Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 51744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Relief courses through me, but I’m in full-on mother mode and won’t be happy until I see Grady. And hug him. “Can I take him home? After we get the results?”
“We’d like to keep him overnight for observation. Any time a patient loses consciousness with a concussion, we like to be extra careful.” She smiles. “But that’s no reason to worry.”
We’re walking through the ER, whisking by the curtained-off areas.
“I’m his mother. I’m going to worry.”
Dr. Park smiles again. “I know.” She pulls back the curtain to reveal a hospital bed…and Grady.
I rush to his bedside. “Sweetheart, are you all right?” I hold back tears at the sight of the stitched-up gash marring his handsome face. He’s still my sweet boy.
“I’m okay, Mom,” he says, his voice slightly hoarse. “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby.” I take his hand and sit down on the edge of the gurney. “I’m not leaving your side.”
She frowns and glances down at our joined fingers. “I’m sorry. I know you hate the skateboard.”
I want to shake him for not listening to me, and now, after getting hurt, he tells me I was right all along. “For good reason.”
“You were very lucky,” Dr. Park says. “I’ve seen much nastier skateboard accidents.”
“Who hit you?” I demand. “I’ll sue the shit out of them.”
“It was an accident, Mom,” Grady says, yawning.
“We have the name and address of the young woman driving the car,” Dr. Park says. “She stopped immediately and helped Grady. She feels terrible, and the police cited her for reckless driving. But Grady admits he wasn’t watching where he was going.”
“Still—”
“She insisted on coming to the hospital and she stayed with him until your mother arrived,” Dr. Park continues.
The protective lioness in me wants to pummel her, but love and gratitude that my son is okay overrides it quickly. Accidents do happen, especially with reckless boys. And Grady is reckless. Testosterone and a fourteen-year-old boy can be a lethal combination.
“I’ll stay with him tonight,” I say.
“Mom…”
“Sorry, no negotiation.”
An orderly dressed in blue scrubs peeks in. “I’m here to move Grady to his room.”
“All right.” Dr. Park regards Grady sternly. “This is where we part ways. You listen to your doctors. And to your mother.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Grady says sleepily.
I hold tight to his hand as the orderly begins moving the hospital bed on wheels.
I’m never letting go.
28
CHANCE
* * *
“All right, Linda,” I say to Avery’s mother once Avery disappears around the corner in the ER. “Start talking. I found a file in my father’s office regarding someone named Grady Landon Marsh. Is that who’s back there?”
Linda’s aged since I saw her last. We all have. Fifteen years ’haven’t hurt her too much. She’s tanner than I remember. A few extra wrinkles and a few extra pounds. But she looks more worried than she did when she was reassuring Avery.
“This is something you’ll have to talk to Avery about, Chance,” she tells me.
“Avery’s not here,” I say. “And you owe me answers, Linda. I found the agreement between you and my father. I think it’s time you give me some of the truth. Starting with who Grady is.”
Her eyes, so like Avery’s, are sunken and sad. “If you found your father’s files, then you know who Grady is.”
“I didn’t look at that file,” I say. “I was too fucked up after looking at the contractual agreement you made with my father that separated me from Avery. He paid you off, Linda. He fucking paid you off. At your daughter’s expense. And mine.”
“I don’t expect you to understand.”
“I understand you took Avery away from me. God, I love her. I did then. I do now. I always have. I can’t believe you’d be that cruel to your own child. If you didn’t like me, fine, but Avery? Her heart’s so fucking pure. What’s worse, you did it by conspiring with my father. Why, Linda? Why would you do that?”
It’s hard not to raise my voice in the ER lobby.
“Really, Chance?” She sighs. “Are you so jaded by your riches that you have no idea why I might have made an agreement with your father?”
“I had money. I was eighteen, though barely. I could have gotten money for you. For Avery.”
I’m angry, but the truth is, I didn’t have any money. My father made sure he controlled all the money from the ranch. And once Avery was gone, I didn’t give a shit about the money anyway.
Linda must have been desperate.
Still, I’m angry.
“Who’s Grady, Linda?”
Linda shakes her head, running her hands over face. “You need to—”
“Talk to Avery. I know. Avery’s not here, and whoever Grady is, he’s important enough to make Avery—”
I stop mid-sentence.
Oh, God.
Linda finally straightens up and meets my gaze. “Grady is Avery’s son.”
I rise, pace, sit back down, rise and pace some more.
So Avery has a child. A son. We’ll deal with it. I’ll be a good stepfather, and she and I can have more children. Except…