by Diana Palmer
“We noticed,” Rodrigo drawled.
Colby glared at him.
The resident came back before he could speak. He looked from the men to Sarina, who was giving him a cold stare. Her hand went to the butt of her .45.
“Now see here, I was only obeying the rules,” the resident said quickly.
She lifted the pistol out and handed it, slowly, to Rodrigo. “Keep it for me,” she told him.
He gave the resident a bland smile. “I wouldn’t worry, she missed the last guy she shot at.”
Colby was feeling the effects of the night. He glanced at Sarina and tried not to let it show that he was still concerned. “You going to be all right?”
She nodded. “It’s just…”
“…a flesh wound. Right.”
“Sure,” she said.
“We’re sending you along to a room,” the resident told Sarina, with quick glances at the two men. “There are some papers to be filled out, but we’ll send one of the office workers down to your room to take care of all that. Uh, if you’re ready?” he added with a meaningful, but nervous glance at her two visitors.
“I have to go,” Rodrigo said. He touched Sarina’s hand gently. “If you need me, I’m as close as the phone.”
“Thanks,” she said and smiled at him.
He left. Colby drew in a harsh breath. “I’ll keep Bernadette in the dark. I’ll come and pick you up Monday and take you home.”
“Rodrigo can do that,” she bit off.
“Certainly he can. But he’s not going to,” he replied. “You can go with me to pick Bernadette up at school Monday afternoon, if you’re feeling up to it.”
She wanted to argue, but her arm was hurting and she felt sick.
He nodded to the resident. “I’ll go, so that you can get her settled.” He noticed her grimace as she moved off the examination table. “I know how that feels, by the way,” he told her, nodding toward her injured arm. “I’ve been shot several times over the years. Tomorrow, you’ll be glad they didn’t let you go home.”
“Quite right,” the resident agreed. “You’ll be sick and in a good deal of pain, more than you’re feeling now. I’ll write up something for that as well.”
“Good night,” Colby told her.
She glared at him, but she was already wilting. It wasn’t much of a glare. He turned away without comment. He had more reason than she did to be mad, but this wasn’t the time for it.
He went out of the cubicle still feeling betrayed. He could have shown her the photograph of Tate and Cecily, but he was too angry. Let her think he had a woman on the side. He didn’t care. She’d lied to him.
HE WAS ON HIS WAY home when a small, tragic face flashed before his eyes. It was Bernadette. She was crying, distraught. He couldn’t get the picture out of his mind. It made no sense. It was almost midnight. She was asleep. He couldn’t go to Hunter’s house and wake everybody up…
Yes, he could. He did. The door opened and Hunter whistled softly.
“Thank God you’re here, although I don’t understand why.” He stood aside and Bernadette came running to Colby, wearing purple pajamas, her face wet with tears, her eyes red and swollen.
“Daddy!” she exclaimed, throwing herself into his arms. “Daddy, Mommy got shot, just like in my dream! Is she dead?”
Only then did Colby remember Bernadette’s premonition, about her mother getting shot in a big place among a group of boxes. He’d promised her he’d take care of Sarina. But he hadn’t known about her DEA work then. He drew Bernadette close and walked the floor with her, soothing her gently.
“It’s all right, baby,” he whispered. “Mommy’s fine. Mommy’s just fine.”
“But she was bleeding,” Bernadette whimpered. “I saw!”
Colby’s arms tightened even more. The damaged servo was loud in the room, but he didn’t notice. He sat down on the sofa with Bernadette on his lap, and pulled out a handkerchief to dry her eyes.
“Listen,” he told her, “Mommy’s very brave, so you have to be brave, too. They’re going to keep her in the hospital until Monday. But I promise that she and I will pick you up at school Monday afternoon. I promise, Bernadette.”
She began to calm, just a little. She looked up into his eyes and saw no lies there. She slowed her breathing. “Okay, Daddy.”
The word, still rare, made him feel taller, stronger. He smiled at her, brushing back the damp hair from her big, brown eyes. Tears were still trickling from them, but slowing. “I’ll never lie to you,” he said.
She nodded. “I was so scared.” She drew in a shaky breath. “Why do I have to see bad things?”
“I don’t know, baby. But your grandfather did, too. He rode all the way to school on a horse one day I was in grammar school because he knew I’d had a bad fall. Nobody told him, he just knew. I’d broken my leg. He showed up just as the ambulance got there.”
She smiled. “He told me.”
The Hunters, all three of them, were standing beside the sofa, listening. Nikki was in her gown. The adults were wearing sweatpants and robes. Bernadette was in pajamas. Colby sighed. “I guess I’m overdressed,” he told Hunter. “I think I should either put on pajamas myself, or go home.”
Hunter was listening to the artificial arm. “I’d say the second idea was your best bet,” he agreed, noting the arm. “Did it miss everything vital?”
Colby nodded. “Just a badly placed shot,” he said lazily, smiling at Bernadette.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Hunter chuckled.
Colby got up, placing Bernadette back on her feet. “Can she stay until Monday morning? I can take her to school,” he volunteered.
“No need,” Jennifer said with a smile as she cuddled up sleepily to Hunter. “She and Nikki can ride together.”
“Then Sarina and I will pick her up Monday afternoon at school. That reminds me,” he added, looking down at Bernadette. “Would you like to go to the zoo tomorrow?”
“Oh, yes!” she exclaimed. “Can Nikki come, too?”
“Sure,” Colby agreed, smiling.
“In that case, we’ll all go,” Hunter said, “and make a day of it. I like zoos myself.”
“That’s because you’ve spent so much time around animals,” Colby murmured, tongue-in-cheek.
“Present company excepted?” Hunter chuckled.
“Well, sort of.” Colby held his left arm. “I’d better get my gizmo home before it self-destructs,” he added. “What time tomorrow?”
“About twelve-thirty?”
“That works for me. I can sleep late. I’m still a little rocky from the malaria,” Colby had to admit, “and tonight wasn’t exactly a picnic.” He bent and picked Bernadette up with his right arm and hugged her close. It was getting to feel very natural, hugging the child. He smiled as he kissed her wet cheek. “Go to bed now, okay?”
“Okay. Night, Daddy.”
“Good night, baby.”
THE ZOO WAS A TREAT for Colby, who hadn’t been to one since he was small, and that one had been more of an exotic animal farm than a zoo. This one had very elegant outdoor confinements for the animals, so that they didn’t seem to be caged at all. He especially liked the reptile exhibit. Bernadette didn’t seem to mind it at all. She held Colby’s hand proudly, smiling at other children she met as if to put him on display. He felt her pride in him, and was humbled by it.
They ate hot dogs and walked until his legs ached. Then they went to the park, where the cold didn’t seem to deter swinging, and he and the Hunters rested on benches while Nikki and Bernadette ran to the swings. It was a good day, he reflected. Being a parent was nothing like his expectations of years ago. It was better.
Jennifer Hunter phoned the hospital later, since Colby had refused to, without stating any reason for it. She talked to Sarina. Rodrigo had been to see her, but she was feeling vaguely deserted, especially by Colby.
“We went to the zoo,” Jennifer told her. “You should have seen Bernadette at the reptile house. She’s f
earless, just like Colby. The keeper actually let her hold an albino python, and she wasn’t the least afraid.”
“She likes snakes,” Sarina said, smiling to herself. She shifted in the bed and winced, because the arm was really sore and she had some fever and nausea as well. “Did Colby…say anything about me?”
“No,” Jennifer replied. “I think he’s still in shock. Phillip said he had no idea what you really did for a living. He’s taking it hard.”
“He might as well get used to it,” Sarina said angrily. “I’m not giving up my job!”
“Both of you are going to have to make some major adjustments one day,” the other woman said gently. “A child needs two parents. I don’t have to tell you that.”
There was a brief silence. “No, you don’t. I suppose I’m still upset.”
“About the shootout?” Jennifer asked.
No, about the almost nude blonde in Colby’s apartment, but Sarina wasn’t comfortable sharing that with Jennifer. “Yes,” she lied, “about the shootout. I’m having some fever and pain today. I suppose they were right about making me stay here.”
“I’m sorry you missed the zoo, all the same,” Jennifer chuckled. “Bernadette was having the time of her life.”
“I’m glad. I’ve spent so much time working the past few years that she hasn’t had as much fun as I’d have liked.”
“Now that Colby’s around, he’ll take her from time to time,” Jennifer suggested. “Nikki loves going places with her daddy, and showing him off.”
“Phillip’s a good father.”
“Colby’s going to be a good one, too.”
There was a pause. “I don’t suppose you know that Colby came by in the wee hours of the morning?”
“What? Why?”
“He said he saw Bernadette crying. A vision, Phillip calls it. When he got here, we were all in the living room trying to convince her that everything was all right. Colby told her just a little of what happened, but he reassured her. She was smiling when he left.”
Sarina was silent. Then she sighed. “I thought he might have that emotional link with her that his father had with him,” she said softly. “Bernadette had a premonition about him getting shot in Africa, you know. They had an encounter the day they met because she told him all about it.”
“Yes, Phillip told me. It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Her grandfather was just the same. He said he always knew when something bad had happened to Colby.”
“It must run in families,” Jennifer said. “I knew a woman whose background was Scotch-Irish, who had the ‘second sight.’ She had the same sort of link with her mother. She got on a plane and flew two thousand miles to be with her mother when the woman had a major heart attack. Nobody had even phoned her. She just knew.”
“Bernadette’s grandfather said it was a gift, but Bernadette is upset by it. She only sees bad things.”
“Still, it must be a comfort to know when something’s wrong. You might be able to save a life with it, depending on the sort of premonition you had.”
Sarina sighed. “I guess so. But I wish the visions weren’t so upsetting.” She hesitated. “Colby didn’t mention another woman, did he?”
“Of course not,” Jennifer chuckled. “Why would he, especially now?”
“Never mind me,” Sarina said quickly. “I’m just feeling fuzzy. Thanks for calling me. Kiss Bernadette good-night for me and tell her I’ll see her tomorrow. The doctor’s already promised I can go home unless I get worse. I’m not going to,” she added firmly.
“Okay. I will. Sleep tight.”
“You, too.”
COLBY WENT BACK to work with the spare arm, having overnighted the malfunctioning one back to the lab with a request for hasty repair—just like last time. He was beginning to wonder if the stupid thing was ever going to be dependable.
SARINA HAD A BAD NIGHT, and Sunday was even worse. She dozed between rounds of antibiotic and painkiller, mentally cursing Colby because he’d betrayed her with that woman! It wouldn’t have been quite so bad if she didn’t keep reliving that night in Colby’s apartment. It was the sweetest memory in recent years, and she’d built dreams on it. Now, those dreams were flying away in the face of reality.
She wondered what Colby’s new paramour had thought when Sarina showed up at his door with the banana nut bread. She hoped the woman had given Colby hell all day. It didn’t make sense that he’d throw her over for someone else just a couple of days after such a tempestuous interlude. But, then, Sarina didn’t have much of a track record with men.
She thought how kind Rodrigo had been to her and Bernadette, and she wished with all her heart that she could love him. It just hadn’t happened, even before Colby’s sudden reappearance in her life. The first time she’d seen Colby, her heart had turned cartwheels. It still did. She hated her feelings for him. Especially now.
He had a point about her job, but she wasn’t going to admit it. She’d been wounded in the line of duty. So easily, she could have been killed. Then what would have happened to Bernadette? Colby might agree to take her, but what would he do with a small child in his life? Apparently he was new to security work, and the old life still tugged at him from time to time. Wasn’t it possible that he might find a way to leave Bernadette with someone and go back into the military? He’d been a career man. Surely it was hard for him to give it up, especially for a job that must be boring most of the time.
She recalled his easy handling of the wild-eyed drug user who’d sent her elderly neighbor running. She remembered him on horseback, jumping a fence with his dark eyes glittering in triumph. He had a wild streak that had never been quite tamed. Odd, she considered, how he’d fit in with a military lifestyle. Most military men were conservative, businesslike, withdrawn. Colby wasn’t a sedate man, and he wasn’t particularly conservative. He had a lot more in common with men who lived on the cutting edge of reason, like those in special operations or SWAT teams. She’d read once that no man who could pass a standard psychological test would qualify for outfits like special forces or delta squad.
Maybe Colby had had disciplinary problems, and that was why he’d taken early retirement. She wondered what branch of the military he’d served in. She’d never asked him.
She laid back into her pillows and tried to watch a television program. She missed Bernadette and her own apartment, sparse though it was. She wasn’t used to inaction.
MONDAY AT NOON, Colby appeared in her room, accompanied by her doctor.
“You can go home,” he told her. “The nurse will have two prescriptions for you at the desk, including antibiotics and a painkiller.” He looked at her over his glasses. “Don’t take the painkiller when you’re using your gun.”
She glared at him. “I never take anything when I’m using my gun.”
“Good for you. Keep doing that. Well, I’ll say goodbye,” he added, with an amused smile at Colby, who looked as if he were trying to swallow a watermelon. “Call me if you need me.”
“I will. Thanks,” Sarina added, with a smile.
He left and she got to her feet. She was wearing the same clothes she’d had on when she arrived, and there was a bullet hole and traces of blood on the sleeve where she’d been hit.
“I didn’t have a change of clothes,” she remarked when she saw Colby glancing at her sleeve.
“I should have thought of that, and offered to bring you clothing,” he said quietly.
“It’s all right. I’m going straight home. I can change before we go to pick up Bernadette.”
“I thought we might get lunch and take it home,” he said.
She shrugged. “That would be nice.”
“Chinese?”
She looked up, surprised. In the old days, when they’d been close and growing even closer, they’d spent a lot of time at Chinese restaurants. They both enjoyed Chinese cuisine.
“Well, yes,” she stammered. She laughed self-consciously. “I haven’t had Chinese takeout in
a long time.”
“Neither have I,” he said, his tones austere. He picked up her suitcase and she took one last look around the room to make sure she hadn’t overlooked anything. Then he followed her out the door.
There was a slight wait at the nurse’s station while they located her prescriptions and then another slight wait at the pharmacy near the parking lot, where they were filled. By the time they got away, it was past the lunchtime rush.
Colby left her in the SUV while he went into the Chinese restaurant and got sweet and sour pork for her and sesame chicken for himself.
He handed her the plastic bag containing their food and climbed in under the wheel. She noticed his prosthesis on the steering wheel.
He sighed. “It’s not as pretty as the other one, but it works very well,” he remarked. “Actually the simple hook is the most efficient. But it seems to intimidate people.”
“Colby, which branch of the service were you in?” she asked suddenly.
He felt his whole body go stiff. He didn’t want to answer that question. Certainly he needed time for the explanations that would follow.
She frowned. “What, was it some top-secret outfit?” she persisted.
“Something like that,” he said slowly. “Are you comfortable? I can turn up the heater if you’re getting chilled. It was cold out this morning.”
“I’m fine,” she said.
“We’ll just have time for lunch before we have to pick up Bernadette,” he added.
She was diverted, and talk was casual the rest of the way home.
HE PUT OUT THE FOOD on the table while she got out plates and found soft drinks for both of them.
She was unusually quiet while they ate. None of their problems had gone away. She was still thinking about the woman she’d found in his apartment, and he was still thinking about her unexpected profession and the certainty that she was eventually going to discover his own jaded past.
“Thanks for coming after me,” she said.
He smiled. “I didn’t mind.”
She took another forkful of rice and carried it slowly to her mouth. “Have you heard any more about Vance?”