Marking Time

by Marie Force

  “It’s likely you’d encounter many of the same obstacles.”

  Clare had already lost Aidan, and now there would be no child, either.

  “I’m so sorry, Clare,” Janice said when Clare walked her to the door. “If anything changes, be sure to let me know.”

  “Thanks for all you did.”

  “I wish it could’ve been more.”

  Crushed, Clare closed the door and leaned against it. Now what?

  Clare spent a week in Nashville with Kate, who was in final preparations for her tour with Buddy and Taylor. They were all riding high on the success of Kate’s first single, “I Thought I Knew,” which debuted at number five on the country charts and sailed straight to number one, where it remained three weeks later. Clare and Kate had dinner one night with the two superstars, and once she got over being star struck, Clare found them to be down to earth and fun. She was relieved that such good people were guiding Kate’s career.

  During her week with Kate, there’d been no mention of Reid. Clare didn’t ask, and Kate didn’t offer, so Clare was cautiously optimistic that something had happened between them. Recalling Aidan’s advice to play it cool, she held her tongue on the subject.

  Once she returned home, though, Clare had to admit she was adrift. Ever since the state denied her petition to adopt a month ago, she’d been trying to figure out what to do next and was thinking about getting a job to pass the long, empty days when the girls weren’t around.

  She’d been home from Nashville for a week when she received a frantic call from Jack, telling her Maggie had been hurt in an accident.

  “What happened?” Clare cried.

  “She fell off the ladder to the attic, and she’s unconscious,” he said, his voice tight with fear. “Andi found her. They’re taking her to Newport Hospital. Can you meet me there?”

  “I’m leaving right now.”

  “Hurry, Clare. Andi said it looks bad.”

  With her heart in her throat, Clare raced to Newport Hospital. Jack arrived at the same time, and they ran into the emergency room together.

  Andi was in tears as she waited for them with her son, Eric, Maggie’s special pal. The twins were asleep in a stroller.

  “What happened?” Clare asked, her mouth dry with fear and her hands shaking.

  “I came home about half an hour after she got home from school.” Andi’s eyes were red from crying. “I went upstairs and found her lying in the hall under the ladder to the attic. The paramedics said she broke both her arms, one of them badly, and she wouldn’t wake up.”

  Jack slipped an arm around his wife. “Has the doctor been out yet?”

  “No, the nurse said they’re trying to get her stabilized.”

  “Oh, God,” Clare said.

  Jack put his other arm around her, and the three of them sat to wait.

  “We should call the girls,” Clare said.

  “Let’s see what the doctor says first,” Jack said, his face devoid of color as a tearful Eric crawled into his lap.

  They waited a long time before a doctor came to find them.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Harrington?”

  They all jumped up.

  “We’ve got her stabilized, but she’s not out of the woods. We’re concerned about the head injury, so we’re sending her upstairs for a CT scan right now. She broke a rib, and it punctured a lung, but we’ve got that under control.”

  Andi gasped and sat back down when her legs seemed to fail her.

  Clare clutched Jack’s hand. “What about her arms?”

  “The right arm was a clean break, but the left one was messy. She’ll need surgery and pins. The next twenty-four hours will be critical. I’ll keep you informed.”

  “Thank you,” Clare whispered.

  After the doctor walked away, Jack turned to Clare. “We should call Jill and Kate.”

  Kate was rehearsing at the studio when one of the technicians came in with her cell phone.

  “It’s been ringing like crazy,” he said, handing it to her.

  “Thanks, Kenny.” Her mother’s cell phone number appeared repeatedly on the caller ID. Kate called her back. “Hey, Mom, what’s up?”

  “Oh, Kate, thank God you called. Honey, Maggie’s been badly hurt in an accident. You need to come home.”

  Shocked, Kate grabbed her purse and ran for the elevator. “What happened?”

  Clare filled her in quickly. “Can you get a flight today?”

  “I’ll call right now.”

  “Let me know when you’re coming. Someone will meet you.”

  Kate’s voice caught as she ran off the elevator. “Mom? Is she going to die?”

  “I don’t know, honey. I really don’t know.”

  Sprinting to her car, Kate could hear the tears in her mother’s voice. “I’m coming. Don’t let her die.” While battling the downtown Nashville traffic, Kate grew more frantic when she called every airline that flew into Providence only to learn nothing was available for the rest of the day. Without a moment’s hesitation, she called Reid’s cell phone.

  “Kate?” He sounded shocked to hear from her.

  She was having trouble seeing through her tears to drive.

  “Honey, what’s wrong?”

  “Are you in town?”

  “I’m at my office.”

  “I need help. My sister’s hurt, and the airlines are booked.” She choked on a sob. “Can you fly me home?”

  “Go to my house. I’m on my way.”

  “Thank you.”

  Thirty minutes later, he came tearing down the dirt road in the Mercedes, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. He got out of the car and rushed over to hug her. “Are you okay?”

  Tears slid down her cheeks as she looked up at him. “It’s bad. We need to hurry.”

  He opened the hangar doors and got the plane ready. “We’ve got to stop for fuel at Nashville International, but I called ahead. They’re expecting us. Let’s go.”

  Forty-five endless minutes later, they were cleared for takeoff from Nashville International.

  “There’s an airport in Newport,” Kate said. “Can we go there?”

  “No, I checked. It’s too small for the plane. How far is it to Newport from the airport in Providence?”

  “About forty minutes.”

  “My office is arranging for a car to meet you.”

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “What happened to your sister?”

  Kate told him what she knew. “I should call my mother to let her know I’m on my way. How long will it take?”

  “About two and a half hours.”

  She whimpered.

  He reached for her hand and linked their fingers. “Hang in there, baby. I’ll get you there as fast as I can.”

  After flying through some rough weather that slowed them down, Reid and Kate landed at T. F. Green Airport almost three hours later. The latest report from her mother was that Maggie still hadn’t regained consciousness. Hearing that, Kate was in tears again as Reid taxied the plane in from the runway.

  “The car’s meeting you at the hangar. Just a few more minutes.”

  “Will you come with me to Newport?”

  “I don’t think your dad needs to see me right now. Not with your sister in the hospital.”

  “Just for the ride? I don’t want to be alone right now.”

  “Okay.”

  The limo was waiting for them. Reid secured the plane and held her hand as they ran across the tarmac to the car.

  In the car, he put an arm around her, and she rested against him. “Hurry,” he told the driver.

  They crossed the Newport Bridge in record time. “This reminds me too much of my mother’s accident,” Kate said, weeping into his chest. “This is just what it felt like.”

  He smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. “She’s young and strong and healthy. She’ll be just fine.”

  They pulled up in front of the hospital, and Reid followed Kate out of the limo.


  “Thank you so much,” Kate said, wiping tears off her face.

  He hugged her. “Let me know how she is.”

  “I will.”

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Jamie asked.

  Reid and Kate turned to find her Aunt Frannie and Uncle Jamie on the sidewalk. Kate ran into her aunt’s outstretched arms.

  Reid put his hands up to fend off Jamie, who once was his good friend at Berkeley. “I just gave her a ride.”

  “You’ve got some nerve showing your face around here,” Jamie said, his jaw pulsing with anger. “Especially right now.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m leaving. I’ll pray for your sister, Kate.”

  “Thank you,” she said with a last glance back at him as her aunt and uncle each put an arm around her to escort her into the hospital.

  Frannie, Jamie, and Kate rode the elevator to the third-floor intensive care unit.

  “You need to prepare yourself, sweetie,” Frannie said. “She looks pretty bad.”

  “Is she going to die?” Kate asked in a small voice.

  “No,” Jamie said gruffly. “We won’t let that happen.”

  They stepped off the elevator, and Kate ran to her mother.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Clare whispered.

  “Tell me she’s better.”

  “She’s no worse, but they say that’s good news.”

  “Can I see her?”

  “Dad’s in with her now. They want us to take turns.”

  “Will he mind that I’m here?”

  “Of course not.”

  Kate exchanged tearful hugs with all her grandparents, who had driven up from Connecticut. Jill came through the swinging door and dissolved when she saw Kate. They clung to each other for several long minutes.

  “This feels far too familiar,” Jill whispered through her tears.

  Kate nodded, and her eyes filled again when Andi came over to hug her. “Are the boys here?”

  Andi shook her head. “We sent them home with a sitter.”

  Jack came out of Maggie’s room, his eyes red and his shoulders stooped.

  “Daddy,” Kate whispered.

  He looked up, and his face softened when he saw her.

  Kate went to him. His arms tightened around her, and she clung to him as sobs hiccupped through her.

  “Kate,” he said, his voice tight with emotion. “My girl. I’m so glad to see you.”

  Since she couldn’t speak, she just held on to him.

  In the middle of the night, Kate went with Jill to get coffee in the cafeteria.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Jill said.

  “About?”

  “Aidan. He’d want to know about Maggie.”

  “Don’t you think that’s up to Mom to decide?”

  “She’s not thinking clearly. I’ll bet she’d be happy to see him right about now.”

  “I don’t know, Jill. She might not appreciate that.”

  “I’m going to call him anyway.” Jill reached for her cell phone. “I still have his number in my phone.”

  “If this goes bad, I had nothing to do with it,” Kate said.

  Clare was sitting with Maggie at six o’clock the next morning when the girl stirred.

  “Maggie? Honey? Open your eyes.” Clare cried out when one magnificent blue eye fluttered open, followed by the other. “Oh, baby. Can you hear me?”

  Maggie blinked and grimaced when she tried to move arms encased in plaster.

  “Stay still, honey,” Clare said, tears tumbling down her cheeks. “You took a bad fall. You hurt your head and broke your arms. But you’re going to be just fine. Let me get Daddy, okay?” Clare ran to the door, calling for Jack and the doctor.

  Jack rushed into the room. “Oh, thank God,” he said when he saw Maggie’s eyes were open.

  “Daddy.”

  “Oh, baby, you scared us,” he said.

  The doctor checked Maggie’s eyes with a flashlight. “You have a severe concussion, Maggie, so you need to stay really still for a while to give your brain time to recover. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  The doctor turned to Jack and Clare. “We got very lucky,” he said and left the room.

  “What happened?” Maggie asked.

  “You fell backward off the ladder to the attic,” Jack said. “Do you remember?”

  When she tried to nod, her face tightened with pain.

  “What were you doing up there, honey?” he asked.

  “I was putting away my Barbies.”

  “Why?” Clare asked. “You love them.”

  “They’re for babies.”

  Her parents exchanged glances over her bed.

  “No one thinks you’re a baby,” Clare said.

  “You all do! Everyone treats me like I’m a baby, so I thought if I stopped acting like one…”

  Jack hung his head. “Is this because we wouldn’t tell you about Kate?”

  “Sort of.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” he said. “When you’re feeling better, Kate can tell you all about it herself.”

  “She can? Really?”

  He nodded. “She’s here. She came home to see you.”

  Maggie’s eyes widened. “She did? Wow, you guys must’ve been freaking out.”

  Jack’s entire body sagged with relief. “Yes, baby,” he said, his voice tight with emotion. “We were definitely freaking out.”

  Clare smiled at him and nodded in agreement.

  Clare spent an hour with Maggie until the nurses shooed her out so they could care for Maggie. Leaning against the wall, she tipped her head back to say a silent prayer of thanks.

  Aidan burst through the swinging doors, his eyes wide with fatigue and fear.

  Clare gasped. “What are you doing here?” Had anyone ever looked so good?

  “Jill called me. I got here as fast as I could.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Tell me she’s okay.”

  Clare clung to him, wallowing in the familiar scent of sawdust and cologne. “She will be.” As she said the words, she felt the tension ebb from his big frame.

  He released a ragged sigh. “That was the longest five hours ever,” he said, still holding her close to him.

  “I can’t believe you’re here. I’ve missed you so much.”

  “Me, too.” He brushed a light kiss over her lips. “Can I see Maggie?”

  Clare looked into Maggie’s room, where the nurses were settling her against fresh pillows. “In a minute. They’re almost done.”

  “I have stuff I need to tell you.”

  “What kind of stuff?”

  He shook his head in dismay at the sight of Maggie with the big casts and the pale face. “I realized something in the last five hours when I didn’t know if that little girl I love so much would be alive when I got here.”

  Clare couldn’t take her eyes off him. “What did you realize?”

  “I’m already a father.” His eyes were riveted to Maggie as he spoke. “Maybe it’s just a stepfather, but I can’t imagine any father could’ve been more scared than I was when I heard about what happened to her. You and those girls of yours are already mine.”

  Clare’s eyes stung with tears. “Aidan.”

  “You were right, Clare,” he said, focused now on her. “I do have it in me. I’m sorry I was such a fool and that it took something like this for me to see it.”

  She tugged him down and kissed him hard. “Do you remember the question you asked me that last night at your house?”

  Wincing at the memory, he nodded.

  “I’d like to change my answer.”

  Epilogue

  “Aidan, hurry up,” Clare called up the stairs. “It’s on!”

  “We’re coming,” he said from upstairs.

  Clare put out a big bowl of popcorn, opened a Sam Adams for Aidan and a light beer for herself. The TV was tuned to the Academy of Country Music Awards on Country Music Television.

  Aidan came downstairs carrying their son, Max. “S
omeone didn’t want to get out of the tub.”

  “Give me that boy.” Clare held out her arms and breathed in the scent of baby shampoo coming from Max’s soft coffee-colored skin and curly dark hair. His big brown eyes danced when she tickled him.

  Max pointed to the television. “Kate!” he squealed. He was almost three and smart, funny, and so full of joy.

  “There she is!” Aidan said with a big smile as they watched Kate alight from a limo with Buddy and Taylor. “She looks amazing.”

  Clare knew the silver gown was Chanel couture, the shoes were Manolo Blahnik, and the jewelry was on loan from Harry Winston. A team of stylists had worked for weeks to prepare Kate for the big night. She was up for best new artist and song of the year for “I Thought I Knew.”

  Jill and Maggie had flown to Los Angeles the day before to accompany their sister to the award ceremony. They’d called earlier from inside the auditorium and were having a blast hobnobbing with the biggest stars in country music.

  Aidan put his arm around Clare. “I’m so excited.”

  She smiled and kissed him. They’d been married almost a year ago in a small ceremony at his house in Stowe. Their marriage had cleared the way for the adoption of Max a month later. Lately, they’d been talking about finding him a companion.

  Jack had passed along a few leads to Aidan, and before he knew it, he was firmly established in the restoration business in historic Newport. Clare knew she shouldn’t have been surprised when her new husband struck up an unlikely friendship with her ex-husband. Her goal of holidays together was now a reality, and Max referred to “Uncle” Jack’s sons as his cousins. Her life had come full circle, and Clare was content—again.

  “This is it,” Aidan said.

  Martina McBride and Alan Jackson announced the nominees for best new artist.

  Clare buried her face in Aidan’s shirt. “I can’t stand it.”

  “Look!” Aidan hollered. “There they are! Jill and Maggie!”

  Max clapped his pudgy hands with glee at the sight of his sisters on TV.

  “And the award goes to…Kate Harrington,” Alan Jackson said.