A Daddy for Christmas: Holiday Romance (Holiday Romance Collection Book 2) (10 page)

“No problem, Megan. It was very nice to meet you. Jacob, give your ole’ gra…give me a hug before we go.”

Jacob ran over and put his arms around Brandt one last time, then Brandt and Brice were gone.

Chapter 12

T
hat next weekend, Brice was back again.

“Brice, what are you?” Megan asked as Brice came up the steps with two sleds. Megan shook her head, and opened the door wide before yelling behind her. “Jacob, Brice is here!”

Jacob didn’t wait a second before yelling. “Yay!”

Megan rolled her eyes as she met Brice’s. “You need to call first.”

Brice frowned. “Meg…an, I’m off this Saturday, remember the rotation?”

Megan looked at Brice as if she wanted to pelt him. “Yes, I remember.”

“Is it okay if I take him sled riding?”

Megan wanted to tell him where to shove the sled, but she couldn’t. Jake would be disappointed.

“Brice!” Jacob yelled, running straight toward him. “I knew you’d be back!”

“I told you I would, bud.” Brice looked up. “I took off next weekend, too. Well, just Sunday. Can I have him again next Sunday?”

Megan eyed him carefully then mouthed, why are you doing this?

Brice wanted to talk to her, to tell her that he was sick over the breakup, but she didn’t look happy with him.

“I was thinking I’d take him up to Alpa Valley.”

Megan smiled. “I haven’t been there in ages.”

“Do you want to go with us?” Brice asked, his palms started to sweat. He was nervous as hell being around her now.

“No. This is yours and Jacob’s time. I’ll go some other time.”

Jacob frowned as he looked from his Mom to Brice. “Don’t you like Brice anymore, Mommy?”

Megan looked at Jacob, and tried not to panic. “It’s not that, Jacob.”

“Mommy, why are you mad at Brice?”

“Jacob, why don’t you go inside and get your coat and boots on before you catch cold.” It was snowing today, and the weather was chilly.

Jacob looked at Brice, then at Megan before going in.

“Why are you doing this?” Megan asked once more.

“I told you, I promised.”

“Do you like being tortured? Is that It?”

“Megan, why were you with that guy?” Brice asked, finally getting it off his chest. He waited for her to answer, but she didn’t move. She looked as if she were angry at him. How was it his fault?

“I am not going to dignify that with a response.”

“Megs…”

“Don’t! I told you not to call me that. You called me that when you acted like you liked me. Now it just makes me sick to hear it.”

“Megs, I love you.”

Megan’s heart thudded and her gaze went straight to his. “If you loved me, then you never would have believed I’d do something like that.”

“Who was he?”

Megan shook her head. “You are impossible to get through to.”

“Just tell me.”

“Have him back in a few hours,” Megan said, sharply then went back inside.

A few minutes later, Jacob came out. “What’s wrong, Brice?” Jacob asked.

“I just told your mom that I loved her.”

“Why are you sad, she tells me that all the time?”

“She didn’t say anything back.”

An hour later, after running up and down the hill and sliding down with Jacob, Brice had lain back in the snow.

“Why are you sad, Brice?”

Brice didn’t want to lie to the kid, but he didn’t know how much truth a five year old could handle. “It’s just grown up stuff.”

“Is it about the Maple diner?”

Brice chuckled. The kid was smart. “Some of it, buddy.”

“Is it about Toby’s dad?”

Brice looked over at the kid he had fallen in love with and nodded. “Yeah,” he said gruffly.

“Why are you mad at him?”

“I’m not mad at him, I’m just upset that your mother likes him.”

Jacob made a funny face and then started to move his arms to make a snow angel. “You mean like him like him?”

Brice didn’t want to laugh, but he did. “Yeah.”

“No she doesn’t.”

“What do you mean?” Brice asked.

Jacob scrunched his nose up in thought and stopped moving his arms. “She likes you.”

“Yeah, but she went out with him.”

“We were just going out for a congag congratulagory meal.”

“Congratulatory?” Brice asked.

“Yeah, for after the play. Toby’s dad works with Mommy. He’s a doctor.”

Brice wanted to die. “What?”

“Toby’s daddy is a…”

“Doctor?”

“Yeah, Brice.”

“Shit.”

Jacob’s eyes widened at the curse, and then he leaned over to whisper in Brice’s ear. “I won’t tell Mommy.”

Brice felt relief. “Thanks, buddy.”

When he and Jake got back to Megan’s, she was busy on the phone and brought Jacob in with her one arm, and waved Brice off with her other. Brice wanted to talk to her, but she had other plans. It was just as well, really, because he felt like a complete and utter ass.

Two hours later, Brice found himself in front of Carrie’s apartment. He knocked twice before a tall, lean kid answered.

“Dusty?”

“Yeah, who are…Brice?” the kid asked, then grinned.

“Holy sh…Holy… kid, you are getting huge!” Brice said, then brought the boy in for a hug. “Man, I remember you when you were about, hell,” he said, motioning to a height just above Jacob’s, “this high.”

Dusty smiled. He looked just like Carrie. “Mom’s in the living room. Come on in,” Dusty said, then ushered him toward where his mother was.

When Brice walked in, he was immediately worried. Clothes were on the floor, and the furniture didn’t look as though it had been dusted in a while.

“Dusty, is everything…”

“Brice O’Reilly, is that you?”

Brice turned around, and there sitting on the couch was Carrie. “Carrie?”

Carrie made a sad face, and then looked back toward Brice with dead eyes. “I suppose now you know my secret.”

“Why didn’t you say anything, Carrie?” Brice asked, shocked at the revelation.
Carrie was blind?
“What happened?”

“When I broke it off with Carl, there wasn’t another guy. I told him that, you know?” Carrie said, crying. “That was my biggest regret.”

“Why don’t you tell him that?”

“Don’t you think I would?” Carried said, desperately. “I’ve been like this for a long while. At first it was just a little bit, blotches of images distorted, then it all just went completely. I broke up with him from behind the damn door. I was shocked, devastated. What do you do? I had a little boy to raise, and I couldn’t even see him anymore!”

Brice looked at Dusty and frowned. “I am so sorry for both of you.”

Carrie scoffed. “But that’s not why you’re here.”

“No.”

She stiffened. “Please tell me nothing’s happened to Carl.”

“No, nothing’s happened. He misses Dusty. He’s been upset.”

“He misses me?” Dusty asked.

Brice could tell the boy was holding on by a thin thread of hope. Brice nodded. “Very much. I came over here because he’s wanted to see you for some time now, but…”

“But I told him to leave and never come back,” Carrie finished. Dusty looked over at his mother and then away again. Brice couldn’t help but feel horrible for the entire situation. His buddy was still in love with Carrie, if he was right, and he was sure that he was.

“If I could get Carl to come over, would you talk to him?” Brice asked Carrie.

Carrie shook her head quickly, denying that thought. “There’s no way he’d want to see me after everything that I’ve done.”

“Carrie, he deserves to know. He’s a good man.”

“He’s the best. I don’t think I can, Brice.”

“Well, that’s too bad, because I’m going to talk to him. You and Dusty deserve better than this life that you’ve settled for, and so does Carl.”

Brice left a few minutes later, after making sure Dusty had money, and headed straight for Carl’s.

Hours later, Carl and Brice sat at Rosie’s Bar drinking shots. Brice told him the whole sordid affair, and Carl broke down in tears. He had told him how he suspected her eyesight getting bad, and that he had mentioned it a few times to Carrie, but she denied it.

“She must have been scared,” Carl said of Carrie. Brice nodded.

“She knew me by my voice right away. She has obviously been this way for some time. The house was a bit messy. Dusty is huge.”

Carl smiled. “I can’t wait to see him. I just…I have to take a few days to process this. I can’t believe Carrie held this back from me.”

“She told me that she never cheated, man, and you know what?”

“What’s that?” Carl asked, gruffly.

“I believe her.”

Carl took a deep breath, and told Brice that he would be seeing Dusty and Carrie in the morning. “You going to be okay?” Carl asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“You going to apologize to Megan?”

Brice looked down at his drink then tilted it back. “Yeah.” He still couldn’t believe how he messed up the whole situation with Megan. “I’m going to make things right.”

“I’m glad to hear it. And, Brice,” Carl said, as he stood up. “Thanks for taking the initiative and finding out about Carrie and Dusty. Who knows if I’d have ever had the guts to do it myself?”

“What are friends for?” Brice asked, then stood, too.

“I’m going to take a cab, you want to share one?”

“Nah, I’m going to just walk home. I only have a block. Besides, I need some bread anyway. I’m going to stop at Speedmart.”

“Okay, be careful. See ya at work tomorrow.”

“Later.”

When Brice walked outside, the wind nearly froze his breath. “Damn, it’s cold out here,” he said to himself. He put his hands in his pockets and headed down to the Speedmart. It was a few houses down from his. When he got there, he wasn’t paying much attention as a group of three men ran in with guns, shooting up the place. Brice looked up in time to see one of the kids, and then felt the sharp pain of a bullet piercing his skin. Seconds later, he was on the ground, bleeding while holding a loaf of bread and a fifty cent pack of gum.

Chapter 13

T
hree hours later, Megan got the call from Carl. Brice had been shot, and was in critical condition. Megan dropped the phone, and felt the cold rush inside her body. She felt sick immediately as she went to pick it back up and place it on the receiver.

After a few minutes of arranging a babysitter, Megan was out the door and on her way to the hospital.

Brice was in surgery to remove the bullet when she got there. She went to walk back to his room. “Family only,” one of the nurses said. Megan, luckily remembered her hospital badge. She flashed it at the nurse then went back. Brice’s Dad was sitting in the waiting room, his hands were in front of his eyes.

“Brandt?” Megan said softly. Brandt looked up and then stood, bringing Megan in for a hug. “Have you heard anything?”

“Nope. He just went back.”

“I just saw him…”

“I know, Megan. He told me about taking Jake sled riding.”

“He did?”

“Yeah, he loves that little boy, you know?”

Megan smiled softly. “Yeah, I know. Jake just adores him, too.”

“That’s good. Did you tell your son about him?”

Megan shook her head quickly. “I couldn’t. I didn’t know what to say.”

“I understand Jacob’s father has passed?”

Megan nodded. “Yes.”

“And you didn’t want to tell him in case the same thing happened to my son?”

Megan looked up horrified. “I didn’t know it was that serious!”

“I think any time you get shot at is serious,” Brandt said sadly. “Listen, little girl, my son is a strong man. If there is a chance that he is okay, he will be.”

Megan sniffed as tears came rushing down her face. Brandt pulled her down to sit in one of the chairs that he was just seated in. “Let’s pray together.”

Megan nodded.

Three hours later, Brandt was called back for a blood transfusion, and Megan began to get really scared. She didn’t know what she would do if she lost Brice.
Why was she so stubborn? Why didn’t she tell him that she loved him when she had the chance?

“Any change?” Carl asked as he walked into the room. Megan was sitting there with her head in her hands. Megan shook her head, as Carl sat down.

“How are you holding up?”

“I’m not.”

“Megan, he loves you.”

Megan cried harder, thinking about yesterday when he admitted as much. “He told me that yesterday, and I didn’t believe him.”

“We all do stupid things, Megan.”

“What do you mean?” Megan asked, and then Carl proceeded to tell her about Dusty and Carrie.

Brice woke up to a roomful of doctors. His head pounded, and his chest felt like someone was sitting on top of him. “What’s happened?”

“You were shot, do you remember?” A doctor asked. Brice went to take a deep breath, but ended up coughing instead.

“That hurts.”

“Yeah, try not to do that,” the doctor said, smiling. “Can you tell me where it hurts?”

Brice winced. “Yeah, everywhere.”

“I’ve never been shot, Mr. O’Reilly, but I have heard that before. I’m Dr. Cameron. I don’t usually meet cops this way.”

Brice nodded. “I don’t usually meet doctors this way. So, what about the other guy?”

The doctor laughed. “Well, according to your partner, there were three of them, and they are now being held in the county jail. I’m sure they’ll want a statement from you.”

“Of course. Even in here, I have to deal with paperwork.”

Doctor Cameron smirked. “Yeah, so now that you’re awake, who do you want to see first?”

“Who’s all out there?” Brice asked, surprised.

“Well, there’s a lady out there, your partner and your dad.”

“What’s she look like?” Brice said. He could barely get the words out as his chest hurt like hell. “Do I get some kind of pain relief?”

“We put meds in your IV drip, they should be alleviating some of that pain.”

“Send in the woman.”

Doctor Cameron grinned. “I thought as much. Give me a minute.”

It was five minutes.

Five excruciating minutes.

When Megan walked in they both spoke at once.

“I love you. I love you.”

Megan’s eyes watered and she went to hug him, but he stiffened. “Oh, sorry.”

“Baby, please don’t be mad at me. Can you forgive me for being an ass?”

Megan smiled, laughing at how stupid the situation got. “Of course I can. Brice, I can’t tell you what I’ve gone through. I was terrified, utterly terrified that I’d lost you.”

“Baby, you could never lose me, you’ve had me since that very first day at the police station.”

Megan nodded. “Yeah, you had me, too.”

Brice couldn’t help the tears from falling either. “Where’s my boy?”

“He’s at mom’s house. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Everything is going to be okay now, Megs.”

Megan smiled at the name once again. “I love you, Brice.”

“I love you, too, baby.”

Three days later, Carl brought Dusty and Carrie in to see him. Flowers were littered all over the room, and he had cards from the elementary school students, and the police station. The local news also did a story about the cop who got shot at the Speedway. Brice’s room was constantly full of people.

“I can’t wait to get out of here,” Brice said to Carl. “I need to get out of this place by Christmas break.”

“Christmas break?”

“Yeah, I want to spend it with Jacob.”

“Just Jacob,” Megan said as she came off her shift. She was smiling at him when she walked in.

“No, not just Jake.”

Carl stood, and introduced Carrie and Dusty. Then he was soon gone, leaving Brice alone with Megan.

“I’ve missed you,” Brice said. Megan came up to the bed and gave him a kiss. She had been there every day, and throughout the day for the past two. “Jacob wants to see you tonight.”

“Good, I miss him.”

“What do we tell him?” Megan asked, carefully.

Brice thought about the ring that was in his dresser and looked her deep in the eyes. “Give me your hand,” Brice said. Megan looked at him oddly and placed her palm in his. He threaded their fingers together. “I was going to ask you this beneath the Christmas tree, but Jake didn’t ask for that…” Brice mumbled. “Jake wanted a dad for Christmas, not one after…I’m screwing this up.”

Megan’s eyes were shinning bright as she took a deep breath and waited for Brice to continue.

“What I’m trying to say is, Megs, you need to marry me, and as soon as possible.”

Megan grinned a 100 watt smile and leaned in so her lips touched Brice’s. “I do not.”

“Do, too.”

Megan giggled.

Later that night, with the help of Carl and Brandt, Brice had the ring that he had purchased for Megan months ago. When she and Jacob returned to the hospital he took her hand once more and placed his ring on her finger. She happily accepted, of course.