“Nope. The girls are anxious to take care of you, and Mark is coming to help.” Mitch held up a hand when he opened his mouth again. “He needs a place to come for the holidays too, babe. He’s really down. I think your people will be just what he needs.”
“Huh.” Cam tried to relax, because his head was throbbing. “Well, as long it’s helping him too.” He didn’t want to ruin anyone’s holiday.
“He’s…I’ve never seen him so sad. Close your eyes, babe. Let me play some messages for you.”
First there was Rachel with, “Cam. We love you. Please don’t die. I told Granny Halley I would pray for you!”
Then Bekka’s message was more…her. “Hey, Cam. Breathe. We’re here to help. I’m going to make sure the little girls are good.”
“Listen, you have to suck it up. I’m going to have Uncle Mark take me to see Fire. He needs love. Rosie is ready for us to come home, so heal. Call me if you need me.”
He had to laugh—he had to, even if it hurt.
“They’re something else, aren’t they?” Mitch stroked his leg. “I’m going to play the ones from Mark, too. I want your opinion.”
He closed his eyes and tried not to drift off to sleep, and yeah. Wow. Those messages from Mark were… pretty flat and a little dire. “Okay, you’re right. He needs to come home with us.”
“See, I thought so too. So he’s going to drive your trailer. Don’t worry, he grew up with horses. And I’ll have you and the girls in the Suburban.”
“Has the doc said when I can go?”
“Well, he said he would have to wait until you woke up. You ready for me to call the nurse?”
“Hell, yeah. If it will get us on the road home, I’m ready.” He knew it would mean a flurry of activity, and that Mitch would have to stand back for a bit… “You need to hit the head or get some food?”
“I’ll hang out until they can say when the doc might come by.”
Relief filled him. “Sounds great.”
“Of course. You’re not on your own, here. We’re here for our cowboy.”
“I know. I can’t believe you got here so fast.” A day and a half was nuts with three kids and all. “Who’s watching Rosie?”
“Your brother has him, and he’s feeding for me. Your people are all still recovering from the stomach bug.”
“Lord. I bet they keep passing it back and forth.” He sighed. “Okay, baby. I’m ready for the onslaught.”
“All right. I love you. I’m going to grab the nurse and let her know you’re awake.”
“Love you too.” He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He was going to have to be able to fool them into letting him go home as soon as possible so he needed to get his shit together.
He wasn’t going to mess up anything for his family by being in the hospital leading up to Christmas.
It was a miracle that Mitch was here and not Momma, for fuck’s sake. But he would bet Momma would have come anyway, if not for the flu.
But he was grateful to have Mitch then, especially when the nurses came in to check all his vitals and press on things that hurt and make notes for the doc. He was glad Mitch hadn’t run off to pee.
When the nurses cleared out, Mitch was still there, making sure his pillows were right, that he got another chunk of ice, and sending proof of life to his family.
“I can’t believe you came out here with the girls,” he said.
“You needed me, and I would much rather be stuck in the car for six hours with my children than listen to them throw up.”
Cam chuckled and fuck, that hurt his collarbone, but it was still funny. “Not a fan of the barfing, are you?”
“God no. Is anyone really a fan of barfing? Because if they are, there’s a deep-seated problem there.” Mitch shook his head, mock-gagged. “The girls are having a ball. There’s a hot tub, there’s a lobby where they can get books and play games, there’s a Walmart a couple of blocks away. They’ve been to the Lego storetwice. They haven’t even been here two whole days, and they managed to go more than once. They’ve been shopping anddoing makeup. They’re having a great time.” Mitch rolled his eyes. “Mark has more money than sense, and he loves them.”
That made him a little growly. Maybe more than a little. “Well, I’m glad you’ve got him. Maybe you’d have been better off if you’d hooked up with him.”
