The Secret Heir

Okay, Laurel thought. Now that was weird. If she hadn’t been so crazy about Leslie, she’d have turned that odd proposition down flat. After all, she was on leave. And Leslie had been right about the request being totally unorthodox.

Shaking her head in bemusement, she moved on toward her office.

Jackson entered Tyler’s hospital room late Thursday evening with a combination of guilt and dread. It was almost nine o’clock, and he knew Laurel would be annoyed with him for coming so late. At least she wouldn’t yell at him in front of Tyler; she’d probably “invite” him out of the room to do that.

Already in defensive mode, he met her eyes the moment he entered the room, though he greeted Tyler first. “Hey, sport. How’d everything go today?”

“I’m going home,” Tyler announced happily, bouncing on the end of the bed where he’d sat watching television, his penguin and new hamster sitting on either side of him.

“Are you?” Jackson looked from him back to Laurel again. “When?”

“Tomorrow,” Laurel said. “Both the surgeon and the pediatrician told me there was no need to keep him here any longer.”

As he had expected, her voice had just a hint of a chill to it, but there was something else, too. Something that made him suspect she was more disappointed in him than angry. That made him feel even worse than he had before, which, of course, only made him more defensive.

Jackson swung his son off the bed and into his arms, taking a bit more care than usual as he hugged him. “It will be so good to have you home again.”

Laurel made a sound deep in her throat, then seemed to swallow whatever she had almost blurted out. Probably something about how Tyler would be home but Jackson probably wouldn’t be.

“I tried to call you after the doctor left,” she said after a moment, “but your cell phone was off.”

“I forgot to recharge the battery last night. When I checked it this afternoon it was completely dead. I meant to call you from another phone, but everything was so chaotic today I never had the chance.”

“I’m sure you thought you were needed where you were.”

Her prim tone made his jaw set. “Yes, I was needed. I had two men injured this afternoon when a scaffolding collapsed. After they were taken by ambulance from the site, we had to inspect all the rest of the scaffolding and then reconstruct the section that fell.”

Her expression eased just a bit. “How badly were they injured?”

“They’ll be okay.” He was the one who sounded stiff now. “Bob Cooper broke his leg, and Howie Young probably has a concussion and some broken ribs.”

“I’m sorry. Do you know what caused the collapse?”

“Yeah. Stupid mistakes.”

“Made while you were here at the hospital, I suppose, and not there to micromanage every detail.”

“You got it.” He set Tyler back on the bed. “And who do you think will take the blame for it?”

“Your boss won’t blame you for taking care of your son.”

“Hmm.” Because he knew his boss better than she did, he didn’t bother to argue. But then he conceded, “I should have called you.”

Relenting a little, she shrugged. “I can understand why you didn’t. It must have been a terrible afternoon for you.”

“Hearing that Tyler’s going home makes up fo

r it. Damn, it’ll be good to have him home again.”

Tyler looked up from the TV to frown repressively at his father. “You don’t supposed to say that word, Daddy.”

Jackson grinned and ruffled Tyler’s hair. “You’re right, sport. I’m not. Do you think your mommy’s going to make me stand in the time-out corner?”

Laurel laughed—probably for Tyler’s sake, Jackson thought. “I’ll just give you a warning this time.”

He moved to sit in the other visitor’s chair. He glanced at the cartoon that seemed to be holding Tyler’s attention as he asked Laurel, “Have my parents already left for the evening?”

“Yes. Your mother said she had a headache. Carl talked her into going home a little early tonight.”