Just Married...Again Read Online Free PDF Page A

have his olive complexion, since he spent so much time cooped up in an office. He could spend all day in the sun and never burn; she had only to cross the street on a sunny day to get fried.
    Maddy sucked her breath in sharply when her fingers located a lump on the back of his head. Oh, Lord, what could she have been thinking?
    Danny arrived with the blankets. “Is he hurt bad?”
    “I’m not sure. There’s a big lump, but I don’t see an open wound.”
    “That’s good, isn’t it?”
    Maddy saw the worry on her nephew’s face and felt bad for putting it there. She had always been especially fond of the boy. She wished she could ease his mind. “I won’t know for a while,” she said.
    “I thought you knew about injuries and that kind of stuff.”
    “My specialty is sports injuries, Danny. I know very little about head wounds.” She sighed and wished this night had never happened. “He really needs to go to the emergency room, but it’s too dangerous to try to find help in this blizzard. Once it’s light, I’ll try to make it to one of the cabins down the road and see if there’s a phone.”
    Maddy shook her head, feeling dazed as she considered all that had happened in the last ten minutes. Never in a million years would she have guessed she’d run into Michael at their mountain cabin. She’d had to nag him for weeks to buy it; afterward, he’d always had an excuse not to come.
    “Why don’t you cover him with that blanket while I get some ice?” she suggested.
    When Maddy returned with her homemade ice pack, she found Danny gazing down at his uncle sorrowfully. “Is he going to die?” the boy asked.
    Maddy tried to swallow the guilt that rose in the back of her throat, but it refused to go away. “No, of course not,” she said. “Once I get the swelling down, it’ll be better.” She didn’t know that for sure, but she didn’t want to frighten her nephew. She was scared enough for both of them.
    Maddy placed the ice pack against the injury. “I’m surprised Michael isn’t carrying his briefcase. He takes it everywhere.”
    Danny shook his head. “I heard him telling Grandma he was leaving the rat race behind, which he said included his phone and briefcase. That’s what the doctor ordered.”
    She frowned. “What doctor?”
    “The one that told him he had high blood pressure. He’s supposed to go on a diet and stop smoking.”
    “Your uncle doesn’t smoke, Danny,” she said.
    “Wanna bet? There was a smoke cloud in his car all the way up here. I could barely breathe.”
    Maddy was surprised. Michael was very particular about his car; she’d never known him to let anyone smoke in it. She studied her husband closely. She could see he’d gained weight. He’d always been lean and fit, thanks to a steady regimen of jogging. She knew how hectic his schedule was; she suspected he was living off junk food these days. No doubt he’d picked up a few other bad habits as well.
    “You should have told him the smoke was bothering you, Danny,” she said.
    “He didn’t know I was in the car.” The boy stopped abruptly, and it was obvious from his reddening face that he’d said something he shouldn’t have.
    Maddy gazed back at him. “How could he not know you were in the car?”
    Danny looked away quickly. “I was hiding on the floor in the back.”
    “You were running away from home? I’ll bet your poor parents are worried sick.”
    “I left a note. They know I’m with Uncle Michael. But I plan to split once the roads clear.”
    “Well, Danny, you’re not a baby anymore. I guess there comes a time when a man’s got to make his own decisions. I just hope you’re prepared.” She saw the blank look on his face. “You know, in case some lunatic tries something funny with you. I mean, what kind of people pick up hitchhikers nowadays?”
    The boy looked startled at the thought. He opened his mouth to answer but was cut off abruptly when the man on the floor moaned softly.
    Maddy