Snowbound with the Boss(27)

They looked as if they belonged in a Faery forest, with their curved roofs, arched doors and round windows. Details were coming to life, making each cabin different. Paint colors were bright and Kate thought her favorite had to be the sapphire-blue cabin with the emerald-green door. Gingerbread trim scrolled along the rooflines of each cabin and outlined every window. Every cabin even boasted a tiny gas fireplace and whimsical chimney crafted out of either copper or brick. It was a magical spot and she wished, damn it, that Sean was there to see it all.

When her phone signaled a video chat, her heart gave a quick jump and even the baby kicked as if she knew it was her daddy calling. Had he felt Kate thinking about him?

“Sean. Hi.” He looked so good, she thought sadly. And so far away.

“How’s it going, Kate?”

He was in his office, she thought, recognizing the space behind him. It was harder, somehow, now that she’d been with him in California. She could picture him in the office where they’d shared a pizza one night. Where he’d held her on his lap while he answered phone calls. Kate’s heart twisted in her chest, and she sighed a little at the memories.

“Everything’s good,” she said, forcing a smile she knew wouldn’t so much as touch her eyes. “We’ve nearly finished the main hotel. Just some minor things left to do there. The crew’s focused mainly on the cabins, and they’re looking wonderful.”

“Yeah?” A half smile curved his mouth briefly.

She wanted to kiss it.

“See for yourself.” She turned the phone around and moved it slowly, so the camera would catch at least four of the cabins, sitting like tiny jewels among the trees.

When she was looking at him again, he said, “They look excellent, Kate. Really.” He rubbed the back of his neck, and she almost smiled at the gesture. She recognized it as what he did when he was stressed. Good to know that seeing each other like this was no easier on him than it was on her.

“I wanted to let you know we’ll be sending a couple of our artists out to do the work on the walls,” he said.

“Great.” A spurt of hope shot through her as she asked, “Are you coming, too?”

“No,” he said and deflated that bubble of expectation. “I’ve got meetings set up for the next two weeks that can’t be put off.”

“Right. Okay.” She nodded and smiled again, not wanting to let him know how disappointed she was. It had been two months since they were together, and it felt like two years. “When will they be here?”

“Sometime next week. They’ll move into a couple of the bedrooms there so they can be on-site, get the job done as quickly as possible.”

“Then I’ll bring some supplies in for them.”

“That’d be great, thanks,” Sean said, then his voice lowered to an intimate tone. “How are you doing, Kate?”

“I’m fine,” she said, lifting her chin and refusing to give in to the aching loneliness beginning to throb inside her. “Went to the doctor yesterday. He says the baby’s perfectly healthy and growing just as she should.”

“Good,” he said, his gaze locked with hers. “That’s good. Um, Jenny says her baby’s moving all the time now. Is ours?”

A sting of tears burned her eyes, but she blinked them back. He should know, she told herself. He should be there, feeling every kick and bump their child made. Maybe she should have accepted that marriage demand disguised as a proposal. But even as she thought it, Kate knew she’d done the right thing. If for no other reason than the fact that she loved him and he didn’t feel the same.

“Yes,” she said, shutting down those thoughts. “She was doing jumping jacks all last night. I hardly slept.”

He frowned. “That can’t be good. You need rest, Kate. You—”

“I’m taking care of myself, Sean,” she interrupted him quickly. “Everything’s fine. We’re fine.” She watched him nod, then she asked, “How about there? The game still selling well?”

“Best one yet,” he said, but there was no excitement in his eyes.

“Good. That’s good, too.” God, they sounded so stiff with each other. Both of them talking and neither of them saying anything that mattered. Anything real.

“Kate!”

She looked up to see one of her workers shouting to her from one of the cabins. Kate held up one finger to let her know she was coming.

“Sean, I’m sorry. Lilah’s got some issue in a cabin. I’ve gotta go.”

“Right,” he said. “Me, too. Look, I’ll call you in a day or two, okay? And be careful, will you?”

“Don’t worry. Take care of yourself, Sean,” she said and gave in to the urge to touch the screen as if she could stroke her finger along his cheek.

Then he was gone and she went back to work.

* * *

Two weeks later, Sean was at his desk when Mike stuck his head in the office and shouted, “Jenny’s in the hospital!”

Panic shone in his brother’s eyes, so Sean leaped up, said, “I’ll drive,” and raced Mike to the car. It was a wild ride through beach traffic, and Sean pulled out all the stops. He weaved in and out of the cars on Pacific Coast Highway like a driver at the Indy 500. “What happened?”

Mike looked at him, eyes stricken. “Jenny was out shopping, started feeling bad. She says she started bleeding. The doctor told her to get to the hospital.” He dragged in a deep breath and blew it out again. “God, Sean, how the hell would I live without Jenny? The baby?”

“You’re not going to have to find out.” Sean prayed he was right.

Mike’s closed fist hammered down on his own thigh helplessly, relentlessly. “I should have gone shopping with her this morning. I was busy and so damn sick and tired of looking for the perfect couch, I backed off. Let her go off alone. Idiot. What was I thinking?”

“You were thinking she’d be perfectly fine shopping on her own. This is not your fault, Mike.”

“Doesn’t matter whose fault it is.”

Sean was panicked now, too. A cold ball of dread sat in the center of his chest, but he held it back and talked his brother off the ledge. “You couldn’t have known, Mike. For God’s sake, she went to the doctor just yesterday and everything was fine.”

“Well, it’s not now,” Mike snapped. “Can’t you go any faster?”

“If we had wings!” But Sean stomped on the gas pedal and gave it everything the car had. While he drove like a crazy man, Mike called their parents and Jenny’s uncle Hank and his new wife, Betty. Family needed family when things went to hell.

Sean zipped through yellow lights, and when he turned into the hospital parking lot at last, the tires screamed for mercy. He’d barely stopped before Mike was out and running to the emergency room. A few minutes later, car parked, Sean was in there, too, looking for his brother and praying everything was all right.

It should be all right. The day before, the doctor had given Jenny a clean bill of health. What the hell could have happened so quickly?

He saw Mike at reception, then his brother was hustled into the back and Sean was left to pace through a crowded waiting room with a TV tuned to a game show with an annoying host.

Sean hated hospitals. The smell of them. The hopelessness of them. Look into any one of the faces gathered here and you’d see desperation, fear and the wish to be absolutely anywhere but there. Minutes ticked into hours and still Sean knew nothing. Mike came out occasionally just to tell him they were waiting for the doctor and to keep Sean from going nuts with the lack of information.

Jack and Peggy Ryan hurried into the waiting room and after hugs and whispered conversations, they sat down on the most uncomfortable chairs in the world to wait.

Sean couldn’t sit. Couldn’t stand still, either. He kept pacing. He walked through the room until his mother told him to go outside because he was giving her a headache. So he went and tipped his face into the ocean breeze. But there was no peace there, either, since Jenny’s aunt and uncle raced up a few minutes later demanding answers.

And the whole time he waited and worried for his brother and sister-in-law, his mind kept turning to Kate. What if this had happened to her? Hell, for all he knew, it could be happening right now. He was hundreds of miles away. If she had a crisis, chances were good he wouldn’t find out about it until it was over. What if she was out on a damn job site and something happened and she was alone?

Panic was alive and clawing at him as he wondered if Kate was telling him everything. What if she wasn’t really okay? Or if there was a problem with the baby? How the hell would he know? He stomped back inside and saw his mother and Betty holding hands and whispering while Hank and Jack sat stone-faced.

Through the raging storm in his mind, Sean realized something that seemed profound yet it shouldn’t have been. This was love. Families coming together in a crisis. Leaning on each other. Being there. His heart opened and heat spilled out, filling every vein in his body.

He looked at his parents, who’d come through problems of their own and emerged stronger than ever. And there was Betty, who’d been Hank’s housekeeper for years until finally one day they both woke up and realized that what kept them together was love. Yeah, Brady had moved to Ireland, but he loved it. And Mike lost his beloved pool table, but what had he gotten instead? A woman to share his life with.