Cattail Ridge (23 page)

Owen blinked at him, then sat forward. “Then why are the two of you not in the same room?”

“Because she didn’t take it well.”

For several minutes he felt Owen’s gaze on him. “What does that mean for you?”

“Hell if I know at this point. I’m going to give her some space, I guess. See if that helps. I don’t know what else to do.”

“Emma’s complicated. I know it’s probably the last thing you want to hear right now, but please don’t give up on her.”

“I’m not planning to unless she forces the issue, but I am executing a tactical retreat.”

Michelle knocked on the door and both men rose. She was smiling. “Come on. Let’s go talk to Emma.”

Archer knew she wouldn’t be smiling if the news was bad. He felt such a huge weight lift off his chest he actually was lightheaded for a moment. Owen steadied him and they followed Michelle to the waiting room.

Not wanting to upset Emma, Archer hung back in the doorway. The surgeon was telling her that Sydney had come through like a trouper. “She’s fine. Already starting to wake up, and I’d say she’ll be up and running you ragged by Monday. They’ll have her up in a room before long.”

Emma, who was sitting next to John, burst into tears. He put his arm around her shoulders and held her while she cried. A wave of relief spread through the room and everyone was smiling through their tears.

Amelia came over to stand beside him and slipped her arms around Archer’s waist. “Are you okay?” she asked after a minute.

He nodded, unable to speak. When Emma lifted her head from John’s shoulder, she glanced toward him. Archer would have been hard-pressed to tell which of them looked away first, it was so quick.

Michelle touched his arm. “Sydney’s already asking for you and for Emma. As soon as she’s in her room she’ll need you both.” Her voice was loud enough that Emma heard.

“No. Sydney will be fine without him. Don’t you dare mention him to her, Michelle. Understand me?”

With a puzzled scowl, her cousin turned. Her foot was tapping on the floor and Archer saw her hand tighten around the stethoscope that hung around her neck. “No, I don’t. And I don’t know what your problem is, Em, but my patient’s wellbeing is what I’m most concerned with right now. Not seeing Archer when she wants to is going to upset her, and that’s going to slow the healing process down. So I’m overriding you. And I guarantee you that little girl is going to want both of you. Not just you. So put your big-girl panties on and suck it up. Whatever’s happened between the two of you, hash it out later.” With a nod for Archer, she stalked out of the room.

Emma’s breath hissed out. “Excuse me.” She blew past them at a fast clip, and in seconds, the door to the stairwell slammed behind her.

John followed, eyeing Archer as he passed. “What the hell did you do to piss her off like that?”

“John, leave it alone,” Owen cautioned. John nodded and went on down the hall.

Archer was glad. As rankled as he was feeling, it wouldn’t have taken much to provoke him into throwing a punch. And that would be unforgivable, especially considering John wasn’t the Campbell his problem was with. But the urge to hit something, to tear it apart the way he was being torn apart, was growing.

“I need a few minutes of privacy,” he told Owen.

“Down the hall, through the double doors, first door on your left. That should get you to a little smoking area. This time of night it should be deserted.”

Thankfully, it was. A low-hanging branch from a nearby tree arced out over the flat roof, and Archer broke off a small piece of it. He used that to swat at acorns that had fallen along the wide ledge that formed the wall of the roof. They made a satisfying thwack as they hit the street that ran behind the hospital and for now, they’d do.

Once the ledge was cleared off he sat down at a small table in the corner of the space. With his head buried in his hands he let the waves of anger, grief, and relief wash over him. In a few minutes he’d have to go back inside and be there for Sydney. But for just this second he took a little time to shove the pain over Emma’s backlash into a safe corner. He was grateful that his eyes remained dry, but he knew that meant hell to pay later. It would catch up with him eventually. When he got home he’d have to make sure he paid the debt, though it might come out in the form of nightmares.

“So be it.”

Feeling decades older than when the night started, he got to his feet. He’d gambled and he’d lost. As he pulled the door open he realized how emotionally tired he was. All the ups and downs of the last few months had taken their toll.

Archer had never been a quitter. He’d always been able to look forward and for the most part, find the silver lining around whatever dark cloud was threatening his peace. This time, though, he would be damned if he could find it. And he wondered, with some level of detachment, if he would have given up and walked away from everything if Sydney hadn’t been in the mix.

“That would prove her point,” he muttered under his breath as he stopped in the hall to brace himself for his next encounter with Emma. What disturbed him was the realization that he almost didn’t care.

Chapter Thirty

E
mma wasn’t expecting her baby sister to come into the hospital chapel in full attack mode and go straight for her jugular. But that’s exactly what happened.

“What in the fucking hell is wrong with you?” Amelia raged as she closed the door for privacy. “Why are you treating Archer like he’s something you’d find on the bottom of your shoe?”

After her shock wore off, Emma fired back. “How I handle my relationship with him is none of your damned business. And I don’t have time to deal with your little hissy fit right now.”

If John hadn’t been there to step between them, they might well have come to blows.

“Hissy fit? You just decimated one of the best men I know in front of our entire family, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. You’re acting like he tried to rape you or something.”

Defensive as Amelia had made her, the words jarred Emma. No, she hadn’t been warm and receptive to Archer’s presence but had she really been that bad? Uncertain, she looked to John.

“You were pretty rough on him. Care to explain why? If he did something like what Pip said, Dad and I will take care of it.”

“It was nothing like that.” She walked over to the lit candles on the altar, wanting to deny that she’d been as harsh as they were painting her.

“Then what was it?” Amelia persisted. “I know how he feels about you, Em. What could he possibly have said or done that would make you act the way you’ve acted tonight?”

“He asked me to marry him, damn you!” Whirling around, Emma glared at her sister. “All right? That’s what he did. He said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, with Sydney. That he wanted to be her father.”

Both Amelia and John were staring at her with shock.

“Why is that grounds for you to act like you did?” John asked softly.

“Because he doesn’t mean it! He can’t mean it. He won’t stay. He’s like every other goddamned man I’ve been with. He talks a good game but as soon as it’s time to put his money where his mouth is, he’ll run. They always do. They always do.” Her voice trailed off into a whisper as her tears started.

Amelia sat down heavily on the front pew. “Emma, what in the holy hell happened to you to make you think that?”

She swiped at her eyes, furious that she was crying. “Because Ted said he loved me. And he asked me to marry him. A month before I found out I was pregnant with Sydney, he asked me to marry him, and I said yes. He wanted to keep it quiet until he was able to tell his family, and we were going to have a big party, invite everyone, and break it to you all. I was looking at gowns and picking out flowers and all along, he was lying to me. I thought he’d be so damned happy when I told him I was pregnant. And instead of him being overjoyed he hit me so hard he knocked me down.”

“He told me that he’d only been using me for the sex. That he’d enjoyed toying with me, building my expectations. That he was engaged and would be getting married in a matter of weeks. That girls like me were a dime a dozen and that he’d not even been exclusive to me and his fiancé during the time we were together. There were others. He told me to get rid of Sydney or he would.”

Exhausted, she sank down to the floor, wrapping her arms around herself. John came over and knelt beside her, pulling her into a hug.

“Oh, Emma.”

“He was so damned sincere. He fooled me, he fooled Nonny, Ben, all my friends. Half of them didn’t even believe me when I told them what had happened. When they found out he was really engaged, they thought I’d known all along. He was very, very wealthy and I was not. The looks I got, the snide comments, the cold shoulders… And it was all because I trusted the wrong man. I can’t do that again. What if Sydney gets hurt? Someone like Ted could do awful things to her, and I might not be able to stop him.”

She could still see the fury in his eyes, the disgust. Could still feel the weight of him as he came down to the floor and got on top of her, pinning her to the hardwood. His hands had gripped her wrists so tight they’d left bruises. She didn’t tell her siblings about that part of the fight or the fact that, before he got up, he’d struck her in the stomach so hard she’d cramped for hours. She’d been sure she was miscarrying but by some miracle, she hadn’t.

She’d called Nonny and her grandmother had come to sit with her through that long night. In the morning, Eliza had called Charles, Aunt Kathy’s husband, who was an attorney. He’d advised her to file charges but Emma had resisted, knowing that with Ted’s family being as powerful as they were, charges would be pointless. A couple of days after the attack Ted and his attorney had shown up at her apartment. He had offered her a large amount of money in addition to signing away all his rights to the baby, and her promise to never come after him for support. The only caveat was that Emma had to leave town. As she’d already been planning to go back to Hazard she’d been more than happy to comply. She’d twisted him a little first though, negotiating for a higher payoff amount. She knew what she got right then would be the only thing he would ever give their child and she intended to make it count.

The shame of that, as well as of having to confess the secret to her siblings, pierced her spirit now nearly as much as when it had happened. She closed her eyes and let herself be soothed. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stay there long. A soft rustling sounded and when she opened her eyes, she saw that Amelia was on her knees in front of her. A slow tear tracked down her sister’s cheek.

“Tell me his full name, and I’ll go to Georgia and kill him for you,” she whispered, dead serious.

Emma reached a hand out and Amelia clasped it. “He’s not worth it. Believe me, I considered it. But he’s not worth it.”

“Given all that, I can understand your reaction, I suppose,” Amelia hedged. “But I think once you have a chance to regroup you’re going to have to reconsider Archer’s proposal. Because, Em, he’s not Ted. No more than Dad or John or Ben is.”

“That’s not something I can think about right now.” Straightening away from John, Emma stood. “I’d better go back upstairs.”

They made a quiet trio as they walked to the elevator. John didn’t get on. “I’m going to head home. Call me if you need anything, okay?” He pulled her in for a hug. “Tell Sydney we love her.”

“Okay. Will you call Benny? Let him and Ainsley know she’s all right? And Rachel?”

“Of course.”

Upstairs, Sarah met them at the elevator. “She’s in her room. Archer and Owen are with her now. Are you okay?”

Emma nodded. “What’s her room number?”

Sarah told them, then led the way down the hall. “Archer’s going to stay as long as Sydney needs him. You need to make sure you’re able to handle that. As bluntly as Michelle spoke, she was right.”

“I know.” A shuddering breath later they were at the partially closed door. When she pushed it open with care, her heart almost stopped from the pain.

Archer was holding Sydney. Seated in the room’s recliner with the footrest extended, he had her arranged across his chest, supported with pillows. She still had an IV and her eyes were closed. He was telling her a story, slowly stroking her hair back off her face. No matter how he felt about her, Emma realized in that instant that without a doubt, Archer loved her daughter.

“Hey, sweetie. Can you open your eyes?” he asked softly. “Mommy’s here.”

Emma was barely aware of Owen standing, bringing her the small chair he’d been sitting in. He placed it as close to Sydney and Archer as he could.

Sydney raised her head groggily and blinked in Emma’s direction. She didn’t have her glasses on and Emma knew most everything would be a blur. “Mommy?”

“I’m here, baby. I’m here.” Emma rubbed what she could reach of her back and arm, taking care to avoid the IV.

“My tummy doesn’t hurt now,” she said around a yawn. “Can I have a cookie?”

Emma laughed, though the sound was soggy. Sharp tears stung her eyes and nose, and her relief almost made her lightheaded. “As soon as Michelle says you can.”

“Gotta be chocolate chip. With lots of chips.” With a heavy sigh she snuggled in closer to Archer. “Love you, Mommy.”

“Love you, too. Get some rest, little bit.”

Owen touched her shoulder. “We’re going to go. Sarah and I are going to camp out at Archer’s place, so we’ll be two minutes away if you need us. Are you sure that’s okay, Archer?”

“Absolutely. Make yourselves at home. Just watch that deadbolt–it likes to stick. One of these days, I’ll fix it.”

“I’ll head out, too,” Amelia said. She patted Archer’s leg, then kissed Emma’s head. “Call if you need anything.”

A few minutes after they left the nurse came in. She brought a rolling cot with her. “You can set this up on the other side of the bed. I imagine you’ll want to take turns sitting up with her.”

Emma helped move things out of the way to make room. “Do you think she’ll sleep through the night?”

“It depends. Some kids do, some don’t. If she’s hurting a lot, probably not. But honestly, the more she stays awake and gets some of the anesthesia out of her system, the better.”

“She’s already asked for a cookie,” Archer told her.

The nurse smiled. “That’s a good sign. If she really starts to wake up we’ll take the catheter out.” She stopped by the recliner to check on Sydney, who hid her face at the examination. “Ring the bell if you need anything.”

For the rest of the night Emma and Archer were kept busy. By the time the sky started to lighten with the oncoming dawn they were both exhausted. Sydney was doing well, sitting up on her own in the bed, chattering at anyone who came in the room. She’d even eaten some Jell-O and had some juice.

When Michelle came in at seven to check on her, Archer was sound asleep in the chair and Emma was dozing on the cot. Emma sat up with a start when her cousin touched her shoulder. She rubbed her eyes. “How is she?”

“Sydney looks better than the two of you do,” Michelle stated as Archer stirred. “Did you get any sleep?”

Emma shook her head. “Not really. How’s she doing?”

“Like I said, she looks better than the two of you. Since we were able to do the surgery using the new laparoscopic procedure, I’m tempted to send her home this morning. If she keeps her breakfast down I think I will.”

Not only did Sydney keep her breakfast down, she was asking for more when Michelle came back in an hour later. “Where’s my cookie? Mommy said I could have a cookie when you said it was okay.”

Michelle laughed and gave her a smacking kiss. “Let me see what I can do. I’ll go get her papers together,” she told Emma. “Nonny and Eli are in the waiting room with your parents. Should I send them in?”

“Sure. Thank you, Michelle. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

Her cousin gave her a hug. “I’ll think of something,” she said with a wink. “You know you don’t owe me a thing. Archer, go home and get some sleep. Doctor’s orders. Both of you need some rest. Call if you need me, Em.”

Archer stood and stretched. He kept his attention on Sydney. “I probably should go home. But I’m only a phone call away and I’ll come by this evening if your mom okays it,” he told her.

“That’s fine.” Emma avoided his gaze.

Sydney pouted a little. “But I’ll miss you.”

He tugged on her ear, making her giggle. “I’ll miss you, too, but I’ll see you very soon.”

After a big hug and a kiss, Sydney let him go. He left the room as everyone else was coming in, and Emma watched Owen turn and go back down the hall with him.

She was too tired to think, too tired to process anything at the moment. But she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she’d made a terrible mistake and they’d all be paying for it for some time to come.