Read Online A Husband for the Holidays (Made For Matrimony 1) by Ami Weaver - Free Book Online

headlights. A little shiver ran through her. No one had ever kissed like Mack did, made her feel like Mack did. Not that she had much experience outside of Mack. She’d shut that part of her down.
    Of course, he’d also suggested it had been a mistake. So there was that. She tried to ignore the spike of disappointment and remind herself it was for the best.
    She snapped out of her reverie when she pulled into the driveway and saw an ambulance parked there. In a heartbeat the panic set in. She threw the car in Park with a gasp and ran up to the door, where she saw her uncle strapped to the gurney and her aunt’s ashen face.
    “Uncle Joe! Aunt Marla, what happened?” She stood to the side so the paramedics could load her uncle in the ambulance.
    “His heart.” Marla turned stricken eyes on Darcy. “He’s having pain, shortness of breath, all of it.”
    Darcy inhaled deeply and took her aunt’s arm. “I’ll drive you up to the hospital,” she said as the nearby paramedic nodded as they climbed into the vehicle. “Let’s go.”
    They hurried back to her still warm car and Darcy bounced down the driveway behind the ambulance. Marla sat beside her and even in the dark, Darcy could feel the tension and fear rolling off her aunt.
    * * *
    Hours passed, and Marla looked up at Darcy. “You’d better call Mack. Let him know.”
    Darcy inhaled sharply. While she knew her aunt was right, the thought made her own heart beat irregularly. She kept her voice calm. “I don’t have his number. If you can put it in my phone, I’ll do that now.”
    Marla nodded, apparently not reading anything on her face, so Darcy pulled her phone out. It was late. Would he even answer? She’d left in such a hurry.
    The phone rang twice. Then Mack’s voice, low and calm. “Hello?”
    Darcy took a deep breath. “It’s me. Darcy,” she added lamely, momentarily tangled up in the propriety of how to identify herself to the man she’d been married to yet hadn’t spoken to for seven years until the past week or so.
    “Darcy?” The question he didn’t ask was clear in his tone. “Is everything okay?”
    “Um, not really. Uncle Joe’s in the hospital. Aunt Marla asked me to call you and let you know.” She folded her free arm across her middle and stared out at the parking lot, at the snow sifting down on the cars parked there. The coldness of the scene reflected how she felt inside.
    “What happened?” He sounded much more alert now.
    Darcy explained what she knew. “So it’s a waiting game now. I’m with Aunt Marla and some of her friends. They’re knitting.”
    A little chuckle came over the line. “I’m sure they are. I’ll be there in fifteen.”
    Darcy jumped and looked up to see Marla’s gaze on her. “Um. That’s not necessary. It’s so late—”
    “See you then.”
    The phone went dead in her hand and she pulled it away from her ear to stare at it, frustrated. There was no reason for him to be here. They weren’t married. Joe was going to be fine.
    She walked back over to her aunt, who had needles flying in her hands. She looked up, but the needles never slowed. “Did you talk to him, then?”
    Darcy dropped in a chair. “Yep. He said he’s on his way.”
    “That’s good.” Marla didn’t miss a beat. “He’ll be a good source of support for you.”
    “I don’t need him,” she said, too worried and too tired to care that this conversation had to take place in front of two of Marla’s best friends, who knew what had happened with her and Mack. And she almost believed what she’d said. Almost. Truth was, she’d love to lean on him. But the price was more than she could ever pay.
    Marla’s needles clicked. “Maybe he needs to be here. He and Joe are close.”
    Of course. Now Darcy just felt foolish. Mack had relationships outside of and independent of her. One of those was with her uncle.
    She fidgeted in her chair. The steady click of needles should be calming, but, God, she just hated hospitals.