A Marriage Made in Texas (The Brothers Kincaid) (17 page)

“Right. How many diapers did you ruin?”

“Only four.”

They both laughed. “So, how’s married life treating you?” Mark asked.

“Good.” He thought about that and frowned. “Most of the time.”

Mark lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah? Trouble in paradise?”

Jay shrugged. If he couldn’t talk to his brother, who could he talk to? “Is Cat stubborn about money? I mean, is it a family trait I need to be aware of?”

“Stubborn how? Cat’s an accountant.” He looked at the parrot, who was playing with his bells. “When she’s not rehabbing birds, anyway. She’s careful with money.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s—” He broke off, rocking a
bit and thinking how to put it into words. “I don’t know, it’s like Gail is obsessed with supporting herself, and Mel and Roxy. Hell, I had to twist her arm to get her to let me pay for the household expenses.” Remembering that conversation, he snorted. “She actually wanted to split the expenses.”

“Oh, I get it.” Mark nodded. “It probably has something to do with the way that son of a bitch Barry left them high and dry. After that, anyone would be obsessed with supporting themselves. I know Cat said Gail had hell for a couple of years, until she got her real estate license.”

Left them high and dry? “What are you talking about?” Jay asked sharply.

Mark looked surprised. “You know. How he walked out with all the money. Gail had to borrow from her mother until she got on her feet.” Mark stared at him, his expression clouding. “You didn’t know.”

Grimly, Jay shook his head. “No. Gail forgot to mention that little detail. You want to fill me in? Since my wife didn’t see fit to.”

“Oh, man.” Mark shoved his hands through his hair. “Why hasn’t she told you?”

“That’s easy. Because she doesn’t trust me.” So that’s what she’d been hiding. “Go on, Mark.”

“I don’t know much more than that. She came home one day and bam—he’d left with damn near everything they had. She didn’t see a dime from the bastard until he moved back to town, two years after he’d left.”

That explained a lot. “Thanks for the info. Too bad my wife didn’t consider telling me this.”

“Maybe she thought you already knew. I did.”

“Believe me, she doesn’t think that.” He shook his head. “I asked her point-blank, last night. No, she kept it from me deliberately.” Because, once again, she didn’t trust him. At least now he had a better idea why she found it hard to trust. Or maybe impossible to trust.

Miranda began fussing. Jay put her on his shoulder and patted her back.

“Do you want me to take her?”

“No, I’m fine.” He rubbed her back and she quieted. “But if she dirties another diaper, she’s all yours.”

Mark laughed. “Like I said, you need to get used to it.” They were quiet a moment, then he asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. Hope I can get Gail to trust me enough to tell me. Confronting her wouldn’t do any good.”

“Probably not.” He paused a moment. “Have you told her you’re in love with her?”

“No.” He glanced at his brother, now smiling at him sympathetically. “I just figured it out the other night. How did you know?”

“Been there, done that. I know the symptoms.” Mark got up and walked over to the rocking chair. “Come here, sweetheart,” he said, taking the baby from Jay.

He cuddled her a minute, then looked at his
brother. “Go home and tell her, Jay. Women really go nuts over that kind of thing.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said. “Thanks, Mark.”

Could it be that simple? Jay wondered as he drove home. Would telling Gail he loved her solve the problem? Somehow, he couldn’t imagine that it would, regardless of what his brother said.

It might even make things worse.

G
AIL HELPED
M
EL
back into bed following another episode of dry heaves. “Are you sure you didn’t get sick over at your Daddy’s, honey?” It seemed odd to Gail that the child had yet to actually throw up.

“No,” Mel wailed. “I told you I didn’t. It hurts, Mommy. Make it stop.” She rolled her small body into a ball and began to cry again.

That’s it, Gail decided. She was married to a doctor, for heaven’s sake. It would be stupid not to call him. She passed her hand over Mel’s forehead. Hotter than just a few minutes before, she thought. “I’ll be right back, sweetie. You just rest a minute.”

She had just punched in the number when Jay walked in. “Oh, good,” she said with relief, hanging up. “I was just about to call your cell phone.”

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He tossed his keys down and crossed swiftly to her side.

“I’m fine. But Mel’s not feeling well. I just brought her back from Barry’s. He said she’s been complaining of a stomachache off and on since last night.”

She’d asked Barry why he hadn’t called her the night before. She knew full well that if Barry thought
the kids had any kind of communicable disease, he’d send them back to her as quickly as possible.

As usual, he’d shrugged her concern aside. “It’s a stomachache, Gail, not the bubonic plague,” he’d said. “She’ll get over it.”

“Do you want me to take a look at her?” Jay asked her.

“Would you mind?”

Apparently, he didn’t think that worth commenting. “I’ll get my bag. Hang on, it’s in the car.”

When he returned he asked, “Where is she, in her room?”

Nodding, Gail followed him. “Thanks. I know it’s probably nothing, but her stomachaches don’t usually last this long. She’s been having dry heaves, but she hasn’t thrown up. She says she didn’t get sick at Barry’s either.” Except for one time with the flu, Gail couldn’t remember another stomach problem so severe.

“Did you take her temperature?”

They could hear Mel crying as they approached the room. “Yes. It’s a hundred and one.”

“Could be the flu,” he said, entering the room. “Hi, Mel. Your mom says you have a stomachache.” He sat beside her and put a hand to her forehead. “Are you sick to your stomach?”

Mel nodded, her breath catching, tears trembling on her eyelashes. “Wanna throw up. Only I can’t.”

“Will you let me feel your tummy?”

Mel remained curled in a fetal ball. “It hurts.”

“I know, baby.” He managed to get her to raise
her head enough so he could put his fingers on the glands of her throat. “Glands aren’t swollen. How about letting me look in your throat?”

Mel allowed that, and also let him listen to her chest with his stethoscope. With a good deal of coaxing and persuading on both Gail’s and Jay’s part, they finally managed to get her stretched out on her back so he could examine her thoroughly.

Jay pressed gently on her stomach in various places, asking each time if it hurt. She complained that it did during the entire procedure. Gail didn’t really see that it was getting them anywhere. Then he pressed on her lower right abdomen and she screamed.

Gail’s heart almost stopped at Mel’s cry of pain.

Jay’s eyes lifted to meet hers. “Right lower quadrant abdominal pain is a classic symptom of appendicitis. So is the nausea she’s been experiencing.” He began putting away his instruments and continued talking. “We need to get her to the hospital, get a white count, and have a surgeon examine her. I know a good surgeon over at Varner Memorial. I’ll call him and let him know we’re coming.”

His glance fell to Mel’s face and he smiled reassuringly. “Your mom and I are taking you to the hospital, Mel. They’ll make you feel better real soon.”

“Okay,” Mel said in a tiny voice. Then she closed her eyes and curled up again.

“Appendicitis?” Gail repeated.

“I think it’s likely.” Jay rose and took her arm,
walking her toward the door. “Throw some stuff together and get Mel ready to go.”

“We’re going to the hospital? You’re calling a surgeon?” Stunned, Gail put a hand to her throat as his words finally started to sink in. “Do you really think she needs surgery?” Neither of her girls had ever had an operation. Or anything significant wrong with them.

“It’s a possibility.” His arm came around her and he gave her a brief, bracing hug. “But it’s not a certainty by any means. There are other things that can cause similar symptoms. The flu, for one. We’ll know more once we get her to the hospital and run some tests.”

“Are you calling an ambulance?” She marveled that she could speak at all, much less calmly. Maybe it was the surreal feel to the situation that enabled her to. She felt as if she were wading through mud. She couldn’t think, couldn’t seem to function. Surgery. That was the only thought that registered. Her baby might need an appendectomy.

Jay glanced back at Mel, frowned, then shook his head. “No, we’ll get there much sooner driving. Remember when Cat went into labor?”

Gail stood there, staring at him. He took hold of her upper arms and squeezed gently, his gaze calm and reassuring. “She’s going to be fine, Gail. But the sooner we get her to the hospital, the better we’ll all feel.”

She gave a jerky nod and sucked in her breath. Her
spine straightened. Mel needed her now. If she had to, she’d fall apart later.

G
AIL STOOD
just outside the hospital entrance, talking to Barry on her cell phone. “Yes, we’re at the hospital. Yes, the close one.” Not that she could remember the name of the damn place right now. She looked on the wall. “Varner Memorial, that’s the one. The surgeon says it’s appendicitis and they want to operate as soon as possible. I can’t talk any more, Barry. I have to get back to Mel while they prep her for surgery.”

“Surgery? Are they sure? This is Kincaid’s doing, isn’t it?”

Gail squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for patience. “Jay thought we should bring her in. And according to the surgeon, he was right. Doctor McGuire himself told me Mel needs an emergency appendectomy. I’ll call you as soon as the operation is over. Tell Roxy I love her.”

“I’m coming to the hospital. I’ll take Roxy to your mother’s place.”

Barry, coming to the hospital? The thought boggled her mind. “Since when do you show up at hospitals?” she couldn’t help asking.

“She’s my child, too, Gail. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

We’ll see,
Gail thought cynically.

Forty-five minutes later, Gail sat in the hospital waiting room, anxiously awaiting word of the operation’s progress. Since they had taken Mel in only
minutes before, she knew it would be a while. Jay sat beside her, holding her hand. She took comfort from that, and also from his calm manner.

Intellectually, she knew an appendectomy was a common operation and most people recovered quite easily. Emotionally, what she knew didn’t matter squat. Her baby was in there, having surgery. She was a wreck.

“Dr. McGuire seems awfully young,” she finally ventured, trying to do something to break the cycle of
what ifs
going on in her mind. The baby-faced surgeon had talked to them both, though he’d spoken to Jay in more technical terms. “Very nice. But so…young.”

Jay smiled. “He’s not as young as he looks, and he’s had a lot of experience. No telling how many appendectomies he’s performed.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “If I had to have surgery, he’s who I’d want to do it. Mel is in good hands, Gail. I promise you that.”

“I know.” If Jay hadn’t trusted the man, she knew he wouldn’t have put Mel in his care. “I’m just scared. She’s never had surgery before. Neither of the girls have had anything major wrong. And Mel’s so…little. She looked so young, lying on that gurney.”

Jay put his arm around her and hugged her, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. “She’ll be fine, Gail. But I guess it’s useless to tell you to try not to worry. You will, until the operation is over.”

She looked at him, trying to gauge his mood. “You’re not worried? Not at all?”

“Sure, I’m concerned, because it’s Mel. I wish she didn’t need the operation, but since she does, I’m glad she’s in good hands.” He hugged her again. “McGuire’s good, Gail. It helps me to know that.”

Barry entered the waiting room a few minutes after that. Even though he’d said he was coming, Gail hadn’t quite believed it. But it was Barry, even if he didn’t look like himself. His normally perfectly groomed hair stood up in spikes, as if he’d run his hands through it, and his eyes were wild with emotion. Gail had grown so accustomed to his expression of boredom, she hadn’t realized he could look, or be, so rattled. It was certainly outside her experience with her ex-husband.

“I’ve been looking all over the damn hospital for you. Is Mel in surgery yet?”

“They started a few minutes ago,” Jay said. “We’ll get periodic calls from the OR updating us on their progress.”

Barry sat down heavily in the chair on the other side of Gail. Elbows on knees, he put his head in his hands. “My God, surgery. I just thought she had a stomachache. How can she need surgery?”

Gail felt a stirring of pity, surprising herself. “A stomachache is one of the symptoms.”

“In a lot of cases, appendicitis mimics the flu,” Jay added.

Barry raised his head and met Gail’s gaze, his own guilt-ridden. “I should have brought her in last night.
I told her to quit whining. If I’d known it was this serious—” He broke off, apparently overcome.

Tentatively, Gail reached out and patted his arm. “I didn’t know it was, either, until Jay looked at her.” Of course, she’d suspected, but there was no need to rub that in to Barry. For once, she honestly believed Barry loved his daughters.

“If you’d brought her in last night, it’s most likely they would have sent her home,” Jay said. “The pain probably didn’t localize to her right side until this morning. Appendicitis takes a while to confirm. Sometimes you end up with several trips to the hospital before they can confirm the diagnosis.”

Barry looked at Jay, his eyes pleading for reassurance. “She’s not—I didn’t make it worse by not bringing her to the hospital?”

“No. Now, if her appendix had ruptured, it would have been much more serious, but we got her here before that happened. And she would have been in more severe pain if that had been the case.” He paused a moment, then squeezed Gail’s hand. “They should be calling soon with an update. We would have heard by now if there had been a complication of that magnitude.”

“Thank God,” Barry said, getting up and walking over to the window. He stood there a moment, his back to them.

Gail stared at him, then looked at Jay. “Who would have ever thought?” she murmured. “He really does love her.”

“It’s impossible not to,” Jay said. “Both of them.”

Gail smiled and squeezed his hand. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Call for you, Dr. Kincaid,” the volunteer manning the phones said some time later.

Barry came to stand by Gail while Jay took the call.

“Everything’s going smoothly,” Jay told them on his return. “The appendix did need to come out, but there are no complications. They said they’d call again when they’re nearing the end.”

“Did they say how much longer?” Gail asked.

“Half an hour or so. Then she’ll go to recovery. It will be an hour and a half or two hours before you can see her.”

“But it’s looking good,” Gail said.

He smiled at her. “It’s looking great,” he agreed.

Barry put his hands in his pockets. “Kincaid, I—” Shifting uncomfortably, he broke off, then started again. “Thanks for getting her here. I appreciate it.” He held out a hand.

Jay shook hands easily. “You don’t have to thank me. I care about Mel and Roxy, too. They’re great kids.”

Barry didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. He cleared his throat and said, “I’m going for a cup of coffee. Either of you want anything?”

“No, thanks,” Jay said.

Gail declined, as well, waiting until Barry had left before turning to Jay. “I had to see it to believe it.
Barry, thanking you for bringing Mel in.” She shook her head in wonder.

“Yeah, it was a bit weird.” He rubbed a hand over his chin and smiled.

“That was a nice thing you did.”

“What?”

“Not making him feel worse about Mel. Was it true, what you said?”

“Yes.” He shrugged. “Most parents would have done the same thing he did. I didn’t see the point in making him feel worse than he already did. He obviously loves Mel, and is worried about her.” He was silent a moment, then added, “But I still think he’s a jerk.”

Gail laughed, surprised she could. “I do, too. And I doubt the change of heart is permanent.” Closing her eyes, she sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. After a moment she opened them to look at Jay. “I’m so glad you’re here with me. You’ve helped me stay sane.”

“I’m glad, too.” He smiled, then cupped her cheek, his gaze turning solemn as he looked at her. “Gail—” He started to speak, then apparently thought better of it. “Never mind. It will keep.”

J
AY HADN’T THOUGHT
it would be so hard to find the right time to tell Gail he loved her. But clearly, when she was totally consumed with her sick child wouldn’t have been the ideal time. And a week later, after Mel had been home for days and life was getting back to normal, he still hadn’t found a good time.

Barry had been coming around a lot more than Jay was comfortable with. He wasn’t sure what to think about the “new” Barry—the one who loved his daughters and was nice to Gail and even pleasant to Jay. But Jay did know one thing.

He didn’t trust him. The man obviously still wanted Gail back, and had no compunction about using his daughters to help him achieve that goal. He might have been grateful to Jay for taking care of his daughter, but that didn’t mean Barry liked Jay any more than Jay liked him. They were rivals, pure and simple.

The problem was, Barry being around more made Mel and Roxy happy, and at this point, Jay would do anything to make the girls happy. Mel’s operation had brought home to him how much he loved Gail’s daughters. He’d fallen for them as quickly and strongly as he had for their mother. So he endured Barry, and told himself Gail had too much sense to go back to a man who’d made her so unhappy.