Bourbon Springs Box Set: Volume III, Books 7-9 (Bourbon Springs Box Sets Book 3)

by Jennifer Bramseth

  Mack moved his right arm and groaned.

  “You need to go to the hospital,” Jorrie insisted as she looked at Mack’s injury.

  “Let me see that.” Kyle gently took Mack’s hand to extend the arm. Kyle peered at Mack’s arm, and rotated it a little to get a good look. “She’s right. You need to get someone to look at that tonight.”

  “I told you so,” she sniffed at Mack.

  “I’ll take you there if you—” Kyle said to Mack, but he stopped when he heard his cell phone.

  Kyle immediately removed his phone from his pocket. His eyes were as big as saucers and his stern demeanor had disappeared in an instant.

  “I told you not to call unless it was the real deal,” Kyle said in a strained, low voice.

  Then Kyle’s whole face shifted from mildly annoyed to total terror.

  “Now? I’ll be right there—what—meet you—well—okay—but tell that brother of yours to drive safely!” He ended the call and stared into the distance.

  “Kyle?” Mack ventured.

  “Hannah… that was Hannah,” he stuttered, phone still in his hand. “She—the baby—her water broke—they’re on the way to the hospital right now!”

  Kyle stood fixed to the spot, breathing heavily and looking from Jorrie to Mack as though they possessed the solution to his increasing anxiety.

  “Well… maybe you ought to get going?” Jorrie ventured with a nervous smile.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, looking at the ground. He then glimpsed Mack’s arm. “You really do need to get to the hospital.”

  “But I—”

  “Why doesn’t Mack ride with you out there?” Jorrie suggested.

  “I can drive myself,” insisted Mack.

  “Not the best idea with that arm,” the sheriff said. “You’d better come with me.”

  Without further comment, Kyle went to his cruiser and got in.

  “I’ll follow you,” Jorrie said before Mack could protest further.

  “But why not just let me ride with you?”

  “I think Kyle needs the company right now,” Jorrie hinted. “He’s a bit of a mess. Watch after him.”

  Mack nodded and gave her an awkward kiss on the cheek. She hadn’t forgotten that they were in the middle of an argument when the car had appeared.

  As she watched Mack speeding away with Kyle, she realized that they hadn’t only been in the middle of an argument.

  They’d been in the middle of a breakup.

  Mack hurt inside and out. He feared Jorrie had been about to end it with him just as that car had appeared. He wanted to go back to her condo and argue with her, tell her that she meant more to him than anything else in the world.

  But now he was speeding toward the hospital with the sheriff at what had to be a seriously unsafe speed.

  At least they hadn’t actually broken up—yet, he reminded himself—so hopefully there was some way he could convince her that he wanted to stay with her, that he wasn’t going to leave Bourbon Springs forever.

  But she had been right about one thing.

  He was going to have to leave to make some money. He would not give up his songs. That was nonnegotiable.

  Although he didn’t want to leave, he knew that he could do it and return. Make the money, then get the hell out of Nashville.

  Yet Jorrie wouldn’t believe he’d return to her. How could she think that after everything they’d shared over the past few months?

  He was completely in love with the woman and had never enjoyed such a wonderful relationship. A relationship with promise, hope, and respect.

  Now he doubted everything—why didn’t she trust him to come home? That stupid boyfriend she’d mentioned once?

  If her scars went that deep, he knew he was in trouble.

  The stupid thing was he knew that he could make the money. Webb’s surprise appearance proved it. If Webb was willing to drive all the way to Bourbon Springs to see him, he had something to offer. Mack knew Webb well enough to know that his former agent wouldn’t waste his time on mere social calls or pursuing something that he didn’t think had the potential for a big payoff.

  So the money was there. He just needed to sign on the dotted line.

  But would Jorrie be there after he came back? If he understood what she said, the answer was no.

  The tires of the cruiser skidded off the edge of the road and Kyle corrected, making the vehicle lunge violently.

  “Sorry,” the sheriff said. “Little anxious.”

  “Understandable.”

  Kyle turned into the circular front driveway of the Craig County Memorial Hospital, and the tires squealed as the cruiser took the turn a little too fast. Mack had to grip the handle on the door to steady himself.

  After parking in a no-parking zone (Mack figured no one would question the presence of law enforcement in that spot), the two men rushed into the emergency room. Kyle’s eyes roved the space, but it looked like they’d beaten Hannah and her entourage. Nonetheless, Kyle went to the desk and asked whether his wife had already been brought in.

  “Not yet, Sheriff,” said a nurse, “but we’re aware she’s on the way, as is Dr. Chaplin. I called the doctor myself just a minute ago, and she said she’d be here in less than five minutes. Everything will be fine. Oh, bless your heart,” the nurse said, taking one look at Mack, who stood behind Kyle. “What happened to you, hon?”

  Kyle shoved Mack toward the nurse, told him to check in, and began to pace.

  “You look to be in a bad state there,” the nurse said sympathetically as she handed Mack some forms to complete.

  Mack looked over his shoulder at the pacing sheriff.

  “He’s in a worse state,” Mack said, and the nurse laughed.

  Mack took a seat and filled out the forms. During those few minutes, Kyle relentlessly moved about the room, cursing and muttering to himself various expressions of worry about his wife.

  Ten minutes after their arrival, Kyle left the emergency room and said he was going to wait outside for Hannah’s appearance. He hadn’t been gone a minute before he rushed back into the emergency room, demanding a wheelchair. But right behind him came Hannah, waddling and grunting, Lila on one side of her and Bo on the other. Pepper followed, carrying Hannah’s suitcase.

  “I can walk and I don’t need a wheelchair!” Hannah proclaimed, then immediately grimaced in pain. She put a hand on her belly, and Kyle flew to her side. With the assistance of Lila and Bo, Kyle maneuvered Hannah into a seat in the middle of the emergency room and then went to confer with the nurses.

  “We’ll get her back as soon as we can,” the nurse said. “When did her water break?”

  “About half an hour ago,” Bo said.

  The nurse nodded and barked some instructions to someone behind her to get Hannah into a wheelchair. At that moment, Jorrie walked in with CiCi, Rachel, Goose, and Harriet following her.

  “So does everyone know?” Hannah asked as she maneuvered herself into the wheelchair with the assistance of an orderly and Kyle.

  “Pretty much,” CiCi said. “I called a few of my deputy clerks to tell them before heading out.”

  Kyle went back to the nurse’s station and pestered them with questions about when Hannah could get into a delivery room.

  Mack hadn’t been around Kyle that much but had always seen him as a calm and collected man.

  Not so tonight.

  Once he’d gotten the news back at the parking lot outside Jorrie’s condo, Kyle’s whole persona had changed. He was nervous, frantic, and snapping at people.

  Bo turned to his wife, grinning.

  “See what we have to look forward to?”

  Lila’s eyes widened in warning.

  But it was too late.

  Hannah gripped the arms of her wheelchair and looked up in astonishment at her brother.

  “What did you just say to her? Are you two—”

  “Yes, I’m pregnant,” Lila admitted with a voice filled with exasperation as well as giddi
ness. “I’m due in the spring.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me when we were at the house?” Hannah demanded as CiCi, Rachel, and Harriet laughed in delight at the news.

  “Other events intervened!” Lila cried, pointing to Hannah’s belly. “And we weren’t quite ready to tell, or so I thought!”

  Hannah held her arms open for a hug from her sister-in-law, and a general hugfest broke out in the middle of the emergency room.

  Mack and Jorrie stood back and watched the close-knit group of family and friends celebrate not one but two births. Within a few minutes, Hannah was rolled away by a nurse, with Kyle following and toting Hannah’s bag.

  With the object of everyone’s attention gone, a few people finally noticed Mack’s injuries. When Mack told Bo, Lila, and Goose what had happened, all were extremely alarmed.

  “Do you think we need security for the concerts?” Bo asked. “We could afford it—there aren’t that many left this season.”

  Mack scratched the back of his head and considered Bo’s suggestion.

  “I suppose under the circumstances it’s necessary. But I’m not the expert on these things. Better ask Kyle.”

  “I suspect he’s going to be unavailable for a while,” Lila said. “Maybe we should go ahead and make the arrangements. Better safe than sorry.” Goose nodded in agreement.

  Mack thanked them and took a seat, and Jorrie sat next to him. He could see the tenseness in her slight frame and knew her anxiety wasn’t because of Hannah going into labor or even the nasty scrapes he’d suffered.

  “If you need to leave, I can get a ride back with someone else. It’s late and you should go home.”

  “No,” she said, looking straight ahead. “I’m staying. I promised to take you home.”

  He didn’t really remember her saying that but got the symbolic message of her words and decision.

  “Jorrie, I didn’t get to tell you something back in the parking lot before that damn car came along.”

  “Is this really the best place to continue that conversation?” she asked, bristling and looking around at the other people in the waiting room.

  “Considering that I feel like I might not get another chance to talk to you, yes, I’d say this is the best place. Because I think we were in the middle of breaking up—or, rather, you were breaking up with me.”

  “I can’t even remember what we were talking about before that car showed up,” she claimed.

  “I do. You’d accused me of caring more about the songs more than you. And that’s just not true.”

  “Mack, I don’t want to—”

  He took her hands in his to draw her attention to him.

  “Those songs are you, Jorrie, I wrote them about you. Can’t you see? Giving them up would be like giving you up.”

  “Mack, if you’re not willing to file bankruptcy, you’re going back to Nashville. I don’t like it, but I get it. You’re talented, popular, and extremely handsome. I’m not going to kid myself that you’ll come back to Bourbon Springs.”

  “You don’t believe me? You can’t take my word on that?”

  “I know that circumstances change and we all have to adapt.”

  “Then come with me. Come to Nashville with me.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t. My life is here. I have a Kentucky law license, not a Tennessee license, and I’d have to take the bar down there. I don’t know a soul in Tennessee. My parents are here, my practice is here. This is my home. I’ve never lived anywhere but central Kentucky.”

  He leaned back in his chair, defeated, and released her hands.

  “So you aren’t willing to give that up for me?”

  “And you’re not willing to give up the songs. You’re asking me to give up my way of life.”

  “And you’re asking me to give up my music, Jorrie. That’s like giving away my very soul,” he said and stood. She was crying, and feared he was about to do the same.

  At that moment, the doors through which Hannah had disappeared opened, and a nurse called Mack’s name. Without a look over his shoulder at the crying woman behind him, he strode to the nurse and beyond the doors.

  23

  If she’d had any doubts whether it was over, Mack dispelled them by walking away without another word.

  Her eyes scanned the room, looking at the happy clutch of Davenports and friends, wondering whether she could persuade any of them to give Mack a ride home instead of her. Yet she remembered her promise to take him home and sat quietly and uncomfortably as she overheard Bo and Lila talking about baby names.

  “So if it’s a girl, you’ll name her Emma, right?” CiCi asked.

  Bo shook his head. “No, I think we’ll leave that name for Hannah and Kyle, should they have occasion to use it.”

  “But what if they don’t? It’s a wonderful name!”

  “We’ve settled on a girl’s name,” Lila said decisively.

  “And?” Rachel asked. “Going to tell or make us wait?”

  “Make you wait, of course,” Bo said as Lila laughed.

  “No clues?” Pepper asked.

  “All I’ll say is that even though the name isn’t actually Emma, it still has her spirit.”

  “Like a nickname? What’s a nickname for Emma?” CiCi asked, irked.

  “Nope, not a nickname,” Lila said. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  Jorrie caught Pepper looking at her and tried to turn away but it was too late.

  “What’s wrong?” Pepper asked after walking away from the others. “You look like hell. Is Mack worse than he looks?”

  “Everything’s worse than it looks,” Jorrie said and explained what had happened.

  “You two are being really stubborn,” Pepper said. “And I can claim some expertise in the stubborn department, by the way.”

  “So what’s your advice?” Jorrie asked. “Or should I be asking my own client for advice?”

  “We’re two friends commiserating, that’s all.”

  “So tell me how I get over this,” Jorrie said in a small voice.

  “You don’t.”

  “Say what?”

  “You don’t get over someone like Mack. You mourn the loss—or you go after it and get it. And remember this: it’s not like he’s dead or dying, Jorrie. He’s right here with you. You have a choice. Why would you want to let that die?”

  “Because I’d rather see it die now than later.”

  “But you don’t know it will die,” Pepper argued. “It’s foolish to give up.”

  Foolish.

  Jorrie’s mind wandered back to that sweet time early in her romance with Mack when she knew she had been acting like a fool and had walked right off the cliff with him. Now she was paying the price for her naiveté by plummeting to earth instead of flying high.

  Should she be the one to compromise and go to Nashville as he suggested? That had never been an option she’d considered. The thought of leaving home made her sick and angry, and then she felt like a hypocrite.

  To be together, one of them would have to compromise and give something up.

  She knew she didn’t have the strength to be that person, and she realized that maybe Mack deserved better than the person she really was.

  Jorrie rolled over in bed, trying to block out the images of the previous night.

  After Mack got bandaged up at the hospital, she had been as good as her word and had driven him back to her condo where he got in his truck and drove off.

  But she wasn’t sure he was out of her life.

  During the drive back, he’d tried to talk but she kept tearfully rebuffing him, telling him that they needed to make a clean break.

  “I’m in love with you, and you told me you loved me, Jorrie,” Mack said to her. “I’ll be back here after I do what I need to do. That’s a promise. I don’t understand why you can’t believe me.”

  She said nothing but knew her answer.

  Jorrie had seen how happy music made him, how happy he was performing. And by h
is own admission, he couldn’t part with the songs he’d written over the summer. He was consumed with his music.

  Those words Harriet had said at the concert had kept her awake all night: love enough to let go.

  So if Mack did come back to Bourbon Springs, she’d know he meant what he said.

  Jorrie glanced at her clock and saw it was nearly eight. Her thoughts drifted to Mack and where he was at that moment. He was probably at the bottling house already, getting ready for work, greeting the other employees. That afternoon or evening, instead of the two of them heading to The Windmill as they usually did on Saturday nights, Mack would probably be meeting there with Webb and talking about the future.

  She vaguely wondered how much longer Mack would be in town. Would he quit his jobs? And what about Albert? When she thought about him, she started to cry, realizing she might not see the old gentleman for a very long time—if ever.

  Her cell phone buzzed to life and she reached from underneath the covers to check it, although she had absolutely no intention to actually answer the call. It wasn’t Mack or a number she recognized, but saw that the area code was from the northwest part of the state, which included Louisville.

  She let the call go to voice mail and then immediately sat up in bed and listened to the message.

  “Hey, Jorrie, it’s Nina Cain! I’m coming down to visit Walker this afternoon and was wondering whether you’d like to meet later. I’ve got some news about that job we talked about a few months back. Give me a call!”

  Jorrie had forgotten about that brief encounter with Nina Cain a few months back—it had been an intense summer, and she’d spent all of it falling in love.

  Now summer was over. It was Labor Day weekend. A new season was upon her, along with a new opportunity.

  She was about to call Nina back when a text from Pepper popped up on her phone.

  Baby here!

  James Christopher Davenport Sammons

  8 lbs 4 oz

  601am

  Mom, baby, dad fine

  Jorrie was relieved and happy at the news. And how appropriate was it that Hannah had the baby on Labor Day weekend? That baby of hers had some sense of humor.