LITMIR.BIZ

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minutes they were at her apartment building. By that time, Maddy was seriously worried. Chloe seemed listless and her fever had shot up.

      Before Kaleb could pull into the complex, she leaned forward to touch his shoulder. “I hate to ask you this, but would you mind driving us to the hospital?”

      Roxy twisted around in her seat, took one look at Chloe and let out a soft cry. “I’ve never seen her this bad before.”

      “No. Me either.” In fact, Maddy’s heart was pounding in her chest and she was feeling a queasiness of her own.

      In the rearview mirror, Kaleb’s eyes met hers. Then he said, “Hold on tight.”

      * * *

      He’d wanted to stay with them during the examination, but couldn’t bring himself to. The Chloe who had arrived at the hospital had been nothing like the Chloe who had been clutching his hand on the observation deck. Dread pumped through his system along with a feeling of déjà vu.

      This isn’t Grace. Maddy told you herself that Chloe suffers from periodic migraines.

      The look of fear on Roxy’s face had said it all, though. This was no ordinary migraine.

      He sat behind his desk and opened a drawer. Grace’s picture was buried in the bottommost recesses beneath paperwork and medical periodicals. He dug deep, his fingers probing as if knowing exactly where he’d find her.

      There.

      Closing around the simple metal frame, they pulled out the picture of his two-year-old daughter. Brown pigtails and a bright blue-eyed smile met his gaze. She looked like Janice in so many ways. An ache settled deep in his chest. What if what was wrong with Chloe was more than a simple migraine?

      Could he go through what had happened with Grace a second time? It was one of the reasons he’d sequestered himself in the office by himself. Trying to drum up the nerve to go out there and support Maddy, who must be frantic by now.

      What if he made things worse? What if his past came out at the worst possible moment and made Maddy needlessly fear for her daughter’s life? What if his reactions and facial expressions did that every single time she showed the faintest twinge or pain or suffered from the flu?

      What if his fear of losing Chloe turned Maddy into a neurotic mess? He’d already seen how his questions had sowed seeds of doubt in her mind. Would it do the same to Chloe? Force her to live in fear, instead of enjoying her childhood?

      Could he do that to her? To Maddy?

      Could he do that to himself?

      Those questions held him captive in his chair. Even when Roxy had knocked on the door and peeked her head in, asking him to come out and see Chloe, he’d sat there, so afraid of making things worse for everyone. She must have seen the answer in his face, because when she’d opened her mouth to say something else, she’d snapped it shut again.

      She’d left without a word and hadn’t returned.

      What the hell was happening down there?

      He hadn’t heard from anyone in over an hour.

      Pick up the phone and call her, you jerk.

      He toyed with the corner of Grace’s photo frame, hoping against hope he would wake up and find out that the last several hours had just been a dream, the return of those nightmares where Grace’s face had been replaced by Chloe’s. Only this was very real. And Grace was still gone.

      And Chloe?

      Hell. He picked up the phone and called the nurses’ station in the pediatric wing. Someone answered, but he didn’t recognize the woman’s name. When she asked if she could help him, he somehow grunted out his name and that he was calling about Chloe Grimes.

      The silence on the other end of the line was deafening.

      He stood to his feet, fingers fisting around the phone. “Hello?”

      Her voice finally came back. “I’m sorry. I was just checking something. I have a note here to let you know that Dr. Kline is still with her. Chloe has a migraine compounded by a stomach virus. She’s getting some IV fluids, but she should be fine in a few days.”

      The wave of relief that went over him made him collapse back into his chair, even as the nurse’s voice continued. “Would you like me to get Dr. Grimes? I’m sure she wouldn’t mind stepping out—”

      “No, thank you. I’ll speak with her another time.” The churning in his gut told him he was in no shape to talk to Maddy or anyone right now.

      He pushed the end button on his cell phone. Then, looking at Grace’s picture one last time, he lifted the paperwork in the bottom drawer and gently laid it back in its resting place. He had his answer, and he knew what he was going to do. Chloe was perfectly fine. This had just been an ordinary migraine. But he knew that his reaction today would be the same every single time something happened. He would blow things way out of proportion and fear the worst. And doing that would help no one. Not him. Not Maddy. And certainly not Chloe, who deserved to grow up in a secure household, free from a neurotic mess of a man. A man who couldn’t seem to shake his demons no matter how hard he tried.

      Finally talking his legs into getting up from his chair, he slowly walked out of his office and headed for the nearest exit.

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

      HER MOM’S COAXING had finally worked. Maddy was back in Gamble Point. She and Chloe.

      Maddy needed time to heal. To think about where she’d been and where she wanted to go. So far, though, nothing had clicked into place.

      Chloe tugged at her hand as they stood in the kitchen. “When are we going home? I miss Aunt Roxy, and Kaleb hasn’t called me. Not even once.”

      Maddy gritted her teeth, but somehow managed to force out a cheerful answer. “I know, honey. But I’m sure Dr. McBride is busy.”

      So far he’d been “busy” every time Chloe had asked about him over the last two weeks. It had been a lie, but one she’d been forced to repeat time and time again. In reality, she had no idea if he was busy or not. In fact, she had no idea where Kaleb even was, and she didn’t care.

      Her mom was thrilled to have them back. Only the house she’d grown up in didn’t feel very much like home anymore. She hadn’t made a definitive move yet, as far as making any kind of decisions, and she wasn’t quite sure what she was waiting on.

      A miracle?

      Well, that ship had already sailed.

      Kaleb had rejected Chloe in her hour of need and, in doing so, he’d rejected her too. She’d warned herself time and time again that she was allowing Kaleb to get too close, and was letting her daughter get too attached. And yet she’d allowed things to continue, going as far as to let the man stay in her house—while her daughter was in the other room.

      How could she have been so very stupid?

      He’d called the nurses’ station to check on Chloe, yes. At least according to the woman who’d been manning the main desk. But when asked if he wanted to speak to her, Kaleb had said no.

      No!

      Although the attending pediatrician had suspected meningitis at first, Chloe’s headache had been nothing more than one of her migraines combined with a stomach virus. But what if it had been something more serious? Kaleb hadn’t been able to bring himself to travel two floors to the pediatric wing to check on her.

      She was sorry his daughter had died. Sorry that he blamed himself for what had happened. Lord only knew that she was still dealing with the aftereffects of Matthew’s suicide. But she was finally ready to move forward, and she’d hoped that Kaleb was too.

      But if she’d needed to know how he would respond in an emergency, she had her answer. He would

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