A Second Chance (6 page)

He stood and raked his fingers through
his hair. “I can’t believe you. I can’t believe you’d just push me
to the side. I want to take care of you.”

“
Carlos, I’m not yours to
take care of.”

He could feel his heart being squeezed
by her words, and his body temperature began to rise as his anger
surfaced. “And whose fault is that?”

“
Excuse me?”

“
Nothing,” he said throwing
his hands in the air. “Nothing.”

“
Listen, we ended this five
years ago. Move on.”

“
That’s what you
want?”

“
Yes.”

“
Fine. Tell your parents
I’ll bring the kids anytime. I’m gone.” He turned and walked out of
the room with his hands balled into fists by his sides. If he were
anywhere but the damn hospital, he’d put his fist through the wall.
How dare she dismiss him like that? When you loved someone you
wanted to take care of her.

He stopped in the middle of the hall
and let the thought wash over him.

Of course he loved her. They shared a
family. But she was right. She wasn’t his to worry about anymore.
The thought made him sick, but he walked out of the hospital
knowing this was what she wanted, no matter how wrong he thought
she was.

As soon as the door closed, Madeline
let lose the flood of tears that she’d been holding back. That had
been the hardest thing she’d done since the day they both decided
separating was best for them. She sank down in her bed and
sobbed.

Her heart was breaking, and that hurt
worse than the throbbing in her chest from her stitches and
bandages. She loved him. She loved him so much. How could she hurt
him by tearing him from the woman he now loved? He’d hate her for
it if Kathy ever left. She’d done the right thing. No matter how
much it hurt her, she had to make sure he moved on.

“
Madeline?”

She turned as the door opened and Matt
walked through. The pain that rolled in her stomach from telling
Carlos to leave had balled into a solid mass of anger when she saw
Matt’s face. She didn’t want him there, and someone had told him
what had happened.

Carlos drove around the block four
times, trying to control his anger before he pulled into the
driveway.

Damn her! He’d always wanted the best
for her, and damnit, now he wanted to help her. Well, fine! He’d
done what he could and that was all he could do.

He threw the car into park. Damnit! He
hit the steering wheel and threw his head back against the seat.
Why did it have to continue to be so hard?

Turning his head toward the house, he
saw Kathy standing on the back step, watching him. She gave him a
smile, but he assumed it was as forced as it looked. He blew out
another breath. To hell with it. He was going to move
on.

“
Hey,” was all he could
think to say as he climbed out of the car.

She walked down the steps and into his
arms. “Hey.”

He held her there, taking in the
comfort of her love. She tipped her head back and looked at him.
“Is she doing better today?”

“
Yeah, she’s fine. Matt
should be there now.” He realized he hadn’t told her Matt’d said
he’d stop by. That would have Madeline even more pissed at him. It
wasn’t his concern, he had to remember that. She was very clear
about it. “Her parents will be there in the morning. They’ll take
care of her.”

“
You did right calling Matt
and taking the kids.”

“
I suppose.” He gazed into
her deep blue eyes. Her hair was pulled back, and it gave him the
perfect view of her beautiful face. “Thank you for being so
understanding. I don’t think everyone in your position would have
been.”

“
She’s the mother of your
children. I’d expect you to care.”

Well, at least Kathy understood it
even if Madeline didn’t. “I love you,” he said and swallowed hard
past the lump in his throat.

“
I love you too.”

“
I’ve been thinking.” He
pulled her in tighter. “Marry me.”

She laughed a nervous laugh. “Wow, I
didn’t see that coming.”

“
I don’t see any reason I
should wait to ask. Will you marry me?”

She didn’t answer right away. Maybe
his luck with the women in his life was in a bad way today. “You
can think about it.”

“
I’ve done that a lot
lately.” Kathy wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a warm,
accepting kiss to his lips. “I would be honored to be your
wife.”

Madeline had drifted off to sleep
while she was talking to Matt. When she opened her eyes, he was
still there. “I’m sorry. These pain medications make me so
tired.”

“
No, it’s okay.” His voice
cracked, and she knew he was nervous being in her presence. He
never had dealt with crisis or illness well. It was why he’d
decided to move to Kentucky. It was easier for him to run away from
all of his problems than to stay and face them. “I talked to your
nurse. I was trying to see how things were going for you, but she
said I wasn’t on the list so she couldn’t tell me
anything.”

“
I’m sorry, again.” She
shook her head. She was the one in the hospital, so why was the one
saying sorry all the time? “I didn’t intend to tell you about the
cancer. I didn’t intend to tell anyone.”

“
Carlos called
me.”

Madeline nodded. She should have known
he would. Wasn’t it funny, as mad as she was at Matt for even
standing there in front of her, she couldn’t be mad at Carlos. He
always did what he thought was right. “I should have figured he’d
find you somehow.”

“
He told me Curtis caught
you.”

“
Yeah, I hadn’t even thought
there’d be a chance he’d see me here.”

He darted his eyes around the room,
something he did when he couldn’t bear to be around
someone.

“
How long will you be
staying?” she asked, noting that the uneasy feeling between them
was mutual.

He cleared his throat and gave a
glance toward the door and back to her. “Oh, I can stay as long as
you’d like me to.”

“
My parents are on their
way, so really you don’t need to uproot your life for
me.”

Again, he only nodded. The silence was
suffocating her, and she knew he was as uncomfortable as she was.
When he stood and paced the room with his hands in his pockets, she
knew for a fact it would be the last time she’d see him. In his
head he was working up one of his speeches—because Matt didn’t make
excuses. When he was ready to tell you what was on his mind, he
did. “This might not be the time to do this, but I want to
apologize for everything that happened between us.”

There was a heaviness in her chest,
the kind that came with years of regret. “Matt, I think since the
day we decided to get married, we knew it wasn’t going to be
forever.”

“
Yeah.” He ran his fingers
through his hair. “You deserved better than me. I never should have
asked you to marry me. You were still in love with Carlos, and I
ruined a twenty-year friendship with someone I considered my
brother.”

Damn the drugs. Tears were filling her
eyes, and she shouldn’t care at this point. She was lying here
bandaged up because they were trying to save her life. “Are you
sorry you married me?”

“
No, I’m not sorry.” He
cleared his throat again. “It was great, while it lasted.” Finally,
he sat back down, and she adjusted to see him better. “It’s just
that I think when two people share their lives, they should love
each other. I mean…” He was stumbling through his words. “What I
want to say is… well… I did love you. I loved you like one of my
best friends. You know?” She nodded. That’s how she’d felt and she
agreed. They should have been in love. “The hardest part was to
know that you loved Carlos and you still do.”

He was right again. It was always
obvious that she loved Carlos more than she ever loved Matt.
Acknowledging that only gave the pain she was feeling more depth as
it drove into the pit of her stomach.

He stood again and paced. “God, this
is killing me.”

“
Matt, what’s going on?” She
tried to sit up, but the bandages and wires held her in
place.

“
I shouldn’t have
come.”

“
Then why did you?” Her
voice slipped into anger, and by the look in his eyes he’d
noticed.

“
I needed to make sure you
were okay.”

“
I’m fine. I’ll live. For
now anyway.”

He pursed his lips. “That’s not
funny.”

“
It’s not supposed to
be.”

“
I’m getting married.” The
words hit her like a fist in the stomach.

“
Married?”

“
Yeah. I didn’t want to tell
you like this…”

“
My guess, Matthew, is that
you didn’t want to tell me at all!” The anger inside of her ramped
up her heart rate. She heard the beeping on the machine speed up,
and she took a deep breath.

“
You should calm
down.”

“
Go to hell. You’ve been
gone one month. Did you move on so quickly? Did I mean so
little?”

He shot a look at the door again. “I
think I should go.”

“
I think you should be
honest with me.” The monitor to her side began beeping even faster,
and she wondered if a nurse would burst through the door and make
him leave, but no one came.

“
You want me to be honest?”
For the first time he made eye contact with her. “Fine.” He stuffed
his hands back into his pockets. “After Regan found out she was
pregnant, you began pulling out pictures of you and Carlos and the
kids. They were everywhere. You called him more often. You had
lunch with him to discuss the kids. God, Madeline, it was like you
had both of us on a string.”

The deep breaths she’d been trying to
take stuck in her lungs. She’d done that. She’d been that
insensitive, and she didn’t know it. “I’m sorry if I got
sentimental.”

“
It’s just that, well, I
couldn’t get a grip on it. I couldn’t share in that joy with you. I
didn’t love you like he loved you.” He sat back down and took her
hand in his. “I strayed. God, it hurts to tell you that. I had an
affair. I fell in love. I’ve never felt this way
before.”

Now she was holding her breath to
stifle the anger. But tears that should have surfaced because her
husband was telling he he’d fallen in love with someone else never
came.

He looked away and then back at her.
“She’s pregnant and we’re getting married and having a
baby.”

“
Nice and tidy,” she said
through gritted teeth.

“
Yeah, well just think,
maybe you and Carlos can work things out. He’s spent the last five
years waiting for our marriage to fall apart so he could have you
back.”

“
You are so stupid.” She
snapped out the words so fiercely that pain shot through her and
had her biting back a scream. “Have you not listened to the kids
for the last six months? He’s in love with someone and she just
moved in with him. They’ll probably get married.”

“
Oh.” He stood. “I guess I
didn’t realize…”

“
You should have stayed in
Kentucky.”

“
Listen, if there is
anything I can do for you…”

“
You can get the hell out of
my room and go on with your life. Your community service here is
done.” She rolled away from him, wincing from the pain it caused,
and didn’t turn back until she heard the door close behind
him.

Her parents were there when she woke
the next morning. Her mother had been crying for two days straight
and couldn’t even look at her. How was she supposed to be of any
help?

Her father sat in the corner of her
room and just watched her mother fidget. These were the reasons she
hadn’t wanted to tell anyone about her surgery.

As the day crept into evening, the
door had opened and her children had walked through. Finally, she
thought, people who brought her real joy.

Each of them hugged her and then their
grandparents. Even Christian had made it into the room and to her
side before backing against a wall, neutral like her
father.

She looked up into Eduardo’s dark, sad
eyes. “I didn’t expect you.”

“
Dad wanted us to see you.”
Eduardo held her hand. “You look better.”

“
I’m feeling a little
better. They’ll take my drain tubes out, and I’ll be out in a day
or so.”

“
When you get home we want
to stay with you. We’ve all discussed it. We want to help you
though this.”

“
I think that would be
wonderful.” She patted her son’s hand. “Where’s your
dad?”

Eduardo exchanged glances with
Christian. “Kathy brought us.”

“
Oh.” She was disappointed.
She never should have been so nasty to him. “Kathy could have come
in with you,” she offered.

Eduardo ran his hand over the back of
his neck. “I think she feels a little funny about that. I think
she’s wigging out now that they’re getting married.”