by Jessie Cooke
“Miss Brown, my brother-in-law said that you’d like to talk to me about a business venture. This is my number, feel free to call me this afternoon any time after four. I hear you’re on Eastern Time, so that’s four, my time.” Kat rolled her eyes. It wasn’t a good sign that he was talking to her like an idiot. But if she kept her temper in check with anyone, it had better be Vinnie Tucci…if she wanted to live long enough to help Dillon out.
27
“Sir, you can’t go in there without checking at the desk.” David tried to walk into ICU with another visitor, but he’d gotten caught right away. It was why he’d gone into law enforcement; he was a lousy criminal.
“Oh, sorry.” He walked up to the ICU desk and said, “I’m here to see Dillon Brown.” The woman looked something up on her computer and said:
“I’m sorry, his daughter is the only one on the list.”
David sighed and took out his wallet. Flashing his badge and I.D. quickly, so the woman didn’t read “Tech” on it, he said, “I need to speak with him on an urgent matter.”
“Last I heard, he wasn’t awake.”
“Can you check please? I’ll wait.”
The woman looked annoyed, but she picked up the phone and he heard her asking for the nurse for room nine. “I have an officer…”
“Brady.”
“Officer Brady here to see Mr. Brown in room nine. Is he awake?” She paused and listened to the person on the other end and then said, “No, his daughter said she’d be back in a while, but I haven’t seen her yet.” Another pause before she said, “Okay, thanks.” Looking up at David she said, “He’s awake, but not coherent. I’m not sure now is a good time…”
David took out his phone. “I’ll call headquarters and see what they want me to do about this. What was your name?”
The woman sighed, heavily. “I’ll give you ten minutes with him, but nothing he says in the state he’s in will be admissible in court. I just read about a case like this on Facebook a few days ago.”
David controlled his smile. Everyone was suddenly a legal expert, thanks to social media. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said.
The woman buzzed him through and he found room nine while the nurses and doctors tended to other patients. He froze when he walked in the room and got a look at Dillon. He’d never seen anyone that shade of yellow before, and the poor guy had a tube coming out of every orifice. He was moving around restlessly in the bed and beads of sweat dotted his forehead and upper lip. “Hey, Dillon.” David hadn’t seen him in almost five years. He ran into Dillon one day in town not long after Kat left. They had a bizarre conversation about women who do things to protect their men and men who don’t appreciate that they have a live woman…Dillon was drunk, so David never gave it much more thought.
Dillon squinted his yellow eyes and after several long seconds, recognition crossed his face. “David Brady! How the hell are you, son? Where’s my daughter?”
“I’m good, Dillon. Kat’s downstairs, she’ll be up in a little while. She asked me to check on you.”
“She’s a good kid. She doesn’t get enough credit for it because most people think she’s meaner than a snake…which she is, but that’s not her fault either. She’s a good kid.”
“Yeah, I think so too,” David said.
“Oh, good. She likes you a lot…loves you, I guess. She was scared as hell to tell you about the baby. I’m glad she did.” He sat up, pulling tubes in all directions and setting off alarms.
“Dillon, I don’t think you’re supposed to get up.”
“I’m looking for my damned shoes. Did that girl hide them again? I can’t have a fucking drink in my own place and she hides my damned shoes so I can’t go nowhere else.”
“Dillon, you’re in the hospital.”
“What the fuck? For what? Are they doing another surgery on that knee? Hell, after I blew it out and lost my football contract I told them to just cut off that leg. I don’t need it no more anyways.”
“Come on, Dillon, lie down.” David got him to lie back, and the alarms stopped. Thank goodness it wasn’t an emergency because no one seemed to be rushing in. Once he was comfortable David said, “Hey, Dillon, was Kat afraid to tell me about the baby before the abortion, or after?”
“Abortion?” He looked confused again.
“I’m sorry, never mind. This isn’t the time or place…”
“You think she had an abortion? She wanted that baby. I was the one that tried to talk her out of having it. Even if the two of you got married, she was too young. She had no idea how hard it would be…but she told me to fuck off and mind my own business…” He chuckled.
“I’m confused, Dillon. She told me…never mind.” David was telling himself that it was wrong to coax information out of Dillon while he was in such bad shape. But Dillon wasn’t ready to let it go.
“I thought she told you the truth.”
“What truth is that, Dillon?”
“The baby…she was going to tell you about it that night. She got all prettied up for your date…she was so happy…” He closed his eyes and lay there with a smile on his face. David thought that he’d gone back to sleep when he suddenly opened them again and said, “She was so seldom happy, you know? I tried, but I was a big mess as a father and she missed her mama so much. I think that’s why she wanted to be a mother so badly.”
David wasn’t sure if he was confused, or Dillon was. “Kat wanted to be a mother?”
“Sure. She wanted that baby more than I’d seen her want anything in a long time.”
“Then why have an abortion? I’m sorry, Dillon, but that doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t know why you keep saying that. She didn’t have an abortion. When the baby died…”
David sat up straight. “Wait, what? When the baby…what?”
Dillon looked at him then like he’d gone somewhere else. “Where’s my Kitty-Kat?”
“She’s here Dillon. She’s downstairs. What were you saying about the baby?”
“What baby? Where’s my Kitty-Kat?” Tears started rolling down his face. “Tell her I’m dying. Ask her to come home. I’ll be good. Tell her I’ll be good. I don’t want to die alone.”
“It’s okay, Dillon, she’s here. She’s downstairs.”
“Oh, in the bar?”
“No Dillon, you’re in the hospital, remember?”
“I’m dying. I need my Kitty-Kat.”
“Okay, it’s okay. I’ll go get her for you.”
“David?”
“Yeah?”
“You won’t leave her alone when I’m gone, will you? She doesn’t like to admit it, but she hates to be alone.”
“I won’t leave her, Dillon.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
“Kat!” Dillon was suddenly yelling at the top of his lungs. David got up and tried to tell him again that he was going to get her but it was like Dillon couldn’t see or hear him in the room. “Katrina! Where is my Kat?” He was yelling loudly, and the nurse rushed in. She looked surprised to see David.
“Who are you?”
“Kat!”
“I was visiting Mister…”
“Kat! David!”
“I’m here, Dillon.”
“Get Kat for me, please. And David?”
“Yeah, Dillon?”
“I don’t think I was supposed to tell…about the baby…”
“It’s okay, Dillon. I won’t tell her you told me.”
“She was devastated when that baby died…” He was crying again and when he started yelling for Kat once more, David slipped out. As he walked down the long hallway he felt numb. Dillon kept saying the baby died, that Kat wanted it…and she was devastated. What did that mean? Was he just confused, or was that the rest of the story that I hadn’t let her tell me that night? He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. What have I done?
Kat was pulling on her t-shirt when the nurse came into the room. She’d already disconnected
herself from the empty bag of IV fluids and all the monitors that had been taped to her arms, legs, and chest. “What are you doing?”
“The doctor said he wanted me to finish that bag of fluids. It’s finished. I have things I need to do.”
“You took out your own IV?”
Kat shrugged. “It wasn’t hard. Thanks for your help…”
“Miss Brown, you haven’t been discharged.”
“Geez, I’m fine. Get me the papers to sign and I’ll be on my way.” The nurse sighed and rolled her eyes. As she left the room she said:
“I’ll be right back, don’t leave.”
“I’ll be here for five more minutes—don’t dawdle.”
The nurse made a disgusted noise, Kat smiled. Sometimes she just liked to fuck with people. She finished dressing and sat down to put on her boots. She’d just got the second one laced up when the nurse came back in with the discharge paperwork. Kat pretended to listen as she gave her discharge instructions. When she finally finished, Kat signed the papers without reading them and left the ER. As soon as she walked out into the hallway that led to the elevators, she saw David. “Jesus, you are good at this stalking thing.” He smiled, slightly, but Kat could see in his eyes that something was wrong. “What’s going on?”
“Dillon’s awake, but he’s confused and he’s calling for you.”
“Shit! What were you doing with Dillon?”
“I just went to check on him.” Kat was already almost to the elevator. David was following her step for step. “Kat, I know this isn’t the time, but I can’t wait…Dillon told me that you didn’t have an abortion…”
“Jesus fuck! You interrogated a sick old man? You’re more like Kyle than I thought you were.”
“That’s not fair. I didn’t interrogate him. I went to check on him…he offered the rest. Kat, please tell me what he was talking about.” The doors to the elevator slid open and Kat stepped on. She tried to push the close-door button before David got on with her, but he was too quick. “Kat, please…”
“I tried to tell you five years ago, but you wouldn’t listen. Why should I tell you now, on your timeline?”
“I was wrong not to listen. But I’m listening now.”
The doors opened on the ninth floor. Kat didn’t move until they started to slide shut again. She put her hand in between them and stopped it from closing. Then turning toward David, she said, “I got pregnant, not on purpose, but it happened.” Tears filled her eyes and she fought them back. She wasn’t going to cry in front of him. The last time she had, he’d walked away anyways. She stepped off the elevator and he followed her. After making sure no one else was around she decided she’d just get it over with. She was sick of dodging his questions. Maybe once she told him the truth, he’d go away. With a shaky sigh, she said, “Maybe it was stupid, but I was happy. I thought you might be happy too.” She’d suspected that she was pregnant for almost a month before she finally took the test. When it came back positive, she wasn’t even worried at first. If David wasn’t ready to be a father, she knew she could do it herself. But she also knew, or she believed then anyways, that he loved her. She thought for sure he’d be as happy as she was, although his family wasn’t going to like it. “I was going to tell you that night, but as the day wore on, I started having really bad cramps in my stomach. They were horrible, the worst pain I’d ever been in. Dillon wanted to take me to the hospital, but it was time to open the bar and we already weren’t doing so great…I told him I was going to call a cab, but the cramping had eased up some, so I took the van. The cramps came back on the way and I was bleeding all over the seat. I saw the clinic and I stopped. The doctor was there so instead of calling an ambulance, they just rushed me into the back and did what they called a D & C…they scraped out my uterus…what was left of our baby.” A sob caught in her throat. She waited for it to pass and said, “I was there for about two hours. They wanted to send me to the hospital to get followed up, but I refused to go. I lied and told them my father was waiting outside and I’d have him take me if I needed to go. One of the nurses there had this dress in her locker that she let me wear home because my clothes were ruined. I had just stepped out the door when I saw Angel…”
“Oh my God.” David’s face was white as a sheet. Kat wiped the tear off her cheek that had escaped from her eye and turned away from him. “Kat, baby…my God, I’m so sorry.”
“It was a long time ago,” she said. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” She felt his hand brush her shoulder and she moved away. “I need to go take care of Dillon now. Please go home.” She didn’t turn back and look at him and he couldn’t follow her into ICU, thank goodness. It was all way too fucking much to deal with at once.
28
Angel heard Dax start up his bike and leave. He was headed to meet up with Hunter. He was resistant to her idea about involving the police to get them a list of stolen vehicles…for reasons that were obvious, once she thought about it. They had tucked Susie in together and now Angel was planning on pouring herself a glass of wine and trying to relax when she heard something on the front porch. She went over to the window and looked out. The big shadow of a man was sitting on her steps. Since Dax told her about the photos and the blackmail the night before, she’d been slightly on edge. Even though she knew no one would be able to get on the ranch, she almost turned to go get her gun. The more she looked at the shadow however, the more familiar it became.
Sliding her feet into her slippers and pulling her robe more tightly around her shoulders, she stepped outside. It was cold…freezing…and David was sitting there in a short-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. Angel had on flannel pajamas underneath her robe and she was still freezing. “David? What are you doing? You’re going to catch pneumonia.”
David shrugged. “I just didn’t want to go home. I didn’t know where to go.”
Angel went over and sat down next to him. When he finally looked at her, she could see the tear stains on his cheeks. “Oh my goodness, David, what’s wrong?”
“It’s Kat…”
“That bitch—I told you not to get involved with her again. What did she do this time?”
“Stop it, Angel! She didn’t do anything. It was me…us…Jesus, it was us. We’re horrible people. How dare we act like our beliefs make us better than anyone else? I’m disgusted with myself.” He looked at Angel and said, “With all of us.” He buried his face in his hands and his shoulders began to shake.
She was confused. What was he angry with her about? “David, what happened?”
“She didn’t have an abortion.”
Angel rolled her eyes. It would be just like Kat to try to turn him against his family. “She told you that? Are you kidding, David—you believe her? I saw her there. Hell, she admitted it.”
He looked at his sister again and Angel saw something in his eyes she’d never seen before. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it frightened her. “She was there, but not to have an abortion. She was on her way to the hospital because she was cramping and bleeding. She stopped at the clinic because she couldn’t keep driving. She lost our baby, Angel. They dilated her that day and scraped her uterus. She went through that all alone…and then the fight with you…and being arrested…fuck…”
Angel felt like a vise was pressing on her lungs. Surely David was wrong. If that was the case, why didn’t Kat tell them that years ago? Why not tell Angel that day, or Kyle when he was hurling accusations at her about cheating…or David when he took her to the hospital? “David,” she said, trying to word it cautiously. “Why did she wait so long to tell you this?”
“She tried to tell me that night. I wouldn’t listen. I thought she was just going to make excuses. I was…how did she put it earlier? I was acting ‘holier than thou.’ I was focusing on the fact that you’d seen her come out of an abortion clinic and all the things you and Kyle were saying about her…I didn’t give her a chance. I made her suffer alone. I made her suffer even more.” He put his head down again and Angel put her
arm around his back. He felt like he was freezing.
“Come inside and we’ll talk, okay?”
He shook his head. “No. There’s nothing more to say. If she never forgives me for this, I won’t blame her.”
“She should have told you when you calmed down, instead of leaving town.”
“Stop it, Angel! Stop making excuses for me. I loved her. You don’t just walk away from someone you love. Even if she had aborted the baby, I should have stayed and listened to her reasons why. I left her alone, just like everyone else in her life has done.”
“I’m sorry,” Angel said, still unsure if she believed the story or not. “If what happened between the two of you was because I jumped to conclusions, I’m so sorry, David.”
“It’s not your fault. You weren’t the one in love with her. I should have been strong enough to stand up to my family and strong enough to listen to her even if I was afraid it was something I didn’t want to hear. Kat would have been. She would have told anyone that tried to convince her I was wrong for her to fuck off. I should have been as strong as she is. I’m so ashamed.”
Angel knew she didn’t have words to make him feel better so instead, she leaned her head into his shoulder and ran her hand up and down his back. She felt bad, terrible. She’d put her hands on a woman who had just lost her child. Angel’s stomach turned at that thought and she shamelessly hoped that Kat was lying.
“Why did she tell you, finally?”
“She didn’t have much choice. Dillon’s in the hospital and I followed her around all day, until she passed out…”
“She passed out?”
“Yeah, different story. Anyways, I went to check on Dillon. He was confused, in and out of it. But he told me about the baby first. When I asked Kat about it later, she finally told me the truth. She said she was going to tell me that night, but I wouldn’t let her. I feel…God, I don’t even know what I feel. I’m just so ashamed. I love her so much, Angel. How could I have hurt her like that?”