Mason’s eyes were greener than ever in his sooty face, and they were grave when they met hers.
“No,” Fiona whispered. “They did it. I’m sorry. I told them I didn’t want to do it anymore—” Whatever she’d been about to say was cut off as the paramedics loaded her onto a gurney.
What was she trying to explain? Who was she talking about?
Chapter 24
“Can I speak with Fiona?”
Normally, Holly would’ve held her tongue, afraid someone would accuse her of being a broken record. How many times had she asked to see Fiona, to talk to her? How many times had her confession replayed in Holly’s memory?
This wasn’t the time to be the nice girl. She couldn’t be afraid to rock the boat. There was too much at stake.
The nurse who’d come to check on her placed the oxygen mask over her mouth and nose again. “You have to leave it in place,” she chided. “No lifting it to ask questions. You inhaled a lot of smoke.”
It was maddening. Like she’d lapsed into a language no one else understood. “Is she okay at least?” Holly asked, her words muffled by the mask.
“She’ll be fine, just like you.” The nurse patted her arm before leaving the curtained-off area of the emergency room. Holly squeezed her eyes shut before hot, frustrated tears leaked from the corners. Why didn’t anyone understand? Why did they insist on treating her like a child?
What in the world was Fiona talking about? What could she have done that she had to apologize for?
When the curtain opened again, she let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Mason. He still looked singed and sooty, but he was the sweetest thing she’d set eyes on since arriving at the hospital.
“Hi, you.” He sat on the edge of the bed, taking her hand. “You’re looking better.”
“Fiona,” she whispered.
His jaw worked, his eyes narrowing. He was a man fighting back the true depth of his emotions. “I know. I want to see her too, but they’re treating her right now. That blood on her head probably earned her a trip downstairs for a scan, just in case. If she lost consciousness because of whatever was done to her, they’ll want to take precautions.” His hand tightened around Holly’s, silently granting her strength when all she wanted to do was weep.
“And the dogs? Where are my dogs?”
“All safe,” he assured her in a soothing voice. “People were divvying them up to foster them in their homes by the time the medics forced me onto an ambulance. I made sure only people I recognized agreed to take one; believe me. They didn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
She could breathe a little easier, knowing that. “Thank you for being in my corner. Thank you for helping me take care of things when I couldn’t.”
“That’s what I’m here for, remember?” He reached out, tucking her hair behind one ear and letting his fingers trail over her cheek. “And it’s what I want to do. You took a huge risk, running in there like that. I told you not to.”
“As if I wouldn’t,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “Would you have? Hearing the dogs barking, knowing they were…” That was all it took for the dam to break, the memory of those frantic barks.
But Mason was there, and he held her as she cried over what might have happened. What if she hadn’t been swinging by at that exact moment? What if Mason hadn’t been there to help?
“I’m here,” he murmured in her ear. “I’m with you. You don’t have to face this alone. But do me a favor, huh?”
“What is it?”
He pulled her away, gently but insistently. She must’ve looked like a nightmare come to life, but none of that reflected in his warm gaze. “Don’t lose yourself in ‘what if.’ It’s easy to do, but you’ll drive yourself crazy.”
“How did you know that’s what I was doing?”
“Call me psychic.” He lifted her oxygen mask just enough to plant a kiss on the tip of her nose before fixing it in place again. “I’ve had a lot of experience with ‘what if.’ Don’t do that to yourself.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Good. Take it easy. Everything’s okay. Everyone’s safe. Thanks to you.”
“Thanks to me? More like thanks to you. You rushed in and saved Fee’s life.” Her smile faded with that, even though she was relieved. Thinking of Fiona reminded Holly of what still hung around her like the smoke she knew might never leave her clothes and hair.
What had Fiona done that required an apology like that? Had she worked with the dogfighters? Surely, she wouldn’t have. Not after all they’d been through together. It wasn’t possible…was it?
* * *
Mason parted the curtains of Fiona’s cubicle in the ER after the doctor stepped away. He’d heard her talking, and she’d sounded clear enough.
Something told him this wasn’t a conversation Holly needed to hear right away. She might need to be eased into it. A girl didn’t end up with an egg on the side of her head and trailing blood down her cheek unless she crossed the wrong person. It was something she’d felt the need to apologize for, whatever it was.
Fiona wore a series of sensors to measure her heart rate and a pulse oxygen meter on one finger. There was an IV pumping her with saline, along with an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth.
He held a finger to his lips when her eyes went wide as she recognized him. “Relax.”
“I’m sorry. Please, tell her I’m sorry.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Sorry for what? What did you do? I’m not here to punish you. I promise.” He pulled up a stool and sat close to the bed.
She lifted the mask to be heard. “They paid for Dad’s medical bills. I was drowning. I didn’t want to!”
He took a deep breath to keep himself calm. “Didn’t want to what?”
“I was supposed to make Holly back off and leave those guys alone. I was supposed to convince her to stop asking questions. They gave me a lot of money. I needed it so much, or I never would have. I would never hurt Holly or…or…” She covered her face with her hands, shaking hard enough to rattle the bed.
“What did you actually do? Did you set the fire?”
“No!” She lowered her hands. “No way, never. I told them I couldn’t do it anymore, and they…” She looked away, still shaking, her chin quivering as she fought back emotion.
“What did they do?” he pressed. It was clear enough, but he needed to hear it from her.
“The one—the guy who always wears a hat—he hit me. I wouldn’t give him the key to unlock the pens so he could take the dogs, and he threatened to burn the whole place down. He hit me again, and I must’ve blacked out. The next thing I knew…”
“You were on the sidewalk,” he finished, and she nodded. “What else did they have you do? How did you try to turn her away from the things they were doing?”
“I told her to let it go. I warned her. I tried to remind her of Jack and how she had to think of him. They asked where she was going to be one night, and I told them she was visiting her mom. I figured that would keep her safer, if she wasn’t even in town. They wouldn’t be able to do anything to her if she wasn’t in town. I was wrong.”
“And you told them she always takes the back roads to and from the community where her mother lives?” He gripped the bedsheet until he was sure he’d tear it, until his knuckles ached. If he hadn’t come along when he had…and it was Fiona who’d put them out there by telling them to expect her. It was unthinkable.
“Yeah. I found out about the blowout she had on the road, and I put it together. It was my fault they were waiting for her!”
“They were,” Holly said.
Both of them turned, surprised at the sound of Holly’s voice. She was at the foot of the bed, trembling. Mason hadn’t heard her thanks to being too busy trying to hold his temper. Now, all he could think about was keeping Holly from crumbling, as she looked like she was about to.
When he got up and went to her, she held up her hands to stop him. “I’m fine.” Her flat voice and horrif
ied expression told another story.
Fiona’s face crumpled. “Holly, please forgive me. I didn’t know what else to do. They would’ve come after me too, and Dad. And the money—”
“You told them how to find me. You could’ve told the police they tried to bribe you, and it might’ve made a difference, but you didn’t. You could’ve warned me even.”
“I wanted to!”
“You wanted to? A lot of good that did.” Holly turned to Mason and pressed her face to his chest while he wrapped her in his arms.
“I didn’t know what else to do. And they could’ve killed me, too. Don’t forget that. I stood up to them, and they left me in the fire.”
“I can’t look at you right now,” Holly whispered.
“Come on.” Mason put his arm around her shoulders as they walked through the curtains. “Let’s get you back to your bed. They should discharge us soon.”
Now he knew how the dogfighters managed to get to her. Only lowlifes would think to go through her friend. Whether he blamed Fiona or not was something he’d have to work out.
So would Holly. “I trusted her. I can’t believe she would do that. And after everything, they left her for dead. I don’t understand any of this.”
He squeezed her shoulders. “Because you’re a good person who can’t imagine anyone doing anything like it.”
“But how do you fight people when you can’t imagine the depths they’ll sink to?”
He wanted more than anything to help her understand, but how could he when he barely understood for himself? There was only one thing he was sure of as he guided her to her bed. “This is going to end. You have my word.”
Instead of thanking him or begging him to make it quick, she gathered his shirt in her fists and pulled him close. “You have to be careful. They’ll do whatever it takes. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
He took her face in his hands, staring into her gold-flecked hazel eyes. There was so much trust there, so much concern, that he had trouble breathing for the second time that day. He was lost. Completely gone.
And he could’ve lost her. She could’ve been gone forever.
“I need to hug my baby and my mom.” She bit her lip as tears filled her eyes again. “I know—”
“Noah called Bryan and gave them a heads-up and told them to stay where they were just in case the fire was set as a way to ambush them.” He smiled. “I thought you might want to see them.” It was what he’d want if he were in her shoes.
“You’ll go with me, right?”
“Yeah. I’m not letting you out of my sight after this. Whenever you want to go, I’ll go with you.” Even if it meant falling even deeper into her world, the one thing he’d told himself not to do. Now, only hours after their brush with tragedy, he couldn’t remember why he’d put up so many barriers between them.
Chapter 25
Holly’s mother lived in a retirement community filled with beautifully maintained townhomes, exquisitely manicured lawns and shrubbery, and pristine pavement and sidewalks. Not a crack or a weed to be found. “I sort of want to live here myself,” Mason said as they rolled past a community pool and tennis court.
“I know, right? Mom reminded me I’m not old enough yet.” Holly let out a long shuddery breath. “When I think of Jack losing another parent—”
“Don’t do that to yourself.” He was already doing enough thinking along those lines for both of them.
“Here it is.” Holly pointed to a townhome with white siding sitting at the end of a block, surrounded on three sides by an expansive lawn. There was a slide out back and a swing set on which a little boy with black curly hair swung wildly back and forth.
Holly was out of the car before Mason put the car in park, running across the lawn with her arms outstretched. He watched with a lump in his throat as Jack ran to her, his arms out like hers.
“Mama!” Jack squealed just before Holly swept him up and covered his face in kisses.
There was something so pure and right about it, and it filled his heart with light and hope. There was so much love in her heart, endless amounts. Mason watched her shower it on Jack before getting out of the car, almost embarrassed at breaking into a moment like this.
But Jack had already noticed him. “Who’s that?” he asked, pointing over Holly’s shoulder.
She turned, smiling, with tears rolling down her cheeks. “That’s a friend. His name is Mason.”
Jack didn’t seem nervous or shy, which Mason took as a good sign.
“Hi, there,” Mason said, holding out a hand, which Jack shook with a great amount of seriousness.
“Do you wanna play on the swings?” the boy asked, already wriggling out of Holly’s arms. “Come on! I’ll show you. Uncle Bry was pushing me.”
Mason gulped. Was it really this easy? Instant acceptance? With small children, it seemed so. Jack appeared to be a typical three-year-old boy, through and through, falling twice on his way to the swings but getting up and barely taking time to brush himself off before starting again. He looked back over his shoulder as if expecting to find Mason behind him.
Holly, meanwhile, jogged around to the rear of the home. “Bryan’s here?” Moments later, a tall dark-haired man appeared and pulled her into a tight hug. Mason remembered seeing him in one of the photos she’d shared at her house.
“I heard.” Bryan sighed, holding her at arm’s length as he looked her over with a frown. “Are you okay?”
“I’m sorry. I would’ve come sooner, but I was still coughing yesterday and didn’t want to upset Jack. But I’m fine, thanks to…” She turned as Mason joined them.
“Mason Andrews.” Mason held out a hand which Bryan shook with a firm grip.
“Bryan Blake. You must be the man who helped my sister save those dogs and her assistant yesterday, which means you saved her from getting trapped in the fire. I can’t thank you enough for that.”
“It’s what I do—helping people, I mean.” It was so easy to forget he had to maintain his cover, though now even that seemed like unnecessary theater. If anything, sharing the truth of who he was might grant Holly’s family a measure of peace.
Holly wandered off with Jack, leaving the men alone. “It was clear-cut arson,” Bryan muttered through clenched teeth, watching his sister and nephew. “I’m a firefighter, and I’ve seen enough to know. Needless to say, I had first dibs on the investigator’s notes. Our departments cooperate on cases like this, and when they found out my sister was the woman whose business was torched, they were happy to give me a look.”
“These guys didn’t bother to make it look like anything other than arson,” Mason mused. “And why would they? They were sending a message that would get through even if Fiona died there. No sense in leaving room for doubt. I’m surprised none of them stuck around to watch the aftermath. I looked around to see if there were any obvious strangers watching, but no one jumped out at me.”
“You’re not just a physician, are you?” Bryan was smiling when Mason turned to him in surprise. “I get it. You’re here to protect my sister. That makes you okay in my book.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“Just me, and I only just figured it out. You don’t talk like a small-town physician. You talk like someone who’s used to this sort of thing, and from what I heard, you ran into that burning building like it was your job. Your secret’s safe with me. I know I can breathe a little easier now.”
“Thanks a lot. I intend to keep her safe.”
A striking woman joined them, one whose hair and eyes were exactly the same as her daughter’s. She smiled. “Are you the man who helped Holly save the dogs and her friend from the fire?”
He didn’t have time to answer before her arms were around his neck. “I’m Holly’s mom. Call me Debbie,” she said as she released him.
Mason’s eyebrows nearly left his forehead. This was different. A loving family ready to welcome him into the fold. Jack called out for him, asking to pla
y.
Bryan wrapped his sister and nephew in a hug before excusing himself—he was on duty in another hour—and Debbie went inside to make a pot of tea and put snacks together.
Was this how it was done? So free and easy? Mason could almost imagine himself as one of them, a part of the family. He didn’t have to prove anything or be anyone other than who he was. His heart lightened as his smile widened.
“Let’s play zoo,” Jack said. “You be the bear. I’ll be the zookeeper.”
How was he supposed to say no to that?
Chapter 26
“They’re good together.” Holly’s mother sat down after setting a tray on the wicker table between two high-backed chairs overlooking the yard. “It’s nice to see Jack so happy. He needs this sort of roughhousing to help burn off some energy, and I’m way too old and creaky to play zoo.”
Holly giggled. “I think he’s giving Mason a run for his money. He might regret ever getting started with this game they’re playing.”
Mason was on his hands and knees in spite of grass stains, roaring like a wild animal while Jack tried to capture him. It was interesting to watch them together, especially after what Mason had told her about his childhood. She’d wondered how the introduction would go the entire ride to her mom’s. Partly worrying that he wouldn’t like Jack or vice versa, all the while hoping it went well. Now that it was even better than she’d pictured, she couldn’t stop herself from wondering what it’d be like all the time.
“For what it’s worth, I like this guy,” her mom said, grinning.
“I’m glad.” Holly smiled.
“I like him for you.”
“I know what you meant,” Holly replied. “I think it freaks him out. You know, the idea of having a family. He didn’t have it easy growing up.”
“Plenty of people don’t have it easy growing up,” her mom reasoned as she handed Holly a cup of fragrant tea. “If everyone who had a tough time decided it wasn’t worth trying to build a family of their own, the population would take a nosedive.”
The Ranger's Destiny (Army Ranger Romance Book 6) Page 11