August Unknown
Page 26
Colin moved to her right side to avoid bumping her exposed arm and gave her a quick hug. “You had me worried for a minute.”
Emily leaned away. Colin’s smile faded.
“Time for you to come clean.” When he remained silent, she added, “I remember what happened that night.”
He sighed and moved away. She stayed seated on the examination table and watched him pace the tiny room.
“Sonja is pregnant,” she started for him.
He stopped and faced her.
“She told me that night on deck. She wanted me to break our engagement.”
“I know.” His voice was heavy with regret. Emily’s irritation jumped. How dare he pout like a poor abused dog somebody had kicked! She remembered how angry she’d been that night, and took another deep breath to keep herself under control. Now was not the time to rehash all that. Terrible things had happened, but they’d survived them. Now was the time to heal, and rebuild.
“Were you going to tell me?”
“I should have, right away. I know that now.”
“Chelsie said she was too.”
He stopped, mouth agape. “Chelsie? No, I...” His shoulders slumped. “Jesus.”
“How many times, Colin?”
He closed his eyes. Emily felt a twinge of pity for him, but then she remembered his cheating had nearly cost her her life.
His nostrils flared as he blasted a heated breath. “Twice with Sonja, once with Chelsie.”
Emily felt as though a prizefighter had just punched her in the stomach. This shouldn’t surprise me, she told herself. I knew as much already.
And now she knew how Geoffrey felt. Strangely, she hurt more for him, for enduring this pain, than she did for herself.
I’ll make sure he never feels it again, she vowed silently.
“You wouldn’t set a date. I felt like that meant I was free to do what I wanted. You have to understand—”
“I have to understand?” she repeated back, dumbstruck.
“I was wrong, I know that now.” He shook his head and sighed. “I knew it then.”
He crossed the tiny office and took her uninjured hand. Emily was too numb to stop him.
“I almost lost you, and I realize how stupid I was. If you can forgive me, we can come out of this stronger than ever before. I swear, I’ll spend the rest of my life worshipping you. Marry me tomorrow, Emily. We can put all this behind us and have the life we deserve.”
Emily gently pushed his hands back and tugged hers free. She shook her head. “No, Colin.”
“Emily, don’t do this.” His expression crumbled.
“It’s not meant to be.”
He grasped her hand again. “Yes, it is. I love you. You have to believe that.”
“I do,” she told him, and she truly did believe it. “And I love you, too. I will always love you. But I don’t want to marry you.”
“Emily, no. Don’t say that.” For a moment, his eyes begged. Then, like a curtain being lifted, she saw his pained acceptance. “I can’t believe I’ve lost you.”
“You didn’t lose me. I’m here, Colin. I survived, and I’ll always be a part of your life. Just not as your wife.”
She lifted her good arm, beckoning him. He wrapped his arms around her and cried silently, and her eyes burned, too. Not having the life she’d thought was hers with Colin would always hurt, but now she realized that life wasn’t real to begin with.
Sheriff Gaffney stuck his head through the door. He knocked when he saw them together.
“Mike, hi. Come in.” She motioned him inside.
Colin turned away and swiped a thumb across his eye.
“Heard you had a little scrape out on the ocean.”
She nodded. “But I think I’m going to be okay.”
“Glad to hear it.” He shifted, turning his hat in his hand. “The body of a young woman was pulled from the water. They’re bringing her into the morgue downstairs. We’ll need you to make an identification.”
Colin drove a hand through his hair. “Oh, Christ.”
“You go. She was pregnant with your child.” Emily swallowed, but couldn’t stop the two fat tears that spilled over and rolled down her cheeks. She looked at Mike. “I have something important I have to do.”
* * *
Geoffrey slammed the front door and stalked to the kitchen. Derek sat at the table, eating a cheese sandwich. The ink mustache was faded and smeared, but still visible.
“What’s up, bro? You look a little scruffy.”
Geoffrey opened the cabinet where cookies and crackers were kept and reached behind a large box of Jocelyn’s sugary cereal. He retrieved the airline-sized bottle of raspberry vodka hidden there and poured it into a glass.
“Dude, it’s not even noon.”
“So?” Geoffrey filled the rest with orange juice. “Those of us who don’t have a problem can do this on occasion if we want to.”
“Ouch.”
He slugged a deep mouthful, refusing to let Derek make him feel guilty.
“So where’s Emily? She was here last night, wasn’t she?” He grinned and grunted out a ridiculous frat boy sound.
“She’s gone back to Astoria.”
“When’s she...she’s coming back, isn’t she?”
“No. She isn’t.” He turned his back, taking another deep mouthful of his raspberry screwdriver.
Derek shifted behind him. “Oh. Sorry.”
“So am I.”
“No, really, I am, dude. I thought you two made a great couple.”
Crap. Derek wanted to get sentimental. Geoffrey took a final mouthful and poured the rest down the sink.
Emily was gone. It would hurt like hell for a long time, but he would get over it.
No, he wouldn’t. She was one in a million. He should have been more ardent when he told her exactly how he felt about her. He should have done more.
Maybe he could. Did he dare? He had to.
He might look like a fool, and he’d probably have to do it in front of that cretin Colin, but he could make one last effort to tell her he was the man for her.
He strode out of the kitchen and reached for the doorknob before he fully acknowledged the glimpse of Mike’s unmarked car through the narrow door-side window.
He yanked open the door, fishing his keys out of his pocket with the other hand.
Emily stood before him, wearing nothing more than a hospital gown, OR room shoe covers, and a new, hot pink cast on her left arm.
She smiled. “Hi.”
He glanced over her shoulder. Mike leaned against the driver’s door, grinning.
“Do you still want to marry me?” she asked.
He snapped his gaze back. Was that a trick question? Of course he wanted to marry her! He sought an answer, but couldn’t manage a single word.
She stepped through the doorway. Geoffrey stood back and allowed her to take his hand. Say something, numbskull.
She knelt down on one knee. “Geoffrey Barthlow...uh oh.” She pulled her hand free and reached behind herself to close her hospital gown. Mike laughed and turned away.
“Geoffrey Barthlow, will you marry me?”
“Say yes, dude.”
He nearly jumped out of his skin when Derek spoke immediately behind him.
“Yes!” He pulled her to her feet and hugged her, picking her up to spin around. “I want nothing more in this life than to marry you, Emily Atkinson.”
Happily Ever Later
Geoffrey leaned out of the hospital room’s doorway at the sound of Jocelyn’s voice. She saw him, gave a tiny squeal, and ran the rest of the way down the hall.
“Uncle G!” He scooped her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “It’s a girl!”
“How did you know that?” He kissed her cheek.
“Mom told me.”
Leah shrugged. “She promised she wouldn’t tell, and she didn’t, did she?”
“She sure didn’t.”
They had let Dr. Carlson—M
rs. Dr. Carlson—tell Leah the results of the ultrasound after she promised to keep it to herself. Emily wanted to be surprised, and so did he. Secretly he’d hoped for a girl, but being surprised had been wonderful.
“We brought flowers,” Jocelyn announced.
“For me?”
“No!” She giggled. “For Emily.”
They entered the recovery room. He set Jocelyn down and she tiptoed over to the bed. “Oooh! She’s so pretty!”
“Just like her mother.” Geoffrey returned to the seat he’d occupied for most of the morning on the other side of Emily’s bed.
“You’re glowing.” Leah set the spring bouquet on the bedside table. “Six hours of labor wins the record for this family.”
“It was tough.” Emily smiled down at her tiny bundle, sleeping contentedly in the crook of her arm. “But worth it.”
“So what-cha gonna name her?” Jocelyn asked.
Emily gazed at Geoffrey. “I don’t know. We didn’t even know she was a girl until this morning.”
“Well, you could name her April, for her birthday,” Jocelyn said. They all stared, and she giggled. “What? It’s a name, you know.”
Other books by Pamela Fryer
The Midnight Effect
One Snowy Night Before Christmas
Last Rights
And historical romance written as Ava Bradley
Once Upon a Midnight Sea
Lord of Darkness
Lady Outlaw