The ache for Ken was so strong it took Beth’s breath away. She looked down, then back up again, and noticed someone was walking toward their table behind Selina. With the sun behind him, she could make out only his silhouette, but it was…familiar. So, so familiar.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, loud enough for everyone at the table to turn and follow her gaze.
Ken approached the table, his dark eyes locked on Beth.
She couldn’t breathe for a moment, feeling her hands grip the armrests of her chair.
He’s here. He’s here!
There was no doubt she’d accept that apology. She was so damn happy. She pushed herself up to greet him, and as she did, his gaze shifted from her to her father. And narrowed.
What did that expression say? Anger? Shame? Had he come to apologize…or accuse?
“You made it,” she said, her breath tight in her throat.
He nodded, serious. “I want to talk to your dad.”
Her heart literally slammed against her ribs, the rapid beat audible in her ears. Talk? Did that mean he wanted to thank him for what he’d done to protect Ken…or accuse him of doctoring an autopsy?
She swallowed, aware of every eye on her. “Um, everyone, this is Ken Cavanaugh.” She turned to the others to start what would be an awkward round of introductions, since they all, of course, knew him, but her attention stopped at Dad.
He wasn’t looking up at Ken. His head was down, as if he looked at something in his lap. “Dad?”
“Ray?” Josie touched his shoulder. “Ray?” She pushed a little harder. “Ray?” Her voice rose to freak-out level, and everyone jumped up at once, exactly as Dad slumped forward, his head hitting the table with a thump.
“Oh my God, he’s dead!” Josie screamed.
Chaos erupted like a volcano, with Rebecca yelling and Landon swearing, and all the patrons at the other tables standing up to see, but it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Beth felt her own cry well up in her throat as she launched toward Dad. She turned to give Ken a pleading look, and he stood stone still for one fraction of a millisecond. Then, as if he’d been shocked, he vaulted into action.
“Everyone back,” he said with loud authority, coming around the table in one easy move. With one hand, he moved Beth away to get closer to Dad.
“Is he breathing? Is he alive? Oh my God, I knew—”
“Josie, hush,” Rebecca said, pulling the other woman back.
“I’m a paramedic,” Ken told everyone calmly, lifting Dad’s head and hovering one hand over his mouth, the other supporting his neck.
“Wake him up!” Josie insisted in a shrill voice.
Ken looked up at Beth, not saying a word. He didn’t have to.
“Is he breathing?” she barely whispered. “Heart beat?”
“Everyone needs to clear out!” Ken commanded, his voice loud and totally in control. “I need space and a defibrillator.” He looked at the others, his face stern, his voice unwavering. “Someone call 911. Tell them we have a possible SCA on a nonresponsive sixty-nine-year-old male. I need everyone to be quiet and stand back. And I need a defibrillator, stat!”
That second, Landon pushed the table away, making space for Ken to lay Dad down. RJ shot off with Selina, cell phone out, and Rebecca kept pulling Josie farther away. The staff moved into action as well, but Beth’s attention was riveted on her father’s ashen face.
As Ken laid Dad gently on the ground, easing the older man’s tie off, checking him again for air and a pulse, Beth got down on her knees on the other side of his still body.
“He has a stent,” she told Ken. “And heart issues.”
He nodded, still checking his breath and pulse as he unbuttoned the top button of Dad’s shirt. “Pacemaker?”
“No.”
“On any meds?” He inserted his finger into her father’s slackened mouth to check for anything blocking the airway, moving with the precision of a machine.
“Um. Yes. I can’t remember what they are.” She turned to ask Josie, but she was completely useless.
“Doesn’t matter,” Ken said. He put one hand on Dad’s chest and flattened another on that and started pressing and releasing in a quick, steady rhythm.
“Is he going to die?” Beth whispered, aware of the tears pouring down her cheeks.
Ken looked up at her between the next two chest compressions, a flat expression in his eyes. “Not on my watch.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Live, damn it. Live.
Ken blocked out everything but that thought. Ray Endicott had to live. Not just for Beth and his grandbaby, but so Ken could look him in the eye and tell him he knew the whole story…and that he owed Ray a heartfelt apology.
But none of that mattered now, not one bit. Ray was dying, and quickly.
Ken mentally silenced the screaming wife and ignored the pushy onlookers and did his damnedest not to reach out to comfort the frightened daughter.
As he focused on Ray’s color and counted each compression, willing a heartbeat, willing some breath, Ken stole a glance at Beth and his own heart ached.
Crouched next to him, she had her fists balled against her mouth, silent but for a soft shuddering, her gaze locked in abject terror on her dad’s pallid face.
It’d been twenty-five years, but he still remembered that sickening, spiraling sensation of seeing the person who gave you life fade away before your eyes.
Push, wait, push, wait, push, wait. And breathe.
Sucking in his breath, Ken tilted Ray’s head back to clear his passageway. He waited one second, then put his mouth right over Ray’s and shared a breath.
Nothing.
He started the next set of compressions, willing that damn AED to show up.
Still no heartbeat. This was not a heart attack, Ken knew. This was sudden cardiac arrest, and the chances for survival were low. Very low.
“Damn it, Ray,” he ground out in a whisper. Don’t die in front of Beth. Don’t die in my arms, too.
“They have a defib!” A man’s voice broke through. Landon, he realized, with several resort staff members, hustled closer. Thank God.
“C’mere,” he ordered Beth. “This can’t stop. Do five or six compressions then breathe into his mouth. Just once.”
“Oh…okay.” She hesitated a moment as if the order didn’t compute. Or she was in shock at the situation.
“Use your weight, Beth. Push in about two inches on his sternum. Get a song in your head and follow the beat.”
“A song?”
He let go and took her hands. “Stayin’ Alive is what we use. Do this and he might.” But probably not. “I’ll start the AED.”
She let him put her hands right over Dad’s sternum and started to push. “Stayin’ alive,” she whispered, her face blank and almost as pale as the man’s on the ground.
Instantly, Ken turned and took the AED being held out to him, ignoring the avalanche of questions, even from the staff. The only thing he heard was that an ambulance was on the way. There was a station on Mimosa Key, so they just had to get up here and through the damn resort.
He flipped the lid of the plastic box and grabbed the electro pads, turning back to Ray. “I need to get his shirt off.”
“Should I stop?” she asked.
“Yes, you’re good. Help me, Beth.”
Together, they unbuttoned Ray’s white shirt, moving in perfect unison, silent as a team.
Spreading the material, Ken was grateful Ray wasn’t a hairy dude. He didn’t even glance at the instructions as he applied the electrode pads. He’d done this many times in medic training and plenty in real life. One pad over the right center, one over the left rib. He slipped in the plugs, and the machine immediately lit and started the heart-rate reading.
“Everyone clear away!” he hollered. “Even you,” he added to Beth. “Clear!”
The crowd backed away while the AED measured the heartbeat and flashed a warning, which meant there wasn’t one.
Ray
Endicott was dying…and while at one time that might have given Ken a sick satisfaction, Ken’s heart hurt as much as Ray’s did right now.
“It’s going to shock him,” Ken announced. “Clear away and do not touch his body.” He backed up and counted to three, knowing when it would happen.
Ray jerked at the shock, and Josie shrieked.
Nothing. Damn it. Come on, old man.
Another shock rocked his body, but Ray lay lifeless on the ground. His wife wailed again, and Beth shuddered with her younger brother’s arm tightly around her. Ken couldn’t even look at her, he was so sure she was about to witness her father’s death.
And he knew how much that hurt. He knew.
Another shock jerked Ray, but this time his mouth opened, and he sucked in a breath, making everyone cry out.
“He’s alive!” someone screamed.
“That did it!” another person yelled.
“Praise God!”
Don’t praise Him yet, Ken thought, leaning over to check him. He needed to be on cardiac life support, get some beta blockers, and pray that therapeutic hypothermia worked.
It was Ray’s only chance. And it was slim.
Just then, someone called out that the medics had arrived, and Ken looked up to see the EMS crew blowing in and barking orders.
“Let us through,” their captain ordered, his gaze on the victim.
Ken recognized Captain Markoff, an old friend he’d met through co-county training and fundraisers. When Markoff looked up, he reacted with the same recognition. “Cav. What’s the condition?”
Bad.
“SCA,” Ken said softly, not wanting to freak out Beth or anyone else who might know how serious that was. “He was out for at least a minute, maybe more.”
Markoff nodded as Ken delivered additional information, speaking only as a paramedic on the scene with no skin in the game.
But he had skin in this game. Skin and soul.
Once Markoff’s team took over, Ken backed away, adrenaline dumping through his veins.
As they lifted Ray onto the stretcher, Beth broke away from her family to come closer to Ken. He turned to her, fighting the urge to reach out and pull her into him, to press a kiss on her golden hair, to beg for her forgiveness.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “Thank you for saving him.”
Her father wasn’t saved yet, but Ken didn’t have the heart to tell her that now.
“I’m sure that…wasn’t easy,” she added, the comment slicing right through him.
“It’s never easy,” he said, watching an EMT tie a strap over Ray’s chest, and noting that that chest rose and fell, thank God.
“I mean, with him.”
He looked down at her, ready to argue, but RJ came closer, an attractive woman clinging to him with fear in her eyes.
“One of the medics said they’re taking him to Naples Community.”
“Good,” Ken said. “They have a great cardiology department at the Heart Institute.”
“Is he going to be okay?” RJ asked, fear straining his voice.
Ken swallowed…and lied. “Most likely. You’ll need to get to the hospital and talk to his doctors.”
“Beth, ride with us.” RJ put his arm around her.
She sank deeper into her brother’s side, her own adrenaline dump making her look incredibly pale.
“I’ll take you to the hospital, Beth,” Ken said, reaching for her.
She blinked at the suggestion and suddenly Ken realized how awkward that would be. This was her private family crisis and he was not family. Not even close…yet.
“Or you can go with RJ,” he added. “Of course, I understand. I’ll…be in touch.”
“Really, man,” RJ said, reaching out a hand to Ken. “You kicked ass. Thanks. We most likely owe our dad’s life to you.”
“No, it’s okay. Just get to him.” Because Ray might not even be alive when they reached the hospital.
Beth searched his face, still a little in shock, and looking as if she had a question or something to say, but RJ was already anxiously pulling her away.
“I better be with my family now,” she whispered. “And thank you.”
RJ guided her toward the rest of the family, his arm possessively around both women and Ken stood, watching.
He could go to the hospital but they didn’t need to be dealing with anything except the effort to keep Ray alive.
Which he knew in his gut could be futile. So Ken stood in the same spot, watching the family he wasn’t a part of disappear. He’d let his hatred and his blame take everything away from him, and he’d never even had a chance to tell Ray Endicott that he was sorry for that. Or, as he’d come to do, thank Ray for what he’d done for Ken’s family.
And he might never get that chance.
* * *
If any good could come of the tense hours the Endicott family spent in the chilly ER waiting room, it had to be that Landon and RJ were seated next to each other, in deep conversation for a long time. After talking to Beth for a while, Selina put her head on RJ’s shoulder and fell asleep.
Rebecca held Josie’s hand, both of them tearful, standing in unison every time a doctor came out from behind the closed swinging doors of the ER. A few minutes after midnight, a nurse told them a doctor would be out to speak with them in about another half hour.
Beth sat alone, holding her head up, watching it all unfold, replaying the moment that she’d thought Ken had come to apologize and realized he’d come to confront her father.
And then, irony of ironies, had had to save his life.
Which he had—she hoped. But sitting there, Googling on her phone what she heard Ken say to the other paramedic—SCA, or sudden cardiac arrest—wasn’t making Beth feel much better. She certainly wasn’t going to share the dismal survival statistics with her family, but the numbers were not in her father’s favor.
After the nurse left, Josie stood alone and walked over to Beth, holding her hand out. “Will you get coffee with me?”
“Of course,” Beth said, standing without hesitation. “Does anyone else want to come?”
“I want to go with you,” Josie said. “Just you.”
There was something in Josie’s eyes that made Beth certain she wanted to talk about more than the current dire situation. “Okay.” Beth turned to Landon and RJ. “Text me if anything happens. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
In silence, Beth walked with Josie out of the ER toward another section of the hospital. They walked past a gift store that was closed, but the coffee shop next to it was open.
Taking a table, Beth offered to get coffee and croissants, but Josie shook her head. “I don’t want anything except to talk to you.”
Beth put her elbows on the table and stared at her stepmother. Surely this had to be about Ken, about why he came late to the dinner. About—
“Does he know?” Josie demanded.
Beth blinked, her mind jumping around at what she could mean before it settled on the obvious. “You mean does Ken know the contents of the envelope Dad gave me?”
Josie nodded. “Does he know?” This time, she asked with more force.
“He saw the autopsy report and the blood alcohol level,” Beth said.
Josie closed her eyes like she’d been hit hard. “Oh.”
“He thinks it’s a lie.”
Her eyes popped open. “Really? He doesn’t believe the autopsy report?”
“Of course not.” She swallowed hard, not sure she wanted to know the answer to the next question. “He thinks it’s fake.”
Josie choked softly. “It’s not. And I tried so hard, so damn hard, to keep the truth from those kids, from Ken and his brother and sister.”
“Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?” Beth suggested. “At the accident, and after.”
Josie sighed in resignation. “What happened was exactly what the autopsy says. John Cavanaugh was beyond legally drunk and hadn’t attached that generator properly. He complete
ly forgot the safety latch, then happened to be the man under it when the hook broke. If another man had been standing under it? John Cavanaugh would be in jail for manslaughter.”
“How could Ken not know he was drunk? He was right there. He held his father in his arms as he died. How could other men on the site not know?”
“John was quite skilled at hiding his drinking problem,” Josie continued. “He hid it from the supervisor, from his coworkers, his kids, even from his wife until shortly before he was killed. But Carole knew.”
“You talked to her?”
“Carole? We talk all the time.”
Beth felt a frown pull. Didn’t Carole Cavanaugh think the Endicotts were the spawn of Satan like Ken did?
“She’s my friend,” Josie said quietly. “And I made her a promise that apparently has been broken.”
“I am so lost,” Beth admitted. “How is it that she is your friend? And what promise did you make? And why?”
“I got to know Carole when she did some tailoring for me,” Josie said. “Her husband worked for EDC, and I liked giving her the business. She was sweet, and when you and Ken started dating, we had fun gossiping about it and keeping it from our husbands.”
“Why?”
“John was proud, and Dad was, well, your dad.”
Beth stared at her. “I had no idea.”
She shrugged. “You and I weren’t that close, and I didn’t want you to get mad. Anyway, the accident happened. Carole was pushed to file a suit by relatives and a few lawyers who butted in, but as soon as the autopsy was completed, she backed off. Everything would have come out in the open during a lawsuit and the poor family had suffered enough. We gave her money to help her and the family.”
“Why did she hide the truth?” Beth asked. “Just to protect the kids?”
Josie smiled sympathetically. “It’s a shame you won’t ever have kids, Beth.”
She blinked at the statement, entirely unsure how to respond. “Why?”
“Because then you’d know what parents do for their children. I know I push hard for Landon, but he’s my child, and nature drives me to want the best for him. Carole was no different with Ken and his siblings. They loved their dad like crazy! Especially Ken. He thought the sun rose and fell on his father and had no idea the man battled with addiction. John was a vet, did you know that?”
Barefoot at Moonrise (Barefoot Bay Timeless Book 2) Page 21