This Time (The DeLuca Family Book 4)

by Amy Reece

  “She’s been taken to the ER—she’s alive, Seamus.” Chris reached to steady him as he slumped against the door.

  “What the fuck happened?” he growled.

  “I don’t have all the details yet, but it seems she was assaulted in the parking lot behind her office. A co-worker scared off the assailant and called 9-1-1. Finn is taking her parents to the hospital and you can go with me. Hugh will stay with the twins.”

  Seamus scrubbed his hands over his face. “Oh, my God. Okay. She’s alive? You swear to me she’s alive?”

  “I swear, Seamus. Now put on your game face and let’s go tell the girls without scaring them to death, okay?”

  He nodded and pushed himself away from the door. “Yeah, okay. Shit! How did this happen? Who was it?”

  Chris grabbed him by the upper arms and shook him slightly. “Seamus! We can get into all that later. Right now we need to make sure Lily and Iris aren’t terrified.”

  “Yeah. Sorry.” He swallowed hard and led the way back into the house, where the girls waited, wide-eyed, on the couch. He tried to smile as he knelt before them. “Listen, girls. Your mom has been in an accident, but she’s going to be fine.” Please, God, let it be true! “Chris and I are going to go be with her at the hospital for a little while, but Hugh is going to stay with you until I get back, okay?”

  Lily started to sob. Iris, with tears stealing down her cheeks, asked, “Will you call us as soon as you see her, Seamus? Please?”

  “Of course. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything. I promise.” He stood and turned to his brother. “They’ve been sick, so take it easy with them. There’s plenty of juice and stuff in the fridge. Crackers are on the counter.”

  “We’ll be fine. Go to Nina.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Seamus

  The ride to the hospital was eternal. Thankfully, Chris didn’t feel the need to fill the empty silence with meaningless chatter and left him to stare out the passenger window uninterrupted. He’d questioned her again as soon as they got into the car, but she didn’t know anything more than what she’d already told him. Nina had been assaulted in the parking lot and taken to the hospital via ambulance. Chris had no further details.

  In the emergency room, they were informed that Nina was in surgery. Seamus almost passed out and had to sit in a nearby chair while Chris got the directions to the surgical waiting room. Mr. and Mrs. Braden had arrived, along with Finn, a few moments before, and sat white-faced and tense in the far corner.

  “Oh, Seamus!” Mrs. Braden vaulted from her seat as he entered the room and pulled him into her arms.

  He looked over her shoulder to Mr. Braden. “What have you heard?”

  “Not a whole lot,” the older man replied, his face haggard and gray with worry. “They took her into surgery straight from the ER. We haven’t been able to see her or talk to a doctor yet.”

  Mrs. Braden clung to Seamus, sobbing softly, until Mr. Braden pulled her gently from his arms and guided her back to a seat along the wall of the waiting room. Seamus sat next to her, but was up again within a few minutes, too antsy to sit. Every second that ticked by without news about Nina sent another shaft of dread through his body. Please, God, I’m begging you! Bring her through this! Bring her back to me. I need her…Lily and Iris…oh, God! Her children need her! He paced in front of the window until Finn stopped him and placed an unwanted paper cup of black coffee in his hand.

  “Come on.” Finn led him across the waiting room and pushed him down into a seat. “Drink up. You need to be alert when Nina gets out of surgery. She’s gonna need you to be strong.”

  Seamus nodded numbly and sipped the hot coffee, cringing at the bitter taste. He’d never enjoyed black coffee, but he drank it anyway. Finn had brought coffee for her parents also, a welcome momentary reprieve from the constant worry. He couldn’t begin to fathom how they must be feeling; their son had been murdered and now their only daughter had been attacked and none of them had any idea whether she would live. How did this happen? Why? Who? Pure rage began to bubble up in him, but he knew he couldn’t entertain it at the moment. He shoved it down, somewhere behind the fear, and crumpled his empty cup as he stood to pace again. He called Hugh to check in on the girls and was relieved to hear they were asleep; he had no news for them and didn’t think he could manage to keep the fear out of his voice.

  Nearly two hours later, a tired-looking doctor appeared in the doorway and asked for the family of Nina Braden. Seamus’s heart nearly beat out of his chest as he stood behind her parents to hear what the doctor had to say.

  “She’s out of surgery and we were able to stop the internal bleeding.”

  “What was she bleeding from?” Mr. Braden interrupted the doctor. “I’m sorry, but we don’t know anything except that she was attacked.”

  The doctor shook his head. “I don’t have any details about the attack, but we repaired what appeared to be a knife wound in her upper left abdomen. We had to remove her spleen.”

  Mrs. Braden whimpered and began to cry quietly.

  “Is she going to be okay?” Seamus voiced the question he knew they all needed to know.

  The doctor raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly. “We’re optimistic. She’s pretty banged up, but she’s young and should recover fully. She’s going to spend another hour or so in the recovery room, but you can see her for a few minutes.” He motioned for them to follow him through the double doors into the surgical ward.

  Seamus walked with her family, praying no one would try to prevent him from seeing Nina. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, of course, but he hated to make a scene. They were led through a twisting series of hallways, past dozens of curtained alcoves until the doctor stopped in front of one and pulled the curtain aside. A nurse stood at the side of a hospital bed, hanging various IV bags. Mrs. Braden let out a sorrowful sigh and rushed to the bed. When she moved, Seamus could see Nina for the first time. Oh, shit. What the hell happened to her? Her right eye was purple and swollen and there were cuts and scrapes all over her face. Her left arm lay atop the sheet, encased in a stiff-looking brace of some sort. His gut clenched in sympathy and he wove his way around her parents to the far side of the bed.

  “Nina,” the nurse said kindly. “Your parents and your—” She looked at Seamus questioningly.

  “Boyfriend.” He didn’t look away from Nina’s face as he spoke.

  “And your boyfriend are here. Can you wake up for them, sweetheart?”

  He touched her hand gently as she opened her good eye slightly. “Hey.”

  She closed her eye, then opened it again and mumbled something unintelligible.

  “Nina, love, Dad and I are here.”

  She shifted her gaze toward her mother’s voice. “Mom.” The word was barely understandable.

  “Keep talking to her. We want her to wake up a bit more before we move her to a room. I’ll check back in a few minutes.” The nurse closed the curtain behind her.

  Seamus glanced around the small room, noting the various monitors attached to Nina, taking comfort in the steady beep of her heart. He brushed his hand softly across hers while her mother chattered continuously. Nina drifted in and out for nearly an hour before the doctor finally returned and gave the order for her to be moved to a room. The nurse told them to find the cafeteria and have a cup of coffee for an hour while they got her settled.

  Chris was still there when they returned to the waiting room. She volunteered to take the Bradens home so they could get some sleep before returning in the morning. Seamus assured them he would stay, since the nurse had promised one of them could sleep in the recliner in Nina’s room. Once they’d left, he realized he was hungry and set out to find the cafeteria to see if it was still open. He was in luck and managed to get a halfway decent cheeseburger and a large Coke. The sugar and food went a long way toward reviving him. He called Hugh to make sure the girls were asleep and told his brother to call him the minute they woke up the next morning so he could reass
ure them that Nina was going to be all right. He finished his meal and tried to find his way to the section of the hospital where Nina had been moved. He’d never been inside the sprawling University of New Mexico Medical Center before, but it was a level one trauma hospital, and the logical place for the ambulance to take a victim who’d been stabbed, especially since it was right across the street from the university where Nina worked. He finally found her new room and entered to see the nurse from the surgical ward adjusting an oxygen tube under Nina’s nose.

  “It looks like your boyfriend found your new room, Nina.”

  Nina opened her good eye and smiled slightly, obviously much more awake than she had been in the recovery room. “Hi.”

  He made his way to her bedside and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Hi yourself.”

  The nurse finished setting her up as another one entered. The two conferred briefly, then the first nurse bid Nina goodbye and left.

  “My name is Alicia and I’ll be taking care of you tonight.” The new nurse bustled around the bed, checking the various machines and tubes as she spoke. “This is the call button, and I want you to press it if you need anything. You shouldn’t be in any pain tonight because you’re on some pretty hefty meds in your IV. We’ll wean you off those tomorrow. Now, is this guy staying tonight or should I get rid of him?” She nodded toward Seamus, and he detected a steely determination underneath the apparent good humor.

  “I’m staying.” He met the nurse’s gaze with his own rock-solid stubbornness.

  “Where are the girls?” Nina asked.

  He brushed her hair away from her forehead. “Chris and Hugh are with them. They’re fine.”

  She nodded slightly and looked at Alicia. “He’s staying.”

  “All right. That chair is a recliner, and I’ll send a blanket in a bit. Get some rest, Nina. I’ll be waking you up all through the night to check your vitals and such.” She made a few notes on the white board hanging on the wall opposite Nina’s bed and left.

  “Seamus, what happened?”

  He pulled the chair next to the bed and took her hand gently so as not to disturb the pulse oximeter on her finger. “Do you remember anything?”

  She closed her eyes and frowned. “Yes. I remember being attacked as I walked to my car. Some guy grabbed me from behind. I should have been paying attention, but I was checking my phone for messages. I fought him, but he punched me, and I guess I blacked out.” A single tear leaked from her good eye. “Seamus, did he…did he—”

  “No! No, hon.” He leaned in and kissed her softly. “One of your co-workers heard you scream and called 9-1-1. They chased the guy off. But he stabbed you, Nina. The doctors had to repair some internal damage and they had to take your spleen. But you’re going to be fine.”

  She turned her head away. “I’m so tired.”

  “Okay.” He kissed her forehead again. “Sleep, sweetheart. I’ll be here when you wake up.” He tucked her blankets carefully under her chin, then texted Hugh to see if the girls were still asleep. They were, so he reminded him to text as soon as they were awake in the morning. He watched until she fell asleep, then took the thin blanket an orderly had delivered and tried to find a comfortable position in the recliner. He stared at the blinking lights on the heart monitor and wondered why so many bad things were happening to Nina. First, her brother was murdered. Then, someone broke into her house and trashed the place. Now, she’d been attacked in the parking lot at the university. It was a whole lot of shit to happen to one person in a short amount of time. Was karma capable of being such a bitch, or was there something else going on? He couldn’t fathom what, but it felt off.

  The nurse was as good as her word and returned every hour to check on Nina, change IV bags, and draw blood. Seamus woke for the first few, but finally fell into a deep enough sleep to not be bothered by it. He woke for good when the doctor arrived for his morning rounds. Nina’s incision looked good, according to him, and he said he was taking her off the IV pain meds and wanted her up and walking in the next hour or so.

  “That seems pretty harsh,” Seamus muttered as the doctor left. Nina looked better this morning, but shouldn’t she spend at least one day resting?

  “Not at all. The sooner she gets out of this bed, the faster she’ll recover. Don’t baby her,” she scolded.

  “Yeah, don’t baby me,” Nina whispered, but smiled faintly as she said it.

  “Fine. I’ll try to resist. How are you feeling this morning?”

  “Better.” She met his eyes and he realized she was referring to her refusal to talk the night before more than anything else.

  “Good.” He leaned down to kiss her softly. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he smiled as he read the text. “You want to talk to Lily and Iris?”

  ***

  Nina

  “I know, baby. I miss you too. Let me talk to Lily again, please.” Nina reached for her apple juice and sipped while she waited for Iris to hand the phone to her sister. She winced slightly as pain shot up her arm, but at least it was only a bad sprain. The doctor had removed the brace earlier that morning, and Nina was glad to have use of both arms.

  “When are you coming home, Momma?” Lily’s voice was more subdued than usual.

  “The doctor said maybe tomorrow.” She was determined to make it happen. She’d been stuck in this hospital bed for four days, and she needed to be home with her girls. They’d been staying with her parents for the past few days, and their pleas for her to come home had increased with each passing day. “Lily, sweetie, I need you to eat for Grandma.”

  “But I don’t like what she makes. I like what Seamus makes. Can he come get us?”

  Nina smiled in sympathy. Her mother was a wonderful cook but could never remember that Lily didn’t like meat. “He’s at work, Lil. He’ll be home with us tomorrow, and I’m sure he’ll insist on cooking.” He had stayed with her the first two nights, cramming his long body into the poor excuse for a recliner, refusing to leave her alone while she was sedated and on heavy painkillers. She’d recovered quite fast, however, after they’d removed her catheter and insisted she begin walking. Once the doctor had lowered her levels of IV pain medication and her head was clearer, she realized she was going to be okay, and self-pity wouldn’t serve any useful purpose. Yes, she’d been attacked and stabbed, and they hadn’t found the bastard who did it, but she wasn’t raped or disfigured, so she needed to pick herself up and move on. First, she had to get out of this damned hospital and home to her babies. On her third day in the hospital—yesterday—she’d stood up, pulled Seamus’s face down to hers, and kissed him. Then she’d told him she was fine, and he needed to go to work. He’d stared at her hard for a moment, then smiled wryly and called his station. He was scheduled until the following morning and planned to come directly to the hospital and—hopefully—take her home. She forced her thoughts back to her daughter. “I need you and Iris to be patient for one more day. Please go easy on your grandparents.”

  “Okay.” Lily sounded borderline sulky, but Nina let it pass. “I miss you, Momma.”

  “I miss you too, Lil. Put Grandma back on, please.” She spent a few more minutes assuring her mother she was well on the road to recovery and would definitely be home the following day, then hung up and set the phone—a new one, since her attacker had stolen her purse—on the tray table and reached for her juice again. She’d been moved to a soft diet the day before and the nurse had told her she would be given regular food today, and if she handled it well, the doctor would be more likely to release her the following day. I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of here, so bring on the gross hospital food.

  “Knock, knock.”

  Nina glanced up to see Chris standing in the doorway. “Hi. Come in. What brings you to my temporary neck of the woods?”

  Chris waved a large brown envelope as she approached the bed. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by with a few photos. Would you mind taking a look?”

  “Sure.
It’s a photo lineup, right?”

  Chris flashed her a half-smile and reached into the envelope. She arranged a half-dozen photographs on the bedside tray, then pushed it away. “This is indeed a photo lineup. Are you up for it?”

  “Of course.” Nina pushed herself up, hissing as her incision pulled. She waved her hand dismissively as Chris frowned. “I’m fine. Let’s do this.”

  Chris nodded with approval. “Okay. I’d like to hear your statement again first, if you don’t mind.”

  Nina smiled wryly. Chris had shown up bright and early the morning after the attack to question her, much to Seamus’s chagrin and disapproval. Nina had shushed him and answered Chris’s questions to the best of her ability, but she hadn’t been able to remember or concentrate well. “I don’t mind. I was on some pretty hefty painkillers a few days ago. My head’s a bit clearer now; at least I think it is.”

  “Good.” Chris pulled a chair next to the bed and reached for her cell phone. “Do you mind if I record this?” As Nina shook her head, Chris pressed the red record button and pulled a small notebook from her blazer pocket. “All right, Nina. I’d like to hear what happened on Friday afternoon as you left work.”