Her mother had only been verbally abusive when she’d been drunk. In the six years that had followed her father leaving, her mother had been drunk more times than not.
Courtesy of the child support check, there was always plenty of alcohol in the cabinet. Never enough food, but plenty for her mother to drink.
She had always had Jake. “Thanks for your concern...Jeoffrey.” She couldn’t call him Dr. Stockton. She wasn’t about to call him dad.
“I know I don’t deserve it, but I’d like it if you called me Dad. At least…eventually.”
Well, apparently he didn’t have any problem making his wishes known. Even when it was never going to happen. It was probably best for her to just get it out there between them now. “I don’t have a dad. I have my uncle. He’s the closest thing to a father I’ve ever had. I won’t...cheapen what he is to me by calling another man Dad. Not when Jake was the one there for me every day that he could be after you left me.”
She’d teased her uncle countless times by calling him exactly that. There had been one particularly obnoxious girlfriend who had not wanted Jake to have a fourteen-year-old girl around. Izzie had confided to her that she was really his daughter. That he’d fathered her when he’d been thirteen. Izzie had been very convincing with a complex backstory and everything.
Jake hadn’t been too happy when he’d found out. She’d been grounded for two weeks. But that woman had left them alone. Apparently, she hadn’t wanted the joy of having a teenager around, after all.
“I’m glad you had him. Had I known that your mother had died I never would’ve left you alone. I would have come for you. But I didn’t know.”
He’d taken off without a backward glance. Izzie wasn’t stupid. For whatever reason his conscience had caught up with him now. Maybe he’d had a midlife crisis or something? She had been born when he was around twenty-two years old. He had to be forty-seven or forty-eight now. She thought. She wasn’t exactly certain. She’d not exactly gotten an opportunity to know.
“I was alone with her for six years after you decided you were finished being my father, and I survived. Barely, but I survived her. Once Jake was there, I did fine. Thank you for your concern.” She was so going to have to talk to Nikkie Jean about their suddenly returned absentee-fathers and what the two men expected. But for now… “I need to get in there. Allen...needs me now.”
“Are you serious about Jacobson, then? There are rumors that you’re involved with him. Strong rumors.”
She honestly didn’t give a damn about rumors now—they were so…trivial. She’d faced more important things in her life in the last handful of weeks. Things that truly mattered. A pang went through her.
She needed to be with Allen right now. That’s what mattered. Everything else…superficial. “Why is that any of your business?”
“He’s changed since he was in my classes at FCU. The young man I used to know...I’m not sure Dr. Jacobson is the kind of man I want for one of my daughters. He has a reputation.”
One of his daughters. Well, apparently she had at least one sister out there. That was nice to know.
“Seriously? You question him? Allen...Allen has never let me down. Not even once. He’s been there during the worst moments of my adult life. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for him. Multiple times. Every single time I have ever needed him, he has been there. He is the one man I can count on to be there every single time I need him.” Even Jake. His job took him away so many times, but Allen…Allen had always been there when she’d most needed him.
She trusted him in that way. He always would be.
“That makes you feel indebted to him?”
“Hell, no. This isn’t your business at all. Allen is my business and has nothing to do with you. You forfeited your right to even care long ago.” She’d trust Allen with every part of her being. She’d depend on him in an instant. Had trusted he would always be there when she needed him. “I need to go. Allen needs me. His sister is all the family he has.”
Izzie cleaned herself up at the nearest sink, trying to compartmentalize her father where he belonged. It wasn’t easy.
Why had he had to come back to her world now?
The last three months had been the most chaotic, unsettled, most terrifying days of her life. Through almost all of it, Allen had been there. Even Jake had been more absent than present, lately.
But Allen had always been there.
She was going to do the same for him. Starting right now.
Izzie stepped out of the exam bay and searched out someone who could set a few stitches. Her arm was starting to sting like the devil. She found Nikkie Jean near the rear of the ER.
It took her only a few moments to describe the weird encounter with her father. Nikkie Jean just tended to her arm, bandaged it, and patted Izzie on the head. Apparently, they were all starting to get used to the bullets flying around them. Izzie didn’t know what to think about all that. “You have got to stop playing so rough on the playground, Iz. You’re starting to look like Frankenstein’s Bride. That’s what you should go as for Halloween. All you need is green face paint. Speaking of...I need green face paint, orange fabric—eighty-six yards of it, and pink paint. And gray.”
“Which kid is going as what?”
“That’s for me.” Nikkie Jean snickered, but there was still fear and worry on her face. “Well, the gray and green are for Caine. I’m determined to make him a dragon. Now, as for me, I’m going as the traditional pumpkin. He wouldn’t let me go as an egg. I wanted to draw a crack on it and sew on a doll hand and foot. He nixed it. Said it was a little too creepy.”
“Do it. I dare you.” Izzie laughed, appreciating her friend’s way of diffusing tension.
Nikkie Jean turned serious. “I don’t know, kid. In my head, I know my father is just a person. One who is entitled to make mistakes like the rest of us. The instant he gets close to me, my throat closes, my heart races, and I have to fight crying. Now, a part of that is probably the hormones—” She paused, then shot Izzie a pointed look. “You’re sure you’re not pregnant? No striped or polka-dotted prophylactics, right? Just the regular old boring—and effective—kind?”
“Not pregnant. We are careful. Unlike a certain pair of physicians we know, we know how to use protection...properly.” Although, if they were ever to have a baby…that would be fine with her.
In fact, she rather liked that idea a lot.
Someday. When the timing was right. Maybe even three or four, so they could have the noise and laughter that went on at Nikkie Jean’s or Annie’s every day. Allen would probably like that, too.
“I love the way he looks at you like you’re cotton candy and he’s jonesing for a sugar fix.” Nikkie Jean leaned closer. “You’re beautiful together. He’s all broody and gentle, yet looks like a male model. You look like a pixie, and so graceful and feminine. When you are together in the room, you can feel the heat. Of course, you always could. Since the storm. So...what are you going to do next?”
“Now? I’m going to go check on him. His sister.”
“She’s been taken upstairs. Cage is taking care of her; there was glass embedded pretty deeply. She’s far shyer than I realized. Even worse than Annie.”
“Annie has confidence in herself, she just doesn’t like public attention. But Allen’s sister...she’s hurting,” Izzie said. “Like the rest of us were. Are.”
“Well, we’ll have to make certain she knows we can help her find her safe place. Now, go stand by your man. I think that’s exactly what Allen needs more than anything. A woman who’s proud to be at his side. I think he’s doubted himself long enough.” Nikkie Jean hugged her quickly. “Take care of him, Iz. I think he needs you more than he’ll ever admit. He’s accustomed to being the protector, the caregiver, the one in charge.”
“The hero.”
“That’s exactly it. I think he needs someone to take care of him for a while.”
Well, Izzie thought she could do that.
Allen
was nothing like her father—he was ten times the man her father would ever possibly be. He would not ever hurt her.
He wouldn’t abandon her—she wasn’t about to do the same to him.
101
This was it. His last chance to make things right. Wallace knew what he had done had changed everything for everyone.
It was time to fix things. Protect Reggie and Li—Izzie. Take the monsters out of the world, so the two of them could go on living without the cloud of Wallace and Jennifer over their heads.
With his journals still being missing, he didn’t know what was going to happen next. Allen Jacobson had found them and turned them over to the TSP now. Probably as payback for what Wallace had done.
How could he blame the younger man? Allen was obviously head over heels in love with little Izzie. Wallace understood that as well.
How beautiful she had grown up to be. Sweet. Wallace had spent the last four nights in his car outside of Jacobson’s place. Just watching. The young couple had a system now.
Izzie would get home around seven each morning. Allen would leave around nine. Then Izzie would take the puppy out. She really was happy with the little guy, always laughing and playing with him. After the dog finished his business, she’d take him inside, and then Izzie would sleep, until Allen came home. When it was time, she’d drive to the hospital for her late shift after Allen walked her to her car and kissed her good-bye.
Wallace followed her, making certain she made it there on time. Safely. The way he would’ve probably done for Lizzie had she ever lived long enough to get to this point. He wouldn’t want his daughter working the ER on thirds. That’s when all the craziest things happened.
He didn’t exactly like Izzie doing so, either. Allen was working to get her transferred to days, with him.
It’s what Wallace would have done.
He would sleep in the hospital parking lot while Izzie worked. Then he followed her back to Allen’s. To make sure she got there safely.
His attorney had called. The prosecutors were getting serious now. It was a Barratt now; not the attorney Jennifer had been friendly with for years.
That had upset her. She’d told him she’d taken care of things that way. Jennifer had never liked to fail.
He needed to talk to Jennifer, explain to her everything that he could. Why he needed the journals. It was to protect Reggie. She’d understand that. She already knew he’d killed their little Lizzie. Might as well clear his conscience over Miranda and Connie as well.
He opened the door to the condo. The condo she had purchased without him. Where she would live while he was in prison for the rest of his life for what he had done to Izzie.
No less than he deserved.
He headed up the stairs and knocked on the door to her bedroom.
Not his.
Separate bedrooms, for the first time in thirty-five years.
He heard her inside.
Wallace opened the door.
102
It had been so daring.
Jennifer had never had a man in her bed in her own home before.
She was going to enjoy it. No more fear that Wallace would walk in, or the neighbors would see.
No. Once this was finished with Wallace, she’d get on with her life. For the first time in weeks, she felt in control again. Almost happy.
Reggie was getting discharged in the morning. Carl…Carl had opened his eyes and had actually recognized his nurse. He’d called the nurse by name.
He was going to make it. Her sources were reporting that a woman had been shot at W4HAV. That it was serious.
Everything was wonderful now.
It was time to celebrate.
Jennifer decided she was going to live a little. She only had a good thirty years or so left on this planet, if she was lucky. She was going to enjoy it. When Kyle had touched her tonight, that had been all that it took.
When the door opened, she looked up, in shock. As Kyle’s hands tightened around her naked ass.
To look straight into Wallace’s eyes.
Wallace. He was there. Staring at her. A look of complete and utter betrayal on his face.
Everyone froze. That’s when she saw it.
Kyle saw it, too.
He was already moving.
But it was far too late.
103
Shelby ended up needing minor surgery. A fragment of glass had embedded dangerously close to the brachial artery. Nearly in the same place Izzie’s own injury had been all those weeks ago. She’d been prepped by Wanda personally, and Cage was handling the surgery. She was in good hands.
Allen was still on the clock; it took a while for him to get ahold of Virat to cover for him the rest of his shift. Virat and Fin had had an event at four somewhere in the city with her Barratt cousins. Annie had originally been headed there after her shift, but she’d decided to stay to help. Virat would be in to take over for Allen as soon as he could.
Izzie appreciated it.
Nikkie Jean was somewhere, having ended up with a ten-year-old with a rupturing appendix. To Nikkie Jean’s dismay, the surgeon with her tonight was going to be Izzie’s father.
Izzie promised Allen she’d stay in the surgical waiting room. It was a small room, with an exit leading to the hallway for the 500s rooms. The other door led straight to the surgical wing of the hospital where Allen and Nikkie Jean spent most of their time.
Izzie made herself as comfortable as possible, after giving her official statement to Detective Evers, whose blue eyes were almost as pretty as Allen’s, and tried to breathe. To wrap her head around what had happened.
They’d caught the shooter.
He’d been hired, Jake had told her, to get revenge against W4HAV.
Random coincidence that it had been she who was there.
Izzie wasn’t certain she believed in that.
Too much random had happened in her life lately.
104
Jennifer hadn’t said a word. Wallace knew she was frightened. He’d always known when something frightened her.
He hadn’t meant to kill Kyle. He’d watched that boy grow up, just as he had Reggie. But to know…
More than a decade. She’d been sleeping with that boy for more than a decade. He was…way too young for Jennifer.
Hell, Kyle was Reggie’s age.
She should have known better.
“Why? Why did you sleep with him?” Wallace asked.
“Because of Jody. Remember that little whore?”
It took him a moment, but he finally remembered. She’d been a CNA in her thirties, a good ten, twelve years ago. “Why?”
“If you could sleep around for decades, why shouldn’t I?”
He started to say something but couldn’t. She was right. He couldn’t argue with that. “What you did to L—Izzie?”
“Who do you mean, Wallace? Our daughter Elizabeth Rosemary? Or that little whore you screwed around with who was blackmailing you?”
Screwing with Izzie? He wouldn’t…he hadn’t…
He stared at her, gun clutched in his hand as he drove with the other. “I never slept with that little girl. I wouldn’t. She…she’s our…dau—” He bit off what he was going to say. She wouldn’t understand. He knew it.
Then again, he didn’t understand Jennifer anymore, either.
“Sure, you didn’t. You were always a fool where your dick was concerned. I led you around by it for years until I decided, what you did, I could do, too. Kyle wasn’t the first.”
Wallace tried to fight the rage. He did.
This woman…he didn’t know her at all. “What else have you done to Lizzie, Jennifer?”
“Lizzie? Can’t you even remember her name? Or have you slept with so many bitches you can’t even remember their names?”
Wallace struck out, the hand clutching the gun slammed into her cheek. She cried out.
Something…something in him just cracked.
Wallace knew exactly what he had to do.
It was time to end this, just as he’d planned.
Only this time…he’d do what he had to do to protect Lizzie. The way he always should have before.
105
She’d looked up the instant someone had entered the waiting room. The little girl in with Nikkie Jean had had her grandmother and her mother. There apparently wasn’t a father in the picture. They’d decided to take a walk through the halls until they got the word the little girl was fine.
The little girl would be fine; Nikkie Jean was one of the best. Izzie was glad the waiting room was empty. It was a small room, only about two hundred square feet, with far too many hard plastic chairs crammed in there.
She stayed by the door. Cage had told her about how long it would take, but there were never any guarantees.
Jake texted her; he wanted her to stay at the hospital until he picked her up. And no one else.
Well, he could come here—but she was going home with Allen. Whenever that was.
Allen would probably choose to stay here, to be near his sister in case she needed anything. It was a simple procedure, and she’d most likely be discharged first thing in the morning.
Izzie was on the schedule for ten p.m. until seven a.m. She’d curl up for four or five hours in the small breakroom and catch a few hours’ sleep. After she spoke with Jake.
And spent some time with Allen and Shelby.
She called Josey, Annie’s sister, and asked her to keep Oliver all day, if she could. Josey was intending to go to vet school eventually. She loved animals of all kinds and Oliver was more than welcome with her whenever Izzie had to work. Josey was taking over Annie’s house, now that Turner had satisfactorily dealt with Annie’s problems with City Hall.
Oliver would be fine.
Izzie had just disconnected when someone entered the waiting room.
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