Page 37 of Twister

“Hm…,” I grumbled, scowling at him until he laughed. Apparently, the age gap between me and Marshall was still a sore subject for me, but I appreciated the fact that Jackson felt at ease enough to joke with me. It had been far too long since that had happened.

“All right, all right,” he said, chuckling to himself even when he put his hands up in surrender. “Rose and I dropped Bucky and Lucy off at my place before we came here. They’re all welcome to stay until we can figure out a solution for your current housing issues.”

“Thanks, Jackson,” I said softly, feeling my eyes well. I bit my lip to stop the tears from spilling over. God, I was such an emotional mess today.

“You’re welcome to join us. You know I’ve got the room.” He paused to aim a soft look at Marshall. “Marshall, too, if he needs a place to stay as well.”

Wondering if this was his roundabout way of thanking us for helping him out yesterday, I frowned at his generous offer.

Where my house had been a sprawling four bedroom because he and I had intended to adopt more children until we’d learned of the extent of Rose’s needs, his home was a compact three bedroom.

It would be a tight fit for us as well as a boisterous dog and a tiny kitten, but I reminded myself that beggars couldn’t be choosers.

If he was offering, I’d be idiotic not to take him up on it.

“Are you sure? Marshall mentioned yesterday that he wanted to stay in Rockdale for a while, but with what happened this morning….”

Doubt wound its icy tendrils up my spine, sending my mind racing. Maybe he’d want to leave Rockdale now? Maybe he’d be better off going home to his family—

Oh fuck. His family. I felt the blood drain from my face at the realization that they didn’t know he was in hospital.

“Dan?”

My jaw snapped shut before I tried to swallow down the knot that had suddenly appeared in my throat.

My eyes flicked back and forth between Marshall and Jackson guiltily.

“His parents don’t know what happened. I don’t know how to get hold of them.

I don’t even know where his phone is, let alone if I can get access to his contact list.” I ran my free hand through my hair, stalling when I realized how much I was shaking.

“Fuck, Jackson, what do I do? I can’t tell the hospital staff.

They’ll know I’ve been lying to them about being married—”

“Ooh! Is that why Patriarchal Marshall has our last name on the nameplate thingy on the wall?”

I cringed at the sound of Rose’s excited question, then glared at Jackson when he grinned at me completely without remorse.

Given how lost I was in my spiraling thoughts, I’d not heard the door open, but he had. And he hadn’t said a word to warn me.

Fucker.

Dreadfully slowly, I turned around to find Rose standing in the open doorway laden with multiple water bottles and a huge variety of snacks.

Her wide eyes sparkled with glee, beyond eager to hear more.

I couldn’t say that I blamed her for her avid curiosity, considering that I’d spent multiple years adamantly drilling into her that lying was bad.

I was such a fucking hypocrite.

Fuck.

“Um….” I blinked. How did I explain this? “Well….”

“I guess it makes sense,” she said, traipsing into the room to dump her purchases on the bedside table with a rattle. “You’ll be married for real soon anyway.”

My eyes widened. “We’ll be what now?”

“But you’ll need to talk to Sparkle Marshall’s mom first. She’s got ideas about the wedding.”

My jaw dropped as I blinked. What the fuck was happening right now?

Actually….

“Um, Rose?” I asked tentatively, suspicion growing about the things my daughter got up to when I wasn’t around to supervise her.

“Yes, Daddy Danny?”

“Have you spoken to Marshall’s mom again? I mean, on your own? With your own phone and not resorting to stealing Marshall’s phone like you did on Monday?”

“I feel like I need to ask some questions,” Jackson muttered under his breath. “But they can wait, because this is all far too juicy.”

And I wondered where Rose got her inquisitiveness from. I glared at him before I returned my attention to Rose, who nodded eagerly.

“Yup! The last time”—my eyes widened until it felt like they were going to escape their sockets at the implied confirmation that there’d been multiple calls between my daughter and Marshall’s mom since Monday—“I chatted with Grandma Cougar”—Jackson choked on a laugh—“was last night. I needed to tell her about Kooky Lucy. She was very excited for us.”

God, I needed to do better about who I allowed my daughter to talk to. Thank fuck it was only Marshall’s mom, but what if it hadn’t been?

Like a homing beacon, my eyes landed on her phone, still sitting where I’d left it on the bedside table. “Her number is in your phone, I’m assuming?”

She looked at me askance. “Duh. How else would we talk?”

How indeed.

But that solved my biggest immediate problem—how to contact Marshall’s parents.

I snatched the phone from the bedside table and wasted no time unlocking it and scrolling through her recent call history, looking for an out-of-state number. Then I groaned when I saw Rose had entered Marshall’s mom’s details under Cougar . I held the screen up to Rose. “Really?”

“What?” Jackson asked, unable to see the screen from where he was sitting but too intrigued by the flow of conversation to not ask.

“What?” Rose asked with a sly grin.

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes and decided it was better to just ignore them both and hit Connect.

As it rang, I placed the phone on the bed next to Marshall and put the call on speaker so he could hear his mom’s voice. Maybe she had a better chance of waking him up than I did.

After three rings, a cheerful voice sang, “Sweetie! How are you, darling?”

Before Rose could say anything, I jumped in with, “Hi, Evelyn. It’s Daniel.”

“Oh! Hello to my 100 percent confirmed-to-be-good-looking future son-in-law! What can I do for you?”

My heart thrummed frantically. How did I tell her that her son was unconscious and in the hospital? We’d only spoken once.

Fuck.

I squeezed Marshall’s warm hand, needing the firm reminder that I was doing the right thing.

Then I startled when I felt a fluttering squeeze in response.

“Marshall?” I asked anxiously, forgetting about the phone call with his mom to eagerly hover over him and cup his jaw, willing him to wake up with every fiber of my being. “Baby?”

“Marshall?” his mom asked, her tone immediately shifting from humor to worry. “What’s going on?”

Seeing as I was still so focused on Marshall, Jackson took over the call.

“Evelyn, is it? This is Jackson, Daniel’s ex-husband,” he said loudly enough for his voice to be captured by the speaker. “Marshall’s okay, but he’s in the hospital.”

“What?” Evelyn squawked, now sounding utterly terrified. “What—”

“Grandma Cougar, he’s okay, I promise,” Rose spoke up. “He’s just a little unconscious right now.”

“What?!”

Another tentative squeeze even though Marshall remained otherwise motionless. Almost like he was trying to convey that he truly was okay the only way he could.

If he needed me to be his translator, then that was a job I would happily accept.

“Keep talking, Evelyn,” I said, tightening my grip to let him know I understood what he was doing. “He’s reacting to your voice.”

“Marshall” came her shaky response mixed in with a flurry of ambient noise. “It’s Mom.”

“Ev?” an older male voice said in the background. “What’s wrong?”

The softest squeeze yet. He was flagging. “Okay, baby. Rest now. We’ll tell them everything.” I leaned forward enough to press my lips softly to his forehead and was thrilled when he rallied enough to grip my hand one last time.

“It’s Marshall. They’re saying he’s in the hospital.”

“Is this Marshall’s dad?” I asked, sitting back down and relaxing as much as I could into the seat. “This is Daniel. My daughter and I are hosting your son here in Rockdale while they fix his Jeep.”

Crap. We were supposed to drop by Kajir’s to sign some paperwork.

He wouldn’t be happy, but if he didn’t understand these were extenuating circumstances, I’d punch him.

Even if he did tower over me and was built like a tank, I could definitely take him if it meant looking after Marshall’s best interests.

“Marshall was badly injured in a tornado earlier today—” I paused for a moment when I heard multiple gasps on the other side of the line.

“—which knocked him out and gave him a severe concussion, but the doctors have told us that he’ll wake up when his body is ready to.

He’s not hooked up to anything other than a heart rate monitor, and apart from a small cut to the back of his head, he’s okay. ”

“Oh God….” Evelyn’s voice wavered.

“Where’s the hospital?” Marshall’s dad’s voice came through clearly and firmly. “We’re on our way.”

Oh, thank fuck. His parents were good people. I’d suspected that to be true, especially after talking to his mom, but his dad had been an unknown.

“I’ll text you the details on this line,” I promised. “Also, this is the best way to contact Rose and me. My phone was destroyed in the twister, and I don’t know where Marshall’s phone is yet.”

Jackson made a quiet, disgruntled noise. “This is Jackson again. Here’s my number, just in case you can’t get hold of Daniel for whatever reason.” He reeled off his digits before shrugging at my quizzical look. “I don’t see a charger, and we don’t know how long Rose’s battery will last.”

That was fair. I nodded in thanks.

“Thanks, Jackson,” Marshall’s dad said.

I closed my eyes and swallowed nervously, knowing that I needed to let Marshall’s parents know one last thing before I let them go. “Um, one thing…. You should know, Marshall was admitted under the name Marshall Porter , not Marshall Bradford .”

An eerie silence filled the line.

I exhaled and said as quickly as I could, “The hospital is currently under the impression that Marshall is my husband.”

More silence.

“It was the only way they’d let anyone sit with him. They’ve been… difficult….” I opened my eyes and glanced at Jackson uncertainly.

Thankfully, he had my back. “It’s true. The staff here struggle with people who don’t identify as straight. I’ve known Daniel for over a decade. He wouldn’t have fibbed like this unless it was absolutely necessary to do so.”

He nodded when I mouthed thank you at him, and then I waited somewhat impatiently for their judgement, whichever way it fell.

After an anxiety-riddled and fraught silence, Marshall’s dad broke the silence. “I’m glad my son has you in his corner, Daniel. Thank you for looking after him.”

The tension leached from my body as I let out a long breath of relief.

“I agree,” Evelyn said softly. “This wasn’t quite how I thought it would go, but you honor us, Daniel. I’m proud to be able to call you our son-in-law. We’ll see you soon.”

As soon as the call disconnected, I felt tears well before I blinked rapidly and focused on Marshall, letting my thumb gently glide over his wrist. I didn’t know if it was wishful thinking on my behalf or actual reality when I felt my fingers get firmly squeezed.

As my tears fell, I pressed his palm to my lips and kissed him, whispering, “I love you too, baby.”

When I thought I registered another firm squeeze, I heard Jackson say, “They know it’s a fake marriage, right?”

Rose hushed him. “Not for long.”