“Can you send the hotel doc up to the Rock Star Suite?” Quinn asked with a cavalier wink and a smile.
She turned and walked away, putting her arm around Xandy and steered her toward the elevators. Sarah, Bobby, Elly and Erin followed.
“Think that made an impression?” Quinn asked, as the group got onto the elevator.
“Probably,” Xandy said, grinning as she hit the button for their floor.
Inside the suite, Xandy ordered Quinn to go and take a shower. “Carefully!” she called after her, she then looked at her family members who were staring around them awestruck.
“My boss did this,” Xandy said, gesturing around the room.
“Nice boss,” Erin said with a low whistle.
Xandy smiled. “There’s a guest bathroom over there,” she said, pointing down the hall back toward the doors to the bedroom. “I’m going to have them send up some rollaway beds and whatever else we need.”
Sarah nodded, surprised at how commanding her niece was suddenly. Apparently she’d grown up a lot in the years she’d been gone. Taking Elly’s hand, Sarah headed for the bathroom Xandy had indicated to.
Xandy reached over and picked up the remote, handing it to Erin. “Go for it,” she said, smiling.
Erin clicked the TV on as Xandy called the front desk and asked for beds. Then she went to check on Quinn. She heard the shower and walked into the bathroom. She couldn’t stop the audible gasp that came out of her mouth. Quinn was standing with her arms braced on the wall in front of her, her back to Xandy. The water was running down her body; blood trails from at least three wounds slid down her skin, but the worst was the wound on her back. It was a half-inch round with a two inch cut that moved up Quinn’s back.
Quinn glanced over her shoulder at Xandy. “Wot?” she asked.
“Your back… Jesus babe…” Xandy responded.
She moved to pick up a wash cloth and kicking off her shoes and taking off her jacket, she walked into the shower, mindless of the water splashing her pants and shirt. She wet the wash cloth and gently touched it to the wound; Quinn jumped at the contact, hissing in pain.
“I’m sorry, babe…” Xandy said her voice tremulous.
Quinn heard the upset in Xandy’s voice and turned to face her, pulling her into her arms, and hugging her close.
“It’s okay,” Quinn said, “we’re okay…”
“But you’re so cut up…” Xandy said, crying softly now. “I was so scared, Quinn, you could have been killed…”
“I couldn’t leave that baby in there.”
“I know, I know, but God…” Xandy said, lifting her head to look up at Quinn. “Thank you for doing what you did, I still don’t know how you did it…” she said, letting her voice trail off as she shook her head.
Quinn shrugged. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Xandy pressed her lips together sadly, nodding her head. She knew to Quinn’s way of thinking she hadn’t had a choice. To Quinn’s way of thinking family was the only thing in the world that mattered, and there had been no way that Quinn would have left Elly in that wrecked house as long as she’d had breath in her body. It’s just who Quinn was. Still it terrified Xandy that she could have easily lost her that night.
After the shower, Quinn carefully pulled on a pair of boy shorts and a clean black sports bra, and then went to lie on the bed, carefully laying a towel over the sheets, since her back was still bleeding a bit. After changing out of her now wet clothes, Xandy had gone out to see if the doctor had arrived yet.
Quinn was just dozing off when she felt a presence in the room. Opening her eyes, she saw Erin standing at the door. What she didn’t see was the way the girl’s eyes moved over her leanly muscled body, damaged as it was. She did, however, note the guilty look that crossed the girl’s features when she realized that Quinn was looking at her.
“Um,” Erin stammered, “Xandy said to tell you that the doctor is here and will be in here in a minute.”
Quinn nodded, moving to sit up and groaning out loud as she realized that her back muscles had apparently decided they were done for the night. Erin moved to help her sit up, her hands shaking as she reached out to take Quinn’s arm to support her as she moved. Quinn felt the shaking hands and wondered if Erin had been drinking or taking drugs earlier in the evening.
“Babe?” Xandy queried from the door.
“Yeah,” Quinn said, nodding to Xandy and glancing up at Erin again, once again noticing a strange look cross her features.
She didn’t have time to really think about what was going on because the doctor walked in a moment later.
“I understand that I’m to examine Wonder Woman here…” he said smiling and looking down at Quinn sat on the bed.
Quinn looked askance at Xandy. Erin moved to the side, watching the proceedings.
“The two guys who helped you told some reporters about how you lifted that roof yourself, and that they had a hard time holding it, so they couldn’t figure out how you did by yourself. That’s prompted replays of the white knight footage…” Xandy winked at her. “You’re famous again, babe.”
“Son of a…” Quinn muttered, shaking her head.
“Let’s take a look here,” the doctor said, pulling a chair over to the bed, his eyes already scanning the various cuts Quinn had on her arms and her shoulder. “These don’t look bad,” he said, taking a bottle and some dressing out of his bag.
He cleaned the cuts, and put a bandage on the ones he felt needed one.
“Show him your back,” Xandy said.
Quinn nodded and leaned forward, wincing and sucking her breath in sharply as she did, her muscles protesting wildly.
The doctor leaned forward, touching the area around the wound and felt Quinn jump sharply.
“Oh, I don’t like the way this looks,” the doctor said, reaching into his bag again, this time drawing out a pouch with tools.
The doctor took a pair of tweezers, leaned in close to Quinn’s back, and picked at something in the wound. Quinn did her best not to jump as the metal grazed her. Xandy walked over, taking Quinn’s hand squeezing it gently. Quinn gritted her teeth as he seemed to dig into her back. She made a grunting sound when she felt him grab at something clearly stuck in her.
The doctor held up a piece of glass that had been lodged in the wound.
“Normally I would insist you go to a hospital for this kind of wound,” he told Quinn, as he set aside the piece of glass. “But I know that the hospitals are flooded with people right now and you don’t look like you want to sit anywhere for hours on end,” he said, seeing that Quinn was exhausted.
“However,” he said, his face indicating that she wasn’t going to like what he was going to say next. “We’re going to need to clean this thoroughly, it’s a pretty nasty puncture wound and they can get infected easily…” He shook his head, looking grim. “It’s likely to be unpleasant, but I can give you a shot to help with the pain.”
“No, you can’t,” Quinn said, her look as grim as the doctor’s had been.
“You don’t like needles?” the doctor assumed.
Quinn gave a short laugh. “I wish it was that easy.”
When the doctor looked perplexed Xandy said, “She’s allergic, deathly allergic.”
“Oh,” the doctor said, “well, I can give you some Vicodin…” His voice trailed off as Quinn shook her head to that as well. “Is there anything you can take?”
“Not really, no,” Quinn said.
“Erin,” Xandy said, suddenly noticing the girl still in the room, “can you go and get the bottle of Jack Daniel’s from the bar?”
Erin blinked a couple of times, but then nodded. She walked out of the room and reappearing a few minutes later with the full bottle of Jack Daniel’s. She handed the bottle to Xandy, who handed it to Quinn. Quinn twisted off the top, breaking the seal, and tipped the bottle up, chugging a third of it while they looked on.
The doctor looked at Xandy. “The only pain killer she can tak
e?”
“Yep,” Xandy said nodding.
Quinn moved to lay face down on the bed, as the alcohol flowed through her veins. Tucking a pillow under her chest, she glanced over her left shoulder.
“Let’s get it over with, doc,” she said, her Northern Irish accent clear in the room.
Xandy moved to Quinn’s right side, her hand on Quinn’s shoulder, looking worried. Quinn glanced up at her, wincing sharply as the doctor started to clean the wound.
At one point, Elly came running into the room and clamored up on the bed next to Quinn. Quinn grimaced as the girl’s eyes widened at what was obviously going on with Quinn’s back.
“Kin hurt?” Elly queried.
“Yeah, just a little bit,” she said, as she gasped loudly.
“Stop hurting Kin!” Elly yelled at the doctor. In any other situation this would have been considered cute, but at that moment Quinn just needed her out of the way.
“Xan…” Quinn gritted out, shaking her head.
Erin stepped forward. “Elly, come with me,” she said, putting her hand out to the younger girl
“No, stay with Kin,” Elly said, her voice petulant.
“Elly,” Quinn said, forcing herself to sound normal, “can you please go with Erin?”
Elly looked rebellious.
“Please baby girl?” Quinn asked, gritting her teeth. Fortunately the doctor had stopped for the moment due to the interruption… and being yelled at by a six-year-old.
“Okay,” Elly finally said, moving to take Erin’s hand.
After the two left the doctor resumed his work on Quinn’s back. Quinn clenched and unclenched her fists as he moved, picking bits of debris out of the wound track. At one point Quinn loudly cried out as he had to dig particularly deep into the wound. Xandy went to grab her hand, but Quinn yanked it away.
“No, babe,” Quinn gritted out, “I’d break your hand right now.” She gasped, the pain radiating throughout her body as the doctor continued to do his work.
Xandy watched in tears as the doctor continued to clean the wound. Sarah, brought to the door by Quinn’s cry, moved to Xandy’s side, putting her arms around the girl and watching the doctor work, her look concerned.
Finally, the doctor was finished. He looked at Xandy.
“You’re going to need to watch this closely,” he said as he bandaged the wound. “If it gets red, if there are red streaks from it, or if it appears hot or really painful to the touch around the area, you need to get her to a hospital right away. An infection here will be debilitating, and can result in a lot of internal damage.”
He stood up, reaching into his bag and pulling out a subscription pad. “I’m going to write a prescription for a heavy duty antibiotic. I can give you one now to start with,” he said reaching into his bag and drawing out a bottle. He opened the bottle and hand Quinn a pill. “If you’ll get her some water…” he began, but trailed off as Quinn popped the pill into her mouth and swallowed it. “Oh, never mind,” he said, grinning, “I forgot I was dealing with Wonder Woman.” he winked at Quinn.
The doctor left a list of instructions for treating the wounds. Quinn chugged the rest of the JD bottle and fell into a restless sleep. Out in the living room, Xandy sat with her family for a bit, but then went into check on Quinn. She fell asleep lying next to Quinn, her hand on Quinn’s shoulder.
Chapter 10
Most of them slept the next day away. Quinn woke late in the afternoon, her back in a series of knots that had her gasping out loud as she tried to get out of bed. Xandy heard her gasp and turned over immediately.
“Quinn?” Xandy queried, seeing that Quinn was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands gripping the mattress on either side of her.
Xandy heard Quinn blow her breath out slowly but audibly as she pushed herself up to her feet with a loud groan. She reached out her hand, placing it on the dresser in front of her, bracing herself as she breathed heavily.
Getting up, Xandy stood behind Quinn, touching her shoulder.
“Babe?” she queried softly.
Quinn nodded. “I’m okay, just sore as all hell,” she said, her voice reflecting the pain she was in.
“I’ll call the doctor, ask him to prescribe some muscle relaxers, those should be okay, right?” Xandy asked.
Quinn nodded. “I’m gonna go take a shower to see if I can soak some of this out.”
“Okay,” Xandy said nodding.
As it turned out, between the muscle relaxers and the overall exhaustion Quinn was feeling, she ended up eating room service and going back to bed shortly after her shower. Xandy spent time in the living area of the room with her family. At one point while the kids were watching TV with Erin, Xandy and Sarah sat at the dining room table talking.
“I still can’t believe what she did,” Sarah was saying, speaking about Quinn’s feat. “After all that I said… as nasty as I was…” she said, letting her voice trail off as she shook her head.
Xandy grinned. “Well, Quinn isn’t one to hold a grudge,” she told her aunt, “and she thinks that family is the most important thing in the world, and you’re my only family now.”
Sarah drew in a breath, looking pained. “And instead of being supportive of you, I was mean.”
Xandy gave her a direct look. “Yes, you were,” she said, but there was no tone of accusation in her voice.
“I’m sorry for that,” Sarah said, looking like she truly was. “I don’t know what I would have done if you two hadn’t shown up…” she said, shaking her head. “With Elly stuck where she was, I don’t know if anyone would have gotten to us in time. There’s no way I could have done what Quinn did.”
Xandy nodded, understanding exactly how her aunt felt, because she’d been thinking the same thing since the night before. There hadn’t been any emergency services on-site, not only when they’d gotten to the scene, but even after Quinn had already gotten Elly out. Who knows how long it would have taken for someone to be there to help?
“No one seems to understand how she did what she did,” Erin said, walking over to the table and sitting down with them.
She’d heard them talking and wanted to hear what they were saying. She too was extremely grateful to Quinn for saving her little sister. Every newscast she’d seen on the incident had stated that what Quinn had done was not only heroic, but somehow almost superhuman. Naturally, to a woman lifting a car off her baby had been made, and adrenaline and the power of it had also been discussed by others on the newscasts. Regardless, Quinn Kavanaugh was being held up as a hero, and the phone had been ringing all morning asking Quinn for interviews. Xandy had finally asked the desk to block the calls to the room. Xandy knew Quinn, it wasn’t likely she’d do an interview, and if she did, it wouldn’t be any time soon.
“I told her I didn’t understand how she did it, when those two huge men could barely hold that section of roof together,” Xandy said.
“What did she say?” Sarah asked.
“That she ‘had to.’ ” Xandy said simply, shaking her head.
“Why?” Erin asked, looking perplexed. “Elly isn’t her family, and no matter how much she loves you, that doesn’t change that.”
“Erin!” Sarah exclaimed shocked at her daughter’s forthright comments.
“Well, hell, Mom,” Erin said, “from what I’m hearing, you were a royal bitch to both of them, so why would this woman who barely knows any of us take the chance of being crushed to save one little girl?”
Sarah stared back at her daughter open-mouthed, though she had to admit, it was along the lines she’d been thinking. Leave it to her headstrong, impossible daughter to say it the way she had.
Xandy shook her head, looking full of pride for the woman that slept in the other room. “Because that’s who Quinn Kavanaugh is.”
The other two women looked back at her, each quite surprised by the statement.
“Well, we’re damned lucky she is who she is, then,” Erin stated indisputably.
“Indeed,
” Sarah said, nodding.
The rest of the day was spent with the kids, trying to keep them entertained and away from Quinn. Both Bobby and Elly wanted to check on Quinn often, but Xandy knew that Quinn needed to rest and recharge, so she limited the amount of times the door to the bedroom was opened.
Later that night Xandy told everyone good night and went into the bedroom. She looked over at Quinn who lay on her right side, her arms extended out in front of her, the bandage on her left arm from a nasty cut white against her skin. Moving as quietly as she possibly could, Xandy changed her clothes to more comfortable sleeping attire. By the time she walked toward the bed, Quinn’s eyes were open.
“Hi,” Xandy said, smiling.
“Hi,” Quinn said, smiling tiredly, opening her arms to invite Xandy to lie down.
Xandy lay down in front of Quinn as carefully as she could, putting her back to Quinn’s chest. Quinn’s arms encircled her pulling her closer. She smiled as Quinn nuzzled her neck with her lips. They fell asleep lying that way.
Quinn started awake to the feel of a touch to her wrist. Opening her eyes, she saw Bobby standing next to the bed, his eyes on her.
“Bobby,” Quinn whispered, “what’s up?”
“What is this?” Bobby asked, touching the tattoo on her wrist.
Quinn grinned; kids ask the damndest things in the middle of the night.
“It’s Irish Gaelic,” she told him.
“Oh,” Bobby said, nodding, “what does it say?”
“It says ‘An làmb a bheir, ‘s i a gheibh.’ ” she grinned as she remembered a similar conversation with Xandy about this very tattoo.
Bobby’s eyes widened in awe at the way Quinn said the Gaelic words. “So what does that mean?”
“It means ‘the hand that gives is the hand that gets,’ ” Quinn told him and seeing he didn’t understand that she said, “Basically do good things and good things will happen to you.”
Bobby nodded again, then pinned Quinn with a direct look. “Like saving my sister?”
Quinn drew in a breath, nodding slowly.
“Even when my mom was mean to you,” Bobby said, remembering what his mother had said, and that cousin Xandy had told his mom she’d been mean.
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