Her head snapped up. He had a smile on his face, but it didn’t’ reach his cold eyes.
Angel looked over his shoulder. The girl he’d had his arm around was walking up.
“Cole, who’s this?” the girl asked.
Angel noticed she was a pretty thing with long dark hair that hung to her waist.
Cole looked back at the girl and pointed back at the door.
“I told you to get the fuck inside,” he yelled. The girl retreated.
Angel flinched. Somehow this wasn’t the Cole she remembered. Or maybe she’d just built him up in her head.
The sound of crying filled the air. It snapped Angel out of it.
Cole looked back, startled. Realizing the sound was coming from inside the SUV.
“Now look what you’ve done!” she snapped. She turned and stepped over to the driver’s side window. Leaning her head in, she said, “There, there, Honey-Bear. Mommy’s right here. It’s okay.”
Mommy? Cole frowned, then walked over to the rear door and jerked it open. He looked in at the child strapped in the car seat on the other side. A stunned look crossed his face. He studied the child’s face, his blond hair, and his big blue eyes.
Angel tried to push him back.
Cole wasn’t having it. He grabbed her arm and twisted.
“You’re hurting me,” she said, glaring into his eyes. Their faces were a couple of inches apart.
His eyes dropped to her mouth, and desire ricocheted through him like a bolt of lightning. He let go of her as quickly as if she’d burned him. “Why’d you come here?” he asked harshly.
He could try his best, but she wasn’t going to be scared off. Not when she had so much to lose. “I need to talk to you.”
“We’ve got nothing to talk about.” He raised his eyebrows in a smirk. “Did you come here to tell me that’s my kid?”
She shook her head. “No. This isn’t about him.”
A knife went through him. He realized in a split second just how badly he’d wanted it to be true. Then who was the father? The thought of her with another man, having another man’s child, did something to him. “What then?” he snapped.
She took a deep breath. She looked around. Every person on the lot was looking at them. “Is there somewhere we can talk? In private? Please.”
He looked at her a long moment. He would have denied her in an instant, if it weren’t for that last word she’d whispered.
She watched him sure that he was going to refuse. She could see the struggle on his face. He wanted to send her away. He wanted to. Badly.
He took a deep breath and looked back at the others. Then he held out his hand. “Give me the keys.”
She looked at him curiously, and then slowly held the car keys out to him.
He shut the rear door, opened the driver’s door, and climbed in.
She stood staring at him.
“You coming?”
She snapped out of it, walked around, and got in the passenger side. He pulled out of the lot and down the side street. He never looked at her, but she noticed he glanced several times in the rearview mirror, looking at TJ.
He drove a few blocks and pulled into the parking lot of a boarded up grocery store. He put it in park and turned the engine off. He sat quietly for a few moments, and then finally looked over at her.
“You wanted to talk?”
She took a deep breath. She’d rehearsed this a hundred times on the flight. Now that she was here, looking at him, she was having a hard time finding the words to start.
“Darlin’, if ya got something to say, say it.”
She nodded. “Okay. Look, as you used to say, I’m going to give this to you straight. No sugarcoating. It’s a long story, but I’ll try to make it as brief as possible. Please don’t stop me until I’m done. Okay?”
He studied her, a frown forming on his face. She really had him puzzled now. Just what the hell was she about to tell him?
“Okay.”
“Nine months after I left here, I gave birth to twins. TJ and a girl named Melissa.” She paused to take a breath.
His left hand had been resting on top of the steering wheel, his thumb tapping against it unconsciously, but his hand stilled in an instant. His breath caught in his throat as he stared at her, his brain trying to process it all. For some reason it stalled on the girl’s name she’d chosen. Melissa. He still thought of Angel every time he heard that song.
“When Melissa was about a year and a half, I noticed a lump on the back of her neck. She has…” She looked down and swallowed, finding it hard to say the dreaded word. “She has Leukemia. She’s been through chemotherapy, radiation, more horrible stuff than any child should ever have to endure.” Once she’d started, the words poured out. Her voice was a little shaky, and she tried to get it all out before she broke down completely.
He sat frozen, taking in her every word.
“She needs a bone marrow transplant. It’s her only hope of beating this. The donor has to be a strong match for this to be successful. “I’m not one. Either is TJ.”
“You need a donor? That’s why you’re here?” he asked stunned, turning to look out the windshield.
“There’s a fifty-fifty chance you’re her father.” She watched him turn and look at her. “Or her father may be lying out in a ravine somewhere, decomposing.”
“Shit.” He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.
“Please don’t’ smoke around him,” she asked.