by Ivy Wonders
Haney’s glazed eyes went to her as she moved, and he pulled the gun up to shoot her one more time. I shouted to take his attention, and that’s when he got off another round, right into my upper thigh, taking me down. “Shit!”
As I fell, I took the last shot I’d need, putting a bullet right between his eyes. Blood splattered the metal wall behind him as the gun fell from his hand, one more shot going off as it hit the ground. I had no idea if the bullet had struck anyone or not.
My ears rang from all the gunshots; I couldn’t hear anything but that incessant ringing. Crawling, dragging my leg behind me, I went to Reagan, pulling her body off Skye’s, seeing that she’d fallen unconscious.
“There’s too much blood,” I said to myself as I put pressure on Skye’s wound with one hand and grabbing my cell out of my pocket with the other.
“911, what’s your emergency?” the dispatcher asked me.
“We need ambulances. We need them now. Trace this call. I have no idea what the address is.” I could feel myself getting woozy, and my vision started to blur. Not because I’d lost too much blood, but because I thought I was losing the only people I loved. “This is—um—this is Dr. Dawson. Dr. Storey and our son, Skye—we’ve all been shot. We need help now.”
“It’s coming your way now, Dr. Dawson. Just hold tight.” I dropped my cell. I had to help my son and my one true love. “I won’t let you go. I’ll never let you go. Stay with me.” I kissed Skye on top of his little head. “Stay with Daddy, Skye. Don’t you leave me, son. I’ve just gotten you—I can’t lose you now.” I ran my other hand through Reagan’s auburn curls, then ripped off a piece of my shirt to wrap a tourniquet around her shoulder. “Baby, you stay with me. You and I have a lot of life to live. Everything is going to be okay. You’ll see. You just have to hold on.”
Closing my eyes, I kept putting pressure on their wounds and prayed, knowing that was all I could do for now. And so that was what I did.
Chapter 26
Reagan
The familiar sounds of beeping told me exactly where I was. The sterile smell kept me calm—or perhaps that was the meds. I felt no pain and no stress. My eyes closed, I moved in and out of consciousness until I heard his voice.
“Is she coming off of the anesthesia, nurse?”
“She is, Dr. Dawson,” I heard Jamison, one of the nurses, say. “Her vitals are good. She’ll be awake soon. And how’s Skye?”
Skye?
In a sudden flash, it all came back. Gunfire, blood—so much blood—my little boy’s chest covered in it!
I struggled against the restraints that held my ankles and wrists. Nothing would come out of my mouth, and my eyes wouldn’t open as I tugged and moaned.
A hand pressed against my forehead. “Baby, it’s Arrie. Settle down. Skye is okay. He’s in the ICU, but he’s going to be okay. Dr. Harman Hunter, the pediatric surgeon, took great care of or our boy. The bullet lodged just to the right of his spine. We feel confident there will be no paralysis.” His lips touched mine for only a second. “And you’re going to be okay too. The bullet went all the way through your shoulder. You had to have a blood transfusion because you lost a good bit. You’ll be feeling better in no time, though.”
Still unable to open my eyes, I heard the nurse ask Arrie, “How’s your leg, Doc?”
“It’s fine,” he told her. “The bullet went clean through and didn’t manage to hit anything crucial. I’ll walk with a cane for a bit, but I’ll be good as new in no time.”
I moved my fingers, wiggling them a little. He knew I wanted him to hold my hand. He couldn’t quite accomplish that with my arms strapped down, but he put his fingertips to mine. The sound of his breathing and the touch of his skin helped me fall back under. Knowing that Skye and Arrie were both okay, I knew it was time to let my own body heal.
The sound of an alarm going off woke me back up. My eyes sprang open, finding someone running out of my room. Still restrained, I tugged and tugged, then finally found my voice. “Hey,” though quiet and hoarse, I called out again, “Hey.”
Arrie passed by the open door, using a cane and limping in the same direction everyone else was headed. Glancing into the room, he saw my open eyes. “Baby, I’ll be right back. It’s Lannie.”
Sighing, I stopped trying to do anything else. At least it wasn’t Skye. Moving my head to look out the window, I saw the sun peeking through pink clouds. Blinking, I tried to clear my vision. The night must’ve passed and a new day had begun. A day that would bring us a new start.
The nurse came back in, and I saw it was Patty. “Hey there. It’s good to see you awake, sleepy head.” After checking my vitals, she untied the restraints. “You’re looking good.” She pushed the button to ease the head of the bed up a bit. “You wanna see the damage, Doc?”
“Should I?” I asked her, knowing some gunshot wounds could look pretty horrific at first.
“It’s not bad at all,” she informed me as she took a handheld mirror off the dresser. “Dr. Kerr took care of you. The scarring on either side of your shoulder will be minimal.”
Holding up the mirror, she pulled the hospital gown down a bit. I saw three tiny stitches right in the middle of where my shoulder and chest met. “Not bad at all. I’ll have to send Jonas a wine and cheese basket for his excellent work.”
Arrie came into the room. “You won’t believe what Lannie just did to set those machines off.” He came over, then kissed me on the forehead. “You’re looking much better, beautiful.”
“You got shot too?” I asked, not remembering him being hit at all.
“Yeah, he got me.” He ran his hand over his scrubs, gesturing to where he’d been hit. “Right here. It went through, and I’ll be as good as new soon. I got him after that. The gun went off when he dropped it. Thankfully, that bullet didn’t hit anyone. Do you remember me telling you about Skye?”
“Yeah.” I took his hand, holding it. “So, about Lannie?”
“Oh!” He laughed. “He’s up now. Fully alert. Can’t talk yet, but he can walk, apparently—we just found, because he decided to climb out of bed.”
“It won’t be long now.” I knew if his motor functions were working, soon his communication functions would too. “I’m glad to hear he’s getting better.”
Brushing his hand through my curls, he sighed. “I’m glad we’re all getting better. Do you feel up to getting into a wheelchair to go see our son? He’s starting to wake up. I think he’d like to see his momma.”
Moving, I felt stiff, but no pain. “Please take me to see our little man.”
With the nurse’s help, they got me mobile, and we headed to the pediatric ICU to see the boy I’d prayed so hard I wouldn’t lose. I found two men in black suits flanking us on each side. And when we got to the ICU where Skye was, another man in black stood outside his door.
Arrie saw my puzzled expression. “I’ve already hired bodyguards for all of us.”
“I see. For a moment there I thought the FBI was following us.” It occurred to me that the police hadn’t been in to see me. “Have you spoken to the police, Arrie? Are we in any trouble?”
He shook his head as he wheeled me into our son’s room. “Not one bit. Everything was done in self-defense. There’s no reason to charge anyone for anything.”
That was a huge relief. “Good. I didn’t want to have to deal with that.”
Pushing me up to the side of Skye’s bed, I found a lump forming in my throat as I looked at my helpless baby boy. Pushing his dark waves out of his face, I whispered, “Skye, can you wake up for Momma?”
His eyes moved under his eyelids, and I knew he’d heard me. Arrie leaned over my shoulder. “Hey, slugger, you want to open those eyes for us?”
Skye’s eyes sprang open, and his lips parted as he looked right at Arrie. Blinking at him, he looked as if he wanted to say something. I put my finger in his hand, which was restrained. “Can you squeeze my finger?”
He gave it a squeeze, then out came one hoarsely spok
en word, “Dad?”
Arrie and I looked at each other, then back at Skye, whose eyes stayed on Arrie’s. Arrie nodded. “Yes. I’m your dad, Skye.” He ran his hand over Skye’s head. “We’re going to be a family, son. And I want you to know that I love you more than anything in this entire world.”
“Me too,” Skye whispered, then finally looked at me. “Momma.” He swallowed hard. “Love you too.”
“Oh, my boy, you have no idea how good it is to hear you say that.” I leaned over to kiss his cheek, and that did hurt my shoulder a good bit, but I took the pain without even so much as a whimper. “We’re going to be a very happy family now, Skye. I hope you’ll be our little ringbearer when your daddy and I get married.”
Skye nodded. “Can I have a baby brother?”
Arrie laughed as he put his hand on my unharmed shoulder. “I think that can be arranged.” He kissed the top of my head. “We’ll be moving into a big home where there’ll be plenty of room for you to have as many brothers and sisters as you want, big guy.”
“As many as I want?” Skye looked surprised.
I looked up at Arrie. “Um, slow down there, Big Daddy. Momma has a gunshot wound to get over first.”
Arrie smiled then winked at our son. “Well, we can give her a little time to heal, can’t we?”
“Sure.” Skye smiled, and my heart pounded.
“It’s good to see that smile.” As I looked into my son’s eyes—eyes that were as blue as his father’s—I knew we’d all be okay. “We’re all going to heal, and then we’re going to put this behind us. Your father has us completely protected now. We never have to worry again.”
Arrie made sure Skye understood. “We have bodyguards now. No one will ever be able to take you away from us ever again.”
“Even at school?” Skye asked as he looked at me.
“Even at school.” I prayed he would have no lasting effects from his abduction. I knew that kids were resilient, but I knew we’d have to work hard at making sure his life felt normal and stable. “And you’re going to get to talk to someone about what you’ve gone through. I want you to know that you can always come to us if you feel worried or upset about what’s happened. We’re all going to be there for each other, and if you need more help, you let us know. Promise?”
“Promise.” He closed his eyes. “My throat hurts.”
“Jell-O,” Arrie prescribed.
I chimed in, “Chocolate ice cream.”
Skye opened his eyes and looked back and forth between us, trying to make his choice. “Both,” he finally settled on.
“With that appetite, I can see our son will be just fine,” I said as I looked up at Arrie.
“I agree.” Arrie leaned over to kiss Skye on the forehead. “I want you to know how proud I am to be your father, Skye. And I’d like to change your last name to mine when your mom and I get married. That way we’ll all have the same last name.”
Skye nodded then closed his eyes again. “Okay, that sounds good. I’m sleepy.”
“We’ll let you rest,” I said. “When you wake up, you can have your ice cream and Jell-O. We’ll leave you now, but all you’ve got to do is press the button to tell the nurse you want us. We’ll be around here.”
“Thanks, Momma.” He turned his head and went to sleep.
Arrie wheeled me out, taking me back to my room. “You need more rest too, Momma. You’ve gotta get better so you can pick out our home.”
That sounded nice to me. “You and I can pick it out together. I’ve got a laptop in my office across the street in the doctors’ building. I’ll have someone bring it over.”
“After a nap,” he said as he turned me into my room. “Looks like we did all that worrying over how to tell Skye for nothing—he took it so easily. I suppose he must have been paying attention to everything being said in the warehouse. He’s a smart kid.”
“Well, he does have half of each of our brains,” I joked.
He picked me up, put me back into bed, then covered me up. “He’ll probably be twice as smart as either of us.”
He lingered near my face, looking from my eyes to my lips, and then he kissed me softly. When he ended the kiss, I felt lightheaded—even more than I had before. I caressed his cheek. “I can’t wait to marry you, Arslan Dawson.”
“Nor I, you.” One more kiss and I drifted off into sweet dreams.
Now, all we have to do is get better.
Chapter 27
Arslan
As the last deliveryman left our new Madison Park home, I gave a nod to my bodyguard, who stood nearby. “With the last of them out, you guys can take a break, Randy.”
“There has been a lot of coming and going lately. Feels like an endless line of strangers,” he said as he punched in the security code next to the front door. “There we go. All locked in, nice and tight.”
We headed to the kitchen where Reagan and Skye were waiting on us. Reagan had ordered pizza and waved us all in. “Come on, you guys. I’m starving.”
Our three bodyguards took seats at the table with us. It had been a long time as we’d shopped for all the furnishings to fill our beautiful seven-bedroom, eight-bath waterfront home.
The clincher on the home that Reagan and Skye had agreed on with me was the three-bedroom, three-bath apartment over the six-car garage. With that, our bodyguards could live on the premises with us.
They’d made sure the entire property was secured before we’d stepped foot on it. Tall fences surrounded the two acres of property we now owned. An ornate iron gate made the entrance look grand, as Skye liked to say.
My son couldn’t wrap his head around our wealth. And his mother couldn’t wrap her head around all the bedrooms that Skye said would have to be taken up by new brothers and sisters.
All I knew was that I finally felt like I had a real home for the first time in my adult life. And my mother would be coming for her first visit in a month’s time, when she arrived for our wedding.
With the horrific abduction already a month behind us, all of us had mostly gotten past the injuries we’d incurred. The future looked bright, and all three of us were ready to get to it.
Placing a slice of veggie pizza on her plate, Reagan directed her attention to our bodyguards. “Tomorrow we have a new batch of strangers coming over, you guys. I’ve got three chefs, six maids, and four groundskeepers coming for interviews starting at nine in the morning and going until six in the evening.”
Lucas nodded. “Sounds good, ma’am.”
Randy added, “We’ll be right here with you. And we’ll run background checks on anyone you want to hire before you make anything official.”
“Good.” I knew I’d hired the right team. “I knew you guys were going to be awesome.” All retired military from various branches, the men had formed a security company that I knew had the right stuff for us.
Sean nodded. “You can count on us, Doc.”
Reagan smiled like the cat that ate the canary. “I’ve got a bit of a surprise for you guys. To show you all how much we appreciate you, I’m hiring a chef and one assistant for you guys for your apartment; plus, you’ll have your own maid too.”
Lucas shook his head. “You don’t have to do that, ma’am. We can clean up after ourselves and make our own meals.”
“Not while you’re taking care of my family, you won’t,” I let them know. “Just think of it as a perk—one of many.”
Randy looked a little on the stunned side. “Sir, you already pay us an exorbitant salary. You’ve provided us with the best health and life insurance we’ve ever had. And now you’ve given us a gorgeous place to live. Adding in our own chef and maid seems a bit overboard.”
Reagan and I had discussed this beforehand, so I had the words we wanted to tell him on the tip of my tongue. “Gentlemen, we’re not giving you a thing.”
Reagan nodded as she added, “That’s right. You’ve already earned everything you’re getting and then some.”
Sean seemed puzzled, and h
e reminded us, “We’ve only been with you a month. How have we earned so much?”
Skye smiled at the men he’d quickly started to look up to. “You guys earned it ’cause you’ve been protecting us and everyone in this country for a long time. You’re soldiers. Or you used to be. And we wanted to show you how much we ’preciate it.”
The three of them all looked at each other, and I noticed a few glistening eyes. Lucas nodded and accepted our gifts of gratitude graciously. “Well, if that’s the case, then your gifts are much appreciated. We all thank you very much.”
“As we thank you,” Reagan said. “Now let’s eat up. All I want to do is clean up and go take a hot bath then climb into my new bed.”
“Me too!” Skye said enthusiastically.
He’d been sleeping in the living room of the apartment, feeling safer with the bodyguards in there. He’d been afraid to go into his bedroom. But with the new house and his bedroom being on the second story—plus the security system that would go off if even a window was opened—he’d gained confidence again.
Reagan beamed at him. “Your new bedroom is pretty awesome, huh?”
“More than that,” he said as he pumped his fist in the air. “It’s stupendous. I just learned that word.”
We all laughed, and I’d never felt more at ease. And as I looked across the table at the woman I’d share the rest of my life with, I felt even more come over me. Pure love.
If anyone would’ve told me someone would hold my heart in the palm of her hands, I would’ve told them how crazy they were. But Reagan had my heart. My sun rose and set with her.
I’d thought I’d loved her before, but nearly losing her had multiplied that love by a million. And I loved our son just as much. I began to think there could be no end to the amount of love a person has to give.
After helping Reagan clean up, we headed upstairs to put Skye to bed. He’d gone up ahead of us to get ready, which was a big step for him. Not even a big brother yet, he’d set his mind on being the toughest kid ever, so he’d be the best big brother ever.