Come Back To Me (35 page)

James decided he’d talk to him about it tomorrow. He stalked to the door of his office and threw it open. His receptionist let out a startled shriek, nearly falling on top of him. James caught her and set her back on her feet.

“S-S-Sorry, Dr. Mackie, I wasn’t expecting you to open the door like that. I was just coming to knock.”

“Don’t worry, Marie. No harm done. Do you need something?”

“There’s another patient, a walk-in.”

James stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “I’m leaving for the day. Wayne can see him.”

“But he specifically asked for you. He said he has chest pain and he wants to see Dr. Mackie. He heard you’re a cardiologist.”

James snorted. The guy probably had a bad case of indigestion. He was about to tell Marie to let Wayne handle it anyway when he suddenly reconsidered. Why not? Why not practice what he’d trained for? Maybe diagnosing a good old-fashioned heart attack was exactly what he needed today.

“Did you put him in an exam room?”

“Uh, no. The gentleman says he wants to speak with you first, in your, uh, office.”

“Why? Put him in an exam room and let him know I’ll be right with him.”

“Um . . .” Marie hesitated. “He’s, uh, he’s kinda big.”

James couldn’t help but smile. “You get a name?”

“No, uh, he just says he has a broken heart and only you can fix it.”

James burst out laughing. “I’m sure he’s fine. Show him into my office then.”

James backtracked and bent over his desk to retrieve his stethoscope. Someone cleared his throat from the doorway. James cast a glance over his shoulder. Marie hadn’t exaggerated. The gentleman was quite tall, at least six-four and he was a good two hundred thirty, two hundred forty pounds. He was powerfully built. He looked like he was made of solid muscle. Like a linebacker. He was a good looking man even though his nose appeared to have been broken a time or two.

“I’m Dr. Mackie,” James said, extending his hand towards the gentleman. “What can I do for you?”

The big man came forward and shook his hand firmly. He shut the office door behind him. “I’m Jeremiah Mitchell,” he said, “and I’d like to talk to you.”

Christmas Day 1979

“T
hanks Mom, you are a life saver.”

“Ten days with my grandson is no hardship,” said Cara’s mother, as she took Jeremy’s little hand. “I wish you’d let me keep him more often. Phil and I love to have him visit.”

“I may take you up on that once I start pulling everything together,” Cara said. “Right now I’ve got a lot of research to do and this is the perfect time. Things are quiet and I’ll have the library and the art building all to myself.”

Her mother nudged her towards the door. “You better get going, sweetie. It looks like it may snow again.”

“Listen Mom, all his bottles are in the fridge. I stuck his cereal and his snacks in your pantry. His diapers, his snowsuit, his warm clothes and his stuffed animals are in his room and I put all his cars out on your sun porch. Oh, and his quilt is already in the crib. If you need anything call me, and I can bring it by. And I can pick him up early if he gets to be too much.”

Cara’s mother smiled at her. “I know it’s hard to leave him, but he’ll be fine. I promise I’ll call if we need anything.”

“Mom, I haven’t been separated from him for more than one night since he was born. It feels really strange already.”

“He’ll do fine and so will you. Now go, before you get stuck here.”

Cara lifted Jeremy into her arms and held him tight. She kissed his rosebud mouth and told him to be good for his grandma and grandpa.

He gave her a solemn look. “Mommy bye-bye?”

“Yes, baby, Mommy’s going bye-bye, but I’ll see you in a few days. I love you baby.”

Cara handed Jeremy to her mother. She threw on her jacket and ran to the car before she started crying in front of him. She wasn’t sure her apron strings could stretch for ten long days, but she had work to do and her mother had been kind enough to offer to watch Jeremy. Cara figured if she worked constantly she could get a significant portion of her research organized, and then she could pick him up early. The thought gave her a little comfort.

As Cara hit the Interstate, the snowfall grew heavier. She didn’t mind driving in snow as long as the visibility was still good. Besides, the gray skies and the drifting flakes matched her mood. She was feeling nostalgic and a little melancholy. It was almost like one of those nagging feelings she got when something was about to happen, something unexpected.

Cara shook it off. It was just that she was leaving Jeremy. That’s all it was. She tried to look on the bright side. She could get a tremendous amount done in ten days. Then she’d have more time for him.

∗    ∗    ∗

James waited in his pickup. He’d parked in front of Cara’s house. So far, he hadn’t seen any sign of her and the snowfall was heavy and he was getting cold. He hoped she hadn’t decided to stay on at her mother’s, but he wouldn’t blame her if she did. If she didn’t show up in another hour, he’d head over to Will’s apartment and crash with him.

He grinned when he remembered Will’s threat. “
You hurt her and I’ll break every bone in your body.
” James had laughed uproariously.

“What’s so funny?” Will had asked. “I’m dead serious.”

James had laughed even harder. “I heard something very similar just last week from someone a lot bigger and a lot tougher than you.”

“Who?”

“Oh, just a patient who came to me with chest pain.”

“Mack, you’re not making any sense.” James had sworn he could hear Will rolling his eyes over the phone. “Look, if you’re going to do this then get your ass down here. Cara’s spending Christmas with her mother and she’s leaving Jeremy there for ten days so she can get some research done. If you want to try to work things out with her, now is the time.”

“When will she be back in Iowa City?”

“She’s coming home Christmas Day.”

So James had begged Peter to take Christmas for him and he’d kissed the job in New York and Jennifer goodbye forever.

But he had no choice. Cara was the only woman he wanted. There was no substitute. She was the real thing.

Jeremiah Mitchell had laid it all out for him, the entire awful story. James had been floored. He’d had no idea.

Ever since the day he’d learned Cara was married, he’d avoided asking a single question about her. Even his friend, Will, hadn’t told him she had a child. He’d only told James she’d left her husband and returned to Iowa City.

But Jeremiah Mitchell knew the entire story. James had hung on the man’s every word. A lot of what he heard made him sick, but it also made him see Cara in a new light.

James spent hours kicking himself over the fact that none of them knew. None of them had been there for her. She’d had to figure out how to survive all on her own.

Mitchell hadn’t been able to disguise his admiration for Cara. He hadn’t even tried. The fact that the big man was willing to allow James to raise his son, that he encouraged him to do so, had James shaking his head in disbelief.

James tried and failed to feel any jealousy over the fact that the man had slept with Cara and fathered her child. Instead, James thanked him for helping Cara to stay alive.

Jesus, he’d wanted to hug the guy.

Mitchell had said, “If I thought there was a chance for me, if I thought I could keep her for myself, I would. I would move heaven and earth to take Cara and my son away with me. But I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?” James wanted to know. He’d really wanted to know.

Mitchell shot James a look so intense James took a few steps back

“I would never do that to her. She’d be staring over her shoulder every minute of every day. I want Cara to live a normal life. I want my son to live a normal life. Besides, here’s the kicker, she’ll never feel about me the way she feels about you.”

“But why would you want another man to raise your son?”

“Cara loves you. If a woman like Cara loves you, that’s good enough for me.”

James blurted out, “But you love her too.”

The big man shrugged. He stood up and walked to the door, then he’d turned and his smile was wicked. “Hey Doc, you fuck with her and I’ll break every bone in your body.” Just before he disappeared down the hallway, he said, “You know, it’s a strange thing. You look so much like Micah Welsh the two of you could be brothers.”

Jesus. He left James speechless.

And now here he was, sitting in an ice cold truck, praying the love of his life would drive around that damn corner.

James had no intention of fucking with Cara. James wanted her. Just like Jeremiah Mitchell, if there was a chance for him, James was willing to move heaven and earth to have her.

∗    ∗    ∗

The muffled sound of her tires on the snow covered street made Cara drowsy. The snow was really coming down. It was a good night for doing nothing. Maybe she’d cut herself some slack, forgo the work and instead curl up with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book.

When she came around the corner, she noticed a brown pickup parked in front of her house. That woke her up. For just an instant she hesitated, took her foot off the accelerator and the car slowed, almost to a stop. What if . . . ? What if someone had followed Jerry, and . . . ?

James stepped out of the truck.

Cara’s breath caught in her throat. It had been nearly three years since she’d seen him, yet her heart pounded out a fantastical rhythm and her knees felt weak. He hadn’t changed at all. He was still the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. Cara’s hands shook so bad she didn’t trust herself to pull into the driveway, so she parked right behind his pickup. She turned off the headlights and the ignition and sat there, not entirely certain she could get out of the car.

But James was waiting for her.

Cara waited until her heart stopped its flutter. At last she opened the driver’s door and climbed out. She approached James with slow, cautious steps.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Cara,” James said, his breath frosting the air about his head. The familiar warmth of his voice brought tears to her eyes.

“Are you here to tell me, to tell me you’re marrying Jennifer?”

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

James took a step towards her. “I’m here to say I’m sorry, to tell you that I’ve been a fool. I don’t want to marry Jennifer. I don’t love Jennifer. I love you. I’ve always loved you and I always will. I’m here to beg you to take me back.” He extended his hand. “Will you take me back?”

Cara stood in silence for a moment, watching the snowflakes drift in the space between them. At last she took his hand, grasping it in both of hers. She raised his hand to her cheek and held it there, closing her eyes, savoring the feel of his rough palm against her skin.

She opened her eyes and looked into his, challenging him. “Maybe,” she said. She saw James raise an eyebrow. “I have a son. We’re a package deal.”

“I know,” said James. “Jeremy.”

“I’m not the same person I was three years ago, James.”

∗    ∗    ∗

“Neither am I.”

Cara laughed. The sound was sweet music to his ears. It had been far too long since he’d heard that musical laugh.

James stepped a foot closer to Cara. He raised his other hand to trace the delicate line of her jaw. He brushed his thumb over her lips. They felt soft and full, exactly as he remembered them.

“I want you,” he said at last. “I want to be a father to your son. I want to be in your life and I want you in mine. Every part of me wants you. Even my bones ache with wanting you.”

“Your bones ache, huh?” Cara laughed again. “Then why are you standing there? Come here and kiss me.”

James closed the distance in a heartbeat. One of his arms slid beneath Cara’s jacket to wrap around her waist, the other he twined in her curls as he gathered her close. His lips touched hers.

“Yes,” Cara murmured against his mouth. “Yes, James. Come back to me.”

–The End–

To my dear readers:

Thank you so much for buying and reading
Come Back To Me.
The book has a long, interesting history. It’s
come back to me
twice now, once when my first publisher closed an imprint and a second time at my request. I longed for the opportunity to make Cara’s story a little more concise, which is not so easy when one is writing a story that spans ten years.

As you can probably tell, Cara is very dear to me. She and I have a great deal in common. I remember one reviewer asking this question—
How can so many bad things happen to one person
? Well, here’s the short answer, they did. To be frank, Cara’s life was even worse than portrayed in the book. In any case, I changed the details to protect both the innocent and the guilty alike, but the bones of the story are true. If you’ve read my earlier work,
Anytime Darlin’,
you know I touched on some of these issues.

About the Author

J. R. Barrett has lived many lives, but the one central theme of each is her writing. She’s written prose and poetry since she was a child. Her grandmother was a playwright, an uncle a noted journalist, another uncle wrote college textbooks, and her father acted as an advisor to the Iowa Supreme Court. She’s had articles published in various medical and nursing magazines and poetry published in various literary journals.