Surge (St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders) Book 3: St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders (6 page)

Chapter 6

Inside, Clara went
around and hugged each member of her family—her family that had grown by leaps and bounds. She held Daria in her arms. Isa and Cash’s baby was just an infant, but she was the most beautiful baby Clara had ever seen. Cash had a few new tattoos that he was showing to the crowd. Scrawled in beautiful cursive script over his heart were the words, Isabela and Daria. Her eyes filled with tears at the happiness her brother projected. And he wasn’t the only one. They had all found someone and so had she. She just couldn’t show any outward signs of it in front of her family, but she longed for the day when that would no longer be the case. She thought maybe they should tell Cal first since he was pretty easy going, but it was hard to predict how he or any of her brothers would take the news. She was ready to start an honest life with Jackson. There would never be anyone else for her.

“Who have you got there?” She knew that deep smooth voice.

She smiled up at Jackson. “You remember Daria.”

“Wow, she’s grown since I saw her last.”

“Do you want to hold her?”

“Sure.” Clara gingerly laid the baby in his arms. Daria cooed and Jackson erupted into the cutest baby voice she’d ever heard. Watching him with the infant made her heart swell. She didn’t want to have kids right away, but she wouldn’t want to wait too long after they married. Maybe two years, that way she’d be an official adult.
But there was that video they watched at school
. Jackson’s deep sapphire gaze met hers and his eyes held many secrets in their depths. A slight smile on his lips was visible to her. Most people probably would have missed it, but she saw it. She knew what his every breath meant. He was imagining their family just as she had been. Video aside, she wanted to make babies with Jackson.

“Clara Grace.” Clay was beside her and pulled her into a huge bear hug until her feet no longer touched the ground. “I’ve missed you coming around the house.”

Since the wedding she’d made herself scarce because she was trying to give him and his new bride some privacy. “I miss you too.”

“Let’s remedy that, shall we? Come with us next weekend. I plan to take Eve to that place you love so much in New Orleans.”

“Jackson Square.” Clara wasn’t doing a good job of concealing her excitement and Eve smiled at her bouncing.

“The French Quarter Festival is next weekend.” Clay said.

She turned to Jackson and he too was smiling at her. “When are you leaving?” Clara asked.

“We thought we’d go up on Friday.”

“Hmm, well I have to work but I guess I could meet you later.”

She heard Jackson’s low voice filter over her shoulder. “I was actually going to go up Saturday evening after my shift.” She knew that was a lie, but was grateful he’d interceded.

“Oh, I can ride in with Jackson.”

Clay wrapped his arms around both her and Eve. “Great, a weekend with my two favorite ladies. Can’t wait. I’ll look forward to it all week.” He kissed her cheek.

Clara heard the bellow of her father before she actually saw him. “There’s my Clara Bear.” She went to his open arms. “When did you get in?”

“Dad, I was in the car with Jackson.”

“I didn’t see you.”

No because you were too busy playing match maker.

“I rode in with him.”

“I’m glad he looks after you if I’m not around to do it. Sure wish you’d move back home kiddo.”

“I know Dad, but I’m okay, really okay.” He kissed the top of her head.

Jackson returned Daria to Isa who left to feed and put her to bed. Cash followed behind them.

Clara took the seat perpendicular to the couch where Jackson sat. He told Clara a story about some celebrity chick that had come into the E.R. The set they filmed on collapsed and she sprained her ankle. Clara felt eyes on them and turned to see a busty bottle blond lustfully eyeing Jackson.

Mr. Granger followed behind the woman. Dad joined them from the kitchen holding two glasses filled with ice and an amber liquid.

“Warren, a little aged bourbon.” They clinked and toasted to their children.

“Jackson, may I present my daughter, Lexi.” He didn’t stand, just shook her hand from the couch.

“Nice to meet you.” Jackson nodded stoically. Lexi’s voice was high pitched and saccharine sweet. She took up the space next to him on the couch, their thighs touching. Jackson repositioned himself, and slid over to reestablish the lost distance. He met Clara’s eyes and pleaded, silently saying,
I’m sorry
.

“So you’re at Baton Rouge General.”

“That’s right.”

“I’ll be transferring there next week.”

Oh, how peachy! She was pretty in a really obvious Dallas-housewife-reality-TV-show way. She wore a dress that was fancier than any Clara had ever owned, her breasts on display. In fact, it was amazing one of the melon shaped mounds hadn’t sprouted legs and walked out of her dress. Her hair was really long and wavy. So long and perfect it almost didn’t seem real. Her nails, long and thick, appeared fake, and possibly her lips that seemed too puffy to accommodate her face. Out of proportion, her thick lips drew the eye toward their pink, wet surface. Her synthetic tan made her appear a little too bronzed in the low light of the living room.

Her appearance was fussy, but men seemed to like fussy and Clara wondered if Jackson liked the look. Lexi was a bit of forced sophistication with her sheath dress and platform shoes. Clara wondered if she should purchase shoes like that. How did one even walk around in those things? Maybe she could practice.

Looking down at her own attire, Clara grimaced. She’d worn a blue jean skirt, white T-shirt, and pink flip-flops with big blue bows. She took the shoes off and threw them behind the chair and then she slid her legs beneath her. From the corner of her eye she saw Jackson watching her every move.
Her
every move. Not the sophisticated woman next to him, but her. He mouthed,
you’re
beautiful
, and she smiled at him.

Lexi was talking about her new job and relocating to the area from Dallas.
Bingo.
She definitely looked like those women on TV and Clara couldn’t figure out how she worked with patients given her long acrylic fingernails. Wouldn’t she scratch someone or put an eye out? If Clara were to get Lexi as a nurse she’d send her back for a real one.

“I’m glad I’ll be focusing on case management and won’t have to see any actual patients. I never really enjoyed the whole nursing thing.”

Yeah, she’d definitely cast her back for a new nurse.

“If you loathe patient care, why’d you become a nurse?”

Good question Cracker Jack
.

“I’m not sure. I was going to become a doctor, but then I got bored and wanted to just be done with school. I wanted to do dermatology so that I could use all the skin care products on myself. I love products. Can you imagine how convenient?” Jackson frowned. “Anyway, since I had most of the classes completed, I chose a degree in nursing.”

Hmm, Clara smelled a rat. She would bet money the woman chose nursing so that she could meet doctors. It wasn’t uncommon and she seemed to fit the bill.

“What branch of medicine are you in?” Lexi asked.

“Emergency.”

“Oh, emergency is the worst.” Her arms flailed as she talked. “In school we had to do a rotation in emergency. It sucked. Had to be on call and it was just the worst hours and so messy. Yuck. And there’s so much paperwork and caregiver counseling. I hate emergency. Where will you specialize?”

“I am specializing in emergency.”

“For your career you mean? You actually want to work in emergency.”

“I
actually
do.” A nervous giggle escaped her throat.

“You enjoy a fast paced setting.”

“Something like that.”

Jackson got up and walked from the room, leaving the two of them alone.

Lexi’s nut-brown eyes shot to Clara. “So you’re the sister.”

“I’m the sister.”

“What’s it like being the only girl in a sea of men?”

She shrugged. “It’s great.”

“What do you do?”

“I work at an Italian restaurant.”

“A waitress.”

“I wait tables, but I also make mozzarella and a few other dishes.”

“That sounds interesting. Do you make that funny smelling cheese too?”

“Funny smelling cheese?”

“You know, the moldy one.”

“Do you mean blue cheese?”

“Yeah that one. They should throw it out once it gets moldy. That’s disgusting.”

“But they add the bacteria to the cheese so that it will age and mold.”

“Eww. It’s added on purpose?”

“Yes.”

Jackson was back and leaned against the fireplace with a smirk on his face. Evidently he thought this funny and Clara thought it anything but. She stood, grabbed her juvenile flip-flops, and walked into the kitchen to sit with the rest of her family. Her brothers discussed plans for the evening that included a dance hall concert by Andres Bellefontaine, one of her favorite zydeco singers. The women all headed upstairs to get ready and left her surrounded by her brothers.

Tired of always being left out, a thought formed in her mind. After all, she was eighteen now and in the state of Louisiana that meant she was legal. Legal enough to walk into a bar anyway. “I wanna go too.”

Clay was the first to answer her. “Baby girl, you don’t belong in a place like that.” He cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed the top of her head.

“Why?” She cocked her head at him. “I like Andres. And why don’t I belong in a place like that, but your wife does?”

The other brothers laughed at the point she was making and Clay raised a brow at her. “Did you say you were currently enrolled in philosophy?”

She felt her nose crinkle at his perplexing question. What did that have to do with anything? “Yeah, it’s utterly boring and useless.”

Logan answered, “Not so useless, you just rendered his logic inadequate.”

“I was trying to be nice, but the truth of it is there will be an odd number. I’ll be worrying after you all night.” Clay grumbled.

“Jackson doesn’t have a partner.” She retorted.

“He’s got Lexi.” Cash had returned and laughed as he discussed Jackson’s plight.

Her skin grew heavy as if it were being pulled down. She’d been unaware Lexi was going and never dreamed she’d go as Jackson’s date, on his arm, in
her
place. There was no way she’d be staying at the house.

Cash placed his arm around her. “Clara Bear, you’ll be my date. Isa wants to catch up on some much needed sleep and if I’m around it doesn’t really happen since I can’t keep my hands off of her.”

“Ugh.” Clara cupped her hands over her ears. “Spare me the details.” She started to walk from the kitchen, but turned back. “I’m going to get ready, don’t leave without me.”

She ran up the winding staircase taking the steps two at a time. Rounding the corner for the wing to her room she ran into Lexi.
Lexi
decked out in a red dress way more revealing than the one she’d worn previously. Clara had not thought that was even possible.

The front of the dress cut deep and all the way down to her navel.
Lexi
whose dress was barely enough to contain her melon sized breasts.
Lexi
who wore a necklace that was so long the dangling jewels dripped down into her cleavage.

“Hello there. You wouldn’t happen to have a flat iron would you?”

Clara shook her head. “No.”

“Didn’t think so since your hair is”—she regarded her for a moment—“well it’s natural.”

She proceeded down the stairs, the back of the dress as revealing as the front with its low plunge that almost exposed butt crack. Her platform heels were silver and it awed Clara yet again that she could float along as she did in shoes that had her foot at a ninety-degree angle with the floor. The shoes made her butt stick out and the fire engine red lipstick she wore drew attention straight to her mouth.

In her room Clara looked at herself in the mirror. Her lips weren’t as thick as Lexi’s so outlining them in red lipstick just seemed foolish. She undressed and considered her smaller natural looking breasts. Breasts that would get lost in a dress with a plunging neckline. She turned and looked at her scarred up shoulder and back. Deep jagged rivers meandered down to her lower back. The skin puckered white, but in places was darker than the rest of her pigment. She cringed as a burning sensation radiated through her at the memory of her accident. Being back at the estate made those memories more vivid, but she loved this land and would endure the darkness.

She would never, could never, wear something backless. An A-line dress with a floral pattern hung in her closet. It didn’t have sleeves but at least two inches of material covered the shoulders. The dress came to her knees and the only heels she had were beige kitten-style pumps. Compared to Lexi it seemed she was headed to a convent to celebrate her celibacy. She wondered if Jackson would even notice her next to the siren in red.

She took a deep breath and brushed her long bangs down across her forehead, almost covering her eyelids. Calling on her philosophy class she mumbled, “It is what it is.” She could never be the type of woman who would serve as flashy arm candy and she really didn’t want to be, but if Jackson liked that kind of woman then she would reconsider, for him. She wanted to be what he desired and what he needed.