Dan just shook his head. "How did I come from you?"
Fred snorted. "I'm not convinced you did. Your mother always was a little loose."
Dan's eye hardened as his heart ached as if the man had stabbed a knife. "That's fine by me, Officer Wilson."
Dan stepped back as Mike led his father—former father—out of the room. After holstering his gun, he stepped back and leaned against the wall. His eyes watered as tears flooded them. He probably could have gone the rest of his life never seeing his father again. He would have mourned the loss, but at least he wouldn't have had to watch his father get carted away in handcuffs.
"Are you okay?"
Dan drew in a breath then turned to look at Happy. "I will be, Happy."
"You know, my father used to be sheriff of Cade Creek. He was a really bad man. He did bad things to my mom when she was just a teenager. That's how I got here. He hurt a lot of people, even killed a few before my half brother went crazy and killed him."
Dan's eyes widened in surprise. That was something he hadn't heard about Happy.
"But Marc always tells me that who our parents are isn't a reflection on us. I am nothing like my father, and I would never hurt my mom or kill someone. It doesn't change the fact that Sheriff Miller was my father. Nothing will ever change that. You just have to be a better person."
"Thank you, Happy." Dan knew Happy meant well, but he wasn't sure it was that easy. Oh, he didn't feel his father's actions made him bad or anything else. He just couldn't understand how he had been fathered by the guy. The man who had been taken out of here wasn't someone he knew. He wasn't someone Dan would want to know.
It would have been better if he had stayed gone.
"You want a cookie?" Happy held one out to him. "Chester just got done baking them. They're really good."
Dan chuckled as he took the cookie and bit into it. "Oh, these are good." Chocolate cookies with huge gooey chocolate chunks. Dan was a fan.
"Yeah." Happy grinned. "Everything is better with cookies."
* * * *
Terry stayed leaning up against the wall as he watched Dr. Sutherlin work on Hector. They had stopped the bleeding, but they still needed to X-ray his shoulder to make sure nothing had been broken.
Hector did not look happy. He had woken up on the way to the hospital. He'd looked even less happy then, but now he'd had some drugs pumped into him. He still wasn't smiling, but he wasn't threatening to rip someone's head off either.
Terry jumped when the doors to the emergency room slammed open and a flurry of activity came rushing in. When a gurney was wheeled past him then down the hallway to another exam room, Terry's jaw dropped. He had recognized those brown eyes.
Terry started to follow until Eddie grabbed his arm. "That's Will. He's alive."
He had thought for sure Will was dead.
"The doc will take care of him," Eddie said.
"Yeah, but…" Terry's voice trailed off as a scream ripped through the emergency department. Eddie could follow or not. Terry needed to be somewhere else. He raced down the hallway to the exam room they had taken Will into.
The man was screaming and flailing his arms when he rushed in. Terry ran to the head of the bed and grabbed one of Will's hands, squeezing it tight as he held it between his. "Will, you need to calm down. Look at me, come on."
When Will's brown eyes met his, Terry could see the overwhelming fear in them. "Okay, I need you to calm down so the doctor can work on you. Take a deep breath and calm down."
Terry drew in a breath and let it out. The second time he did it, Will did the same. One breath, then two, then another. Little by little, the fight went out of Will. He never broke eye contact.
Terry smiled. "There, that's better."
"Why?" Will whispered.
Terry didn't have to ask what he was referring to. He knew. "Because we're going to be friends, remember?"
"After…after what I…"
"I've seen the bruises, Will. I know someone is forcing you to do this."
