AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shook his head. “At first there was just so much to cope with, I honestly never considered it. Then once you moved in I thought that you were already so stressed that I might take Dylan away from you, that if you knew he was my son you would become even more anxious. I wanted you to settle down a bit before I told you.”
“I suppose that’s why you’re kicking me out now,” she said sarcastically.
Connor’s expression changed. “Tory—”
Her mobile rang.
“Leave it,” he ordered as she dropped onto her knees and rummaged in the side pocket of her laptop bag.
Prickling at the return of his high-handed tone, she said, “I can’t. It might be important.”
“Work, you mean.”
She forced herself to ignore the icily sarcastic jibe and squinted at the face of her cell phone. The number was unfamiliar. And so was the voice that introduced itself as Juliet after she’d said hello.
Listening in absolute silence and in growing guilt to what Juliet had to say, Victoria heard the silent screaming in her head. Please not this.
She terminated the call and raised her gaze to Connor’s bleak visage.
“My father has had a heart attack.”
Connor insisted on accompanying Victoria to the hospital after waking Moni to look after Dylan. It didn’t take him long to bundle a rigid Victoria into the Maserati and head for the hospital.
“I haven’t seen my father for three years—and I haven’t spoken to him in months.”
Connor shot a look to Victoria where she sat curled in the passenger seat, her hair tousled and wild against the leather seat back, her eyes dull and staring.
“The conversation ended badly the last time he called.”
Her voice was flat and lifeless—nothing like the decisive Victoria he knew. Guilt etched deeply into her pale, drawn features. Empathy for her overwhelmed him. And he wished he could absorb the pain she must be feeling. Coming on top of the crushing shock of Suzy’s death, the news of her father’s heart attack must be a heavy blow.
He nosed the car into the hospital’s underground car park and came around to help her out before putting a hand under her elbow and escorting her into the elevator.
Frank Sutton was still undergoing an emergency angioplasty to open the blocked coronary artery, they were advised by an efficient nurse who sent them to the visitor’s waiting room.
As they came through the double doors a woman with a round face and laugh lines leaped to her feet and directed a shaky, uncertain smile at them. “Victoria?”
Victoria moved forward. “Juliet?” At the older woman’s nod she said, “Thank you for calling me.”
“I tried your home number first, but a disconnect message gave me your cell number.” There was a hint of curiosity as Juliet’s gaze flickered from Victoria to Connor.
“This is Connor North.” Victoria linked her hand through his elbow as she introduced him. Drawing a deep, audible breath, she added in a rush, “My husband.”
She hadn’t found that easy to admit, Connor realized with grim humor.
“Oh, Frank didn’t mention…” Juliet’s voice trailed away.
“My father doesn’t know yet,” Victoria said brusquely. “Do you have any idea when I’ll be able to see him?”
“The nurses said it would be a while.” After an uncomfortable pause Juliet said, “Frank’s been talking about you a lot over the past few weeks.”
Tears welled up in Juliet’s eyes, and Connor read the discomfort in Victoria’s expression. She had no idea of Juliet’s role in her father’s life, he realized suddenly.
Stepping forward, he said, “There’s a coffee dispenser in the corner. What would you each like?”
Both women turned to him with expressions of identical relief. Thank God for coffee. It fixed everything.
“I’ll come over and make my own.” He should’ve known that Victoria would be her usual, independent self—even in a time of crisis.
“I’ll come, too. Oh, good, there’s hot chocolate.” Juliet rubbed her hands up and down her arms as though her skin was already too tight. “I don’t think I could face caffeine right now.”
So he was wrong—and coffee wasn’t always the answer. Especially where human relationships were involved. Connor could only hope that the outcome this time would be happier than it had been for Michael and Suzy. For Victoria’s sake, he offered up a desperate prayer for her father to make it safely through without any further complications.
It was three hours before they were allowed to see Frank Sutton. Although the angioplasty had been a success, Victoria was shocked at how much her father had aged since she’d last seen him.
