He didn’t know how she’d found out about the crisis in his household. He’d been determined not to call her. He hadn’t wanted her to see him as just someone else who wanted to use her.
Holding his book, Clay scrambled off the couch. “I’m going to my room to watch TV. ’Beetleborgs’ are coming on.”
“Take a juice box with you,” Emily called after him. “You still need to drink plenty of liquids for a few days.”
“Okay, Miss Emily.” He dashed away, almost back to full speed.
Emily smiled at Wade again. “‘Beetleborgs?’”
“Don’t ask.” Making a massive effort to look steady on his feet, Wade slowly crossed the room and lowered himself onto the other end of the couch.
Apparently, he hadn’t fooled Emily for a minute. Frowning, she lifted a cool hand to his forehead. “You still have a fever,” she announced. “Not as high as before, though.”
“I sure hope you don’t catch this. If I’d been thinking more clearly yesterday, I would have sent you straight home.”
“You couldn’t have made me leave,” she returned firmly. “You and Clay needed me, Wade. Why didn’t you call me?”
He didn’t figure he really needed to answer that, considering the way they’d last parted. He leaned his aching head back against the couch, cursing himself for getting sick in the first place. This was not the way he wanted to be seen by the woman he loved. Why hadn’t he taken the flu shot when he’d had the chance, instead of blithely assuming he was too tough to succumb to the virus?
“Wade?” Emily wasn’t going to be satisfied with his silence. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I told you I wasn’t looking for someone to take care of me and my son. That isn’t what I want or what I need.”
“I’m aware that you’re perfectly capable of taking care of your family,” Emily answered gently. “Even as sick as you were yesterday, you were taking good care of Clay. I could see that. But everyone needs help sometimes.”
“And when they do, they usually call you. Isn’t that what you’ve said?”
“And, as you pointed out, I’ve responded because I wanted to. I chose to be here with you and Clay this weekend, Wade. This is what I wanted to do. I don’t expect you to apologize.”
“Thanks.”
She looked suddenly sheepish. “Have I really complained so much that you were reluctant to call me?”
“No. But you did mention that you’ve grown tired of taking care of others all the time.”
She laced her fingers in her lap and gazed down at them. After a long, thoughtful moment, she sighed. “You know that my family life wasn’t particularly happy, especially after my brother left town.”
Wade nodded, thinking of all he’d heard about Emily’s family...from her, and from others.
“My father’s illness,” she continued, “was long and horrible. It was as if he died an inch at a time. I couldn’t have dealt with it twenty-four hours a day, so going to work every day was a relief for me. I was very fortunate that Dad’s insurance provided full-time nursing during the days. But it was up to me to take care of him nights and weekends. You were right, of course. It was my choice to keep him at home, rather than putting him into a nursing facility. Dad and I were never close, but he was the only member of my immediate family who didn’t actually abandon me. I owed him for that, if nothing else.”
“You were a good daughter to him, Emily. He was the fortunate one.”
“What really got me through these last few years was the fantasy of getting away. I spent hours studying travel guides, watching videos of places I wanted to visit, daydreaming of how wonderful it would be to be carefree and adventurous.”
“And do you still think that’s what you need to do to be happy? Travel and adventure?” he asked, knowing that he would have no choice but to stand aside and watch her go if she said yes. Hating the very thought of it.
“No,” she whispered, giving him renewed hope.
“You’re having second thoughts?”
She darted a quick glance at him, then looked back down at her hands. “Maybe.”
“Any particular reason?” He almost held his breath as he waited for her answer.
“I think you know why,” she murmured.
“I love you, Emily. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. But I don’t want to talk you out of your dreams.”