She shook her head. “I can’t deal with this on top of everything else. I just need some time. A week. Or two. Until we know more about what Stone’s facing. He should be waking up. I just need to focus on him waking up.”
Lily nodded. “It’s your news to share, when you are ready. But don’t think I’m going to let you walk through this alone. I did that once myself, and I’m not letting someone I love suffer like I did. You can talk to me about this, okay? And whatever you say, whatever you decide, stays just between us until you’re ready for other people to know.”
There, in the small bathroom in Lily and Gunner’s apartment, Mae held on to Lily like she was her only lifeline in the raging storm that was trying to drown her.
“I don’t know how much more I can take.”
“You’re a mom now, Mae. You’ll dig down to a level you never knew you could to grab onto the tiniest bit of strength. You might only have me to talk to about the baby right now,but you still have a whole family here who loves you and wants to be there for you with everything going on with Stone. You don’t have to face any of this alone.”
“Hey.” Mae set her bag down in the waiting room where Sebastian and Emma were sitting. Her heart skipped a beat as another person turned around. Colt Ford. Clarence County Sheriff’s Deputy and the oldest son of Dolly Ford, the owner of the diner Stone was shot standing in front of. Her whole body flashed hot and then cold. “Was there an update? Did you find out who did this? Who shot him?”
Colt shook his head. “I’m sorry. There’s not been anything further. We have the vehicle description from your brother, and we’re trying to see if anything was captured on any cameras in the area during that time… but so far, nothing.”
Okay, the day really needed to calm down. First, that bitch reporter, then finding outabout the baby—god, she still couldn’t wrap her mind aroundthatparticular life changing news—and now, Colt being at the hospital almost giving her a heart attack! She really needed a nap.
“If you aren’t here with an update, what are you doing here?”
Emma’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline, a small smile starting at the corner of her mouth.
“Shit. Sorry, that sounded so bitchy. I’m happy to see you, it’s just been a long?—”
Colt held up his hand. “No need to apologize. I understand. And as much as I, and the rest of everyone back in Silver Springs, have been hoping for an update on Stone, Ma made me promise I’d bring up some spring water for him.”
“Dolly shouldn’t have made you drive all the way overhere. And he still hasn’t woken up. I don’t think they can put the water in his IV.”
Colt shrugged. “I never put too much stock in the legend, but Ma would beat my ass if I told her I was bringing it and didn’t. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. And you don’t have to have him drink it. Ma used to wet a cloth and put it on our feet whenever we were sick as kids. Always felt better the next day. She made me promise to drop it off, so here I am. What you do is up to you.”
He held out a small glass jar and Mae took it, unsure of what the hell she was going to do with some maybe enchanted, maybe just a great big hoax, water.
“Tell Dolly I appreciate her thinking of us, and thank you for bringing it all this way.”
“It was no trouble.” Colt placed his hat back on his head. “I’d better head back. Let me know if you need anything, Mae. We’re all thinking of you and Stone.”
“I will.” Mae swallowed the lump in her throat as she hugged the water close to her heart. It wasn’t just a jar of water she was holding onto. It was a jar that held hope, and the kindness in a gift that was the only thing people in town who loved Stone could give to try and make a difference. And in that way, it was priceless.
“Mae?” Her eyes finally looked up from the jar, both Seb and Emma watching her with worry written all over their faces.
“Just trying to figure out how to baptize my boyfriend in this stuff without the nurses yelling at me. Have you met Anita? I love her, but damn. She scares the hell outta me.”
Emma laughed. But something in the way Seb’s face stayed frozen had the hair standing up on the back of her neck.
“Did Gunner tell you what happened at the office?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’mhandling it.”
Emma slid her hand into Sebastian’s.
“There wasn’t any… I mean… she can’t really have any evidence, can she?” Mae hated the doubt that lingered in the back of her mind. These men were the most honest, loyal, good men that she’d ever known. Her brother, her boyfriend, her family… they couldn’t have done what that bitch said. But her mind kept going back to the way Stone had acted before… the shadows that seemed to be chasing him…
“Mae.”
“He didn’t really do?—”
“It’s all classified.” The bite in Sebastian’s words told her to back down, but she couldn’t.
“He was struggling, before all this. He was grappling with something, some ghost, and it was enough for him to want to push me away. If it was this… if it was the mission she was asking about… if the lives lost that day were the thing making him drown, don’t I deserve to know?”
“Mae,” Emma stepped away from Sebastian. “Whatever is in the past, is in the past. I know my fiance. He would never do something like that. And you know Stone. I have no idea what those documents hold, but I do know that the men we love are good men. They wouldn’t lie to save their careers. They just wouldn’t.”
