Race to the Altar Read online

  A lot worse. He could have died—or one of the children could have.

  As though reading her thoughts, he asked, “So how’s that kid doing? The one who was riding the bike?”

  “I’m sure he’s okay.”

  “Did he have to stay in the hospital?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Can you find out for me? I need to know.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  He obviously cared about the kid. After all, he’d avoided the children and had chosen to slam into the semi instead. And his follow-up interest in the boy was touching.

  She couldn’t help thinking of him as a hero, the reckless and rebellious sort, like Han Solo in the first set of Star Wars movies.

  So what made this guy tick?

  She walked around the bed and opened the blinds, only to get an immediate complaint.

  “Hey, what are you doing? Trying to kill me? The glare hurts my head.”

  “Sorry.”

  “They were closed for a reason.”

  She twisted the control rod, darkening the room again. “Do you need something for pain? I’ll check the chart, and if it’s time for more, I’ll bring it in.”

  “I don’t want whatever they’ve been shooting into my IV. It’s messing with my mind. I hear people talking around my bed, but when I look, there’s no one there. So I’d rather suck it up.”

  A tough guy, she thought, rebellious and surly, but with a tender heart. “There’s other medication we can give you that isn’t as strong. So there’s no need for you to suffer.”

  “Right now I’d feel better if I could just sleep it off.”

  With the extent of his injuries and the seriousness of the concussion, she didn’t think he’d wake up feeling any better. “All right, I’ll leave you alone for a while so you can go back to sleep. I’ll come in to check on you later.”

  She glanced at his monitor, noting the numbers were within normal range, and checked his IV drip. Everything was as it should be, so she headed for the door. But before leaving his room, she took one last look at her patient.

  And for the second time in minutes, she wondered who the real Chase Mayfield was.

  Shaking off her curiosity, she stepped out the door and returned to the third-floor nurses’ desk, where Dr. Nielson sat, jotting down notes in a patient’s chart.

  Just last year, when Betsy took over Doc Graham’s practice in Brighton Valley, Molly had been the first nurse she’d hired. They’d worked together only one day before the two became friends.

  “How’s Mr. Mayfield doing?” Betsy asked.

  “He’s complaining about the effects of the Demerol. Can we switch him to something else?”

  “Sure, if that’s what he wants. I’ll write up an order for some Vicodin.”

  “By the way,” Molly said, “he was wondering about the boy’s condition. I didn’t stick around the E.R. last night to find out, but I suspected that he’d been treated and released.”

  “Tommy Haines? Yes, he broke his wrist and knocked the growth plate out of whack, so I called in Dr. Jessup from orthopedics.”

  “Other than that, I take it there weren’t any other complications and he went home?”

  “No, that was it.” Betsy closed the chart she’d been working on and turned to Molly. “No other physical complications.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “His mother is struggling just to pay the rent and to put food on the table, so she hasn’t been able to keep up on the medical insurance premiums for him and his younger sister. That’s why she declined riding in the ambulance. She didn’t want to get hit with another bill she couldn’t pay.”

  So there was another cost for Brighton Valley Medical Center to absorb, Molly thought. Not that it was a biggie, but every dollar added up.

  BVMC was a new hospital that had had its grand opening a year or so ago. In a sense, it was up and running and doing very well. But it was struggling to stay afloat financially in a community that couldn’t quite support a medical facility at the present. However, if the population continued to grow as the investors hoped it would, the hospital would be in much better financial shape next year.

  “I’ll contribute toward the boy’s medical bill,” Molly said.

  “Again?” Betsy leaned a hip against the nurses’ desk and crossed her arms. “You can’t keep paying toward every indigent case we get.”

  “I know. But I’ve got the money, and it makes me feel good to help. Besides, BVMC doesn’t need to drop further into the red. I’m just looking out for my job and my livelihood.”

  “There’s got to be a better investment for your money,” Betsy said. “Like a new car or that vacation you’ve never taken.”

  Maybe so, but Molly lived a simple life; it was just her and her cat, Rusty, at home, so her savings account was healthy. In addition, there’d been a major insurance settlement following the accident that most people didn’t know about. She’d used a portion of it for college, but she hadn’t touched the rest.

  Randy Westlake, the last guy she’d dated, had known about the money, although he hadn’t known exactly how much.

  “You need to buy a house,” he’d told her time and again. But it had bothered her that he was a real estate agent and stood to benefit if he was able to talk her into a purchase.

  “Why throw your money away on rent?” he’d asked her. “There are a lot of nice houses near your grandmother’s rest home that are much roomier and a lot nicer.”

  Yes, but none of them were as centrally located to all the places Molly frequented, like BVMC, the market and Rose Manor Convalescent Hospital.

  No, the one-bedroom house she rented was perfect for her.

  Randy had brought up the move and the money one time too many, and they’d finally parted ways. But not before he accused her of suffering from survivor’s guilt and hoarding the “blood money” she’d received from the insurance settlement.

  The accusation had been a low blow, lancing her to the quick, but only because she’d expected him to understand. She’d put the past behind her, whether he believed that or not, and she was content with her life and the place in which she’d chosen to live.

  Besides, she had a new family now, the BVMC staff and her patients. And while there was a part of her that yearned for a real home and loved ones, deep inside she feared getting too close to anyone again. It was tough enough when a patient died or a coworker retired or moved on for one reason or another.

  So why get any more involved than that? Life was fragile, and loved ones could be taken away in a blink of an eye. That knowledge made her good at her job.

  Of course, it also made for more than a few long and lonely nights.

  At 2:14, Molly’s pager went off while she was checking the dosage on Dr. Cheney’s order for Carla Perez, the patient in 309. She glanced at the display and saw that Chase was calling her. She’d go to him just as soon as she gave the meds to Mrs. Perez, who’d had an appendectomy yesterday and was complaining of pain.

  It didn’t take her very long to stop off in 309, but by the time she entered Chase’s room, she found him climbing out of bed.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “To the bathroom.”

  As he got to a wobbly stand, the edges of his hospital gown split apart, as they were prone to do, revealing his backside and a nicely shaped butt.

  She studied the appealing vision just a tad too long before asking, “Do you need some help?”

  “I’ll be okay.” He reached for the IV pole, using it to steady himself, then shuffled to the bathroom.

  She followed a few steps behind him, her gaze still drawn to his butt.

  Not bad, she thought, not bad at all.

  She wasn’t in the habit of ogling her male patients, so the fact that she’d done so with this one didn’t sit very well with her. As he slipped into the bathroom, leaving the door ajar, she stood just a couple of feet away, prepared to act if she had to.
/>   He took care of what he went in to do, then the water in the sink turned on. Moments later, after the faucet shut off, he uttered, “Oh, damn.”

  She pulled open the door, only to find him about to collapse on the floor. She wrapped her arms around his waist, trying her best to support him.

  “Wouldn’t you know it?” he said, teeth clenched in a grimace of pain. “I’ve got a pretty nurse in my arms, and look at me. I can’t even make an improper move, let alone a proper one.”

  “Cute,” she said, wresting a hand free just long enough to push the call button on the wall. The man was a lot bigger and heavier than she’d realized.

  “Why do I have to be laid up when an opportunity like this arises?”

  While she held him, she tried to lower the lid of the commode so she could make a place for him to sit.

  “Next time you need to get up,” she said, “call me, okay?”

  “Good idea. Maybe then I’ll be stronger and better able to enjoy your tender loving care.”

  About the time Molly managed to sit Chase on the commode, Evie Richards, a nurses’ aide, came in. “Need some help in here?”

  “Yes. As soon as he catches his breath, we need to get him back to bed.”

  “Two pretty nurses taking me to bed,” Chase said. “And I’m just about down for the count. What a shame.”

  If Evie had been young and shapely, rather than middle-aged and a bit on the plump side, Molly might have considered Chase to be more of an obnoxious player than a charming flirt.

  Of course, given the chance, and away from a hospital setting, he might be both.

  She supposed time—and some healing—would tell.

  Once he was back in bed, Evie left the room. But before Molly could follow her out, Chase asked, “Did you ever find out anything about how that kid is doing?”

  “He broke his wrist. His mom took him home last night.”

  “Good. I’m glad he’s going to be okay.”

  “I hope so,” Molly said, thinking about the single mom’s plight.

  “What do you mean by that?” Chase asked.

  “Well, there’s some financial difficulties—” Molly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  He seemed to ponder her words, his brow knit together.

  For a moment, she again tried to imagine the handsome man reflected in the picture on his driver’s license, rather than the guy with a battered face.

  “What kind of financial difficulties?” he asked.

  “He lives with his mom and a sister, so there’s just one income. And no medical insurance.”

  Oops. What had gotten into her? She stopped herself from saying anything more. It was just that he seemed so sympathetic—and genuine—that the words had tumbled out before she knew it.

  “Do you have a name and address for them?” he asked.

  “Even if I did, I couldn’t give it to you.”

  “But the hospital must have it.”

  “I’m sure they do, but they won’t give out that information. And I shouldn’t have told you what I did.”

  “Even if I wanted to pay the medical bill for them?”

  “That’s really nice of you,” she said. “But I heard someone else has already offered to pay for it.”

  “I’m going to do it,” he said, his voice sounding more certain—and a lot healthier—than it had since he’d arrived at the hospital.

  She suspected that people didn’t tell him no very often, and that he didn’t like it when they did.

  “Can you please let the billing department know?”

  Molly supposed she could. If Chase took care of the Haines’ bill, there were bound to be new ones that she could pick up. Not that she planned to pay for any and all outstanding accounts, but the ones involving kids or others that tugged on her heartstrings were another story. “All right, I’ll tell them.”

  “Get me a number,” he said. “And I’ll cut the hospital a check.”

  Apparently Chase Mayfield was much more than a pretty face—and a nice butt. A whole lot more. And Molly found herself even more intrigued by him.

  The charming race car driver was enough to make a woman forget she was a nurse. Almost. But Molly would never forget. It was too much a part of who she was.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” she said, trying her best to rein in her wayward thoughts.

  Then she turned and walked away, leaving him to watch her go.

  As Chase lay stretched out on the bed, his personal Florence Nightingale disappeared into the hall. When he was sure she was gone and out of earshot, he picked up the telephone, pushed nine for an outside line and called his parents’ house in Garnerville, Texas. His eyesight, which was still limited, and his fingers, stiff and sore from the accident, weren’t cooperative, so he had to dial the number several times before he got it right.

  His mother answered on the third ring. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Mom. It’s Chase. What are you doing?”

  “The girls and I were just sitting at the kitchen table, drinking iced tea and planning a surprise party for your father’s sixtieth birthday.”

  The girls in question were obviously her daughters-in-law, the wives of his older brothers.

  “It’s on a Saturday this year,” his mother added, “so I hope you’ll put it on your calendar before you get it all filled up. Your dad would be so disappointed if you missed it again, especially with it being such a biggie.”

  “I’ll be there,” Chase said, even if he didn’t have a calendar handy. “Tell Callie, Susan and Jana hello for me.”

  “I will.”

  “Have you got a minute?” he asked.

  “For my baby? I’ve always got time for you, Chase.”

  He supposed she always managed to find it, but when he’d been younger, he’d often felt as though he was in the way, as if his birth had somehow thrown the family dynamics out of whack.

  His parents had never come out and said it, but his brothers had. And he’d sensed it often enough.

  He always carried a credit card or two with him, so he could use one to pay the hospital for the kid, as well as any charges that might be left to pay for himself, but that would put his name out there, plus the statements went directly to Gerald Barden, who’d been watching them closely. And he wasn’t ready for the questions Gerald would have.

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

  “I’m out of the area right now, so I’m going to need someone to be my right hand. And I hoped you’d do it for me.”

  “Sure. Does it need to be done today?”

  He wanted to say yes, but he hated to be demanding. “No, tomorrow is fine. Since you have a spare key to my place, I’d like you to go inside and get my checkbook out of the desk drawer in the den. And I’d like you to mail it to me.”

  “Let me get a pen and paper to write down your address.”

  Uh-oh. All of a sudden, something he’d thought would be easy to orchestrate when he picked up the phone suddenly seemed a bit more complicated than he’d expected. And a fuzzy brain wasn’t helping.

  What address did he give her? The hospital’s? No, he knew his mother, and she’d be here before he could blink an eye.

  “You know,” he said, “I just realized that I don’t have the address in front of me. I’ll give you a call with it later, okay?”

  “All right, but why do you need your checkbook?”

  “I found out about a family that’s struggling financially, and I’d like to give them some money.”

  “That’s really sweet, Chase. I’m proud of you.”

  He hadn’t been trying to impress his mother, but he couldn’t help being glad that he had. And the fact that his act had touched her was also a sign that his plan would work.

  If his sponsors got wind of what he was doing, and if the newspapers did, too…well, let’s just say that he could use some good press for a change.

  Not that he minded helping the
family out. But to be honest, his motive hadn’t been entirely altruistic. The good PR was an added benefit.

  “Where are you?” his mom asked.

  “I’m…” He glanced at the hospital room, knowing he’d have to be clever. He might have given his poor mother a few headaches while growing up, but he’d never lied to her and didn’t want to start now, especially when his senses weren’t as sharp as usual. “I guess you could say I’m taking a break from the rat race and kicking back.”

  “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. I worry about you not getting enough sleep, Chase. The newspapers and magazines make it sound as though you’ve been keeping some late nights.”

  “Not recently,” he said. He was going to fly under the radar for a while, just as Gerald Barden had ordered.

  “That’s a relief.”

  Maybe so, but settling down wasn’t going to be permanent—but he wouldn’t tell her that.

  “Who’s there with you?” she asked. “A woman? A girlfriend, maybe? If you were serious about someone, you’d tell me, wouldn’t you?”

  His mom would be the first to know. Everyone else in the Mayfield family was happily married, and when he and Pamela had divorced, he’d felt as if he was the only failure on the family tree.

  He was just about to tell her he was alone and that there wasn’t a woman in his life that he’d consider significant when his Florence Nightingale returned to his room. And when she did, some of the pain-and drug-induced fog in his brain lifted.

  If word got out that he had a girlfriend, maybe then the gossip that bordered on truth would die down, and then Barden and the others would lay off him for a while.

  Of course, Chase didn’t actually need to have a girlfriend; rumors of a special lady in his life might be all that was needed.

  A smile broke out, which forced the Vicodin-dulled ache in his head to return and caused him to relax his facial muscles. “Actually, that’s exactly what I’m doing, Mom. I’m with a pretty blonde named Molly, and she just walked back into the room.”

  The nurse halted, and her lips parted as Chase decided to toss out information his mother could blow out of proportion. In fact, he was going to enjoy watching Nurse Molly’s reaction to his words.