More guilt. Exactly what he needed. It wasn’t bad enough he wasn’t as brilliant and successful as his older brother, the doctor. According to his parents, he’d produced a defective child. They’d never said those precise words, but the meaning had come through loud and clear.
“I work so you can have all the clothes on your back and your fancy car and this house. If I slack off, so does the money.”
“I don’t care about the money, Harry, and you know it. I never have. It isn’t why I fell in love with you or why I married you.”
Too often he wondered why she’d married him. She wasn’t a gold digger, he knew that, but he hadn’t deserved someone so sweet and loving.
As he scrubbed his hands over his face, Annie started picking up Parker’s toys and putting them in a bag. Her sniffles killed him, but he had to take a stand, didn’t he? It was that or face the wrath of his father, the man who owned the company he worked for, who paid his salary which provided for this home and all that was in it.
“Don’t use me or this house as an excuse for avoiding your son. I can pack up a few bags and be out of here tomorrow.”
Wait, what? Where did that come from? “What are you talking about? Packing?”
“I’ll take your defective baby and leave since you obviously don’t want him if he’s not perfect. I’m not ready to let someone drill holes in his head when it isn’t necessary.”
His head was swimming. “Where would you go?” She wouldn’t really leave, would she?
“I don’t know, but I don’t want Parker growing up feeling unloved or not good enough. I felt that way too often after I moved in with my aunt and uncle. I won’t let that happen to my son.”
“He’sourson! You can’t take my child away from me.”
“But you don’t want him. Not this way. You’re never home, anyway. I’ll find someplace else to go, and if you’re feeling charitable, you can come visit.”
Annie started to walk out, and the room tilted. Whoa. This wasn’t happening. He couldn’t let her do it.
“No, wait. Don’t go anywhere. If you really don’t want me around, I’ll find another place to stay, but you belong in this house. You and Parker.”
Annie didn’t say anything, but her eyes spoke volumes, filled up with tears as they were. Her bottom lip quivered, and he felt like the lowest form of scum.
“Do you want me to go?” His heart paused while he waited for her answer.
“Of course I don’t. What kind of asinine question is that? But I don’t want you making our son feel unloved or substandard.” Pressing her lips to Parker’s head, she dashed from the room.
His hopes and dreams felt dashed, too. What the heck had happened? Slumping into the nearest chair, he dropped his head into his hands. Tears filled his eyes, and he pushed his thumbs into them to get them to stop. What would his father think of him losing his wife and child and crying about it? And why did he care so much about that versus his wife taking his baby away?
Most importantly, what was he going to do about it?
Chapter nineteen
He had to cancel again. It had been a week since he’d dropped Carli off at her house after the storm and power outage. However, between the flu epidemic causing so many pulmonary issues and trying to switch shifts so he could get a few extra days off for Wade’s wedding next weekend, he’d been out straight.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he sighed and tapped his fingers on the screen.
—You’re going to hate me, but I need to cancel again. Patient in critical care.—
He looked back at the computer screen in front of him, scanning for the specialist he needed to contact. It might be good if he called a few. Neonatologist. Pediatric ophthalmologist. This was a two-week-old infant who barely weighed seven pounds and hadn’t even been due until next week. The green, bloody discharge in her eyes wasn’t anything he’d ever seen before. Additionally, the infant’s siblings had a variety of allergies to a few medicines. He wouldn’t leave here until he knew the drug regimen he was prescribing wasn’t having an adverse effect.
His phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen. Carli. Please, let her not be mad.
—No problem.—
Plain and simple. Her responses seemed to be getting shorter and more succinct. But were they truthful? Priscilla had always seemed to understand when he was needed at work…until she broke up with him. Would Carli get to the point where it was a problem? His feelings for her had been building and growing stronger every day, and after the time they’d spent during the blizzard—and what they’d done—he couldn’t imagine not having her in his life.
Rereading her short answer, he realized she hadn’t addressed the hating him part of his text. Usually, she was so sweet and alleviated his guilt. Not today.
After making his phone calls and checking on the infant, he went back to his office to finish up some paperwork. Carli wouldn’t leave his thoughts. He wanted to invite her to Wade’s wedding. It was in a rustic inn up in Vermont on Saturday, so he thought to take Friday off, too, and get there for all the pre-wedding festivities. But he didn’t want to ask her until he knew he could absolutely get the whole weekend off.
A few hours later, the baby seemed to be responding well to the antibiotics and the results came back negative for any of the nasty stuff he’d tested for. Breathing a sigh of relief, he told the nurses he was leaving, but they could call him if anything came up they couldn’t handle.
