Branded for You (15 page)

“Thank you again for taking me.” She reached for his hand on the console and he laced his fingers with hers. “That was one of the best times I can remember having. Ever.”

“I’m right there with you.” He smiled and glanced at her as he steered. “That was the best camping trip I’ve been on, and I’ve been on a lot of camping trips.”

The words he’d spoken to her yesterday at the lake slipped in to her consciousness.

“I might be falling for you, Meg.”

The memory sent a delighted shiver through her body. She was falling for him, and fast, but she wasn’t ready to tell him that. She was too afraid of getting hurt once again.

When they got within cell phone range, Megan grabbed her small purse from beneath the passenger seat and pulled out her phone. She pressed the power button but the phone wouldn’t turn on.

“I must have forgotten to charge my phone before I left,” she said. “The battery is dead.”

“Just as well,” he said. “There’s something about camping and getting away from all of the electronic stuff anyway.”

She smiled at him. “It’s going to be hard going back to the real world.”

“Who says we have to get back to the real world?” He gave her a quick grin. “How about dinner tonight?”

She laughed. “I have a date with a nice long hot bath tonight where there are no bears.”

With a teasing look he said, “I have a tub.”

“And if we end up in it I’ll never get any rest and I have to get back to work in the morning.” She tilted her head to the side and smiled at him. “Although it would be worth it.”

She felt a little sleepy as he drove, exhausted from the long weekend. Yet part of her felt exhilarated too from having an fantastic time with Ryan.

When they reached his ranch, she helped him unload the camper and clean it up. She took out the bedding and carried it to his laundry room and started the wash as he put away the fishing rods and tackle.

They made a good team as they went to work and it didn’t take them long at all before the camper was clean and everything was put away. When they were finished, he parked the camper inside a big shop at the back of the house then returned to her car.

She tossed her duffel in the passenger seat when they were finished and he walked with her to the driver’s side of the car. He opened the door for her then put his hands on her waist and lowered his head to kiss her.

His kisses never failed to stir flames inside her. He slowly moved his mouth over hers and she sighed with a kind of happiness she’d never remembered experiencing before.

As he drew away she smiled. “Wow. I might never go home if you keep that up.”

“Good.” He brought his lips close to hers. “If you need any more convincing I’m up for it.”

She gave him a solid kiss and drew away. “Okay, mister. I’d better get on home.”

He grinned and stepped back. “I’ll give you a call and we can figure out dinner this week.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” She eased into the driver’s seat and buzzed down the window as he closed the Camry’s door. “Thank you,” she said as she looked up at him. “Thank you for the most incredible weekend ever.”

“It took the two of us together.” He smiled. “Be careful driving home and get some rest. You’re going to need it.”

“Oh, yeah?” She raised a brow.

He nodded. “I’ll see to it.”

With a grin she started the car and backed up. She blew him a kiss before buzzing the window up, turning the car around, and heading down the road.

As she drove she hummed and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She managed to connect it to the charger and let the phone rest in a cup holder as she drove toward town.

The happiness bubbling up inside her made her feel as if she should be dancing. She turned on the radio and one of her favorite old songs,
I’m So Excited
by the Pointer Sisters, was playing. It fit her mood perfectly. She might be tone deaf, but she sang her heart out at the top of her lungs.

About ten minutes after leaving Ryan’s house, her phone beeped, telling her she had a message. The phone was apparently charged enough now to use. While keeping one hand on the wheel, she glanced at the LCD display.

“Twelve new voice mail messages?” She said to herself. Was everything okay at home?

She raised the phone to her ear and listened to the first message from last night, Saturday.

“Megan.” It was her mother’s distraught voice. “We think your father had a heart attack. The paramedics had to revive him and rush him to the hospital.”

A wash of cold went through Megan. Heart pounding, she listened to the next message. “Dad’s had a heart attack,” Tess said and Megan’s skin grew colder. “He’s in critical condition. Come as soon as you get this message.”

The next ten messages were her mother’s frantic calls and her sister’s updates. Tess was calmer than their mother but the urgency was there. Their father was in ICU after undergoing emergency surgery, and his condition hadn’t improved.

Megan hit the speed dial number for Tess.

“Megan,” Tess answered on the first ring. “Thank God. You need to get to the hospital as soon as you can.”

“I’m on my way.” Megan glanced at the clock, her heart pounding. “Tell me what happened.”

Tess’s voice sounded teary. “Dad opened up the mail while Mom was making dinner last night. He said, ‘The bastard has started foreclosure proceedings.’ Dad read the notice to Mom. Then he clutched his chest and collapsed. He fell from the chair to the floor.”

“Dear God,” Megan said, her mind racing.

“The doctor said he had a heart attack,” Tess said. “It could have been from the stress caused by the contents of that letter, among other things. He hasn’t recovered from the surgery he went through last night.”

Tears burned at the backs of Megan’s eyes, but she held them back. Her father was still alive. He could still recover.

“How’s Jenny doing?” Megan asked Tess.

“She’s with Mrs. Webb,” Tess said. “I’ve told her that her grandpa is sick and in the hospital. She’s too young to tell her more. She wants to see him but they won’t let children into the ICU.”

“From the sound of her messages, Mom doesn’t sound like she’s holding up really well,” Megan said.

“She’s right here,” Tess said. “She wants to talk to you.”

“Megan?” came Margaret’s voice. “Are you almost here?”

“I’m not too far now.”

“They’re saying he might not make it.” So much fear was in Margaret’s tone that Megan’s stomach felt queasy. “I don’t know what I’ll do without him.”

“He’ll pull through, Mom.” Megan clenched her fingers around the phone. “We have to believe that.”

“I pray you’re right.” Margaret sounded so distressed that Megan’s heart hurt.

“I’ll see you soon,” Megan said, praying she was right, too.

The drive to Prescott seemed to take forever. By the time Megan reached the hospital, her nerves were frayed.

She rushed into the hospital and was directed to the waiting room where her mother and Tess were.

“Mom.” Megan hurried to her mother and hugged her. Margaret’s eyes were red and swollen, her skin pale and features drawn. She wore a blouse and skirt as she usually did, but her normally pressed clothing was wrinkled and her makeup had been cried away.

The moment Megan brought Margaret into her arms, her mother started crying again.

Megan looked over her shoulder at Tess. “Have you heard anything new?”

“Nothing.” Tess shook her head. Her eyes were red, too, and she looked exhausted. “Last we heard he’s still in critical condition.”

Megan rubbed her mother’s back as she and Tess spoke. “Have you both been here all night?”

Tess nodded. “I tried to get Mom to sleep on the chairs but she wouldn’t.”

“Have you gotten any sleep?” Megan asked her sister.

Tess pushed her hand through her hair. “I guess I’m as guilty as Mom. I couldn’t sleep if I tried. I’m too worried about Dad.”

Megan and Tess spent the next two hours comforting Margaret. The time seemed to go by interminably slow.

The doctor finally walked in, carrying a clipboard. Margaret pulled away from Tess who’d had her arm around her. Their mother straightened and raised her chin, clearly trying to compose herself for the doctor.

“How is he, Dr. Marston?” Margaret asked, her voice hoarse from exhaustion and tears despite her attempts at composure.

“We’re only twenty-six hours into it after his bypass surgery and the first forty-eight hours are the most critical.” The doctor looked grim as he spoke. “He’s a very sick man. His blood pressure is low and his heart is weakened but it is not damaged so much that he could not live with it. As I say though, we just don’t know yet.”

He continued, “We may be able to let you see him later today. The nurse will inform you if and when you can.”

Margaret nodded but looked like she was going to fall apart again and grasped Megan’s wrist. She pulled down on Megan’s arm, as if she might collapse, and Megan adjusted herself so she could put her arm around her mother to support her.

“Thank you,” Margaret said.

When the doctor left, Margaret looked from Tess to Megan. “What will I do without Paul if he—if he—if he dies?”

The words seemed to take even more out of Margaret and Megan led her back to a chair and had her sit down.

“Don’t think that way, Mom.” Tess sat beside Margaret. “He’s going to be all right.”

Margaret shook her head. “I don’t know what I would do without him.”

Megan had never seen her mother in such stark pain. She’d never realized just how important her parents were to each other. She knew that they loved each other, but it had never occurred to her that they would love each other so much that they couldn’t exist without one another.

“Relax, Mom.” Megan moved so that her mother’s head was on her shoulder. “He just needs some time to heal and he’ll be okay.”

Margaret said, “I pray to God you’re right.”

Chapter 17

Tess sat with Margaret after Megan had held her for at least an hour. Megan got up from her seat and flexed her shoulders to get out the cramp that had developed in her arm from holding her mother for so long.

It occurred to her that she hadn’t called Ryan. She needed to hear his voice.

She moved away from her mother and sister and dialed his number.

“Hi, sexy,” he said as he answered

Megan hesitated as she felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. “Hi,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” Apparently he heard the hesitancy and concern in that one word. “Did something happen?”

“My father had a heart attack last night.”

“How is he doing?” Concern was in Ryan’s voice.

“The doctor isn’t sure he’s going to pull through.” Megan held back a sob. “But there is a chance. The next forty-eight hours are critical.”

“I’ll be right there, Meg,” he said.

Surprise made her blink. “You don’t have to come.”

“Yeah, I do,” he said. “I care about you and I need to be there for you.”

She took a deep breath. “Thank you.” She told him to call her when he reached the hospital and she’d take him back to the waiting room they were in.

“I’ll see you in less than an hour,” he said.

She paced the room for the next hour as Tess held their mother. Megan chewed her nails as she paced, something she had started doing when Bart left her, but that she hadn’t done since her divorce.

When her phone vibrated, she looked at the display and saw that it was Ryan.

“Are you here?” she answered.

“I’m at the information desk,” he said.

Megan disconnected the call and looked at Tess. “I’ll be right back.”

Tess nodded but said nothing.

Megan headed downstairs to the information desk and saw Ryan standing there, so tall and solid. She rushed to him and he took her into his arms and held her.

“Thank you for coming,” she said as she felt the heat of his body and breathed in his comforting scent.

He rocked her to him. “Are you all right?”

“As well as I can be.” A tear trickled down her face as she looked up at Ryan. “He could die.”

Ryan brushed the tear away with his thumb. “We’ll pray for the best.”

She hugged him again, burying her face against his chest as she felt his strong arms around her.

“I’d better get back to my sister and my mom,” she said as she drew away.

“I’ll go with you,” he said. “If that’s all right with you.”

“It will be nice to have you here if you can stay for a little while.” She wiped tears away with her fingertips. “I hope this isn’t taking away time you need to spend on the ranch.”

“No,” he said. “You’re more important.”

He held her hand as they went to the elevator and rode up to the waiting room. When they entered the waiting room, Ryan put his arms around Megan’s shoulders in a way that comforted her, supported her.

She started to introduce him to Tess and Margaret but Tess had a strange expression on her face.

“You’d better go,” Tess said in a hard but calm tone.

“What?” Megan looked at her sister, confused, as Tess stared at Ryan.

At the same time, Margaret raised her head and followed Tess’s gaze.

Margaret stiffened in Tess’s arms.

“It’s your fault!” Margaret screamed as she pulled away from Tess. Margaret pointed at Ryan. “Your fault he might die!”

Shock tore through Megan as she looked from her mother’s expression of hatred and turned back to Ryan. “What’s going on? ” Megan asked.

“Get out of here.” Margaret kept shouting. “Get out of here!”

“He’s the man who’s foreclosing on Mom and Dad,” Tess said to Megan. To Ryan she repeated, “You’d better go.”

“Paul is your father? I had no idea. I’m so sorry.” Ryan met Megan’s gaze.

She just stared at him, unable to say anything. Paul? He knew her father?

A nurse rushed in as Margaret kept screaming.

“We’d better talk about this,” Ryan said to Megan. He backed up then turned away and went out the waiting room doors.

Stunned, Megan stared at the doors as Margaret sobbed and the nurse tried to calm her.

Megan looked at Tess. “Ryan is foreclosing on them?” She was still having a hard time connecting the fact that the man she had just spent the weekend with was the same man who was causing her family so much distress.