Read A Second Chance for Free Online

but her skin was pale, her eyes sunken and dark. His
stomach knotted. “Good morning, beautiful. How are you
feeling?”
    “ Like I was run over by a
truck,” she said softly as tears filled her eyes.
    He walked to the side of the bed and
gathered her hand in his. “What’s wrong?”
    “ I’m scared. I’m so
scared.”
    “ Oh, baby.” He pressed a
kiss to her forehead. “You need to think positive. What you went
through yesterday was enormous. One step at a time.”
    She nodded and took a deep breath.
“What are you doing here?”
    “ I told you I was going to
come back and take care of you.”
    “ I’m not your responsibility
anymore.”
    “ Yes, you are. You’re very
important to me,” he said, and that pang of guilt was back. The
look in Kathy’s eyes when Carla had said he still loved Madeline
flashed in his mind. But he knew Kathy understood. “I have a
surprise for you.”
    “ For me?”
    “ Are you up for
it?”
    She nodded.
    “ Okay, I’ll be right
back.”
    A moment later, he returned with
Eduardo, Clara, and Christian. Each of them held a long-stemmed
rose.
    Her eyes opened wide and weak smile
settled on her lips. “Oh, my babies.” She began to sob, and
Christian stopped his progression into the room, but Carlos pulled
him in.
    Eduardo advanced toward her first and
kissed her. “Hey, Mom. You doing okay?”
    “ Yeah. I’m doing okay.” She
smiled and moved her hand to grasp his.
    “ Why didn’t you tell us? You
should have told us.”
    “ I know. I just didn’t want
you to worry about me.”
    His lips thinned and he looked away
then back at her. “I was already worried about you. I knew you were
sick.”
    Clara couldn’t speak through her
tears. She walked to her mother and rested her head on the pillow
next to her, and Madeline nuzzled against her with her cheek. “It’s
okay, baby. I’m okay.”
    Christian kept his distance, but he
smiled when she looked at him.
    Carlos knew they had their ways of
dealing with things. He excused himself and stood outside of the
room. There was a long road ahead of them. He had to decide how to
deal with the fact that they needed each other, but he also needed
to distance himself. There was no way he’d let her be alone.
Damnit, it hadn’t been a lie. He needed her. She was an intrinsic
part of his life. But now he had Kathy and he had to watch his
step. He’d lost sleep over seeing the pain caused when Clara said
he loved Madeline. Who wouldn’t be pissed by something like that?
Worse yet, he hadn’t—couldn’t have—corrected her. He’d never
stopped loving Madeline.
    There had always been that small part
of him that secretly wished for Matt to leave so he could reclaim
his wife. Who’d have thought the opportunity would arise the moment
he fell in love with someone else?
    He pulled the slip of paper from his
pocket and dialed his cell phone. There were still enough
connections to Matt Carson, and he’d known who to ask. He dialed
the number.
    “ Matt, it’s Carlos.”
Irritation filtered through his voice, but there was no way to hide
it as he told the man who’d once been his best friend that the
woman they’d both loved had cancer.
     
    He returned to the hospital later that
evening after taking the kids home and feeding them dinner. Kathy
was edgy and he couldn’t blame her. She was being a great sport,
and he’d make it up to her. When Madeline was healthy and home, he
figured he’d ask Kathy to marry him. After all, he’d made the phone
call to Matt Carson himself. The man was already in the car and
heading back to Nashville before he’d hung up. Carlos wouldn’t
stand in the way.
    He scrubbed his hands over his face.
The heavy stubble on his cheek reminded him he’d forgotten to shave
that morning. He’d been in such a hurry to get to Madeline’s
side.
    He tapped on her door and she invited
him in. This time she looked happy, and the glow had returned to
her skin. She looked stiff sitting in her bed, and he