Sweet Trouble (21 page)

Coming to the Emergency Room was vastly different when a loved one lay in a bed, hooked up to IV’s and noisy machines. Sage looked around the hospital room. After this she swore she’d always be extra sympathetic with her patients.

She leaned against the wall beside Theo’s bed, trying to coax air into her lungs. The nurse dressed the wound with a temporary bandage. The injury was deep but not life-threatening, the doctor told her. Theo would need surgery and be in the hospital for a few days, and then he could go home. Even with the doctor’s comforting words she could not tamp down her panic.

Theo frowned at her. “Don’t faint on me, Sage. Only one of us can be a patient.”

The nurse finished with the bandage and pulled the blanket up. She glanced at Sage and smiled. Sage knew her from the rotations she’d done in the ER.

“I know just how you feel,” the nurse said. “When my husband or kids get hurt I always get sick to my stomach.”

Sage didn’t want to say anything. Any minute she’d start crying.

The nurse pulled a chair beside the bed and addressed Sage. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Sounds good,” Theo said. “A beer would be nice. Anything. So long as it’s not light.”

The woman shook her head. “You’re scheduled for surgery, Mr. Brooks. You can’t have beer. You can’t even have water.”

Theo shrugged. “Then give my beer to her.”

Sage sat down on the chair and took Theo’s hand. The nurse left them. He slipped his hand from hers and stroked her head.

“It’s going to be okay, baby,” he said.

There was a knock at the door and she looked up.

A man stood in the doorway and nodded politely. He extended his hand. “Luke Caldwell. You must be Sage.”

She shook his hand. “I am. Thank you for coming so quickly.”

He stepped passed her and shook Theo’s hand. “How you doing, faker?”

Theo snorted. “Shit. I can’t believe I let that little bastard put a knife in me.”

“Both men are in the county hospital. You’re lucky. Pretty sure they were high as kites. Sounds like they’d robbed two people at another convenience store last night. Trying to get money for drugs.”

“I’m just glad they didn’t hurt my girl.”

Luke glanced at her, studying her for a moment. “You really want to marry this man? He’s pretty cantankerous.”

“I do,” Sage said. “It’s not how I imagined getting married, but Theo’s who I always imagined marrying.”

Luke nodded and turned back to Theo. “That’s nice. I’m honored you called me.”

The nurse stepped into the room. “They’re coming for Mr. Brooks in a few minutes.”

Luke smiled at her. “Yes, ma’am.”

“All right, let’s get this show on the road,” Theo said, holding his hand out to Sage. “C’mere.”

She took his hand and stepped close to the bed. Luke took out a small book from his pocket. Behind her came the sound of whispers and people shushing each other. She looked around to find the doorway filled with a group of nurses.

An orderly waited with them. He cocked an eyebrow and pointed at his watch.

“Okay,” she said. “This will take just a few moments.”

The judge cleared his throat and Sage turned back to Theo. He held her gaze and everything else slipped from her awareness: the beeping of machines, the voices of the hospital staff, even the judge’s words were no more than an indistinct murmuring. She stared into the soft depths of his eyes. The judge set his hand on her shoulder, pulling her out of her reverie.

“This is the part where you say, ‘I do’.”

“I do,” she said.

Theo tugged her down. “And this is the part where you kiss me.”

She leaned down to kiss him.

He pulled her close and held her. “We’re going to be good together, Sage.”

“I know, Theo.”

The orderly spoke. “And this is the part where I take Mr. Brooks up to surgery.”

The room started to empty. First the nurses drifted off. Then Luke said his good-bye’s, promising to come back in a day or so to visit Theo and to take care of the marriage license. The orderly pushed Theo’s bed out of the door. Sage wanted to follow, but the man explained she needed to go to the surgical waiting room.

“It’s going to be thirty minutes of surgery. An hour tops,” he said as he pushed the bed into the hallway.

She stood in the middle of the room, uncertain what to do. Go to the waiting room and just sit? Call someone? Get coffee? Her purse sat in the corner on a chair. One side was scuffed, the leather and stitching tattered from where it skidded under the car. The events of the morning seemed like a lifetime ago. She looped the strap over her shoulder and walked out of the room.

She saw a familiar form at the ER patient window, and heard the woman say, “I need to give him his phone, that’s all. He was asking for it. I promise I’m not staying.”

Why was she here in the ER? She touched Olivia on the shoulder and hugged her.

“Just ask Sage,” Olivia said to the admissions clerk. “I’m mostly here to see her. She’ll vouch for me.”

The woman leaned back and gave Sage an inquisitive look.

“I know her,” Sage said.

Olivia wore tight jeans and a plunging teal sweater. Her hair was softly curled and hung to her waist.

“You look nice,” Sage said.

“I heard Theo got hurt and is having surgery. I wanted to come sit with you but I need to drop this off first.” She held up a cell phone.

Sage was speechless. Olivia, offering to sit with her while Theo was in surgery? She didn’t do things like that. It was always the other way around, Sage taking care of Olivia.

“Thank you. I could use some company. Whose phone is that?”

“It belongs to Trey.”

A wave of apprehension came over Sage. She bit her lip. “Trey’s here?”

“Can you believe that? He’s not feeling too good. He forgot his phone at our house yesterday. Thought I’d return it to him. Want to come say hi?”

“N-no, not really.”

“Oh c’mon. I just know he’d love to see you. Poor guy. I almost feel bad, girl. You can’t believe how beat up he is.”

Olivia’s expression contradicted her words. Despite her sentiments of sympathy, Olivia’s eyes shone with glee.

“He got beat up?”

Olivia’s smile widened. “Awful isn’t it?”

She pulled Sage into a room two doors down. Trey reclined on a bed, his lips swollen and split, and a purple goose egg on his forehead. His arm lay in a sling and the fingers were puffy and bluish. When he saw Olivia, he jerked to a seated position, holding out a hand as if to fend her off.

“Oh hell no!” he yelped. He tried to grab the nurse call button with his good hand, but Olivia got there first and snatched it.

“Looking for this?” she asked sweetly before tossing the call button over her shoulder. The cord smacked against the wall, five feet away from Trey’s bed. “Listen, I brought you your phone and not because I’m being nice.”

“I’ll scream if you don’t get out,” he hissed, scooting to the far side of the bed.

Sage watched in astonishment. She’d never seen Trey afraid of anyone. He blinked and made small cries of terror. His swollen lips were pulled back in a panicked grimace.

“I even charged it for you too, Trey. Wanna know why? I’ll tell you. So you can watch the video I took of you pulling Ashley through the apartment by her fucking hair. I wanted you to have a fully charged phone so you can watch it a few times. I think the DA might have a question or two.”

Trey’s eyes darted to Sage. He pointed at Olivia, his finger shaking. “She did this to me. This bitch did this to me.”

Olivia swatted his finger away. “She don’t have time to talk to you, Trey. Her man needs her. He got hurt
defending
her.”

Trey’s jaw dropped and he stared at Sage. “Your
step-brother
?”

“None of your business.” Olivia whirled around, drawing Sage out of the room, her high heels clicking on the linoleum.

“She did this to me,” Trey yelled. “With a bat. She’s a
monster
.”

“You have no idea,” Olivia called over her shoulder. She lowered her voice. “
Monster
… please.”

Sage’s mind spun, trying to reconcile the image of Trey lying in hospital bed, covered in bruises and scrapes. “
You
did that to him?”

“Is it my fault he fell?”

“Those injuries are from a fall?”

Olivia flicked her hair off her shoulder. “He fell, yes… right into my baseball bat. I can’t be held responsible for another person’s clumsiness.”

Sage walked beside Olivia, hardly paying attention to where they were going. She was vaguely aware of Olivia leading her to the elevator. They got off at the third floor and Olivia took her to the waiting room.

“Let’s sit in the corner, you and me. I’ll keep you company till Theo gets out.”

“Thank you,” Sage murmured.

“Good thing I got here when I did. You don’t look good at all. After Theo gets out I’m going to take you for lunch and take you back to his house. I don’t think you should be driving.”

“You hit Trey with a bat?”

Olivia leaned back in the couch and crossed her legs. “I did. Poor Ashley. Her eye was still swollen shut from the last time he punched her. Something just snapped inside me and I went after him.”

“Wow, Olivia. That’s sort of awesome.”

“She just takes it from him. I’ve never actually heard a man beat on a woman. When I heard her crying and begging and all that I lost it.”

“Damn,” Sage said. “You go.”

“You want to know the funny thing?”

Sage considered the question for a moment because she wasn’t sure where Olivia was going. “Okay tell me.”

“I never even played sports before.”

Sage smiled. “Guess you made up for lost time.”

They lapsed into silence. The room was empty and Sage welcomed the quiet. She felt her body slowly calm and relax. She sank into the couch and Olivia tugged her down, so her head rested on her lap.

“Ashley would be here if she could, but you know she looks like hell,” Olivia said, stroking Sage’s head. “I swear that girl’s dumber than a doornail.”

Sage closed her eyes and drew a deep, trembling breath. She dozed, stirring every so often when nurses called over the intercom. The next thing she knew, Olivia was patting her back. She sat up with a groan.

A doctor stood in the doorway of the waiting room, smiling. “Are you Sage?”

“His surgeon is hot,” Olivia whispered. She held out an unwrapped piece of gum. “Here take this. It’ll help with dragon breath.”

The surgeon sat down. “The surgery couldn’t have gone better. We were able to confirm he had no internal bleeding.”

Her eyes stung. They prickled with tears. Olivia wrapped her arms around her. The doctor patted her on the shoulder and gave her his business card before leaving.

“Let me take you to eat something. You won’t be able to talk to him for a few hours anyway. Besides, I want to tell you all about my new job.”

“You got a new job?”

Her eyes softened. “Girl, you’re never going to believe it.”

“Try me.”

“My grandpa said he’d lend me money to start my own business, and I got to thinking what sort of business I like.” Olivia set her hand on Sage’s arm. “Girl, I bought out the owners of the Cabaret.”

One Year Later

The breeze blew across the turquoise waters and three sailboats bobbed in the waves. A lush Hawaiian sunset spread across the horizon, hues of pink and red. Theo waited at a pavilion at the water’s edge. Dressed in a tux, he stood beside his father and a half-dozen friends. Most of them, even his father, were fellow ex-Marines.

The Honorable Judge Luke Caldwell had agreed to come to Hawaii and marry them again. As an Air Force Academy graduate, he’d been the subject of plenty of friendly teasing from the Marine contingency.

“You’re looking a lot better than the last time we did this,” Luke commented. “Nice to see you in a tux instead of a hospital gown.”

His long-time friend, Jack Marshall, was eyeing him with a look of bemusement. He tilted his head towards the guests seated in chairs. “Nice crowd,” he drawled.

Theo sighed. If he’d expected some ribbing from Jack, he hadn’t expected it just moments before he was going to retake his vows. “Twenty four adults, two babies.”

Jack grinned. One of the babies was his son, Travis, now six months old. A year and a half ago, Theo had hacked into the hospital’s security cameras to help Jack in his pursuit of Savannah. There was basically nothing the two ex-Marines would not do for each other.

“Never really pictured you doing something like this,” Jack said.

“It was Sage’s idea.”

“That so?” Jack said feigning shock.

The notes of a violin floated in the air. The guests turned to look behind them. Emma, Sage’s friend in nursing school and now an RN, was the first bride’s maid. She moved slowly and gracefully down the flower-lined pathway.

“Last year I chose what we did for Valentine’s Day. I told her this year we’d do what she wanted. She told me she wanted to see me in a tux on the beach in Hawaii.”

Jack smiled. “And that turned into a wedding?”

“Somewhere along the way.”

The next bride’s maid came down the path followed a moment later by Olivia, who smiled and wiped tears from her eyes. Ashley had been invited too, but she was married now and expecting her first child any day.

When Sage appeared, escorted by her mother, Theo felt his breath stall in his lungs. Her hair hung down past her shoulders. She wore a white, strapless dress and was barefooted. They walked down the pathway. When they reached the front row of seats her mother kissed her on the cheek and told her Sage she loved her, then sat down next to Theo’s father.

Theo took Sage’s hands in his. He wanted to kiss her, to tell her how pretty she was and how lucky he felt, but there would be time for that later, when they were alone.

Luke welcomed the guests and said a few words about the beautiful setting before beginning the ceremony. Sage’s hand shook in Theo’s grasp as they said the vows. He rubbed his thumb over the top of each hand and smiled at her.

They exchanged rings, simple wedding bands, and finally Theo leaned down to kiss her. It was a sweet kiss, chaste and gentle. Later, when they were alone, he’d give her the wedding kiss he wanted to give her.

The photographer lifted his camera to take a picture. Theo held up his hand. “Hold up a second. We’re missing someone important here.”

Savannah stood behind the last row of chairs, holding three month old Nate Brooks. Like Theo and Sage, Jack and Savannah were also step-brother and step-sister, one more reason why the ex-Marines were so close, and so committed to each other. Theo motioned to Savannah to bring his boy forward for pictures.

“He was so good,” Savannah said. “Didn’t say a peep the whole time. Just watched everything. And Travis napped. We should come back next year so they can run and play on the beach.”

“We could come back next year for Valentine’s Day,” Sage offered. Her eyes sparked with pleasure and she gazed at him, waiting for a reply.

Theo gave her a sultry look. “Next year it’s my turn to pick what we do.”

She gave a small breathless laugh and pushed his shoulder. “Theo…”

Theo took his son from Savannah and held him while the photographer snapped several pictures of the Brooks family. Nate rested his head on Theo’s shoulder. It was the tell-tale sign that it wouldn’t be long before he’d be napping too. He loved that feeling, when his son fell asleep in his arms. Loved seeing his face as he slept. Theo pulled Sage closer. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest.

“This is it.” He spoke softly so only Savannah could hear.

She looked up at him. “What’s that?”

“Everything I need. Right here in my arms. I’m never letting go.”

THE END

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And lastly… a bonus book from
Sasha Gold
writing as
Alix West
,
Bounty Hunter Proposal
.

From the cover

Mail order bride Isabelle Holt arrives in Colter Canyon to find her new husband on his death bed. His passing leaves her a vast ranch and two small boys. Well-meaning folk tell her to put the boys in an orphanage, but she refuses and vows to raise the boys herself.

When someone sets fire to her barn, friends Violet and Savannah (from
Coming for the Cowboy
) fear Isabelle’s life is in danger. The two women convince her to take another husband. And they have the perfect man in mind, legendary bounty hunter Matthias Hudson.

Known by all and feared by most, Matthias Hudson is the perfect name to mention when you need to get someone’s attention, or to send ill-intentioned suitors on their way. And best of all, he hasn’t been to Colter Canyon in years. All Isabelle needs to do is sign the marriage proxy…right below
Matthias Hudson’s forged signature
.

Matthias Hudson comes to Colter Canyon to deliver an outlaw to the sheriff. To his surprise, folks want to congratulate him, not for collaring a criminal, but for his marriage. Somewhere in Colter Canyon a woman is posing as his wife and when Matthias finds her, he aims to show her she’s tangled with the wrong man.