I'll Remember You (Hell Yeah!) (12 page)

Two sentinels stood on the front, their guns undoubtedly close at hand. Knowing him, they nodded respectfully. Making his way into the house, he noticed all was dark. He didn’t linger, even though his stomach was growling. His head ached like a son-of-a-bitch, and all he wanted to eat was painkillers. As he walked up the stairs toward his suite, he wondered if she kept files in her room. He’d check and if she didn’t, he’d just have to pay attention to her, shadow her. She would think he was being romantically attentive, which was the farthest thing from his mind.

When he came to his room, Austin didn’t even turn on the lights. He fumbled his way to the bathroom and did his business, finding something in the medicine cabinet he hoped was close to acetaminophen. Foregoing another shower, he turned off the bathroom light and moved to the bed, throwing back the cover and crawling in.

Only to find it was already occupied.

Goddamit! “Martina!” After what he’d learned tonight, he felt like he’d just found a fuckin’ viper between his sheets. This woman was the head of a high-powered drug operation. She was responsible for countless deaths and she’d kill him and anyone he cared about at the drop of a hat. Of that he had no doubt. “I can’t deal with you tonight. My head is splitting. I feel as bad now as I did before the surgery. I’m having nightmares, seeing visions, people and places that I have no idea who they are or where they’re coming from.” If Austin had been thinking clearly, he wouldn’t have said so much, because the Diosa honed in on the fact his memory might be returning like a blue tick hound on a fox’s scent.

“I’m so happy!” She laid her upper body on top of his, cradling his face and pressing kisses on his chest. “You are finding yourself, Austin. What have you remembered? Tell me, so I can celebrate with you.” At her words, Austin realized his mistake. Her words were warm, but there was an icy layer beneath them. The lie dripped from her tongue like acid. She was crafty; he had to hand it to her.

“Oh, nothing specific, really. I’m getting impressions of a ranch and college.” Surely that was generic enough not to set her off. Nausea made his stomach roll.

Interesting. Okay, he was here in her arms and she intended him to stay there. Snuggling up to him, Martina decided it was time to put the second part of her plan in action. “I’ll make you feel better.” She soothed her hand over his chest, tangling her fingers in his chest hair. “Tomorrow, I’ll make you a doctor’s appointment. We need to see how you’re progressing. Maybe there’s a shot or a pill they can give you for the pain.”

Austin didn’t doubt that he needed to see the doctor. Brain surgery was nothing to mess around with. But could he trust her? Not as far as he could throw her, that was for sure. “I don’t know, Martina.”

“All I want is for you to be all right.” Truer words had never been spoken. “Hopefully there is a drug the doctor can give you to ease your pain.” It was time to call Emily Gadwah. If anyone had an answer for her, it would be Emily.

“This has been hard for me,” Austin confessed.   

“I know.” She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He was sweating. “I want to take away all of your troubles.” If only she could, she’d replace all of his forgotten memories with new ones full of love and happiness—with her. Another thing she needed to do was make peace with her sister and get Esteban off her back. After seeing Alessandra fall apart at the suggestion she marry Joaquin, Martina could not force her. She had two soft spots in her heart—one was her sister and the other was Aron. Now, being in his arms was sheer heaven.  

Austin took it as long as he could. His head hurt, true. But sleeping by this lying Jezebel was making his skin crawl. “I can’t lay here. The pain is making me sick to my stomach.” Pulling his arm out from under her, he left the bed, walking to the window. “You just rest, darling.” The word stuck in his throat like a cockle burr. “I’ll rejoin you as soon as I feel better. I’m going to take a walk.” Grabbing his pants and a robe, he stopped by the bed. In for a penny, in for a pound. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and felt the bile rise from his gut.

“All right,” Martina purred. “I’ll be waiting. Don’t be long.”

If she only knew, Austin wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “Sweet dreams.” Bitch.

***

Hospital – Austin Texas

“The baby’s not coming tonight.” Jacob let out a long breath. “Jessie’s not in labor. They’ve induced and induced and little B. T. McCoy is refusing to budge. I guess he’s gonna be stubborn like his uncles.” He looked at his brothers.

“Is there anything we can do?” Isaac asked. He’d just flown in from Mexico. He and Roscoe had gone down to check out a lead on Aron. It was another dead-end. This time the family was relieved, remains had been found, but they proved to belong to a much older man.

“No, you might as well all go on back to Tebow. I’ll call you when something happens.” He walked the whole family down to the lobby before returning to Jessie. Walking into the birthing room, he smiled at his lovely wife, who was at the moment trying to push herself up in bed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I want to get up and walk around.”

“Hold on, hold on.” He got to her and put his hand around her middle.

“I’m so fat.” She sighed. “The doctor says I may have developed gestational diabetes and that’s one of the reasons he was inducing, even though he says the baby might not be ready to come.”

“You aren’t fat.” He hugged her. “You are perfect, pregnant and pleasantly plump.” He smiled. He’d heard what she said and it worried him. If she had gestational diabetes, why were they just mentioning it now? “Don’t you worry; everything is going to be fine.” She might be walking, but he had her covered. The slightest stumble and he’d have her up in his arms before another heartbeat sounded. “He wants you to take a little breather and then he’s going to put you on another drip and see if we can get this little rascal to budge.”

“I know.” Jessie laid her head on his shoulder. “Bowie is going to be fine. Speaking of, did you call him?”

Jacob knew she meant Bowie Travis Malone, his friend and the man their baby would be named after. “Yes, he’s on his way.”

“What’s wrong?” She could tell by the sound of his voice. Her rock, Jacob, had been under so much pressure lately, they all had. Aron’s disappearance had hit them all hard—Libby, the most of course. But Jacob had stepped into his shoes, and they were a mighty big pair to fill, especially when having to deal with a pregnant, cranky wife.

He led her to the end of the hall. They looked out at the skyline of Austin. “Are you okay? Need to sit down?” She sighed no, and leaned into his arms. He rubbed her tummy. When he realized she was waiting on him to talk about Bowie, he relented. It wasn’t a secret. Bowie would tell her himself. “He’s met somebody.”

“Really?” Boy, that perked her up. Jacob chuckled. Nothing like a little talk of romance to put a woman in a good mood. “Who?”

“I don’t know her name, but Bowie is smitten.” He turned her and they started back towards the room. “I’ve never seen him like this. He’s even thinking about renovating his house. I’m not sure what’s going on.”

“Things are that far along?”

“No, I don’t think so.” To tell the truth, he wasn’t sure. Bowie had sounded strange about the whole thing, sorta mysterious. “She’s been injured, somehow.” He wasn’t sure about the details.

“What happened?” Jessie had that motherly tone down pat. She was going to be hell on wheels if anything ever threatened her baby.

“I don’t know.” Jacob shook his head. “It wasn’t recent. Maybe he’ll talk to us about it when he comes to see his namesake.”

By the time they’d reached her room, the nurse was waiting to put her back on the drip. Jacob helped her into the bed and he stepped out to get a cup of coffee. What would the family think if they knew what he’d done?

Pouring a Styrofoam mug full of thick coffee, he wondered if he’d done the right thing. They’d tried everything else and he would never forgive himself if they didn’t do all they could. So, he’d offered a reward. If the family didn’t want to pay it, he had no problem doing it himself.

Five Million Dollars for information on the whereabouts of Aron McCoy.

***

Los Banos Ranch

Austin hadn’t returned to his bed. If Martina moved into his room, he’d never sleep again. Last night he’d just walked around outside. He’d sat outside on the patio, in the chill and stared at the moon. The face of a woman kept dancing in and out of his mind. She was so beautiful, with a voice as warm as a soft summer breeze. Her name still eluded him, but he could remember her kiss. He was seeing images of her writhing beneath him as he made love to her. Sweet gentle mornings after, holding her close in their bed, her cuddled against his side. An image of her in a wedding gown, walking down the aisle to him, kept repeating in his head over and over. He could feel the longing, the way he cherished her. She was his world. “I want you. I need to be with you.”

A tortured whisper left his lips as he held his aching head. “Who am I?” Lifting his eyes, he tried to fight back the loneliness and confusion seeking to overwhelm him. Austin felt lost.

In the hours before dawn, while the whole ranch seemed to sleep, he took a chance. A risk. Martina slept in his room, so he went to hers. Even though she’d invited him, he’d never been in there before, and when he entered, he was surprised. What he’d been expecting, he didn’t know, but it was a feminine room, done in soft blues and white. The bed was a queen size and a portrait of her and Alessandra as children hung over the bed. An uneasy thought came to him, what if it was bugged or what if there was a camera. But he realized she would have never allowed that. This was her private place. Walking around, he made note of her furnishings, her closet, an entertainment system. And a desk.

Holding his breath, he sat down and began opening drawers. Nothing, it was relatively disappointing. And then he saw a laptop on the credenza. Opening the lid, he turned it on. Dang, he realized he wasn’t as comfortable on the computer as…damn, there was a person in his life who was a computer whiz. Who was it? Shit.

He pressed enter and looked at the icons. Going into Word, he started looking at documents. A creaking noise out in the hallway made him freeze. What if she came back? The jig would be up. But nothing. Scanning down through the files, he saw some clearly labeled—Suppliers, Transport, Employees, Financial Records, and Emily Gadwah. He started to open a file, but another noise in the hallway let him know people were stirring. Crap, he had to hurry.

Opening the drawers one by one, finally, he was rewarded. A thumb drive. With a few clicks, he saved the files. Closing the lid, he rose. Now, if he could only get out of here without getting caught.  

Pulling open the door, he looked right and left. The coast was clear. Well, at least he had the information; he would put it in the shaving kit with the gold coin, his two most prize possessions.

***

Hospital – Austin, Texas

“Jacob!” Jessie screamed as the doctor gave her the news. Something was wrong with their baby.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. McCoy, but you’re going to have to calm down. I need to get this IV in your arm; you have to have a C-section now. The baby is in distress.”

Jacob tried to get to her, but the nurses kept pushing him back. “Jessie, I’m here.” He wanted to yell. Why was this happening? “What’s wrong with him?” He asked anybody who would listen.

“It’s his heart.”

His heart. Jacob reeled as if he’d been slapped. They began to wheel Jessie out of the birthing room and toward the operating room. “Will she be all right?”

“We’re going to do everything we can.” The doctor informed him solemnly.

He stood back against the door as they went back, pushing the gurney down the hall. He took out his cell phone to call his family, needing them. Joseph answered.

“Am I an uncle?”

“Something’s wrong, Joseph. The baby’s having trouble. They’re on the way to give Jessie a C-section. Come down, please.”

“We’ll be right there.”

He paced. He cursed. But more than anything, Jacob missed Aron. He needed his big brother, the one who’d always stood by him in times of crisis. It wasn’t long before they began pouring in—Isaac and Avery, Joseph and Cady, Libby, and Nathan. Noah and Skye came last. They had been to the Cattle Baron’s Ball. He felt like he was drowning. They comforted him all they could, but nothing was sufficient until the doctor came out to give him the news. “Your wife is resting, but the baby has complications.”

The whole room tensed, Jacob most of all. “What kind of complications?”

“Your son has a heart valve abnormality.” Everything seemed to fade. Jacob was listening, but terror seemed to be sapping his very breath. He could feel the touch of his family as several stepped up to place a hand on him in sympathy.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Surgery, when he’s stronger.” The doctor went on to explain that the baby was too small and too weak to undergo such a dangerous procedure at the moment. He would be placed in NICU until he was stronger and better able to withstand a serious operation to replace one of the valves in his heart.

“When can I see my wife?”

“Give us a few minute, someone is closing the incision.” When he’d left, Jacob had hung his head, but the rest of the McCoys had stepped up, assuring him he wasn’t alone. They promised to stand by him, stay with him. Noah even offered to give blood, but in Noah’s typical way he put his foot in his mouth.

“I know he’s not a McCoy, but if you need blood…”

Jacob had reeled on him, blasting his brother with both barrels. “You don’t have to be blood related to be family, Noah! Someday, you’ll understand that.”

Noah had pulled back, Skye taking him by the arm. “It’s okay. He misunderstood.”

They’d stayed a few more minutes, but Noah was the first to leave. Jacob hadn’t seen him go. Joseph had talked him down and he knew he had messed up. “Tell him I’m sorry. I’m just torn up,” Jacob said.