Heroes In Uniform (253 page)

Then he kissed her, dragged her back up the stairs to her apartment and even though she bitched at him the whole way, he knew that this was going to work. They’d go scatter ashes and buy rings later. Right now he finally had her where he wanted her. In his life. In his heart.

—The End—

About the Author

Toni Anderson

New York Times
and
USA Today
international bestselling author, Toni Anderson, writes dark, gritty Romantic Suspense. Her novels have been nominated for the prestigious Romance Writers of America® RITA® Award, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Daphne du Maurier Awards for Excellence, and National Readers' Choice Awards in Romantic Suspense. Some of her books have been translated into German & Romanian.

A graduate of Marine Biology from the University of Liverpool, and the University of St. Andrews, Toni was a Post-doctoral Research Scientist for several years, and travelled the world with her work. After living in seven different countries, she finally settled in the Canadian prairies with her Irish husband and two children. Now she spends her time talking to the voices in her head and making things up. Toni has no explanation for her oft-times dark imagination, and only hopes the romance makes up for it. She's addicted to reading, dogs, tea (never travels without it), and chocolate. She loves to hear from readers.

Toni's current release is the fourth book in her bestselling Cold Justice Series, COLD FEAR.

www.toniandersonauthor.com

Join Toni's mailing list
HERE
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Additional Books by Toni Anderson

COLD FEAR

HER SANCTUARY
(Her ~ Romantic Suspense Series, Book One)

THE KILLING GAME

EVERLASTING

An Evers, Texas Novel

by Lori Ryan

Everlasting: Chapter One

Wow. Don’t hold back, Dad. Tell him what you really think.

Katelyn Bowden leaned her head back against the icy tile wall of the hospital corridor and listened to her father and Sheriff John Davies argue. The hallway reeked of pine-scented cleaner, a smell that had always set her on edge.

Katelyn gritted her teeth. Her father was dying. She’d come home to be with him during his last weeks—maybe months if they were lucky—and now that she was here, he wanted to send her away. That was nothing new to Katelyn, but her cheeks heated at the thought of John hearing this from her father. Humiliation was becoming an all-too-common feeling for her lately.

“Of course I called her, Alan. You’re in the
hospital
. Why wouldn’t I call your only daughter and tell her to come home?” John asked and Katelyn wasn’t surprised by the confusion in his voice.

Katelyn had heard her father's opinion on her coming home before, albeit a gentler version. She knew exactly what he would say. He probably hadn’t ever shared his thoughts on the topic with John, though. John probably believed Katelyn stayed out of Evers, Texas—her father’s hometown—by choice. People here couldn’t possibly understand her relationship with her father. The only thing the people of Evers saw was a daughter who never came home. They had no idea it was her father who kept her at arm’s length.

Katelyn frowned. Her father didn’t
exactly
keep her at arm’s length. Well, he did and he didn’t. It was complicated. He was loving and caring in his own way with her. Throughout her entire childhood, he’d rarely missed one of his monthly visits to her in Austin, and as sheriff of a large portion of the Texas Hill Country, that was saying something. When he was with her, he doted on her. He simply didn’t want her here, in his world. Katelyn had learned at an early age: she wasn’t ever going to be allowed to come home.

Her father’s tone was harsh and unyielding as he spoke to John in his hospital room, drawing her back to the present. “You send her away, John. You tell her you made a mistake. She...she doesn’t need to see me like this. I’ll go see her when I’m feeling better.”

Ah, a new argument.
Now her father could say he didn’t want her to see him in his current condition. There were some advantages to being on your deathbed, after all.

Katelyn knew if she walked in the room, her father would soften. He’d cajole and persuade instead of demand and order. He’d tell her she should be in Austin, where she’d grown up with her aunt. He’d say she needed to stay near her studio for the sake of her art, be near the gallery that sold her work.

This time was different, though. Katelyn wasn’t going back. She would tell him she already had another artist ready to sublet her studio and she planned to put her condo on the market. She would tell him it was too late to go back. She hadn’t had time to pack much, but she would hire someone to pack the rest of her things and have them sent in the next week or so. Whether her father liked it or not, Katelyn was coming home to Evers.

Of course, neither John nor her father knew she had another reason for being in town. She wouldn’t tell her father the whole story. He didn’t need to know she’d been mortified to discover the man she’d been dating was hiding a wife and newborn infant from her. Or that her so-called friends simply shrugged when she told them and said they thought she knew. Katelyn wasn’t sure whether it said more about her friends that they thought she knew but didn’t care, or more about her. Why would they think she would do something like that? That she’d be that kind of person? When the call had come from John telling her how sick her father was, Katelyn had grabbed at the chance to walk away from it all and start over.

The door to her father’s room opened with no warning and John came storming out. He pulled up short when he spotted her, and she could see the pity on his face when he realized she’d been listening to their argument.

“Katelyn, I....” He reached out a hand, but Katelyn stepped away, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Have you had an update from his doctor? Do they think I’ll be able to take him home soon?” she asked, putting the conversation firmly in the realm she wanted. She wasn’t about to discuss her relationship with her father with anyone—least of all John Davies.

She had started hearing about her father’s Golden Boy when she was twenty-two and he’d come to work for her father, who was sheriff at the time. Her father couldn’t stop talking about the man who would take over his department when he decided to retire. About the man who had become more than someone he mentored. The man who was like a son to him.

When she met John two years later on one of her rare trips to Evers, nothing John had done had been able to make it past the grudge she carried for him. By the time Katelyn met John Davies, she’d been firmly past the point of ever seeing him the way any other woman might. His golden blond hair and mesmerizing eyes might have captured most women’s attention. Of course, she noticed he was tall and built like a tank. A very well-muscled, armored tank with a six-pack to die for and sinewy arms that could make a girl melt. But, she didn’t respond to his natural good looks or his ready, dimpled smile. She didn’t care if he flirted with her or turned on that charm that seemed to come so easily to him. Katelyn had seen John through eyes tainted with the strain of her father’s desire to keep her out of his life.

She and John had continued to see one another from time to time over the years. He’d come for dinner when she visited her father and, honestly, he was always open and friendly with her. If John noticed her dislike of him, he never brought it up. But, the resentment on her side remained.

Standing in the hospital corridor with him now, Katelyn was shocked to find she
wanted
to let John comfort her. She wanted to let him hold her and tell her everything would be all right, that her father would be well again, even though she knew that wasn’t true. So she reverted to what she did best. Katelyn shoved her feelings and emotions down, swallowing them before they could surface to where she’d be forced to face them. She looked at John with what she hoped was a blank expression and waited for him to fill her in on her father’s medical status. The faster she found out what was going on, the sooner she could see her father and get home to deal with the emotional turmoil that was threatening to take over, in private.

“Kate,” John tried again.

“Katelyn.” Oh, she knew she was being unacceptably rude, but she didn’t want this man’s pity. Didn’t want it and didn’t need it. “I can go find his doctor, if you don’t remember all the details.”

John leveled her with one of those looks he seemed to reserve only for her. The look that said he was simply patronizing her. The look that said he could read every thought and every emotion. How she hated it when he gave her that look.

“All right,” John said slowly. “Why don’t we grab a cup of coffee in the cafeteria, and I’ll fill you in.”

Katelyn didn’t move to follow him. “I’d prefer to speak here and then go see my dad, John. I’m tired. I’ve just driven four hours, and I want to visit with him and then get settled in at home.” There was that word again.
Home.

So absurd, really. Her father’s home in Evers hadn’t been her home in years. Decades, really. Not since she’d been sent away when she was four years old. Not since her mother’s murder.

“Fine,” John said with a clipped nod. “The cirrhosis is as advanced as they thought it was when I called you earlier. There’s no reversing the damage to his liver. He’s not eligible for a transplant because he’s flat out told his doctors he has no intention of giving up alcohol. He’s got six months, tops. Most likely, a lot less.”

Katelyn swallowed and tried to keep her face an even mask, showing little emotion, but she had to glance away from John and blink back the tears that were pushing their way out. How had her father hidden this from her?

Her voice turned to a whisper, even though she tried to put the strength of the anger she was feeling behind her words. “How did this happen, John? When…?” Katelyn looked down and gathered herself before meeting John’s eyes again. “Why didn’t you tell me he was drinking this much? How could you let him do this?”

She saw the wave of guilt hit John’s face, and she felt bad for a moment before she managed to draw up her anger again. He should have told her. If he wanted to be a son to her father so damned much, he shouldn’t have stood by and let this happen.

“I’m sorry, Katelyn. At first, none of us knew it was so bad. Once we figured it out, well, there didn’t seem to be any way of stopping him, and honestly, we never thought things would get so bad so quickly. The doctor thinks he may have had an underlying medical condition that caused the cirrhosis to advance faster than it would have otherwise, but they just don’t know for sure, yet.”

His voice trailed off as though he didn’t know what else to say, and Katelyn knew John didn’t have any answers for her. Her father had been forced out of office six years ago when his opponent in the election for sheriff ran a malicious campaign in a bid to win. He had claimed her father was too old to perform his duties any longer, harping on his age again and again. The campaign had gotten downright ugly and her father had eventually stepped down rather than lose. He asked John to run in his place, believing it was the better thing to do for his constituents. John was young enough and had plenty of respect in the community to win the election without breaking a sweat, but retirement had turned out to be way too hard on her father. Retiring without finding her mother’s killer…well, that had been more than he could handle. At least without turning to drinking, apparently. And, drinking heavily, it seemed.

“Fine,” Katelyn said, mirroring what John had said only a moment before. She didn’t have much fight in her right now.

“There’s more, Kate,” John said quietly. He moved closer to her in the hallway and looked around them before speaking. “I didn’t want to mention this on the phone, but your dad’s been confused lately.”

She stared at him, not understanding. “What do you mean, confused?”

“He’s experiencing some dementia. They’re not sure yet if it’s a result of the liver disease or if it’s something entirely separate like Alzheimer's, but he’s having episodes.”

“Episodes?” She frowned. She was so used to her father being sure of himself. Confident that he was right all the time. Much like the man standing in front of her now. John was always in control, always in charge.

Katelyn shut her eyes for a moment, trying to rein in her emotions. She would
not
cry in front of this man. She took a deep breath before opening her eyes.

“I don’t understand, John.” She couldn’t picture her father confused or unsure, despite what John said. “What kind of episodes?”

“He doesn’t always know who I am when I visit. Or he knows who I am, but he forgets the year. The other day, he thought he was still sheriff and I was his deputy. He thought he’d been injured and that’s why he was in the hospital. He gets frustrated, angry, when he can’t remember things,” John said.

She nodded, feeling like she was losing the last piece of her family. Wait, she
was
losing the last piece of her family. Her mother was gone. Her aunt, too. Now, her father.

“You need to be prepared, Katelyn. Some days, he may not know you,” John said, his voice low and almost apologetic.

She cleared her throat and raised her chin to deflect the too-sympathetic look in his eyes and ward off the hot tears that threatened to fall. “Anything else?”

John shook his head. “No, that’s it. The doctor said he’d tell us tomorrow whether they’ll recommend discharging him or whether they want to keep him here longer. He said we could talk then about hospice options.”