Page 53 of Tasting Fire
“You just had an easiness about you. A oneness with life. Like the world was a playground that had been custom built for you.”
“And what about Shep? Did you and Mom expect a child on the autism spectrum?”
“No parent expects anything. We hope. Hope for healthy and happy. Did Shep bring certain complications into our lives? You bet. But he also brought a depth, a richness that we would never have experienced otherwise. I’m proud of all my kids, but Shep…”
Cash knew what his dad was trying to say. “He’s just special. Like a coconut tree unapologetically sprouting up in the middle of a wheat field.”
“Exactly.” His dad pinned him with a shrewd look. “So Emmy doesn’t want kids?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t made it that far. Hell, we haven’t even made it far enough for that to be a possibility.” And he wasn’t a hundred percent sure they should.
“The two of you aren’t children. It’s something to talk about before you go to bed together. Cash, you’ve played the field for years, and I don’t begrudge you that. But Emmy is different from the women you’ve dabbled with. If one of you wants a future with kids and the other doesn’t, you need to know that going in. Need to decide if that’s something you can both live with.”
“Even so, I can’t imagine five.”
“I figured if your mom was generous enough to gain the weight and bear the pain of giving you life, the least I could do was kiss boo-boos and make sure you made it to adulthood.” His dad smiled, a totally content expression, and patted Cash on the shoulder. “Love is important, Cash. But it takes a hell of a lot more than love to make a marriage work, especially one that includes a family. It’s a partnership that shifts and changes over the years. If we’re looking for someone to stay the same as the day we met her, we have no business trying to make a life with her.”
“That’s what was so stupid about me asking Emmy to marry me when we were eighteen.”
“No one could’ve talked you out of it back then.”
“What I wanted was the girl she was. I wasn’t willing to wait for the woman she wanted to become.”
His dad wrapped a friendly arm around Cash’s shoulders. “And because you understand that now, I think you’re ready to be the man for her.”
After their “fun” picnic, Cash had become awfully quiet. Emmy tried to reengage him in the conversation about enjoying life, but he’d cleaned up and left shortly after.
She couldn’t help but feel like she’d made a major blunder. Her life seemed to be filled with them right now, and she needed to know if Oliver was responsible for any of them. Especially the rumors and the lawsuit.
So she was calling. Again.
Finally, after several unanswered calls, he picked up with a clipped “Oliver Amory speaking.”
“Did you have anything to do with the Hernandez lawsuit?” Emmy asked.
“Who is this?”
God, he really was a colossal prick. “You know exactly who this is. And interestingly enough, rumors started circling in town about my professional competence as a doctor right around the time you were here.”
“Apparently, that backwoods burg is more discerning than I thought.”
“I think you started people talking.” And that wasn’t the half of it now. Recently, ER patients had asked for other doctors, choosing to wait rather than be seen by Emmy. And voluntary waiting was unheard of in the ER.
“Emerson, I have no control over the general population, especially mountain folk.” He placed a fake twang onmountain folkthat made Emmy’s whole body tighten with indignation. “But I appreciate that you think so highly of me.”
Emmy ground her teeth together so hard, she would probably need a crown on each of her molars.
“Have you reconsidered my offer?” Oliver asked.
“That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? You want to me to come back to Baltimore. I can’t imagine why. The hospital is just fine without me, and so are you. Besides, why would I want to be in a relationship with a man who tries to win me back by blackmailing me?”
“Rumors don’t imply guilt. Although those rumors would probably blow over quickly once you left Steele Ridge.”
“Maybe so, but the lawsuit is a much more serious situation.”
“What lawsuit?”
As if he didn’t know. “The one filed by the Hernandez family. I guess you didn’t have anything to do with that either. Dammit, Oliver, I worked on that kid for longer than I should have on someone with that much gunshot blast damage, but I just couldn’t give up on him.”
“Then perhaps you can understand why I can’t give up on you.”
