once again

* * *

G
RACE
REACHED
TO
hold her mother. “It’s going to be okay. She’s going to be okay,” she repeated, as much to convince herself of that fact as to convince her mother.

“She just slipped. I was right there, and she twisted and fell back off the top rail.” Gabriella swiped at her face with a handful of tissues. “I grabbed, but I wasn’t fast enough.”

“Oh, Mom, you couldn’t help it. Lilly’s so quick.” Grace patted her mother’s back. “Dr. Blackstone is very good.”

Lark nodded. “He’s the best.”

“See, Lilly’s getting good care.” Grace let go of her mother and turned to the gurney again. As she did, she caught sight of Jack just standing there, watching. Their eyes met, his dark with concern.

Moses came back in with a team who worked in perfect harmony, getting the bed higher, the IV strapped to the metal side. A nurse took Lilly’s vitals, and someone from the hallway asked, “ETA?”

Moses looked at the clock on the wall. “Two to three. We’re on our way.” He turned to Grace. “You can walk with her to the doors of the O.R., if you want.”

She’d go into the operating room with her daughter if she could, Grace thought. Instead she held Lilly’s good hand as the gurney was pushed through the E.R.

Arriving at the O.R. was a blur. She kissed Lilly, promising to be right there when she woke up. The child’s eyes were heavy, then she smiled faintly, and Grace had to force back tears until the team pushed Lilly through the doors and out of her sight.

Then the tears came, and she turned, almost running into Jack, who had walked behind her without her even knowing. He looked down at her, and she did what felt to be the most natural thing to her. She walked into his arms and let him hold her against him while she cried. There were no, “Things will work out,” or, “Everything’s going to be okay,” platitudes that came so easily at a time like that. Just his strong arms around her and the sound of his heart beating steadily against her cheek...

Grace couldn’t let go of Jack. She was afraid if she did, her legs wouldn’t hold her. Thankfully, he shifted, pulling her against his side, and led her back to a waiting room. For three hours, people came and went, Lark, her mother, Mr. Carson, Mallory from the bed-and-breakfast, but Jack never left. He stayed right by her, holding her hand, not needing to talk. But he listened to her, to her guilt over leaving Lilly, at not remembering to take her own cell phone with her on the ride, anything and everything, and Jack just listened.

Then the door opened and Moses came in. He looked exhausted, but he managed a smile. “She came through it with flying colors. The fracture was complicated, but it should heal completely with no loss of mobility in the arm or the hand.”

Grace felt the weight of the world slip off her shoulders. “Oh, thank you, thank you. When can I see her?”

Moses shrugged. “She’ll be in ICU until she comes around. Why don’t you go and freshen up, and I’ll call you or a nurse will call when Lilly’s awake.”

“No,” she said without a pause, “I’m not leaving. My mother can get me whatever I need.”

“I didn’t think you’d fall for that,” Moses said with a smile. “Wait twenty minutes, then go to ICU and tell them I sent you. Lilly should be settled there by then.”

Grace stood, her legs slightly wobbly. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said to Moses.

“I didn’t do it alone. Doctor Stater was on the line with me the whole time. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

Jack was beside her, not touching her now, but so close she could feel his heat. She was grateful, so very grateful to so many people. Moses excused himself, and left.

“Oh, my,” Lark said softly. “That is such good news.”

Gabriella sat by her, nodding, but still looking pale. “That poor baby.”

Lark patted her hand, then stood. “Let’s go and see if we can find a toy in this place for Lilly when she wakes up.”

Gabriella agreed, and the two women left for the gift shop. Grace looked at Jack. “Thank you so much for getting me back here, and...and for staying.”

He turned to her and gently brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “I’m just sorry this happened.”

“Kids,” she said. “You can’t keep up with them. Things happen, but I’m so grateful that Lilly is getting such good care.”

Jack looked as if he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t. Instead, he bent and brushed her lips with his. When he drew back, he just gazed down at her. Did she want a man like Jack Carson to love? Or did she want Jack Carson?

“I’m going to find where ICU is,” she said, not wanting to face the answer to that question.

He didn’t go with her, but said as she went out the door, “Follow the yellow line on the floor.”

“Thank you,” she said. The ICU was in the west wing, two floors up. When she reached the admittance door, she ran into Moses. He held the door for her, motioned her to follow him and led the way to one of the glass-fronted rooms arranged around the nurses’ station. Lilly was lying in a huge bed, tubes in her good arm, and her injured arm wrapped in something that looked like an Ace bandage. “She doesn’t have a cast?”

“She will,” Moses said. “She’s up here until we’re sure from the X-rays that everything’s as it should be. Then we can make a cast that she can draw flowers on.”

Grace held her daughter’s limp hand, watching each breath she took, listening to the machines by the bed beeping softly in the background. “Are you sure she’s just sleeping?”

“Half and half. She’s sleeping, but she’s also being sedated by medication.” He looked at the machine with its bobbing graphs and multitude of switches and buttons. “She’s doing very well. She’s a strong little girl. We’ll keep her here for a few hours, then get a regular room for her one floor down.”

“When can she go home?”

He shrugged. “Let’s play that by ear. Maybe as early as tomorrow, but it might be a few days.”

As if he read her mind, he said, “We make concessions for parents so they can sleep at the hospital to be near their kids. Do you want me to set that up for you?”

“Oh, yes, please,” she said. She wasn’t going to go anywhere while Lilly was here.

When Moses left, Grace pulled a chair close to the bed and sank down on it, reaching for Lilly’s good hand. Two hours later a tall man with a buzz haircut came into the room with Jack. He smiled at Grace. “Mrs. Evans?” he asked in a deep, resonant voice.

Grace got to her feet, glancing at Jack, then at the stranger. “Yes, Grace Evans.”

“I’m Doctor Stater, Bryan Stater. Jack called me about your daughter, and when I got the X-rays from Moses, I decided it would be best if I just came out here in person.”

He flew all the way from Atlanta? “Thank you,” she finally said, then motioned to Lilly. “She...she hasn’t woken up yet, but the doctor said she needs to remain sedated for a while. They’ll fit the cast when they know the operation was successful.”

“That’s right. I’m going to review the surgery, but first I wanted to see Lilly and meet you.” He motioned to Jack. “I hear you’re the proud owner of his grandpa’s spread.”

She nodded. “It’s a long story.”

“Then we’ll have to make time to talk about it, but right now, Lilly is our most important business.”

“Yes, yes, she is.” Grace watched the doctor check Lilly and read the chart. The longer he looked and didn’t say anything, the more nervous Grace felt.

Jack came closer, and slipped an arm around her shoulders. It took all her willpower to not lean into him. “Thank you for calling him,” she said.

“Sure.” His gaze turned to hers for a long moment. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m not important right now,” she said.

“Oh, yes you are. You’re the world to that child, and that makes you very, very important.” He tightened his hold on her and she stopped fighting her need and leaned against him.

“I can’t imagine not having Lilly in my life,” she managed to get out in a choked voice.

“It’s hard to watch someone you love so much be in pain. So hard. But I’ve got a feeling this is all going to turn out just fine.”

She heard his words and knew he was talking about loving his wife so much and not being able to do anything to help her. “It has to,” she said.

Doctor Stater stripped off the gloves he’d been using and walked around to where she and Jack stood. “I give you my word that your daughter will be fine. She’s just going to need some therapy and time to heal, but the surgery looks perfect.”

Grace felt almost weak. She turned into Jack and buried her face in his chest. She’d be okay. She’d need therapy, but Lilly would heal. Grace felt a hand on her back. It was Doctor Stater.

“I’ll send them in to get the cast done, then get her in a private room and out of here.”

Grace couldn’t speak, but heard Jack say, “Thanks, Bryan.”

“You know I’m there for you, and those you care about.”

Then she heard the doctor walk out, his shoes tapping on the tiled floors.

Grace tipped her head back to look at Jack. He’d been terrific, and he’d never have any idea what it meant to her. But she owed him.

He touched her cheek with the tip of his forefinger. “You know, you need to find your mother.”

“Oh, my gosh, I forgot,” Grace said. She checked on Lilly one last time, kissed her sleeping daughter, then went with Jack out of ICU and in search of Lark and Gabriella.

Jack motioned to an arched doorway ahead. “She’ll be in there,” he said. “It’s the main waiting room for ICU.”

“Oh, thanks,” she said and started toward it, immediately realizing that Jack wasn’t going with her. Before she stepped through the doorway, she turned back and saw Jack leaning against the wall, his shoulders hunched, head bowed. Both hands covered his face.

She felt sick. Of course. This must be where his wife had died, in this same unit. In a way he must be reliving that time. Her heart ached for him when she saw the weariness in his body, that bow of defeat. Torn between going inside and going back to Jack, she closed her eyes.

“Gracie?”

She turned to see Gabriella coming toward her from the square waiting room. Her mother pulled her into a tight hug, with Lark and Herbert Carson right behind her. Behind them stood Parrish.

“Oh, Mom,” Grace said, tears precariously close to the surface. But she wouldn’t let them fall, not now, not when the news was so good. “She’s going to be okay. Doctor Stater flew all the way here to check on Lilly, and he said that the operation was a terrific success. She might even be able to go home tomorrow or the next day.”