James Bravo's Shotgun Bride

by Christine Rimmer

  He drove on past the fire, past the two fire trucks and the huddled knots of people on the sidewalk. When he spotted an empty space, he eased his pickup in at the curb. He shoved open his door and hit the pavement at a run, headed back to his sisters and Tracy. Garrett, Nell, Quinn and Chloe followed on his heels.

  James was half a block from the fire when it happened.

  With a sound like the final gasp of some great, dying beast, the roof of the burning building collapsed inward, sending a river of sparks and live ash shooting up toward the afternoon sky.

  Chapter Five

  At the hospital in Denver, with the file she’d taken from her office nook at Red Hill under her arm, Addie went straight in to see her grandfather.

  He opened his eyes when she said his name.

  She took his glasses from the table by the bed and gently put them on his pasty, puffy face. And then she showed him the papers that proved she had been artificially inseminated with Brandon Hall’s sperm.

  “PawPaw, come on,” she whispered fervently. “Face the truth, please. For Carm’s and my sake. For Dev and your grandkids, for the sake of everyone who loves you so much. Let it go. Move on. Let yourself get well.”

  She didn’t even know she was crying until he reached up a shaking, wrinkled, bruised-up hand with an IV taped to the back of it and, lightly as moth wings, brushed at the tears that trailed down her cheeks. The touch lasted only a second or two. Then his hand plopped to his side and he let out a soft little sigh, as though just that small effort had thoroughly exhausted him.

  She pleaded again. “Please, PawPaw. Please don’t do this. I’m not my mother all those years ago, sitting around pining for men who did me wrong. I’m not Carm, letting her pride keep her from telling Dev that he was going to be a dad. PawPaw, won’t you just open your eyes and see that I’m having this baby because I want this baby? I swear on my life, it is Brandon’s baby. I got pregnant on purpose and I don’t need a man to make things right for me. Things are right. Or they would be, if you would only stop this craziness and start trying to get well...” She let her voice trail off and waited for him to say something, anything.

  But he gave her only silence.

  She tried again. “And as for James, you just don’t get it. It’s not what you think. He’s a good guy, that’s all. He’s a...a friend, you know? He’s just trying to help out. I swear to you I’ve never even kissed that man, let alone slept with him. He really, truly is not the dad and my baby is not his problem.”

  Levi spoke then, his wrinkled lips moving, his stale breath coming out in a rattling little puff.

  Hope rising that maybe, just maybe, she’d finally gotten through to him, she leaned closer. “What, PawPaw? Tell me, please. What?”

  And he spoke again, just loud enough, finally, that she could make out the words. “Marry James. I’ll get well.”

  Addie gasped in hurt and outrage. “I can’t believe you’re doing this. Risking your own life to try to force me to do something that is completely my own business, something you have no say in whatsoever. You...you need to stop this ridiculousness right this minute. I...I can’t... I don’t...” God. She’d run out of words. She sucked in a hard breath and demanded, “What is the matter with you? Have you heard a single thing I said to you just now?”

  “I heard you. All of it.” The words came out raspy and ragged, as if all of him were dry inside, as if he were nothing but a bunch of sticks and brown, crumpled leaves rubbing together in a cold, uncaring wind. And then he said it again. “Marry James.”

  That did it. She straightened, whirled on her heel and got out fast. If she hadn’t, she would have vomited right there on the floor by her dying grandpa’s bed.

  * * *

  Carm took one look at her and grabbed her arm. “How long since you ate something?”

  “Don’t talk to me about eating. I am never going to eat again.”

  “Oh, great. Turning suicidal, just like PawPaw. And remember, you’ll be starving yourself and your innocent child.”

  “Sometimes he makes me just want to scream. Scream and scream and never stop.”

  Carm locked eyes with Dev. “We’re going to the cafeteria.”

  Dev nodded. “Keep your phone close. I’ll call if they need you up here.”

  Carm wrapped an arm around Addie’s shoulders. “This way. Don’t argue.”

  By the time they got down to the basement, Addie no longer felt as if the top of her head was about to blow off from all the fury spinning and popping inside her. Her stomach had settled marginally. And she did know that she needed to eat. She took a tray and got in line behind Carmen.

  Once they’d paid the cashier, they got a table by the row of narrow windows that looked out on a pretty, landscaped walkway where, owing to the cafeteria being mostly underground, the view was of the bottom halves of well-trimmed bushes and people’s legs going by.

  Carm waited for her to eat a few crackers and sip up a couple of spoonfuls of vegetable soup before asking, “Okay, what was that about?”

  Addie had set the file folder on the empty chair beside her. She passed it to Carmen. “I showed him proof that the baby is Brandon’s.”

  Carmen gave the papers inside a quick glance and handed them back. “Didn’t help, huh?”

  “He actually said right out loud to me that if I married James, he would get well.”

  Carmen dropped the French fry she’d been about to put in her mouth. “Get outta Dodge.”

  “God’s truth. He did.”

  “Incredible. I mean, we all knew that was what he was doing.”

  “Right. But at least until now, we could tell ourselves it wasn’t a conscious choice, that he was just so depressed over the failure of his wrong and completely insane shotgun wedding plans, he couldn’t focus on getting better.”

  “But now we know it’s much worse.” Carmen picked up a triangle of club sandwich, ate a bite and chewed slowly. When she swallowed, she said, “I don’t even want to say it out loud.”

  “Not saying it won’t make it any less true.”

  So her sister went ahead and said it. “He’s doing this to himself, risking his own life on purpose.”

  “Carm. What am I going to do?”

  Carmen set the sandwich down and drank a little cranberry juice. “Don’t make me tell you. Please.”

  Addie whispered, “I really think he might not make it if I don’t do what he wants.”

  Carmen whispered back, “At this point, honey, he might not make it anyway.”

  “Oh, dear God.” Addie felt the tears clogging her throat again. “No wonder all I want to do lately is cry and throw up.”

  Carm reached across the table. Addie met her halfway. They clutched hands and stared into each other’s eyes.

  Finally, Carm gulped and said what Addie couldn’t stop herself from thinking. “I know James would do it if you asked him to.”

  Addie shut her eyes and drew a slow, steadying breath. “It’s just...you know, so wrong to put that on him. He’s a good guy and he’s been nothing but wonderful about all this. PawPaw knocked him out cold, dragged him to Red Hill, tied him to a chair and threatened him with the business end of his Mossberg Maverick 88. And yet here he is, right beside us, helping out in any way he can, sticking by us through everything. I don’t get it.”

  “Oh, yeah, you do. He’s not only a great guy. He’s wild for you, Addie Anne.”

  Addie’s throat clutched and her cheeks grew warm. “Oh, you don’t know that.”

  “Yeah. I do. And you want him, too. You could look at it as taking a chance on love for once.”

  “I have taken chances on love. None of them ended well.”

  “You took chances on the wrong guys. Look at me and Dev. Things do work out between men and women, you know?”<
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  “Can we not get all down in the weeds about love and romance right now, please?”

  “You need to talk about this with James. When’s he coming back?”

  “I don’t know. After he’s done at his office, I guess.” She cast a desperate, pleading glance at the ceiling. “Dear sweet Lord, I cannot ask such a thing of him.”

  “Yeah, you can. And you’d better do it as soon as possible. The longer you put it off, the harder it’s going to be for PawPaw to pull himself back from the brink of death.”

  * * *

  Once they’d eaten, they went back upstairs, where Devin had no news.

  Carm took the situation in hand. “Go to the hotel. Try to get a little rest. And call James. Tell him you’re in the suite and you want him to meet you there. That’ll give you two some privacy for the big discussion.”

  Addie looked to Dev, who had no idea yet what they were talking about. But Dev was a wonderfully well-trained husband. He just gave her an encouraging smile and went back to playing World of Warcraft on his phone. “The big discussion?” she scoffed. “Carm, I didn’t say I would do it. I don’t know if I can do it.”

  Carm just looked at her. It was all she had to do. Addie knew what her sister was thinking: What choice have you got?

  * * *

  Addie autodialed James as she walked into the suite.

  He didn’t answer. It was almost four by then and she assumed he must be busy at the office. She left a short message asking him to call her back.

  And then she filled up the jetted tub in the luxurious bathroom off the bedroom she and James were sharing—meaning, really, that they took turns crashing in it. She took a long bath, keeping the phone close so she could snatch it right up when he called her back.

  But half an hour later, he hadn’t called and her skin had started feeling pruney. She got out, toweled off and slathered on the lotion. Once she was dressed again, she debated giving him another call.

  But somehow that seemed wrong and way too needy—which, to be brutally honest, was exactly how things stood. She needed him to marry her, and that was all wrong.

  Plus, what about her pride?

  She knew the answer. Her pride had to go. She was headed straight for the pride-free zone, about to beg a man to marry her in order to keep her pigheaded, self-destructive grandfather from killing himself.

  She called James again. Again, there was no answer. She left another message. “Sorry to bother you, really. But if you could just call me as soon as you get this? Please, James. I...need to talk to you.” She hung up feeling like the wimpiest, most pitiful creature the world had ever known.

  * * *

  James stayed right there on the street with the family as Elise’s building continued to burn.

  Once his sister’s former home and place of business was nothing more than a soggy, smoking pile of charred bricks, Elise, Tracy and the other shop owners were interviewed by the deputy fire marshal. The gift shop owners confessed that they kept a hot plate in the back of the store. One of them might have left it on by accident. And then they’d both stepped out to run an errand, leaving the shop empty until the flames had already taken hold. Also, when the deputy marshal leaned on them a little, the couple admitted that they’d taken the batteries out of the smoke alarms in the shop because they kept going off whenever anyone wanted to enjoy a smoke.

  Elise, already at her wit’s end after losing everything but the shirt on her back, burst into tears when she learned all that. She clung to Tracy and to her increasingly agitated cat.

  James represented Elise and Tracy. He’d helped them work out the lease, which clearly stated that there was no smoking in the building. Not to mention, Colorado was a smoke-free state. If your business was open to the public, you weren’t allowed to smoke in it. As to the fire alarms, it was illegal to disable them. James could see a lawsuit in the works. That was never fun—not for the plaintiff or the defendant.

  Once the interviews with the deputy marshal were over, Clara asked everyone to come to her house a couple of blocks away. James went along in case there might be some way he could help out. Everyone was worried about Tracy. She’d lost both her parents in a fire. She seemed practically catatonic after living through another disastrous blaze. Elise kept her close and Tracy clung to her.

  At Clara’s house, Elise finally let go of her big orange cat. Mr. Wiggles promptly took off down the front hall and detoured into the first room with an open door, the master bedroom.

  Clara waved a hand. “It’s all right. Poor guy needs a little time to himself after all the excitement. He’ll probably just hide under the bed, and that’s fine with me.”

  Clara and her housekeeper and babysitter, Mrs. Scruggs, got to work making coffee and scouring the cupboards for snacks to share. Jody and Nell hovered close to Elise and Tracy, ready to get them whatever they needed.

  James volunteered to call Elise and Tracy’s insurance agent for them, but when he reached for his phone, it wasn’t in his pocket. He must have left it in the truck. Clara told him to use the house phone, which he did. The agent, Bob Karnes, said he’d be right over.

  Bob was as good as his word. He showed up half an hour later, got the information he needed to get started on the claim and promised Elise and Tracy he would speed up the process as much as he possibly could.

  When Bob left, it was a quarter of five. James couldn’t help wondering how things were going in Denver. Addie must be back at the hospital by now. He was getting antsy to check in on Levi’s condition, see how Addie was doing and make sure she took some time to eat.

  But he knew she got tired of him hovering over her. He told himself nothing that important was going to happen in the next few hours. He’d see Addie and check on Levi’s progress as soon as he could get back to Denver.

  And right now he had more to do in Justice Creek.

  He got Clara aside and gave her the keys to his condo in town. “Give these to Elise when they start trying to decide where to go tonight,” he said. “She and Tracy and the cat can have it for as long as they need a place. I’m spending my nights in Denver for the next several days, at least. And my new house is almost ready anyway.”

  Clara hugged him. “You’re the best big brother we ever had.”

  He grunted and tipped his head toward their brother Darius, who’d just shown up a short time before to see if there was anything he could do to help. “You mean, other than Dare,” he teased.

  Clara nodded. “Right. You’re both the best.”

  He kissed her cheek, went over and gave Elise and Tracy each a last hug and then left for his office. When he got in the quad cab, he didn’t see his phone in the console where he usually left it. Had he gone and lost the damn thing? That would be a pain in the ass. It was brand-new, had all the bells and whistles, a boatload of memory, and had cost a lot more than any sane man should pay for a phone.

  He went to his office and worked for an hour and a half, eating takeout his secretary, Louise, had ordered for him as he plowed through correspondence, dealing only with the issues that couldn’t wait another day. He almost called Addie before he left the building but decided to just get on the road instead.

  He was halfway to Denver and it was just after eight when he heard his phone ringing. The sound was coming from under the seat, where it must have fallen at some point during the day. He was on the interstate by then. But he had his GPS connected to the phone for hands-free calling. The earpiece was right there in the cup holder, so he stuck it in his ear and turned on the GPS.

  Nothing. At some point, he’d probably switched off the phone’s Bluetooth connection. Technology. Never worked when you needed it. There was nowhere safe to pull over, so he just kept driving. But whoever had called left a message, because the phone buzzed at intervals to let him know he had voice mail.

 
As the intermittent buzzing kept happening, he remembered that he’d heard it before and tuned it out, what with thinking about Elise and Tracy, wondering how Addie was managing, and trying to figure out what he absolutely had to deal with before he could head for Denver again.

  Now the buzzing worried the hell out of him. Was Levi okay? Did Elise need something at the condo?

  Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He turned off at the next exit, pulled into a convenience store parking lot and felt under the seat until he finally had the phone. There were four calls from Addie. There was also a text from her asking him to call her as soon as possible. Addie never texted. Her phone was ancient and texting with it took forever. And he had voice mail waiting. She must have left voice messages, too.

  Four calls, voice mail and a text. That couldn’t be good. He autodialed her.

  She answered on the first ring, which freaked him out in itself. Addie never had her phone just waiting in her hand. Not unless there was some kind of emergency going on. “James?” she asked, too softly, then louder and a little bit frantic. “James?”

  He couldn’t explain himself fast enough. “I’m sorry. It’s been an insane day. I had no idea you’d been calling. I lost track of my phone. It was under the seat and I...” Damn. He was babbling like a fool. “Addie, what’s happened? Is Levi...?”

  “He’s okay,” she said. “I mean, you know, not good, but still, um, with us.”

  “What is it? What can I do?”

  “Oh, James...” A tiny, muffled sniffle.

  “Addie, are you crying?”

  Another barely audible sniff. “No. No, of course not. I just thought...”

  “You thought what?” He tried to keep his voice even and gentle, in spite of the fact that she was freaking him out.

  She sniffed again. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Addie, that’s not true. You can tell me. I’m listening.”

  “Fine,” she said sharply. “I thought, well, that maybe you were just getting tired of me taking advantage of you. I thought maybe you were pissed off because I kept calling and you wanted me to stop bugging you. I thought—”