“I came as fast as I could.”
Her eyes well up again as she beams at me.
“Thank God,” Jade interjects. “We were going to have to put him down like a grizzly bear if you two didn’t come soon.”
Juliette and Joseph saunter in with Knox in tow and then bring him over to my bedside. Joseph gives me a slight head nod and I know exactly what he’s saying with no words being said. He’s relieved to see I’m alive and well.
“Say hi to Daddy, peanut,” Elizabeth coaxes Knox as she takes him from Juliette’s arms. Tears streaming down her face.
Knox babbles several of his usual garbled words with great inflection at the end as to make his point. We both start laughing at what sounds like one of the most beautiful sounds I took for granted.
I kiss Knox on his forehead and run my hand down Elizabeth’s face.
“When did you become such a crybaby?” I ask her smiling.
“I’ve always been one.”
“Bitsy, give Knox to me. Joseph and I are going to go to the cafeteria for a second and we’ll take him with us. Jade, you want to join?”
Jade pops her head up from her phone and looks at Juliette like a deer caught in the headlights.
“You mean me?”
“Yes, dear. You want to grab some snacks? I know you’ve been here holding down the fort for a long time. You must be famished.”
I love my stepmother, but she’s as obvious as a heart attack.
“Um, okay. They usually serve crap in hospital cafeterias, but I guess I can scrape something together at the salad bar.”
“Alone at last,” I say when the door shuts behind them.
Elizabeth gently traces the scar on my face with her fingertips.
“At last.”
“Did you get the deal done with Cabot?”
“That doesn’t matter right now.”
“It does to me.”
Elizabeth stares at me in a way that she hasn’t in a long time. As if I’m the most amazing man on the planet.
“I was too terrified about condition to discuss any business after I heard about what happened to you, but if you must know, he emailed me when I was on the train. The legal department will be sending me something this week or the next.”
“Told you it was a done deal.”
“You were right.” She twinkles. “You’re always right.”
“Baby, until I’ve dealt with the people that did this to me I want you and Knox to go stay with Joseph and Juliette.”
“Uh-uh, I’m staying right here.”
“Why can’t you ever listen?” I wince from either my broken ribs or the two bullet holes in my body. I’m not sure which. “What happened to the girl who trusted that I’d always do what’s best for her? The woman who knows I’m always right.”
“Her fiancé got abducted and shot twice because of a favor he did forherfriend, so now she’s going to follow wherever her heart leads her and right now that’s here in Mercy Hospital, Room 4708. They can set up a cot for me right here.”
“They’re not just going to let an eight-month-old baby sleep in here. That has to be breaking all sorts of safety protocol.”
