“Thank you.”
“You don’t remember me, but I treated many of your cuts and bruises in Rome back in the day. You, too,” he said, nodding to Eric. “I moved back home to California last year, and Father Corletti asked if I wanted to come out of retirement.” He glanced around, clearly assessing the situation. “I don’t know what’s going on here today, but I think I made the right choice saying yes.”
“Doctor Carlton,” I said. “I remember now.”
“I can stay. Help.”
I shook my head. “Thank you. But we’re okay.” I already felt overwhelmed by people and possibilities and the lack of a definitive plan. I didn’t need another voice in my head. “But we’ll call you if we need you. And see you when school officially starts.”
I sounded so polished. So professional. But all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry.
“I don’t know much more than that doctor,” Stuart said after Dr. Carlton left, “but you and Eric have been through worse.”
I swallowed, my guilt rising again as he spoke so easily about Eric and me as a team.
But had to shake it off. This guilt. This fear. All of it. I had to push it away or else it would cloud my judgment.
“You’ll get her back,” Stuart continued. We’d walked down the stairs, and now he sat, two from the bottom. “And Allie’s strong. She can take care of herself.”
“Maybe,” I said, sitting beside him, “but she still needs us. Timmy, too.” Bruce had said he would see that Timmy was returned once he was certain that Allie couldn’t escape. I hadn’t liked those words or that plan, but considering the knife that I was certain he’d use, I also hadn’t had a choice.
“Kate, is this still about Lilith? You don’t have to catch me up fully, but I need to know if that bitch is still screwing with our family.”
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s about her.”
He started to stand, his free hand reaching for the railing.
“Stuart, I don’t think—”
I didn’t get the words out before he collapsed, sliding back down and into Jared’s arms, the latter having burst forward with preternatural speed to catch him.
“I think he’s okay,” Jared said. “Just weak.”
“I’m fine,” Stuart said, his voice thin and reedy.
“I’ll take him back to the bed. Signora, could you watch him? Maybe feed him some broth after he naps?”
“Si,” she said, then hurried to follow Jared upstairs.
I watched my husband taken from me and told myself I had to keep it together. My kids needed me. For that matter, so did the world. This was Lilith we were dealing with after all.
As everyone talked among themselves, the din of their voices marked with fear, I looked at Eric. My whole body hurt. Not physically, but my own fear felt like pain, and I wanted nothing more than to fall to the ground and curl into a little ball.
Get a grip, Kate. You’ve got this.
I repeated the words in my head, over and over, hoping that I would believe them. I didn’t think that I ever truly would, but that didn’t matter. I was going to act like they were true, and I was going to hope that, eventually, my pretend confidence would become real.
Eric came to me, then held out a hand to where I still sat on the steps. He pulled me up and Laura rushed to my side, tears in her eyes.
“Do you have any idea how we’re going to get them back?”
“She can fight,” Marcus said. “She’s a hell of a fighter.”
“We will get her,” Cutter added. “You just need to focus, Kate. You know you can do this.”
I nodded, letting all of their words wash over me. I could do this. Allie could do this. It would all come out okay.
Somehow though I didn’t believe it. Mostly, because I just didn’t know how. Because I still couldn’t see the plan.
