The Last Bride (DiCarlo Brides #6)

by Heather Tullis

  “This is not your fault.” Jonquil’s heart felt heavy, going out to him. “You’re a grown man, and you spend a lot of time at her place helping her out, don’t you? You can’t blame yourself for this.”

  When he didn’t respond, she grabbed his chin and turned his face toward hers. “Do you hear me?” He lifted his gaze to hers and she continued. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “I don’t know if I can believe that.”

  “Well, you should. I don’t lie.” She dropped a brief, gentle kiss on his lips. “Be patient and the doctor will be out soon to tell you what they’re going to do. I talked to Trent—one of the deputies. He said he’d meet us here to find out what’s going on. I’ll fill him in on what you told me and we’ll see what he thinks we should do.”

  “If there’s anything that could hurt Natalie—”

  “Gage. Trust me.” She stared him right in the eyes. “I’m going to have Vince and Jeremy working with me on this. Do you think they’d let anything happen to your sister? No, because she’s yours and you’re theirs. Right? Al needs a new roof, you drop everything to help. Vince’s parents need someone to help set up or tear down for their big July Fourth celebration, you’re there. You have a crisis, they’re going to be there too, because that’s what you guys do.” She choked up a little as she spoke. “You’re all family. Like me and my sisters.”

  “And that’s what you do for family,” he said in a low voice as he pulled her against him, leaning slightly toward her.

  She pressed her cheek into his shoulder and appreciated the steadiness he gave back to her when she was trying to be strong for him. “It kind of surprises me sometimes. A year ago they were just these women my dad was biologically connected to that I had to live with for a year. Now it’s something else entirely.” It had been a whirlwind at first.

  “And Angela?”

  His reminder of her little sister made Jonquil uncomfortable. She knew things should be different between her baby sister and herself and had no idea how to get them there. “I don’t understand her. I never have.”

  He glanced at the door to the ER. “Have you tried?”

  “Are you and Natalie best buddies?” she asked, sure the answer would be no.

  “Guilty.” He checked his watch, something she noticed he did often. “Where is that deputy?”

  “I thought you didn’t want them interfering?”

  His lips pressed together for a moment. “If you’re sure he can be trusted. If he’ll stay back and let Joel be go-between, I’ll bring them in. I trust Joel.”

  “Good. Joel calls him in for stuff all of the time.”

  It was only a moment later when Trent came into the waiting room, his cowboy hat in his hand. “Have you heard anything about your mom?” he asked.

  “Not yet. The doc promised to tell me soon.” Gage shrugged, looking a little helpless.

  “I’m sure he’ll be out as soon as he can be,” Trent reassured. “So what’s the big secret?”

  Jonquil started it off and nudged Gage into telling Trent what was going on with Natalie. She saw the pain in his eyes, the stress as he went through it all again. Trent asked good questions and squeezed out a few more details.

  Jonquil started fielding text messages from her sisters before the doctor emerged to talk to Gage. They stepped aside to have a private conversation, but Jonquil could hear it anyway.

  “Your mother has suffered a blow to the head. The MRI shows swelling on the brain. It’s too soon to know for sure what the long-term effects will be. We have a helicopter on the way from Denver. She’ll be going to Swedish Medical Center. I’ve been talking to the doctor there and he’ll be waiting for her when she comes in.”

  There was more discussion about her condition and then the doctor left.

  “So, off to Denver?” Trent asked.

  “Yeah.” Gage ran his hand through his hair. “I’ll need a car. And what do I do about Natalie?”

  “I’ll see what we can find out on our end,” Trent promised. “I’ll be in touch. I may need to get into your mom’s place again.”

  “Oh. I don’t think we locked up when we left.” Gage rubbed his cheek, looking confused and overwhelmed.

  “So this is how we’ll do it.” Jonquil took charge for the moment. “You’ll take my car to Denver. I know you whine that it’s tiny, even though it’s not. You’ll deal. I’ll have Vince, or Jeremy and Joel, probably, meet Trent at your mom’s place to go through things. Then they can lock up everything there. Is there any chance the door locked behind us?”

  “The guys know where the spare key is,” Gage said.

  “Great. Someone will head to Denver a little later to check on you and bring you your own car.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  Jonquil gave him a withering look. “Because I’m going to be able to keep them away? Right, I don’t think so.” He wasn’t keeping her away, either, but she wasn’t going to mention it now because then they’d just argue about it.

  “Well.” Gage shrugged a little in acknowledgment.

  “We’ll get you regular updates. And you make sure you reciprocate, okay?” She took him by the shoulder and peered into his face, saw the exhaustion lining it and knew it would only get worse from here.

  He met her gaze and nodded. “Okay.”

  “Are you safe to drive or does someone need to take you?”

  “I’m fine. A little shell-shocked, but not tired.”

  She pressed her keys into his palm. “Drive carefully. It’ll take the doctors in Denver a while to look her over before they’ll let you see her or have answers for you anyway, so you don’t need to rush.” Wanting to kiss him, but feeling a little awkward about what their relationship actually was—despite their previous lip-lock—she leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Thanks.” He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her in for another kiss, brushing his lips over hers. “Here are my keys.” He handed them to her as he looked at Trent. “Can you give her a ride back to Juniper Ridge, since you’re going there anyway, or is that against the rules?”

  “It’s my choice. I could use a little company.” Trent looked at Jonquil. “If we’re going to look for clues at his house, we probably better head out now.”

  “Thanks,” Jonquil said. She gave Gage’s hand one last squeeze, then moved away, siding his keys into her pocket. She wanted to go with him, but there were things that had to be done first.

  And she’d see him again before the night was out.

  Joel and Jeremy met with Trent at Gage’s mom’s place to look for clues. Trent dropped Jonquil back at her house. By the number of cars parked out front, everyone else was home.

  Good. It would simplify things if she only had to say it once. She strode to the front door, nerves filling her. After all, not everyone had known what was going on between them, or whatever it was. Now there was no way it would stay just between them. Though considering Angela knew, it wasn’t like everyone wouldn’t find out soon enough.

  She pushed inside and smiled as Delphi came over to her.

  “What’s going on? Joel said you were with Gage and his mom ended up in the hospital. The details were a little sketchy.”

  “The information I gave him was pretty sketchy, so I imagine what he told you was even more so.” Jonquil looked around as she realized everyone was watching her. Very. Closely. Her gaze landed on Angela. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a performance.”

  “I got a text about the family meeting so I got someone to bring me over the second the show ended.” She looked closer at Jonquil. “Is your lipstick smudged?”

  Jonquil’s hand went to her face automatically before realizing she had just reapplied it and would have noticed if there were a smudge. “Liar.”

  Angela smirked a little. “You and Gage were doing more than eating dinner.”

  “Go, Gage.” Vince’s quiet sentence was still easily heard in the nearly silent room. />
  “We’re not here to discuss my theoretical love life.” Jonquil tried to sound no-nonsense, though she could feel her cheeks heating with a blush. “We’re here because there’s an emergency. Obviously, since we called Joel into service.”

  “What’s going on?” Vince asked.

  “A couple of things. Apparently Natalie has gotten into some financial difficulty with the wrong kind of people. She went to Gage and asked for some money to make it go away. Gage couldn’t help her and the guys kidnapped her and are holding her for ransom. Fifty-thousand dollars worth. Which Gage in no way has right now.”

  “You’re not kidding,” Vince said. “The ski resort has tapped him out. So what are they doing about Natalie?”

  “Deputy Oliver and Joel are going to work on that. And on what happened to Gage’s mother.” She told them in concise sentences about what had happened since the phone call about Natalie’s kidnapping and what the doctors had told Gage. “He’s on the way to Denver. He really can’t handle worrying about both of them right now, so we’re going to split our resources.”

  She sucked in a breath. “First, there’s the matter of the money. I’d be happy to come up with it, but most of my advance went home to help my parents. Dad covered a lot of the medical bills while he was alive, but since he died, I’ve been trying to help out.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Angela folded her arms over her chest. “Your dad never did anything for us. You got the best schools, the best programs, trips and all kinds of other fun stuff, but that’s as far as it went.”

  Jonquil held up a hand to cut the topic off. “We can talk about it later. Suffice to say, I’m almost tapped out. I can scrounge about five thousand, and I’m happy to pay whoever back after the inheritances come through, but we need to raise the money now. In three days’ time. Can anyone else help out? Do you think we could get an advance on the inheritance at this point through Alex? The trial period’s almost over.”

  “Count us in,” Vince said after sharing a look with Cami. “But don’t even think of paying me back.”

  Cami put her hand on his arm in support.

  Jonquil looked around the room and saw smiles and nods. “Great. You guys are the bomb, seriously. Delphi, would you write down what everyone is willing to contribute? I know you have something to keep track of it on you—you’re too anal not to.”

  Delphi stuck out her tongue at Jonquil, but pulled out her huge phone/tablet and began tapping on the screen.

  “Okay, next order of business. Gage took my car down the mountain. I know he’d prefer to have his own when he comes back. I’m going to stay with him tonight. Anyone want to come with?”

  “Me.” Vince looked up from where he was talking with Delphi. “Let’s swing by his place to pick up a few things and then we can head out.”

  “Great. I have his keys. Let me change my outfit and throw a few things into a bag. I’ll be ready in ten minutes.”

  “Okay.”

  Jonquil ducked into her room, changed clothes and grabbed her phone, purse and an e-reader. She might need something to keep her awake with him tonight.

  When she emerged to the kitchen again eight minutes later, Vince and Cami waited at the end of the kitchen bar speaking with Blake. Vince turned to her. “So, why is it you were with Gage today?”

  She might as well brazen it out. “We went to dinner after work.”

  Delphi’s brow lifted. “Isn’t that three nights in a row for you guys?”

  Blake smirked. “Do we start the countdown?” he asked Vince.

  “Too late for that. I think he was gone long before now, he just didn’t know it.”

  “What do you mean?” Angela asked as she came up behind them.

  Jonquil didn’t understand all of it, but enough to know she didn’t want to get into it right now. “Never mind the dorks. They’re full of crap.”

  “You said you liked them,” Angela challenged.

  “Yep, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re full of it.” She grabbed her jacket. “We’ll talk later.”

  Angela looked unimpressed.

  “You ready then?” Vince asked. “No better time.”

  “Yeah. Let’s head out.”

  Jonquil looked over her shoulder at Angela before the front door closed behind them. Angela looked unhappy and maybe a little isolated. Jonquil understood that and felt bad. She should have been there more for her little sister. Even if she hadn’t exactly been on her best behavior. Maybe that was true for both of them.

  She didn’t have the energy to think about it at the moment, so she set it aside for now.

  Gage had been at the hospital for nearly an hour and a half before Vince and Jonquil showed up. He wasn’t surprised to see Vince, but hadn’t expected Jonquil to come to Denver to sit with him. As he saw her walking toward him, her perfect blond curls and determined expression, he wondered what she thought was going on between them, then let it go—he had more important things to worry about. Their relationship would keep.

  “Hey, thanks for coming,” he said as they approached.

  “More would’ve come if you’d still been at the hospital in Otter Creek,” Vince said. “They all sent their best. And said not to worry about the money for Natalie. We’ll have the cash you need ready for you on time. The banks in town are going to wonder what’s going on, but we’ve got you covered.”

  Gage was stunned. Jonquil had said she’d pull it together, but he hadn’t dared to hope. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Believe it. Now, how’s your mom? You heard anything yet?” Vince asked.

  “Just more promises that they’ll let me know.” Since she was there, Gage grabbed Jonquil’s hand and pulled her down beside him. He needed her right now as much as he needed Vince. “Is Joel working on figuring out what happened to Natalie?”

  Vince sat on Gage’s other side. “Yes, he, Jeremy and Trent are at your mom’s place now checking things out. I actually expected a call before we got here, but we haven’t heard anything from them.”

  Gage shrugged helplessly. “All I know is that Liam introduced her to the guy, no name, no idea what she was even betting on. I swear, sometimes I don’t even know her.”

  “Everyone makes mistakes. Some larger than others,” Jonquil soothed, rubbing her hand over his. “I look at Angela and feel the same way. We just never understood each other. I swear sometimes she hates me and I don’t have the faintest clue why. Sometimes I hate her. A little bit.”

  “No you don’t,” Vince said. “And neither does she. She thinks you’re awesome, she just doesn’t know how to deal with that. You’ve had certain advantages she didn’t. You did have trips and special schools. You could attend college anywhere you wanted. You know George would have pulled strings to get you into anyplace, no matter how exclusive.”

  Jonquil frowned at the comment. “Don’t fool yourself, Dad paid for a lot of lessons and activities for her and the boys. He made sure they had a few luxuries my parents couldn’t afford so they wouldn’t resent me too much. It was bad enough…” She caught herself. “And at least their dad didn’t lie to everyone else around him about their existence. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses.”

  She pulled a face and sighed. “Poor little rich girl, or whatever I was. I know. Moving right along. I can call Joel if you like. I’m good at badgering. It never makes the slightest difference with him, but I can do it anyway, just to annoy him.”

  Gage smiled despite himself. “By all means, annoy Joel to your heart’s content. When my sister’s life isn’t on the line.”

  “You’re no fun.” Her gaze lifted and caught on something.

  Gage turned and saw the doctor walking toward them.

  “Mr. Mathews, I’m Dr. Ferguson. Would you like to talk?”

  “You can talk in front of them.” He gestured to Vince and Jonquil. “They’ll hear it all from me anyway.”

  “It’s really only for the family.”

  Vince sto
od. “We are family. Brothers. And well, Jonquil’s my sister.”

  Sort of true, so Gage let it slide.

  “Fine.” The doctor pursed his lips. “Your mother suffered head trauma. Probably sometime this afternoon. It’s not consistent with an accident, so I don’t think she slipped from bed and hit her head. Blood is pooling inside her cranial cavity and we need to operate right away.”

  Gage felt his world tilt. “You need me to sign something?” Could this get any worse?

  The surgery had taken hours and Jonquil woke in the waiting room to find she had fallen asleep on Gage’s shoulder. She wondered if he had heard anything yet. “Any news?” she asked as she lifted her head. She touched the side of her mouth and was relieved to find she hadn’t drooled in her sleep.

  “Nope. He said they would be finished nearly an hour ago, but I haven’t heard anything.” There was a note of panic in Gage’s voice.

  “Settle down,” Vince said from across the aisle where he was stretched out on the other couch. “Getting upset is only going to make things worse for you. It won’t change what is or isn’t happening in there.”

  “Says the man whose family isn’t being torn to bits,” Gage shot out.

  Vince sat up and rolled his neck, making it crack a few times. “Point taken. But you need to relax just a little, try to get some rest or you’ll be a basket case.”

  “Have you had anything to eat since dinner?” Jonquil asked Gage. She needed to do something useful. Sitting and staring at the guys would drive her crazy.

  “Ah, yes. You ought to eat something,” Vince prodded. “He gets grouchy when he’s hungry.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Gage said.

  “I’ll go see if I can find something that looks like actual food,” Jonquil said. “You have to at least try to eat. The next couple of days are going to be awful, and you’ll need your energy.” She stood and stretched, then shuffled down the hall, stiff from the rock climbing—was it two days ago now? Three? She wasn’t sure. How could so much stuff have happened in such a short period of time? She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the two old friends sitting together. She wondered if she was in the way here. Did Gage wonder why she had come? They had only been, well, not together, but something for a couple of days. And their kisses were amazing. How could she have such great chemistry with someone who had never liked her?