Always with You - Part One(14)

       
         
       
        

Nash laughs. "I love listening to you squirm."

"You're one sick bastard."

"So I hear," he says, sobering a little. "Want me to tell Dad, too?"

"Yeah, if you would. I'll get word out to everyone when he's in a room or … whatever."

"Sounds good. Anything you need? Anything we can do?"

"Nah. Gavin's holding down the fort at Dual. He can keep an eye on Sophie. Anything else can wait until Darrin's out of the woods because I'm not leaving Olivia until we know he's okay."

"Don't blame you, Cash. Call if you need me, though."

"Thanks. Later, man."

"See ya."

When the line goes dead, I let my arm drop to my side and I think about where we are, what's happened and what's likely to happen. The convergence of all this shit, this perfect storm of shit, on my wife worries me. She was struggling with not being able to get pregnant anyway. Now her cousin is expecting and my ex showed up with a child that could well be mine. On top of that, her father just had a heart attack. Who knows how that could end up?

Olivia is strong. One of the strongest people I've ever met, but I'm not sure how she's going to hold up under all this if it gets much worse.

As though my thoughts summoned her-and another pile of shit to add to the storm-Olivia comes rushing out the door, face pale, eyes watering.

"They're taking him into surgery, Cash! They're taking Dad in for open heart surgery. They said he just had a massive heart attack in the room back there. The blockage is so severe they can't put in a stent. They said something about a widow-maker. Cash, they don't know if he's going to make it. My dad might die. He might die!"

With eyes as big and shiny as the full moon on a clear summer night, she gulps in air once, twice, and then crumbles right in my arms.

I didn't know how much worse things could get. I guess I just got my answer.

Until my phone bleeps with an incoming text.

From Sophie.

How the hell did she get my number?





CHAPTER TWELVE



Olivia



"Who is it?" I manage to ask when Cash checks his phone and slides it quickly back into his pocket.

He shrugs, pressing his lips to my forehead. "Work. Nothing important."

A knife of unease slices through me, but almost immediately my current worries rush in to overtake all other thought. My father-the man who raised me, the man who shielded me from my mother, the man who bandaged my scraped knees and watched cartoons with me when I was sick-is going into one of the most major surgeries a human being can have. They're going to put him to sleep and cut his chest wide open. They're going to re-route the circulation of his heart and breathe for him. They're going to replace vital arteries and hope that they hold. Then they're going to sew him back up and pray that he wakes up when it's over. And if one thing goes wrong, if there's one glitch in that intricate process, I could lose him. I could never see his smile, hear his voice or feel his hug again for the rest of my life. And neither will my children. They'll never know the amazing man their grandfather is. 

I'm gripped by a fear so poignant, a panic so overwhelming that my pulse speeds. It races so fast that my head swims and my stomach sloshes.

"Listen to me," Cash whispers against my hair, halting the tailspin I was falling into. "Darrin Townsend is not going down this way. That crazy son of a bitch is gonna come out laughing. You know how he is. He'd kick the ass of anyone or anything that tried to get between him and his daughter. Surgery included."

I let out a shaky breath. My father is strong. And he does love me. I know he'd do anything within his power to keep me from pain and harm. But this …

"I know, but this is serious. So serious."

"It is. But so is he when he means business. Think about how he stays up all night worrying about his sheep. Think about how hard he fights to keep every single one healthy, alive and accounted for. He's a determined man, especially when it comes to what he loves. And you, he loves most of all. He'll pull through, baby. If for no other reason, he'll do it for you. God gave him a backbone of steel and probably a heart just as strong. Have faith in that."

I turn my face to the side and press my ear to Cash's chest. I can hear the steady thud of his heart and I close my eyes to focus on it. So comforting. So reassuring. So strong. Like my father's. I've heard it pressed to my ear in much this same way for my whole life when he'd hold me. Just because his vessels are sick doesn't mean his heart is. They caught it in time. He couldn't have been in a better place for this to happen. And now they're going to fix him. Then he'll come back to me. To share his smile, to hold his grandkids, to grow old right before my eyes.