to follow him, shamelessly listening to his end of the phone call. “JT? What’s wrong?” He paused. “Another nightmare? Hey, it’s all right, buddy. I understand. I’m glad you called, see? I’m here at work. Everything is fine. I love you, JT.”
Holly sucked in a harsh breath, shock rippling all the way down her body to the soles of her feet. From the tone of his voice and the brief reassuring conversation it was easy to deduce JT was a young child.
His son. Gabe must have a son.
Which meant he was likely married, too.
A stab of disappointment pierced her heart, stealing her breath.
“Maybe you’d better let me talk to Marybeth, okay?” Gabe said in a cajoling tone. “Don’t worry, I promise I’ll run home to see you during my lunch-break.”
Holly turned away, feeling slightly sick. Why she was bothered by the fact that Gabe had a son and a wife, she had no idea. He certainly deserved to be happy. But she couldn’t help feeling as if the rug had been pulled out from beneath her.
Maybe because Gabe had a family.
And she didn’t.
For a moment she remembered the excitement of being pregnant, the thrill of carrying a tiny life in her womb.
But she’d lost her small daughter. And in almost the same moment had lost her husband.
No, a family wasn’t in her future.
She must have been standing in a daze because suddenly Gabe was back. “I didn’t mean to ditch you like that, but when JT has nightmares, he needs to talk to me right away.”
“Sure, I understand. Congrats.” She pushed the word through her constricted throat, trying not to dwell on the painful past. “On your marriage and your son.”
“I’m not married,” he said, a slight edge to his tone. “Marybeth is JT’s babysitter.”
He wasn’t married? Skeptical, she found herself wondering if he was really telling the truth, but then remembered how he’d referred to Marybeth by name. He hadn’t said maybe JT should let him talk to Mom, he’d said maybe JT should let him talk to Marybeth. The difference eased the tension in her chest.
“Sounds like you have your hands full,” she murmured. She wondered where JT’s mother was. Had Gabe gotten a divorce too? Did they share custody?
“Yeah, a bit.” He shrugged, although his expression was still troubled. “I’d ask you out for dinner, but I can’t leave JT home alone and his babysitter takes night classes.”
Dinner? As much as she was tempted, she knew seeing Gabe outside work was just asking for trouble. The last thing she needed was to be seen with one of her colleagues outside work. Still, it sounded as if he might need some help. And she was more curious than she had a right to be about JT’s mother. “It’s okay, but if you need help with JT, let me know.”
He flashed a lopsided smile. “Thanks. But I think I have everything under control.”
Of course he did. Gabe was always strong, and extremely competent. The way he’d taken control with Mark proved that. “See you later, then.”
“Take care, Holly.”
She turned away, heading back to her office where she’d left the list of patients she was scheduled to see.
The list was long, but that was all right. Better to keep busy than to wallow in the mistakes of the past.
Or to wish for something she could never have.
After he found someone to cover over his lunch-break, Gabe rushed home, knowing he didn’t have a lot of time. “Hey, JT, how are you?”
“Uncle Gabe!” The five-year-old threw himself into Gabe’s arms. “I missed you,” he mumbled against his shoulder.
Gabe closed his eyes, holding the little boy close. The poor kid had been through so much, yet he couldn’t keep leaving work every day either. “I missed you too, sport.” He hugged JT tight, then eased back to look into the boy’s eyes. “You had the bad dream again?”
JT nodded. “Wild animals came out of the woods and tried to bite me.”
Gabe didn’t understand this sudden fear of wild animals that JT seemed to have. But he suspected the real underlying factor was losing his mother. And worrying if he was going to lose Gabe too. “Last night, before you went to bed, I explained how I had to work today. Remember?”
JT’s lower lip trembled, his blue eyes wide. “I know, but when I had the nightmare, I forgot.”
“It’s okay.” He couldn’t be mad at the poor kid, after everything he’d been through. When his sister, Claire, had been killed in a car crash, he’d taken custody of JT. His mother, who’d recently moved to Florida and remarried, had offered to move back to help out in raising her grandson, but he’d declined her generous offer. After all these years, his mother deserved to be happy.
So he’d taken JT because there wasn’t anyone else. And he’d even gone as far as to apply for formal adoption. He’d managed to get things moving the week after Claire’s death but now they were waiting on DNA tests from the two men who, according to his sister’s diary, may be JT’s biological father. Despite the security he’d tried to give his nephew, JT had a deep fear of losing Gabe in the same abrupt way JT had lost his mom.
He’d hoped the boy’s nightmares would fade over time, but so far no luck. Of course, it had only been four weeks since the funeral.
“Everything all right?” he asked Marybeth, JT’s babysitter. The girl was a young college student who watched JT during the day and took a graduate class two evenings a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. He was lucky to have her, especially when she’d established a great rapport with his nephew.
“Fine,” she reassured him. “JT is always better once he talks to you.”
Crisis averted, at least for the moment. “Do you think he’s okay to attend his pre-school this afternoon?”
“Sure. I think he’ll have fun.”
“Okay, then. I’ll pick him up on my way home.”
“Let me know if you run into trouble, I don’t start class until six o’clock.”
“I will.” The few times he’d had to work late Marybeth had been more than willing to pick JT up after pre-school. He turned back toward JT. “I’m going back to work now, but I’ll pick you up at four. You know how to tell the time, don’t you?”
JT nodded with enthusiasm. “Yep. When the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the four.” He hopped from one foot to the other, his earlier fears seemingly forgotten. “Me and Jeremy are going to play swords this afternoon.”
“Be careful.” Why did boys always want to play with weapons? Gabe figured he must have done the same thing at JT’s age, but it was amazing how almost anything he gave the boy to play with ended up as a sword, a knife or a gun, no matter how hard he tried to discourage it. Maybe
