Page 76 of Her Honorable Hero

Epilogue

Griff lookedaround the hospital waiting room, it was déjà vu all over again. There was Beth and Jack Preston, and Jack had even brought something from the Snack Shack. Mason, Sophia and Billy. He was flanked by his parents, with his mom holding Livvie. Kenna was new as she stood by Dex, Josiah and-

“Mr. Porter?” A nurse walked into the crowded room. He jumped to his feet and rushed over.

“Yes?”

“Sorry for taking so long. We were with another patient. Your wife is doing fine. She’s in recovery, come this way.”

He turned to his mom. “Mom, can you bring Livvie, in about fifteen minutes, she’s going to want to see her.”

Claudia nodded. “Now go,” she waved him on.

They’d had to do surgery to stop the bleeding in one of her kidneys. It was a damn good thing that Roger Heinrich had died that day at the hands of the Chinese espionage ring, otherwise Griff would have been obliged to kill him. The man at the front door had been captured by Liam and Josiah and was singing a tune about a Chinese national by the name of Cheong. Apparently he was working out of Montreal to gather US military technology.

Josiah said that they had a lead on a huge network, that Cheong was just a small cog.

Just how far down the hall was Miranda?

“She’s the last room on this floor,” the nurse said. “One of my fellow nurses told me to expect you to spend the night, so I wanted to give you a quiet room.”

“How’s she doing?” Griff asked.

“She’s doing a lot better than I would have thought.”

That’s Miranda he smiled, as he touched his ribs.

“Did you wince?” The nurse asked.

“It’s nothing.”

She stopped in the middle of the hall and put her hands on her hips. “Wait a minute. When one of you Navy types shows any indication of pain, it’s something. What is it?”

“I might have a bruised rib,” he admitted reluctantly.

“Broken rib, got it. I’ll send someone in to tape it.”

He glared at her. She glared back.

He liked her.

“Now can I see my wife?”

The nurse opened the door and Griff walked in. There was Miranda, in a hospital bed again.

“For the love of God,” he roared. “Get off that damn phone!”

“I’ve got to go Evan,” she said into the receiver and then winced when she tried to put it down on the bed stand holder. He snatched it away from her and slammed it down.

“What was so important that you couldn’t wait until you were out of anesthesia to make a call?”

“I wanted to see how the meeting went? I already talked to your mom while you were debriefing with Josiah, and I know that Livvie checked out.”

God grant him patience. Did he say Type A women turned him on?

It really was déjà vu all over again. Only this time she didn’t have her laptop in the hospital room. But she’d saved a little girl, only this time it was their daughter.

He gave her a once over.