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  “Don’t get upset, Travis…I’m going to call Cole Jackson and see if he can get a temporary custody order and whatever else it takes to keep her in Bowie. I need to do it, because evidently your sister isn’t going to be reasonable.”

  Wade glanced over at Travis to gauge his reaction, and saw that his face was flushed, and his jaw clenched, but he took a deep breath, then let it out and said, “I understand…my sister isn’t being cooperative, so you don’t have any choice. I want what’s best for Angel, and from what I see you do too…”

  With a nod, Wade took out his cell phone and dialed Cole’s number. When he answered, Wade said shortly, “Cole, this is Wade…I need your help.”

  ***

  “Can you grab the diaper bag, Jazzie?” Jess asked her friend who was sitting in the aisle seat beside her. It was hot on the bus, and Angel’s little cheeks were really flushed and she was sweating, so Jess wanted to change her into a thin t-shirt, and maybe give her a bottle of the water she had in the bag. Since they left Henrietta, she’d been fussy, and Jess was doing everything she could to keep her quiet, so she didn’t disturb the other passengers.

  Jazzie sat back down and held out the bag without looking at her. She was pissed because Jess had insisted they go to Nashville, run from Texas. Last night, Wade and Travis had been planning out her and Angel’s life like she didn’t have a say in anything. Her brother had betrayed her, and she wasn’t going to stick around for the finale, when he helped Wade take Angel away from her. Jess didn’t feel like she had much choice, but to run.

  Since it was the Country Music Capital of the World, Jess figured they could find a few small gigs to support themselves in Nashville, and make contacts too to get her career on track, once the damned cast was off her leg. It was also somewhere that Wade wasn’t likely to find them. They were going to stay with Jazzie’s aunt, because even though her best friend was against them running, she’d contacted her aunt, who had agreed to let them stay with her for a while. Jazzie’s parents had wired them some money for the tickets and expenses to get there. Jess was determined to pay them back as soon as possible.

  Jess pulled the baby tighter against her and kissed her damp hair. Angel was hers…the only good thing she had in her life now, and nobody was going to take her away, or tell her how to raise her daughter.

  “You’re making her hotter, Jess…you need to lay her on your lap, so she can get some air,” Jazzie told her then folded her arms under her breasts and looked away.

  Ignoring her snippy best friend, Jess dug through the diaper bag and pulled out the thinnest t-shirt she could find and then changed Angel. The sugar water she’d put in there before they left, was hot too, she noticed when she palmed the bottle, but it was better than nothing. Snapping the cap of, she ran the nipple over Angel’s lips and she sucked in, then started drinking swiftly.

  Halfway through the bottle, she let the nipple go, then started wailing, and Jess put her to her shoulder and patted her back. The baby fretted on her shoulder, squirming, then gagged a couple of times and Jess pulled her away, just in time for her to spit up all over her shoulder. Thank goodness, it was water, but Angel had never acted this way, and Jess was getting worried. Using a burp rag, she wiped her shoulder and the baby’s mouth.

  “I’m worried about her, Jazz…she’s hotter than she should be, and her eyes are a little glazed. And she’s really limp.”

  “Give her some Tylenol,” Jazzie said laying the back of her hand on Angel’s forehead.

  What worried Jess even more was, if Angel was really sick, she didn’t have enough money to take her to the doctor, or even one of those med clinics. Jazzie’s parents had wired them the money for the tickets, and a little more for expenses, but that wasn’t going to be enough to get Angel medical help. They also had the check from the anniversary gig, but they had no way to cash it, yet.

  Because Wade had bought the extras, Jess had enough formula for Angel, and diapers but she and Jazzie were going to have to be really frugal. Now that she was on the road on this long trip with her baby, she wasn’t so sure it was such a good idea after all. At three months, she was still so little, exposing her to all these people, and situations probably wasn’t good for her.

  Jess was impulsive by nature, and lately she hadn’t been the model of emotional stability, she’d cried more in the last few months than she had in her whole life. She sure hoped her daughter wasn’t going to pay for her impulsiveness now. Tears sprang to her eyes, as she looked down at Angel, squirming in her lap. Maybe a wet towel would help, she thought, but the bathroom on a bus wasn’t the ideal place to get water to wash her up, and who knew what was in the canned water that they carried on board anyway.

  They would stop in Greenville, Texas soon for a transfer, and she would find someplace to cool her down there, and see if she was really sick, or just overheated. Jess grabbed the bag again, and took out the baby Tylenol, then dropped a dose into Angel’s mouth. Angel smacked her lips, which made Jess smile. Maybe it would help her sleep too, she hoped anyway, and put her back on her shoulder, rubbing her back.

  Jess had fallen asleep with her head on the window, so when the bus came to a jarring stop, she jerked in the seat then sat up staring around disoriented. Jazzie wasn’t in the seat beside her, and the baby wasn’t on her shoulder anymore. Her heartbeat kicked up a few notches, but she was sure they were around here somewhere, where could they have gone? There was no way they could’ve gotten off of the bus, right?

  When she saw Jazzie coming down the aisle from the bathroom with Angel on her shoulder, she breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. Her friend’s black brows were drawn together in concern, as she set the diaper bag back on the seat. “We need to get her to the hospital, Jess…her fever is 103, and her breathing isn’t right. She threw up a couple of more times too.”

  A whimper escaped from Jess and she took the baby from Jazzie, and cuddled her into her neck. She was so damned hot, Jess was terrified. Fever caused seizures sometimes, she’d read in a baby book. Jazzie was right, they needed to get off this bus now, and get her to a doctor.

  “Grab our stuff, and let’s go,” Jess told her frantically, then slung the diaper bag over her shoulder and took off down the aisle, pushing people who were pulling down their luggage aside, yelling that her baby was sick and she needed to get by. Her feet didn’t touch the three steps, on her way down to the curb. When she got there, she looked left and right, then saw the entrance to the station and ran inside, hoping maybe they had a first aid station inside or something.

  Someone opened the door for her, and she ran past them, not even saying thank you, then ran to the ticket counter and asked with tears streaming down her face, “Is there a first aid station here? Or can someone call an ambulance? My baby is sick…”

  “No need to call an ambulance, ma’am…I’ll take them,” Wade’s deep voice sounded beside her and she looked up at his angry concerned face and whimpered, then held Angel tighter to her. Wade pried her arms apart, and she let Angel go, so she didn’t hurt her.

  “Can you tell me where the nearest hospital is? he asked the woman and she gave him directions, then Wade kissed Angel’s forehead and put his hand to her cheeks. His eyes filled up, as he told Jess shortly, “Let’s go…” then strode to the exit, with her trailing behind him.

  Jazzie called her name from the back door by the bus then ran across the floor in her stiletto heels with a bag over each shoulder. “Wait!” Jazzie yelled, trying to catch up with them, but Jess wasn’t letting Wade and Angel out of her sight, she ignored her friend and stuck to his back like glue. His truck was parked illegally at the curb, and her brother got out when he saw them running that way, and opened the back door. Wade got in the front and threw him the keys, “Drive to the hospital,” then he got in the front and belted in still holding Angel to his chest.

  “Give me my baby!” Jess yelled and tried to open the front door. His window was cracked an inch or two and she heard him growl, then he said fla
tly, “Get your ass in the truck, or get left here, now!” Travis was behind the wheel, and cranked the truck, so she jumped in the back beside Jazzie and slammed the door. The coolness in the truck, made her sigh in relief, and fan her shirt. Wade leaned over and kicked it up a notch, then pointed a vent toward the back.

  “How long has she been running this fever?” Wade asked abrasively, treating her like she had no clue how to take care of herself, much less a baby. He wasn’t far from the truth there, her inner voice taunted.

  “I’m not sure, I noticed it after we left Dallas…she’s throwing up too…can’t even keep water down.”

  He groaned, then kissed Angel’s head, and said, “Poor baby girl…we’re gonna get you fixed up, darlin’,” then he met her eyes in the rearview, “I think she’s dehydrated.”

  Jess couldn’t help herself, she fired back nastily, “Where’d you get your medical degree, Bullshit U?

  Jazzie groaned beside her and put a hand to her forehead, before she slunk down in the seat, and Travis cut her a heated look in the mirror. “Shut the fuck up, Sis.”

  “Why, so you and Wade can plan my and Angel’s life behind our back?” She spat back at him.

  “We weren’t planning your life, we were trying to help figure out how to unwind the mess you’ve made of things lately,” he said then huffed out a frustrated sigh.

  “I don’t want your fucking help, either of you. Why don’t ya’ll form a mutual admiration society or something, and leave me the hell alone. I’m not interested in what you’d like me to do with my life…it’s my own and I’ll do what the hell I please with it.”

  “It’s not that easy anymore, Sis…you made a big mistake running away with Angel. You have more than yourself to think about now.”

  “I tried to tell her, Trav…” Jazzie said and shook her head.

  “So, you’re ganging up on me too,” Jess whispered brokenly, as misery squeezed her chest, and tears rushed to her eyes. “I thought you’d always be on my side…guess I was wrong,” she said and folded her arms over her chest to look out the window.

  “There are no sides, Jessica,” Wade told her bluntly, “There’s only Angel’s side, and either you’re on it…or your not.” She saw his eyes sparkling warningly in the side view mirror, and he was grinding his teeth.

  “Are you threatening me, Wade?” she asked him in a higher than normal pitch.

  “I didn’t hear a threat in that, but I can tell you this…if you’re not on Angel’s side, you’re on the go team. Nobody is going to hurt her…or take her from me again.”

  “Who put you in charge? You don’t even know for sure she’s your daughter, do you? Your name isn’t on the birth certificate, I haven’t said she’s your daughter, have I?”

  “You don’t have to…she has my hair, dimple, and that cute little banana-shaped birthmark on her butt, I have it too. But if you want to go there, we’ll have DNA tests. I just didn’t want to put her, or you, through all that unnecessarily.”

  “You can’t stop me if I want to take her to Nashville,” Jess told him belligerently. He couldn’t, Angel was her daughter, she’d take her wherever she damned well pleased. This is exactly why she wasn’t ever going to tell Wade about Angel. Complications, her life was a big ball of them now, and this man was at the center of it.

  “Oh, yes I can, and I will. He lifted a piece of paper from the center console and shook it at her, and she saw Travis’s face flush, then his hands tightened on the wheel. Leaning forward, Jess jerked it from his hand and saw it was a faxed copy of a temporary custody order, giving him full legal custody of Angel Sparks Roberts, pending a custody hearing, and giving Jess supervised visitation, as stipulated by the custodial parent, Wade Roberts.

  Her whole body went numb, and the words on the paper blurred, then a buzzing started in her ears. A wail worked its way up her body from her toes, and she let it go into the cab of the truck, as her heart felt like someone was ripping it out of her chest. Jess couldn’t breathe, as hard as she tried to suck in a breath, she couldn’t, then dark spots formed in front of her eyes, and then closed in around her, before she felt herself sliding off of the seat.

  “She passed out,” Jazzie shouted and shot him an accusing glare.

  Could it get any worse? Wade hadn’t meant to dump it on her like that, but her mouth just wouldn’t stop. He was kicking himself for unloading on her, because not only had he devastated her, he’d probably just made communicating with her about their daughter impossible. His intention had been to talk to her calmly and explain how things were going to be, but that was out now. She could be having a fucking heart attack or something back there, and she probably hated his guts now.

  He kissed Angel’s forehead and she was hotter now than she had been when they’d left the bus station. Swallowing hard against the guilt that poured through him, he looked over at Jess’s brother then said, “Hurry up, Travis…run red lights, do what you have to.”

  When Travis pulled the truck up in front of the emergency room a few minutes later, Wade opened his door and ran inside with Angel, while Travis and Jazzie went to the back to help get Jess out.

  Seeing a nurse at the nurse’s station in the E.R., he ran up to her, and said in a choked voice, “My baby is sick, she’s got a high fever, and I think she’s dehydrated, please help her,” then handed her to the surprised nurse.

  The nurse felt her forehead and her eyebrows shot up, then she took her into an exam room, and Wade followed behind her. The woman put a thermometer in her ear and when it beeped, she read it, then looked at him and said, “We’ve got to get her cooled off quick. Come stand here, I’ll go get the doctor.”

  Tears burned behind his eyes, as he walked over to the table and held onto Angel, so she didn’t fall off the table. He stroked her hair and face, and cooed to her, then wondered why the nurse wasn’t back yet. Even though she’d only been gone thirty seconds, she needed to fucking hurry, because Angel wasn’t looking good at all.

  CHAPTER SIX

  A white-coated female doctor rushed into the exam room, and over to them, and Wade stepped back to give her and the nurse room to work. The doctor looked over at him and asked, “How long has she been like this?”

  “At least four or five hours, I guess,” he estimated, because Jess hadn’t really been sure.

  “Vomiting?” she asked him.

  “Her mother said she spit up, yes,” Wade told her, then swallowed hard when emotion clogged his throat. “Is she gonna be okay?”

  “Kids run fevers…we just need to find out what’s causing it. She’s dehydrated that’s for sure, so we’re going to start an I.V. of fluids,” the doctor said then looked up at the nurse, who nodded.

  She put a tongue depressor in Angel’s mouth, which made her gag, and Wade flinched. Then the doctor looked in Angel’s ears, and she started wiggling on the table and crying. He fought the urge to go and grab her up and cuddle her. “Has she been given Tylenol recently?”

  “I don’t know…probably not,” he told her, thinking that her fever wouldn’t be so high, if Jess had given her any. “Let me go check,” he told her then added, “I’ll be right back.”

  The doctor nodded, and he headed out the door to find Jazzie. Jess wasn’t coherent…or cooperative…so he wasn’t going to ask her. He found Jazzie in an exam room with Jess and Travis. Jess was awake now, but inconsolable still, she was curled in a fetal position on the bed and sobbing uncontrollably. “Jazzie, can I talk to you outside for a second?”

  After she shot him a heated glance, and studied him for a second, she nodded with her lips tight then stomped past him out into the hall. “How’s Angel?” she asked him shortly.

  “The doctor is examining her…they’re staring an I.V…” he said then narrowed his eyes accusingly, “Because she’s dehydrated.”

  “Look, babies get sick…this is not Jess’s fault!” Jazzie yelled, then took a step closer to him, and put a finger in his chest. “Jess is a great mother, so don’t you star
t with that, or I’ll kick your ass! You have no idea what she’s been through this last year! She was in the hospital a week after the baby was born, they weren’t even sure she was going to make it herself!”