Hunter comes over to me and tells me they are going to take care of her. She has lost a lot of blood, and the bullet is still inside, so they need to get to the OR now. He tells me that Michael has only been on duty for a couple of hours, so he will do the surgery, but he will assist. Hunter puts his hand on my shoulder and tells me that they will do everything they can.
The best thing I can do is go sit with Clara and dad that he will come get me as soon as she is out of surgery.
I step over to her, grab her hand and kiss her on the forehead. They have already pushed medications through her IV, so she is out of it.
‘Lana, I love you baby girl, you are going to be just fine. They are going to take good care of you. I’ll see you when you are out of surgery.”
She has enough presence of mind to smile at me, tell me she loves me and not to worry she will be fine.
Leo steps up to my side and hands me a scrub top. I’m not sure where he got it or how he knew where to get it, but I thank him anyway. It had slipped my mind that I didn’t have a shirt on anymore. Once I get the top on Leo, and I head up to my dad’s room.
When we walk into the room, Clara is on me before we get in the door good. I hug her and tell her that Lana is going to be just fine. My dad is patiently waiting for us to fill him in on everything. I am not looking forward to the ass chewing I am going to get for letting the girls get taken.
After we tell dad everything that has happened starting with his car accident all through what happened today. He grabs my hand and tells me to stop putting so much pressure on myself. None of what has happened is my fault. That just because I own a security company does not mean that I can keep everyone safe. To remember that most people only call security after something has happened not before to prevent it all. I am only one man, and there is no way that I could protect everyone. The important thing is that I was able to find them quickly and save them. That he is proud of me for keeping my cool under pressure and taking care of business.
I blink up at him a few times. He smiles at me. “Son, you are not Superman, even if you did pretend to be him as a kid, you are only human and can only do so much. You are a good man, and you always try to do what is right, but you need to understand that this world is not fair and sometimes things happen that are not in our control. Right now you are blaming yourself for everything that has happened. You are not to blame. I know you are scared that you are going to lose Lana. I can only imagine how scared you were when the girls were taken, only to get them back and see Lana bleeding from a gunshot. I remember the feeling of pure rage and fear of losing the one you love with everything that you are. When we lost your mother, I wasn’t sure how I was going to move on, but I had to for you guys. I can tell you there is still not a day that goes by that I do not think about your mom. She was the light of my life. So I know you are scared, but I will tell you that if something does happen, you will be ok. It may not feel like it now, but you will be ok. You still have me, Clara and your team to get you through whatever comes next.”
Leo quickly stands up and leaves the room. Dad and Clara look at towards the door as he leaves. I stand and follow him out. When I find him in the hallway, he is sitting on the floor with his head down. I slide down the wall next to him. He sits there quietly for a few minutes then he starts talking.
“I was with Jake when Josh threatened him. I should have stayed with him, but I didn’t. I left to go see a couple of friends that were getting out of the service. Jake was supposed to go with me, but he didn’t want to leave Lana. I will never forget the look on her face the day we buried him. She never blamed me, she told me over, and over that, it wasn’t my fault, that if I had stayed, then there was a good chance that she would be burying two brothers instead of one. I made a promise to him one day that if anything ever happened to him that I would take care of Lana. I have let him down, over and over again. She is like family to me. I’m not sure I can stand to bury another sister. I know you love her and this is hitting you hard too. If she makes it, then I am going to hand in my resignation so I can move here and keep an eye on her, I am tired of letting Jake down by not taking care of her.”
‘Leo, I don’t want to lose her either, hell I just got her back. She has quickly become my whole world again in a matter of a couple of weeks. There will be no need to turn in a resignation. When she pulls through this, I am going to marry that girl and move here. She has school, and I know she will want to finish, even when she finds out that I have an extensively large bank account that would allow us to never work. I will either move headquarters here or open a second office. I will give Brad the option if he wants to run headquarters or what he wants to do. I will definitely have a less active role. I want to focus on Lana and making up for lost time. No matter what you will always have a job with us, no matter where you live.’
It has been three hours, and we still have no answers about Lana. Leo has gone down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. I am so out of it and have started pacing. I tell everyone that I am going to walk down the hall and grab a cup of coffee out of the machine. When I open the door, Hunter is there.
The look on his face tells me what I need to know. The news he has is not good.
“I’m sorry man; I wish I had better news. They had some complications once they got her open. She was bleeding out, and we couldn’t figure out where from. Once she was open, it was clear that her spleen has been hit by a stray piece of the bullet. Michael is doing everything he can, and we have called in another surgeon to help, but right now it doesn’t look good.”
I look back at my dad and Clara and walk out of the room.
I pass Leo as I am walking out of the room. He reads my face and starts cussing. He walks on into the room and starts asking Hunter questions. I keep walking down the hall. I can’t be here right now. I don’t want to hear that the chances are low she will make it. They told me they would take care of her. I didn’t take care of her, or she wouldn’t be bleeding out in the OR right now. This girl is my everything.
I am walking the halls and have somehow found my way into the hallway for the OR. There is a nurse standing at the end of the hall. Just as she starts to tell me that I cannot be back here, I see Michael come out from behind a set of double doors. There is so much blood on his gown. He meets my eyes, and his are full of sadness. Before he can say anything I turn and walk out, I walk all the way out to my truck. I can’t handle the thoughts going through my head.
Epilogue – Two Years Later
Ash
The wind is bitterly cold as I stand here at the headstone covered with snow and ice. It has been two years since that horrible day in the hospital when I felt like my whole world was ending. So much has happened since that horrible day. I learned that day that we are not promised tomorrow and to not take one single thing for granted. I spend more time with my dad and Clara. My dad even got re-married this year, and it is good to see him so happy. I know he was lonely without my mom like he said she really was his world. Clara transferred out of Johns Hopkins to Emory in Atlanta so she could be with Hunter and close to dad. She and Hunter are engaged now, and the date is set for this coming spring. She is going to be a beautiful bride. With my family all being back in Atlanta I made the move as well. I talked about the company with Brad, and he was in agreement to just close the Nashville office and move everything to Atlanta. Everyone on the teams had the option to move to Atlanta, or they could telecommute. Surprisingly, I guess we were more like family than even I realized because everyone moved to Atlanta. Everyone except Eric, he went ahead and retired, with a nice bonus so he could take care of his ever growing family. The company is thriving in Atlanta. I handed the daily operations over to Brad, but I still keep up to date on what everyone is working on.
We still have not caught Andrew. We have one of the brothers in jail, well under the jail but that still leaves one brother and Andrew. He is still lurking out there somewhere, but we have not heard anything from him since that horrible day. Th
e police officer that helped us retain the brother that we have, Ryker, he now works for us. He is good at what we do so it only made sense to bring him aboard.
I shiver as I rake the snow off of the stone and wipe it down good so that the words are visible. I place the flowers in the vase and take a step back. I hear the truck door close behind me, and I turn to see my wife waddling up to me. She is due with our first child in just over three weeks, and I thought she was going to stay in the truck, so there is no risk of her slipping on the ice. There was a nasty winter storm blow through this week, and it left the south covered in snow and ice.
Lana, baby, I thought we agreed that you would stay in the truck. I don’t want you to take any chances of slipping on the ice.
“Ash, if you think I had you drive all the way to Louisiana to go to Jake’s grave, and I’m not going to get out you are crazy.”
This girl is going to be the death of me, well her or the little girl she is carrying. I just thought I was nervous about Lana, now that Willow Grace is coming I am losing my mind, and she is not even here yet.
Lana makes it up to the grave and kneels down, placing a hand on the stone. I can see the tears forming in her eyes. She misses her brother something fierce. They were so close. She starts talking to him telling him how much she wishes that he would be here for the baby, but not to worry because me and Leo are taking good care of her.
I help her stand back up. I wrap one arm around her waist and place my other hand on her ever growing belly. I pulled her into me telling her how much I love her. We walked back to the truck.
I crank the heater up in the truck, so she is not cold. She looks over to me and tells me that she is ready to go home. To our home in Atlanta. I grab her hand and pull it to my lips. You know he would be proud of the woman that you have become. We will make sure little Willow knows who her Uncle JJ is.
I love you, Lana. You two are my everything. I promise to protect you and make you as happy as I can for the rest of our lives.
The End
His To Protect (Four Seasons Security Book 1) Page 16