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Her mother blinked at her. “Aiden?”
Dakota realized she’d never told her parents about dating Aiden, and quickly tried to minimize her association. Now was not the time to spring that on her mother.
“Dr. Matthews. The doctor working on him.”
Dakota wasn’t sure how she’d explain how she knew him, but fortunately, her mom didn’t ask. Instead, she moved into crisis mode and started listing all the things she needed to do.
“I need to call your sister and brothers.”
“I’ve already talked to them. Utah and Denver are on their way, and Phoenix will be on the next flight out in the morning.”
“Oh, Phoenix doesn’t need to—”
Dakota put her hand on her mother’s arm. “We both know there’s not a chance Phoenix isn’t coming.”
“I need to get the guest room ready, and—”
“Mom! Stop! Your husband just had a heart attack, you don’t need to worry about anything other than Dad right now.”
She nodded. “You’re right.” Then tears filled her eyes and she whispered, “I don’t know what I’d do without him, Dakota.”
“You won’t have to find out. He’s going to be around for a long, long time. Dad’s a fighter, and he has the best team working on him.”
Dakota noticed her brother through the windows, the collar of his coat turned up to try to keep the cold out as he hurried along the sidewalk toward the automatic doors, and she murmured, “Denver’s here.”
Seconds later, her younger brother was pulling their mom into a tight embrace, and over her head his eyebrows shot to his hairline while he mouthed, “How is he?” to Dakota.
“They’re doing more tests, but the doctor said it was a heart attack.”
“I want to talk to the doctor.”
There her brother went, trying to control the situation.
“He’s in good hands, Denver. The best, actually.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well, I met his doctor on the Cape over the Fourth of July. There were at least four other doctors and medical professionals there, and they all talked about how great a cardiologist Dr. Matthews is, and he’s who they’d want to work on them if the need ever arose. So, that’s how.”
“And what were you doing at the Cape with a handful of doctors?”
Really? That’s what you got out of that?
Still, she answered him because Denver could be a dog with a bone when he wanted to be.
“My friend Whitney just married one, smartass. I was there as her guest.”
Her brother nodded with a small smile. “Uh huh.”
“Thank God he was working tonight,” Christine interjected.
“He was actually walking out the door when I caught him.”
Denver cocked his head. “And he stayed?”
“Well, yeah. I asked him to.”
He eyed her with a smirk, but she met his gaze unflinchingly. Her little brother wasn’t going to make her squirm. He could try all he wanted; it wasn’t going to happen.
