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“Good luck.” Carolina brushed a kiss on her mother’s cheek.
“She should be done in about thirty minutes.” The orderly pushed Mamá through the swinging doors.
“We’ll be waiting.” But her mother was already gone. Carolina touched the door.
They watched through the window as Mamá was wheeled into the next room. A large machine dominated the space.
Sage put his arm around Carolina’s shoulders and pulled her into his chest. “Stay positive.”
She leaned into his strength. “Thank you for being here.”
“You’re welcome.” He brushed a kiss on her head.
“It’s not a cure.” The words were like broken glass ripping through her chest. “It’s only to make her comfortable.”
“But it might stop her seizures. She could go home.” He squeezed her shoulders. “You’ve got to have hope.”
Hope. She clung to the word. She wanted both Mamá and Sage to be healthy. But her mother would need a miracle. And if Sage got healthy, she wouldn’t see him as often. She shivered. When had she become so dependent on his strength?
Sage held her tighter. “Are you cold?”
“No.” She wasn’t cold. She was afraid.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SAGE BRUSHED A kiss on Carolina’s cheek and slipped out of her bed, trying not to wake her. It was early, but he’d never broken the ranch habit of rising with the roosters.
Carolina had been quiet yesterday. He hadn’t been able to break through the sorrow that had settled over her during her mother’s radiation treatment. She may have smiled at the customers while she’d worked, but she’d never shaken her shroud of sadness.
Instead of making love last night, he’d held her. She’d clung to him like he was her lifeline. Was it wrong to feel good that she needed him?
After finishing in the bathroom, he headed to the kitchen to make coffee. And stopped halfway across the room. He hadn’t grabbed the wall to stop the vertigo.
For the first time in six weeks, he wasn’t dizzy. His breath picked up. Was he healing? Could he get back to his job?
He glanced at Carolina’s shopping list pinned to a corkboard. The words swam but came into focus. Almost.
He couldn’t wait to tell Carolina. This was fantastic. He imagined her breaking into a grin and jumping into his arms. He’d be able to catch her without worrying they’d tumble.
He wanted to run straight to the doctor, but ten minutes wasn’t enough time to be sure everything was back in working order. And Carolina needed him.
Digging in the fridge, he found bacon, eggs and cheese. A search through the cupboards didn’t reveal any bread, so he went with scrambled eggs.
He rolled his shoulders. Glory be, it didn’t make his head ache.
“You’re up early,” Carolina mumbled.
“Habit. Sit. You still look exhausted.” He poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her along with the milk.
“Thanks. Yesterday was hard.”
He flipped the bacon sizzling in the pan, then cracked eggs into a bowl. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He’d asked her the same question yesterday but she hadn’t said anything.
“It hit me.” Carolina closed her eyes.
“What?” He was trying to keep his voice neutral. Let her talk instead of hammering the issues out of her.
“That what they were doing wasn’t going to put her in remission.” Her voice broke. “It might only make her more comfortable.”
Wiping his hands on the towel tucked in his shorts, he picked her up and sat, holding her on his lap. “I’m so sorry.”
If he could take away her pain, he would. He almost made an inane comment that she’d had her mother longer than she’d had her father. How insensitive would that have been? The best he could come up with was, “It’s hard to see someone you love suffer.”
Tears streaked her cheeks. “And what’s worse, I’m starting to depend on you. You’re always here, helping me, holding me.” She nestled back into his chest. Her shoulders shook.
He brushed a kiss on her dark curls. “I’m here for you.”
“But only because you’re on medical leave.” Her shoulders shook harder. “I’m so selfish, I don’t want you to get well.”
His arms tightened around her, more in shock than in comfort. She didn’t want him to get well?
But he understood. She was going through so much.
He rolled his neck. Not having a headache when he woke didn’t matter when measured against the realization that Carolina was losing her mother to cancer. So he didn’t share his good news.
* * *
CAROLINA PASTED ON a smile and pushed open her mother’s hospital door. She shouldn’t have told Sage the truth last week. What idiot tells the man in her life, she hoped he didn’t get better? She was selfish. Stupid.
