Chapter 25
GRANT
G rant stared at Sierra’s sleeping form as he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. With every beat of his heart, he was grateful to have her back, but he couldn’t stop the ache that also echoed there from the loss of Julia.
It had been hours since he’d talked to Kyle. The sun had slid below the horizon and night had taken over. There had been no progress.
He felt helpless. He could do nothing to save her. Just like he could do nothing to repair their relationship.
Doubt crept into his mind again. The rain-soaked moments before she’d gone over the cliff for Sierra had been harrowing enough, but as he sat in the quiet hospital room going over them again, he’d found new reasons to detest them.
The way Luke had adjusted her harness, then kissed her forehead had spoken volumes. The man obviously still had feelings for her. He couldn’t blame Luke. He’d fallen for her, too.
And he felt inadequate competing against the decades of history Luke and Julia had. He couldn’t measure up. He couldn’t be the man who soothed her to sleep when she’d had a difficult time.
She’d struggled since they’d gotten to town and when she’d sought help, it hadn’t been from him. Their relationship was a lie based on nothing more than a flimsy piece of paper.
Even if they managed to rescue Julia, it wouldn’t change anything for him. She wasn’t his.
His mind wandered back to the night he’d come home to a near-empty house. His daughter had stood alone in their foyer, clutching her teddy bear. “Mommy left.”
He’d wrapped Sierra in his arms as he’d faced the reality that his marriage had crumbled. The emptiness that night mirrored his current fear as he recognized the pattern of loss repeating in his life.
But she had been there when he needed her. She’d come from wherever she’d been to help. He clung to that. Maybe once they put this nightmare behind them he could find a way to turn the tides.
Next to him, Sierra stirred, yawning and rubbing her eyes before she fixed a sleepy gaze on him. “Anything?”
He shook his head, his features pinched. “No, baby. Nothing yet.”
Sierra’s forehead creased as she fidgeted. “Why? Are they waiting for something?”
“A plan that works,” he answered.
“Call Crazy Kyle again and see if there’s anything new.”
“If there was, he probably would have called us.”
“I doubt it. Knowing Kyle, he’ll dig her out himself and then take her somewhere to try to convince her he loves her more than any of us and that’s why he saved her.”
The comment brought a weak chuckle from him as it didn’t hit far from the truth with his son. He sobered after a moment and leaned closer to his daughter. “Sierra, I think we need to talk about what happened earlier.”
“Daddy, I get it, okay? I was stupid when I got too close to the edge. I don’t need a lecture after I almost died. Lesson learned.”
He shook his head. “Not about that. About what happened with your mother.”
“What about it?”
Grant searched his mind for a way to say what he needed to say. He didn’t want to risk angering Lydia, and Sierra’s outburst had probably done that. He’d spent the hours she’d slept checking news outlets for any hint of the scandal Lydia threatened to unleash.
Nothing so far. But if Lydia had any inkling that Sierra really wanted her gone, he worried about how she may retaliate. “Maybe you were a little harsh.”
“Daddy! Are you joking?”
“No. I–“
“Daddy! Mom is a total bitch. And she’s ruining my life. Every chance she gets, she tells me how awful I am. My mental health is suffering.”
Her mental health would really suffer if the photos Julia’d seen got into the public.
“I know, but…”
“No. I don’t want any parts of her. And when we get home, she’s out.” Sierra tossed her thumb toward the window in her room.
He slid his gaze to the sheets on her mattress. He didn’t want to think about when they got home. If Julia wasn’t with them, the house would seem so empty, so cold.
On top of that, the situation with Lydia was already untenable, and without being able to vet ideas through Julia, he didn’t know what he’d do. He’d come to rely on her so much, he couldn’t fathom moving forward without her.
But he’d have to. For his daughter’s sake. He tried to firm his resolve, but his mind spiraled as he faced the loss of his wife, perhaps permanently.
As he pondered addressing the problem of tossing Lydia out of his house, footsteps pounded down the hall toward the room. He wondered what unlucky patient needed attention that quickly when a shadow hovered on the floor in Sierra’s room.
He snapped his gaze upward to find Kyle panting for breath in the doorway.
His heart dropped. “Is it Julia?”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah. She’s okay.”
He leapt to his feet, one hand still clutching Sierra’s. “They got her out?”
Kyle shook his head. “No. No, she…” His eyebrows shot up as he shook his head. “She found a way out and walked back to town. She’s in the emergency room now. She…passed out when she got to the police station, but as far as I could tell, she’s okay.”
“She passed out?” Grant’s mind whirled as worry consumed him. Not long ago she’d nearly died in a car accident, then she’d suffered from amnesia. The terrifying moments they’d lived through made him worry that something else would be wrong.
“Yeah, she just collapsed. She looked…exhausted. It could be dehydration, could just be from the physical toll of the stress coupled with walking back to town.”
“Well, what do the doctors here say?”
“I don’t know, as soon as they took her, I came up to tell you the news.”
“Daddy!” Sierra said as she squeezed his hand. “Go! Go and see how she is!”
He bobbed his head before he shook it. “Well, I don’t want to leave you.”
“I’m fine, Daddy. You need to check on Julia.”
He nodded again and took a step toward the door when Sierra tugged his hand back. “Wait, wait.”
His pounding heart thudded faster as he placed an arm on her shoulder. “What is it? Do you have pain? Are you sick?”
“Tell her…” She hesitated, a rare vulnerability flickering in her eyes. “Tell her I love her, and I can’t wait to see her.”
He nodded before he kissed her forehead and gave her hand another squeeze. “I will.”
He followed Kyle out of the room, his heart soaring with relief that she was out of that cave though a hint of worry still laced every breath he took. “So, she seemed okay?”
“She was walking, she seemed okay. Heart rate was a little elevated. Like I said, she just looked exhausted. But physically, she seemed fine.”
“Did she say anything?”
“Not before she passed out. And she was still unconscious when we got here, but all her vitals seemed okay.”
Grant nodded as he tried to process the information. Why had she passed out? “Is it normal for her to…be unconscious?”
“Sure. She could have passed out from just the general relief of being back.”
“Really?” he asked as they headed down a set of stairs.
“Yes. Her adrenaline probably kept her going through the entire ordeal. It pushed her to make sure she got back to the police station, and once she did, she just…ran out of steam.”
“That’s all, right? Just exhaustion.”
Kyle flicked his gaze to Grant. “I hope so. I’m not sure anyone can handle something else happening to Julia right now.”
He agreed wholeheartedly with the statement. He couldn’t take much more when it came to Julia. It was enough that he may have already lost her as a wife, but to lose her overall would be a devastating blow his family would never recover from.
They reached the emergency room, quiet compared to the ones they’d been in while in New Orleans. He scanned it for any signs of Julia, Alicia, Ethan, or anyone he recognized.
He didn’t see anyone. “Where is she?”
“I’m not sure. They took her as soon as we got here. I’m not sure where,” Kyle answered.
Grant flicked his eyes to the admission desk. “I’ll just ask where she is.”
Kyle followed him as he approached the scrub-clad woman sitting behind a monitor. “Hello. Uh, my wife was brought in a few minutes ago, but I’m not sure where they took her. Can you tell me what room she’s in?”
“I’d be happy to look that up for you. What is her name, sir?”
“Julia Harrington.” He spelled the last name for her, and she typed it into the system before she stared at the screen. “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t have a Julia Harrington here.”
His jaw clenched as she stared at him with a blank expression.
“No, she…they just brought her in. She was with my son and her sister. Could she not be in the system yet?”
“All the patients being treated in the emergency room have been registered.”
“Well, then she has to be in there. Can you check again?”
She tapped on her keyboard again before she glanced at the screen and shook her head. “Sorry, no Julia Harringtons here.”
“Stanton,” Grant said, tapping a finger against the counter. “Julia Stanton. Try that.”
She shifted in her seat before she tapped on the keyboard again. She flicked her gaze up to him with a slight smile. “I do have a Julia Stanton registered.”
Grant heaved a sigh, realizing her sister had likely given her information under her maiden name. “Perfect. Where is she?”
The woman tugged her lips back in wince. “I’m sorry, sir, I can only give that information out to family. Are you family?”
He stared at her blankly for a moment before his eyebrows pinched. “I’m her husband.”
“Uh, well, but Stanton is her maiden name, so…she wouldn’t have a husband.”
“Are you…” He fluttered his eyelashes at her as he glanced at Kyle.
What was going on? “Okay, there’s just been a mistake here.
Her sister probably registered her when she came in, and she did it under her maiden name.
But I assure you, she’s married.” He chuckled as he pointed a finger at himself.
“To me. And I just need to know where she is so I can see her.’
“Umm, well, it looks like there’s not a mistake. Julia is listed as single. I probably shouldn’t even be saying that to you because that’s confidential, but, umm, I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.”
Annoyance built in him, making his jaw clench as he reached into his pocket. He pulled his money clip out and peeled a one-hundred-dollar bill from it, sliding it over to the woman. “Okay, look, this is all just a mistake, but if you could tell me where my wife is, I’d really appreciate it.”
She stared down at the bill poking toward her before she lifted her eyes. “I’m really sorry, sir, but I can’t take a bribe.”
“It’s not…it’s not a bribe, just a thank you for helping me fix this tiny problem.”
She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “I really can’t.”
Kyle grabbed the bill and shook his head. “Hi, I’m Dr. Carter. I came in with her. Surely, I can see her, right? I was the physician that brought her in.”
“I’m so sorry, Dr. Cooper, but–”
“Carter,” he corrected.
“Right. I’m so sorry, but you don’t have any privileges at this hospital, so I can’t release that information to you.”
“This is ridiculous!” Grant shouted as he slammed his hands on the counter. “I will sue this entire hospital over this.”
“Sir, I’m going to need to ask you to calm down.”
“No, I will not calm down. This is ridiculous. You can’t do this.”
The woman rose from her seat, her face set. “Sir, you need to calm down or leave the hospital.”
“I’m not leaving until I see my wife.”
She snatched the receiver on the phone. “All right, I’m calling security.”
“There’s no need for that,” a familiar voice said from behind him.
He twisted to find Alicia sauntering toward them.
“Oh, Ally, thank you. This…person says he wants to see Julia. He says he’s her husband.”
Alicia held up her hand as she nodded. “Thanks, Marie. I’ve got it from here.”
“Thanks, Ally,” the woman said as she sank to her seat and rolled toward the counter again.
“Come with me,” Ally said as she motioned down the hall.
Grant sucked in a breath, trying to return his heart rate to normal. He ran a hand through his hair as he strode after her with Kyle in tow. “Thanks. I know she was doing her job, but that was extremely aggravating after everything that’s happened.”
Alicia strode into a waiting room where Ethan and Luke sat.
“If I didn’t know better, I would have thought you did that on purpose,” Grant said with a half-chuckle.
Alicia whipped around to face him, crossing her arms as she frowned at him. “I did.”
Heat washed over him as he furrowed his brow. “What?”
“I listed her as Julia Stanton because that’s who she is. Or at least that’s who she’s going to be going forward.”
“Well, that’s…crazy. I…I’m her husband.”
“Not for long,” Alicia said.
His heart pounded again, and he squeezed his hands into fists. “I want to see my wife.”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head.
His jaw clenched. “You can’t do this.”
“I just did.”
“What’s Julia say about this? Did she agree to this?”
“Julia is sedated, but once she’s awake, she’ll agree.”
“No, no, she won’t. She’s…we’re…”
“You’re what? Happy?” Alicia let out a harsh laugh. “Happy in your loveless marriage? Do you think she’ll be sad leaving it behind?”
“I’m pretty sure what you’re doing is illegal,” Kyle chimed in. “Not to mention insurance fraud, since Julia Stanton doesn’t exist.”
“What are you going to do, doc, call the cops?” Alicia challenged, staring him down.
Grant scrubbed his face. “Fine, this place isn’t that big. I’ll just look for her.”
Ethan and Luke rose from their seats as Alicia said, “I don’t think so. Go anywhere near her, and you’ll be in a jail cell cooling your heels for at least a night.”
“You’re going to arrest me for walking through the hospital?”
“I’m going to arrest you for disturbing patients in the hospital. Don’t push me, Grant. Your reign of terror with my sister is over. You’re not going anywhere near her ever again.”
He stood there in shock and disbelief. The antiseptic smell and distant sound of machines beeping created a cold, impersonal atmosphere that contrasted sharply with the storm of emotions raging within him.
He stared at Julia’s family and friends, a group of people determined to keep him from her. How could he fight them? Could he ever win her back?