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“So my amnesia starts from right before I met you?” she said slowly, suspicion filling her eyes.
She was too astute. It seemed her private investigator skills were as honed as ever.
“It appears so,” he said, treading carefully through this discussion that was full of land mines. “I don’t expect you to take my word for anything. Talk to my family, talk to your mother, whatever you need to do to feel reassured.”
“You have family nearby?”
“I do. A large family. My mother and some of my siblings live in Anchorage, except for my brother, who’s closer to Juneau.” He shared the details carefully, watching for signs of recollection. Her amnesia could disappear at any moment and she would go back to tossing him out on his ass. “My mother recently remarried and her new husband has an even larger family, mostly local, too.”
“A big family is a blessing.” Her blue eyes shone with a pain he recognized.
Learning of her father’s hidden second family had wounded Shana deeply as a teen. She had three half siblings she’d never met. Her father’s betrayal had cut so deeply that Shana still had trouble trusting. Chuck knew he needed to keep that in mind now more than ever. If he made a misstep, this could go so very wrong.
But he couldn’t let her go, especially not now.
He would do what was necessary to protect Shana, and their unborn baby.
There’d been a time when they talked of having at least four children. Life had a different plan for them.
“Considering my family and Mom’s new husband’s family have been business enemies for decades, we weren’t sure about the blessing part at first. Family reunions are dicey, but it’s starting to shake out.”
“So you and I are happily married?”
Now, there was a loaded question. “We had our problems like any other couple,” he hedged.
The last thing he wanted to lead with was their hellish fight right before her aneurysm, a fight that had her hauling his clothes from the closet as she told him to move out. But the doctor had said to answer honestly. He could offer up part of their issues without tipping his hand. “We had been going through fertility treatments to start a family, and that put a strain on us.”
“But we were committed enough that we wanted a child together.”
“Want a child. Present tense.” He very much intended to be a full-time father to their child. If this pregnancy went well, Chuck would do everything in his power to be there for his kid.
“You have to realize I’m overwhelmed by all of this.” She threaded her fingers through her long, honeyed hair, over her ear, her eyes widening. “Amnesia? It’s something we all know about, but I never imagined it could actually happen to me.”
“Of course. It’s a lot. Take your time. I’m here for you, whatever you need, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you—” She frowned, pressing her temples.
“People call me Chuck,” he reminded her. “Or Charles.”
“What did I call you?”
The last time they’d been together, she’d called him a list of names better left unsaid right now. “You called me Chuck.”
“Thank you, Chuck.”
The way her voice wrapped around his name sounded as familiar as ever.
A tap sounded on the door. “Hello?”
A recognizable voice called out an instant before the door opened to the youngest of his siblings—Alayna.
The shiest of them all, she entered hesitantly. There’d been a time as a child when she was as talkative as the rest of them, but then she’d changed. Withdrawn. Telling her to leave would be like plucking wings off a butterfly.
But he’d hoped to keep his family out of this situation a little while longer until he could explain the amnesia to them. Alayna had a quiet way of slipping past people’s defenses. While the family probably hadn’t noticed she’d left, the staff here likely had been charmed and unaware she was supposed to be anywhere but here.
Hell, even he couldn’t find it in himself to be mad at her for caring so much.
Alayna rushed to Shana’s bedside and hugged her gently. “Thank goodness you’re awake. I’ve been so worried.”
Shana stared over his sister’s shoulder with wide, surprised eyes. “Uh, hello, thank you.”
Stepping back, Alayna sank into a chair. “I’m so relieved you’re awake, and healthy, and the baby’s okay. It’s a miracle.”
How the hell had she heard the news? And damn, he needed to say something quickly before—
Shana’s surprised look shifted to outright stunned.
“The baby?”
Two (#ue1c1bd2e-1b84-5856-bc40-52f695b69e5d)
A baby?
Panic and confusion rocked Shana, the young woman’s voice still ringing in her ears. She had a child as well as a husband? Her hand slid to her stomach, still flat. Surely there must be some kind of mistake.
Unless they meant a child that had already been born.
“We have a child?” Shana asked, her mind spinning. “How old? You say the child’s okay. Did something happen when I had the aneurysm? Was I driving a car or holding—?”
“Nothing like that.” He looked sideways at Alayna, who appeared even more confused than Shana felt.
Slack-jawed, the young woman—late teens, perhaps?—glanced back and forth between them. “I don’t understand—”
Chuck placed a silencing hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Shana, I’d hoped to share this more carefully, but here goes. You’re eight weeks pregnant.”
Air whooshed from her lungs. Her ears rang. She could barely wrap her brain around this latest shock. “It’s... I...um, I don’t know what to say.”
The young woman tugged on her overlong sweater nervously, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to... Well, I’m just so sorry.”
Chuck slung an arm around her shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze even though his eyes broadcast frustration. “Meet my sister.” He turned to the younger woman. “Alayna, Shana’s suffering from temporary amnesia and has forgotten about the past five years. You couldn’t have known. Although I’m curious as hell how you heard about the pregnancy.”
Alayna chewed her already short fingernails. “I thought... Oh my. I’m sorry. I was walking by the nurses’ station and overheard them talking about things for shift change... I’m really sorry.”
Chuck pulled a tight smile. “It’s going to be okay, kiddo. Shana just has some gaps in her memory. It’ll all sort out.”
Shana wished she could be as confident about that. She’d thought about being a mom someday, but this was too much too fast. Not that it seemed she had any choice in the matter. Her life was on warp speed.
Her father had wrecked her mother’s life. Shana had always known when it was her time to be a parent, the decision would have to be made slowly and carefully. If she and Chuck had been trying for a child, then their marriage must have been solid.
So why didn’t she feel like the love-at-first-sight lightning bolt had hit her? Lust maybe, but not love.
“Shana, I’m really sorry to have confused you or made things more difficult.” Fidgeting, Alayna ducked out from under her brother’s arm and stood. “I’ll just leave, and we can talk another time when things are less, well, confusing. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Or rather, she hoped it would be. Shana exhaled hard, unsure how she felt about carrying a child she couldn’t recall conceiving versus there being a child already in the picture, a child she also wouldn’t have remembered giving birth to.
Alayna held up a hand. “I really do apologize.” She backed away. “I love you to pieces, Shana.”
Standing, Chuck cupped Alayna’s shoulder. “If you could get coffee for me I would appreciate it.” He pulled a twenty out of his wallet. “Get something for yourself, too. Thanks, kiddo.”
Once the door closed, Shana pushed herself up to sit straighter in the bed, unsure when she’d sunk into a slouch.
Chuck rubbed the back of his neck, frustration in his eyes. “I apologize for not managing the news better.”
“How could you have predicted any of this? No one could.” An understatement.
“You’re being too understanding.” He sank back in the chair by her bed.
“Well, I do have some questions.” Even thinking about the possibilities sent a fresh wave of panic through her, but not knowing was worse. “The child is yours, right?”
“Absolutely yes,” he said without hesitation. “The baby is mine. And no, we don’t have any other children.”
She hadn’t even considered that. But what else didn’t she know? Five years was a long time to make significant memories. Life-changing memories.
“You said we’d struggled with fertility.” She chewed her fingernail. “There’s just so much to learn about what’s happened over the past five years.”
And her brain was on overload, weighing every nugget of information before she trusted the latest revelation. Even well-meaning people had private agendas. And she also knew how easily a person could be misled by someone smooth at lying. Her father had taught her that lesson too painfully.
“Then we won’t press any further today.” He covered her hand with his and held tight. “I would really feel more comfortable if we called the doctors back in and let them check you over or give us more guidance.”
His touch felt...familiar somehow. Strong, yet careful all at once.
She couldn’t deny the wisdom in his words. “I just want to know one more thing for now.”
He grinned—the first time she’d seen him smile, or remembered seeing him smile—and it shone from his eyes, setting her senses buzzing.
He was sheer magnetism personified.
“Like I have the option of arguing with you?”
She couldn’t help but smile back. “Apparently you do know me well. Better than I know myself at the moment, which brings me to my question. What’s my last name? Or rather, what’s your last name? Did I keep my maiden name?”
His smile faded and he clasped her hand, the left one without a wedding ring. “You took my surname. It’s Mikkelson.”
Surprise spread through her. “As in the oil family Mikkelsons?”
“Yes, the same.” He nodded.
There was a wariness to him she couldn’t quite understand. Maybe people befriended him for his money. That would have never crossed her mind. Still, a lot of things made more sense now.
“No wonder I have this private room. Your parents own Mikkelson Oil.” She pressed her fingers to the headache starting again.
“It’s not Mikkelson Oil anymore. My father passed away nearly three years ago. My mother recently married the head of Steele Oil—widower Jack Steele—merging the two companies into Alaska Oil Barons, Inc.”
For what should be big news, he didn’t look all that happy about it.
“I’m sorry about your father.” She squeezed his hand and a shiver of electricity passed between them, like static popping through her.
His thumb stroked along the inside of her wrist over her speeding pulse. “Thank you. He was fond of you.”
“I wish I remembered that.”
“Me too.”
Awareness increased until the static between them was like a meteor shower. Beautiful...but something she feared could leave her scorched.
The door opened again with a call at the same time. “Dr. Gibson here.”
Chuck cleared his throat and stepped back. “He’s your ob-gyn.”
Dr. Gibson entered, wheeling a machine of some sort, with a nurse trailing behind. “I hear the two of you were going to have a discussion.”
Chuck nodded. “I’ve told Shana I’m her husband, and she knows about the baby.”
“How are you feeling?” Dr. Gibson stopped beside her bed.
“Overwhelmed. A little woozy. But mostly just confused.”
“That’s understandable,” he said with a kind bedside manner that must have been reassuring during all the fertility treatments Chuck had mentioned. “The nurse is going to check your blood pressure, and then we’re going to do an ultrasound. We’ll go as slowly as you need us to.”
Shana’s heart skipped a beat. So much was happening so quickly she wanted to tell them all to slow down, to stop altogether. But life didn’t work that way. She had to face the present. “No need to wait. I want to know as much as I can.”
“Ask anything you like, and I’ll do my best to answer,” Dr. Gibson said. “Are you all right with Mr. Mikkelson staying in the room? I understand these are rather unusual circumstances.”
Shana looked at Chuck. He was her husband. Everyone here knew that. And this was his child. As strange as it felt to have him in the room, he had a right to be here. The past day must have been hellish for him with her health scare. “Of course he can stay.”
“Thank you.” Chuck took her hand in his, his touch strong and confident.
Those green eyes of his held her, reminding her again of a changeable rolling sea. She could so easily dive in, immerse herself in him.
Lose herself.
And that made him dangerous.
Her first priority right now was deciphering who she was.
She couldn’t afford to let down her guard around the one man she should be able to trust with her life.
