Part 14 (2/2)
The emergency room doctor joined her at the front desk, a young-looking, dark-haired man wearing tortoise-sh.e.l.l gla.s.ses. His name was Leonard Jackson.
”Mr. Sommers is doing very well,” Dr. Jackson said. ”I think he may have suffered a case of acute indigestion. That combined with bit of overexertion brought on what appeared to be a heart attack. We'll keep him a day or two for observation just to make sure, but I think he's going to be fine.”
She nearly sagged with relief.
”You can see him for a few minutes but don't stay too long.”
Ignoring the antiseptic hospital smell she had always hated, Autumn went into a curtained enclosure in the middle of a row of six others. She found her father awake and grumbling.
”I told her it was nothing. Can't believe she went and called you too.” He wasn't a tall man but his shoulders and legs were muscled from climbing for so many years and he didn't have the usual sixty-year-old's paunch. His high blood pressure and two-hundred-seventy-plus cholesterol had come as a surprise, linked to a bad gene somewhere in the family, the doctors said. So far Max had refused to take any of the prescription medications available, certain the drugs were worse than the high cholesterol.
Autumn wasn't sure she disagreed. ”Myra was worried about you, Dad. She cares for you a very great deal.”
He looked her straight in the face. ”Ought to marry her, I guess. Make an honest woman of her.”
Surprise jolted through her. Had Max just said the M word? Autumn couldn't believe it. His marriage to her mother had been a total disaster. Max Sommers had sworn he would never remarry and was constantly sending her e-mails with those dumb jokes about married men. Though he'd been seeing Myra for years, it never occurred to her that he might actually marry the woman.
Autumn looked at him lying there, paler than usual, his salt-and-pepper hair hanging over his forehead. ”You aren't serious, are you? About marrying Myra, I mean?”
He gave a faint shrug. ”At least she could have come in here with me. I mean, h.e.l.l, we're almost living together.”
He was serious. She couldn't believe it. She took a steadying breath. ”I realize you have your own life, Dad. Whatever you decide is fine with me, but there is one thing you need to consider.”
”What's that?”
”Your heart, Dad. You really think you and Myra should be...well...behaving the way you were with your high blood pressure and all?”
He grunted. ”If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die. Till that happens, I'm gonna live. You might try a little of that yourself.”
She stiffened. Max was always pressing her to live her life, not be afraid of it. He had never pressured her to get married, but he believed she should experience life the way he always had. The way he had done when her mother had been alive.
One thing was certain. Max Sommers had been a rounder.
And he had never been faithful.
If she were honest with herself, she would have to admit her father's casual relations.h.i.+ps with women was one of the reasons she kept men at a distance. She was afraid of what would happen if she fell in love with a man and wasn't woman enough to keep him from straying. Exactly what had happened with Steve.
Going up a mountain, she wasn't afraid, she was in control. But where men were concerned...
She thought about the way she had lost control tonight with Ben and felt her face heating up. How could she criticize her father when she and Ben had been doing the exact same thing?
”All right,” she said to Max, ”we'll leave the subject alone for now. I just don't want anything to happen to you.”
Whatever problems her dad had with women, to her he'd been the best father in the world and Autumn loved him deeply.
He reached over and caught her hand. ”Doc says I'm gonna be fine so there's no need for you to worry. I want you to send Myra home and go on back home yourself.”
”You know very well that isn't going to happen. Myra won't leave and neither will I.”
He didn't look pleased. ”You drive down by yourself?”
”No...I...a friend drove me down.”
”Josh?”
”No, a man named Ben McKenzie.”
One of her father's bushy salt and pepper eyebrows went up. ”McKenzie? Not the sporting-goods guy?”
She nodded, her mouth feeling suddenly dry. ”He's a student in one of my climbing cla.s.ses.”
”That so? How long you been seein' him?”
”We aren't dating, Dad. We're just friends.”
He frowned. ”Another one of your man friends? From what it looks like in the papers, McKenzie doesn't have women friends.” Max studied her hard. ”You be careful with that fella, you hear?” Then the corners of his mouth curled up. ”On the other hand, maybe it's time you were a little less careful. Maybe you ought to get rid of that bunch of neutered males you hang around with and find yourself a real man. Take a lesson from me and Myra.”
Autumn's cheeks were burning. Her father's eyes closed for a moment and he relaxed against the pillow. It was obvious the events of the evening and all the talking had worn him out. A nurse appeared and shooed her out of the curtained-off area, telling her that in the next couple of hours Max would be moved into a private room. Dr. Jackson suggested that she and Myra go home but Autumn refused.
”We're staying,” she said, certain Myra would agree.
”Suit yourself,” said the doctor. ”But visiting hours don't start till eight in the morning.”
She returned to the waiting room and relayed to Myra the conversation she'd had with her dad. ”He wants us to go home, Myra, but-”
”I'm staying right here,” the older woman said firmly. ”At least till I see him in the morning.”
That became the plan and to her surprise, Ben seemed not to mind. He stretched out on a couple of chairs in the waiting room and fell asleep. He didn't wake up until morning.
Autumn couldn't help thinking that at least she was safe from Ben-and herself-for one more night.
”I want to meet him,” her father grumbled. ”He brought you down here, didn't he? Stayed up half the night just 'cause you were too stubborn to leave. Least you can do is introduce us.”
Autumn bit back a frustrated curse. Since there was no talking Max out of it, she led Ben into the hospital room. His dark hair was mussed, a shadow of beard shaded his jaw and his clothes were rumpled.
”So you're Ben McKenzie.”
”Nice to meet you, Mr. Sommers. Glad you're feeling better.”
Her father eyed him warily. ”Bought some gear from your store down in Seattle,” he said. ”Good quality merchandise. Still works just like new.”
”We only carry the best. I'm glad you approve.”
”My daughter says she's teaching you to climb,” Max said.
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