“She said you were working all the time. She was scared,” Belinda added, clutching her husband’s arm. “I tried to get her to move back home with us—”
Guilt squeezed Nick’s chest and regret consumed him. Yes, he had been working hard. For all of them.
“We don’t want to see you here,” Mike said, stepping forward. “Just go home. We will be taking care of our granddaughter from here on out.”
“I am not giving up my daughter,” Nick insisted.
“Do you know what it takes to raise a baby?” Belinda asked. “Do you have any notion of how much work is involved, how much time and energy? How can you manage a newborn? Especially while trying to start a new business?”
“I will learn.” He turned to look at his baby in the nursery once more. She was so fragile and small. “She needs me. I won’t let her down. I’m her father, and she belongs with me.”
Belinda’s eyes widened with disbelief. “While you’re working all the time? Be reasonable, Nick. How will you take care of her?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “But I know I have to try.”
“Don’t you want what is best for her?” she pleaded.
He met her gaze head-on. “I won’t abandon my daughter.”
Mike thrust his index finger toward Nick’s chest. “Let me assure you, Mr. Carr. You will not get your hands on our granddaughter. We’re taking her home with us, and you will never see her again. Do you understand? Get her out of your mind. I won’t let you ruin her life, too.”
Stunned by his venom, Nick stood speechless. “I didn’t ruin Shelley’s life,” he said softly, but his words sounded hollow even to his ears. “Bailey is my baby. I won’t give up on her. I will get a lawyer and fight you if I have to.”
Something cold moved in Mike’s eyes, and Nick understood why some people were afraid of him. The man stepped closer. “If you want to keep that new contractor’s license, if you want a future in this town, then turn around and walk away.”
Stunned, Nick stared at him. Was that a threat?
Belinda beseeched him with sad gray eyes that looked so much like Shelley’s. “Please, give it some thought, Nick. We all want what’s best for the baby.”
Nick turned from them and walked down the corridor to the elevator. He hit the button for the main floor. He couldn’t stand the thought of giving up Bailey. Of abandoning her.Now that he’d held her in his arms, there was no way he could walk away.
But Belinda was right about one thing; he had no idea what it took to be a father. During the last twenty-eight years of his life, he’d made many mistakes, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be a good dad. He stepped out of the elevator and crossed the main lobby. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to do it on his own. He was going to need help; he was going to need his dad. It was time he told him about Bailey.
As he reached the main floor, the doors in front of him burst open and paramedics rushed in pushing a gurney. Nick jumped out of the way. As they passed, he glanced down at the patient and sucked in a chest full of air. “Gillian!”
That couldn’t be right. He must be mistaken. He hadn’t seen Gillian in at least eight years. Not since the night she told him she didn’t love him anymore and would never come back to Granite Falls. In ten words, she’d shattered not only his heart but all his plans for their future.
He turned and followed after her, catching up with the paramedics. He looked down at the woman on the gurney again, wondering if his eyes had deceived him. Her skin was ghostly white, and a sharp gash split open her forehead. Dried blood had run down her face and pooled along her neck.
Gillian.There was no mistake. He’d know her anywhere. No matter how much time had passed. Fear clutched his chest. He followed the medics as they maneuvered her into an emergency room cubicle.
A large male nurse with a shock of red hair placed his hand on his arm and pushed him back into the hall. “Sorry, you can’t come in.”
“Will she be all right?” he asked, the nurse’s name tag read McDougal.
“Go back and sit in the waiting room. We’ll let you know as soon as we’re done examining her.”
Nick saw the concerned expression on the doctor’s face while the monitors were quickly being hooked up to Gillian’s fragile body, and his stomach dropped. He couldn’t make his feet move to leave. The nurse frowned and pulled the curtain shut in front of him. He turned and pulled his phone out of his pocket as he walked toward the row of sterile gray chairs sitting in the waiting room.
“Dad, I’m at the hospital,” he said once the connection was made and he was able to find his voice. “They just brought Gillian in. She doesn’t look good.”
* * *
Scared and alone,Gillian fought her way out of the bad place. Something dark was barreling toward her. She needed to run, but she was so tired and lost.
“Hello, Gillian,” Paul said. He was smiling at her, holding something in his arms. A baby.Her baby. Then he turned his back on her and walked away.Wait. Come back. Panic loomed just below the surface and something worse, an emptiness that threatened to suck her in and suffocate her. Don’t leave me.
Then she heard a soft familiar voice that soothed the ache and filled her heart with warmth, and her soul with tears.