Nodding hesitantly, she replied, “They are a bit confused, angry and—sad, I suppose.” She sighed, looking vastly different from how she looked at the party. Gone were the pearls and the high society mannerisms. Without all that artifice, she was much easier to relate to.
“I should have told them the truth a long time ago,” she admitted, and though she should have confessed that to Lance and not to him, he was still glad to hear it. “They always thought it was unfair that they’d had to grow up without him. They didn’t understand. When he reached out—” she stopped, her voice starting to quiver. “They’re fine. Because of Lance—and of course, because of you, they’ll be just fine.”
Tanner didn’t know what to say to that, so he just smiled and nodded. It wasn’t exactly a welcome to the family moment, but it was better than how things had been between them.
“Isn’t it fascinating, how we can all make mistakes and learn from them?” Louise declared, out of the blue.
Tanner raised an eyebrow in his mother’s direction, uncertain where she was going with this, but convinced it would be entertaining.
“Mom?” he asked in mild warning, but she shushed him. She was looking directly at Harriette with an implacable expression. He considered intervening for a moment but decided against it. Whatever tongue-lashing his mother had planned, Harriette Kingsley certainly deserved. Tanner settled back to enjoy the show, assured that just desserts were about to be served up on a silver platter. Damn, how he wished Lance was here for this.
“Tanner should have called us. Cameron should not be tracking her brother. I should worry less. You married a terrible man yet judged your son for falling for mine—even though he’s quite an amazing young man, if I do say so myself.” Louise counted off their “mistakes” methodically on one hand while gazing steadily at Lance’s mom.
Harriette looked as if she was about to protest, her mouth hanging open slightly before she shut it again. Then the fight seemed to drain right out of her. She stepped closer to Tanner, placing her hand very gently on his arm.
“Your mother’s right,” she acknowledged with a smile that finally reached her eyes. Tanner noticed for the first time that they were the same color as Lance’s. The same gorgeous light blue of a summer sky. “My son is lucky to have you, Tanner. I was—a silly old fool not to realize that sooner.” She laughed at herself and squeezed his arm gently.
“Thank you, ma’am, but he’ll need to hear it too.”
Harriette nodded in agreement before she leaned forward and hugged him. It was quick and nowhere nearly as warm or comforting as his own mother’s embrace, but it was genuine, nonetheless. “Thank you,” she whispered into his ear.
He couldn’t seem to summon a response as she pulled away, and he looked off to the side quickly, determined not to let the emotion get to him. He noticed that Dave was still there. Dave, his mother’s neighbour—maybe more, who the fuck knew—was standing quietly off to the side.
“Thank you for bringing the panic police, Dave,” he said, nodding towards his sister and mother.
“Of course. Whatever I can do to help,” he replied, and there was something about the way his eyes lingered on Louise that told Tanner his sister was right. They were definitely more than friends. He chose not to dwell on that. Instead, he turned to Cameron.
“Where’s Mark and the kids?” he asked, taking advantage of her ready willingness to talk about her brood, which would keep him entertained until Lance returned.
It was over an hour before Lance and Jeff got back. The two were talking rapidly, clearly excited about something. Lance was typing at warp speed on his phone as he made his way to Tanner’s side.
“So, here’s the scoop. Jeff talked with his buddy Dr. Carson, and he’s willing to take you on. He has an experimental procedure that entails some bone transport and grafting. It’s—I mean, it’s too complicated for me to explain, but he feels confident you’re a good candidate for it.” Lance was barely able to contain his excitement.
“And he’d be able to walk on it again?” Cameron asked.
Lance gave a firm nod. “It will take some time to heal properly, but eventually he’ll be fine to walk on it.”
“So, what’s the next step?” Tanner asked, feeling somewhat resistant to getting caught up in Lance’s excitement. There was always a chance that Dr. Carson would change his mind, saying that he wasnota good candidate for this type of surgery after all. He couldn’t afford to place too much hope on this deal working out for him—not just yet.
“Well, that’s the tricky part,” Lance said with a puzzled frown, looking down at his phone again.
“Dr. Carson said the sooner you get to him, the better. Once the bones start mending, it becomes more difficult. The easiest way would be to airlift you to Chicago, but your insurance won’t cover it because it’s not an emergency, and—”
“I’ll fly you,” Dave offered, interrupting Lance. “An old friend of mine has a chopper. He can have a bird ready for take-off early tomorrow. We could be in Chicago by mid-morning.” He looked at them expectantly.
“Flying,” Tanner’s voice cracked in the middle of the word. With an awkward laugh, he looked up at Lance. “Kind of ironic—since that’s how I ended up with a fucked-up leg in the first place.”
Lance nodded sympathetically as he grabbed one of Tanner’s hands and smiled reassuringly.
“We could drive,” Lance suggested. “It’ll take much longer and since you won’t be in a cast—”
“It’ll hurt like a sonofabitch if we drive,” Tanner replied with a groan.
“Remember your list—hopes and fucking dreams, right?” he asked, reminding Tanner of the things he’d written down. Hehadput flying on that stupid list, now hadn’t he? What was that old saying? Be careful what you wish for!
Chapter 22
There was another old saying about riding a bike—but as he was carefully lifted into the helicopter by the conscientious, well-trained paramedics who’d transported him to the airfield, he couldn’t quite remember how it went. If he was honest, he wasn’t sure he remembered much of anything. He was too preoccupied by the sense of impending doom causing ice to spread rapidly through his veins.
