Their Second Chance Love. Kat Brookes

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СКАЧАТЬ Longing.

      “Logan,” she said, the urgent plea pulling him from his troubled thoughts. “Please tell me.”

      He heaved a heavy sigh. “The doctor stopped by to look in on your daddy about thirty minutes or so ago. He told us that the tests they’d run so far have confirmed that Jack suffered a stroke.”

      “A stroke?” Hope gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. She shook her head in denial, sending long, coppery curls bouncing over her slender shoulders. “That can’t be. He’s not old enough. He doesn’t even smoke,” she went on as denial took hold.

      He nodded. “I know. They’re still running a few more tests, but the doctor’s pretty confident Jack’s high blood pressure contributed to his having the stroke.”

      Confusion filled her green eyes. “But Daddy doesn’t have high blood pressure.”

      He frowned, knowing that Jack had probably kept that information to himself to keep Hope from worrying over him.

      Understanding dawned in her eyes as she took in his reaction to her words. “He does,” she said, the words a mere whisper.

      Logan nodded. “Yes.”

      “And you knew about it?” she said, more a statement than an actual question.

      “Jack made mention of it a while back,” he admitted.

      “And you didn’t think to call and let me know he was having health issues?”

      “I didn’t have your contact information,” he said soberly. “The only reason I was able to reach you today was because I got your number from Jack’s cell phone to make the call.”

      “Oh,” she said, guilt lacing her tone. Her gaze dropped to the front of his shirt. “I’m sorry. None of this is your fault. I shouldn’t have snapped at you that way.”

      “Don’t apologize,” he told her. “You’re upset. It’s understandable. We just have to keep in mind that this isn’t about us.”

      “Agreed.”

      “Our focus needs to be on getting Jack back on his feet.”

      Her chin snapped up, her tear-filled eyes searching his. “So he really is gonna be all right?”

      “He got to the hospital in time to put the odds back in his favor,” he explained, repeating the doctor’s earlier words.

      “Thanks to you.”

      “Thanks to the Lord,” he muttered. God had put him in the right place at the right time. “They need to get your daddy back on his medication, make adjustments as necessary to get his blood pressure under control. Once that’s done, he should be his old self.”

      “Back on?”

      “Apparently, Jack decided to stop taking his blood pressure medication about four months or so ago because he’d been feeling so well.”

      “Oh, Daddy,” she groaned.

      “There’s a good possibility he’s gonna require physical therapy of some sort, because he’s experiencing some muscle weakness on one side, mostly with his arm. Barring any unforeseen issues, he should make a near, if not complete, recovery.”

      More tears sprung to her eyes. “I should get in there,” she said, her gaze drifting to the double doors leading into ICU.

      “I’ll walk you back,” he said as he reached for the handle of her suitcase. “Jack’s in the first room on the left.” If one could call the small, glass-enclosed cubicle where patients could be monitored visually as well as with machines a room.

      “Is he conscious?” she asked fearfully.

      “Yes,” he answered with a nod as the ICU doors swung open. “However, he was sleeping when I stepped out here to return a few work calls.”

      “Did you tell him I was on my way?” she asked as they entered the intensive care unit.

      “He doesn’t know that you’re aware he’s in here,” he said evenly. “He didn’t wanna cause you any worry.”

      “I’m glad you called,” she said. “Not that Daddy will be, I’m sure. The man’s too proud for his own good.”

      Logan gave a shrug. “I did what needed done. He’ll get over it.” Jack had never been a man to hold grudges.

      Hope stopped just outside the cubicle, staring at her daddy through the floor-to-ceiling wall of windows. “He looks so helpless. He’s never been helpless,” she said, biting at her bottom lip.

      Logan stepped up beside her, his gaze focused on the man beyond the glass. “Don’t worry. You know Jack’s got more grit in him than most men I know. You’ve just gotta trust in the Lord to watch over him.”

      “Where was the Lord when Daddy had his stroke?”

      She sounded so bitter. Not at all like the Hope that he used to know. But the woman he’d thought he’d once known was little more than a stranger to him now. She’d seen to that.

      “He was there,” he assured her. “I know it’s hard to see your daddy all hooked up to wires and tubes, but you’ve gotta stay strong for his sake,” he told her, resisting the urge to reach for her hand as he would have done back when they were a couple. Back when he was a naive teenage boy who thought he knew what true love was.

      He watched as she shored up her slender shoulders. No doubt gathering the emotional courage to step into the room, into the reality of the situation she found herself in.

      Logan followed, wheeling her suitcase up against the glass wall by the entrance where he stood waiting, giving Hope a moment of privacy as she moved to stand beside Jack’s hospital bed.

      Reaching for Jack’s limp hand, Hope covered it with her own. “Oh, Daddy,” she said as her worried gaze took in the medical equipment that surrounded the head of his hospital bed. Leaning over the bed rail, she said softly, “Daddy, it’s Hope. Can you hear me?”

      He stirred, his lashes lifting slightly as he peered up at his only child. “Baby girl?” he said, his thick brows furrowing in confusion.

      She managed a bright smile, as she settled into the chair next to the bed rail. “You gave me a scare.”

      “What are you doing here?” he asked in surprise.

      “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

      “But how did you know I was...” His words trailed off as his tired gaze shifted to where Logan stood waiting. One lone salt-and-pepper brow lifted. “You called her?”

      He nodded. Not that he’d wanted to. “She had a right to know.”

      “Not one for sticking to the plan, I see,” Jack grumbled.

      “No, sir,” Logan replied with a shake of his head as he stepped closer. “Not when it means keeping something this serious from СКАЧАТЬ