Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Mason
“ H ey, Dad,” Jess’s voice was soft and sweet as my eyes fluttered open. “You’ve been sleeping forever.”
A searing pain shot through my chest as the beeping of the monitor registered. What the hell happened to me? My mind couldn’t put it all together—though obviously whatever it was had landed my ass in the hospital.
“Dad?” Jess’s voice grew worried as I let out a groan.
“What the hell happened?” I muttered, my throat burning like I had swallowed buckets of sand. My eyes adjusted to the light, and I took in the sight of my daughter sitting beside me. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and honestly, she looked rough. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her mascara was smeared across her face—like she had been wiping tears away.
Ah, shit.
“You were shot… Do you not remember?” Jess’s brows fu rrowed with concern. “The doctor said your head was fine…”
“Yeah, my head doesn’t hurt, honey,” I reassured her, squeezing her hand. “There’s no worries about my head. I’m just a little fuzzy on my memory. I know it’ll come back. I remember everything else,” I added confidently just as the thought of Emma hit me.
Where is she?!
I whipped my head around, and Jess was startled by the quick motion. “Where is she?” I demanded, looking back at Jess. “Where is Emma?”
“I’m right here,” Emma’s voice caused my heart to nearly stop as I looked back to the doorway, where she was entering. She was wearing one of her olive colored maxi dresses with the little flowers, adorned with bracelets and some chunky necklace…
And I had never been more relieved to see here.
“Are you okay?” I choked out, taking her in. “How’s the baby?”
Emma’s eyes widened, her lips parting—but no words came out.
“Uh… baby?” Jess echoed, her voice full of confusion. “What baby? What’re you talking about?” Her eyes darted between the two of us, and I suddenly realized my mistake.
Jess had no idea.
“Um…” I shut my eyes, trying to conjure up the right way to say what I needed to. I mean, Jess already knew that I was seeing Emma—and she could probably put two and two together…
“Yeah, Mason and I are having a baby,” Emma spoke up for me. “And I’m sure your dad forgot that you didn’t know. He actually didn’t even know until the night of the gala. I hadn’t told him yet.” She walked across the room to her purse sitting in a chair, and fished out the ultrasound picture that I had seen. “Here.” She held it out to Jess.
“Wow,” Jess said as she took the picture from her and stared at the image. “That’s… This is a lot.”
“I know it is, and I’m so sorry that you found out this way.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay… I don’t even know how else I would’ve rather found out.” She started to laugh, her eyes bouncing between the two of us. “This is so incredible. Like… Wow. I’m finally going to be a sister.”
I exchanged a glance with Emma, surprised by my daughter’s strikingly positive reaction. “I’m… I’m glad that you’re good with it.”
“Uh, yeah!” Jess exclaimed, jumping out of her chair. “I have to go tell Dara. It’s going to blow her mind.”
Emma laughed softly, watching her run from the hospital room before turning to me. “She took that much better than I thought she would.”
“A hell of a lot better than I took it,” I grimaced, remorse creeping in. “And I don’t remember exactly what happened that night, but I owe you the biggest apology for the way that I acted. I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that—and I shouldn’t have walked away from you.”
She gave me a sympathetic smile. “No, honestly, I owe you an apology. I should’ve told you sooner, but I was so worried about the way you and I were going. I didn’t want you to choose to be with me because of the baby.”
My heart stuttered at the admission. “Emma…” my voice trailed off. “I… I’m in love with you. It just scared the shit out of me.”
Emma rushed toward the bed, grabbing my hand. “I love you, too,” she nearly whispered. I pulled her to me, bringing her lips to mine in a soft kiss. “I’m so sorry that this happened to you,” she murmured as we pulled away. “I just can’t believe what happened.”
“You shouldn’t be the one saying sorry,” I urged, shaking my head. “I should be the one saying sorry to you. If I would’ve been there…” my voice trailed off and I squeezed my eyes shut.
“You had no idea what was going to happen. We had no idea who we were messing with, and I don’t think there was any real way to know, either. He was determined to take everything he could from the town.” She shook her head, letting out a soft sigh. “But it’s over now. He’s going to spend a long time in prison for all the scheming.”
I nodded, wondering where the investigation was at. “And the missing cattle? Was he tied to that?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Emma answered. “I think you’d have to ask Jackson. No one has really told me much, but from what I’ve gathered, yeah, they’re trying to tie him to all of it.”
“Damn, I need to get back to work,” I chuckled, running my hands over my face. My chest and shoulder were aching, but I ignored the pain, focusing on the gratitude I had for just being there with Emma.
“Mason…” Emma began, her smile fading. “I… I actually have a question for you.”
My heart did a flip flop in my chest. “What is it?”
She took a deep breath and shifted in the chair, releasing my hand. “I’ve heard it mentioned a few times over the last day or so that you… You had a run-in with the Rangers… And that there was an accident…”
My stomach churned at the mention. “Yeah… Yeah, something happened a long time ago—right after my first wife le ft me.”
Her eyes left mine, falling to our intertwined fingers. “And what was it?”
I closed my eyes, knowing that she deserved to know, and that she needed to know—because of the lasting damage I had from it. “I… I was really upset after my ex-wife took off… And I got into an accident in my patrol car. I had been at the bar…”
“And you were drinking?”
“Well, yeah, but I hadn’t had too many. My blood alcohol level was below the legal limit—barely. It was a mistake. I was driving too fast and lost control. They brought in a couple of Rangers to investigate to avoid bias.”
“And?”
“And it was deemed an accident,” I said with a shrug. “I wasn’t drunk when I drove home that night. It floated around town that I was though. I suffered some pretty heavy head trauma from it, and now I get these real bad migraines. I’m on medicine for them, but sometimes they slip up on me.”
She gave me a reassuring smile. “Thanks for telling me.”
“Does it change anything?” I asked carefully, studying her face.
She shook her head. “No, that was years ago, and I believe you.”
“Thanks,” I chuckled. “Most people did, but there’s always those who like to talk—and there always will be.”
“Tell me about it,” Emma grunted. “It’s wild how many times I get asked about Graham—and what it was like to be kidnapped. It blew my mind that people actually had the nerve to walk up and ask me directly about it. It’s like no one even thought about the fact that I might not want to discuss it. ”
I shook my head, letting out a laugh. “That sounds about right for Millfield. You’re officially one of us now.”
“I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way,” Emma joined me in laughter. However, it faded quickly. “You know, Lucas’s ranch is still in bad shape… I heard from Drew that he’s fixing to sell off all his cattle to try and put off the foreclosure.”
“All this happened on the day I was out?” I exasperated, panic creeping into my chest. “You have to be kidding me. There’s no way…”
Emma frowned. “Lucas knew, but he was putting it off, I think. I don’t think he wanted everyone to know just how bad of shape he was in when it came to his finances.”
“Man…” My shoulders slumped defeat trickled in. “I don’t even know what to do.”
“Well…” Emma shifted in her chair. “About that…”
I looked up at Emma, seeing a hopeful look on her face. “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?” I squeezed her hand as she gave me a teasing expression.
“The entire town now knows about the state of the ranch,” Emma began, crossing one leg over the other. “And while I know that’s hard for Lucas, I think we could actually use that in our favor. I think that we should put on a big fundraiser. We could do an auction, bake sale, dance—or maybe all three intermixed. The community cares about the ranch. It was the start of this town. I think everyone would pitch in, and I think even if it didn’t pay off all his debt, it would help.”
I was surprised at the passion in her voice. “You really want to help with all this after all the trouble it’s put you through? You should be wanting to leave this town at this point—and I couldn’t even blame you for that.”
“Oh, Mason,” she said, drawing out a sigh. “I’m not going anywhere. Besides, we have a baby that we need to prepare for.”
“Yes, we do,” I couldn’t hide the excitement from my voice. “And I can’t wait to have a baby with you, Emma.”
“Really?” she sniffled, her eyes growing moist. “I was so worried that you didn’t want any more kids—and you wouldn’t be excited about it.”
“It was definitely a shock,” I chuckled, shrugging my shoulders and then groaning out at the pain that shot through my chest. “But I’m excited now,” I choked out through the pain.
“Are you all right?” Her eyes went wide as she reached for the nurse button. “I can call for Hannah.”
“Hannah?”
“The nurse,” she clarified as she punched the button. “She’s been really great. I like her.”
“Are you okay, Dad?” Jess appeared from the doorway, looking concerned. “Why are you hitting the button?” She looked at Emma.
“He’s just in some pain. I think it’s time for the morphine.”
“I don’t need morphine,” I argued, leaning forward as the pain shot right through the middle of my torso. “I don’t need anything.”
“You’re such a lug head,” Jess snapped, rushing to the bed and placing her hand on my shoulder. “Just tell us how bad it hurts.”
“Not that bad.”
“You look like you’re about to pass out,” Emma jumped to her feet, punching the button again.
“I’m not about to pass out,” I argued, shaking my head as I started seeing stars. The pain was nearly the worst I had ever felt—worse than the pain after the accident .
“Are you okay?” An unknown voice said, sounding distant. “What’s your pain level?”
“Nine,” I managed to grunt, before my vision went black.
“Oh my god,” Emma gasped. “What’s wrong with him, Hannah?”
“It’s just the pain,” Sarah, whose voice I hadn’t known, spoke up. “Let me get the morphine going again. He should be fine—he’ll probably take another nap,” she added with a laugh…
And I found nothing funny about it.
And then I went to sleep.