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For a minute he wondered just why the hell hedidn’tlove her. There must be something seriously wrong with his head, and it must have been wrong for a while now. Any normal, sane man would have fallen head over heels for this woman.
As they made their way out of the hospital, Wade came up and handed Kara his keys. “Take my pickup. We’ll meet you out there.”
“Thanks, Wade.”
* * *
Kara glanced at the faces surrounding her, saw the love and the strength in each of them. Jim seemed to be avoiding their eyes. He was uncomfortable, and she knew he felt guilty for leading her on the way he had. She’d left his room barely containing her tears, but she’d managed it. Just long enough for Selene to find her and hand her the change of clothes she’d brought.
Selene had taken one look at her and seen the emotional firestorm about to erupt in her, Kara knew she did. But she’d been wise enough and kind enough to say nothing. She’d only given her a hug and pointed to the nearest restroom.
Kara had gone in there to change and lost her battle. She had a full-blown breakdown in ladies room, closing herself in a stall in case anyone came in to witness it. Her dream was shattered. Her heart broken. And yet she still loved him. She loved Jimmy Corona in a way she had never loved any other man, and always would. And she loved Tyler.
Deep down she’d known all along what was happening. She’d chosen to ignore it. Pretended not to see it. But she couldn’t lie to herself anymore. Jimmy didn’t love her.
When the storm of tears had finally subsided, she’d thought maybe she could get through the next few hours. She’d splashed cold water on her face and reminded herself that her feelings were not important—not now. Now all that was important was finding Tyler. Getting him home safe and unharmed. It was that focus that had allowed her to face Jim again.
She remained in control, exerting an iron will over her emotions as they walked out of the hospital to the parking lot. Kara didn’t ask if Jim needed her to drive. He was still having trouble walking, to say nothing of driving. That he even managed to climb into the pickup without help surprised her.
As soon as she put it into gear, he started to apologize again, but she put a stop to it in short order. “Don’t,” she said. “Don’t waste time on what’s happened between us or why it happened, Jimmy. Not now.”
“But I need to explain—”
“No,” she said. “Look, Jimmy, I’m barely holding it together here. I don’t want to wallow in this. I need to focus on Tyler.”
He was studying her face for a long moment, before he nodded. “Okay.”
“Tell me about Tyler’s mother. Tell me about Angela. Everything about her.”
He licked his lips, lowered his head. “She’s a drug addict,” he said. “But you already know that. I think she probably was through most of our marriage, though I didn’t know about it until it was too late. I was busy with my work, my career. I didn’t like to party. She did. So she partied without me. Had affairs. I thought I loved her. Hell, I did love her. I thought a baby would fix things. Give her something to focus on. Settle her down. And at first I thought it had worked.”
“But it didn’t?”
He shook his head. “I was wearing blinders. She was using cocaine, right under my nose. I should have known, should have seen it. Maybe I did know, deep down and was just in denial.”
She lowered her head. “I can’t quite swallow that, Jimmy. You wouldn’t knowingly subject Tyler to that.”
“I wasn’t the greatest father back then, Kara. If I had been, I’d have known he wasn’t safe with her.” He lowered his head, shaking it slowly. “Then I got a call at work one day. My son was in the trauma ward and my wife was in custody. She’d decided to take him out for a walk while she was high. And you know the rest.”
Kara had to force her eyes from his tortured face to focus on the road.
“And what happened to her after that?”
He shook his head. “She and her lawyer made a deal with the D.A. She agreed to sign away all parental rights to Tyler in exchange for probation and community service. The alternative would have been jail time. The D.A. said it was my call. I opted to take the deal.” He sighed. “Up to now she’s stayed away. Kept her promise not to interfere or try to see him. Until she took up with Vinnie Stefano. Now she’s letting him use her to get to me.”
“That man is dangerous,” Kara said. “And he didn’t have any qualms about having Colby killed. As far as he knows, he succeeded, and you’re the only one left who can put him behind bars.”
She turned to look briefly at him, and he met her eyes. “Yeah. He probably intended to kill me this morning. I think they guys showing up were the only reason he didn’t. Ang saw them coming, so they grabbed Tyler and booked.”
She nodded, but kept her eyes on the road. “How could Vinnie convince her to go along with this? Using her own son this way?”
“He’s been filling her head with promises. She thinks he’s her knight in shining armor, riding in to save her, make her life like something out of a storybook.”
“No one can do that for her. It’s something she has to do for herself.”
He was silent for a moment, and when she glanced at him again, she found him staring at her. She looked away.
“I imagine he’s feeding her all the cocaine she wants, as well. She’d do just about anything for him so long as he dangles the right bait.”
