Claimed By The Devil - Joanna Blake Page 0,69
stood outside the partially frosted glass door, watching my wife wait. Her long, elegant legs were crossed and her hands were folded on her lap. She looked calm, but I didn’t buy it. She had on her biggest, darkest sunglasses. I knew she only brought those out when she thought she was going to cry.
You would never know it, but my tough as nails wife was a crier. She had the biggest damn heart of anyone I had ever known. And I fucking loved every inch of her.
She was called after a few minutes. My gut twisted. That was a bad sign. They didn’t make you wait for bad news.
As soon as she disappeared through the doors, I strode to the reception desk. I was greeted by a kid who looked twenty at most. She stared up at me like a deer in headlights.
“Husband,” I said, nodding after Janet. The girl nodded with wide eyes. Then she led me back behind the desk and down a hallway without saying a word.
She knocked and then opened a door. It wasn’t an exam room. It was a room with a desk. The doctor’s private office.
Another bad sign.
The sexy redhead was tense. She was expecting the doctor. But when she turned her head, she had to look up. Way, way up.
“Jack,” she stammered. For once in her life, my badass wife looked scared. Not scared of me. Never me. But our being here together made it all sink in. It made it real.
For both of us.
I slipped into the seat beside her and took her hand without a word. Her hand felt clammy in mine. My wife never broke a sweat except when she was dancing. The woman could juggle all five of our kids, a thriving business, and my cranky ass, all at once.
It sent a bolt of fear right to the pit of my stomach. I hid my reaction, though. She needed my strength right now, not my utter fucking terror of losing her.
Don’t go there, Jack. Not yet. Not ever.
I felt her tense beside me when the door clicked open. The doctor smiled as he took the seat across from us. The smile was friendly but also sympathetic. Apologetic. I felt the floor drop out from under me.
“So, we don’t have excellent news. Something is going on. But we aren’t sure what it is yet. We’d like to schedule a needle biopsy for next week. Sooner than that, if we can manage it.”
“Is there a rush?”
“It’s always best to get ahead of these things as quickly as possible if we can.”
“By these things, you mean cancer,” Janet said. It wasn’t a question. The doctor nodded anyway.
“Yes. That is what we suspect. But it’s way too soon to tell.”
My wife’s hand turned icy in mine and relaxed. I took a quick look at her. She was calm. Perfectly calm. Like a sailor staring down a storm that was almost guaranteed to capsize their boat. Like a solider preparing for battle. Like a wife and mother, preparing herself for the fight of her life.
That’s when I realized that the shit had truly hit the fan. I wanted to fall apart. I couldn’t do that, though. Not even for a second. I couldn’t make her take care of me. I would handle my shit. I had to. I didn’t want her to have to prop me up emotionally on top of everything else.
I squeezed her hand and she looked at me. I nodded. She nodded.
That’s when I knew that we had this. We didn’t have a choice.
We would get through it together, come hell or high water.
Chapter Forty-Five
Nick
"Drake did a good job," Melissa said tentatively. She was nervous. I hid a smile. She was right to be nervous. Not that I'd ever hurt her, but I definitely had another spanking in mind.
“He might not seem like it all the time, but he's a good dude," I said. "He's loyal."
"Of course, he is," she said, running her hand over the velvety nose of her horse. "all your friends are good guys."
"Not all of them," I growled. "Stay away from Jersey Mike."
“What? Why?"
"I didn't like the way he was looking at you."
She gave me a funny look and went back to feeding the horses. I went back to repairing a few things around the tack room. We worked in companionable silence for a while. It was almost time for lunch. And then we would take a break during the hottest part of the day. I