“I’m okay,” she told him. “I just want to see my baby and my mom. I want to know they’re okay.” She paused and looked at him. “Everyone else is okay, right? They all got out in time? Your mom? Your sister?”
He saw her working herself up and pulled her back into his arms, holding her tight. “They’re all fine, ‘Elle. Everyone got out but you. They’re all worried sick about you.”
His words had an unintended effect.
Startled, she pulled away from him. “I want to see them, McCrae. I… I need to see them.”
“Okay, babe. I’ll take you to them.”
He took her hand and led her outside. They didn’t get more than twenty feet when they were surrounded by the families.
His family.
And now hers.
CHAPTER 19
DUVAL
They didn’t settle down until thewee hoursof the morning. That was a bit of a quote from his mother who seemed to get a thicker Irish accent when she was excited or upset.
Sitting on Noelle’s bed, their backs against the headboard, Duval looked over at the woman and child who’d become nearly everything to him.
Noelle had her head tipped back against the wall, her eyes closed as she held Ciela in her arms, the little girl was fast asleep, finally.
Duval couldn’t see her face, but he had a feeling that her lips were parted and she was likely drooling on her mother.
When he’d held Ciela while she slept, his t-shirt had been soaked through with drool.
Strangely, he didn’t mind it all that much.
As he watched, Noelle’s hand lifted from Ciela’s lower back and settled gently on the crown of her daughter’s head.
A moment later, she sighed softly and the corners of her mouth lifted up in a smile.
“You’re still awake?”
Duval smiled at the dreamy quality of her voice. “I should ask you the same question. You should be getting some rest.”
Noelle reached out her hand and when he wrapped his hand around hers, he saw her turn her head toward him and her eyes opened to look back at him.
“I can’t get my heart back to normal,” she explained in a soft near-whisper. “And when I close my eyes, I can only do it for a few seconds before I see… I seehimdying all over again.”
Duval knew that she was talking about the manager.
He’d seen the look on her face when they’d carried his body out of the garden center.
Even with the sheet over his body on the gurney, she looked haunted.
It was likely going to be some time before the thought of him didn’t fuel her nightmares.
“We should find someone for you to talk to.”
She tensed, but didn’t say no.
She did look at him and squeeze his hand gently. “Right now, I think I just need to spend time with family and let my head wrap around what happened today.”
He rubbed the pad of his thumb across the back of her hand, trying to soothe her as much as he could.
