Chapter 27, Rowan (The Irish Wolves Book 3)

Chapter 27

Hugh’s phone dinged a message from MacGregor as they descended toward the runway.

Call.

As he dialed, he looked to Raven and River, who were both staring at him with identical looks of fear and put the call on speaker. MacGregor answered on the first ring.

“I sent an address to Jeffreys. The hospital where Rowan and Mrs. Stanton will be transported.” The detective looked at his phone and nodded. “Less than an hour ago, Pérez and Reynolds’ names popped up. They were in a fatal drunk driving accident Sunday night, killing themselves and the man driving the other car.”

Hugh wanted to ask a thousand questions. He refused to interrupt.

“Jeffreys,” MacGregor continued, “I spoke to your partner at the department, and she notified Huntsville’s SWAT unit that the house should be clear of threat but to still proceed as though it’s hot. They moved on the house minutes ago. Dean is speaking with Stanton now.” He hesitated.

MacGregor doesn’t hesitate. Hugh looked at his sons, both deathly white. Raven and River swayed in their seats. “Tina, please go tell Bobby that we need this plane landed now, and my goddamn cars better be waiting.” She took off like a fired bullet. He glanced at his mom. She had a death grip on her chair. “What else, MacGregor?”

“I received an update minutes ago. They are waiting for bolt cutters to be delivered. Rowan and Mrs. Stanton are cuffed to metal poles in the basement. Rowan tried to pull her hand free. She has torn her skin down to the bone in several places, and the wounds are infected. They are dehydrated but awake and able to answer questions.” He hesitated again.

“They were stripped to their bras and underwear and held in a completely blacked-out basement. They were drugged several times. Their feet are bound in several zip ties. The plastic has dug into their flesh. They won’t remove them until they reach the hospital so they can numb the area.”

Stunned silence filled the plane. Raven and River got out of their seats, shaking their husband’s hands away and knelt at Hugh’s feet.

Raven grabbed Hugh’s wrist and brought the phone close. “Thomas,” she whimpered, “Thomas. Tell me…was she…was our sister?—”

“Hurt in any…other way?” River finished.

“Unless she didn’t want to say, lass, she said no,” MacGregor answered in a gentle Scottish brogue. “She’s terrified and hurting…but, no, not that way I think. She told an officer on the scene that the big guy, she meant Reynolds, told her that he wasn’t giving her back. James told me that Jo’s pilot rerouted her plane to Huntsville.”

The landing gear hit the tarmac. Hugh ended the call without a goodbye. He couldn’t speak. His throat was too tight. It was a matter of ticking things off in his mind to ignore the rage begging to be unleashed—to hold in the scream.

He stared again at nothing. He looked at no one. He spoke to no one. He didn’t even have his beard to hide behind.

He clasped his hands together so the urge to destroy the plane’s interior couldn’t manifest. He just kept repeating the steps required to reach her.

Land. Disembark. SUV. Hospital. Rowan.

They gotto the hospital before Rowan. Jeffreys was on the phone with Huntsville police, but everyone else, Stanton’s family, a subdued Diana Gaines included, was standing outside the emergency room entrance waiting for the ambulances to arrive.

No one spoke. Bran and Patrick flanked his sides. Raven and River stood slightly apart, holding hands, tears rolling steadily down their cheeks. He imagined his sons wanted to comfort their wives. They understood that neither would find comfort until they laid eyes on their sister.

Someone behind him gasped, jerking Hugh’s head up to scan his surroundings. Two ambulances, lights on but sirens off, were pulling into the emergency vehicle-only drive. No siren was good. Sirens meant emergency. He felt a hand land on his shoulder. Whichever boy it was thought he needed the support. They were right. He needed it. Badly.

He couldn’t rush her. He knew she would need her sisters more than him right now. He understood. He would wait.

The ambulances parked side by side, the first door opened, and a bed was wheeled out. Cries of Mom were shouted. Katy looked weary and drawn. A wobbly smile brushed her lips.

“Oh, my babies,” she cried.

The EMTs rolling her gurney slowed as her children ran to give their mom light kisses on her cheeks. They were probably afraid of touching her somewhere tender and hurting her. He glanced at Stanton, who stood still as a statue. He looked relieved and devastated at once. He didn’t approach his ex-wife. It was clear he desperately wanted to.

And then the second ambulance finally opened. Hugh crossed his arms over his chest, locking his joints so he didn’t fall to his knees. There she was, looking so tiny. A light sheet covered her body. Her bare arms rested on top of the sheet. An IV ran from one, and light gauze wrapped the opposite hand…a metal chain snaked its way between the wrapping. A bastardized version of freedom.

He held still as Raven and River ran to her side, causing her EMTs to stop just as Katy’s had. He, Bran, and Patrick watched the women they loved reunite. It was beautiful and painful in the same breath.

None of them spoke. They just looked at each other. Rowan was the first to move. She touched her fingers to Raven’s cheek, then lifted the hand wrapped in gauze—the one still sporting her handcuff and touched River’s. Her wince at moving her obviously wounded hand had Hugh taking a step forward, ready to intervene.

Bran and Pat grabbed his arms.

“Wait,” Bran demanded.

“They need this,” Patrick added.

He exhaled and shook his boys’ hands off. He would wait.

Raven touched Rowan’s cheek. River did the same. They were a triumvirate of absolute, pure love. After a moment, Rowan let her hands rest back by her sides, giving her sisters a small nod.

“I love you. I’ll see you soon,” Rowan assured them.

“I love you.”

They backed away from Rowen, and the gurney started its forward momentum toward the motion-activated glass doors leading into the hospital. He couldn’t see Rowan’s face. An EMT was blocking her upper body. She was speaking…arguing? He heard his name spoken in an urgent whisper.

Before his brain fully comprehended what his body intended, he lunged toward the gurney, startling the EMTs and causing them to stop once more.

He stared at her. She stared at him. He expected her to look broken. She looked fierce. Brave. Strong.

“Row,” he managed to choke out.

Her breath hitched. They both were crying silent tears at seeing each other again. “I love you, baby. Go now, and let the doctors make you better. I’ll be waiting.”

She only nodded, a tear dripping from her jaw. He bent and placed a soft kiss on her lips, one of his tears dropping to her cheek.

She moved her mouth to his ear and whispered, “There was not one second of one moment that I didn’t hold your love close and take comfort from it. Don’t be a bear while I’m getting fixed and tell my sisters I want them to give me a shower.”

He could only nod in affirmation. If she wanted it, she would have it. He stepped back and let the EMTs take her away. He wrapped his arm around his mother’s shoulders when she came to stand next to him.

She squeezed his waist tightly, her small body shivering with strong emotion. “What can I do?”

He knew his mother, and she would feel better if she had a job, so he gave her one. “Find Diana. I want both women moved to an offsite care facility with round-the-clock nurses and room for the families until they’re well enough to go home. Surely, there are plastic surgery recovery facilities for the wealthy in a city this size. The doctors will insist they stay in the hospital. Insist otherwise.”

Mom straightened from leaning against her son, ran her hand down her navy silk blouse, and buttoned her white blazer. A woman on a mission. Hugh suppressed a smile.

“Girls,” Mom turned to Raven and River, who looked as deflated as twenty-day-old birthday balloons. “I need you both.” Hugh was pleased to see some life come back to his daughters-in-law. They straightened from leaning against each other and their husbands.

“River, my sweet girl, I need you to research the best, the very best recovery facilities with 24-hour nursing care. Rowan isn’t going to have one more night of being uncomfortable.” At River’s raised brow, Mom added, “Hugh suggested a posh plastic surgery facility.”

River’s eyes brightened instantly, pulling her phone from her purse. “On it.”

“There needs to be plenty of room for family. We’ll want rooms for Bre and Daniel.”

River barely nodded as she grabbed Patrick’s hand and walked them over to an outside bench. “As soon as Pat and I lock down the location, I’ll send the details in a group message.”

“While River works on that, Raven, you and I need to find Diana. She’ll help us convince the hospital of the necessary change of address.”

Raven quickly kissed Bran, dropping his hand, which she had previously been holding like a lifeline, and walked to Hugh’s mother. “This will be right up your best friend’s alley, Tilly. Let’s go.” She turned to look at Hugh before disappearing inside the hospital. “Send a car back to the plane, please. Riv and I packed up all of Rowan’s things from your mom’s. She’ll feel better for having the bag Mom made her. It has all her personal items and makeup.”

His mother wasn’t the only one who appreciated having a helpful task. “Consider it done.”

“Oh, and Hugh,” Raven got his attention again. Sharing a smile with River. The first smile he’d seen from them in days. “The brown leather tote has the stuff from Row’s nightstand.”

Hugh raised an eyebrow at her announcement. He would look, of course.

“Tina packed those boxes sitting on your bar,” the jewelry for Rowan, “and your five boxes of condoms,” his mother added helpfully.

Hugh’s arm froze in the act of calling Bobby, their pilot. Embarrassment burned up his neck and into his cheeks. He refused to acknowledge the comment.

Rowan was back. Everything else was white noise, there but easily ignored. He’d take sex jokes from Diana Gaines without batting an eye at this point.

Mom,Raven, and River came through…and Diana, damn it. She acted like it was all her idea. River found a rehabilitating facility that was fully staffed with medical personnel, which was why the hospital released her. It had long-term family lodging. Stanton was extremely thankful.

Tina and Bre, after the assistant/nanny handed Daniel back into his mother’s arms, took charge of designating rooms and making sure the luggage was distributed accordingly. Josephine O’Connor arrived a few hours before Rowan was released to the rehab facility.

Jo, Raven, River, and Rowan cried and laughed, hugged, and kissed, and generally made a spectacle. Without a beard, Hugh didn’t have a chance in hell of hiding how much joy the scene gave him.

Rowan had damaged her hand pretty severely trying to slide the cuff off. Hugh didn’t want to consider the desperation she must have felt to do something like that to herself. The wounds had been treated and dressed. The doctor liberally numbed her lower legs before cutting off the zip ties. Again, those wounds were cleaned and dressed. The nurses at the after-care facility were given care instructions and had schedules to change her dressings and administer pain medicine as needed.

It was now eight in the evening. He gave Rowan space to talk with everyone and to call Bébhinn. Her grandmother had been sick with worry. Now, she was closed in with Katy. Katy’s nurse had rolled her wheelchair into Rowan’s room forty-five minutes ago. Their legs were too tender to hold weight just yet, which crushed him to even think about. He and William were pacing outside the door.

“Becky,my nurse told me that with the antibiotic cream and leg massages, I’ll still be sore, but I should be able to walk by tomorrow without too much discomfort. The swelling is almost gone. What did they tell you?” Rowan asked.

“Almost the same. I’m still pretty swollen, but that’s probably due to my age. It was so good to hug and kiss my children, Row. I can’t even describe it. Ben held my hand like he used to when he was a little boy. Evelyn wouldn’t stop crying until I told her how I peed on one of my legs and feet,” she snorted in amusement.

“Then the three of us were laughing. I told them no more tears. The percentage of people getting kidnapped twice was extremely low.” In a change of subject, she asked, “How is Hugh holding up. He never struck me as a particularly patient man. I’m surprised he isn’t in here.”

Rowan was still giggling about the pee. “It was almost a blessing we were dehydrated. I couldn’t imagine experiencing that again,” she admitted, shaking her head. “He’s grumpily perfect, isn’t he? Trust me, he’ll be the next person through that door and the last until morning if I have anything to say about it.”

“Oh, I almost forgot, your sisters came to see me. Did you tell them about what happened between William and me?”

Katy didn’t seem angry, just curious.

“They asked if you knew about us going on a few dates. I told them you knew everything. I did not tell them anything personal you shared with me. I promise. But,” Rowan couldn’t help but smirk, “I did tell them that William must be the dumbest man alive to have let you go.”

She snorted at that, a blush tinting her pale cheeks. “When Raven and River came to my room, my kids were there, and I believe Will was still lurking outside the door. They told Ben and Evelyn that you said I was doing Thanksgiving in Dublin this year with your family, and they would love it if they would come too.

“I will preface their reaction by reiterating how devastating the last couple of years have been, enduring the holidays as the ex-wife. They didn’t mean to, but they acted differently. I guess they were unsure. I felt out of place and…unnecessary. So, I was thrilled when both kids immediately said they’d be thrilled to join.

“There was a loud crash in the hallway. I think William may have thrown a chair,” she huffed in amazement. “The kids acted like they didn’t hear it. I feel ashamed to have thought this of my children, but…I never believed they would pick me over William. It meant everything.”

Rowan reached over and took Katy’s hand between her own, squeezing in understanding. “I’m glad they know what a treasure you are. Will’s directed your path for long enough. It’s time to take charge of your life. You should never feel second best, Kat. Plus, you promised to bring me samples of your woven wool table mats.

“Our customers want custom everything. Bring me product, and I’ll bring you customers,” Rowan assured. One of the gazillion topics she and Katy had discussed when they were in the basement was her dream of starting a small business, starting with her woven table mats.

“I know I spoke with your sisters, but how are they doing now that you’re back? They seemed great, but they were united in making William squirm, so it could have been false cheer,” she grinned, letting Rowan know she’d enjoyed her sisters’ antics immensely. “I know you are very close.”

“Raven and River...they...we,” she paused, trying to explain in a way that would make sense to Katy, “love one another so deeply, we’re so damn close that sometimes it feels like we’re the same person. When one of us is hurting, we all hurt.

“We do our own things and have our own relationships, but our cores, I guess, are inseparable. Raven is a new mother, and Riv is seven months pregnant. Emotions are running high in the Byrne circle,” she snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Mentally, I feel pretty good. I’m tired and sore, but we’re safe and with family, and I don’t care if I sound like a princess, but I’m damn happy to be sleeping in an actual bed tonight.”

“Well, you are old money, dear,” Rowan teased, and Katy pretended to swat her leg. “I almost cried when Raven washed my hair, so yeah, no judgment zone here. Change of subject, but have you spoken with Will? At all?”

Katy twisted her shoulder-length red hair several times around her finger before blowing out a deep breath, and her head dropped back to the top of her wheelchair. She let out a moan and admitted, “Not one word. Nothing. Flipping nothing!”

“Jesus! What a jackass, and yet...he’s stalking you like a tiger with his first boner.”

Katy’s head was still tilted back, and when she laughed, it turned into a choke and coughing fit. She was now bent forward, her forehead touching Rowan’s mattress, wheezing in laughter.

“I’m not wrong. My sisters are nothing if not informative, and I have it on good authority that Auntie Diana called William a twat when he wouldn’t go into your room.”

They giggled uncontrollably at that tidbit. Once their mirth receded, they looked at one another, no words, just simple contemplation with their partner in terror. It’s funny how shared fear can bind. Rowan understood that she and Katy were inexplicably connected. Humans can’t survive such a harrowing experience together without creating an unbreakable bond.

“I wonder if I should tell Hugh that those men took us to the restroom while we were drugged. That I’m worried they touched us. That I’m worried they did more.” Rowan swallowed the lump lodged in her throat. “I woke up once, and my bra was below my breasts. I didn’t remember that until a few hours ago.”

“Between the drugs and our fear, I imagine our brain is trying to blur the edges of what happened.” Katy leaned her head back once more, contemplating the ceiling in all its white wonder before continuing. “If William and I were together, I would tell him. Your fears are yours to share and his to bear, and vice versa. Let him take those fears and crush them. No matter what, Row, never forget those cowardly pieces of shit are dead. They can’t hurt us or anyone else ever again.”

Rowan felt fat tears slip down her cheeks. All truth. It was strange to feel so shaky and out of sorts now that she was safe.

“Here, help me up,” Katy said as she leaned forward and held her hand out for her to grab. “I’m tired of being in this chair. Let me lay by you for a few minutes before I go find my own bed.”

Rowan was already sitting up in bed, so she scooched over and fluffed two pillows for Katy to lean against.

“Ahhh, much better. My bony ass is going to be bruised forever from sitting on that darn concrete floor.”

Rowan knew Katy was trying to give her comfort and ease her moment of anxiety. She knew that imagining scenarios that may or may not have happened wasn’t going to help her heal mentally or physically.

She would give her fears to Hugh, and he would burn them to the ground. With that decision made, Rowan felt her heart slow and peace settle more easily on her shoulders. At least the police took their statements while they were still at the hospital, and they said they didn’t believe they would need anything further. No trial meant no testimonies. Thank God.

“Plus,” she added, patting Rowan’s leg, “it feels nice to have a snuggle bunny after one of those dratted kidnappings.”

She laughed. Laughing was so much better than crying. With Katy’s wacky sense of humor and Jo’s irreverence, she knew those two would become fast friends once they met tomorrow.

“Oh, I plan on having a snuggle partner tonight. I wouldn’t call Hugh a bunny, though.”

“Badger?” Katy suggested.

“Grizzly. He’s all big paws and growls.” She grinned at Katy’s sputtering laugh. “Have you considered a broody, tech-obsessed dingleberry to snuggle with?”

“Did you just liken William to a dingleberry? Oh my God, I wish someone had recorded that so I could listen to it every time he ignores me. Seriously though, I doubt snuggling is in the cards. He hasn’t looked me in the eyes for two years,” she sighed.

Rowan sighed too. “Life would be so much easier if men were as relationship savvy as women.”

“I have to pee,” Katy whined.

“Oh God, me too. Do you think if we leaned on each other, we could hobble to the bathroom?”

“Here’s a better idea. I slide back into the wheelchair, and you sit on my lap, and I wheel us to the bathroom.”

“Ahh, the brains of this group, I see. Fine. Hurry though, all those IV fluids at the hospital have made this a 911 situation.” With a bit of rolling and twisting, Katy settled in the chair. Rowan had just placed her hands on the chair’s armrest and was pushing off the bed when they both realized at the same time that the chair brake wasn’t engaged.

As the chair made an abrupt reverse, Rowan was dragged partially off the bed. Unfortunately, Katy sat forward to grab onto Rowan’s shoulders, which tipped the chair forward. Katy fell to the ground, pulling Rowan the rest of the way off the bed and onto the floor beside her.

They looked at each other from their now prone positions and burst out laughing. “So help me God, if I pee on myself again, I will never forgive you,” Katy gasped out between hysterical shrieks.

The door burst open, and Hugh and William looked like they were fighting each other over who got to go through the door first, cursing and elbowing. Hugh won. They stopped abruptly when they saw her and Katy lying on the floor with giant smiles on their faces.

Katy broke the silence. “I see a Grizzly.”

“I see a DG.” At the reminder of the whole dingleberry comment, a fresh round of giggles assailed the two floor huggers.

“Row?” Hugh’s concern instantly sobered her.

“I’m fine, babe. Honest. We needed to go to the bathroom and decided to try to make it on our own. We fell off the bed?—”

“You. You fell off the bed,” Katy interrupted.

“Since you and I are both on the floor, your correction is noted and discarded. Hugh, please help us up.” He looked grim-faced. His go-to look when he was feeling...well, anything. She was about to put his mind at ease when her Becky rushed in.

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