by Amy Gamet
He knew she would.
Jax had almost died from smoke inhalation. When they pulled him from the building, there was soot in his mouth and he was coughing up blood.
Hell, at least he was coughing.
A few more minutes inside and he wouldn’t have been doing that.
Logan didn’t envy Cowboy making that call to Jessa, and he wondered if this would be the straw that ended Jax’s time with HERO Force completely.
Jax had stayed two nights in the hospital and gone home. Gemma was still here.
One bullet had punctured her lung, another her diaphragm. She’d had emergency surgery and a ventilator was helping her breathe. But Logan’s biggest worry was her level of consciousness.
He just wanted her to wake up.
She’d sustained a head injury in addition to the gunshots—though no one knew from what—and her brain was swollen.
She was so damn still, the beeping of the machines and the whoosh of the ventilator the only noises coming from her bedside. He crossed to her and brushed the hair from her forehead.
He never should have let her come to the orchard. She would have been safe back at headquarters, but he’d allowed himself to be swayed by her lobbying, telling himself she’d be okay.
It was foolish, and it had nearly gotten her killed.
“You’re going to go out with me after this. I don’t care if I have to drag you out in public with me. You’re going.”
I love you.
There it was again, the emotion he had no right to be feeling. He’d only known her a few days, but he suspected he would feel that way about her for the rest of his life—even if she chose not to be in it.
And she might not.
“Maybe I won’t drag you.”
God knows, she didn’t even want to date him before all this. It wasn’t very likely she’d change her mind because he’d nearly gotten her killed.
His stare took in the bandages over her chest and shoulder. With a bullet wound only inches from her heart, she was lucky to be alive.
And I’m lucky to have her.
But he didn’t have her. Not really.
She’d come to him looking for sex, but for him, it had become more than that. He cared about her, wanted to spend time with her after she was well, and not out of some sense of obligation.
She was sure to push him away. Hadn’t she already done that, zeroing in on the age difference between them and pointing out all the things he could never have with her?
He wanted kids one day, sure. But if he and Gemma were meant to be together long-term, then he knew there was a family meant for them as well, even if it wasn’t the regular kind. It didn’t matter where they came from.
Four days later she was moved to her own private room. Logan was still there, having only taken short breaks to eat, sleep or shower.
It was pouring rain outside the window, the deluge pelting the glass as he rested his forearms on the metal bar of her hospital bed. The room smelled like disinfectant, the walls covered in sheets of textured plastic. He’d had too much time over the last few days to examine their repetitive pattern.
A white-haired nurse came in and took Jemma’s vitals. “Are you the father?” she asked.
Logan furrowed his brow. “No. Her father’s in a nursing home.”
“Not her father. The baby’s father.”
He furrowed his brow. “What?”
The nurse’s eyes opened wide. “Uh…the doctor told me the baby’s father was in here. I just assumed that was you.”
“No.”
Her cheeks flushed a deep crimson. “Please, don’t tell anyone I said anything. Patient privacy is important in this hospital. I could lose my job.”
“It’s okay. You have the wrong room. She can’t have kids.”
The nurse looked at the chart in her hands and back to Logan. “Gemma Faraday.”
“Yes.”
She dropped her eyes, closing the chart as she reached for the rolling blood pressure machine.
“Wait. Is she pregnant?”
“I’m so sorry, sir.”
“Because you shouldn’t have said it or because it isn’t true?”
She was halfway out the door.
“Do you have any idea how much this means to me?” he called. “What if she is pregnant, and she never tells me herself? What if she makes a decision because she thinks I don’t love her, or that she’s too old for me? Maybe it wasn’t a mistake you came in here.”
The nurse stopped walking and faced him. She held up the chart. “A patient’s medical record is strictly confidential. I made a mistake here today.” She turned and placed it in a basket on the blood pressure machine, then pulled it into the hallway and walked away.
Logan stared at the blood pressure cart, Gemma’s chart sitting right inside the wire basket. Either that nurse was a real idiot or one hell of a softie.
He stepped into the hallway and looked from side to side. No one paid him any mind. He took the chart back into Gemma’s room and opened it, his eyes scanning the information.
His heart squeezed in his chest.
HGH levels consistent with day eight of pregnancy.
A wide smile broke out on his face. He was going to be a father.
25
Gemma’s head was pounding and her throat was more sore than it had ever been in her life—one from the concussion she’d sustained, the other from the breathing tube that had kept her alive for the last week.
And then, as if reports of her coma-like state weren’t shocking enough, the doctor dropped a bomb on her she hadn’t seen coming. She was pregnant.
Pregnant!
She couldn’t stop crying. She cried all the way through a visit from the governor’s secretary, who told her she had just lost her job. And while they were reserving the right to disbar her pending a full investigation, initial indications were that she would get to keep her law license, which she knew damn well she didn’t deserve. They should’ve taken it all, stripped her of everything.
That would’ve been justice.
But she’d been granted mercy instead.
She had no idea how they’d found out about her conduct on the HERO Force case, and frankly she didn’t care. She didn’t even have the desire to defend her actions. Nothing mattered beyond the new life that had taken hold in her battered, war-torn, forty-four-year-old, cancer-free body.
She was going to have a baby.
It was a miracle.
It wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t even supposed to be a possibility, yet here she was, knocked up.
She laughed through her tears. She was pregnant with Logan’s child. She knew exactly when it happened, desperate for him to make love to her and drunk out of her mind, she’d grabbed the wrong condom from her purse, using her old one instead of the one April had given her.
She rested her hand on her abdomen, laughter and tears turning into emotional sobbing.
“Gemma?”
She jerked her hand away from her stomach and wiped at her eyes. “Logan.”
He looked tired but good, concern clearly ironed into his features, and she wondered how much time he’d spent at the hospital with her. A nurse had rushed to call him when she awoke, and he’d made it here in less than an hour.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She wiped her face. “Yes.”
“God, I’m glad to see you awake.” He leaned down and hugged her, gently kissing the top of her head. “I was worried sick.”
“Good as new.” Her voice was raspy and she put a hand to her throat.
“It’s from the ventilator. It will feel better in a day or two.”
She nodded.
“What did the doctors say?”
“I had a hole in my lung and another in my diaphragm. They stitched me up and I seem to be doing well.”
“Is that it?”
She cocked her head. “And a concussion. My head hurts.”
And I’m carrying your child.
She grinned, the expression feeling absurd on her features, like she was a crazy person trying to keep a secret.
He was looking at her intently.
“They said I should be able to get out of here tomorrow or maybe the next day. How’s Royce?”
Logan nodded. “Good. His wounds were mostly superficial. Twenty-five stitches and an aspirin for the road. He positively identified Stewart Cole.”
“Thank God he’s all right.”
He sat down. “Did you see who shot you?”
“No. I was sitting in the van with Jax. He was trying to use that parabolic listening device to hear inside the building, but it wasn’t working. Some kind of interference, so he decided to get closer.”
“And what did you do?”
She shrugged. “I stayed in the van, I guess.”
“You guess or you remember?”
She furrowed her brow. “I’m not sure. The next thing I really remember is…”
Finding out I was carrying your child.
“…waking up here,” she finished.
“We need to make sure we got everyone. Three of the kidnappers were killed at the scene, including Cole. But no one saw any of them leave the lake house and head toward the van where you were.”
“So you think there might be another one out there.”
“Right.”
A chill ran up her spine.
“You can stay with me, if you’d like,” he said.
That was the last thing she needed. “No. That’s all right. You’ve done enough already.”
She saw the unspoken questions in the depths of his eyes, but she wanted some time to think. It would be difficult to do that with him there.
“I can put a security guard on your doorstep,” he offered.
“That might be nice. Just for a while until I get my sea legs back under me.”
He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “You scared me, Faraday. Made me think about how much I like having you around.”
Her stomach clenched. “I need some time, Logan.”
“Take a few days if you need them, but I want to see you again. Don’t keep me waiting too long.”
26
Sweat ran down Logan’s face and into his eyes, but he didn’t stop punching the speed bag. He needed this release, this physical outlet for all the emotional shit pent up inside him.
He could see the way Gemma touched her stomach, the look of awe on her features before he walked into the room. But once he stepped inside, her hand flew away and her expression became shuttered.
She didn’t want him to know she was pregnant.
He punched harder, the speed bag coming faster with each swing. Maybe she was telling the truth and she just needed some time to think.
God knows he did. But she knew about the baby and chose not to tell him, which made him fear she had no intention of telling him at all.
Was she going to keep it?
She was career focused. She didn’t plan on having any kids because she didn’t think she could have any. He couldn’t assume that an unplanned pregnancy would change any of that, no matter how much he wanted to believe it would.
The muscles of his shoulders were burning and he pushed himself harder, needing to feel something besides the pain of this lingering doubt.
Should he give her space, give her some time to think? Or should he go over there and tell her how he felt, tell her he desperately wanted her to keep their baby. Keep her in his life.
Cowboy walked into the gym. “First you train on AK-47s, then basic explosives and marital arts, now this. What’s next, Doc? You going to earn your swim fins?”
“I don’t need to be a fucking SEAL. You fools would be dead in the water without me.” He hit the speed bag with a burst of force that left it flying in his wake.
This conversation with Cowboy was long overdue. He’d been avoiding it for so long, but now it was just another avenue to release the stress inside him—a punching bag he could hit. “If I’m going to stay with HERO Force, some things need to change.”
“I’m listening.”
“I may not be a SEAL, but I bring a lot to the table and I’m sick and tired of being treated like a fucking kid. That isn’t how you and me are going to work. Either you open your eyes and acknowledge that I’m goddamn useful around here, or I’m off the team.”
He was ready for a fight. Ready to force his hand, ready for battle. Or he’d walk away if this son-of-a-bitch couldn’t see he was worthy.
Cowboy narrowed his eyes. “Maybe you’re right.”
“You bet your ass I’m right.”
“I’m not used to you being on the front lines. I’m not used to you being capable.”
“I was always capable, Leo. I just hung back and let you guys patronize me, because I thought you were better than me. But those days are done. I looked up to you, but now I know that’s bullshit, and I’m not willing to work for a company that thinks I’m less-than everybody else.”
Cowboy stared at him for what seemed a long time before reaching out and touching his shoulder. “It’s about time, Doc. I’ve been waiting for you to stand up for yourself, though I’ve got to say, I didn’t understand I was part of the problem. I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s all right.”
“We’ll make some changes.”
Logan nodded, wiping away the sweat from his eyes. “Good.”
Jax walked into the exercise room. “Question for you, Doc. Where does Cole’s death leave the lawsuit? Does it die with him?”
“Legally, it passes to his heir, but I don’t think he has one. If that’s the case it will be dismissed.”
Cowboy screwed up one side of his face. “You know way too much shit.”
“That’s why he’s a good guy to have around,” said Jax. “Well, that and saving my ass from a burning building.”
“Doc here wants more responsibility,” said Cowboy.
Jax turned and walked away, calling over his shoulder, “About fucking time, Logan. You can have it.”
Cowboy looked at Logan with a smirk. “Told you.”
Logan shook his head and went back to punching the speed bag. “You guys are fucking nuts.”
“You want to tell me whose ass you’re kicking over there, Doc?
“Not especially.”
“Faraday seems like a real good woman.”
Logan glared at Cowboy, who pretended not to notice.
“Something happen between you two?” Cowboy asked.
“I have an idea,” said Logan. “How about you and I discuss the finer points of your relationship with Charlotte?”
Cowboy turned on his heel. “Never mind.”
“Hang on there, brother. I think this is a fine idea. You’ve been dating my sister for what, almost six months now?”
“Seven.”
“And she moved in with you about a hot week after the cruise.”
“Yep.”
Logan got his rhythm going again, the speed bag bouncing hard between its platform and Logan’s alternating fists. “Guess I’m just wondering what your intentions are toward my sister, Leo.”
“You ate fucking grumpy flakes for breakfast this morning, didn’t you?”
“Didn’t seem to bother you until I changed the topic.”
“Charlotte and I are happy just the ways things are.”
Logan stopped punching and turned to Cowboy. “You’re not going to marry her?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but she doesn’t want to get married.”
“Bullshit. She married Rick.”
“Exactly. She married Rick, and look how that turned out.”
“Son of a bitch.” Logan ran a hand through his hair. “You can’t convince her?”
“I meant what I said. We’re happy together.”
“You don’t know her like I do. She’s broken inside. That loser made her think she was worthless.”
Cowboy nodded. “I know that, too. But I treat her l
ike the most important person in the world, because that’s just what she is to me. Nothing would make me happier than making her my wife, but the idea doesn’t make her happy at all. Not much I can do about that, Logan.”
Logan cursed under his breath and took off his boxing gloves. “I’m sorry, man. I just assumed you were dragging your feet.”
“And you wanted to beat somebody up. I get it, man. But maybe you should go talk to Gemma instead of throwing rocks at everybody else’s windows.”
27
“Bette Davis.”
Who is Bette Davis?
I’ll take The Silver Screen for two hundred, Alex.
“Bing Crosby.”
Who is Bing Crosby?
Gemma rolled her eyes. Her father couldn’t remember his own name or hers, but he could sweep this whole category.
It was one of his better days.
“Dad?”
“James Stewart.”
Who is Jimmy Stewart?
She cleared her throat. “Mr. Faraday?”
“Yeah?”
Definitely one of his better days.
“You’re going to be a grandfather.”
His eyes filled with wonder. “I am?”
“Yes.”
“Bev?” he called out. “Beverly, come in here. You’re not going to believe this.”
Her heart broke a little more than she ever knew it could. “Mama’s not here, Daddy.”
“Well, where’d she go?”
She hesitated. “The store. She’ll be back soon.”
“Does she know about the baby?”
“She does. And she’s very happy.”
“I’ll bet she is.” He patted her knee. “A grandbaby. I’d never thought I’d see the day, since you had cancer.”
Her mouth dropped open, time standing still. “What did you say?”
“The doctors said you wouldn’t have any babies, and here you are. That’s just wonderful, sweetie. I couldn’t be happier for you.”
She looked into his watery eyes. “Dad?”
“Yeah?”
Gemma threw her arms around her father. “I love you.” She held onto him tightly.
“Gene Kelly.”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Who is Orson Wells?