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“You’ve got two seconds to explain why in the hell I didn’t know you were this sick,” Kenzie said as she stormed into the hospital room. “And don’t tell me this is no big deal. You’re in a freaking hospital bed with an IV drip in your arm!”
Cammie blinked, water filling her eyes from the heat behind them, and studied her friend. Kenzie’s hair was haphazardly tousled, no doubt the result of raking her hands through it as she waited to be allowed into the room, her light blue T-shirt a rumpled mess. “How long have you been waiting out there? How’d you know I was here?”
“Long enough to know this hospital has the most uncomfortable chairs in the world in their waiting room. Luckily, I spent most of the time pacing, too scared to sit still.” Her friend frowned. “And to answer your other question, this is Cook County. When an ambulance comes to take someone, the whole town buzzes with the news, especially when Delia Mayberry is telling everyone about how you attacked her.”
“Attacked her?” Cammie struggled to remember what had happened before she fainted.
“You slapped the taste buds right out of her mouth,” Kenzie explained, a smile lifting the corner of her mouth, but she quickly sobered, worry once again replacing the twinkle of amusement that had briefly shone in her eyes. “I think it’s about time you tell me what exactly is wrong with you, and no brushing it off as simply not feeling well. How bad is it? Whatever it is, it’s affecting you bad enough that you slapped a woman. That’s not like you at all.”
Cammie averted her gaze as heat rose to her face. Apparently, news hadn’t gotten back to Kenzie about her little altercation with Stacy Cove at the wedding, and she wanted to keep it that way. “I have a rare autoimmune disease.”
Kenzie blinked as she stood above her, her brow crinkled in confusion. “What’s that mean? What’s it called?”
Cammie sighed, having dreaded this moment. She knew without a doubt that what she would say next would totally freak her friend out, and she didn’t want to upset her. “It’s a disease similar to lupus, but not exactly. Doc Hollis has spoken with several other doctors, and none of them have seen or heard of anyone with this exact—”
“Oh no!” Kenzie’s hands flew to cover her mouth as her eyes widened to twice their size. “They don’t know what it is! How can they treat you if they don’t know what they’re dealing with?” She started pacing the room at the foot of the bed. “We have to get you to a specialist, someone who knows what they’re doing.”
“Doc Hollis has already made the arrangements for me to see a specialist, and he’s been in contact with someone he knows for a while now,” Cammie interjected before her friend could get too worked up. “They have good ideas about how to treat me. I just need the right medication.”
She stopped pacing to look at her. “Where is it? Have you started taking it?”
“They think the best thing for me is a combination of medication that’s pretty new... and experimental.”
Kenzie shook her head. “No, you will not be their guinea pig. There’s got to be something else.”
There was something else, but Cammie knew her friend wouldn’t like it. “Doc Hollis has also advised me I need a kidney transplant.”
Kenzie stood motionless, her mouth gaping open.
Cammie sat up in the bed. “Say something.”
“When do I get tested?”
Cammie blinked. “What?”
“You need a kidney, and I have one to spare,” Kenzie said matter-of-factly. “How soon can they test me?”
Cammie stared at her friend, dumbstruck. They’d been friends a long time, sure, had been there for each other during good times and bad, but never had she thought anyone would just offer an organ to her as if it were nothing.
Kenzie looked back at her, waiting for an answer, ready to be tested for a procedure that would involve major surgery, but her own husband wasn’t even there to do so much as offer an aspirin for her pain. Tears flooded her eyes, and before she could even consider trying to blink them back, her chest racked with sobs as the floodgates opened.
“Oh, honey, don’t cry.” Kenzie rushed to her side and sat beside her on the bed, wrapping her in a one-armed hug. “Shhhh... it’s going to be okay. We’ll take care of you.”
“You and Chance?” she asked between sobs.
“Of course,” her friend answered softly. “You’re not just a friend. You’re family.”
“The sister-in-law in name,” she sobbed. “Does Lucky even know I’m here?”
“You’d be family even if you and Lucky hadn’t gotten married,” Kenzie said as she pulled away enough to push an errant lock of hair back from her face. “Chance has been trying to get in touch with him. He’s in Arizona, competing.”
“Of course he is.” She sat back against the pillows, sniffling as she wiped her eyes. “Where else should a man be when his wife is in the hospital? Oh yeah, that’s right. With her!”
Kenzie sighed heavily. “Chance and I knew something was up with Lucky, even though he wouldn’t say. He took the job on the ranch in order to get health insurance, and he was in a rush to get out on the circuit. Now we know why. He’s taking care of you.”
As if she hadn’t felt worthless enough, any hope she had of Lucky having any sort of true feelings for her flew out the window. “So he married me so he could cover me under his insurance. He married me out of pity.”
“Now, wait a minute.” Kenzie shook her head. “There’s a big difference between pitying someone and providing for them out of genuine love.”
“Love?” Cammie scoffed. “His father offered him money, a lot of money, and he wouldn’t even take it. His pride wouldn’t allow him to, even though it was enough to pay for the medication I need without him having to leave me. How could he love me and do that?”
Kenzie pulled away, rising to her feet to stand next to the bed. “Has Lucky ever told you about his father? Has he told you anything about his childhood at all?”
She wiped at the wetness dampening her cheeks. “I know his father had nothing to do with him, and that his mother died of an overdose, so I can put two and two together. I know they weren’t exactly happy, but if I were him, I would put that all aside and do what I had to do to take care of the person I loved. But that’s the difference between us,” she added. “I love him. I always have. He doesn’t love me, and I was a fool to think that emotion would just magically grow after we got married.”
“You’re not Lucky. You weren’t raised the same way he and Chance were,” Kenzie explained. “You’re looking at this based on what you think you would do had you walked in their shoes, but you haven’t. Your parents died when you were young, and they loved you with everything they had before that, so all your memories of them are good. Your grandmother took you in out of love and nurtured you into adulthood.” She chewed her bottom lip a moment before continuing. “It’s not my place to tell you Lucky’s story, but I promise you, you have no idea what it would take for him to take anything from his father now. I’m still amazed he didn’t beat the stuffing out of the guy when he showed up here.”
Cammie sat in stunned silence. She’d expected her friend to commiserate with her, had even debated telling Kenzie how she felt for fear that she’d hate Lucky, but instead she was taking his side! Suddenly, she backtracked over everything she’d said and every thought that had gone through her mind since Lucky had turned down his father’s offer. Had she been selfish in expecting him to take his estranged father’s money? Could she possibly be wanting him to do something a good wife wouldn’t ask of her husband? Was that why he left?
“I don’t blame you for being hurt and even resentful,” Kenzie said as she sat back down on the bed and took her hand in hers. “Just don’t jump to conclusions that Lucky doesn’t care about you, or that he’s a bad guy for not taking his father’s money. The man has been through a rough time. It took so long for Chance to consider himself worthy of love. With the things Lucky has been through, I can’t begin to imagine how messed up he is inside... but he married you. He chose you.”
“He thought I might be pregnant when he asked me to marry him,” Cammie confessed. “His father abandoned him, and he doesn’t want to be anything like his father, so he married me in case I was carrying his child. He loves what he thought was growing inside me. He doesn’t love me.”
“Cammie.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You’ll see, Kenz. He’ll ask for a divorce.”
“I don’t think he will.”
“He will... or I will. I don’t want him with me because he feels obligated. I was so happy just having him. I thought I could do it even if he didn’t really love me back, but I can’t.”
Kenzie stared at her for a tense moment before rising from the bed and straightening the hem of her shirt. “You’re tired, and understandably so. Your emotions are all over the place. I’m going to let you rest, but I’ll be here tomorrow morning, all right?”
Cammie nodded, knowing her friend wanted her to be happy with the man of her dreams, like she was happy with hers, but she was too tired to keep hoping for something that wasn’t going to be. It was going to take all her energy to focus on getting healthy so she could move on... without Lucky.
****
“GOOD RIDE, MASTERS!”
Lucky nodded his head in the direction of the latest cowboy to congratulate him on staying atop Crazy Eights for the required eight seconds, but didn’t stop to chat. He had one goal in mind and that was to grab his winnings and soak his tired, aching body in the tub of whatever crappy motel he saw first off the highway.
“Hey, Hoss,” he greeted an old buddy as he neared. “Thanks for holding my stuff.”
“No prob,” the wiry man said as he handed over his keys and cell phone. “Good ride, man.”
“Thanks,” Lucky murmured, powering on the cell for the first time that day as he continued heading toward the office for his payout. Just as he noticed several bubbles on his screen showing missed calls from Chance, the cell vibrated in his hand. His brother’s mug popped up on the screen. He answered on the second vibration.
“It’s about damn time you answered the phone!”
He held the cell phone away from his ear for a second while his brother barked out the reprimand. “Damn, Chance, you know I’m a little busy,” he griped, replacing the phone to his ear.
“Yeah, well, your wife has been a little sick. She’s in the hospital.”
He froze, suddenly feeling as if his heart had plummeted to his stomach. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t even blink.
“Lucky? You still there?”
He shook his head and sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah... I’m here.” He ran a hand down his face, cursing himself for not being there. Cursing himself for not having turned his phone on sooner. Cursing fate for allowing Cammie to get bad enough to be admitted into the hospital before he could win some sizable money. “What happened?”
“She was at work when she passed out yesterday. Flo called an ambulance. Kenzie and I saw her this afternoon. She’s pretty pale, pretty weak looking. Doc Hollis has scheduled her to be transferred to a hospital in Denver where she’ll be treated by a specialist.”
Lucky swallowed hard, thinking about how high her hospital bills were going to run. Would they stop treating her if they couldn’t pay in full? “I’ll send my winnings home tonight. The purse tomorrow night should be better.”
“What the hell, Luck?” Chance barked into the phone. “Your wife is in the hospital. Bring your ass home!”
“Cammie’s hospital bill isn’t going to be small, Chance. She needs this money.”
“She needs you. Dammit, Lucky, Doc Hollis says she needs a kidney transplant.”
The phone fell out of Lucky’s hand and hit the ground. The back of the case snapped off as it cracked against the pavement.
As if on autopilot, Lucky scooped up the parts of his phone, snapping the back of the case. Lucky thumbed the power button on the phone as he found his spot in the line for payout, relieved to see it still worked, and called his brother back.
“Did you hang up on me?” Chance growled, obviously pissed.
“Dropped the phone,” he quickly explained. “Call Doc Hollis. I’m giving Cam my kidney.”
“You have to be a match,” Chance advised, the anger now gone from his voice. “Get back here and you can get tested with me and Kenz tomorrow morning.”
Lucky swallowed hard, emotion clogging his throat. “You’re getting tested?”
“Of course we’re getting tested.”
“Thanks, Chance. Not many people would offer up a kidney.”
“Hey, she’s family now. We take care of our own. Drive safe, but get your ass back here by morning. She’s asking for you.”
Lucky closed his eyes, damning himself for being the pathetic loser Cam agreed to marry. She deserved so much better. “I’ll be there.”
After getting his payout, he half-walked, half-ran out of the arena to his truck and floored the gas, determined to get back to Colorado as quickly as possible. He wanted to get tested in Cook County before they sent Cam over to Denver.
A few miles out, Lucky hit the winding rural roads he had to get past before he could jump on the highway. His eyes burned, water coating them as he strained to see ahead of him on the poorly lit roads. He should have taken a catnap before heading out, made up for the hours he hadn’t slept the night before, but there wasn’t time. Cam needed him.
“Dammit!” he bellowed as raindrops sprinkled on his windshield seconds before the sky opened up with the mighty roar of thunder. “Just what the hell I need.”
Lightning lit the sky as he continued maneuvering the truck around the twisting bends of the narrow roads. “I guess I should be thankful for the light,” he muttered, struggling to see in the darkness as his windshield wipers fought to clear the heavy rain and his headlights did the best they could do.
A dark shape suddenly jumped out in front of the truck as he wound it around a tricky curve.
“Shit!” Lucky hit the brake, figuring the dark mass to be a big enough deer to total his truck. He continued cursing as his truck careened to the side of the road, broke through the railing, and barreled down the hill.
****
“HE’S NOT COMING.”
“Yes, he is,” Chance assured the pale woman resting in the hospital bed. He barely kept the anger out of his tone. He’d been calling his younger brother all morning, trying to get a fix on where he was at and when he’d be arriving.
“It’s noon,” Cammie said, moisture coating her eyes. “You told him I was being moved to Denver today. That he’d have to be here by morning if he wanted to get tested with you two.”
He looked at Kenzie for help, but his wife just looked away. Not before he saw the disappointment in her eyes. It sucker-punched him in the gut. Cammie was her best friend. Now his wife was forced to watch her best friend suffer the absence of the person she needed most during her time of need, and that person was his own brother.
“It’s fine.” The distraught woman sank down into the pillows. “We all knew this wouldn’t last.”
He turned back toward her. “What? He’s late, is all. He’ll be here.”
“I won’t,” she replied before pressing the button for the nurse. “I’m telling them I’m ready to go. I’m not waiting on Lucky any longer.”
The finality in her tone spoke volumes. Cammie was done.
He swallowed hard as he stepped out of the room. His heart pounded as he made his way to the waiting area, took out his cell phone, and punched the button that would connect him to Lucky. Cammie was the best thing to happen to his brother, whether or not either of them knew it, and losing her would destroy the stubborn man. And that was one mess he didn’t think he’d be able to help clean up.
“Answer the damn phone,” he growled as it continued to ring. “Dammit, Lucky, you’re going to lose your wife. Answer the phone!”