A Second Chance (5 page)

She diverted her gaze out the window.
“I was scared. I didn’t want anyone to know what was going on until
it was over. You’re kind of a worrywart,” she said, turning her
misty eyes back to his.

“
You’re kind of important to
me.” And that was an understatement.

“
That means a lot to
me.”

“
Now”—he set his jaw and
leaned in closer—”when did Matt leave?”

She took a deep breath and shook her
head. “He’s been gone for a month. We’re just waiting for the
finalization of the divorce papers. We split amicably, so it
shouldn’t take too long.”

Carlos shook his head. He’d thought he
was angry when they got married, but it wasn’t even comparable to
how he felt now, knowing that Matt had let her down. “Maddie, I’m
so sorry.”

She shook her head again. “Don’t be.
I’m okay with it.” Her brow furrowed and she turned her head
directly toward him. “You shouldn’t be here. You should be home
with Kathy.”

“
Kathy knows where I am.
She’s worried about you.” He reached his free hand to her face and
brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. “I’m going to be here
until they kick me out and then I’ll be back in the
morning.”

“
Don’t be ridiculous. You
need to be home with the kids and Kathy.”

“
You don’t get it, do you?”
Carlos stood and walked toward the window. He looked out over the
other buildings on the campus and thought of all the people who lay
in the beds with someone who loved them by their sides. “You’re
very important to me. Jesus, Maddie, we have a life together,
still. What would have happened if this didn’t go well? I’d get
some mysterious call that…” He couldn’t say it. “Damnit, does Matt
even know?”

Madeline shook her head. Tears were
falling from her eyes.

Carlos pulled a tissue from the box on
the table next to her and wiped away the tears. “Don’t you think
he’d want to know? You’re selling yourself short, thinking that
none of us matter.”

“
I just didn’t want anyone
to worry.”

“
Well, it didn’t work.
Getting a call from my brother telling me he just passed you being
wheeled into surgery was a bit of a shock this morning.”

“
I’m sorry,” she said again.
Her eyes then flew open wide. “The kids?”

“
They don’t know a thing
yet. But they sure as hell will when I get home. You can’t keep
this from them. They have a right to know.”

She nodded. “I’m so sorry.”

“
Will you stop it?” He sat
back down and took her hand. “You’re not alone and you’re not going
to be. I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”

“
But Kathy…”

“
Knows how I feel about
you.” Of course he’d downplayed that quite a bit. He still felt
very deeply for Madeline, and it ripped at his heart when he
thought about having told Kathy he loved her. “She’ll be here for
you too.”

He’d left her side around dinnertime.
The drive home gave him plenty of time to think about what he was
going to tell them. He wished he didn’t have to. God, how he wished
she were on a three-week vacation with her husband.

Dinner had been cleared by the time he
opened the door and walked into the house. The kids were putting
away the last of the condiments and wiping down the table. Kathy
stood at the counter, a cup of coffee in her hand, and watched him
walk through the door.

“
Hey guys.” He forced a
smile.

“
Hey, Dad. Where have you
been?” Eduardo, the most observant, was the first to
ask.

Carlos took a deep breath and set his
keys on the counter. He kissed Kathy gently on the lips and gave
her a look to say thank you and then he turned to his children. All
eyes were now on him. All movement had stopped. He pulled a chair
out from under the table and sat down. He nodded to Kathy to do the
same, and the kids followed suit.

“
Before I even begin this
conversation with you, I want to start by saying everything is
okay.” He made eye contact with all of them. “Do you understand?”
Three sets of dark eyes kept on him as they nodded.

“
Your mom isn’t on vacation.
She had surgery today and she didn’t want you to worry about
her.”

“
She’s sick, isn’t she?”
Eduardo slapped his hands down on the table. “She’s run-down and
the other day she had a fever. She’s really, really sick,
huh?”

Carlos placed his hand atop Eduardo’s
and nodded. “She’s very, very sick.” He saw Clara’s eyes begin to
pool and soon the tears had fallen. He reached for her and she
climbed up on his lap. “She doesn’t want you to worry about her,
and she’d be sad if she knew you were.”

“
What’s wrong with her?” The
question came from Christian, who usually sat quietly.

Again, Carlos took a deep breath.
“Your mom has breast cancer.”

“
Oh, God!” Eduardo’s eyes
filled with tears.

Christian pushed from the table and
went to his room.

“
Listen, that’s why she had
surgery. Hopefully, they got all of the cancer and she’ll be fine.
She’ll have another procedure in a few days to take out some tubes
they had to leave in there. She’ll have to go through chemo, and
then she’ll have some reconstruction done.” Kathy lifted her hand
to her chest and batted away tears he saw lingering in her eyes. He
looked at Clara. Her face was creased with confusion. Eduardo’s
face, on the other hand, was set in anger. He understood that. He
was angry with Madeline for not telling him the truth. He was mad
at Matt for leaving her. And he was pissed off at the cancer for
attacking the woman he loved. “But for now she’s in the hospital
and they’re keeping a close eye on her.”

“
Why wouldn’t she tell us?
That’s not fair. She can’t do this to us.” Eduardo shook his head
squeezed his hands into fists, popping his knuckles as he did
so.

“
She’s scared. She found out
she had cancer the day after Matt left. She feels that if you know
she’s sick you’ll treat her differently. All she wants to do is
take care of you. But now she needs us to take care of her. We’re
all going to help her through this.”

“
Your dad is right. We’re
all going to help her,” Kathy added.

Carlos smiled through his pain. “Thank
you. You sure are amazing.”

“
I want to see her,” Clara
whispered against his chest.

“
You will. We’re going down
there to see her tomorrow. She’s going to be mad as hell at me for
it, but I don’t really care. She needs you, and once you’re there,
she’ll understand. I’m going to go call Grandma and Grandpa too.
They wanted to be here, but their flight was delayed until
tomorrow.” He kissed the top of Clara’s head. “Now I have to find
Matt. He really should know what’s going on.” Even if Matt didn’t
come to be with her—and that thought had Carlos’s blood
boiling.

“
Mommy’s really lucky you
still love her so much,” Clara said. Carlos knew she didn’t mean
any harm in her comment, but his eyes darted toward Kathy’s and he
saw the flash of pain.

Chapter Three

Carlos peeked around the door and
watched Madeline as she shifted to see him. He’d expected her to
look better, but her skin was pale, her eyes sunken and dark. His
stomach knotted. “Good morning, beautiful. How are you
feeling?”

“
Like I was run over by a
truck,” she said softly as tears filled her eyes.

He walked to the side of the bed and
gathered her hand in his. “What’s wrong?”

“
I’m scared. I’m so
scared.”

“
Oh, baby.” He pressed a
kiss to her forehead. “You need to think positive. What you went
through yesterday was enormous. One step at a time.”

She nodded and took a deep breath.
“What are you doing here?”

“
I told you I was going to
come back and take care of you.”

“
I’m not your responsibility
anymore.”

“
Yes, you are. You’re very
important to me,” he said, and that pang of guilt was back. The
look in Kathy’s eyes when Carla had said he still loved Madeline
flashed in his mind. But he knew Kathy understood. “I have a
surprise for you.”

“
For me?”

“
Are you up for
it?”

She nodded.

“
Okay, I’ll be right
back.”

A moment later, he returned with
Eduardo, Clara, and Christian. Each of them held a long-stemmed
rose.

Her eyes opened wide and weak smile
settled on her lips. “Oh, my babies.” She began to sob, and
Christian stopped his progression into the room, but Carlos pulled
him in.

Eduardo advanced toward her first and
kissed her. “Hey, Mom. You doing okay?”

“
Yeah. I’m doing okay.” She
smiled and moved her hand to grasp his.

“
Why didn’t you tell us? You
should have told us.”

“
I know. I just didn’t want
you to worry about me.”

His lips thinned and he looked away
then back at her. “I was already worried about you. I knew you were
sick.”

Clara couldn’t speak through her
tears. She walked to her mother and rested her head on the pillow
next to her, and Madeline nuzzled against her with her cheek. “It’s
okay, baby. I’m okay.”

Christian kept his distance, but he
smiled when she looked at him.

Carlos knew they had their ways of
dealing with things. He excused himself and stood outside of the
room. There was a long road ahead of them. He had to decide how to
deal with the fact that they needed each other, but he also needed
to distance himself. There was no way he’d let her be alone.
Damnit, it hadn’t been a lie. He needed her. She was an intrinsic
part of his life. But now he had Kathy and he had to watch his
step. He’d lost sleep over seeing the pain caused when Clara said
he loved Madeline. Who wouldn’t be pissed by something like that?
Worse yet, he hadn’t—couldn’t have—corrected her. He’d never
stopped loving Madeline.

There had always been that small part
of him that secretly wished for Matt to leave so he could reclaim
his wife. Who’d have thought the opportunity would arise the moment
he fell in love with someone else?

He pulled the slip of paper from his
pocket and dialed his cell phone. There were still enough
connections to Matt Carson, and he’d known who to ask. He dialed
the number.

“
Matt, it’s Carlos.”
Irritation filtered through his voice, but there was no way to hide
it as he told the man who’d once been his best friend that the
woman they’d both loved had cancer.

He returned to the hospital later that
evening after taking the kids home and feeding them dinner. Kathy
was edgy and he couldn’t blame her. She was being a great sport,
and he’d make it up to her. When Madeline was healthy and home, he
figured he’d ask Kathy to marry him. After all, he’d made the phone
call to Matt Carson himself. The man was already in the car and
heading back to Nashville before he’d hung up. Carlos wouldn’t
stand in the way.

He scrubbed his hands over his face.
The heavy stubble on his cheek reminded him he’d forgotten to shave
that morning. He’d been in such a hurry to get to Madeline’s
side.

He tapped on her door and she invited
him in. This time she looked happy, and the glow had returned to
her skin. She looked stiff sitting in her bed, and he knew the
bandages wrapped around her made her uncomfortable. There would be
time to deal with that, he thought. She’d be upset the first time
they let her see what they’d done to her.

“
You look
better.”

“
I feel better. I hate you
for bringing the kids, but thanks. That really helped me
out.”

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I
know you pretty well.”

“
Did my parents ever get on
the plane?”

He laughed as he pulled the chair to
her bedside. “Yes, they finally got a flight. They’ll be here soon.
He took her hand and absentmindedly kissed her fingers.

Madeline nodded. “I owe you. This was
bigger than me. I was afraid I was going to die. I couldn’t handle
it.”

“
You’re going to be fine and
I’ll be here for you.”

“
No, you won’t.”

His head snapped up.

Madeline lowered her hand slowly to
the bed. “You’ve started a new life. You really need to focus on
Kathy and building a life together. I’m just in your
way.”

“
I don’t think it matters
right now. Right now I’m focused on seeing you through
this.”

“
Well, I don’t want you to.
Mom and Dad will take care of me.”

“
So you’re just dismissing
me?”

Her eyes shifted away from him.
“Yes.”

“
It’s not important to you
to have me here?”

“
I appreciate it. I’ve
thanked you. Now I think you should go. They’re sending me home
soon. Trust me. You’ll just be in the way when my mom gets
here.”