“On Monday he took me to this dumpy little grocery store. He said it was the store his family went to when he was growing up. And he introduced me to some old lady he calls Abuela Juanita, even though she’s not really his grandmother.”
“He mentioned Juanita to me. She speaks Spanish and offered to help him with Gabe,” Rylie said. “I think it’s nice that she’s there for him, especially since his family doesn’t live in Denver anymore.”
“Whatever.” Carlie threw up her hands. “I could tell she didn’t like me.”
“What did she say?”
“It wasn’t what she said. It was how she said it. And how she looked at me.” Carlie sniffed. “Like she thinks I’m after Jarrett’s money. Which I’m not.”
“Of course you aren’t, and Jarrett knows that.” Rylie patted her sister’s arm. Carlie had always been sensitive to things like that—easily hurt by people’s attitudes and actions. “Maybe Juanita feels threatened, like she’s afraid you’re going to take Jarrett away from her.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Carlie stirred the yogurt inside the container and took one more bite before she put the lid on. “I would never try to come between them. But if she tried to come between us, you can bet I’d have something to say. No one takes my man away.”
“Now he’s your man?”
“Let’s just say I’m willing to fight to make him mine.”
Was that challenge in her eyes?
“Well, you won’t have to fight me. Jarrett and I have an appointment with Matthew on Wednesday. He’s hoping Matthew can find a way to annul the marriage. If not, we’ll file for a quick divorce.”
She was proud that her voice didn’t waver, even though saying it out loud made her nauseated. It certainly wasn’t what she’d dreamed of when she’d imagined getting married.
“Why wait ‘til Wednesday? Why not Monday?” Carlie’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Gabe’s chemotherapy starts tomorrow, and Jarrett wants to be with him as much as possible. He’ll stay in the hospital the first week. I assumed you’d be there most of the time, too.”
Rylie wanted to be there, too, but she knew it wasn’t her place. And the more dependent Gabe was on her, the harder it would be for him to adjust to Carlie.
“Actually, I’m flying to LA tomorrow.” Grinning from ear to ear, Carlie stood up with her yogurt and twirled to the refrigerator. “Sabrina called this morning, and they want me to come back for a second reading Monday morning. She says I’ve got a great chance of getting the part!”
“Congratulations.”
“You don’t sound very enthusiastic.” Returning the half-eaten yogurt to the refrigerator shelf, Carlie retrieved a mango. “Aren’t you happy for me?”
“I just thought you’d be devoting your time to Jarrett and Gabe.”
“Jarrett knows how important this is to my career. Anyway, I’ll be back Tuesday morning.”
“You’ll be down at the hospital Tuesday afternoon?”
“Hospitals aren’t really my thing.” Carlie’s mouth twisted to the side. “Besides, Juanita will be there a lot. Jarrett doesn’t need me.”
“I think Finn Anderson is coming to stay from Monday through Friday. So I guess Jarrett will have plenty of help.” Rylie’s eyes stung, remembering how frightened Gabe had looked last night, but she pushed her tears back. Crying never helped anything—that’s why she didn’t do it. “I just hope Gabe isn’t too traumatized by all this.”
“It makes me sick to think about him getting stuck with needles. I hate them.” Carlie shuddered. “Maybe I could go to the toy store and buy some things that would be fun for him. You could give me some ideas, since you volunteered at the children’s hospital.”
“I’ll not only give you some ideas, I’ll give you some money to go with it.” Relieved to feel like she was doing something to help Gabe, Rylie ran upstairs to get twenty dollars from her purse.
She’d already fallen in love with Gabe. But at least if Carlie and Jarrett got married, she could be his favorite aunt.
Wait! Jarrett has sisters. If I want to be his favorite aunt, I’ll have competition.
Rylie added another twenty to her contribution.
Sunday morning, Rylie had just returned from church when someone knocked at her patio door. Jarrett was standing outside the glass holding Gabe. Alarmed, she hurried to open it.
“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be at the hospital by now?”
“Not until two.”
Gabe held his arms out toward her, and she took him, laughing as he launched into a long, excited rant in Spanish. Too bad she’d taken French instead of Spanish for her foreign language.
“Why are you here?” she asked. “You can’t get him to eat?”
“No, that’s not it. In fact, I had to keep him on an empty stomach because they’re going to sedate him.” His gaze dropped to his shuffling feet. “I hate to ask, but could you come with us today?”
“Of course,” she answered automatically. “But why? Isn’t Juanita going to be there?”
“Yes, but… he’s been asking for you all morning. Yesterday he was so scared. He cried when they drew blood, and I pretty much lost it.” Jarrett rubbed his forehead. “I thought he might be calmer today if you were there. Or at least you might be a more calming influence than I am.”
“You could’ve called.” She retrieved her purse from the couch, one hand holding Gabe on her hip. “You didn’t have to come over here.”
A sheepish smile appeared on his face. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to say no if you saw him in person.”
“How underhanded of you,” she teased, following him out the door and locking it behind her. “Next thing I know you’ll teach him to stick out his lower lip and ask me for your favorite cookies.”
