Authors: Ann Vaughn
“Shane,
honey, sit down,” Mary’s voice broke through the red haze he was in. “You
can’t change what’s done. You can’t torture yourself playing What
If...and you know she would tell you the same. You got them all in
custody. They’ll stand trial for what they did and they’ll never hurt
another girl ever again. My Tessa did that; you did that. Now you
need to focus on what’s important right here and now in this room. Do you
hear me?” He didn’t speak, concentrating on forcing air through his
lungs. With everything else, he didn’t notice before, but he did
now. Tessa’s beautiful, long golden hair had been butchered. There
were some long strands here and there but most of it had been hacked
away. “Shane Gabriel, did you hear me?” Mary’s sharp tone cut through his
thoughts.
His
eyes shifted from Tessa to her mother, who Tessa looked very much like.
Mary wore her hair in a shoulder-length cut and it was just a tad darker than
Tessa’s but their faces were nearly the same.
“I
want my hands on them,” he confessed darkly, “All of them. Every single
one whose DNA they confirm on her. Every. Single. One.”
“Look
at me, McCanton,” Gibson snapped, “I want that, too. I would love nothing
better than to lock you in a room with each one of them and let you beat them
to a bloody pulp...but that won’t help her. Tessa is strong. She
can survive this...and she’s going to need your support, not your anger.”
He
closed his eyes and breathed sharply through his nose. “I know that,
Gib. Doesn’t change how I feel.”
“I
know...but, if Tessa were to open her eyes right now and see you like this...it
wouldn’t be a good thing. I’ve seen the changes you made in her these
past weeks. You are what was missing from her life all these years.
She’s going to need you now more than ever.”
He
knew what they were telling him was true; didn’t help, though. Not when
he took in Tessa’s battered body.
The
door opened and Bruce and Crownover stepped in. Crownover took one look
at her and swore viciously, then immediately apologized when he saw Mary.
Gibson made quick introductions but Shane ignored them, his eyes on Tessa’s
closed ones, willing them to open. He silently begged her to wake up.
He needed to know that in spite of everything, she was going to be OK.
“Shane,
a word with you?” Bruce asked, breaking his thoughts.
“I’m
not leaving her,” he said low.
“It’ll
only be a minute. I just need-”
“I
said, I’m not leaving her,” he stressed.
“You
need to give your statement and-”
“Get.
Out.”
“I
know you’re upset. I know how-”
Shane
lunged at him, grabbing his Godfather by the throat and slamming him back
against the wall. “You don’t know how I feel, Bruce!” he exploded. “You
want my statement? You screwed up. You left her alone and unprotected and
damn near got her killed! She was gang raped! They were so brutal they
tore her uterus. She miscarried my baby and she may never be able to have
children now. I told you to take care of her and this is what
happened. There’s your statement, now get out! And tell Pete and
Joe they better steer clear of me...and by the way? I quit,” he growled,
releasing him and turning away to take a deep breath.
“Now,
don’t make any rash decisions, you-”
“I’m
done with this, Bruce. All my notes for all my cases are at my
desk. You already have my gun. Here’s my badge,” he said, ripping
it off his belt and throwing it at him, “I’m done.”
Bruce
caught the badge then wearily placed it on the bed next to Tessa’s hand.
“Procedure
still has to be followed and you know it. Nathaniel Helton just came out
of surgery. He’s expected to make a full recovery. Paul Helton and
the Council of Elders are all in custody, all lawyered up, but we have one who
is talking. They are going down and they are going down hard and they
will stay down, thanks to Tessa. Stephanie Quinn is with her
family. She says she signed membership forms but doesn’t recall signing
anything giving her consent to be beaten. She is afraid of Paul but
adores Nathaniel. As hard as this will be for you to hear, what was done
to Tessa may be our only way to take Nathaniel down.”
Shane
didn’t speak and refused to look away from Tessa to acknowledge Bruce
further. Bruce sighed loudly and spoke again.
“You
need to give your statement. Joe and Pete-”
“You
keep them away from me. I’ll give a statement to you or to Crownover but
that’s it and it won’t be now.”
“Dammit,
Shane,” Bruce growled.
“Please,”
Mary finally spoke up, “Tessa doesn’t need all this tension around her.”
“You’re
right, she doesn’t,” Shane agreed, “You need to go, Bruce.”
“Come
on, Captain,” Gibson said, opening the door, “I’ll walk you out.”
Bruce
shook his head but wisely followed Gibson out into the hall.
“I
get that he’s upset but-”
Gibson
held his hand up to stop him. “I don’t think you do get that he’s upset,
not like I saw him. It’s never easy to witness someone fall apart but
what I saw earlier...you’ve got to give him time.”
“We
have an investigation to run.”
“You
think I don’t know that? Tessa is mine, remember? How do you think
you would feel if a doctor came out and told you your wife was brutally gang
raped? You’re his Godfather. You need to back off.”
Tessa’s
door opened and Mary and Crownover stepped out. Both men looked to them,
then with a nod to her, Bruce and Crownover left. Gib’s eyes turned to
Mary, struck by how beautiful she was.
“Tessa
still out?”
She
nodded. “I just thought I’d give Shane a moment to be with her. He
is barely hanging on by a thread.”
“It’s
tough to watch. Buy you a cup of coffee?” he offered.
“That
would be wonderful,” she said smiling and taking his arm when offered.
Inside
the room, Shane held Tessa’s hand and raised her fingers to his lips. So
much had happened since they met that day in Kindergarten. She made his
life miserable for longer than he could stand, then for a short time, she’d
made him happier than he’d ever been...and then she left. He’d
understood; she had to get out of Indian Springs and on with her life and he
was away at college. But it hurt, her leaving. And he’d missed
her. He’d had a few relationships between then and now but no one ever
measured up to her.
He
rested his forehead on the bed next to her hip, her hand held tightly in
between his. He let his mind drift over every moment of their lives
together up until now. Every moment of the last few months. Seeing
her when she stood in front of the meeting room, when they walked into her
hotel room, their time in San Antonio.
“Come
on, Tess...come back to me,” he said softly, kissing her hand.
~~~
“Shane,
honey,” he heard Mary say, jerking him awake.
“Tess?”
he asked, looking down at her still sleeping form.
“No,
there’s no change,” Mary assured him, her voice soft. “Your friend Crownover
brought some clothes for you.”
He
took the bag she offered then looked back down at Tessa.
“I
keep expecting her to open her eyes and start ordering me around and arguing
with me.”
Mary
stroked her hand over his hair to soothe him.
“She
will before you know it. I didn’t know she was working with you,” she
confided. “She told me she would be out-of-touch for a while, and a
little bit about her investigation, but not who she was working with. It
never occurred to me that she could be working with you...how long have you
been back together with her?”
“Little
over four months,” he said, “we’re engaged.”
A
smile spread across her face. “Oh, Shane! That’s wonderful!”
“After
this, how can she get past what they did to her?”
“She
will...with you by her side. You are her rock, Shane. You always
have been, even all these years you were apart; she always spoke of your
conversations and texts and emails.”
He
shook his head, eyes on Tessa. “As a rape victim, she has a long road
ahead of her. I couldn’t stand it if my touch made her relive what they
did to her.”
“We
have a lot to learn about how to handle her, you more than me. I’m
certainly no expert on rape, but I know about violence. What was done to
her was done with hatred and fear. When you are with her, there will be
love in your touch; I have to believe that will make a difference. And you
can’t forget, Shane, my Tessa, she’s a lot stronger than we give her credit
for.”
He
brushed his hand over Tessa’s hair. “God, I hope so,” he breathed.
“You think we could get someone to come shape her hair up? I don’t
want her to wake up and see it like this.”
Mary
offered him a sad smile. “What a wonderful idea. I’ll go talk to
the nurses. I bet they would know someone willing to come fix her up.”
A
couple of hours later, Shane held Tessa against him while a very sweet and
compassionate stylist cut Tessa’s hair into what she described as a short,
choppy pageboy. He didn’t care what the cut was called, he just knew it
looked a thousand times better once it was done. He also took her
engagement ring off her dog-tags around his neck and slid it in place on her
finger. He wanted her to know beyond a shadow of a doubt, as soon as she
woke up, that he still wanted her.
“Visiting
hours are almost up,” the night shift nurse, who introduced herself as Linda,
announced.
“I’m
not leaving her,” Shane insisted.
“You
won’t do her any good if you push yourself to exhaustion,” Linda told him.
“I
wasn’t there when she needed me the most,” he said, “I won’t let that happen
again.”
“Shane,”
Mary began but the look he shot her silenced what she would have said.
“Typical McCanton, stubborn to a fault.”
“Damn
straight.”
“Like
I said before, my Tessa is lucky to have you.”
“I
can take you to a hotel, Mary,” Gibson offered.
“Just
go to my place,” Shane said, pulling his keys from his pocket. “No sense in you
going to a hotel when my place is available.”
Mary
nodded. “OK, honey, we’ll go there. I’ll bring you a change of
clothes in the morning.”
“Thanks.”
“Try
to rest,” she said, kissing his cheek.
The
nurse left with Mary and Gibson but came back ten minutes later pushing a
roll-away bed.
“I
know you’re going to be stubborn and not use this, but it’s here, just in
case,” she said after she made it up.
“Thank
you,” he replied softly.
She
checked Tessa’s vitals, then turned to face Shane. He guessed her to be
slightly younger than his parents and Mary. She had dark hair with a
sprinkling of grey here and there; just enough to make her look authoritative.
“Your
girl has been all over the news,” she announced. At his alarmed look, she
held a cautionary hand up, “they haven’t released her name, but they are all
over the story of how an undercover agent took down the Naturalists.
Media ever gets a good look at the two of you and Hollywood types will be
falling all over themselves to tell your story.”
“Everyone
should know what she did to take them down. What she sacrificed,” he said
hoarsely.
“She’s
not the type to want that kind of attention, though, is she?”
“No,
ma’am. She’s not.”
She
studied Tessa a moment. “It’s a fine thing she did. The daughter of
one of my co-workers got mixed up with that bunch a few years ago. No
one’s heard from her since. We’re all hoping she’s among the girls
recovered.”
“Get
me her name and the most recent picture her family has and I’ll find out for
you.”
“I’ll
do that. Her mother would certainly appreciate it.”
“Would
be my pleasure. Something good needs to come of all this.”
She
smiled and gave his shoulder a pat. “Try to get some rest. I mean
it.”
“I’ll
try,” he promised as she left.
Alone
with Tessa, he took her hand and kissed her fingers then leaned forward to rest
his head on the side of her bed. He must have fallen asleep, but his eyes
flew open when he felt a gentle touch to the crown of his head. It was
dark in the room save for a small night light near the head of her bed but he
could just barely see the shine of her eyes.