Page 36 of Her Loving Hero

8

Emily was goingto wear a hole in Wyatt’s rug. She stepped off of it, and started walking on the pine floor instead, but then the sound of her shoes tapping on the wood seemed to blast like gunshots in her head, so she moved back to the rug.

It was eleven in the morning, which meant it was ten p.m. Saturday night in Muscat, the party should be in full swing. She tried to imagine what was going on, but all she could see is people arresting Carly and her friends. It felt like her head was filling with air. She was having trouble breathing.

“Calm down. Calm down. Calm down.”

She paced faster.

She stopped abruptly and closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Please, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

She pressed her palms against her face and looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

“Okay, time for serenity,” she laughed softly. “But God, you better give me something to do, and fast, because I’m not going to live my life on the edges.”

Emily felt a great deal better as she sat down on Wyatt’s too comfortable sofa and scooched to the edge so she could lean into the coffee table and look at her laptop. Wyatt had shown her his office and had said she could set up her laptop there. He’d even adjusted his work chair so it was at the perfect height and comfort level for her, but it kind of creeped her out to have to go into a room that he actually kept locked.

So once again, she checked out the Oman chat room and found nothing new. Then she checked out her e-mail. Bingo! It was Anthony. He explained he’d been at his cousin’s wedding in Ireland. She kept reading through all the family and friends updates, before he finally answered her question about the fires in Dahlkut. She rubbed her hands together. Now she was getting somewhere.

Anthony said that he had a friend who was an official in the Sultanate of Oman who was involved in investigating not just the fires but something else. He told her to check her phone messages. How could she have missed something from Anthony, considering she’d been holding her phone all day? She scrolled through her messages, and there it was. It even had a Shh emoji to indicate it was confidential. She would bet anything Anthony had been drinking when he’d sent it. She was supposed to call him.

“I’m whispering, is this good enough for you? Tag you’re it,” she said on his voicemail.

She disconnected her phone and looked back at her computer. When a loud knock on the door sounded, she almost jumped off the couch. Her first instinct was to ignore it. Obviously, they wanted Wyatt and he wasn’t here, so why should she answer the door?

She sat there like a frozen deer in the middle of the road.

“Get over yourself, Hoag,” she bit out the words between clenched teeth. Her hands were fisted by her sides as she marched over to the door and placed her palms flat on the door so she could peer through the peephole. Two policemen were standing outside. She flinched as the door reverberated against her palms as one of them knocked again.

She looked at the door and made sure the chain was in place. Swallowing, she carefully opened the door.

“Hello?” she asked and found herself looking into the compassionate eyes of a policewoman.

“We’re looking for Wyatt Leeds. Is he here?”

“No, he’s not,” Emily answered softly. Then she asked in a stronger voice. “Can I help you? I’m housesitting for him.”

“Ma’am, do you know where he is? His brother has been in a motorcycle accident, and he had Wyatt’s information showing as his brother and emergency contact.”

Brother?

“He’s overseas. Is his brother okay?”

“We can’t get into that with you. Here’s my card. Have him call me when he returns.” The woman slipped her card through the narrow opening. Emily took it. They turned to leave.

“Wait a minute. If you’re not available, can I tell Wyatt what hospital he’s at?”

“Ben’s at Loma Linda,” she said succinctly. Then proceeded down the two steps with her partner behind her.

Emily fumbled with the chain and flung open the door. “Wait a minute, how bad is he?”

“Ma’am, we can’t get into that. Just give Wyatt my card. It would be best if you could call him and have him come home soon.” The woman gave Emily an apologetic smile, as if to say she wished she could say more, but she couldn’t.

Wyatt had a brother?

In all the time she’d known him, she hadn’t heard a peep about siblings. Considering how often she’d talked about Kristi and Carly, you would have thought he could have mentioned his family. Emily stepped back inside and slammed the door shut, locking it behind her. She rushed over to her phone and called Wyatt. Another voicemail. She hesitated, what was she going to say? He was in the middle of an assignment. She didn’t even know what kind of shape his brother was in.

Nope, she wasn’t going to leave a message about this. She’d wait until he called her. She hung up the phone. But still, she couldn’t stand the thought of Wyatt’s brother at the hospital all alone. At least she thought he was, if he was asking for Wyatt. She had to get to him.