by Janice Lynn
He took off after the stretcher and, fighting tears, Kimberly wrapped her arms around his small body. He couldn’t be more than six or seven at most.
“Shh, they’re taking him to the hospital so they can care for him,” she whispered against his soft hair. “You’ve got to stay with your mom. She needs you to take care of her right now.”
“I need to go with my daddy. I have to wake him up.”
“I don’t think I can drive,” the woman cried, her voice breaking. “I’m shaking, and I don’t think I can drive. What if I crash?”
She looked at Kimberly in desperation.
“Kimberly will drive you and your son in my car, and I’ll lead the way in yours,” Daniel said, coming back to where they were after he’d helped the paramedics with the man. “That way you’ll have your car when you’re ready to leave the hospital.”
Kimberly nodded, still holding the young boy in her arms and trying not to let tears flow at the stony detachment on Daniel’s face.
But when he looked at her, met her gaze, the utter loss in his eyes undid her resolve and moisture stung her cheeks.
Oh, Daniel.
Looking numb, the woman nodded.
“Let’s go.” He turned and headed back out of the restaurant, ignoring the cheers and backslaps that the other patrons gave him for what he’d done for the man.
Kimberly watched him go, clutching the trembling little boy to her the way she wanted to hold Daniel, to comfort his losses.
Only she knew he’d shrug away any attempts she made to comfort him. He’d only ever talked about his dad on one occasion and that had been brief.
It had been Leona who’d told her how Daniel’s father had died, how it had affected Daniel, why it was so important that he fulfill his dreams of becoming a cardiologist.
On a daily basis Daniel faced his demons in the sterile setting of the hospital and he kept them tightly in check.
But here, in a restaurant with an innocent little boy watching, Daniel hadn’t been able to control those repressed emotions.
The little boy gulped a deep breath, reminding Kimberly that, as much as she longed to go to Daniel, she had others to take care of at the moment.
“I’m Kimberly Brookes,” she introduced herself to the boy and his mother, keeping her voice calm, soothing. “I’m a registered nurse. And that—” her gaze went to where Daniel rounded the corner of the entranceway “—is Dr. Daniel Travis.”
“Beverly Reynolds,” the woman said, shakily getting to her feet and wrapping her arms around her son. “And this is Devon.”
“He’s a hero, ma’am. A real-life hero,” the waiter who’d called for the ambulance announced, earning several bellows of agreement from the crowd.
“Yes,” Kimberly agreed, “he is.”
Daniel had always been the hero of her heart.
Daniel raked a hand through his hair and leaned against the wall outside the operating room where Greg was performing open-heart surgery on Ken Reynolds.
His partner had asked if he’d wanted to come in and help with the procedure. Daniel had declined.
Because of fear.
Because of the sickness churning in the pit of his stomach.
Because he was a coward and couldn’t face the monitor if the man’s heart stopped again.
Even though the man’s heart started beating after the paramedics had administered the electrical shocks, Mr. Reynolds wasn’t out of the woods. If he made it through surgery, who knew what kind of damage had occurred to his brain and body during the time he’d technically been dead?
Brain damage could occur with even a small amount of oxygen deprivation.
And now, when the man was in surgery and there was nothing to keep Daniel from going out to the waiting room, he couldn’t go.
Couldn’t face the boy.
His mother.
Kimberly.
Especially Kimberly.
Because he’d seen the look in her eyes.
She’d known exactly what he’d thought.
That scared the hell out of him.
How could she have been pregnant, had his baby, and not told him?
Just because she’d dumped him, it didn’t mean he’d have turned his back on her when she’d discovered she was pregnant. Had she really thought he’d not care? That he wouldn’t have chosen to stay by her side and raise their child in lieu of coming to Boston? Or, better yet, he would have figured out a way to bring her with him. It might have meant giving up his scholarship, but he’d have found a way.
He had a son. A child. A baby.
Not a baby.
A fourteen-year-old.
A son he’d never seen. Never held. Never touched.
A son who wouldn’t recognize his own father.
Damn her.
Damn her for what she’d stolen from him.
All the memories he’d never have of things like first words, first steps, first days of school, first baseball games. All gone. All beyond his ability of ever knowing, ever experiencing.
How could she have done that to him?
He’d not thought it possible, but in that moment he hated Kimberly.
Hated her for what she’d taken and selfishly kept for herself.
“Dr. Travis?” A cardiac nurse tapped him on the shoulder. “Dr. Jessup asked me to check on you. He said you were feeling poorly. Do you need me to get you anything?”
Her smile was friendly, concerned.
Feeling poorly? Greg had no idea.
Daniel shook his head. “Tell him I’m fine and that I’ll be in my office. When he’s finished with Ken Reynolds, have him let me know.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
KIMBERLY’s heart went out to Beverly Reynolds and how lost she must be, not knowing if her husband would live or not. The pale woman paced back and forth across the waiting room.
A nurse had come out not long after they’d arrived at the hospital to tell them Ken had been taken into the operating room. That’s the last they’d heard and it seemed like a long time ago.
Kimberly’s legs had gone numb about an hour ago, but Devon slept half on her lap, half sprawled across the sofa. He’d cried himself to sleep, and she didn’t have the heart to risk waking him to restore circulation to her legs.
Tenderly, she stroked his hair, thinking it looked and felt much as Ryan’s had at six.
At the moment, more than ever, she missed her son.
A son who was so like his father that her heart ached at times just from looking at him and the feeling of loss it evoked.
When she returned to Atlanta, that feeling would be tenfold because she’d seen the hurt in Daniel’s eyes and she’d felt his pain, felt what she’d robbed him of and that she could never give back.
He wouldn’t forgive her.
The waiting-room door opened.
“Nurse?” Beverly stilled, her hands wringing tightly as she waited for some word on her husband’s condition.
Blinking, Kimberly’s eyes shot to the uniformed woman standing in the entrance of the waiting room.
She winced at the worried look on the nurse’s face.
Oh, no, had Mr. Reynolds died?
“My husband, how is he?” Beverly pleaded, looking at the nurse with hope. “Please, tell me he’s okay.”
“He’s still in surgery. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more.” The nurse then turned to Kimberly. “You’re Kimberly Brookes?”
She nodded.
“Can you, please, come with me?”
Her heart flopped. What had happened? Why would they want her?
Daniel.
She eased out from under the sleeping boy, grateful he didn’t wake up as it might be hours before they’d know anything on his father and she hated the thought of having to look into his soulful brown eyes and not have good news.
Beverly grabbed her hand, held on tightly, panic in her eyes. “Please, come back and tell me if you learn anything on Ken. Promise me.”
Kimberly nodded. “
I promise.”
Once outside the waiting room, the nurse gave her an awkward smile. “I have a message for you.”
“For me?” It had to be from Daniel.
“Actually,” the nurse continued, looking a bit sheepish, “I have two.”
“Is Dr. Travis in surgery?” Perhaps he was doing Mr. Reynolds’s bypass and was sending word to let her know he’d be a while.
“No, but one of the messages is from him. He wanted me to tell you to get a taxi back to your hotel. He’s staying at the hospital tonight and will see you in the morning in the cardiac lab.”
Disappointment spread through her. She’d be home tomorrow evening and had hoped for time with Daniel tonight for them to discuss Ryan, time to make him understand how she’d felt when he’d left for Boston.
“Okay,” she told the nurse. “But I’m not leaving until I know how Mr. Reynolds is.”
Having probably stayed past the end of her shift many times to check on a patient’s outcome, the nurse nodded. “I understand.”
“You said I had two messages?”
“The other’s from Dr. Gregory Jessup. He’s operating on Mr. Reynolds, but is concerned about Dr. Travis. He thinks Dr. Travis isn’t feeling well and that perhaps you could check on him.”
Daniel wasn’t feeling well? And if he wasn’t in surgery, where was he?
“Where is Dr. Travis?”
“Dr. Jessup said to go to Dr. Travis’s office. He thinks you’ll find him there. He said that if he wasn’t, to wait and he’d soon show.”
“Let me tell Mrs. Reynolds where I’m going, then I’ll be on my way.” She paused, remembering the security panel. “Only I won’t be able to get to Daniel’s office. I’m with Cardico and only here for the week. I don’t have an access code.”
The nurse smiled and held up a piece of paper. “Dr. Jessup said to give you these numbers.” She practically sighed with pleasure before elaborating. “He whispered them in my ear. They’re his security clearance code and he didn’t trust anyone else to hear them.”
She looked in heaven that Gregory had given her the number and Kimberly suspected Gregory would be getting the pretty nurse’s number before the night ended.
Kimberly took the paper, thanked the woman and headed to Daniel’s office. She’d been there often enough during the week to find her way without any difficulties, but when she stood outside the door she found herself at a loss. She couldn’t bear it if Daniel turned her away.
Was she ever going to stop being a coward when it came to Daniel?
She put her hand on the doorknob. She didn’t really expect the handle to turn, because Daniel’s office would be locked, right? But it turned, and she had no choice but to push the door open.
Daniel sat at his desk with his eyes closed.
“You got through a lot quicker than I was expecting,” he said without opening his eyes. “Did you lose him?”
He thought she was someone else. Gregory, from the sound of it.
“Daniel?”
His eyes popped open. They were bloodshot.
As if from crying.
A strangled sound erupted from deep within him and she covered her mouth.
“What are you doing here?” He glared at her with the hatred she’d seen earlier. And anger. Anger poured off him. “I sent a message for you to go home.”
“I’m not leaving you.” Running away would be much easier than facing him, but she couldn’t leave. Not when she sensed he needed her more at this moment than he ever had.
His jaw tensed. “I’m not in the mood, Kimberly. Finding out I have a fourteen-year-old son has given me a lot to think about, and I want to be alone.”
“No.”
A blond brow quirked. “No?”
“I told you, I’m not leaving you.”
He laughed, an embittered chuckle that erupted from deep within his chest. “Oh, you’ll leave all right. Come tomorrow you’ll hop on that plane and you’ll go back to Atlanta and push me out of your mind, just as you’ve always done.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Sure it is.”
He attacked out of fear. She recognized all the symptoms. It was easier to attack than to admit how upset he was about Mr. Reynolds and Ryan.
Her gaze locked with his red-rimmed eyes and she crossed the room to stand next to him, turning the swivel chair to face her.
“Come with me to Atlanta, Daniel,” she pleaded. She hadn’t known that had been what she was going to say, but now that Daniel knew about Ryan, she wanted him to see his son, to know and love Ryan. “Come meet our son.”
He swallowed, but didn’t speak.
Emotion threatened to burst free. She could see the pain spilling from his every pore. Yet he remained impassive, remained tersely silent, holding in all his hurt.
Not caring that she bared her soul, she knelt before him, took his hands and pulled them to her heart. “I’m sorry, Daniel. So very sorry. All I’ve ever wanted was to love you, and I know I hurt you but, please, try to understand how I felt when I found out I was pregnant. I made a mistake in not telling you, but I was trying to let you live your dream.”
His eyes searched hers and something visibly crumbled inside him. Something fierce and more powerful than a dam bursting and unleashing tumultuous waters.
He leaned forward, resting against her, and she immediately wrapped her arms around him, holding him, offering comfort however she could.
Although she wasn’t consciously aware of him sliding out of his chair, he must have done so because he knelt with her, tightly bound in her arms.
His body shook, and she realized he was crying, and that he didn’t want her to know he was crying. Helplessness washed over her.
She’d do anything, give anything, to ease his suffering.
He mumbled something low, but it was muffled against her neck and she only caught “He died.” At least, that’s what she thought he’d said.
Deciding he must be speaking about Mr. Reynolds, rather than Ryan, she snuggled closer. Daniel’s heart had been wrenched too many times tonight.
“Daniel,” she whispered, holding him as near to her heart as she could, dropping kisses of comfort on his neck. “You did all you could.”
“But he died.”
“No, Mr. Reynolds is still in surgery with Gregory. He’s going to be okay.” In her heart, she knew the man had to be. Daniel needed him to be.
“My dad.”
Two words that leveled her.
She pressed more kisses to his neck, pulling back, kissing his cheek. “Daniel, your father died because of a resistant Staphylococcus infection. Not because of anything you did.”
She wasn’t sure he heard her or, if he did, that her words registered.
“I was with him when he died. I tried to save him, but he died anyway.”
She pulled back, cupped Daniel’s face, and held his gaze. “His body was under too much strain from the infection, Daniel. His death wasn’t anyone’s fault, least of all yours.”
“In my head, I know you’re right, but in my heart…” He stopped, closed his eyes and winced.
In his heart he ached, had for years, and Ken Reynolds’s little boy had slapped Daniel in the face with the past when his defenses had already been overwhelmed.
Not knowing what to say to take away his pain, but needing to lighten his burden, Kimberly leaned forward and kissed him. A soft kiss meant to lift his sorrows, to take them on herself, and give him strength.
She tasted his salty tears and kissed him again, licking away all traces of his pain. She kissed him again and again. Each time with more and more passion.
Her hands dropped and gripped his shoulders, curling into the muscles beneath her fingertips. Her heart blossomed beneath Daniel’s tears and touch.
“What are you doing, Kimberly?” he asked hoarsely.
“What I’ve wanted to do for so long. So very, very long.” She kissed him again. On the mouth. Hard. With all her longing unleashed
in the way she kissed him, touched him.
“Let me love you, Daniel.”
His arms around her, Daniel stood, lifting her with him. He carried her to the sofa and together they sank onto the buttery softness.
“You’re playing with fire, Kimberly,” he warned. “I’m not thinking straight, but I know we shouldn’t be doing this. Not here. Not now. Not after what you told me.”
“Yes, Daniel, we should.” Not wanting him to argue with her, she covered his mouth in another kiss. One meant to shut him up.
Because, whatever the consequences, the look in Daniel’s eyes no longer shone with hurt but hunger instead.
Hot, juicy hunger.
And although making love had been the last thing on her mind when she’d entered his office, her body always responded to Daniel’s nearness and seemed ready, willing and able to comfort him in any way he’d let her.
Hadn’t he said her body had told him all he’d needed to know the night before?
If she couldn’t tell him how much she loved him, she’d at least show him.
What had he done? Daniel wondered twenty minutes later. Fool. Fool. Fool.
At the restaurant, before all hell had broken lose, he’d meant to take her back to her hotel room, strip her naked and refresh his memory.
But she’d told him about Ryan.
A son he hadn’t known he had, and he’d contemplated taking her back to the hotel and wrapping his hands around her pretty little neck instead.
Then Ken Reynolds had suffered a myocardial infarction in the restaurant and his own needs had become secondary.
Instead of a night of leisurely making love to a woman he’d always wanted, or even a night of making her tell him everything there was to know about a child he hadn’t known he’d had, his world had crumbled. And he’d taken her on his office sofa.
What kind of cheap Lothario would she think him?
Then again, she’d thought so little of him that she’d kept knowledge of his son from him, so what did it matter? She hadn’t trusted him to do the right thing and in the end she’d destroyed his trust in her and the way she made him feel.
What they had was cheap.
They hadn’t even undressed.
Daniel pulled away from her, went to toss away his condom, and realized he hadn’t worn one.