Chapter 21

 

The weary, endless hours of the night dragged by, and still Jax slept. Fitful at times, he would move suddenly, then groan at the swift pain, finally relaxing back into the pillows.

Carlos lay huddled in a corner of the room asleep, leaving only Callie and Dr. Naylor to keep one another company.

The doctor was worried, Callie knew. He sat in one of the chairs beside the bed, not leaving Jaxson, checking his fever and pulse with a regularity that let Callie understand just how dangerous these hours were for the man she loved.

“Why don’t you lie down, Miss Buchanan?” Jeremy suggested, concern edging his deep voice.

Callie roused herself. She’d been falling asleep in the other chair. She stood slowly, and gave him a faint smile.

“I am tired.”

Jeremy grinned. “I’ll bet. Traveling with my brother cannot have been easy.” He glanced toward the bed. “Trouble seems to always find him.” He became thoughtful. “Up ’til now, he’s always managed to come out of it all right. But this time…I just don’t know.”

“Thank you so much—” Callie broke off abruptly, her eyes filling with tears.

The doctor gave a muffled curse and came to his feet.

“Don’t,” he said quietly. “Please.” He looked away from her and took a long, deep breath. “Miss Buchanan—I don’t know what Jaxson’s told you about the few months we spent together at our father’s ranch—” He met her unwavering stare. “Our lives were hell there. We were all miserable, under the old man’s thumb—but Jaxson and Brendan took the brunt of our father’s foul temper more than me, or any of the others. The two of them tried to run—twice.”

Callie nodded silently.

“My father,” he went on bitterly, “damn near killed them. Drug them back like wild animals at the end of a rope. Then he whipped them to unconsciousness. The second time they ran, he made me go along as we tracked them.” He shook his head. “He was a hell of a tracker. Had to be, to find Jax. When he did find them, he beat them bruised and bloody and left them…out there. No water. No horses. No medicine.” His silver-gray eyes bored into hers. “It was a message to me. And that was why—why I hated Jax and Bren. They were everything I wasn’t. Tough and strong—and able to spit in that bastard’s eye.” He tore his gaze from Callie’s and looked down at his half-brother.

“I…could never screw up that kind of courage. Not one time. They did it twice. They’d have run again if he’d brought them back, and he knew it. I think he intended for them to die. When we rode away, he never looked back.” He shook his head. “But—they made it, thanks to Joe and Dolly Ames. The old man hated the Ames’ after that. I felt…relieved. At least, I knew they were alive. And they were safe, at last. But, I didn’t know what to do about it. Part of me wanted to admire them, to love them—as brothers.” He gave a self-deprecatory laugh. “I still had to live with the old man, though. And I’d seen firsthand what would happen if I ever did get my courage up to run. Didn’t know what I’d run to.” He glanced at Callie. “If they’d…accept me. Or what Joe and Dolly would do if I showed up there. So, I did nothing. I just continued to hate.”

“Jeremy,” Callie murmured softly, seeing his anguish. “I wanted—I was trying to say thank you—for coming, after all.”

He started to reply, but Callie crossed the room, quickly laying her hand on his arm. “No, it’s important! I—I despised you this afternoon.” Her voice trembled. “I didn’t understand how you could refuse—but now, I do. Fear like that is hard to overcome. And the shame, as well, for being a part of what your father did to them.”

“I think Jax must’ve always hated me,” Jeremy muttered. “But he had every right. Every right.”

“He doesn’t hate you.”

Jeremy raised his silver-mercury gaze slowly to Callie’s.

“This is a chance for you to—help him,” Callie went on. “Maybe you couldn’t before, but you were just a boy, too! Now, you can make your own decision. What your father did was wrong, but you’re not that kind of man, Jeremy. Jaxson knew that.”

Jeremy gave a caustic snort. “I don’t see how that’s possible! I did the exact thing he knew I would do. Nothing. Once again. I refused—refused to come when you asked. When he asked.”

Callie squeezed his arm reassuringly. “I could see the hurt in his eyes when you didn’t come, doctor; and the relief in his eyes when you did. He hoped for it, but he didn’t admit it to me—or even to himself. I think—” she stopped, unsure if she should continue, then decided to finish her thought. “I think maybe he remembered that day when your father forced you to go with him, to ‘bear witness’, as he said earlier. He saw something in you that let him know you—you weren’t like your father any more than he and Brendan were. He’s held that inside, and recognized there was goodness in you, even when you hadn’t realized it yet.”

Jeremy arched a dark brow. “I guess you must believe the goodness never surfaced until a few hours ago.”

Callie hastily tried to mend her words, unwilling to hurt him. “I only meant that—”

“Miss Buchanan, you wound me,” he teased, but the light in his eyes was genuine, not laced with his earlier self-mockery. “Did you really mean all that?”

“Of course I meant it. And furthermore,” she gave him a smile, “I think there’s hope for you yet, doctor. I’m sorry for—what I said to you this afternoon. For calling you that—that name.”

Jeremy’s expression turned serious. “No. Don’t ever apologize for that. Calling me a bastard was what brought me to my senses. Made me realize I could do something to rectify—our relationship.” He looked at Jax once more. Callie patted his arm and he slowly returned his silver gaze to her. He smiled, but there was a trace of sadness in his expression. “Despite what Jax has gone through in his life, Miss Buchanan, I think right now, he’s pretty damn lucky.”

Callie lay down, finally, next to Jax, positioning herself beside him with care. She draped her arm across his gridded belly, feeling the corded hardness of his muscles under her palm and fingertips. His skin was still extraordinarily warm, but it didn’t seem quite so hot as before. Maybe the fever was breaking. Or, she thought dejectedly, maybe it was only wishful thinking.

She met Jeremy’s glance as he laid his hand on Jax’s forehead, and could see he’d noticed the change as well. He grinned at her, his relief evident.

“You did some good work. The fever’s beginning to break.”

“It’s because you came.” Her voice was sleepy, her eyes already closing.

Jeremy shook his head. “I don’t think so, little one,” he murmured. “You and Carlos worked this magic.”

“You stay, Jeremy,” Callie whispered. “You’ll work yours…tomorrow. When he wakes up, you’ll—tell him—everything. Everything you told me.”

He nodded somberly. “Yes. Everything.”