Yesterday's Tomorrows (26 page)

I
t felt
like all hell broke loose. The man holding me flinched and released his grip. Tires screeched, sirens wailed to a stop, and people were screaming everywhere. I staggered forward, anticipating the sting of a bullet, but I needed to get to Holt. Holt lay several steps above me, and even in my tear-filled eyes, I could see a puddle of blood trickle down the stairs.

My stomach lurched and the ground started to swim, but I forced myself to half-walk, half-crawl the several yards to where he lay. Only when I got there, he wasn’t alone. A small woman with a hat covering her hair lay still a few feet from him.

I reached out trembling hands toward Holt as I got to him. “Holt!” I sobbed. “Please, baby. Please open your eyes.” I grasped his hands in mine. “You can’t leave me, do you hear? You promised to catch me if I fell, Holt. And you made me fall in love with you, so you don’t leave me, okay?"

His eyes fluttered open. “Is that your closing argument?”

Relief poured through me. My smile was shaky as tears poured down my face. “It is if it gets me the verdict I want.”

A shaky smile broke out on his face. “No further arguments from me. I love you, too, sweetheart.” He grimaced. “What happened? Where’d that woman come from? She seemed to just come out of nowhere.” He struggled to sit up, but I urged him to stay still. “Check on her, sweetheart.”

I turned to kneel next to her. Her back was to me. I touched her shoulder, but she didn’t move so I crawled around to her front. My hands flew to my mouth. Her eyes were closed, but there was no mistaking her face.

“Charly! Oh, Charly, what have you done?” I whispered. She hadn’t changed much since I’d last seen her. I gently brushed the hair away from her face.

Holt had been able to roll to his side and sit up. “She threw herself at me, Maddy. I have no idea where she came from, but I heard a scream and then suddenly I was on the ground. I think she pushed me out of the way.”

I gasped, and that was when I realized the blood on Holt wasn’t his, it was her’s. “Oh, my God! Charly! Honey, wake up! Please, talk to me.” My hands shook as I patted her face.

Her lashes fluttered.

“That’s it, honey.” I brushed her hair with my fingers and kept my face close to her so she could see me without moving. “It’s me, Maddy. Please wake up.”

“Ma…Maddy?”

“Yes, Charly. It’s me.”

Her eyes opened further. “Maddy.” She reached up one hand and stroked my cheek. I clutched her hand. “You’re okay! I’m so sor...” she started to cough, but recovered. ‘So sorry for everything,” she wheezed.

“It’s fine. Save your strength. We can talk later.” I kissed her hand, terrified by her paleness and weak speech.

Paramedics came over with their bags and split their attention between her and Holt. I was torn. I longed to be with Holt, but Charly seemed to be in worse shape.

She must have sensed my conflict. She flicked her eyes toward him. “You…you need to be with him.” She began shaking. “But first, I n…need you t…to f…forgive me. I needed to pro…protect Lily.”

“Lily?” I questioned. Was she talking about our mother? That didn’t make any sense. “You know what? It’s fine, Charly. Save your strength. We’ll talk when you’re better.” The paramedics were taking her pulse and hooking her up to a portable IV and doing who knows what else. I moved out of their way and moved to sit behind Charly, cradling her head in my lap.

Her eyes glistened. “Pl…please take c...care of Lil…Lily for m…me.”

“Charly, who’s Lily?” I brushed the hair from her face and stroked her cheek, tears running down my face as my sister fought for her words.

Her lips trembled. “M...my…my daughter.”

Her daughter? Seeing Charly was shocking enough, but this? She had a daughter?

I kissed her hand and held it to my cheek as I huddled over. “I don’t know what to say, Charly. I didn’t know, but I’m sure she’s beautiful. Like you.”

She grimaced in obvious pain, and I tried to tell her to be quiet, to save her obviously fading strength, but she weakly shook her head. “Sh…she knows all about how…how br…brave her Auntie Maddy is.” Her grip on my hand loosened.”She l…lov…loves you and says pr…prayers f…for you. Pl…please tell her…how much…h…her mama loves her.”

“Ma’am? We need to get her loaded in the ambulance and to the hospital.” The paramedics had brought over a gurney.

“Okay,” I replied and started to lift her head gently off my lap.

“No!” Charly said with surprising strength. Her eyes sought mine. “Promise me. She…she’ll need you.”

I didn’t want to accept what she was trying to tell me. “I promise, Charly. Now, please, save your strength. We’ll talk later when you’re stronger. I promise I’ll be there. We have so much to catch up on. We’ll do like we did when I was really little and we’d splurge on one of those big candy bars from the dollar store and curl up in bed together and tell each other about our day. I’ll even give you the bigger half of the candy bar,” I pleaded with her. I couldn’t lose her now, not like this. My nose ran and blended with the tears on my face, but I couldn’t let go long enough to wipe my face.

She smiled sadly at me and released my hand. “I love you,” she whispered. “Always h…have. Go…go f…find your m…m…man. Be happy, brat. It’s your t…turn. W…way p…p…past t…time.”

The paramedics wasted no time transferring her to the gurney and carefully moved her down the steps to a waiting ambulance. I remained by her side the whole way, but her eyes had closed. I could tell she’d lost consciousness, and I’d only be in the way in the ambulance. Plus, I needed to find Holt. I hurried to a second ambulance where they were already loading Holt. I tapped the paramedic on the shoulder. “I need to see him.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, you’ll have to meet us there.”

Like hell. “Now you listen to me,” I said tersely pointing my finger at him. “I’ve had a gun held to my head, watched the love of my life, who happens to be your patient, get shot, seen my sister appear out of nowhere and get shot, and my head is splitting, so you could say I’ve had a bad day. Not to mention I think I have PMS, so unless you want me to knock your teeth so far down your throat you’ll have to shove food up your ass to eat, I suggest you get out of my way.” I stood with my hands on my hips and glared at him.

He blinked at me, a stunned expression on his face.

“I think you better do as she says,” an amused voice called from inside the ambulance. “She loves me, and even I know better than to cross her when she pulls out her grannyisms.”

Mr. Paramedic moved out of my way still staring at me and giving me a wide berth. I nodded, smiled sweetly at him, and scampered up, sliding along the bench until I was close enough to lean into Holt’s face. They had his back elevated and he was pale, but grinning.

“As I said, always willing to stand up to others for those you care about. Remind me to never block your way, sweetheart!” He winked at the paramedic who was still looking at me like I was crazy.

The adrenaline rush faded, and I burst into full blown tears. “Oh, baby. I was so scared for you. Are you in much pain? Are you okay? What can I do?” My sentences all ran together in one breath.

His face grew serious. “Won’t lie, my shoulder hurts like a motherfucker, but I’ll live. And you weren’t nearly as scared as I was. I knew I couldn’t lose you. All I could think of was if something happened to you, I hoped the next bullet was true because I wouldn’t survive without you.”

The ambulance hit a pothole and Holt grimaced. “How’s the other woman? I swear, she just came out of nowhere in a blur and knocked me down.”

“She’s not in good shape,” I sniffled. “But Holt, that woman is my sister. Charly saved your life.”

The ambulance slowed to a halt, and the doors were whipped open before Holt could respond. Moments later he was in an exam room which was a flurry of activity. One of the nurses tried to get me to leave his side stating I needed to be checked out myself. She promised me she’d keep me posted on Holt. Now that I’d seen him, I didn’t have the energy to fight her like I had the paramedic. I reluctantly nodded, but not before I leaned in to kiss him. “We missed our date at the courthouse,” I murmured against his lips. “I think you owe me, Mr. Andrews.”

“Gladly.” He used his good arm to pull me down where he didn’t hold back on his kiss, immediately parting my lips with his tongue and staking his claim.

“Ahem,” one of the doctors cleared his throat. “We need to see to his shoulder now.” His smile was sympathetic but firm, and I was kindly but forcibly sent to another cubicle to be examined.

A thorough but brief exam later, I was left alone while the nurse left to get me some medicine for my headache. She came back a moment later saying the police wanted to interview me, but another man claiming to be my lawyer was also there. Seconds later, Mr. McCloskey stuck his head through the curtain.

“Madelyn, darling?”

I jumped off the bed and flew into his arms. I lost it once again. All the fear, all the grief came crashing down on me. He let me cry until the tears finally began to slow. He hugged and patted my shoulders while he dug in a pocket for a handkerchief and handed it to me. It smelled like a combination of sunshine and starch. I didn’t know men still carried them, but then again I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since Mr. M was the good old-fashioned kind, and they didn’t make many like him anymore.

“Ms. Stone?”

A uniformed policeman stepped through the curtain. “I’m sorry, I know you’re upset, but I need to ask you a few questions.”

I didn’t want to, but knew it was necessary, and I hoped to get it over with so I could focus on Holt and Charly, so I nodded. I felt better having Mr. M with me. The officer was followed by two men in suits with badges attached to their belt. I repeated everything that happened that day, along with answering a bunch of questions. They knew about my incarceration and the fire. Obviously, they’d done their homework. Mr. M made sure they stuck to relevant questions, reminding them I was a victim twice now and they needed to get to the bottom of this. I promised to be available if they needed me and they finally left me alone.

The nurse who promised me she’d keep me posted on Holt came in to let me know that he had been wheeled in for surgery to repair some minor damage that occurred when the bullet ripped through his shoulder.

“Can you find out what happened to another woman brought in? Charly Stone? She was shot, too. She’s my sister.”

She patted my shoulder sympathetically. “I’ll let the doctors know, hon.” She left me with a bag of Holt’s belongings, including his watch and phone, and then we were dismissed to the waiting room. I was surprised to see Mr. Barnes and Misty sitting in chairs there. Misty was being comforted by her uncle as she cried silently. I didn’t understand. Was she crying for Holt? Was she seriously that infatuated with him?

Mr. Barnes smiled sympathetically at me and rose to speak to Mr. M. I sat on the other side of the waiting room and ignored them. I punched in Holt’s password on his phone and scrolled until I found his mother’s name. One more very teary eyed conversation, and I finally drew an exhausted breath. Mr. M sat next to me and put his arm around me. I rested my head on his shoulder and watched the hands on the clock move forward with painstaking slowness.

“Andrews family?” A doctor searched the waiting room. I stood.

“Mrs. Andrews?” looked to see if Holt’s mom had gotten there, but I didn’t see her. Mr. M nudged me.

Oh. I cleared my throat. “Yes, that’s me.”

He smiled reassuringly. “Your husband is out of surgery. We removed the bullet and repaired some minimal damage. He may need some physical therapy, but he should be fine. We’re going to keep him here overnight just as a precaution against infection. He’s a lucky man. A couple inches lower, and we might be having a different conversation. We’ll be wheeling him back to a room in just a few minutes, and I’ll have a nurse bring you back. Your husband was much more concerned about you than he was himself. He made us promise to bring his wife back to him ASAP because you were the only medicine that would work.” He winked at me. “He really made the nurses swoon.”

More tears fell, this time from gratitude. I thanked him profusely. “Is there any word on Charly Stone? She’s my sister.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t part of her team, but I know they were brought in around the same time from the same scene. I’ll see what I can find out and send someone to find you.”

I collapsed into the nearest available chair. “He’ll be fine,” I told Mr. M and the others who’d moved over to us.

“What about Charly?” whispered Misty.

I looked up in surprise. “How do you know about her?”

“It’s a long story,” she sniffled.

“And one I think you better start telling me,” I snapped.

Misty wiped tears away and said, “Yes, I will. You need to know.”

A nurse interrupted. “Mrs. Andrews?” I heard Misty gasp, and I shot her a nasty look to keep her mouth shut. “I’m here to take you to your husband.”

Mr. M squeezed my shoulders. “We’ll be right here. I’d like to see him when he’s ready. I promise I’ll keep it short. I just want to see him for myself. Just so you know there are a slew of reporters here outside the hospital. The police are doing their best to keep them out, but you know how sneaky they can be.”

I nodded and followed the nurse down several halls lined with rooms until we stopped in front of one.

“He’s still groggy,” she warned as she knocked and pushed the door open. I hurried past her and entered Holt’s room. Some color had returned to his face, which I assumed was because he wasn’t in as much pain. There were bandages covering his left shoulder under a sling. Holt’s eyes were closed but opened slightly as soon as I sat on the edge of his bed and picked up his hand from where it rested on his stomach.

“Hi,” he said hoarsely.

“Hi, yourself.” I smiled back at him, biting my lip to keep from crying.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, except I’m worried about you. But the doctor says you’re going to be just fine.”

“Been through worse,” he chuckled, grimacing as it jarred his shoulder. “At least this time I know I’ll have a good nurse to wait on me.” He tried to wink, but since his eyes were only half open, it looked more like a one-eyed squint.