SECOND CHANCES AT MG RANCH (18 page)

Sam took the spot that she offered; moving around until they were both comfortable with Loren snuggled in his arms, which was exactly where she belonged he thought as he watched her drift off to sleep.

C
hapter 28

Sunlight spilled in
from the only window in Loren’s hospital room.  She opened her eyes, blinking once or twice to bring herself awake.

The spot next her on the bed where Sam had been sleeping was now empty.  He must have gone to get coffee, she reasoned to explain his absence.

She sat up and stretched, then swung her legs over the side of the bed.  Loren could hear voices outside her room, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying from where she still sat perched on the bed.

On her way to the bathroom, she
stopped to see if she recognize who the voices belonged to.  It was two separate voices, one female and one male.  The conversation sounded more like a heated argument.

“What are you saying?”
There was no mistaking that voice, it belonged to Sam.

“Are you going to
just stand there and deny that she hasn’t told you?”

“I am not denying anything.  She hasn’t told me anything, but I
’m sure there’s a good explanation for it,” Sam said.

“
Now that she has lost the baby, she probably won’t even mention it to you.  How can you trust someone like that enough to want to marry them?”

Loren ran to the bathroom with her hand held over her mouth.  The sound of Stephanie’s voice brought the vile up from her stomach without warning.

By the time she had finished her retching and gotten herself cleaned up, it was quite outside her door.  She had missed the rest of the conversation between Sam and Stephanie.

There was really nothing more to do but sit and wait for Sam to come back, if he even did.
  He would probably be very angry with her, but she had a mind to quickly remind him that if he hadn’t have spent the night with Stephanie then he would have known about the baby.

Furthermore, she would not have acted like a craz
y woman and ran off to Winter Wonderland on her horse, which caused her to lose the baby.  As far as she was concerned this whole mess was more his fault than hers anyway.  So let him be angry with her if wanted to.

The door creaked open.  Loren turned to face t
he door to see who was coming in, half expecting it to be Sam.  Good Lord, why did it have to be Stephanie?  She had truly had enough of her and her conniving schemes.  “What do you want?” she asked, rather bluntly.

“You know what I want.  I want Sam!” she exclaimed.

“Why are you telling me that?  It is Sam’s choice who he wants to be with, not mine.”

“He knows your pre
cious little secret and once he’s confirmed that I am telling him the truth about your deceiving lies, he is going to drop you like a hot potato!” Stephanie said, almost screaming the words at her.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Loren lied.  She had no intention of discussing the baby or the
loss of it with her most hated enemy.

“You can act all sweet and innocent if you want to.  Your little charade will be over in due time, just you wait and see.”

“I have had enough of your tantrums to last me an eternity.  Get out of my room now before I call security.” Loren screamed at her.  She had tried to not let Stephanie rile her to the point of losing her temper, but it was too late.  She was ready to pounce on her like a wild cat.

Thank goodness that as
soon as the words were out of her mouth, Dr. Kim walked in.  She looked none too happy with Stephanie.  “And what do we have going on in here?” she asked.

“My unwanted guest was just leaving,” Loren replied.

    “As you wish, but this is not over,” Stephanie said.  She turned on her heel and exited the room very abruptly.

“Is
everything okay?” Dr. Kim asked, once the room was clear of Stephanie’s company.

“I don’t know.  I haven’t had a chance to tell Sam about the baby and I overheard a conversation between him and Stephanie outside my door this morning.  I don’t know how Stephanie knew, but she did and she told him.”  Loren wiped at the tears in her eyes and sniffed.

Dr. Kim patted her hand, hoping to comfort the poor child.  “I am sure Sam will understand once he hears the whole story.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” Loren asked.

“He will.”  Dr. Kim scribbled a few words on her chart and changed the subject.  “Do you think you are still feeling up to going home today?”

“Oh yes!  I don’t want to spend one more day here.  I want to go home
and get as far away from that woman as I can.”  They both laughed, but Loren still had tears streaming down her face.  She wiped at them and blew her nose on the tissue that Dr. Kim handed her.

“
Good, the nurse will call you in some pain medication, just in case you need it.  You may still have a little bleeding for several days, but that is normal.  Call me if you have any questions or concerns.”  Dr. Kim handed her a small note paper with her cell number scribbled on it.  “Call me any time, day or night if you need me.”

Loren was still fighting to hold back
more tears when Sam walked into the room.

Dr. Kim
instantly turned to look at Sam.  “Are you going to be taking Loren home?” she asked.

“I am,” he said to Dr. Kim.  “
Your parents are going to wait for us at MG.  I told them I would have you home safe and sound, as soon as the doctor released you,” he directed at Loren.

“Take good care of her Sam.”  Dr. Kim patted him on the shoulder on the way out.

“How about we get you dressed?” he said, being careful to not make eye contact with Loren.  It broke her heart to know that he was upset with her, but maybe there was still hope since he was still willing to drive her home.

“I think we should talk first,” she answered.  She laid her hands in her lap and clasped them together to keep them from shaking so badly.  Loren felt more nervous
now than she had the first time that she had made love with Sam.

“Can’t it wait
?”

She looked at him with tear filled eyes again.  “Sam, I have to get this out now.  The lies and secrets are eating me alive inside.  Please….”  Her voice trailed off.

“I’m listening.”  He waited for her to continue.

Loren took a deep breath.  “I was going to tell you about the baby yesterday, but when Stephanie answered your door that changed everything.”  Sam started to speak, so she held up her hand to keep him silenced.  “Just let me finish before you say anything.  I know it was crazy for me to run off on the horse the way I did but surely you can understand that I was upset.  I never meant to put
the baby or myself in danger.  I am sorry that I lost the baby and I am sorry that Stephanie had to be the one to tell you.”  Loren hung her head in shame.

Sam walked closer to the bed and lifted her chin, so that she was forced to look at him. 
“You overheard our conversation this morning, didn’t you?” he asked.

“I only heard part of your conversation
,” she corrected.  “I got sick at the sound of her voice and had to make a run for the bathroom.  By the time I was done puking my guts out, you were both gone.”

A sly grin etched across Sam’s face.  “I went to get the car ready.  I ha
ve to admit, I thought Stephanie was lying about the baby and well if she wasn’t, then I knew you would have a good explanation for it and would tell me when the time was right.”

“So you aren’t mad at me
then?  You didn’t go confirm her story with Dr. Kim?” Loren asked in disbelief.

“No, I am not mad at you.  I told you last night that I love you and I meant it.  And as far as confirming her story; are you so wet behind the ears that you don’t know anything about patient
-doctor confidentiality?”

Loren blushed.  She guessed that she had a lot of growing up to do.  “Lucky for me, I have you to teach me all about being grown up.”  She grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him in close enough to plant a big
wet kiss on his soft warm lips.

“Now, I have some confessing of my own,” he stated.  He held up his hand to give her the signal that it was her turn to sit and be patient.  “
I am not sure there is an easy way to say this, so I am just going to spit it out.  Stephanie has recently told me that Jordan is my son.  And when I say recently, I mean yesterday while you were in surgery.”  He paused briefly to give her a minute to let his words sink in, before continuing.  “Apparently we had a one night stand several years ago when she came home for a visit.  She had picked me up at a bar in a drunken state.  I could have sworn that we had made love, but she convinced me that nothing had happened between us.  Since I had been too drunk to remember much of anything from that night, I believed her.  She packed up and went back to Paris and I went back to taking care of MG Ranch.  I didn’t see or hear anything else from her again, until now.”

He watched Loren’s face
closely trying to gage her reaction to all that he had just told her.  “I want you to know that this does not change how I feel about you or that I still want to marry you, but I hope you can understand that I have to do what is right with Jordan if a blood test proves that he is my son.”

It was Loren’s turn to accept the news that he offered and decide how it would affect their future together. 
It was true that she hated Stephanie with every fiber of her being, but she couldn’t hate Jordan if she wanted to.  It wouldn’t be fair to blame him for the sins that had been committed by the adults in his life.  “I wouldn’t expect it any other way Sam.  I love you.  Our future is together and if that means that Jordan will be a part of our family, then so be it.  I am kind of fond of the little squirt anyway.”

“
That settles it then.  Let’s get you out of this bed and dressed before something crazy happens,” he said.  They both burst into laughter.  It felt good to be happy again.

“I would prefer for something crazy to happen, but since that would be going against doctor’s orders, I guess I better get dressed
.” Loren accepted the kiss that Sam planted firmly on her lips.

“It’s time to take you home where you belong,” Sam said.

“Where we both belong,” Loren corrected.  “MG Ranch is
our
home.

Sam felt more at peace than he had in hi
s whole life.  Not only had he found the woman who could mend his broken heart, but MG would now be his real home.

The End