Chapter 17
Mac drove faster than he should have, eager to get to the clinic in time so he wouldn’t miss the weekly appointment.
He’d wanted to pick up Maddie at home and drive her there, but she’d insisted on driving herself.
His mother-in-law, Francine, would be at the house with Hailey and baby Mac while Thomas was at school.
Three kids five and under was too much for Maddie, even when she wasn’t carrying twins, but this pregnancy was kicking her ass. Not that she’d ever say so.
They’d been arguing lately about hiring help.
She wanted to wait until the twins arrived.
He wanted help now, as his busiest time of year began, giving him much less time to spend at home helping her.
Between the construction company that went full tilt all summer while they had good weather and the marina he ran with his father and their partner, Luke Harris, Mac had way too much on his plate.
And his plate was about to get that much heavier when the twins arrived in September.
Sometimes he would swear that he could actually feel his blood pressure rising.
His chest ached almost all the time, and his jaw was killing him from clenching his teeth while he slept.
Something had to give, for sure, and it wouldn’t be his wife and kids.
They would always come first with him. Hiring Julia would help.
Hiring a nanny would also help, and they were going to talk about that after this appointment.
In the meantime, thank God for his parents, Francine and Ned, all of whom pitched in to help out whenever they were needed. Mac’s parents wanted to travel now that they were semiretired, and he didn’t want to be the cause of them staying on the island when they wanted to go see the world.
He also planned to have a talk with Luke about taking on more at the marina to free Mac up to focus on the construction business in the summer.
He’d been juggling too many balls for a couple of years now, and he was getting tired.
As he was soon to be the father of five children, he needed to get his shit together so he could be there for them rather than running himself ragged trying to be all things to all people.
His jaw was throbbing by the time he got to the clinic, which meant he was grinding his teeth again. He tried to remember not to do that, but he had so much to remember that he forgot not to clench.
After parking, he jogged into the clinic and stopped short at the sight of his gorgeous wife being supported by Victoria and another woman he didn’t recognize.
For a brief second, Mac’s heart stopped when he wondered what could be wrong.
He drove himself mad thinking of the many ways her delivery could turn into yet another disaster.
The possibility of anything happening to her or their babies was more than he could handle.
His chest started to seriously hurt, and his jaw… Wow, that hurt, too. He took a step forward, and then he was falling, hitting the floor hard, but he didn’t feel anything other than the searing pain in his chest.
Maddie…
She needed him. He had to get up and go to her.
Then he was surrounded by people, and in the background, he could hear Maddie screaming his name. Was she crying?
He hated when she cried. She knew that. Why were they holding him down?
Where were they taking him? He needed to get to her.
Something was wrong with her, not him. The ceiling above him flew by.
David was there. Mac used to hate him for cheating on Janey, but he saved Hailey’s life and Janey’s. They owed David so much.
“Mac. You need to calm down.” David’s shouted words permeated the fog in Mac’s brain.
“Maddie.”
“She’s fine.”
“Mac, I’m here.” She was crying. That wouldn’t do.
He tried to sit up.
Stronger hands pushed him back down. “I don’t want to restrain you, but I will if you don’t relax,” David said. “Let us figure out what’s going on.”
“His BP is sky-high,” Victoria reported.
Where had she come from? She’d been with Maddie. The babies. Something was wrong. He knew it. He had to get to her.
A pinprick in his hand and then… nothing.
“What’s wrong with him?” Maddie was trying not to get hysterical, but when your perfectly healthy husband collapses right in front of you when you’re six months pregnant with twins, staying calm was easier said than done.
David had a stethoscope pressed to Mac’s chest, which was now covered with patches attached to wires.
Was he having a heart attack?
Dear God, please. It couldn’t be that.
“Has he ever had any sort of heart issues before?” David asked Maddie.
“No, nothing.” And then she recalled when they first met.
He’d come home to Gansett after a health incident in Miami where he’d had a high-pressure job in the construction industry.
“There was one thing.” She frantically tried to recall the details.
“I think it was an anxiety attack. He ended up in the ER because they thought it was a heart attack. Could that be what happened?”
“I like that a whole lot better than a heart attack,” David said, “but we’ll need to do a complete workup before we can say for certain what happened.”
“He’ll be okay, though, right?” She simply couldn’t fathom what she would ever do without the man who’d stormed into her life and made himself essential to her and her son.
“We’ll know more after we get some labs back. Try not to worry.”
“Maddie,” Vic said. “Let’s get you off your feet.”
Her ankles had swollen to the point that she feared they might explode at any moment.
Victoria settled her in a chair next to Mac’s bed, raised her feet onto another chair with a pillow under them and then put another pillow behind Maddie’s aching back.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Try not to worry. He was in the right place when this happened.”
Maddie took hold of his hand, noting the roughness that came from hard work. “He’s got to be okay. He just has to be.”
“Can I call someone to come sit with you?”
Maddie thought about that. She had so many people she could and should call, but she asked for only one person. “Call his dad for me, will you?”
“Of course.”
Big Mac would know what to do for Mac, and having him there would calm Maddie as well.
Watching over her normally unstoppable husband, seeing him so still and attached to beeping machines, Maddie experienced a wave of fear unlike anything she’d ever known, even when they’d lost their unborn son, Connor.
That had been the worst loss of her life.
But if she lost Mac, she’d never survive it.
The first day of work was busy for Deacon.
He had a half day of training with one of the Gansett Island Police Department officers, who walked him through the system for filing reports and other department policy.
None of it was all that different from what he’d seen before, so he absorbed the information quickly and was able to get out on the water right after lunch.
It was a relief to be on the boat after a morning in a stuffy conference room dealing with administrative bullshit.
That was always the part of the job he’d hated the most and knew many other officers felt the same way.
He liked to be out on the street—or on the water—doing the actual job, not dealing with the paperwork that was a necessary evil.
He wore the uniform of the Gansett Island Police Department, carried a badge and weapon as well as handcuffs and had all the rights and privileges other members of the department enjoyed. But he got to do the best job, if you asked him.
He’d met the other young men and women who would be working with him on harbor patrol this summer, most of them college students on summer break, and had exchanged contact info with them.
All morning throughout the training and now that he was on the boat, his thoughts kept returning to Julia, to the day they’d spent together, the sexy kisses they’d shared and her delight in the puppy.
He wanted to know how her interview went and whether she’d gotten the job.
Sure, he could text her to check in, but he was afraid of being too much too soon for her.
He didn’t want to overwhelm her, but keeping his distance from her would take effort.
She was just so damned sweet and sexy and wounded.
That last part had touched him more than anything.
He wanted to fix everything for her, right all the wrongs and make her whole again.
Which was utter insanity and played right into the hero-complex bullshit that Blaine liked to spew at him.
Deacon Taylor didn’t do commitment or serious relationships or anything that smacked of love or forever.
But the second he laid eyes on Julia, first at the clinic and then at the wedding, all bets had been off where she was concerned.
He’d been drawn to her like the proverbial moth to a flame, as much by the wounded look in her eyes as her beautiful face and sexy body.
And when he’d heard that her ex had stolen money from her, he’d burned with the desire to get retribution and restitution for her.
That reminded him he’d missed a call during his training.
As he directed the boat around the island toward New Harbor, he checked his voicemail and found a message from Lieutenant Webb.
“This is Lieutenant Carl Webb calling from the Plano Police Department in Texas. We’ve arrested the subject and brought him in for questioning.
Of course he insists it was all a big misunderstanding.
We’ve given him forty-eight hours to reimburse Ms. Lawry, or he’ll be charged with fraud.
She should be seeing an electronic transfer of funds, and we’d appreciate a heads-up when the money arrives.
Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.
We’re taking a closer look at him and other questionable activities that may lead to charges.
I’ll look forward to hearing that the money has arrived. ”