“No. No buts. You’re my wife. That makes everything that’s mine,yours. Okay? And maybe while I’m gone, you can get those wedding rings out of storage.”
Shit. “I’ll look for them.” It wasn’t a lie. Shewouldlook. She just had no idea where they were.
“Good.” He lowered his head and kissed her, and she slipped her hand behind his neck and deepened the kiss.
A low, guttural sound vibrated from his chest before he pushed her back against the wall, the warmth of his body in complete contrast with the cool tiles at her back.
He was just inching her top up when the ringing of a phone sounded from behind them. Colt’s phone.
He growled. “It better be important.”
She chuckled, missing him the second he stepped away from her.
Colt frowned before putting the cell to his ear. “Ben. Is everything okay?”
Whatever Ben said made Colt straighten. “I’m coming now.”
Nerves punched Indie in the stomach as she waited for him to hang up. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Mom. She’s in the hospital.”
Colt pulledinto the parking lot of the Amber Ridge Hospital. His mother being here wasn’t a new thing. Suffering from asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease meant she’d made frequent visits since he was a kid. She had better and worse days.
Was it worse today because of everything that had happened?
Or maybe itwasn’tworse. Maybe this was a ruse to get him to come to her…just like it had been the night Indie had asked for a break a year ago.
He hadn’t thought his mother could even do something like that. But after last night? He wasn’t surewhatthe woman was capable of anymore.
He climbed out of his Audi and crossed the parking lot, heading toward the room number that Ben had texted him.
Everything his mother said last night played over in his head again and again. And it made him angrier each time. The reason it hurt so much was because he’d trusted her. From his father, he expected to be stabbed in the back. But not from his mom.
The one good thing to come out of last night? Indie. She’d finally let him in. She’d finally let him love her again.
He wasn’t going to mess that up a second time. He was going to protect their marriage at all costs.
He turned the corner to see Ben standing halfway down the hall.
Colt stopped in front of him. “Hey. How is she?”
Ben shot a glance toward the closed door, then back to Colt. “Not too good. I woke up to her calling out for me. She was short of breath and had chest pains. I brought her straight in and she was put on oxygen. The doctor ran some tests and we’re waiting for the results, but he said, based on her history, it could just be a flare-up.”
“Thanks.” He wrapped his fingers around the doorknob, but before he could step in, Ben grabbed his arm.
“Are you okay after last night?”
“No. But I’m her son. I need to at least see her.”
Ben studied him for a moment. “She shouldn’t have said what she said. But she loves you.”
“Then she needs to accept Indie in my life.”
Ben nodded slowly. “I agree. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
He stepped into the room. His mother lay in the center of the bed, an oxygen mask on her face.
