“Hey, Bishop, it’s Jackson from the precinct. We got them. Both of them. You getting that list for us really helped us solve this one. Ms. Addington had fired them both the week before this happened. They’d been jointing it on the job.” They’d been smoking pot in other words, Sawyer thought. “Addington has a very strict policy on smoking on the job, and she had caught them twice before this. They didn’t want her stinking money, they said, but for her to die. Do you think that the family will press charges too? It would keep them in prison for a good deal longer if they did.”
“I’ll talk to them about it. Will she need to fill out a statement when she wakes up?” He said that since she’d nearly died and it was revenge, she didn’t, but pressing charges would help. “Thanks so much for calling me about this. I’ll talk them into it if I have to.”
“What are you doing now that you’re retired? Are you dating a hundred women a night? You sure did avoid them when you were working all the time. You do know, Bishop, that women love a man in uniform.” He laughed with Jackson. “Anything I can do for you, you just let me know, all right?”
“You think you could do me a favor please? If a Mr. Roger Addington or his wife, Merriam, come in or call about me, can you give me a heads up? I’d like to get out of town before I have to be around her again.” He asked if it was that bad. “Worse than you can imagine. Ms. Addington is my mate.”
Sawyer had to pull the phone from his ear when Jackson whooped it up. After that, they talked about what it was like to have finally found her, and Sawyer only gave short answers. He still didn’t know.
“You bring her by sometime and we’ll tell her all about her new mate. Christ, you leave the force and find someone to love you. Congratulations, buddy.” Sawyer thanked him. “I know that you’re there at the hospital. If you get any word about the young lady, let us know. We’re rooting for her to come out of this.”
After hanging up, he went back to where Holly and Molly were seated and found them gone. The nurse said that they’d gone into visit Ms. Addington. Nodding, he was surprised when she asked him if he wanted to join them. Now that he was semi committed to this, he said that he would.
The room was full of different kinds of machines that were no doubt keeping her alive. When he sat in the corner away from the bed, he watched Molly. Christ, he loved that kid. And his family did as well. Two days with her and they wanted to adopt her themselves.
Molly was telling her mom about her weekend. Talking about learning to ride a bike and how she’d gotten all beaten up over it. “But I know how to ride it now. And Saul is going to pull out one of the bikes in the barn for me. Todd, he’s my friend, he said that if they didn’t have time, he’d make sure that it was all fixed up for me the next time I came.” She looked at him when she paused in the one sided conversation she was having with her mom. “Sippy said that she was taking pictures for me. And when I get a few of them printed from her, I should write what I’d been doing in the picture. Sippy is the best other grandma that I ever had.”
Laying her head on the bed, Molly kept talking to her mom about her adventures. Her conversation was getting slower. Her voice was getting quieter too. When she finally gave in to her nap, Sawyer picked her up and laid her gently on the bed next to her mom, very careful of the tubes and other things that were attached to her.
“She is all out in love with your family, Sawyer.” He said that they loved her too. “Do you? Are you really thinking of her as your stepdaughter now?”
“No. My daughter. I know that it sounds odd—I know very little about either of them. But I love Molly very much.” Holly nodded. “They captured the men. Both of them had been fired the week before they attacked Raven. They’d like for you or your son to come in and press charges. That way things will stick much tighter against them.”
“I’ll have Brooks take care of it. If I don’t let him, he’ll be all pissy about me doing things on my own. He’s like that about—”
The sound of the monitor had them both standing up. Molly woke up too as they watched the monitor beep like it was racing. Sawyer pulled her off the bed and into his arms. The nursing staff came running in and stood around the bed with the crash cart. Then when it settled out, the sound going back to the simple beep-beep, no one moved when the monitor that had gone off seemed to still.
“Has she ever done that before?” He was so quiet when he asked, and the nurse who told him no was just as quiet. “Does this have to do with her daughter lying next to her?”
“No, oh no. It more than likely made her feel better.” The nurse touched her fingers to Molly’s cheek. “You did nothing wrong by being next to your momma, honey. I bet she felt you there and woke up a little bit.”
Nodding, they all stood around waiting. When it was obvious that nothing more was going to happen, the staff walked out of the room one at a time. Finally Holly sat down, and so did he. Sawyer had never been so terrified in all his life.
Molly did hold her mom’s hand, but this time instead of lying next to her, she laid at the foot of the bed and slept. She’d been so excited to come back to her mother today that Sawyer was sure that she’d not slept all that well the night before. Watching the child sleep, knowing that he wasn’t going anyplace, he asked Holly if she’d like to take a break and go home for some food and a shower.
“That’s an excellent idea. Yes, I’ve been here now for eight days, and I’m sure that I’m a little smelly. I was going to ask you if you thought that Molly would go with me, but I’m thinking that she’s resting just fine where she is.” Sawyer told her how excited she’d been to come today. “I’ve no doubt about that. She sure seemed to have fun. And just look at the tan she’s gotten. You took very good care of her, despite what Merriam said.”
“Do you think she’s going to be trouble?” Holly just laughed. “Yes, I guess I thought that as well. Roger didn’t seem all that happy with her.”
“I don’t think my son has been happy since the day he married her. Merriam is what I call spoilt. I told Roger he was a fool for marrying her. Then I asked if he loved her. He said that it was better for him to marry her so that she’d stop hounding him about it. I don’t think that is a way to start off a marriage, and I do believe that he wishes that he’d listened to me.”
“I bet he does too. You go on home and I’ll hang around here. Molly has your number, correct?” She asked him if he had it. “I don’t have a cell phone. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, we’re a little on the poor side. We don’t have it as bad as most do, but we have some financial issues.”
“Can I help you out?” Sawyer was embarrassed, and he was sure that she could see it. It was then that he remembered to give her the credit card. She didn’t even ask if he’d used it. “Tough guy, huh? Well, if you need me, I’d like to know that you’ll call on me. By the way, I wanted to thank your parents for showing Molly such a good time. What are their names?”
“My mom goes by Sippy, but her first name is Serendipity, and my father is Saul. But you don’t have to do that, Holly. They were thrilled to have her there. And the neighbor kids were happy to have someone to play with.” Holly told him that Molly looked as if she had too. “Molly told my mom that you’d see her cuts as a badge of honor. Her other grandmother not so much.”
“Molly won’t speak to her, not until she turns things around. One thing I know about my little girl is that she is as stubborn as her momma. And I’m glad for it. There wasn’t a single reason for her to slap Molly. That bitch is going to regret this someday.” Holly kissed Molly on the forehead and turned to him. “I’ll bring us back some dinner. We’ll talk more then.”
Sawyer watched the women in his life resting. He could only hope that Raven was as accepting as her grandma was. Time would tell, he supposed.
Just as he was settling into his chair, the monitors went off again.
~*~
Holly made a few calls
on her way to her home. She had a feeling that she’d be stepping on some toes, but at the moment, she didn’t care. Calling Brooks, she told him what she wanted. He laughed and said that he had been thinking of nothing but them since he’d done a search on the family.
“I’ve made a few more phone calls on your behalf—I hope you don’t mind. They’re not just broke, Holly—they’re very broke. But I’ve also heard that they are a very giving and a very loving family. There is another family in town that I wish I had known about sooner. Molly knows them. The Littles.” She asked if they had two children. “Yes, that’s them. The mother only has weeks to live, if that long. They didn’t have any insurance, and she was diagnosed with stage four cancer a few months ago. Mr. Little can’t hold down a job because he’s taking care of his wife and children. And when I say he’s taking care of them, I mean the man is a special kind of man.”
“The poor man. What can we do to help the family?” Brooks told her funeral expenses. “Set it up for them. But let it be anonymous. I don’t want it coming back on Molly that she might have told someone.”
“Consider that done. Also, about the Bishops. They have a great many fruit trees and a large garden that they put in every year. They give a great deal of the fruit away to anyone who needs it. Also things from their garden. It’s been said that Saul, the father, has been seen plowing fields for someone at no charge. His sons will work their own jobs and go help out at another farm that needs it.” Brooks laughed. “Holly, they all send more than half their checks home to their parents to help with bills and such. Sawyer had the best-paying job, but he had to move back home. His father has been pretty weak, I heard.”
“That’s where he was headed when I asked him to hang out here.” Brooks asked her if she knew that the culprits had been caught. “Yes, Sawyer told me before I left. I need for you to go there on Raven’s behalf and press charges. I heard that it will be a better sticking point to the two men.”
“That’s an excellent idea.” She told him about the run in with Merriam, and how Roger seemed to have grown some balls. “You’re kidding. Christ, I wish I could have been there. What I don’t believe that she hit that little girl. There isn’t anyone sweeter than Molly.”
“Molly has a temper too. You should see her now, Brooks. She’s been out in the sun until she’s brown. Both her knees and her elbows are like hamburger, but she’s proud of them. Learned how to ride a bike, she did. Got herself a black eye, too, from trying to learn now to play baseball.” Holly told him about the badge of honor too.
“I’m telling you right now, Holly. The two of them together, Raven and Sawyer, they’re going to make a hell—”
“I have a call from Molly. Hang on.” After fussing with the phone a couple of times, she finally got to talk to Sawyer. He was nearly impossible to understand. It wasn’t until Holly heard that Raven was awake but groggy that she burst into tears. “I’m on my way back. Oh, my darling is awake.”
She nearly forgot about Brooks, but finally got back to him. Telling him that Raven was awake had him cheering too. Having her driver turn around, she told him that she was headed back there now. It was going to be a wonderful ending to this day to see her granddaughter awake for a change.
Holly crept to the room when she heard Molly talking. It must have been to Sawyer, because he was the one that answered her. Holly stood outside the door, listening to his answers to Molly’s questions about her mom.
“I know, honey, but she did know who you were, and that’s the best kind of sign. She’s going to be all right now. You know that, don’t you?” Molly must have answered him because Sawyer spoke again. “I know that it’s frustrating to have her go back to sleep, but I promise you with all my heart that she’s going to be awake longer and longer after this. She’s taking a lot of drugs to make sure that she’s not hurting. You don’t want that, do you?”
“No. She looked right at me and asked me about my eye, didn’t she, Sawyer? That means that she knows that I didn’t have a black eye before.” Sawyer told her that was right. “I was really afraid that she was really going to die like Ms. Addington told me that she was.”
“You call her Ms. Addington?” Again, Molly didn’t answer loud enough for her to hear. “Molly, if your mom and I can make this work between us, and she doesn’t kick me in the head for suggesting we are a couple, if you call my mom Grandma, she’ll give you the world. Dad too.”
“Can I call them that now? Did you know that Sippy told me that I was her first granddaughter ever? Wesley, he told me that you and my mom were mates, so I know what that means. I’m so happy about that, Sawyer, that I could have a kitten.” Sawyer laughed. “You’ll make her happy, won’t you? My mom, she acts like she’s happy, but I don’t think she is. I think Ms. Addington wears on her nerves. Ms. Luna told me that once when I was sick. I didn’t believe her though. She said it with a grin.”
Holly moved into the room then and looked over at her granddaughter. Perhaps it was hopeful thinking, but she thought that Raven looked better. Also, she noticed that a couple of the machines weren’t hooked up to her any longer. Sitting in her chair, she looked at Sawyer when he cleared his throat.
“I’d like a connection with you.” Holy was confused at first, but before she could tell him that she would be happy for it, he continued. “It’ll only be a small bite to your hand. I promise, it won’t hurt at all.”
“Of course.”
She held out her hand and he licked the fatty part where her thumb was connected to her hand. His nip to her skin wasn’t painful, and she looked up at him when he closed the wound. It wasn’t much, not really, but it must have been enough. He spoke to her then, and she listened intently to his tale.
She died. Right after you left, Raven coded again. This time she didn’t wake right away like the last time. I gave her some of my blood. A great deal of it, as a matter of fact, to save her. The nurses took Molly into the hall so that she could not be around while I did it. I didn’t want her to freak out about what I had to do. Holly asked what it was he’d done. I think, because of her wounds, I might have converted her. I can smell a cat on her flesh now.
I see. She really didn’t, but her mind was a kaleidoscope of thoughts. All of it centering on the fact that Raven was going to be really pissed off when she figured this out. She’s a cat, like you. And what does that give her? I’m assuming that she’ll heal faster.
Yes. Not only that, but the wounds that she currently had, they’ll all be healed. She’s too weak to shift at the moment—that would heal her completely. But she’s not going to have any more issues with her dying. Are you upset with me? She just stared at him. I’m truly sorry that there wasn’t time to inform you. But I can’t be sorry that I’ve done this to her. She’ll live, and at the time, even now, that was all I could think about. Not just for me, but for Molly as well.
Well of course you had to do it. I don’t even want to think about what I’d have felt if she had died. She did, however, think about what the rest of them would say. He seemed to understand where her mind had gone when he laughed. Yes, well, you’ve had one run in with Merriam and came out unscathed. I haven’t any idea what she’ll do when she finds out that her daughter is a tiger.
She’ll deal with it or not. I won’t have her bringing either of them down again. Holly said that she wished him luck with that. Yes, well, I think I might need it, I’m afraid.
They sat there for a little while longer. Sawyer answered questions that Molly put to him. Holly listened with half an ear. She was thinking about what would be spewed from Merriam’s mouth when she found out about Raven. Merriam had plenty to say when Raven had ended up being a single mom. Holly didn’t think this would be any different. Louder and more vicious, yes but nothing would change, and Holly for one was glad that he’d told her first. Now she’d get to see the look on Merriam’s face when she found out.
“I’m going to talk to R
oger.” Sawyer nodded and said nothing more. “Yes, I think I’ll have a long talk with my son. I cannot think that after this morning he’d have anything against what you did to save his daughter. Besides, we’ll make it so that he has a talk with Merriam when the times comes. I’m very disappointed in him, to say the least.”
“Don’t be. He’s suffered enough with this.” Holly knew that he was talking about Raven, but she thought that he’d more than suffered with Merriam all these years. It surprised her daily how the man could have put up with Merriam. “Holly, Raven is awake.”
~*~
Raven stared at the man. Her grandmother was speaking to her, but whatever she was saying didn’t register in her mind. The man, whoever he was, she felt like she should know him. When Molly stood in front of him, she looked at her daughter and smiled. The man was still in her mind, but her little girl was with her.
“Mommy, are you awake?” Raven didn’t know what to say to her, but did nod. “You’ve woke up several times, but you’ve never said very much. And that’s just not like you. Is your mouth broken?”
“No, I’m just trying to get my bearings. I don’t remember how I came to be here. I’m assuming this is the hospital?” Her grandma nodded, wiping at the tears as they flowed down her weathered cheeks. “What happened? Did I have a car accident or something?”
“You were leaving your office and two men jumped you.” As the man spoke, all of what had happened came rushing over her, like an electrical storm that was leading up to something more powerful. The man took her hand into his, and she let him. “Breathe, Raven. Just in and out like you do all the time. Breathe in and out.”
She did as he said to her. His voice was quiet and calm. Every part of her was in overdrive, like a drag racer about to come to the last lap with hundreds of others trying to vie for her spot. When Raven was able to breathe better, she looked up at him. There was something there, just beyond her reach, and she asked him about it.
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