Expecting His Secret Heir(34)

Josh turned to Eve. "I'm so sorry to hear this," he said in a gentle voice. "This must be hard for you and your sisters."

Eve appeared stunned by this olive branch-and Lucinda appreciated someone short-circuiting the bickering.

Josh Calhoun was the same as he'd always been, that much was clear. This  was what he did. She'd seen him talk down two guys in the middle of a  fight so that, within minutes, they were all sharing a soda and laughing  about good times or whatever it was men laughed about while one was  wiping the other's blood off his knuckles.

Once, she'd admired him for that. Okay, honestly-she'd more than admired  him. She'd been fascinated by him. She'd never been much to look at,  but Josh had never treated her like the know-it-all nerd everyone else  did.

Well, almost everyone else. Josh's best friend in high school, Gary, had  asked her out after she'd verbally smacked down some bullies who were  mocking Gary for being unable to lift his own backpack after a chemo  treatment. And since no one else had ever even remotely looked at Lucy  Wilde as someone they might like to go see a movie with-much less  kiss-she'd said yes.

Lucinda shook her head out of the past. How long had it been since she'd  allowed herself to think of Gary-or Josh? Years. It hadn't been that  hard. She'd been busy with her medical career and dealing with the likes  of the Winchesters and Newports. And the Winchesters and Newports took  all of her attention.

She had, of course, expressed her concerns to Sutton's family-that was  part and parcel of her job. She cared not only for her patients but  their loved ones, as well. She'd had decades of helping people live and  die-long before she'd become a doctor.

Long before she'd humiliated herself in front of Josh Calhoun.

But now that she thought of it, she couldn't remember witnessing anyone  else expressing their sympathies to any of the Winchester daughters.  Certainly not Brooks Newport or his brothers. Carson's grim acceptance  of the situation had, until this moment, been as good as it got.

"Thank you," Eve replied quietly. Then she turned her attention to  Carson. "I'm not giving up on him. I just want what's best for him and I  don't think being in the hospital is it."

"What are the options?" Josh asked.

Why did he have to be here? Why did he have to be forging a peace between Eve and Carson?

Why did he have to be reminding her of things she'd tried so desperately to forget?

It was Carson who answered for her. "Eve and her sisters-our  sisters-think it would be best to take him home. I'm not comfortable  pulling him out of the hospital." He stared at Eve. "We have questions  and I want him to live long enough to get some answers out of him."

It was blisteringly clear who the "we" was-Carson and his brothers.

Lucinda wanted to massage her throbbing temples.

Eve glared at him. "What you think doesn't matter. He's not really your  father. You don't know him and you don't love him like I do-like my  sisters do." Her gaze swung back to Lucinda and she looked more  determined than ever, which was saying something. "Money is no object. I  can have a private medical facility that meets your specifications set  up at his estate in a matter of days. I want him out of the hospital and  safely at home. And if you won't help move him," she threatened, "I  will find a doctor who can."

"Beg your pardon," Josh interrupted in that gentle tone that Lucinda  didn't really appreciate. "Does he want to stay in the hospital?"                       
       
           



       

It was a deceptively simple question and Lucinda knew it. What Sutton  Winchester wanted was to go home and pretend he was not on death's door.  He never wanted to see her face or the inside of a hospital ever again.  But that was not what was best for him.

"Of course, he doesn't," Eve stated flatly.

"Because if he's got the means to be treated at home, maybe that would  be best for everyone," Josh said as if this were the obvious conclusion  instead of a solution that entailed an unnecessary health risk.

Well, that went sideways on her. Lucinda gave him a dull look and Carson was none too pleased at this announcement.

Undaunted by their open hostility, Josh went on, "Carson, you've got to  realize that if he's more comfortable, he'll likely be willing to answer  some of those questions, don't you think?"

She wanted to strangle him. It was bad enough that he was here and worse  that she was having to talk to him. But for him to come down on the  wrong side?

That, however, wasn't the worst of it. No, what was the worst was that  she could see Carson start to waver. Damn it. She knew there were many  unanswered questions and she also knew that, currently, Sutton was in no  mood to unburden his soul.

Carson Newport had been her ally in keeping Sutton Winchester in the  hospital. But, before her eyes, she could see him switch sides.  "Well..."

Josh didn't wait for Carson to talk himself out of it. "If it won't  compromise his care, that is." He turned his attention to Lucinda and  turned on his all-American charm. "If Eve can get the room set up to  your specifications, would you be willing to release Mr. Winchester? I  know that no one wants to risk his health. That has to come first. I  think we can all agree that your word is final, can't we?" He glanced  around their small circle, gathering approval to him like a cloak.

Lucinda blinked at him. Was that the bone he was going to throw her-that  she had the final word? Very neatly, Josh Calhoun had sidestepped,  diffused or completely undercut weeks of bitter arguments-and boxed her  into a corner.

What she wanted to say was that he was out of his ever-loving mind and  he could go crawl back into whatever hole he'd crawled out of.

But she didn't. She had a professional reputation to maintain, and she  would be damned if she let Josh Calhoun take that away from her, too.  "In no way would moving him at this stage of his treatment be a good  idea," she said firmly.

This fell on deaf ears. "Okay," Carson announced. "If we can get a room  set up in his home, we can move him. But our brothers aren't going to  like this."

"Graham and Brooks are absolutely not my brothers," Eve said just as her  phone buzzed. She glanced at it and Lucinda saw a small smile break  through her icy demeanor. "Dr. Wilde, if you could get a list of  equipment we'll need, I'll have everything else taken care of."

"You do understand that this will be very expensive, don't you?" Lucinda  tried a last-ditch attempt. "You'll need twenty-four-hour care to  monitor him, as well-and not some random home-health nurse. He needs  oncology specialists around him at all time."

Eve and Carson shared a look. "That's fine," Eve said with a smile that  made Lucinda's blood run cold. "There's plenty of room at the house.  I'll have the guest quarters prepared for your stay. Hire whomever you  need."

"Ms. Winchester!" Lucinda gaped at her in shock. When had she lost complete and total control?

Josh cleared his throat. Oh, yeah. The moment he'd walked back into her life.

But she didn't get any further than that. Carson stepped forward and  said, "That sounds like a good idea to me. Would you be able to do that,  Dr. Wilde?"

This simply could not get worse. She had already been dragged into more  than enough Winchester/Newport drama. Personally supervising Sutton  Winchester's care at home would only double and then triple that.

She had opened her mouth to find the words to politely yet firmly refuse  when Josh spoke up. "At the very least," he said, shooting her one of  his big smiles that did absolutely nothing to her, "would you be able to  see him settled?"

"I'm the head of the oncology department at Midwest," she told him with  an edge to her voice. "I cannot simply disappear to a private home for  days or what could even turn out to be weeks at a time."

Carson gave her a smile that bordered on predatory. "I'm sure, for an  appropriate donation to that new cancer pavilion expansion they've been  planning, they'll be more than happy to help you find a way to make this  work into your schedule."                       
       
           



       

In other words, her medical services were going to the highest  bidder-and there were no bidders higher in the greater Chicago region  than the Winchesters and the Newports. The Newports were already funding  this new children's hospital. In the grand scheme of things, the cost  of an expanded cancer pavilion meant nothing to them or the Winchesters.

Lucinda absolutely did not want to be a pawn in this tug-of-war between  the two families, but that pavilion would do a lot of good for a lot of  people. Damn it all to hell. "I suppose I could move a few appointments  around and take a couple of days. But I won't compromise anyone else's  care. And if I don't believe your father will receive excellent care at  home, I won't allow him to be discharged."