Red River Deep by Carolyn Brown

Author:Carolyn Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2021-11-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Tracey leaned on her car and waited for the kids that afternoon. She scolded herself for not lighting into Austin for telling everyone that they were engaged. He just looked so pitiful lying there that she couldn’t bring herself to start an argument. She was so engrossed in her own thoughts that the bell startled her. Jackson and Emily led the pack of little kids dashing out to the playground or to their waiting parents. They reached Tracey at the same time and clung to her in fierce hugs.

“Is my daddy alive?” Jackson asked.

“He didn’t die, did he?” Emily’s chin quivered.

“Your daddy is going to be fine. The doctor took out his appendix, and we will take him home tomorrow,” she assured them.

“Can we go see him right now?” Emily asked.

“Yes, we can”—Tracey opened the car door—“and then after we visit him for a little while, we could go get some chicken strips and mashed potatoes at KFC for supper. Does that sound good?”

“Yes!” they said in unison and got into the back seat.

She was glad that Jackson and Emily kept each other entertained as she drove less than a mile back to the hospital. But when they arrived and stepped into the elevator, the first argument began.

“Which button, Mom?” Jackson said.

“I always get to push the button,” Emily told him.

“So do I.” Jackson folded his arms over his chest.

Emily narrowed her eyes at Jackson. “He was my daddy before he was your daddy, so I get to push the button.”

“I just didn’t know he was my daddy,” Jackson argued.

Tracey hit the button for his floor. “He was my boyfriend before he was daddy to either of you, so there.”

Boyfriend in the past. Fiancée today. Molly’s voice in her head sounded so real that Tracey glanced over her shoulder. Ever think that he told the nurse that so you could stay in the emergency room with him?

“I heard my teacher say to the helper that you and Daddy were ’gaged. What does ’gaged mean?” Emily asked when elevator doors opened.

“It means you’ll have to ask your daddy.”

***

Austin felt better now that he had had Jell-O and broth. He had walked to the bathroom on his own, and the nurse had helped him put on the loose-fitting pajamas and T-shirt his mother and father had brought him. He had checked the time on his phone a dozen times, but finally he could hear the voices of his kids coming down the hall toward his room. When they came through the door, they stopped dead in their tracks.

Tracey left them there, crossed the room, and sat down in the chair beside his bed. “Give them a moment and let them get comfortable with all this. Jackson has never been in a hospital before,” she whispered.

“Daddy, you need to shave.” Emily took a couple of steps toward the bed.

“Are you still sick?” Jackson asked, but hung back. “Mom makes me stay in bed when I’m sick.”

“I haven’t felt like shaving, but I will when I get home tomorrow,” Austin said.

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