“Tomorrow? Okay.” How would she wait twenty four hours to find out if she had leprosy or not? And how was she going to go to work and act like her world hadn’t come to an end?
*****
Jayco had come and told him he was an idiot. Right now, he felt like one. Why did he feel betrayed? He had no right. Whipping into Revel’s driveway, he contradicted himself. He had every right! Savannah was his! Or she used to be.
Throwing open the truck door, he didn’t even bother to shut it. Revel’s motorcycle was in the drive. Good! Pounding on the door, he waited. “Keep your shirt on! It’s damn early, this had better be good!” Revel opened the door and stared. “Patrick!” A smile of stunned, surprised happiness covered his friends face and Revel reached to pull him into a hug.
“Bastard!” Patrick drew his fist back and threw a punch. It connected – but barelynbsp; Revel wasn’t quite as big as Patrick, but he was fast.
“What in the hell are you doing? Get your ass in here.” Revel pulled him in. “Are you drunk?”
“Why did you do it, Man? Couldn’t you find your own woman? You had to steal mine? Goddamn you! You know I love her!”
Revel was reeling from the shock of seeing Patrick alive. “Where have you been? What’s been going on? Hawke and Jayco told me they had suspicions about how you died – but I hadn’t dare hope you were alive!”
“It’s a long story, but that’s not what I want to talk about! Answer my question! How could you do that to Savannah?”
“Do what? Propose to her?” Revel looked affronted. “I asked her to marry me because she’s pregnant. She needed me.”
Patrick lunged at him again. “You slept with my woman! You gave my woman a baby!”
Revel didn’t back down, but he didn’t fight. “Idiot.” He sneered at his best friend. “Did you lose your mind while you were in prison? And I want to know all the details once you come to your senses.”
“All I want to know is how this happened? Why aren’t you with her? If that were my baby, I’d never leave her side.”
Revel looked at him like he was crazy. And then he smiled. “Hothead. You didn’t let her explain did you?” Patrick looked puzzled. “It is your baby. She spent every dime she had, and went through three miscarriages to get pregnant with your child. And that’s not all; she worked to get a memorial put up in the park for fallen Marines – for you. There’s also a scholarship in your name at the local high school. All she kept saying was that she had made you a promise. She wanted you to be remembered. She wanted your name to live on. Savannah hasn’t rested, she’s been busy creating your legacy – because she loved your sorry ass.” Revel could see that his words were sinking in.
“She’s pregnant – with my child?”
“Yes, and I proposed because she didn’t have insurance for proper medical care. You asked me to take care of her. That’s what I was trying to do.”
Patrick dry-scrubbed his face. “You were going to marry her to help with the baby.”
“You know where my heart lies. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to be with Harper, but I could see that your child got a good start in this world. I could have given it my name. But you hat?”
“What?”
“She turned me down. Because of you.”
Patrick felt like a fool. “I need to get back to Savannah.”
“You’re smarter than you look.” Revel hugged him tight. “I’m glad you’re back. I missed you.”
*****
“Don’t move or I’ll gut you where you stand.” Lucas held a knife under Jayco’s throat.
“Why aren’t you in custody?” Jake ground out as the sharp knife nicked his skin.
“I’m not an easy man to take down. They’re going to have to catch me – and I’m leaving the country – just as soon as I get me a hostage.” With that announcement, Lucas cracked Jayco over the head with the butt of a pistol and he crumbled at Lucas’s feet. Gazing down the hill, Lucas saw Savannah getting in her car. “Wait up, Bitch. I’m on my way.”
By the time he got in the car, Lucas had lost her. But he made two blocks, hit the main highway and spotted her Camaro. Debating his next course of action, he decided he couldn’t wait till she arrived at her destination. The farm-to-market- road was deserted except for the two of them so he sped up and got right on her tail.
Savannah was on automatic. When she got to work, she’d try his cell phone number, but she had no way of knowing if the old number was still good or not. If she couldn’t reach him that way, she’d go by his apartment after work. Another thing she could do was call Revel to see if he had heard from him.
The bottom line was that she needed Patrick now more than ever. The implications of her situation were just beginning to sink in. If she had Hansen’s Disease – everything would change. Patrick would be thrilled about the baby. She had no doubt about that. And he would understand about Revel. She hadn’t betrayed his memory and Revel would make him listen. In fact, he probably already knew. He would call her today, she was sure of that. But if she had Hansen’s . . . she couldn’t have her family. Horror plagued her mind and heart.
“I love you,” she put her hand over her stomach. A thin wail rose in her throat. Now, she knew how her mother must have felt. There was no way she could care for this child if she was sick. Leprosy wasn’t that contagious, but the relationship between a
