Always on My Mind by Susan May Warren Read Free Book Online Page B

the car.
    They drove up to the emergency entrance, and Casper got out, went hunting for a wheelchair. He returned with wheels and a nurse.
    He lifted Raina from the car and set her in the chair as Grace pulled away to park. The nurse wheeled Raina into the emergency room bay with Casper jogging to keep up. He helped as Raina levered herself onto a gurney.
    He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. “I meant it, Casper. You shouldn’t be here. I’m not your problem   —”
    He stared at her as if she’d slapped him. “Problem   —what are you talking about?”
    The nurse began to take her vitals, checking her pulse. “The on-call OB is on her way. Do you have a particular doctor you see?”
    Raina gave her the name, then leaned back into the pillows, breathing hard.
    Somewhere in that time, Casper had taken her hand. When the contraction released, she let go and noticed him rubbing his fingers.
    “See, that’s what I’m talking about. You’re always stepping in, trying to fix things. But you can’t fix this, Casper. You can’t fix . . . me .”
    He frowned and she blamed her hormones, her pain, for the sudden flux of anger. “Don’t look at me like that. I know you, and you can’t stand to fail, to see someone you care about hurt. Sometimes you just have to walk away, Casper, and let people deal with the choices they’ve made.”
    “Raina, I’m not walking away from you. Not again. I get   —I really get   —why you didn’t want to tell me about this. But the fact is, you can’t do this by yourself. You’re having a baby!”
    “Yeah. Owen’s baby! Have you not figured that part out yet?”
    He closed his mouth, and a muscle pulled in his jaw. So maybe he had. He took a breath, ran his hand behind his neck. Swallowed. “Does he know?”
    She looked away as the OB doctor came in.
    “Miss Beaumont. So lovely to see you again. And this time nearly full-term.”
    “I did my best,” Raina said, another contraction coming on.
    “You did great. And is this the lucky father?” She turned to Casper. “Dr. Natasha Mortensen.”
    Casper’s eyes widened. He stared at the doctor’s outstretched hand. Took a long, shaky breath.
    Right then Raina got the answer to the question she feared asking.
    He might have been thinking about her, might have even gotten on an airplane to see her again, but Casper Christiansen had no desire to step in and claim this child as his.
    Nor should he.
    Because then things would really get complicated.
    “No, he’s not the father,” Raina said, her voice sharp. “The father isn’t in the picture and never will be.”
    Casper frowned, a darkness in his expression.
    “Okay then,” Dr. Mortensen said after a moment. She reached for some gloves. “Raina, do you want him to stay?”
    He looked at her, and she’d have to have been blind not to see the words written on his face.
    She closed her eyes. “No.”
    Dr. Mortensen turned to him. “I’ll ask you to step out while I check to see how far along we are in labor.”
    Casper seemed not to get it for a moment.
    “Casper, leave,” Raina said. “And don’t come back. I got this.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Fine. Have it your way.” He shoved his hands into his cargo shorts and stalked away, down the hall, out of the ER.
    Out of her life.
    Right where he belonged.
    Dr. Mortensen stepped up to the gurney. “Ready to have this baby?”

C ASPER NEEDED TO FOLLOW his own advice to Raina   — breathe .
    He just needed to step out of this moment, calm his heartbeat, and figure out how to fix this.
    He paced into the waiting area, headed over to the window, and stared at the grimy parking lot. Snow sifted from the gunmetal sky, a wispy layer of white over the black-edged snowbanks.
    So Raina was having a baby. It didn’t have to change   —
    He drew in a breath, the truth like a knife. Owen would always be lurking on the sidelines, poised to show up, to be a father to his child. Which would leave Casper where,