Page 8 of Deceit & Desire

Roman shrugged, shaking his head. “You don’t have to thank me. I would have done it even if you weren’t in the picture. It’s the right thing to do, paying your dad back for the kindness he has shown me ever since Granddad took me in when my mom... well... you know.”

“Yeah.” I gritted my teeth and nodded, swallowing hard. I almost forgot that Roman’s mother abandoned him when he was just two years old. She left him at the Twisted Creek bunkhouse for her father to find and just disappeared… all but fell off the face of the earth.

I sucked down a bracing breath and straightened up, wiping the tears off my cheeks. “Well... let’s go see about Daddy.”

Roman nodded and led the way into the medical center. I followed him step for step, all the way up to Daddy’s room.

“I’m not going to take any of that garbage, so you may as well draw up my discharge papers and let me go home.” My father’s voice boomed out into the hospital hallway and I sighed, shaking my head.

“Mr. Brandt, I really don’t think you’ve thought this through—” The nurse’s voice was strained, like she’d been pleading with my father to see reason for a while now, and it wasn’t working.

“I’ve thought it through plenty. Now, you seem like a nice young lady, so I’m not trying to be rude or make your job harder. I’m just telling you, I don’t need a damn oncologist. I’m not going to do the chemo or radiation, no matter what y’all saw on the x-rays of my lungs, so just go ahead and discharge me.”

My heart turned to stone and dropped to my feet.

Shit. My dad has lung cancer.

I reached over and gripped Roman’s arm, using it as an anchor to hold me together as I processed what I’d just heard. Swallowing hard around the lump that had formed in my throat, I pressed my lips together for a second before stepping into my father’s hospital room.

“But Mr. Brandt?—”

I cleared my throat, and the nurse jumped, whirling around to face Roman and me.

She looked Roman over from head to toe with blatant appreciation glittering in her limpid blue eyes, and didn’t bother to acknowledge me at all.

I crossed my arms and gritted my teeth for a second before speaking. “I think my father expressed his wishes quite clearly, and you’re in no position to dictate anything to him, regardless of your personal beliefs about his situation. You can go inquire about home healthcare options for my father while I have a word or two with him.”

“I really don’t think?—”

“No offense, but no one here is asking you what you think, ma’am. You heard Mr. Brandt, and you heard Ms. Brandt. Now, please, give them the privacy they asked for.” Roman shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned one shoulder against the wall, radiating an easy, no-nonsense attitude that I couldn’t help but admire.

Under different circumstances, I could imagine him being hell on wheels in a board room or running a business. It made quite the enticing mental image, but I shook that thought off. He was dangerously enticing as it was, and neither of us needed my imagination’s help.

The nurse turned red-faced and blew out a frustrated huff, shaking her head and muttering under her breath as she scurried out of Daddy’s hospital room.

“Thank you.” I reached out and gave Roman’s forearm a grateful squeeze, then strode over to my father’s hospital bed and sat down on the edge, taking his hand in both of mine, being careful not to jostle the IV that had been inserted there. “Hey, Daddy. How you doing?”

Dad’s green eyes turned misty, and he blinked back the tears that had suddenly pooled there. “God, you’re a sight for sore eyes, baby girl. I didn’t know you were planning on coming home any time soon.”

The rhythmic beeping of the EKG machine sounded between us and I cleared my throat, trying to shake off the tightness threatening to choke me half to death. I sucked in a deep breath through my nose and instantly regretted it as the mingled scents of industrial-grade cleaning supplies and sickness assaulted me.

“Roman called me when you collapsed, and I hopped the next available flight back to Montana. Seems like a good thing I made that call, too, based on what I just overheard on my way in here.”

“You gonna try to talk me out of it… tell me I should listen to the nurse?”

“I know better than to try to argue with you when you’ve already made up your mind. I’d have better luck arguing with a mountain, and besides… I’d rather respect your wishes, anyway. You’re old enough to know what you want.”

“That’s my girl.” Dad squeezed my hand, his fingers brushing over the engagement ring that rested on my finger. His eyes went wide as he studied the ring and a broad smile overtook his face, crinkling his eyes at the corners. “Well, I’ll be… I see Roman finally proposed. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to know that you worked through that falling out you had before you left for Miami. Does this mean you’re coming home to stay?”

Daddy’s joy was so genuine and bright, it broke my heart. Tears burned my eyes, and I choked back a sob as I nodded. “Yeah, Daddy. I’m home for good.”

“I’m so glad to hear that, baby. I always figured you and Roman would end up together. When are you gonna get married? Soon, I hope. I’d like to be there… if I can.” He reached up and cupped my cheek in his big, callused hand.

The remnants of my heart that were left shattered into a million smaller pieces under the force of my father’s optimism and excitement. “Soon, Daddy, I promise.”

Daddy sagged with relief, sinking back against the pair of pillows piled up behind him on the hospital bed. “I’m so glad. Roman is a good man, baby girl, and I just know he’ll be the best husband any girl could ask for, and an even better father to my grandbabies.”

Tears pooled in my eyes, and I stared up at the acoustic tile ceiling, refusing to let them fall. “Sure would be nice if you could find a way to stick around to see those grandbabies, Dad.”

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