“Just stand back and let the men do their jobs.” Mason was striding from the front porch. Bliss’s gaze touched his and she saw fear in his eyes; fear and something else—something deeper and more personal. He looked so big, his shoulders so wide. His jaw was tense, his expression hard and determined.

“Oh, John, I’m so sorry, so damned sorry,” Brynnie wailed as she, still trying to pull on her sandals, followed the attendants. “Not now, dear God, not now!”

“Everyone give us some room!” The paramedics were loading the gurney into the back of the ambulance.

“It’s his heart, I just know it. He can’t breathe,” Brynnie said, her eyes and nose red.

No! This couldn’t be happening. Not after he’d survived the first attack. Bliss swallowed back tears. “I’m coming, too.”

Brynnie climbed inside and Bliss was about to do the same when Mason grabbed her arm. “You can ride with me.” She wanted to fight him, but didn’t. Right now she needed his strength. She didn’t kid herself that he cared about her, but it didn’t matter; not until this crisis had passed.

“What—what are you doing here?” she asked, but deep in her heart, she knew the answer. He’d come to see her father; there had been an argument. John Cawthorne had lost his cool and his already-weakened heart had quit working.

Sirens wailing, the ambulance took off.

“I can drive,” Katie offered, her face ashen as she glanced at her watch. “I just have time to pick up Josh and then we can—”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll take her,” Mason interrupted.

Bliss was already on her way to his pickup. She couldn’t think, couldn’t believe that this was happening. First her mother’s painful death, then her father’s heart attack. Had he survived only to die a few months later? Please, God, no. Not now!

As she reached the door of Mason’s truck, she stopped, and the damning truth hit her as hard as a belly punch. She sagged against his rig and turned on him. “Don’t tell me, Lafferty. You’re the reason my dad’s had another attack.”

“I don’t know,” Mason admitted, his face grim as he hurried to his pickup. Mason opened the door for her, then slid behind the wheel. “I told you this place was too much for your father.” He slammed his door shut and switched on the ignition.

“So you had to come by and badger him again.” Fear and anger took hold of her tongue. “I don’t know what it is with you, Mason, but you should leave him alone.”

“Believe me, I am,” he said, jamming the truck into gear.

“Oh, sure, and that’s why you came out here to pick a fight with him.”