Chapter Ten #3
Unbidden, tears fell from her eyes. That wasn’t like her to be so emotionally charged to the point of crying. Anger, passion, sure, but never grief like this, and over something she wasn’t even aware of. She’d need a nap later; that would help.
Paige looked up, set her purse down on the counter, and ran into Aurelie’s arms.
“So you already know,” she whispered into the crook of Aurelie’s neck, tears falling on Aurelie’s bare shoulder.
Aurelie pulled back but didn’t release her friend. Genuine confusion washed over her, drying her tears.
“Know what?” she asked.
Paige’s furtive glance at her husband only served to cause the panic building in Aurelie’s chest to flood her system. Owen’s eyes were lined with the same moisture, an altogether unnerving sight.
“About Jackie,” Paige said, as a feral keen as wild and raw as anything Aurelie had ever heard reverberated against the walls in the kitchen.
Oh, God, Aurelie prayed. Not their friend. No.
She had just started to get to know Sophie’s best friend in the past year, since she’d married Brad’s best friend, Steve. Jackie was the life of the party and the love of Steve’s life. The idea that something could have happened to her caused Aurelie’s stomach to roll, her chest to seize.
“What about her?” Aurelie asked, her voice quivering along with the rest of her body. She could barely hold on to Paige, her hands trembled with such ferocity.
“I think we should all sit,” Owen said. The commanding nature of his words, his tone, was yet another reminder of his military service. The room obeyed, Aurelie included. Only Paige stopped on her way to the couch to retrieve her daughter from Jace, who also handed her a mug of steaming coffee.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “This is a cute setup you’ve got here,” she added, a tight smile gracing her lips for a fraction of a second before more tears fell. She pressed Maddie to her chest, heaving.
Jace smiled back, nodded, but remained otherwise silent.
Good God, what had happened?
Aurelie wanted to know, and didn’t at the same time. Everything would be different after hearing the news. Jace, and her feelings for him, slipped to the back of Aurelie’s mind.
When they were all seated, Owen took the lead. Paige nuzzled her daughter, and Brad just held Sophie while she sobbed, a look of agony settling in his eyes.
“We got a call from Steve this morning,” Owen began, his voice strained.
He swallowed hard and cleared his throat before continuing.
“Um, Jackie was hit by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the interstate between here and Bozeman and is on life support.” Sophie cried out as if she’d been slapped.
Aurelie let out a chest full of air she didn’t realize she’d been holding in. It was bad. Devastating.
“Will she—”
“They don’t think she’ll make it if she doesn’t get surgery right away. We went to see Steve on our way home. It’s why we’re so late.”
“Oh, God,” Aurelie whispered. Poor Steve. They’d been so in love and full of hope, and now their whole future was at risk. He must be reeling. “She’s in surgery now?”
“She isn’t. There’s a complication.”
“What can I do to help? Do Paige and I need to talk to her surgeon?”
Aurelie did better with a mission, with something driving her forward.
This was no exception. She’d throw herself into helping Steve and Jackie like she’d thrown herself into saving Banberry.
Before she’d gotten so tired, that was. God, why did she feel a yawn coming on, even now with all the adrenaline coursing through her system?
There was the look again. A knowing glance passed between the two couples that said we know something you don’t know.
It was that little piece of the puzzle, the missing bit of information that explained the fear etched in the lines of their eyes that belied more than simple grief. The game changer.
Aurelie saw it in patients all the time.
“Tell me,” Aurelie demanded, crossing her arms in a feeble attempt to steel herself.
Jace’s hand landed on her leg, and for the first time since they’d met, nothing happened. She had no reaction. Good. Her priorities were back in sync with what was good for her.
When he rubbed circles on her skin, though, a flood of heat turned into moisture at the apex of her thighs. Crap.
“She’s pregnant,” Paige said. Her voice was as light as a soft ocean breeze, but the words crashed against Aurelie with the force of a hurricane. “They didn’t tell us about her, um, situation until now because they wanted her to be safely in the third trimester after her last loss.”
Aurelie’s heart beat wildly against her chest. The news landed like an anvil in her stomach, full of meaning.
Yes, Jackie had lost a baby at the end of her second trimester, and it had been soul-crushing.
But to hide this behind—now that Aurelie recalled the last six months—baggy sweats and winter sweaters was irresponsible.
Especially now. Because everyone in that room, save Jace, knew what this meant.
“Is the baby—” Jace began. Against her better judgment, Aurelie loved him for asking. It was part of why he was so damn irresistible. Jace seemed to be an unflinching optimist. In a different life, he could be good for her. In a life where he wanted what she did.
“The baby is okay, and they think she can be safely delivered in a week or two.”
“Good. So they’ll both be able to heal together,” Jace said. For a man who didn’t want kids or a spouse, he was sure attentive to a family’s needs. Any family but Steve’s that was.
This time, Aurelie was included in the telling glances, the stares that set Jace apart from the group of friends that knew the couple.
“What?” Jace asked when no one answered his question. Realization dawned on his features. “No. No, you can’t be serious. She wouldn’t, would she? Give up her life for a baby that will have to grow up without her?”
Instead of sharing glances, everyone’s eyes fell to the floor. Only Aurelie met Jace’s gaze, the answer written on her face.
“Of course she would refuse surgery, Jace. She’s wanted this forever. Haven’t you ever wanted anything so badly you’d risk everything to get it?”
Her pulse raced with the look he shot her. It was a potent blend of lust and something more, something she dared not examine too closely. Her cheeks burned, and her stomach flipped over itself, making her feel uneasy.
“You can’t let her do this,” Jace said, a determination in his voice Aurelie had never heard. “If you love this woman and her husband, you have to talk her out of killing herself to save an infant that isn’t even alive yet.”
The anger that wafted off of Jace didn’t surprise Aurelie, not really. His mom had died in childbirth, leaving him to be raised by a single father. Given Jace’s emotional response, it must’ve been a horrible upbringing. He’d only ever been the picture of calm, of strength, until now.
This was a different man who stood, paced the length of the living room, running his hands through his hair as if doing so might give some clarity to the situation.
A storm raged in his eyes, turning them a deeper blue than they’d been minutes earlier.
He was a hurricane instead of a safe harbor, and the shift frightened her.
No matter his own history, he didn’t get a say in this. She got up and took his hand.
“This isn’t about your opinion of what Jackie should do, Jace. You know absolutely nothing about her or why she’s made her choice. She’s not your mother.”
“If she’s made her choice, what did her husband have to say about it? Was he supportive of her decision to die, to let a baby kill his wife? Because he’ll be the one left behind to pick up the pieces when she’s six feet under.”
Sophie gasped, then let out a sob.
“That wasn’t called for, man,” Brad said, his voice even, but firm.
“So none of you agree? Would you all stand aside and let your wives wither away in front of you? So you could be left with a fragment of her that looks so much like her you can’t help but blame the kid who didn’t have a choice in the matter for killing his mom?
Because that doesn’t seem called for, either. ”
Aurelie stood there, stunned. His anger was so palpable, so dramatic a shift, that it rocked her to her core. No wonder he didn’t want a wife or a child. He couldn’t handle anything awful happening to them.
This new knowledge did exactly what it was supposed to: It reminded her of the fragility of what they’d signed on for. Her marriage wasn’t real, and therefore, neither were her feelings for her fake husband. They were built on a lie.
“Is this about Hank’s wife? She was your mom, then?” Brad asked. “The one who died the year Hank bought the ranch? I guess I never put that together. I’m so sorry, Jace. Hank never mentioned her.”
“Let’s just say I know what it feels like to be blamed for something as simple as being born. I didn’t have a choice in the matter, and no one ever let me forget the sacrifice that made it possible for me to be here. I wouldn’t wish that kind of pressure on any child.”
Aurelie’s heart ached for Jace. She wanted to reach out, hold him, help him through whatever hurt he was reliving, but ring on her finger or not, it wasn’t her place.
And besides, she needed to be there for her friends.
Jackie’s diagnosis was sure to throw everyone off of their schedules for some time.
If she could be there to help—while she was still a Banberry resident anyway—she would be.
In between helping at the clinic and court issues, that was.
“I understand your reasoning, Jace, and your, um, passion is honorable, but the fact of the matter is, this is between Steve and Jackie. I think as friends to them both, we need to figure out how we support them while honoring their decision. They’re gonna need us to be on the same team,” Owen said, his presence a beacon of calm in the rough seas they all navigated.