by Lietha Wards
“Oh, Jesus!” he cried out, seeing that there was a person in the passenger seat. She wasn’t moving. Alex hopped down into the knee-deep water and felt his booted feet sink several inches down into the soft mud. Several more splashes followed as the men began to follow him. He pulled on the passenger door roughly until it gave way under his strength. “Angel!” It came out as an anguished cry. “Angel!” He reached in just as someone shone a light on her face. “Oh, Christ!”
She looked like hell. Her face was covered in blood, her head was tilted forward with her hair matted around her face, and she was so pale she looked dead. He cupped her face in his hands. “Angel, honey, stay with me! Don’t you dare fucking leave me!” He could have cried when he heard her faintly say his name. He didn’t even wait for anyone to help him. He reached in and undid her seatbelt, catching her before she hit the dash. Although he shouldn’t have moved her in case she had a spinal injury, he knew that if he didn’t get her some help, she would die. She couldn’t wait until morning for the helicopter.
Sweeping her up in his arms, he handed her up to Jet, who was waiting at the top of the incline. Once he was back on the road, he took her back. She felt so limp, so lifeless. Someone else brought blankets, and he laid her down on one and started to cover her with the others to get her warm.
“Call someone to bring the truck down!” he shouted while kneeling next to her. He heard a faint “Yes, boss” in response. “Angel, can you hear me?” he said in an anguished tone as he leaned over her, cupping her face in his hands.
Angel took a deep, excruciating breath. She was hallucinating again.
“Baby, can you hear me?”
If she opened her eyes like before, he would be gone. She couldn’t go through that again. She wanted him with her. Now she knew she was out of her mind because she felt strong hands feeling her limbs, her sides, and her head. She heard herself cry out following a sharp pain when hands brushed along her ribcage, followed by a muffled curse and an apology.
“Where the hell is the bloody truck?” roared Alex. There was too much blood covering her hair, face, and clothing, and he couldn’t stem his panic.
“It’s coming, boss,” said Jet, who was on the phone to the driver. “Bud says they got her sister off in the ambulance ten minutes ago and Seth is in the truck with him.”
Thank God, thought Alex. Seth would know what to do. He took Angel’s hands in his and kissed them. “Hang in there, baby, we’re going to get you out of here.” She whimpered. It nearly burst his heart out of his chest because it was laced with pain. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I mean it, honey. You stay with me. I swear to God I’ll make things right between us.”
“Alex?”
If he wasn’t leaning so close, he wouldn’t have heard it. “Angel? Can you hear me?”
“I—I hurt so much,” she whispered a little more loudly.
“I know, but you stay awake. Do you hear me?”
“I’m dreaming again,” she murmured and her head lolled to the side.
Alex framed her face in his hands and touched his forehead to hers. “No, honey, you’re not dreaming. I’m here and I’m never leaving you again, I promise.”
“Promise?” she managed.
“Promise.” She coughed and a spurt of blood flew from her mouth. “Oh, Jesus!” Alex straightened up. “Dammit, Jet, where’s the truck?”
“I can hear it!” Jet called back. “It’s not far!”
Alex didn’t wait. He scooped Angel up and ran along the road through the mud. The truck was just turning around in a wider area of the road. It was slick and the tires were sliding. Horses would have been faster, but they couldn’t carry Angel out on the back of a horse. Seth hopped out when he saw them and opened the back door so Alex could put her inside the vehicle. Seth got in the back with Angel, and Alex climbed into the front passenger seat.
“Aw, hell,” Seth said as he looked at Angel. “You’d better hurry, Bud. I think we have a punctured lung.”
“You keep her alive, Seth,” Alex told him. “Or I swear to God, brother or not, I’ll kill you.”
“I hear you, Alex,” he said, quickly going to work.
“Is she still awake?”
“No,” he answered, knowing that she was probably in a tremendous amount of pain and it was better this way. Her pulse was weak and her breathing was shallow. Air gurgled in her lungs. He knew there was fluid in there, and he was pretty sure he knew what it was.
“Seth, is she—”
“Alex,” he interrupted, raising his voice. “Shut the fuck up. I’m doing my best!” He’d never lost his temper before in an emergency, but he had trouble concentrating because he was treating Angel, and on top of it all, she was pregnant. It would kill all of them to lose Angel and the baby, and the worst part was that Alex didn’t even know about his child.
The truck snaked and jumped sideways, and Alex cursed. Seth wanted to tell Bud to take it easy, but they were dealing with a time crunch. Pretty soon, she wouldn’t be able to breathe, and there would be nothing he could do.
CHAPTER NINE
Bea, George, and Catherine rushed through the emergency entrance of the hospital. Bea spotted Alex first, talking to a nurse with a clipboard, obviously giving information. Mud covered him—it was beginning to dry, except for below the knees, where his jeans were still wet and caked with clay. He spotted them and waved them over just as the nurse left.
“How are the girls?” asked his mother, studying his expression. He looked horrible. George and Catherine were both pale and etched with worry, but Alex looked worse, if that was possible.
“Alive,” he said, watching color slowly return to their faces. “But Angel’s in surgery right now. Seth’s assisting. He said he’ll let us know as soon as he can.”
“Do they know anything?” Bea asked, wringing her hands.
“Priscilla is awake, and the nurse said you can all go see her. She said that she was trying to go back to the road for help because she couldn’t wake Angel. She said the airbags delayed in opening and both of them hit the dash.” He paused and swallowed hard. “She has a concussion and quite a few scrapes and bruises, including a gash on her forehead where her head hit the steering wheel.”
George stepped forward and shook Alex’s hand. “Thanks for saving my daughters, Alex. We would have lost them both if it weren’t for you, Seth, and the men.”
He hoped he’d saved them both.
One of the nurses came up, repeating that they could go see Priscilla, and led them off. Bea stayed with Alex.
“Are you okay, son?” she asked, looking up at him. He looked terrible. It wasn’t just his haggard, filthy clothing, it was written all over the expression on his face. Although he looked strong and stable, she knew her son well enough to know he was dealing with something that was wearing on him. He was tired and worn looking even before the girls went missing, and after the close call with Angel, she was certain he would feel every passing second through to the bone until they found out something new.
She’d seen the way he looked at Angel, had been seeing it for several years now, and when Alex finally made his move, she couldn’t have been any more elated over the match. She loved Angel and Priscilla, and either one of them would be a welcome addition to her family. This other woman had appeared, though, and everything changed. She didn’t like this woman, and although Alex kept his thoughts to himself, he didn’t look at Lucy like he looked at Angel. None of it made sense.
“Honestly, Mom? No.”
She looped her arm in his. “Do you want to talk about it?” He shook his dark head while settling his eyes on hers. “I know that you’ve been dealing with something difficult that you won’t talk about with anyone. I also know you love Angel, but you’re marrying another woman. Now I may be an old fool, but there’s nothing that would stop you from taking something you want, so I’ve done a lot of thinking over the past few months. I think you’re protecting someone. Is it the boy?”
&nbs
p; “Partly,” he said reluctantly. He should have known his mother would figure something out. After all, he hadn’t inherited his brains from his father. The only thing he did inherit from him besides his looks was his temper. However, both he and Seth had their mother’s intelligence.
Seth came down the hall in his OR scrubs. He waved them to an unoccupied exam room and shut the door. His eyes went from his mother to Alex, knowing there was no way to sugarcoat the news. “Angel lost a lot of blood into her chest. The impact was hard enough for the seat belt to break several ribs and puncture a lung. We had to give her three units in the OR.” His mother gasped and covered her mouth. “She also has a fractured skull and a broken leg—” He paused while Alex reached for a chair to sit down. Then he pointedly looked at his brother. “Alex, the next few days are hit and miss. The surgeon feels if she—” He swallowed. “If she gets through these two days, she’ll make it.” Then he looked at his mother. “Mom, I need to talk to Alex alone.” He knew what he’d promised Angel, but circumstances had changed. He loved them both enough to know what he was doing was right.
Bea glanced back and forth between the two men. Alex’s gaze centered on his brother’s with an expression of anguish mixed with confusion. Obviously, this wasn’t her business. “I’ll go see how Priscilla is doing,” she said, giving them both a reassuring smile while wiping her eyes with a tissue she took from her purse.
“Tell them Angel is out of surgery and I’ll be there to fill in the rest in a minute.”
“All right, son,” she said before she left.
“Seth, what are you not telling me?” Alex asked after the door closed. His fears were evident in his expression. “Is Angel—” He choked, unable to finish.
Seth shook his head and lifted his hand to let him know it wasn’t that. “I think she’ll pull through, Alex. I hope she’s young and strong enough not to prove me wrong. However, you should know Angel is pregnant.” Seth waited until his words sunk in—and did they ever have an effect. Alex paled and placed his elbows on his knees, burying his face in his hands as a wretched cry tore from his throat.
“The baby is fine, Alex.” He took a deep breath. “For now. When something so traumatic happens to a woman’s body, though, it sometimes rejects the pregnancy.”
Without looking up, he spoke. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked quietly. Everything made sense now. Seth visiting her regularly, the protectiveness he showed around her, and the hesitation in answering his questions.
Seth heard the crack in his voice. “She didn’t want you to know. I have to uphold the wishes of my patient, brother or not. I have a legal responsibility to her, but in light of things now, I’m breaking that confidence. If your son survives—”
“Son?” Alex choked again, thoroughly devastated. He’d always wanted to be a father, and for whatever reason, knowing the sex of the child made an even greater impact on him.
Seth nodded. “Her family is supportive, but she never seemed close to them. You are the closest person to her, Alex, and if she loses this baby, she’s going to need you.”
“She should have told me—I would have stood by her.”
“You were marrying another woman.” When Alex finally lifted his head, the raw anguish in his expression made Seth wish he’d never doubted his brother’s feelings for Angel.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“She wanted you to have a life with Max. She figured you didn’t love Lucy, but you were doing this for your son.”
Alex leaned back in the chair and cast his gaze towards the ceiling, releasing a long, slow breath. “Max isn’t my son.”
Seth had suspected that was the case, but it didn’t explain why his brother was marrying a woman like Lucy. “I think you’d better tell me exactly what’s going on.”
“I should go see Angel,” he said, avoiding the subject and starting to rise out of the chair.
“She won’t be out of post-op recovery for another half-hour at least, so you have time before they move her to ICU. Alex, you need to tell me what this is about.”
Alex stared at him for a long moment, then gave a curt nod and sat down again. “I think this whole episode has shown me how wrong I’ve been.” He ran his hand through his hair.
“Do you love Lucy?”
“Definitely not,” he said giving his brother an expression that said, how could you even think that?
“Angel?”
He managed a small smile. “More than my life.”
“Then what the hell is going on, Alex?”
He hesitated one last time, then nodded. “Max isn’t mine, Seth. He’s Dad’s son.”
After he said the words, it took a minute for them to sink in. It was Seth’s turn to sit down. He couldn’t say anything—he just stared at Alex in disbelief. Then he remembered the note in Alex’s hand that night he’d passed out in his study after consuming a bottle of whiskey. “How—?”
“It was eight years ago. Dad used to come see me at Princeton sometimes. We had a co-ed dorm.” Alex shrugged as if he had nothing to lose. “Lucy was beautiful and saw our father as a means to an end. She was poor, and he wasn’t. She didn’t care if he was married or not.”
“You’re saying Dad had an affair with this woman and Max is our half-brother?” Seth repeated, unsure if he was hearing him right.
He nodded. “I didn’t know she got pregnant, but I knew about the affair. I confronted Dad, and he told me the truth. Dad paid her off and she withdrew from Princeton, but not until after she’d let everyone know about their relationship. I was humiliated. I went to her to tell her to keep her mouth shut, and she reported me for assault. I never laid a hand on her, Seth, but it was her word against mine. I nearly got expelled, but during the appeal, she retracted her statement. I think that’s when Dad gave her money.
“The money ran out recently and she came back for more, threatening to expose the affair to our mother. She said she wanted marriage and for Max to have our name, probably for some claim to the estate. I was sure a divorce would ensue sooner or later, because I wouldn’t touch her if my life depended on it. So I had her sign a prenuptial that gave her a stipend to live on, and her terms were a gag order that I couldn’t talk about this to anyone. Obviously, she had the sense not to appear as a gold digger. Now I’m not going through with it, so the contract is void. I couldn’t let her tell Mom...it would destroy her, and with her heart condition—”
“Jesus Almighty!” Seth swore. “You kept this in all of these years. Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“You saw our father as someone that you could look up to. I didn’t want to destroy that.” He took a long, deep breath. “He made me promise.”
“Just the same, Alex, he’s a man. We’re not perfect.” He swore again and stood up, running his hand through his own hair. Then he turned and faced him, sticking a finger out towards him. “You shouldn’t have kept this in. You had no right. Who gave you the right to be Mother’s and my savior?” Seth was angry—angry that his father could have done such a thing, and angry that he was dead and he couldn’t confront him over it. He was equally angry with him for putting it all on Alex’s shoulders. All these years this secret was out there and Alex was still trying to protect them, even giving up his own happiness. “Why? He’s gone now, Alex.”
“Mom couldn’t take it. I know she can’t. If she were to find out—”
“That woman is in our house, Alex, and she had an affair with our father! How do you think Mom will take it? She’ll drag Lucy out of the house by her hair and toss her off the steps.”
Yeah, she probably would.
“This is wrong in so many ways,” Seth said, shaking his head.
“I’m not going to marry her. Like I said, this whole incident has put things into perspective for me. If I marry anyone, it’ll be Angel.” If she lives, he thought, feeling himself shudder while trying to push that notion out of his mind. It was a painful thing to think that something so tragic needed to happen in ord
er to make him realize his mistake. Knowing that he could never make it right if she died would be the end of him.
“Are you going to tell Mom?”
“No, I’m going to do what Dad did years ago and pay her off,” he admitted. When Lucy seduced his father, she was no innocent, and although she had social graces, she wasn’t what Alex wanted in a wife. She was a smart woman, though—he had to give her that. She came from a poor family, but was able to enter his type of crowd by studying and mimicking the wealthy. Now she had a son and actually had to think about someone other than herself.
When she entered his study that day, he didn’t know what to expect. He’d intended to propose to Angel that Saturday. He had it all planned out. He was going to take her back to the spot where they’d made love and pop the question. Then Lucy showed up, and she threatened to tell their mother that Max was their father’s child unless he married her. Alex knew his mother couldn’t handle the truth. She loved their father and such betrayal would devastate her. Alex loved her too much to do that to her.
Discovering that he had another brother was shocking enough. Both he and Seth would have welcomed Max into their family, but now he had to give up Angel in order to protect his family from scandal and his mother from heartbreak. It felt as if someone had ripped his heart out of his chest to see her so hurt that day in Jason’s office. It was all he could do not to go after her, tell her the truth, and beg her forgiveness. However, in exchange for the prenuptial agreement that they’d signed, Lucy insisted on a gag order. She didn’t want anyone to know what she’d done. She wanted to marry into the upper class and have support for Max. If he told anyone, she would get a fortune in lieu of breaking the gag order—and she would tell Bea the truth.
At first, Alex didn’t believe her. He was getting set to have her thrown off his property, but then he saw Max. The boy looked identical to him when he was eight. There was no doubt he was a Harrison. He was a good kid, too. Despite Lucy’s selfishness, she obviously loved Max and did her best to raise him properly. Apparently, she’d tried on several occasions to marry into money, but as soon as her potential beau learned that she was a mother, the relationship was over. Lucy might be beautiful, but that couldn’t remove the stigma of having a child out of wedlock.