Page 63 of Reckless Curves
Chapter Twenty
Tom hated the smell of hospitals. The antiseptic scent filled his nostrils, and he choked on the sterile odor. Or was it his own fear he was choking on?
He paced impatiently up and down the waiting room. It had been almost two hours and if someone didn’t tell him something soon, he would lose his shit…. He blew out another long breath. No one would tell him anything. Not since Marcus had arrived. Tom wasn’t a relative or Kendra’s husband, so they excluded him, even though he loved Kendra more than life itself.
How ironic that his father was in this very hospital. He was supposed to meet with the transplant team today to go over his results. He hadn’t noticed the smell nearly as much when he’d visited his father. But then he didn’t have so much at stake.
Suddenly the doors to the ward opened and Marcus appeared. He looked like he’d been hit by a car.
“How is she?”
Marcus scrubbed a hand over his face. “They’ve rehydrated her and she’s awake, but they’re keeping her in for tests. Her temperature is still up.”
“Do they have any idea what’s wrong with her?”
Marcus shook his head, “It could simply be a virus, or flu. They don’t know, but because of her medical history they are doing tests to be sure.”
“Can I see her?” asked Tom as he made to walk round him, but Marcus grabbed his arm.
“She doesn’t want to see you.”
Tom shook off Marcus’s hand. “You’re just saying that to keep us apart, but I’m not leaving her. I love her. Get out of my way.” He didn’t even notice he was yelling.
Marcus’s eyes filled with tears. “I know you do. I know about Connor. She just told me you’re his father. I’d like to beat the shit out of you but now is not the time.”
“So let me pass.”
“She doesn’t want to see you. I’m so sorry, but once she gets something in her head… you know how stubborn she is.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Marcus sighed, looking over Tom’s shoulder. “Go home. Be with Connor. He will wonder where his mother is and he could get scared. He needs his father.”
Tom couldn’t believe this. Fear weaved through his cells. Marcus wasn’t even mad about Connor. What was really wrong with Kendra? “Why? Why is she pushing me away?”
He watched Marcus swallow hard. “She’s got this fool idea in her head that her cancer is back and she doesn’t want to drag you through that—”
“Bullshit. That’s not her decision to make. What? Does she think I’ll leave her if the going gets rough? If her cancer is back, we’ll fight it together. I want to be there fighting for her all the way.”
Marcus glared and drew Tom away towards the exit. “It’s not you she’s protecting. It’s herself. Can’t you see? When she battled before, she didn’t have you or Connor to lose. Both of you are her world. She’s scared she’ll lose this next battle, if there is one, and it will be worse with you there because she knows what she’s leaving behind. If she pushes you both away, she thinks it will be easier for her to face her own mortality.”
“What about Connor? He’ll need to see her. We both need her.”
“She doesn’t want him here either. She doesn’t want her son to remember her sick. She wants you to take care of him.” Tom’s mouth dropped open. She didn’t want her son… “Go home, Tom. Go be with your son. He needs you now.”
Tom brushed the tears off his face. “I’ll be back. I’ll keep coming back until she sees me. Until she realizes I’m not leaving her alone. And I’ll have Connor with me.”
Marcus nodded. “Good. You fight for her. She needs you to make her fight too, if it is cancer. It may not be, but of course she’s thinking the worst. Especially as a friend’s cancer returned recently and it’s now terminal.”
At the word terminal, Tom’s blood turned icy in his veins. He smelled his own fear, but nothing would scare him away from her this time. It wasn’t like his mother. His mum chose to leave him. With cancer, no one had a choice. A cold malady seeped through him, and he suddenly wanted to be home holding Connor tight. He couldn’t lose Kendra, not now. “All those bloody wasted years,” he said. “I should have opened her emails.”
Marcus hugged him before stepping back. “I can’t believe I got it so wrong. All this time I worried you’d break her heart. I never for one minute imagined she’d break yours.” With that, he turned and walked back through the doors towards his sister and left Tom standing there like a helpless dick.
Yes, getting home to Connor was what he needed. But he’d be back. There was no way Tom would allow her to push him away. He looked at his watch. He had just enough time to get home, see Connor and shower, check on Jackie, before he had to be back here for his test results.
* * *
“Thought I’d find you here.”
