“He’ll beat this, Maggie.”
Craig met her gaze over Burke, each of them doing their best to
comfort him and prevent too much blood loss. “Stay
strong.”
“How can you know that?
This is
not
okay.
He has a bullet in him.”
“It’s not the first time.
And he has too much to live for.”
In a flurry of movement, a group of men
crowded the bedroom, efficiently moving her away from Burke, so she
was forced to watch from the side. When they lifted him on the
stretcher, he moaned. She dived back to him. Ignoring their
insistence she stay back, she grabbed his hand, assuring herself he
could feel her.
He would survive.
“Ma’am, you need to move
back,” an EMT said.
Her eyes flashed to his.
He waved a hand in
surrender. “Or not.”
“Hurts like hell.” Burke’s
slurred voice had her whipping her face to his.
“I know, baby. Stay with
me.”
He groaned and slid back under. She followed
the EMTs as they wheeled her wounded hero to the ambulance. His
lashes rested lifelessly against his cheeks. Her tongue thickened.
She couldn’t swallow or get air.
He had to be okay. Her heart beat twice its
normal speed. The throb of each pulse point drummed in her ears.
His blood stained her hands.
Cold. She was so cold. She couldn’t see
another man she loved die.
Maggie twisted her wedding ring around her
finger and paced the overly disinfected floor, waiting for an
update on Burke’s surgery. Whispers floated eerily down the hall,
but once the nurses and doctors had given her clean scrubs to
change into, finished poking at her, and asking annoying questions,
no one else had spoken to her.
Craig and had stayed at the house to deal
with Adalia and their captain. Maggie had called her parents and
Grace before they could hear the story on the news and after
assuring them she was fine, she begged them not to come to the
hospital. She needed to be alone for a while.
She looked down at Burke’s blood staining her
cuticles and broke into fresh sobs. Dropping onto a chair, she
covered her face with her hands. Why wouldn’t someone come tell her
something? Anything? What was taking so long?
“Maggie, don’t take this
the wrong way, but you look like hell.”
She jumped up to see Craig watching her. She
hadn’t expected to see him so soon.
“Have you heard anything?”
She squeezed the bridge of her nose. The pressure that had been
building all night refused to ease off. She had to hold it
together. She couldn’t fall apart again until she was alone and
knew Burke was recovering. “No one’s talking to me.”
He stepped in her path and
put his hands on her shoulders. “He’ll be all right.”
“Can you guarantee me
that? Can you give me a one-hundred-percent guarantee he’ll be
okay?”
“Yes.” Craig kissed her
cheek.
“I’m not so sure.” When
she’d pressed her hands against Burke’s chest, stopping his blood
from spilling out, she’d been useful. Now, the doctors and nurses
cared for him. Her only purpose was to fiddle her hands and
wait.
“He’s lucky to have you,
Maggie.”
“But I don’t have
him.”
“Not true.”
“How? He’s lying on an
operating table with a bullet in his chest because of
me.”
“He’s going to run faster
than ever when he’s healed. Maggie.” Craig took her hand and led
her to a chair in the corner. “If you’d seen him trying to get to
you after your texts you wouldn’t have a doubt.”
Calming enough to think,
she remembered the crash and Adalia’s laughing taunts about it.
“Adalia did something to hold you two up. What?”
“She paid a teenager to
crash into the car.”
“Holy shit!”
“We were already out. As
you can see we weren’t hurt and it only slowed BD down long enough
for him to call it in.” Craig leaned forward, braced his elbows on
his knees, and sighed. “I’ve known him all my life, but I’ve never
seen him this way. Not even with Sam.”
“You knew her
well?”
“She was my sister. He and
Sam loved each other like crazy.” Craig turned his head and looked
at her. Sadness clouded his eyes. “But Maggie, he adores you. He
would cut his arm off if it was necessary to protect you. And don’t
get me started on what your kids do to him.”
She creased her brow and studied Craig. As
kind as he was he would never compare to the man she now thought of
when she woke up and before she fell asleep.
Only Burke could claim the
part of her heart she’d thought would be impossible to give away
again. The giving hadn’t been her choice to give it away, but it
would be her choice whether or not she admitted it. “Do you mean
that?”
“Yes. So when he gets out
of here I hope you’ll think about giving him a chance without the
secrets in the way.”
Craig sat with her until he got called back
to the station, leaving her alone in the waiting room. Though
Pritchett had helped stop Adalia he’d apparently shifted back to
useless cop mode and was leaving details and follow-ups to Craig.
And like Craig said, he’d been the one to shoot Captain Winchester.
He’d have to face the resulting headaches.
Burke had been in surgery for nearly three
hours when a sweet-looking, older couple came in and sat in another
corner about an hour ago. They held hands and leaned against one
another, but never said a word. She might’ve asked why they were
there, if the new foundation of her world wasn’t shaking.
The interminable waiting grated her nerves
quicker than an electric meat grinder. What could be taking so
long? Why weren’t they finished yet?
She alternated between pacing and sitting,
twisting her ring the whole time. She’d thought about going for a
drink, but didn’t want to leave the room and risk missing the
doctor.
Not that they seemed concerned about her fear
growing with each minute. Yeah okay, so their attention was good
for BD, but it sucked for her.
“Young lady,” the older
man said, “whatever it is, pacing won’t make it better.”
The man she loved was
having a bullet dug out of his chest and some stranger wanted her
to sit still? She started to give him her opinion, but bit back her
nasty remark since they more than likely didn’t come to the
hospital in the middle of the night for a good time. “Forgive
me.”
She sat and fidgeted with her ring. Her knees
bounced. Her skin crawled as images of Burke bleeding on her floor
flashed in her mind. Shaking her head, she tried to dislodge the
image. It wouldn’t budge. The sight of his blood still on her hands
brought it all back.
Come on, Burke.
As if he could hear her thoughts, she cried out
to him in her mind.
You have to get
through this. I need you.
“Is your husband
here?”
Maggie shook her head at
the woman’s question, but couldn’t sit still. Lurching from her
seat, she straightened the chairs and magazines on the tables she’d
already straightened several times. “My husband’s dead.”
“I’m sorry.” The woman’s
blue eyes glittered with sadness as she moved toward Maggie. She
had a kind face, but Maggie wasn’t interested in chit chat. “I know
how hard it is to lose someone you love.”
Maggie gripped the back of
a chair until her knuckles turned white. She’d lost her husband and
Burke’s life lingered in jeopardy. She pointed to the man gripping
the woman’s hand. “That your husband?”
“For fifty years next
month.” Pride and love shone in her eyes.
“Then you don’t know what
I’ve lost.”
Or stand to lose again.
Maggie swiped at the tears rolling down her
cheeks.
“I have a pretty good
idea.” The woman slid her arm around Maggie’s waist and led her to
a chair. “My son lost his wife a couple of years ago. I watched
grief rip at him the way fear’s ripping through you
now.”
Maggie choked back her
tears and studied the woman. Her tender touch sent familiar warmth
through Maggie’s heart. Familiar cobalt eyes met her own. “You’re
Burke’s mom.”
Surprise flickered in her
eyes. “You know my son?”
Maggie found herself
regaining the control she’d felt slipping further and further from
her grasp. “He moved into my house last weekend.”
“Maggie.” The woman
squeezed her hand. Pleasure, despite the circumstances, lit up her
face. “I’m Sydney Harte. My husband, Tommy.”
The man moved to sit on the
other side of Maggie. His smile soothed her nerves as easily as
Burke’s could. “I wish I could’ve met you under better
circumstances, but I’m glad you’re here for him.”
“Tell me, Mrs. Sullivan.”
Tommy sat back and smiled. “Do you know how BD got shot? We haven’t
been able to talk to Craig long enough for details.”
Her heart clutched. These people loved Burke.
As nice as they seemed to be, they wouldn’t welcome her after
hearing what role she’d played in his ending up in an operating
room. So fine. She’d see for herself he was recovering and leave
them alone.
“Yes.” She ignored her
fear and told them about Adalia. The more she talked about it,
about the time spent with Burke, the more she relaxed. The image of
him bleeding on her floor receded to the background. Images of the
ways he’d kissed her, made love to her and taunted her to keep her
distracted from the crap going on around her moved to the
forefront. He’d been her hero from the start.
A doctor dressed in blue scrubs, a paper hat
and shoe covers stepped into the room and ambled toward them.
Exhaustion stamped his face. Her heart rate kicked up.
Sydney and Tommy stood as a unit, obviously
ready for whatever news they would hear. Maggie moved to the side,
keeping enough distance between herself and Burke’s family to be
reminded she wasn’t a part of the inner circle. They mattered
most.
Sydney turned and reached a hand out to her.
A simple gesture from a virtual stranger erased her loneliness.
Swallowing another wave of tears struggling to break free, she
stepped forward to join his parents. No wonder she’d fallen in love
with Burke.
The doctor pulled his scrub
cap off his head. His kind brown eyes were pinched with fatigue.
“BD’s in recovery and will be moved to a room shortly. He’ll be
with us for a few days, but he’ll be fine.”
“How much damage?” Tommy
asked.
“The bullet punctured a
lung. He’ll have a chest tube while that heals. It missed his ribs,
but we had to sew some muscle back together.”
Tommy continued asking the doctor questions.
Burke’s parents had been kind to include her, but she needed out.
Now. Ignoring the tension building in her neck and shoulders,
Maggie eased out of the room. Just a quick peek to see for herself
he was okay and she’d be out of their way.
She rounded a corner and ran into a young
nurse. Maggie forced a smile she didn’t feel, nodded politely, and
headed toward the recovery room. Stepping into a large room, she
saw several empty beds. Burke lay in one close to the door.
Covering her mouth, she stood at the end of his bed and let the
relief he was alive wash over her.
His skin was almost as pale as the sheets,
but he had more color than he had while lying on her floor. Tubes
running from his chest and arms were taped to his skin. A monitor
beside the bed beeped and showed his vitals. He looked like hell,
but he was breathing and slept peacefully thanks to meds. That’s
all that mattered.
Moving to his side, careful
not to touch any of the tubes sticking out of him, she brushed a
kiss to his lips. “I love you, Burke. More than I thought
possible.”
BD dreamt of Maggie bent over him, saying she
loved him, asking him to stay with her. Somewhere in the midst of
all the pain and disjointed sounds and smells of the hospital he’d
been enveloped by the warm scent of vanilla. The brush of her lips
on his hadn’t been imagined. The jolt of awareness that had shot
through his achy body had been real. He’d just been unable to move,
open his eyes, or speak.
Now, he had nothing but time on his hands.
Time he spent sleeping, trying to convince his family he was all
right, and torturing himself with the memory of Maggie.
She had grabbed his interest and captured his
heart before he could stop her. She’d been at the hospital during
his surgery, but had stayed away since. Why? Did she plan on coming
back?
He wanted to yank the tube out of his chest
and go find the answers for himself. An attempt to sit up in bed
had his chest burning until he admitted defeat and slumped back.
Damn Adalia.
“You know, Detective
Harte. You’ll heal faster if you stop moving so much.”
He shrugged at his nurse.
Then he winced, because as usual he moved the wrong shoulder. Beth
Sanders was cute, something men in hospital beds wanted, but he
only wanted to see one woman. “The walls start to close in on you
after awhile. Even the windows don’t help.”
“Perhaps knowing you’re
being released tomorrow will?” She moved to his side and helped him
adjust the pillows behind him. “Better?”
He nodded. “What
time?”
“We’ll get the tubes off
you this afternoon. If all goes well the paperwork should be ready
in the morning.”