Chapter Two
Chapter One
Evan
“I don’t need a nurse, John,” I tell my doctor and close friend.
“Yes, you do,” he grumbles, running his hand through his gray hair. He was two years younger than me, but he looked ten years older. However, apparently looks didn’t matter. I’ve got the physique of a man in his thirties, but I’m the one who had a heart attack.
“You are pushing yourself too hard and you set yourself back. If you’re not careful, you could have another heart attack. Unfortunately, your genetic makeup is what it is.” When he mentions my genetics, I think about the girls. At least they didn’t inherit that from me. That shit made my chest hurt.
He grips my shoulder, giving me a sympathetic squeeze. Only he and I were aware of the truth about my daughters. Of course, their bitch of a mother knows even if she didn’t bother to come clean about it. “We can only do so much here. You got lucky the first time, and you were already almost healed when you had a relapse. Just give the nurse a chance. Hey, like they say, the third time’s a charm.”
“I’m feeling great.” It’s not exactly the truth, but I can’t tell him that because he’s going to drive me nuts about getting help.
“Are you really?” His furry brows lift up. “I can see it in your face and in your gait. Your tests don’t lie either. We have a nurse ready to work with you. You only need to see her for a short time. If you can improve your situation before your next visit with me, I’d say you’re going to be okay.”
“That’s only what? Six weeks away?” I questioned, checking the calendar on my phone, the week of Thanksgiving. I’m scheduled to see him that Wednesday before the holiday.
“Exactly, Evan. You’re not in a terrible spot, you just need control and patience to regain your stamina without going over the edge. Remember that you’re retired now, so there’s no need to work too hard.” I consider what he says. John’s a smart guy and I’ve never been opposed to his advice. Although I should have listened to him when he told me not to marry Gloria even though she was pregnant. Big damn mistake.
“Learning to rebuild your stamina is key.” Yes, I’d needed to get stronger, both physically and emotionally. I think about what happened last week.
“What do you mean, the girls aren’t mine? How can you tell me that my children aren’t my daughters?”
“I’m sorry Evan. I know this is hard to hear after everything that you’ve been through.”
My chest hurt again, and things were looking down. After all these years, after everything that I’ve been through with their bitch of an ex-wife, used me. I knew we didn’t love each other, but I gave up my life for a family, thinking I was creating a future for the orchard. I put up with that woman so that I could have those girls. My heart aches knowing it was a lie. All this time and they’re not even my blood. Some other man created them, got away with not having to pay for their future. I wonder if the fucker knew and was laughing at me. “Evan, take a deep breath and calm down. You’re turning red.”
“Sorry John. I just need some air.” I stand up from his office chair and I don’t even make it to the door before I collapse.
An hour later, I’m sitting in the hospital bed with Noelle and Autumn by my side with tears in their beautiful eyes. “Daddy, you’re awake.” I stare at the little girls that I helped raise and care for their entire lives. They are sweet and good and now beautiful women. I look at their faces and I know that I’ll always love them, but I can’t tell them the truth.
“We talked to the doctor, and they believe that you need to take better care of yourself,” Noelle scolds me.
“I promise I will, girls.”
“I hope so; we don’t want to lose you.” Tears streamed down their cheeks as they hugged me. They are the sweetest things in the world.
Noelle sits back and says, “I’ve already called around and found a good place and they can even send someone to the house, so you don’t have to travel and risk getting hurt.
“Thank you, sweetheart. I’d like to speak to Uncle John alone.”
“Okay, girls?”
“Okay, Daddy. We will be right outside the door.” I nodded.
John says, “Actually, if you girls could get me a coffee with one cream and two sugars. It’s been a long day.”
“Sure, Uncle John. We’ll be back in a moment.”
“Thank you.”
“Tell me you didn’t tell them, did you?”
“No, I figured that wasn’t a discussion you needed to have right now. Besides, they thought you were here for your check-up and not the test results. I told them they weren’t in yet. It’s up to you if you divulge it.”
“Thank you.”
Dusting off my pants, I look at John and agree with his request. “Fine, I’ll meet with this nurse.”
“Good. I’ll set up an appointment with the service we use. I’m sure the girls will be happy to hear that you’re taking my advice. They love you so much.”
“Yes, they do.”
“Are you planning on telling them about the results?” This man will never let up.
“I told them they don’t carry the gene that makes them susceptible, but I didn’t say it’s because they aren’t my daughters. I need to speak to my ex-wife first. Unfortunately, she’s on her latest honeymoon.”
“She’s not with the asshole who she left you for?”
“No, that’s old news.” I waved my hand. Although I haven’t thought about my ex-wife, I know about her business because it saved me from paying alimony. Like a fool, she ran off, forgetting that she had a minor still at home, which meant child support. I didn’t need it, but I wanted the book thrown at her for hurting the girls. She broke their hearts when she ran out on them. What kind of mother abandons her daughters to be with a man?
“Well, it’s good that you’re okay with all that.”
“I wish I never met the woman, but as much as I do, I wouldn’t have Noelle and Autumn.” Some days there are mixed feelings about it, knowing what I do now, but I still wouldn’t change the past. My girls are my girls, regardless.
“I should get going before they worry.”
“Yeah, you better get to it.”
Autumn is waiting in the car for me because she’s insanely too worried about me going alone. After what happened last time I came to see John, or Dr. Phelps as everyone else knows him, she didn’t let up. Our drive back to the farmhouse isn’t more than ten minutes, but she insisted.
She even made me wait until she unlocked the door before I got out of the car. I rolled my eyes and then stepped out. She ran down the four steps and met me. How could I ever not love my girls?
“Excuse me, but you just had a damn heart attack. Don’t give us crap, Dad,” Autumn snaps with her hands on her hips, staring me down.
“Young lady. That language,” I reminded her while trying to get out of her reprimand. I loved my girls, and I knew they were stressed, but it was for nothing. They had no idea why I passed out the other day. Yes, I was still in recovery, and I shouldn’t have been stressed, but the news I received was devastating. It changed my blood pressure, sending it plummeting. It was back a moment later, but it still sent everyone into a tizzy.
“I’m sorry, but we’re worried about you.”
I cup her hands in mine, giving them a gentle squeeze. “Yes, and I’m still your father which means I’ll be worried about you until the day they put me in my grave, so when you go around with your heart aching because of a piece of crap, I’m not in the mood to sit down and take it.”
“Well, you will because I’m not upset over that shithead Carter. I’m just annoyed with this town’s need to gossip over their apple cider donuts and coffee.”
“Fine. Please don’t let some simpleton take your heart and stomp on it. It’s not worth it.”
“Dad, you’re only forty-eight. Mom was a…” She stops herself before she says another bad word. Although I have to agree when it comes to her mother. That woman played me like a fiddle and lied through her teeth. Our marriage was as fake as they came. She wanted what I had and then hated the life we built when it was too boring for her.
Now, I’ve tried my best to finish raising two amazing girls and I’m an old man with nothing but a worn heart and money with no one to spend it on. My girls refuse to leave me alone and I can’t blame them. I don’t want them to move out unless they choose it. Maybe it’s the trauma from their mother or the life we’ve lived, but we’re insanely close.
“So enough about the heavy. How about a healthy lunch?” Autumn asked.
“Ugh. There is nothing wrong with my heart. It was an accidental tear when I was working in the orchard.”
“Yeah, but until you’re healed, your heart needs some TLC,” she added.
“Don’t go chasing waterfalls,” Noelle comes into the house singing.
“Not that TLC,” Autumn sighs, shaking her head.
“Girls, I’m glad I taught you well.” They both start dancing around the room, singing like fools.
“Tomorrow, your nurse will be here soon, so we need you to behave.”
“Yes, yes. I know.” We eat a light lunch which tastes like shit because I’ve never been a salad guy and I’d rather starve than eat that shit, but it makes them happy. Afterward, I walk to the living room and sit down with my feet elevated and do my best to relax. It’s all they want me to do. I hope the damn nurse they send over doesn’t give me that bullshit routine of just pure rest. I’m a man who spent years working with my hands and body in my orchard. A thing I haven’t been able to do.
Selling it to save it was necessary because I was afraid I wouldn’t survive, and I didn’t trust anyone to manage it properly. My last manager ran off with my ex-wife, leaving me holding the bag. It took everything in my power to keep it all afloat and successful. We have one of the best orchards in the state, one of the ten best in the country, and I refused to let it die a painful death with me, so selling it was the best option.
After lunch, I tell the girls that I have some paperwork for the orchard to take care of, but in reality, there are some legal calls I have to make. One to their whore of a mother. The second the door to my office closes, I dial her number. We only spoke through the lawyers, except when she was pissed about not getting more money. She forgot that Autumn was a minor when she ran out. The judge didn’t take too kindly on that abandonment.
“Good afternoon, dear whore of an ex-wife.”
“Ugh, when are you going to get over that I left you for someone better?” she sighs, sounding annoyed with me.
It makes me laugh because my ex-wife thinks she has the upper hand, but she’s about to find out how wrong she is. “It’s not why you left that I’m calling you a whore. It’s the fact that my daughters aren’t mine.”
There’s a gasp on the other end, followed by a deafening silence. “That’s not true, Evan.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me, whoria. I wasted my good years on you so you could use me. I’m glad I never really loved you, but I’m going to make sure you pay. My lawyers are going to love the fact that you duped me into this for all these years.”
“What? No, you can’t do that.” I’d forgotten I was on the phone with the hag, but her screeching shook me out of that memory from last week.
“What to bet?” I challenged.
“What about the girls?” she asks, throwing in my weakness. They may not be my blood, but they are my daughters. For a moment, I hesitated. What about them? This will devastate them when they learn the truth.
“This isn’t about them. This is about you and your decades of betrayal and the bastard that helped you ruin my life. Who is the sperm donor? Because I’m their real father.”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Can’t or won’t.”
“Won’t.”
“So I know the bastard who stole my rights. You better pray our daughters don’t fall for any of his sons, because that’s going to be a fucking problem.”
“Damn it. Are they dating anyone?”
“I’m so glad you take an interest in our girls’ lives, but Autumn was dating Carter Ryder.”
“No. God. No.”
“Son of a bitch. They’re siblings?”
“No, but…shit.”
“Noelle? Are you telling me that those two don’t even have the same father, either? You fucking dirty ass slut. You couldn’t even sleep with the same father.”
“Does he know?”
“Y…No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“He does, but I promised I wouldn’t tell.”
“What’s in it for you?”
“He paid me a lot of money to keep quiet.”
“Well, I haven’t decided my course of action just yet. My lawyers will be in touch. As for now, you and I have nothing to say to each other again.” Gloria had been the biggest mistake of my life. Unfortunately, there are some things that can’t be undone. I ended the call and then exited my office, heading to my bedroom to rest.
I needed to tell my girls, especially after learning the truth about Noelle’s parentage. Damn it, Autumn had gotten too close to that boy. Did they? Oh God. Thankfully, they aren’t siblings, but I had to make sure my girls were aware. As much as I needed to shield them from the past, I needed to tell them, but I’m not sure how to break it to them after everything that’s happening with me.
The stress was getting to me.
****
“It looks like the rehabilitation nurse is here. And hot damn, Daddy. You should see her.” Autumn turns to me and says, “Well, I guess you will in a minute, but dang, she’s going to get your blood pressure up, and some other things.” Why the hell am I so nervous? It’s not as if this is going to be difficult. A bit of exercise and I’ll be running around like I’m young again. If it wasn’t for the girls to stop my daily activities, I might already be chopping wood and remodeling the property.
“Ew, that was gross, Autumn. He’s our dad,” Noelle snaps, slapping Autumn’s arm.
“Girls, please behave. This woman is here to work and not be harassed. Besides, after your mother, I’ve sworn off women.” I ignore their baser comments because they’ve been ready for me to date since their mother ran out on me. They hoped that if I got right back out there, I wouldn’t be so heartbroken. What they didn’t realize was I wasn’t heartbroken. I was pissed, and my ego and pride had been torn down. I’d given their mother everything a man can give to a woman who never had any intention of loving him.
Our marriage was one of convenience. What I hadn’t fathomed was how convenient it had truly been for her. She cheated from day one of our marriage. Noelle was supposedly conceived during our honeymoon, but it was clear she wasn’t. I can’t even begin to describe how insulting that is. I had to look these bastards in the eye, unaware that they fucked my wife. The more I thought about it, the more I hated all of them. I wanted to gut Ryder, but he would pay one day.
Noelle slapped her hand to her mouth. “You’re gay, dad?”
“No, you damn knucklehead. I just don’t need that damn headache.”
“It’s more like heartache.”
“Ouch, that’s not cool. The man just had a heart attack. Poor choice of words,” Autumn says. The doorbell rings a moment later and Noelle walks to answer it since I’m stuck in this stupid recliner. I’m told to behave, which is hard to do because I’m more than capable of walking. Although I do get winded quickly. I promised my girls I’d be here and I don’t want to leave them alone and abandon them like their mother did, so I’ll follow directions. Although the second my nurse steps through the foyer and into the living room, I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven.
“Dad, Autumn, this is nurse Jacqueline Frost.”
“Hello, I’m glad to meet you,” she says with her light brown eyes that shine brightly. Her cocoa-colored hair is wrapped up in a bun and my chest is pounding out of control.
I use my excuse to keep sitting because at this moment she’s created a reaction at me that hasn’t happened since well before that bitch of an ex-wife ran off.
“Mr. Sager, how are you feeling today?” I wonder if she can see the heated skin on my face, or the rapid pulse on my neck. This isn’t a good idea. Having her here would be a terrible idea.
“Wonderful, actually. We don’t actually need your services.”
“Now don’t start that nonsense. Dad, we talked about this already.”
“Mr. Sager, don’t begin this BS with me. Let’s get off on the right foot. I’m here to get you better and not tolerate your bullshit. I know you want to act tough and pretend nothing’s wrong, but obviously there is no you wouldn’t need me, and you wouldn’t happen in the hospital having suffered a heart attack and a setback months later. The area’s resources are limited. I’m here to assess you and bring in the rehab specialists like your Occupational and Physical Therapists. I’ll just come in and check on the progress to ensure that you’re following the assigned protocol.”
“That won’t do. I was told I’d have you as a nurse, and that was it. I don’t need all the extra. I’m just a little out of sorts, not completely disabled like others who are suffering. I told John it was unnecessary.”
“Are you going to be a big baby about this?” We stare each other down and she says, “I can manage your program. It’s not going to be detailed, anyway. Like you said, your needs aren’t as great as other patients.”
“Oh, hot damn, I like her.”
Yes, so do I, and that’s the problem. She’s gorgeous and tough; there’s just something about her as soon as she entered the room that made me captivated.
“Fine. I’ll behave, but you better have a great program to help me get on track. No more telling me I need to rest all the damn time. I have a genetic predisposition, and my heart skipped a damn beat. My arteries weren’t clogged. Other than that, I’m fit and healthy. So please don’t give me I’m too weak to get back on track. I’m not trying to take over the world. I’m just trying not to turn into a fat ass who watches TV all day and gets old and lazy with nothing to do so that I end up disabled forever.”
Her eyes widened, and she blew out a breath, sending a stray strand out of her face. “Well, I like that attitude, Mr. Sager. You’re going to need it for the weeks to come.”
“And enough with the Mr. Sager nonsense. Call me Evan.”
“Okay Evan, you’ll do what I say, and I’ll get you back on track to be running around and be a big pain in the ass to your daughters and your girlfriends.”
“Sorry young lady, I don’t have not even one girlfriend.”
“Young lady? Ha, those days are long gone. I’m twenty-eight. Anyway, shall we get started? I’m going to take your vitals and some measurements regarding your strengths. ” She gives a pointed look at the girls, who start smiling and giggling like the little children.
“I have a bunch of questions I need to ask and once I’m done with that, we can start a little bit of stretches for the first day and then I’ll be back tomorrow. How does it sound?”
“It sounds easy,” I scoff.
“We’ll see how easy it is by the time I’m done.” She smirks at me as if she knows some magic secrets that I don’t know. She asked her questions, which are all annoying yet basic questions. After she’s done though, I have to look away because I can’t reach over and kiss those beautiful lips. I’m grateful that her questions pissed me off enough to fight off the urge to taste them.
“Now it’s time to take your measurements. These will determine the strength that you have and the ability to move. Going forward, these will be the baseline and then we’ll determine how far we can work each and every day.”
One by one, we go through her tests. They seem pretty straightforward.
She nods and makes notes without giving me any comments. I wonder what she’s thinking because she isn’t saying anything. At points, she’s so close to me I can breathe in her scent and it’s captivating. It’s a mix of fruit shampoo and body wash and it intrigues me.
After the session is over, I bite my tongue and eat my words from earlier. The smirk on her face is as beautiful as she is. “If you weren’t so pretty, I’d be angry right now.”
“Well, if you weren’t so stubborn, you would have learned your lesson earlier. Now, are you going to listen to me?”
“Yes.”
“Last time, this is what set you back. The doctors told me that you ended up back in the hospital because you were overdoing it. We’re going to take each step day by day and I don’t want you to give me shit over it because I’m not going to be responsible for you killing yourself trying to prove that you’re tough. You had any aortic tear. It needs to heal properly before you can go all macho again. Do we understand each other?”
“I do, gorgeous.” I’m not sure what came over me today. Just this yesterday I was cursing out my ex and scorning the entire sex for their evil ways, and yet I find my beautiful nurse absolutely captivating.
“Good, now excuse me. I need to go home and write up my notes. Would it be okay if I saw you at the same time on Wednesday and Friday, or would a different time be better?”
“This time is perfect. ”