“Do you want some coffee, something to eat?” She didn’t know what to do or how to be here with Jed right now. She couldn’t shake the sense of betrayal. She yanked open the fridge and pulled out the leftover chicken from last night’s dinner, setting it on the counter with tomatoes and lettuce. Jed stepped behind her and slid both arms around her waist, pressing his hand possessively over her stomach. She leaned back almost on instinct. She was mad, but she couldn’t fight his touch. She rested her head against his shoulder, and Jed pressed his rough cheek against hers.
“You need to shave.” She reached up and ran her hand over the light hair that was so much like sandpaper after a few days of not shaving.
“I don’t want you on a horse anymore, Diana, not when you’re pregnant. It’s too dangerous.” He held her tight, and when she tried to turn around, he kissed her cheek. “I love you, and no matter how calm Scarlett is, the fact is, Diana, horses spook. You could get thrown, and you could lose the baby. Our baby.”
She managed to turn in his arms and placed her hands on his shoulders, gazing into his amber brown eyes, which never failed to take her breath away. “Jed, I’m careful. I’m just walking her. I’m not taking chances--”
“Diana, please. I’m asking you to stay off. With Danny, that scared the life out of me. After the baby, you can get back on. I’m sorry, but it has to be that way.”
She didn’t want to keep arguing about it, because deep down she knew he was right. With what had just happened to Jed, she almost lost him. “Okay. Now I want to know what you’ve been hiding from me. No more secrets, Jed.”
He looked away over her head as if deciding what he should say. She pushed against his chest and wiggled free from his arms, stepping out of the small kitchen, and then faced Jed, wanting to yell and scream and make him tell her everything. “Does she know?”
For a minute, Jed looked confused, and he glanced at the door when Diana jabbed her finger. “Who?”
“That tart of a doctor who was draped all over you, the one with her arm around you when I walked into your hospital room to pick you up, and you let her. You never pushed her away. And then today, for some reason, she shows up here and not Doctor Hardy, who, by the way, in case you’ve forgotten, is your doctor. Just what the hell was she doing here, anyway? Why is she so interested in you? Something you share together? Tell me, please, because I really want to know!”
Jed took two steps toward her and pressed his hands on her shoulders to hold her still. “Stop, Diana. It’s not like that.” He turned her toward the sofa. “I need to sit down.”
She looked up into his pale face, and her anger was forgotten. “Jed, are you okay?” She wrapped her arm around his waist and guided him to the sofa. He sat and pulled her down with him.
“I’m fine.” He leaned back and shut his eyes for a second. Color returned to his face, and he opened his eyes and reached for her hand. Then he laughed at her.
“I’ve never known you to be jealous. A tart of a doctor? Come on, Diana. She’s a nice lady.”
Diana tried to yank her hand away, but Jed held tight.
“Diana, she reminds me of you, taking on a cause, caring.”
She wanted to hit him and felt her spine straightening as if someone had stuck a rod against it and tied her to it. Her face warmed. “If you ask me, she cares a little too much. You’re my husband, or have you forgotten?”
Jed raised his eyebrows and then tried to hide his smile. “No, I’d never forget who I’ve given my heart to.”
Well, that stopped her. How would she respond to that? She opened her mouth but couldn’t find one intelligent word, and he pulled her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss into the back of her hand.
“There is something I need to talk to you about.” Jed laced his fingers with hers and rested them on his lap. “The doctors did a brain scan and found something.”
Diana stared at something in her husband’s eyes that she hadn’t seen before, and she felt a bone-chilling numbness that brought on a fear she hadn’t felt in a very long time. “Jed…” She couldn’t finish, as tears blurred her eyes.
“Diana, they found a shadow in part of my brain. They said it’s a tumor.…”
“What do you mean? A brain tumor, cancer?”
“Diana, they don’t know if it’s cancer. It’s just a shadow.…”
“What do you mean, a shadow? Well, they’ll go in get it out, and then we’ll deal with it. When do they want to operate?”
Jed gripped both her hands, which were trembling. “They can’t go in.”
“Of course they can go in. They do it all the time.” She touched his chest, gripped his cotton shirt.
“Diana, it’s in a part of the brain they can’t operate on. If they tried, I’d be a vegetable, and I won’t do that to you.”
She didn’t know what to say, and she turned and stood at the sound of car doors shutting. The front door opened, and Grandma Becky walked in, carrying Danny in her arms, Rodney behind her, a smile on his face for an instant until he looked at her.
“What’s wrong?” It was Becky who asked, and Diana could do nothing as she burst into tears.