Chapter 31
31
It took too long to get everything handled. The hospital in Value wasn’t the most efficient. Ronnie was half convinced she was going to have to start shouting here to get George the necessary attention he deserved. Someone really needed to take over this hospital and make it more efficient, that was for sure.
Finally, they had him back in an exam room and members of the TSP out of the neighboring district in Finley Creek were there. Including a redheaded man who introduced himself to her as Chad and Chantal Fields’s older brother Charlie.
He seemed to know George and Giavonna very well, and confirmed that his parents and sister Chantal had Genny now. He almost hovered over Giavonna once he learned she was hurt. Fatherly. No surprise, really. He was in his late thirties, she thought. Almost old enough to be Giavonna’s father, and he told Ronnie he’d known Giavonna since the day she was born, practically. He was very, very angry to learn about what had happened. And why.
It was over in a matter of hours. They had even called in the FBI to supervise the initial arrests. Deputy Ward fought the arrest, but everyone was saying he’d probably recover from the two rounds he’d taken from an agent’s gun. Cam’s partner had been coincidentally been the one to take the shot, she’d heard.
Cam’s colleagues were paying close attention to the corruption in Value now. His connections were coming in very handy in helping figure everything out. Treasure. It had been about stupid treasure all along. All of this pain just because one man believed in buried treasure.
How on earth could someone hurt others simply for a treasure that had never existed in the first place? She would never understand that.
But now…George was going to be okay. He wouldn’t be using his arm for about a month. But he was going to be okay. He was safe. Facing the knowledge that she could have lost him in an instant had made one thing very clear.
She was never going to let that man go. She loved him just too much.
And once she had him back home, she was going to tell him that.
But…that…didn’t happen.
The home part. No. When they were finally free to leave the hospital after speaking with the FBI and the TSP the next morning, his brothers were waiting. Right there next to her own.
“Gene?” George asked, quietly. He was a bit loopy from the pain meds. He’d needed a mild surgery to fix the damaged tissues from the gunshot wound, but he was going to be fine. She was going to make sure of it. They hadn’t kept Giavonna at all, just stitched her up and sent her on her way. “What are you boys doing here?”
“We’re here to escort you to the ranch,” Gene said. He eyed Murdoch with antagonism. They’d probably been bickering again. The two had done that at George’s house that day. “Mom’s freaking out and wants you and Ronnie there where she can fuss over the two of you.”
“And you three?” Ronnie asked her brothers. “What are you doing here now?”
“Escorting you to the ranch. The town is a bit…in an upheaval right now,” Cam said, hugging her again. “Just in case someone was missed, we’d prefer you be a bit more inaccessible than town seems to be. And the Hillers assure us they can arm their ranch hands, if needed. Just to be on the safe side. But…to be honest, I don’t think there’s anyone left here to cause trouble.”
She wanted to protest, but…George was exhausted. And she wanted to see his sisters for herself. Make sure they were okay. And…that would be that many more people to help her take care of that man, if needed.
It took less than an hour to get them there and settled into the suite that had been George’s when he’d been a boy. He was in his bed, tucked up tight like a good boy. Ronnie had showered, spoken with his sisters and his mother and father, called her own parents and assured them she was fine and would see them that weekend, if they wanted, and then…crawled in beside him.
Next to George Hiller was where she belonged.
He wasn’t getting away from her now.
Or ever again.
They had a baby on the way, and if they did okay with Alien-baby Number One, they would talk about a few more. She wanted a big family. Six, he’d said. The house could hold six comfortably.
Well, she was looking forward to making that happen.
Someday.
He was never getting away from her.
She was a woman with a plan now.