Page 7 of Rescuing Mary

Taking a deep breath, Mary gestured to the next customer in line.

An hour and a half later, Mary rushed into the hospital and ran up to the lady behind the reception area.

“I’m here for Kassie Caverly. She’s having a baby. Might have already had it. Can you tell me what room she’s in or where the waiting room is?”

The woman smiled, obviously having dealt with many panicked patrons over the years. “The waiting area for obstetrics is on the third floor. The elevator is behind you on the right.”

“Thank you!” Mary told her and hurried toward the elevator doors. She pushed the button and turned to glance at someone she saw out of the corner of her eye—and froze.

It was Ghost. She hadn’t been alone with him since it had come out that she’d married Truck.

She knew Ghost was pissed. Rayne had refused to marry him until she could walk down the aisle with Mary.

Ghost didn’t take his eyes from her. He didn’t look mad, not really, but his gaze on her was uncomfortable.

Because she felt uneasy, Mary did what she did best…brought out the snark. It was her defense mechanism, and how she’d been taught to deal with intense emotions. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she told him, and inwardly winced at the childish taunt.

But her words didn’t seem to faze the Delta Force soldier. He merely leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his broad chest and continued to stare at her.

Mary fidgeted and prayed the elevator would hurry the hell up. Of course, when it did arrive, she was going to have to get in the closed box with Ghost. That would be worse. She began to pray that someone else would arrive and get in the elevator with them. That way, he couldn’t say anything that would slice her to ribbons.

Not that she would blame him. It was her fault Raynie wouldn’t marry him. Well, that and the stupid pact they’d made while drunk one night. She’d tried to convince Rayne to marry Ghost, but she’d refused. Now it was a huge mess, and Mary was right in the middle of it.

The elevator dinged with its arrival and Mary bravely stepped in, Ghost right on her heels. The second the door shut, he spoke.

“How are you, Mary?”

“Fine.”

“No residual effects from the cancer?”

Mary didn’t understand why he was being so nice. She wished he would go ahead and lambast her and get it over with. “My fingers tingle, and some days I can’t really feel them, but otherwise, I feel okay.”

“Good.”

She waited for the other shoe to fall. When he didn’t say anything else, she took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Go on, say it already.”

“Say what?” Ghost asked, looking completely unruffled.

“Yell at me. Tell me I’m a bitch. Tell me that you’re pissed at me for hurting Raynie.”

“Believe it or not, I understand why you married Truck and didn’t tell anyone.”

Mary gaped at the larger man. “You do?”

He nodded but didn’t elaborate.

Hell, Mary hardly knew why she’d kept her marriage a secret. Well, part of it was that she simply hadn’t wanted to disappoint Rayne by not having that double wedding she had her heart set on. Another part was because she was afraid. Rayne had put her entire life on hold the first time Mary had fought the cancer. Had spent every moment she could helping Mary get through it. The guilt Mary felt that her friend had done so much for her was almost overwhelming. She couldn’t have put Rayne through that again.

But more than that, the last thing Mary had wanted was for Rayne to watch her die.

Mary had decided she wasn’t going to go through the treatments again. And without the chemo, the cancer would eventually kill her. And she hadn’t wanted her best friend to have to watch her fade away.

She’d kept the cancer from her best friend for Rayne’s sake.

Mary had made peace with her life and was ready to die, but then Truck stepped in. Kept on her and wouldn’t stop. He basically shamed her into fighting a second time. When he learned that she didn’t have the money for the treatments, he offered to marry her so she could be on his Army insurance.

Mary wanted to decline, but in the end had taken him up on his offer. She wasn’t an idiot, she’d known the man had feelings for her, but she’d pushed that to the back of her mind and put all her effort into the agony of going through the chemo and radiation treatments a second time…and keeping her best friend at arm’s length so she didn’t find out.