Chapter 11
Ronan
As soon as the girl startled awake, I was ready and I grabbed her gently by the shoulders to hold her down when she tried to jerk upright.
“It’s okay, you’re safe,” I said as I maintained my grip on her.
It took very little effort because she was still weak.
Her shoulders felt bony beneath my hands and I instantly gentled my hold even further just to make sure I wouldn’t inadvertently leave any bruises on her.
“Nicole! Jamie!” she cried out, though the words came out as a hoarse whisper.
“They’re safe,” I assured her. “They’re with my husband and our friends.”
She settled slightly, but her wary eyes were clouded with distrust. When I was sure she wouldn’t try to get out of bed, I grabbed the cup of water from the side table and held the straw to her mouth.
Instead of drinking, she took the entire cup from me and despite her weak muscles, she held it close to her body as she began drinking.
“Just a few sips at a time,” I warned her. She shot me a dark look, but she removed the straw from her lips and waited several long moments before taking another sip .
“I need to see them,” she said as her hand went to her bruised throat.
I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Seth. I turned the phone so she could see the message and then sent it. “It will probably take him about half an hour or so to get here with the traffic.”
Willow nodded and then glanced out the window. “What time is it?” she asked as she took in the overcast sky.
“Four o’ clock.”
Her hand went back to her throat. “Uncle Gene…is he…”
“He’s in jail,” I said. “Your aunt isn’t in custody, but she’s been ordered by a judge to stay away from you and your brother and sister. You have a lawyer named Zane Devereaux who is now your advocate. That means he will work with the courts and CPS to do what’s best for you, Jamie and Nicole.”
“So I don’t have to talk to you,” she responded.
“No, you don’t.”
“Am I going to jail?” she asked and I saw some of her hardness dissolve.
“No, but you’re still facing charges for what happened this morning. Since you’re a minor, you’ll likely get probation. Zane will find you a good criminal attorney and if he can’t, I’ll find you one.”
Her suspicion was clear, but she didn’t respond right away. “What…what happens now?” she finally asked and I was reminded of how young she truly was.
“That depends on you,” I said truthfully.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“If you keep trying to do this on your own, you or Jamie or Nicole are going to end up hurt or worse. You almost died today, Willow. And since your heart actually stopped beating, technically you did die.”
Willow paled and then reached to touch the wound on her side, but stopped short when I put my hand over hers to stop her. She jerked her hand back and immediately moved as far away from me as she could.
Pain went through me, but not because she’d reacted to me that way. But because she’d reacted that way at all .
“Was it just you or did he go after your sister and brother too?” I asked.
Willow stifled a gasp and her eyes shot to mine.
“Based on the way he grabbed your sister out in the waiting room, I’m guessing it was all of you. But I’m also guessing you took the brunt of it…maybe you made yourself a target?”
Willow dropped her eyes, but to my surprise, she nodded. “He’d get mad at Nicole all the time…he and Alana didn’t know sign language and didn’t want to learn it. But it’s not always easy for Nicole to use words…”
“What did your aunt do?” I asked.
She just shook her head. It was answer enough. The bitch had done absolutely nothing.
“They said you came up here because you believed your parents were still alive.”
Willow let out a huff and her mouth pulled into a frown. “Their car collided with a semi…I saw what was left of the car.”
“Then why did you come up here?”
“Our mother had an aunt up here that we were really close to before our parents…”
Her voice dropped off for a moment and she used the need to take a drink to cover her attempt to control her emotions.
“What happened?” I asked gently.
“A neighbor told us she’d died about a month after our parents had. Uncle Gene never told us that.”
“Why wasn’t she given custody of you?”
“She had some health issues so the judge said we had to go live with Gene and Alana. He didn’t give a shit that our father hadn’t spoken to Gene in years.”
“Gene is your father’s brother?”
Willow nodded.
“Willow,” I said softly and I waited until she looked at me. “Did he ever touch you or Jamie or Nicole in an inappropriate way?”
“No,” she responded and her eyes never left mine. “If I’d thought for even a second he was doing that to them, I would have killed him,” she said vehemently .
“Why not just call the cops and tell them about the physical abuse?” I asked.
Her eyes fell again. “I did. When they showed up and saw the bruise on my face, they questioned him. But he convinced them my boyfriend had done it and that I was accusing him because we’d gotten into a fight about me seeing him,” she responded.
“I don’t even have a boyfriend. After they left, he put a knife to Jamie’s throat and told me if I ever opened my mouth again… we ran the next day.”
“Did he say something to you before he attacked you today?”
Her hand went to her throat again. “He just told me to keep my mouth shut. I couldn’t breathe…”
“You have asthma,” I said.
She nodded. “I don’t get attacks very often.”
“The attack you had this morning was probably brought on by stress. You’ll still need to carry an inhaler, though.” When she didn’t respond, I asked, “What happened when you realized your great-aunt was gone?”
“I’d taken some money from Alana’s purse the night before we ran.
I used it to get us a hotel room and some food, but it didn’t last very long.
I found an abandoned building when we were walking on the streets one day.
There were some mattresses in one of the rooms near the back.
I was able to steal some of the other stuff we needed and I begged for money whenever I could.
I didn’t like leaving Jamie and Nicole, but I didn’t have a choice…
I couldn’t take them with me when I was begging…
or stealing,” she said dejectedly. “I came back a few weeks ago to find them gone…this homeless guy told me he saw the cops taking them.”
I saw a tear slide down her face, but she angrily wiped it away.
“It took me forever to find them…I had to go to the library to use the computer to look up all the group homes in the city. I was sure I’d never find them, but then I saw them playing in the backyard of that group home a few days ago.
But there were too many grown-ups around. ”
“That gun nearly cost you your life, even if it was fake,” I said, my heart clenching as I relived the moment I saw Willow’s body flying backwards, blood spraying into the air.
“I stole it from a toy store a long time ago…guys used to try and mess with me while I was asking people for money.”
“Did any of them-”
“No,” she interrupted. “No,” she repeated softly. “When I saw you guys coming out with Nicole and Jamie this morning, I knew if I didn’t do something, I’d never see them again…”
More tears fell. “I promised them I’d always take care of them…that we were still a family.”
Willow put the cup on the tray table in front of her and then turned on her side away from me and curled in on herself as much as the IV and her injury would allow. I got up and sat on the edge of the bed and was glad when she didn’t seem afraid.
“You’ll take care of them, right?” she whispered before turning back enough so she could look me in the eye.
“Nicole is really smart and she takes good care of Jamie. And Jamie…” her voice cracked.
“Jamie’s really sweet and well-behaved. He won’t give you any trouble…
just don’t let Gene and Alana get them back. ”
When she tried to roll on her side again, I gently held her shoulder so she couldn’t. “What about you?”
“What?” she asked.
“What are you like?”
She shook her head in confusion.
“Because I’ve seen that you’re incredibly brave and smart, this morning notwithstanding.” Willow didn’t respond, but her eyes looked haunted.
“Willow, I guess what I really want to know is, do you and Jamie and Nicole have room in your family for a couple more people and one well behaved dog?” At that, Willow looked at me in surprise.
“Because family’s something my husband and I have been sorely lacking until recently.
And we’ve both learned that you can never have too much family. ”
“Your husband?” she asked. “You’re…you’re married to a man?”
“Not just any man. The most amazing man you’ll ever meet,” I said softly. “A man who took one look at your brother and sister and knew they were meant to be ours. A man who I know even now is hoping like hell you’ll want to be ours too.”
Willow tried to sit up and I immediately reached for the bed controller and raised the head for her so she’d be more comfortable. “Even…even after what I did this morning?”
“You were trying to protect your family,” I said.
“The way you went about it may not have been the smartest in the world, but my husband knows what it means to fight for the people you love. And if you say yes, he’ll spend the rest of his life fighting for you.
” I fought back the rush of emotion that threatened to overtake me as I whispered, “We both will.”
Before Willow could respond, the door to the room was sliding open and Nicole tore through it as soon as her eyes landed on her sister.
She cried out her sister’s name and then was trying to scramble up on the bed. I grabbed her before she could inadvertently land on her sister’s injury and lifted her up and deposited her on Willow’s other side. Nicole threw her arms around Willow’s neck and began crying.
Jamie was holding on to Seth’s hand when they walked into the room and I saw that the little boy was also on the verge of tears.
I suspected he was intimidated by the environment and seeing all the machines surrounding his sister.
Willow held out her free hand and Jamie turned and put his arms up.
Seth lifted him and then carried him over to the bed.
Once they reached it, Jamie put his arms out for his sister and I made sure to protect her side when Seth set the boy down.
Jamie put his hand to Willow’s ear and whispered something to her before he looked over his shoulder at Seth.
Love for my husband bloomed in my chest as he smiled at the little boy and then searched out my hand.
Willow’s eyes settled on our joined hands and I felt my heart skip a beat with worry. What if she fought this? Fought us?
But my concerns were put to rest when she ran her hand over her brother’s head and said, “Yeah, Jamie, you can talk to him now.” Her eyes settled on me. “You can talk to both of them.”