uh, have this tendency to talk when I’m upset. I don’t mind telling you Dad’s condition has really scared me. So if he’s asleep, like he’s been most of today, I sit by his side and tell him the things I’ve been thinking about.”
“Which included me?”
Reluctantly, she nodded. Rarely could she recall being more embarrassed. Color burned in her cheeks.
“Valerie, what did you say to him?” Colby asked for the third time. His voice was quiet but his face had sharpened with tension.
She closed her eyes. She didn’t remember everything she’d mumbled, but what she did recall made her cringe. She’d rambled on during those five-minute stretches, saying whatever came into her mind, and most of her thoughts seemed to concern Colby. Not for a second had she believed her father was awake enough to understand a word of it.
“I told him how impressed I was with you,” she began hesitantly. “Although I don’t know you well, I sense a strength in you. I told him how grateful I was to you because I’ve felt so helpless the last couple of days.”
She chanced a look in his direction but his expression was impassive. Not knowing what else to do, she continued. “In any family crisis there’s always one person who has to be strong, and everyone else leans on that person for support. I’m the oldest and I feel responsible for the others. But when I saw my father that first time, I just … couldn’t cope. It’s even harder for Norah. I realized that the strong one in this situation is you. I told Dad that … and some other things.”
“What other things?”
It wasn’t getting any better. “That I … found myself attracted to you. Not physically,” she rushed to explain, conscious that she was lying. “I’m attracted to the emotional stability I sense in you. Only I didn’t say all that to Dad because I didn’t think he could hear me anyway.
“Was that so terrible?” she asked, when Colby remained silent.
“No,” he finally admitted in a hoarse voice.
“What did Dad say to you?” she asked curiously.
Colby’s gaze touched hers, then withdrew. “That you’d fallen head over heels in love with me. And that’s a quote.”
“What?” Valerie said incredulously. “No wonder you were so upset!”
“Upset’s not the word for it. I’m worried about how this is going to affect David’s recovery, especially since he seems to have all kinds of expectations now—expectations that are going to be disappointed. Eventually he’ll just have to realize you’re not the kind of woman I intend to marry.”
“Believe me, Dr. Winston, you have nothing to worry about,” she murmured, annoyed now. “If I was going to fall in love, it would be with a man who was a little more sensitive to my pride.”
“I apologize,” he said, shrugging indifferently. “Your father unfortunately read too much into your … remarks. I’m afraid you’ll have to say something to him.”
“Me?”
“You’re the one who started this.”
“Why can’t we just let the whole thing drop? By tomorrow he’ll have forgotten I said anything.”
“That’s not likely,” Colby said in a grim voice. “He asked me to bring a preacher so we could be married at his bedside.”
Valerie couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. It was as though all the tension, all the waiting and frustration, had broken free inside her. She laughed until the tears streamed down her face and her sides ached, and even then she couldn’t stop. Clutching her stomach, she wiped the moisture from her cheeks.
“Colby, darling,” she said between giggles. “What shall I wear to the ceremony?”
Colby apparently didn’t find her antics humorous.
“I’ll want children, of course,” she told him when she’d managed to stop giggling. “Nine or ten, and I’ll name the little darlings after you. There’ll be little cheeses running around our happy home—Cheddar and Parmesan and—”
“I have absolutely no intention of marrying you.”
“Of course you don’t right now, but that’ll all change.” She enjoyed teasing him, and the laughter was a welcome release after the tension of the past few days.
“You’re not serious, are you?”
Valerie sighed deeply. “If you want me to say something to Dad, I will.”
“I think that would be best.”
“I’m really not so bad, you know,” she felt obliged to tell him. She was disappointed in his reaction, although she’d never admit it. If she was going to make a fool of herself over a man, she didn’t need to travel halfway across the country to do so!
“We don’t have a thing in common and shouldn’t pretend we do.”
“Well, but—”
“Let’s leave it at that, Valerie.”
His attitude hurt. “Fine. I’m not interested in you, either,” she muttered. Without another word, she turned around and marched back into the hospital.
The man had his nerve. He made a relationship with her sound about as attractive as one with a … a porcupine! Colby acted as though she’d purposely set a trap for him, and she resented that.
Norah was awake when she got back to the waiting room. Her younger sister looked up, smiling, as Valerie hurried in and began to pace.
“What’s wrong?” Norah asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee. She gestured toward the pot, but Valerie shook her head.
“Have you ever noticed how opinionated and high-handed Colby Winston can be?” she asked, still pacing furiously.
“Dr. Winston?” Norah repeated. “Not in the least. I’ve never known him to be rude, not even when someone deserved it.”
Valerie impatiently pushed the sleeves of her sweater past her elbows. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a man who irritated me more.”
“I thought you liked him.”
“I thought I did, too,” she answered darkly.
“Steffie phoned,” Norah said, cutting off Valerie’s irritation as effectively as if she’d flipped a light switch. “She got through to the nurses’ station here when she couldn’t reach either of us at the house or on our cells.”
“Where is she?” Valerie asked. “Is the transportation strike over?”
“No,” Norah replied. “She’s still trapped in whatever that town is. If she was in one of the big cities she wouldn’t be having nearly as much trouble. She asked about Dad, and I told her everything’s about the same. She sounded like she was close to tears.”
“Poor
