She’d always been devoted to his father. Alejandro gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “You were wise to make him come. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”
“Nothing is easy with such an obstinate man, but you know him.”
That was the first critical word he’d ever heard her speak about his father. He nodded rather than add his own lengthy list of complaints. He recognized the doctor approaching them and stood with her.
“I have good news.” The physician explained his findings and the warnings he’d given Orlando.
Alejandro understood his description of a TIA, but Carlotta had multiple concerns. “I make sure my husband eats healthy food at home, but he goes out with his friends and orders thick steaks. He doesn’t smoke around our boys, but he smokes in his office. I’ve no idea how much he drinks. It must be too much.”
The doctor laid his hand on her shoulder. “He’s the one who has to see the value of changing his habits. Compliment him when he does and ignore his poor choices. You can’t control his behavior and shouldn’t try. There’s no reason to keep him here. He’ll be ready to go home in a minute.”
As the physician walked away, Carlotta looked up at Alejandro. “He’s going to argue he didn’t need to come here, but he really did.”
“He should be grateful you’re looking after him so well.”
She shrugged. “He’s grateful for some things but not others. Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“Call whenever you need me.” Alejandro stayed until his father was ready to leave, but Orlando looked more annoyed than pleased to see him.
“I’m fine,” Orlando insisted. “You didn’t need to leave your studies to come here. I don’t want you to get behind and not graduate with your class since it’s so important to you.”
Carlotta rolled her eyes, and Alejandro understood why. His father intended to control everything and everyone he could, or die trying. They’d come in an ambulance, and he drove them home but quickly told them good-bye. Before Alejandro pulled his SUV out into traffic, he called to see if Ana had gotten home. Gian Carlo answered her phone. He was crying so hard Alejandro couldn’t understand him. “Take a deep breath and tell me what’s wrong.”
Gian Carlo gave an audible gulp as he swallowed hard. “There’s been an accident. We’re at L’Esperanza.” His voice broke. “Ana’s hurt, and you need to hurry.”
Alejandro cursed under his breath. He’d thought he could trust Gian Carlo to see Ana home safely, but if she’d been hurt, he’d blame himself. “Calm down. How badly is she hurt?”
“Badly! And it’s my fault.”
Alejandro broke the connection and sped to L’Esperanza. The hospital treated accident victims, and Ana would receive excellent emergency care, but he damned himself the whole way for foolishly leaving her behind when she’d wanted to come with him.
He walked into the second emergency room for the day and found Gian Carlo huddled in the corner, hugging Ana’s purse. There wasn’t a mark on him. He sat down beside him. “Are you trying to tell me Ana is dead?”
“No,” Gian Carlo exclaimed, his blue eyes growing huge. “She’s alive. I rode with her in the ambulance. She hit her head and has a broken leg. Other things could be wrong, I don’t know. The doctor hasn’t come out to talk to me yet.”
Alejandro shoved himself back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. “If you have Ana’s phone, did you call her mother?”
“I didn’t even think of it, and I don’t want to terrify her. Maybe things aren’t as bad as they looked.”
Alejandro felt sick. “It sounds as though they might be worse. Tell me how it happened with every detail.”
Gain Carlo shook his head as though he could clear away the bloody mental images. “We were talking about work. I took a corner too fast, lost control and hit a light pole. People came running to help. An ambulance was there in minutes. Ana was unconscious. She didn’t feel anything.”
Alejandro could easily imagine the red MG wrapped around a light pole and Ana lying crushed in the wreckage. It sickened him clear through. There had to be something he could do to help her. “If Ana’s unconscious, and her mother is in France, I’m going to say I’m her next of kin. Don’t dispute me on it. I’ll make whatever decisions need to be made until she can make them on her own.”
Gian Carlo looked around to make sure no one was seated close enough to overhear and still whispered, “You’re not her husband.”
Alejandro gave him a vicious glance and silenced that argument. “The hospital won’t know it, will they? We kept our marriage a secret so it wasn’t in the tabloids. Ana will be able to speak for herself when she comes to, but if anything has to be decided before she does, I’ll do it. Now give me her purse. You look ridiculous sitting here hugging it like a doll.”
Gian Carlo wiped his nose on his sleeve. “It was down by her feet, so her phone and camera weren’t smashed.”
Alejandro reached for the bag, but the side was wet where Ana’s blood had soaked through. Sickened, he set it on the floor by his feet. “If we lose Ana, I’ll kill you.”
“Don’t bother, I’ll kill myself. She was so beautiful. She didn’t deserve this. I should have been the one hurt. I’ve never been in an accident. Never. I wasn’t drinking either. I was cold sober, just stupid and driving too fast.”
Alejandro didn’t argue with him. They drank coffee from a vending machine and regretted it. They’d been waiting nearly two hours when a pretty young woman in a white coat came their way. They rose and stepped toward her.
She directed her first question to Gian Carlo. “I’m Dr. Pallares. Are you Miss Santillan’s brother?”