“Ah, your phone. Clever. I have to admit. You got me on that one.”
He hadn’t even finished the last word before he flicked the gun toward the phone and shot it, then returned it to Bronwyn’s head.
“Ian, we can get this done without anybody getting hurt,” Terry said, putting his gun back in his holster slowly, eyes locked on Ian. “Don’t make this worse for yourself. Let her go.”
Ian laughed, tightening his arm around Bronwyn’s throat, pulling her harder against his body. She struggled against his grip, her face a deep red, pulling down on his arm with her hands.
“Now why would I do that?” Ian said. “So she and her little girlfriend here can live happily ever after?”
Jaq locked eyes on Ian as he squeezed Bronwyn tighter, gun still at her temple. Neither one was looking at Bronwyn when she swung the heel of her hand up and back with all her strength, hitting him directly under his nose and snapping his head back. He reeled, his nose instantly spurting blood, and the gun went off as he fell into the table, the impact knocking it from his hand. He took Bronwyn with him, but she managed to slip out of his arm and kick the gun toward Terry. Jaq dove for Bronwyn, scooping her up in his arms and dropping to her knees a safe distance away, while the other officers put Ian in handcuffs.
“Baby,” she said, her voice tight with panic, “Tell me you’re okay.”
“I finally got to use one of the self-defense moves you taught me,” Bronwyn said. Jaq heard one of the other officers calling for an ambulance, and it was only a matter of seconds before Terry was at her side.
“We need to find out where all that blood is coming from. It’s too much to be just from Ian’s nose,” he said, opening her shirt to both sides. Jaq saw it first. A bullet had gone into the far upper left side of her chest.
“Oh my God, she’s shot.” The words came out as almost a whisper, and Terry took over as Bronwyn’s eyes closed and she went unconscious, her body limp in Jaq’s arms.
“Lay her down, Jaq,” he said. “You’ve got to let her go so we can get pressure on that wound.” He looked over his shoulder at the officers behind him, raising his voice. “And someone get that fucking ambulance here now.”
Someone brought a tea towel, and Jaq held it to the wound, telling Bronwyn in as calm a voice as she could to stay with her, that the ambulance would be here soon. Backup officers filled the kitchen as Ian was taken out, still dripping blood. Jaq could hear the medical sirens in the distance.
She looked up at Terry. “She’s got to make it.”
Terry nodded. “She will, mate, she’s a tough one.” He held Jaq’s eyes. “Keep talking to her.”
Dark red blood slicked Bronwyn’s body, and the towel was becoming increasingly soaked under Jaq’s hand. Her eyes suddenly fluttered open.
“The bastard shot me.”
“We know, baby,” Jaq said, “And those sirens you hear are coming to get us to the hospital.”
Terry looked up at the wall behind Bronwyn. “Vanderwall,” he shouted back at one of the officers, “Get over to that hole in the wall there and tell me if it’s a bullet hole.”
Officer Vanderwall looked and nodded. “It’s lodged in there; you can just see it.”
“That’s good news, Jaq,” Terry said, stepping back as the medical team came through the door. “It’s not still inside.”
The medical team tried to get Jaq to step away but she wouldn’t until Terry pulled her back. “You’ve got to let them do their jobs, Jaq.” Terry kept his hands on Jaq’s shoulders, both of them soaked with Bronwyn’s blood. “She’s going to make it; just give them room to work.”
****
Two hours later, Jaq and Terry were pacing the hospital waiting room floor, their clothes covered with Bronwyn’s blood. Jaq had called Bronwyn’s father on the way to the hospital. He was on location in Istanbul, and immediately said he’d catch the next flight back to the UK. Both Terry and Jaq asked the nurse at the front desk if there were any updates so many times that she finally went to the back to get the doctor to come out and speak to them out of self-preservation.
“Who’s here with Bronwyn Charles?” The doctor asked as he rounded the corner from the hall, looking around the half-filled waiting room.
“We are.” Jaq and Terry both said it at the same time.
“She’s recovering now. She lost quite a bit of blood, but we’re replacing it now and treating the wound.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Jaq said.
“Barring any further complications, yes. The bullet went directly through the soft tissue of her shoulder, missing the major arteries and bone.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how she got so lucky; a centimeter to the right and it would have been in danger of nicking her heart.”
“You’re absolutely sure?” Color started flooding into Jaq’s face again, and she suddenly felt weak at the knees.
The doctor smiled. “I’m sure, and you’re welcome to go back there; she’s conscious now. We’ve got to get some X-rays to make sure, but she may even be able to go home as soon as tomorrow providing she stays on the antibiotics we give her.”
The doctor turned to leave, then stopped and looked back at them. “Which one of you is Terry?”
“I am,” Terry said, glancing at Jaq. “Why?”
“She said to tell you she’s going to be fine, so there’s no excuse to smoke those cigarettes she knows you’ve got with you.”
Terry laughed and pulled the cigarettes out of his jacket pocket, dumping them into the waiting room trash on the way back down the hall to Bronwyn.
****
The next morning, Bronwyn woke and turned to find Jaq in the chair beside her, reaching for her hand.
“You were supposed to go home after I went to sleep last night,” she said, squeezing Jaq’s hand and wincing as pain shot through her shoulder.
“I just said that so you’d get some rest, silly. I was never going to leave your side.” Jaq looked at her watch. “I think it’s time for your pain meds. They should be around with a shot to put in your IV in just a few minutes.”
“You look awful,” Bronwyn said, smiling and pulling Jaq closer.
“That’s what a bullet through your girlfriend’s shoulder and sleeping in a hospital chair will do for you.” Jaq smiled and smoothed Bronwyn’s hair back from her face. “At least Moira brought me some fresh clothes after you were asleep last night. And left this for you.”
Jaq reached over to the drawer and held up a Chat magazine and a huge bar of Cadbury chocolate.
Bronwyn sighed and laid back against the pillows. “God, I love her.”
“She said in England everyone brings grapes to the hospital, but she thought you’d be dying for some chocolate.”
“She’s right.”
Jaq looked at her watch again. “She and Catherine are actually at your house right now.”
“Why?”
“Catherine hired a team of cleaners as soon as they’d released it as a crime scene, and Moira mentioned they were going over there to supervise this morning, which I think means they’re pouring a pitcher of Mimosas about now and gossiping about Romance Island.”
“Catherine did that?” Bronwyn smiled, touched at how much trouble she’d gone to. It can’t have been easy, she thought, as she remembered the slick of blood across the floor as they lifted her onto the stretcher. “She didn’t have to go to do that.”
“They love you. And you scared the life out of all of us yesterday.”
There was a quiet knock at the door, and Terry peeked around the corner.
“Feeling up to a visitor?”
“Of course.” Bronwyn smiled and waved him in. “But I shouldn’t even be here. I’m just waiting for them to clear me to go home.”
Terry sank down in the chair by Jaq and shook his head at Bronwyn. “Let me just start by saying that you, my dear, are a badass.”
Bronwyn laughed, and Jaq asked what was happening with Ian.
“The Phantom worked l
ike a charm, and we have all the evidence we need to put him away for the next twenty years, if not longer. Now he’s facing attempted murder charges as well so they denied bail this morning. You won’t have to worry about him for a long time.”
Bronwyn leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes. “I don’t think I knew how scared I was until it was over.”
“Well, all I know is you shattered his nose behind your back, took a bullet, then made sure the gun got to me before you hit the floor.” Terry smiled. “Pretty much put the rest of us to shame.”
Just then, the nurse came in with Bronwyn’s pain medication, and Terry and Jaq stepped outside.
Terry looked back through the window at Bronwyn.
“Are they going to let her go home today?”
Jaq nodded. “They should let her out in a couple of hours, and I’m taking her back to my house.”
“Good,” Terry said. “I was hoping that was the case. Why don’t you take a few days off next week? It’d make me feel better if someone was taking care of her, and I have to wrap up the paperwork on this one before we can move on anyway. I’ll let you know when I’m done.”
“Will you email me whatever I need to fill out? I can do it at home and get it back to you.”
“Done.” Terry smiled and turned to leave, but Jaq stopped him.
“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “Just…thank you.”
Terry folded her into a hug and squeezed her hard before he let her go. “I’ll pop round and check on you two in a couple of days,” he said.
“Let me know when you’re headed that way, and I’ll have your lip gloss coffee ready,” Jaq said, dodging a playful punch from Terry as he walked back down the hall.
****
They released Bronwyn from the hospital a few hours later, and Jaq looked over at her as she pulled out of the parking lot. She was pale and quiet, and when Jaq covered her hand with her own, it was cold.
“I probably should have asked, but I was just planning on bringing you back to the flat so I can keep an eye on you.”
Bronwyn leaned her head back on the headrest and smiled. “That’s exactly where I want to be.”
The autumn sun warmed the side of her face and she closed her eyes. She’d gotten so close. Until yesterday, she’d started to let herself believe she might have a future with Jaq Bailey. But deep down there was a part of her that had always known it wouldn’t happen, and it turned out she was right.
Now she had a secret that was going to shatter that shiny new life into a thousand glittering shards.
Chapter Sixteen
Jaq came back in from picking up a takeaway for dinner and found Bronwyn curled up on the couch and staring into the night sky. She didn’t look up as the door shut, so Jaq dropped the bags on the counter and went to sit with her, pulling her feet into her lap. They were like ice.
“Baby,” she said, slipping them under her shirt and against her body to warm them, “What’s on your mind? I can tell something’s wrong.”
A tear slid down Bronwyn’s cheek, and she leaned her head back against the sofa. Jaq reached over and caught it with her thumb, then traced the edge of her face until Bronwyn looked at her.
“What is it, Bella?” she said. “Just tell me. Whatever it is, we’ll make it right.”
Bronwyn looked back out into the darkness beyond the windows. “Not this,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, as if she didn’t have the energy to say the words. “Nothing will make this right.”
Jaq waited, her hands stroking Bronwyn’s legs. Her stomach tightened. She knew Bronwyn like she knew her own heart, and she’d never seen her like this.
“Baby, you’ve got to trust me,” Jaq said. “I’ve loved you for half my life. I’m not going to stop now.”
Tears slipped down both Bronwyn’s cheeks. Her eyes never left the window.
“Are you hungry?”
She shook her head. Jaq looked at her for a moment and remembered what Bronwyn used to love when they were at school, the one thing that always seemed to make everything better.
“Can I run you a bath?”
She looked over at Jaq, her eyes softening. “Yes,” she said, “I’d love that.”
Jaq kissed her forehead and went to start the water. She’d asked Moira a few days ago what she thought Bronwyn would like and bought her some bath oil at a posh high street store on her way home from work. She poured it under the running water and watched the white bubbles gather into a velvet blanket on the surface of the water, the scent of freesia rising with the steam to perfume the room.
She felt something on the edge of panic. Whatever Bronwyn was holding on to, it was big. She’d felt something between them the second she walked into her room at the hospital that first time. It hung in the air above them since, heavy and silent, suffocating.
“What is that amazing smell?”
Bronwyn walked into the bathroom, trying to twist her hair into a bun with one hand. It fell back down her shoulders twice and she started to take off her sling to use her other hand.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Jaq jumped up from her seat on the side of the tub to stop her. “That arm is off limits.” She tipped Bronwyn’s chin up to kiss her. “Turn around.”
Bronwyn turned and faced the mirror as Jaq swept her hair into a ponytail, then twisted it gently into a bun, securing it with the elastic.
“Where in the world did you learn to do that?”
Jaq smiled, unbuttoning her shirt and slipping it gently off her shoulders. “When I was still in Texas, there was a little girl that lived in the trailer next to ours. She came over one morning as I was leaving for the bus stop and asked me to put her hair in a ponytail. She was only about six. Her mom worked the overnight shift at the furniture factory and was always asleep by the time she had to get ready for school.”
Jaq went to turn off the water in the tub and returned to remove Bronwyn’s sling, inching down her arm so she could slide her shirt the rest of the way off her body.
“I did my best, but it looked terrible. That day I gave my lunch money to one of the older girls at school so she’d teach me how to do a decent ponytail.”
“It’s harder than it looks, isn’t it?”
“Damn straight,” Jaq said, laughing. “It was two days before I actually had it down.”
“Did she come over again?”
Jaq dropped to her knees and eased Bronwyn’s jeans and panties down, pausing to let her step out of them.
“No, but I was so proud of myself for learning, I started stopping by every morning and doing her hair on the front step of her trailer before we walked to the bus stop. I even got her some cute hair things eventually and learned to French braid.”
Jaq held Bronwyn’s hand as she stepped into the tub and sank slowly down into the bubbles, resting her bandaged arm on the side.
“Before I left for Stratford, I spent hours teaching her to do it herself. She got the hang of it by the time I left.”
Bronwyn leaned her head back against the tub and closed her eyes. Jaq sat on the counter, watching her. Somehow, it made her feel better that at least her feet had to be warm now.
“I can leave, Bella,” Jaq said, looking at the door. “I think it’s a pretty well-known fact that girls don’t like to be stared at in the bathtub.”
That finally got a smile out of Bronwyn and she opened one eye.
“Will you get in with me?’
Jaq hesitated. “I don’t want to jostle your arm and hurt you.”
Bronwyn looked over at her and smiled. “And by that, you mean you don’t want to smell like an English flower garden for the rest of the day?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.” Jaq raised an eyebrow at her.
“Get in, Bailey.”
Jaq pulled off her shirt and undershirt and stepped out of her jeans, leaving them in a pile on the bathroom counter. Bronwyn’s eyes followed her as she slid her underwear down and walked over to the tub. She stepp
ed in gently and eased in behind Bronwyn, pulling her slowly back between her legs to rest against her chest.
Bronwyn laid her head back against Jaq and let out a long, shaky breath.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on, Bella?”
Jaq whispered the words into her ear as she ran her fingertips over her wet skin. It was a long moment before Bronwyn spoke and when she did, her words were as fragile as the steam rising off the water.
“I can’t tell you this.”
Jaq leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling. She felt the divide, felt it growing, pressing them apart and it wasn’t coming from her. It was coming from Bronwyn. The room was so quiet Jaq heard the bubbles popping on the surface of the water, and a single drop of water dripping from the faucet every four seconds. Finally, she felt Bronwyn’s breath turn to tears and turned her gently to look into her eyes.
“Bella, do you remember how you felt when you waited for my letters and nothing came, day after day?”
Bronwyn nodded.
“That’s how I feel now,” Jaq said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “I adore you. I’ll love you for the rest of my life, but if you’ve changed your mind about us, you have to tell me.”
Jaq traced her bottom lip with her thumb and kissed her forehead, then felt Bronwyn slip from her fingers as she turned back around and leaned back against Jaq’s chest.
“Jaq, it’s not that I’ve changed my mind.” Her voice caught and she stopped. “It’s that I don’t want to hear that you have. I want to keep this, us, for every second I can before it ends.”
Jaq gripped the side of the tub with one hand until her fingers were white, and smoothed the damp tendrils of hair away from Bronwyn’s neck with the other.
“Bella, I know you don’t believe me, but we’re stronger than this. Just tell me.”
She felt Bronwyn draw in a long breath, then let it out, trembling. When she spoke, she stared down and dropped the words into the water.
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