Sean's Reckoning - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,42
his voice.
“Of course.” She reached for Kevin. “Come here, buddy. Let Sean help your mom.”
Sean sucked in a breath when he saw how pale Deanna was. Add to that the bruise already blossoming on her forehead from slamming into the floor facefirst and she looked pretty awful. He managed to find a spot next to her that wouldn’t interfere with the EMTs and took her hand in his. Hers was icy cold.
“Hey, darlin’, wake up,” he murmured. “Let me see those pretty brown eyes of yours.”
Her eyelids fluttered and a sigh seemed to wash over her.
“Come on, Deanna, you can do it,” he coaxed. “Wake up.”
She stirred restlessly. “No.”
The word was barely a whisper, but it had him grinning. “Why not? You enjoying this Sleeping Beauty routine?”
“Not that,” she said, her eyes still clamped shut.
“What then?”
“Don’t want to listen to you saying you told me so.”
The EMTs regarded him with a grin.
“I think she’s back with us,” one said. “Or at least she will be if you don’t terrorize her into sinking back into oblivion.”
“Her vitals are strong,” another confirmed.
“You taking her to the hospital?” Sean asked.
Her eyes did snap open at that. “No,” she said very firmly. “No hospital. I just fainted, for goodness sakes.”
“A trip to the E.R. wouldn’t hurt,” Sean said, still holding her hand. “Get you checked out. Have someone take a look at that bump on your head.”
Her gaze clung to his. “No hospital, please. I’m fine. See?” She started to sit up, then clutched her head and sank back.
“Whoa, darlin’, how about staying real still till your head stops spinning?”
“Where’s Kevin?” she asked.
“He’s right here. Ruby has him.”
“I need to see him. He must be scared.”
Sean heard the anxiety in her voice and knew she was worried about more than Kevin’s state of mind. She was worried that Sean was going to view this incident as one more example of her not being a good parent. Good parents didn’t fall on their faces in front of their kids.
“Kevin’s a little worried about you, but he’s doing just fine. No harm done,” Sean reassured her, hoping that she understood the underlying message. “Hey, Ruby, bring Kevin over here. Somebody’s asking for him.”
Once again Deanna struggled to sit up, this time making it with Sean’s arm to prop her up. When Kevin raced toward her, she enveloped him in a hug that Sean found himself envying.
“Mom, are you okay?”
“I am now,” she assured him.
Sean watched the two of them clinging to each other, and for the first time in years, he felt like an outsider again. What had ever made him think that he could fit into their tight little family circle? They had each other and that was all that seemed to matter to either of them.
The loneliness that crept through him now was even worse, somehow, than it had been years ago. He’d gotten used to it then, but lately he’d started to let himself dream. He was an idiot, no question about it.
Satisfied that Deanna was going to be fine, he stood up, took one last look at them, turned on his heel and walked away. Some people just weren’t meant to have their dreams come true. It looked as if he was one of them.
Chapter Nine
Deanna was home, tucked beneath the sheets in Ruby’s bed with a tray of scrambled eggs, toast, raspberry jam and tea in front of her, by six-thirty. No one had listened to her protests that she was perfectly capable of finishing out her shift. She grinned ruefully. Maybe it had something to do with Joey’s liability insurance. He probably wasn’t covered for waitresses fainting into people’s dinners.
Ruby and Kevin sat beside the bed watching her intently, as if they weren’t so sure she wasn’t going to pass out again.
“Eat,” Ruby finally ordered, when Deanna had yet to pick up her fork.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Yeah, right. That’s why you fainted, because you were so overstuffed from chowing down all day.”
“Very funny,” Deanna said, pushing the eggs around on the plate. She lifted the fork to her mouth, then put it down again.
“Nice try, but you have to actually put the food in your mouth for it to do any good,” Ruby commented. She studied Deanna worriedly, then glanced at Kevin. “Kiddo, I knew we forgot something. How about going into the kitchen and getting your mom a glass of juice?”
Deanna started to protest, then caught the forbidding look in Ruby’s eyes and clamped her mouth shut.
As soon as Kevin