Ronan hesitated before finally taking the man’s hand and I could tell he was sensing the same thing as me…the words coming out of the guy’s mouth were the right ones but there was something just…off.
“Jamie, we missed you,” Alana said softly as she dropped down in front of the bench, but the little boy didn’t acknowledge her except to burrow farther into Seth’s hold. Alana turned her attention to the little girl. Ronan had told me the girl, Nicole, was deaf so I wasn’t surprised when the woman shook her awake instead of calling her name.
Nicole was groggy at first and my heart went out to her when I took in her tear-stained face. Her long blonde hair hung in a messy tangle and she pushed it from her eyes before she settled them on Alana and then Gene. Her eyes flew open and she scrambled to her brother’s side. I could see her fingers moving lightening fast as she looked at Seth and I realized she was signing.
“Enough of that nonsense!” Gene snapped and he suddenly grabbed Nicole by her uninjured arm and pulled her off the bench. The little girl gasped and went completely still.
“Hey,” Ronan snarled and then he was shoving Gene back.
The man bristled, but released the child. “She knows how to talk, but she won’t if you don’t force her.”
“Touch her again-” Ronan warned, his eyes going dark.
“Ronan!”
I saw Declan approaching, a cup of coffee in hand. He put it down on a side table, presumably so he could keep his hands free. It wasn’t a good sign.
“Are you Mr. and Mrs. Teasdale?” Declan asked as he stepped between the two men. Nicole still hadn’t moved and she was too far from Seth for him to reach her without moving Jamie so Tristan was the one who actually dropped down next to her and settled his hand on her back and began rubbing soothing circles on it.
“We are,” Gene said. “Are you Captain Hale?”
Declan nodded. “Did you bring the paperwork I asked for?”
The man nodded and pulled a folded document from his suit jacket and handed it to Declan. Declan scanned it and then nodded to Ronan. I saw the disappointment flood through my friend.
“Dr. Grisham, she’s awake,” a young nurse said as she approached our group. “Dr. Sterns says you can see her now…she’s in room 304. If you’d like to come with me…”
Ronan stepped forward, but Gene put his arm out. “I’d like to see my niece, please,” he said to the confused young woman. “Alone,” he added as he looked at Declan. Declan glanced between him and Ronan and then nodded at the nurse.
“Right this way, sir,” she said uncomfortably and motioned towards the hallway to the right of the waiting room.
“Alana, take the kids to the car.” Gene’s cool gaze fell on Ronan. “We’ll be taking them to a hotel so they can get some rest.” With that, the man followed the nurse.
Pain lanced through me as I saw Seth hug Jamie tightly before forcing the little boy away from his body so he could look at him.
“This is fucked up, Declan,” I said.
“My hands are tied,” the man responded and I could see he wasn’t happy about it at all.
“Come children, we should go,” Alana said as she reached for Nicole’s hand. But Nicole jerked away from her and then she was pushing into Tristan’s arms. I could hear her crying and I watched as Tristan wrapped his arms around her and lifted her enough so he could sit on the bench with her on his lap.
Ronan was leaning over Seth whispering something to him when I heard Tristan say, “Memphis.”
I looked over at him and saw him holding out the hand he’d used to support the girl’s bottom as he’d been lifting her. He lifted her enough so that I could see a large, wet stain between her legs.
“Ronan,” I said as I kept my eyes on the way Nicole clung to Tristan. She was shaking violently. Ronan’s eyes fell on the wet mark and he stiffened. His hard gaze shifted to Alana. But she refused to meet his look.
“Come on, Jamie,” she said loudly and then she tried to grab the little boy’s arm. But Seth snatched him up and Declan put his hand on Alana’s arm. He too had seen that the little girl had wet her pants – and the stain definitely hadn’t been there before her aunt and uncle had arrived.
Ronan was moving before anyone could even say anything and I followed after him. It seemed to take forever to find room 304 and when we did, I immediately noticed that the privacy curtain had been drawn. Ronan was several steps ahead of me, so by the time I followed him into the room, he was already putting his hands on Gene who was leaning over the girl in the bed. He ripped the man off the girl and I heard her let out a big gasp. I could see that her throat was red where the fucker had been holding on to her.
I took pleasure in the sound of flesh striking flesh as Ronanslammed his fist into Gene’s face. I shielded the girl so she wouldn’t see the blood spray from the man’s mouth as some of his teeth went flying. But I quickly realized the girl was having trouble breathing. “Ronan!” I shouted and, luckily, my voice got through to him. “There’s something wrong!” I said.
Ronan dropped the prone man to the floor just as Declan came flying into the room. Ronan rushed to the bed and then he was hitting a red button just above the girl’s bed. I stepped back as several medical staff came rushing into the room and watched as Ronan grabbed an oxygen mask and put it over the girl’s face.
“Willow, I need you to take deep breaths, okay?”
The girl was shaking her head violently and I heard Ronan say to one of the nurses, “She’s having an asthma attack. Epinephrine,” he ordered. The nurse glanced at what I could only assume was the girl’s actual doctor who looked like he was checking the surgical incision on her side.
