Wild Rekindled Love (9 page)

“No—I don’t feel well,” she whispered, right before her eyes rolled back in her head and she slid toward the floor.

He scooped her up in his arms before she made it to the ground beneath their feet. Moving toward the door, he vaguely heard Samantha asking what happened while he whispered her Jamie’s ear, “Jamie—baby. Talk to me.” Quickly giving Samantha instructions to open the doors, he moved inside and headed for the couch in the living room. The rest of her family gathered and followed him, their rapid fire questions echoing in his ears when he gently laid her down.

“Someone grab a cool washcloth,” he instructed while he began checking her over, taking her pulse and scanning her body with his eyes. “Abby? Can you go out to my bike and grab my bag off the back? My stethoscope and stuff is in there.”

“Sure,” she answered as Chase came back from the kitchen with the washcloth.

“What’s wrong with her, Wyatt?” Bonnie asked from near Jamie’s feet.

“I don’t know, Mrs. Wilder.” His gaze met Jamie’s mothers and the worried look in her eyes echoed the feelings going through him. Terror tried to grip his heart in an unyielding grasp, but he shook it off for Jamie’s sake.

Abby returned a moment later with his bag and he set about trying to find out why Jamie had passed out. He checked her over as his mind and his heart did battle within. He systematically went over her from head to toe, checking her pupils, listening to her heart and lungs and whispered a silent ‘thank you’ when he heard the steady beat pounding in his ears.

Several moments later, she finally moaned and began to stir. Her eyes flittered open and her unguarded emotions shone bright as she skimmed his face for a moment.

“Wyatt?”

“Yeah, baby.”

“What happened?”

“You passed out.”

The emotions were masked again when she said, “That’s crazy. I never pass out.”

“Well, you did.”

“And Dad carried you in the house, Mom,” Samantha interjected.

“He did?” She looked straight at him and his heart flip-flopped in his chest. “You did?”

“Yeah.”

Confusion rippled across her face. “Thanks.”

“He checked you over too, Jamie,” Bonnie said, drawing Jamie’s gaze to her mother before it came back to him.

“So, what’s the diagnosis, doc?” Jamie asked.

“I have no idea, but you need to see your family doctor and have some tests run—blood tests, maybe a CAT scan.”

She sat up quickly, forcing him to move back. “That’s ridiculous. I’m fine.”

“Jamie, you aren’t fine if you passed out. It’s not normal.”

“I…I just got lightheaded, that’s all. It was probably the heat.”

“It’s not that hot out there.” He skimmed over her still pale face. “You need to be examined.”

“Didn’t you just do that?”

“Not as thoroughly as I would have liked.” Heat crawled up from his neck and splashed across his cheeks when he realized what his words sounded like. “What I meant was…

“We know what you meant, Wyatt,” Chase growled from behind him.

“Chase!” Abby reprimanded. “Even if you don’t like him, you can at least be civil.”

“Believe me, sweetheart—I am being civil.”

“Just knock it off, Chase. Even if you don’t like it, he will be connected to this family for the rest of our lives,” Jamie said.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Chase countered.

“Well, you don’t. He is Samantha’s father whether you like it or not and he has a right to take up that role if he so chooses.”

“He gave up that right when he skipped town,” Chase added.

“That isn’t for you to decide. I make that choice and so does Samantha.” Jamie stood up suddenly and moaned softly as her hand went to her head.

“You need to sit down.” Wyatt grasped her hand, forcing her to sit back down on the couch.

“Just stop, Wyatt. I have a migraine or something, that’s all.” She pulled her hand out of his and stiffened. “What do you care anyway?”

“I care more than you know,” he whispered before he said louder, “Are you prone to migraines?”

“No.”

“Then why do you think it’s a migraine?”

“I’ve heard about the symptoms. The blurred vision, light sensitivity—I’m sure you know them as well, if not better than I do.”

“Those describe several different kinds of problems, not just migraines. Is your vision blurred?”

Damn it! Why is she being so stubborn?

“A little,” she murmured and rubbed her temples.

“Where does your head hurt?”

“Right behind my left eye.”

He took his thumbs and pressed right under both of her eyes. “Does this hurt?”

“Mmm…a little.”

“How much is a little?”

“Just a little…come on, Wyatt. This is crazy. I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and stood.

With a glance at Bonnie and Charles, he pleaded, “Please make sure she sees a doctor. She probably needs at least a CAT scan, but she’s obviously not going to listen to me. Damn stubborn woman.”

Jamie stuck her tongue out at him.

“Oh, real mature, Jamie.”

 
She rolled her eyes before she said, “I’m going to go upstairs and lie down for awhile.”

Samantha stopped her as she reached the stairs. “Mom, are we still going to Dad’s tonight for dinner?”

Jamie looked at him before her gaze moved back to Samantha. “I don’t think we should.”

“Your mom really isn’t feeling up to it, Sam,” Wyatt agreed.

“Why don’t I just go then? I could spend some time with him since we really haven’t gotten a chance to. Please Mom?”

He shrugged when she shot him a look. “She’s welcome if it’s all right with you.”

Jamie rubbed her forehead again before she sighed heavily and said, “I suppose it would be all right. Just make sure she’s home before it gets too late.”

Samantha exclaimed, “Yes!”

“What time do you want her back here?” he asked as Jamie took a couple of steps up the stairs.

“Probably no later than ten.”

“Not a problem.”

“Be careful. She’s everything to me,” Jamie murmured when their eyes met over their daughter’s head.

“Me too, Jamie.”

She nodded and moved up the stairs, disappearing from sight a moment later, never aware that his gaze followed her until he couldn’t see her anymore.

When his attention moved to Samantha, he said, “You need a jacket of some kind, Sam. It’s cool on the bike even if it’s warm right now.”

“I’ll be right back.” She raced up the stairs while his attention returned to Chase and Abby.

“I think we need to talk, Chase, but not right now—not when Sam can hear.”

“I don’t care to hear anymore from you, Wyatt, even if Jamie explained how things went down. I have to put up with you because of Jamie and Samantha, but I don’t have to like it.”

Abby stepped up beside her husband and held out her hand. “I know we haven’t met. I’m Abigail Wilder, but my friends call me Abby. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

He grasped her hand in a firm shake and Chase scowled. “Nice to meet you, Abby.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at his hand and returned to his face.

“How long have you and Chase been together?”

“A couple of years.”

“You aren’t from here either, though. New York?”

She smiled. “How did you guess?”

“Your accent. I spent some time in New York a few years ago.”

Chase scowled. “When you should have been here?”

“All right, Chase. Fine. Let’s go out back and get this over with because this hatred you feel toward me is just going to fester into a problem if we don’t get it out in the open.”

“After you buddy,” Chase said as he indicated toward the back door with his head.

Wyatt sighed and asked, “Abby, can you keep Sam in here, please?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks.” Wyatt walked briskly toward the back of the house leading onto the deck. He no more than got outside and turned around before Chase swung and hit him square in the jaw. He flew back several feet and landed on the deck with a thud.

Chapter Seven

Wyatt grasped his chin in his hand and moved it around to make sure it wasn’t broken before he said, “Do you feel better now?”

“Hell no! I’m just getting started,” Chase growled.

“Well, I’m not going to let you hit me again. You got a freebee that time. Now, I suggest you sit down so we can talk this out.”

Air rushed from between his lips as Chase took a seat in one of the patio chairs sitting near the table and Wyatt took the other one.

“I take it Jamie didn’t tell you how things went down when I left.”

“Not until a few days ago.”

Wyatt shook his head and said, “I didn’t want to leave. I told her I would quit school and we could raise the baby together—she wouldn’t let me.”

“She told me that much, but what I don’t understand is why you let her drive you away.”

“I was scared.” He raked his hand through his hair. “God, I was so scared.” He sighed heavily. “My girlfriend had just told me she would be having my child and I could see my whole career going down the toilet. Plus, I knew you, Justin, and Cole would kill me when you found out. None of you even knew we were having sex. Maybe I took the easy way out and let her make the decisions for the both of us, but I didn’t know what else to do. How in the hell could I raise a baby? I worked a dead-end job that hardly paid enough to support my apartment and enough to eat for me, let alone a wife and child.”

“Wife?”

“I would have married her.”

“Did you tell her that?”

Wyatt shifted his eyes away for a moment before they returned to Chase. “Not in so many words I guess, but I told her I loved her and I knew she loved me, too. She said she didn’t and walked out. You know I tried to get her to talk to me for several weeks before I finally gave up and left.”

“Why didn’t you contact her or Samantha in the last nine years then, Wyatt?”

“For the same reason, I guess. I knew when I finished my residency; I would be coming back here to practice. I took the chicken-shit way out, I know that. I can’t take back what happened over the last nine years, but I can be a father to Samantha now, and I want to. I’ll support Jamie and Samantha any way she will allow me too.”

“Do you still love Jamie?”

Wyatt stood up and moved to the railing on the deck and looked out over the pasture behind the house. After several moments, he turned around. “I’m not sure. I care for her. I always will, but love her…” He shrugged. “We are so different now.”

“Not so different you aren’t attracted to her.”

“I’ll give you that. Yes, she can still wrap my dick in her hand and lead me around with it if she so chose.”

“Watch it. This is my sister we’re talking about.”

“I’m giving you the facts. Yes, I’m still attracted to her. She doesn’t have to do anything but breathe to get me wound up tighter than a spring. What’s going to happen—I don’t have a clue, but I’m here to stay, one way or the other.”

“I’m glad to hear that, and I just might be able to keep Cole and Justin from killing you.”

Wyatt chuckled. “I would appreciate it. I kind of like being alive.”

“Your ability to continue to live in this town depends on how you treat Samantha and Jamie.” Chase’s eyes narrowed, pinning Wyatt where he stood. “See that you watch your step.”

“Got it.” Wyatt moved toward the back with Chase on his heels. Samantha and Abby both looked terrified when they reached the living room.

“You okay, Dad?”

“Yeah, pumpkin. I’m fine.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You ready to go?”

With a quick, enthusiastic nod, she slipped on her coat and he followed her out the front without another word to Jamie’s family.

* * * *

The hamburgers sizzled and the gas fire popped as the grease dripped from the meat. The giggles and screams of several preteen girls echoed through his backyard and he smiled when Samantha jumped into the crystal blue water of his pool. The surprise of finding out he was her father had faded in the last six weeks. She embraced the fact to the point she already had his heart wrapped tightly around her little finger and he would do anything for her.

She managed to convince him to let her have a swim party and barbeque at his house for her friends. “Just to introduce you to them as my dad,” she’d said. He smiled and shook his head when she waved before she dove head first back into the pool.

The smile turned to a frown when his eyes fixed on the beautiful brown-haired woman who lounged in the sun off to his left. Jamie. She had insisted on being there with Samantha this afternoon, and her presence did nothing for his libido. He hadn’t touched her since the day she had passed out and now his palms itched with the need to run his fingers through her hair. She hadn’t been to see a physician since that day and it made him mad to no end. Something wasn’t right with her off-again on-again headaches, but he couldn’t convince her of that. Inhaling a deep breath and let it out with a rush of air, he closed the lid on the grill and headed in her direction.