Barefoot at Moonrise (Barefoot Bay Timeless Book 2) (29 page)

Another shock rocked his body, but Ray lay lifeless on the ground. His wife wailed again, and Beth shuddered with her younger brother’s arm tightly around her. Ken couldn’t even look at her, he was so sure she was about to witness her father’s death.

And he knew how much that hurt. He
knew
.

Another shock jerked Ray, but this time his mouth opened, and he sucked in a breath, making everyone cry out.

“He’s alive!” someone screamed.

“That did it!” another person yelled.

“Praise God!”

Don’t praise Him yet
, Ken thought, leaning over to check him. He needed to be on cardiac life support, get some beta blockers, and pray that therapeutic hypothermia worked.

It was Ray’s only chance. And it was slim.

Just then, someone called out that the medics had arrived, and Ken looked up to see the EMS crew blowing in and barking orders.

“Let us through,” their captain ordered, his gaze on the victim.

Ken recognized Captain Markoff, an old friend he’d met through co-county training and fundraisers. When Markoff looked up, he reacted with the same recognition. “Cav. What’s the condition?”

Bad.

“SCA,” Ken said softly, not wanting to freak out Beth or anyone else who might know how serious that was. “He was out for at least a minute, maybe more.”

Markoff nodded as Ken delivered additional information, speaking only as a paramedic on the scene with no skin in the game.

But he had skin in this game. Skin and soul.

Once Markoff’s team took over, Ken backed away, adrenaline dumping through his veins.

As they lifted Ray onto the stretcher, Beth broke away from her family to come closer to Ken. He turned to her, fighting the urge to reach out and pull her into him, to press a kiss on her golden hair, to beg for her forgiveness.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Thank you for saving him.”

Her father wasn’t saved yet, but Ken didn’t have the heart to tell her that now.

“I’m sure that…wasn’t easy,” she added, the comment slicing right through him.

“It’s never easy,” he said, watching an EMT tie a strap over Ray’s chest, and noting that that chest rose and fell, thank God.

“I mean, with him.”

He looked down at her, ready to argue, but RJ came closer, an attractive woman clinging to him with fear in her eyes.

“One of the medics said they’re taking him to Naples Community.”

“Good,” Ken said. “They have a great cardiology department at the Heart Institute.”

“Is he going to be okay?” RJ asked, fear straining his voice.

Ken swallowed…and lied. “Most likely. You’ll need to get to the hospital and talk to his doctors.”

“Beth, ride with us.” RJ put his arm around her.

She sank deeper into her brother’s side, her own adrenaline dump making her look incredibly pale.

“I’ll take you to the hospital, Beth,” Ken said, reaching for her.

She blinked at the suggestion and suddenly Ken realized how awkward that would be. This was her private family crisis and he was
not
family. Not even close…yet.

“Or you can go with RJ,” he added. “Of course, I understand. I’ll…be in touch.”

“Really, man,” RJ said, reaching out a hand to Ken. “You kicked ass. Thanks. We most likely owe our dad’s life to you.”

“No, it’s okay. Just get to him.” Because Ray might not even be alive when they reached the hospital.

Beth searched his face, still a little in shock, and looking as if she had a question or something to say, but RJ was already anxiously pulling her away.

“I better be with my family now,” she whispered. “And thank you.”

RJ guided her toward the rest of the family, his arm possessively around both women and Ken stood, watching.

He could go to the hospital but they didn’t need to be dealing with anything except the effort to keep Ray alive.

Which he knew in his gut could be futile. So Ken stood in the same spot, watching the family he wasn’t a part of disappear. He’d let his hatred and his blame take everything away from him, and he’d never even had a chance to tell Ray Endicott that he was sorry for that. Or, as he’d come to do, thank Ray for what he’d done for Ken’s family.

And he might never get that chance.

* * *

If any good could come of the tense hours the Endicott family spent in the chilly ER waiting room, it had to be that Landon and RJ were seated next to each other, in deep conversation for a long time. After talking to Beth for a while, Selina put her head on RJ’s shoulder and fell asleep.

Rebecca held Josie’s hand, both of them tearful, standing in unison every time a doctor came out from behind the closed swinging doors of the ER. A few minutes after midnight, a nurse told them a doctor would be out to speak with them in about another half hour.

Beth sat alone, holding her head up, watching it all unfold, replaying the moment that she’d thought Ken had come to apologize and realized he’d come to confront her father.

And then, irony of ironies, had had to save his life.

Which he had—she hoped. But sitting there, Googling on her phone what she heard Ken say to the other paramedic—SCA, or sudden cardiac arrest—wasn’t making Beth feel much better. She certainly wasn’t going to share the dismal survival statistics with her family, but the numbers were not in her father’s favor.

After the nurse left, Josie stood alone and walked over to Beth, holding her hand out. “Will you get coffee with me?”

“Of course,” Beth said, standing without hesitation. “Does anyone else want to come?”

“I want to go with you,” Josie said. “Just you.”

There was something in Josie’s eyes that made Beth certain she wanted to talk about more than the current dire situation. “Okay.” Beth turned to Landon and RJ. “Text me if anything happens. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

In silence, Beth walked with Josie out of the ER toward another section of the hospital. They walked past a gift store that was closed, but the coffee shop next to it was open.

Taking a table, Beth offered to get coffee and croissants, but Josie shook her head. “I don’t want anything except to talk to you.”

Beth put her elbows on the table and stared at her stepmother. Surely this had to be about Ken, about why he came late to the dinner. About—

“Does he know?” Josie demanded.

Beth blinked, her mind jumping around at what she could mean before it settled on the obvious. “You mean does Ken know the contents of the envelope Dad gave me?”

Josie nodded. “Does he know?” This time, she asked with more force.

“He saw the autopsy report and the blood alcohol level,” Beth said.

Josie closed her eyes like she’d been hit hard. “Oh.”

“He thinks it’s a lie.”

Her eyes popped open. “Really? He doesn’t believe the autopsy report?”

“Of course not.” She swallowed hard, not sure she wanted to know the answer to the next question. “He thinks it’s fake.”

Josie choked softly. “It’s not. And I tried so hard, so damn hard, to keep the truth from those kids, from Ken and his brother and sister.”

“Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?” Beth suggested. “At the accident, and after.”

Josie sighed in resignation. “What happened was exactly what the autopsy says. John Cavanaugh was beyond legally drunk and hadn’t attached that generator properly. He completely forgot the safety latch, then happened to be the man under it when the hook broke. If another man had been standing under it? John Cavanaugh would be in jail for manslaughter.”

“How could Ken not know he was drunk? He was right there. He held his father in his arms as he died. How could other men on the site not know?”

“John was quite skilled at hiding his drinking problem,” Josie continued. “He hid it from the supervisor, from his coworkers, his kids, even from his wife until shortly before he was killed. But Carole knew.”

“You talked to her?”

“Carole? We talk all the time.”

Beth felt a frown pull. Didn’t Carole Cavanaugh think the Endicotts were the spawn of Satan like Ken did?

“She’s my friend,” Josie said quietly. “And I made her a promise that apparently has been broken.”

“I am so lost,” Beth admitted. “How is it that she is your friend? And what promise did you make? And why?”

“I got to know Carole when she did some tailoring for me,” Josie said. “Her husband worked for EDC, and I liked giving her the business. She was sweet, and when you and Ken started dating, we had fun gossiping about it and keeping it from our husbands.”

“Why?”

“John was proud, and Dad was, well, your dad.”

Beth stared at her. “I had no idea.”

She shrugged. “You and I weren’t that close, and I didn’t want you to get mad. Anyway, the accident happened. Carole was pushed to file a suit by relatives and a few lawyers who butted in, but as soon as the autopsy was completed, she backed off. Everything would have come out in the open during a lawsuit and the poor family had suffered enough. We gave her money to help her and the family.”

“Why did she hide the truth?” Beth asked. “Just to protect the kids?”

Josie smiled sympathetically. “It’s a shame you won’t ever have kids, Beth.”

She blinked at the statement, entirely unsure how to respond. “Why?”

“Because then you’d know what parents do for their children. I know I push hard for Landon, but he’s my child, and nature drives me to want the best for him. Carole was no different with Ken and his siblings. They loved their dad like crazy! Especially Ken. He thought the sun rose and fell on his father and had no idea the man battled with addiction. John was a vet, did you know that?”

“Yes, I knew.”

“Apparently, he saw some very bad things, and that might have been why he first started having problems with alcohol. Carole didn’t talk about it until after the accident. I had no idea, honestly.” She paused and leaned closer. “And neither did his kids. I made a promise to Carole that we would never ever tell anyone what happened. There seemed no reason to put Ken and his siblings through such torment.”

“He went through torment,” she said quietly.

“But he never blamed his father.”

“No, he blamed Dad.”

Josie tipped her head. “We didn’t think that mattered in the long run of his life. We didn’t think you two kids were serious. You were fifteen years old. And, it was actually Carole’s idea to have a ‘nondisclosure agreement’ so she wouldn’t have to talk about it and so her kids would think she’d lose the money if they did.”

Beth literally held on to the table, reeling. “So why did Dad give me the papers if you both made this promise?”

“He didn’t know about the promise, Beth. That was between Carole and me. How Carole handled what John’s kids knew was her business as far as Dad was concerned. That’s why I had to get into your house.”

Beth’s jaw fell open. “You…
what
?”

“I didn’t get too upset about Ray giving you the papers, though he did it without consulting me, because you told him that you weren’t ever going to see Ken again.”

And she hadn’t planned on it until the pregnancy.

“But once I saw Ken at your house,” Josie said, “I knew that you two would start to get closer and closer. I was counting on the fact that you told Ray you weren’t ever going to read the papers and, even if you had, I could get rid of the autopsy report so Ken would never see absolute proof. So I came up with a way I could get into your house, knowing you’d be gone, and I could take that autopsy report out of the envelope.”

“Josie!” Beth was nearly breathless with disbelief. “You broke into my house? Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“In case you hadn’t read it yet, then I could have saved you from knowing.”

“But he’d go on hating and blaming Dad.”

She shrugged. “I made a promise to Carole. I’m sorry about the flood and the inconvenience, and I didn’t find the papers because you showed up while I was looking. I had to run out the sliding glass door.”

Beth gave a short, mirthless laugh. “So it was you.” She shook her head. “For a bit, I blamed Ken.”

“Don’t blame him,” she said. “This was all to protect Ken. Because I care about Carole, and my heart hurts for anyone who’s lost a husband.” Her eyes filled again. “When Landon’s father died, I was gutted.” She sighed and looked back down the hall from where they’d come. “I don’t think I can handle it again.”

Beth took Josie’s folded hands in hers. “You have to stay positive. And please tell me I can explain all this to Ken.”

“How much does he know?”

“He was working on something in my house and the papers fell, and he saw the autopsy. He wouldn’t know that John actually caused the accident. He accused Dad of faking the report so EDC didn’t get sued. Actually, I think that’s why he came to dinner. To confront Dad.”

“And ended up saving his life,” Josie said. “At least, I hope so.”

At the misery in her voice, Beth put her hand over Josie’s. “All these years I’ve thought Dad was the one trying to control things. It was you. And for some very noble reasons.”