Chapter Thirteen
Tana decided to take the steps up to the second-floor maternity wing.
She called Tag on her way over to the hospital to tell him that Torren was being brought into the emergency room.
But that was all she shared. She needed to get to Lorna if her plan was going to work, and she didn’t want Tag or Sawyer trying to stop her.
Sarah was sobbing uncontrollably into Tana’s shirt, and she felt like giving into that same despair herself, but she couldn’t.
Crying wouldn’t get her Beth back, and that was exactly what she was going to do.
She grabbed Sarah’s hand and pulled her up the last few steps.
Tana crouched down to be eye level with her daughter.
“I’m going to have to leave you with Mrs. Lorna, baby. She will keep you safe while I go and get Beth back.” Sarah shook her head, tears still streaming down her little face.
“No, Mommy,” she begged. Tana wished she had more time to comfort Sarah, but she knew that the longer this took, the more time Matt would have to get out of town.
Not seeing Beth again wasn’t an option, so she was going to do the only thing she could—fight like hell to get her daughter back, even if that meant giving up her own life.
“Why did Daddy hurt Mr. Torren?” Sarah cried.
Tana could feel her sob bubble up inside of her at the thought of Torren lying in the ER, possibly bleeding to death.
If she allowed herself to focus on him, she wouldn’t have the guts to leave the hospital.
Her entire world was turned upside down, and she felt like everyone was counting on her to flip it back around.
“I don’t know, baby. But I won’t let him hurt anyone else.
Can you be my brave girl and stay with Mrs. Lorna?
” Tana looked down at Sarah. Her girls had already been through so much; they shouldn’t have to experience any more pain.
Sarah nodded back up at her and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her little hand.
“I can be brave, Mommy.” Tana smiled down through her tears and bent to kiss Sarah’s forehead.
“Thank you, Sweetheart. I will try to hurry.” Tana took Sarah’s hand again and pulled her through the door to the second floor.
She quickly searched for any sign of Tag or Sawyer and found none.
She made her way to Piper’s room and looked through the little glass partition to find Lorna, Sawyer, and Piper looking at the beautiful baby cradled in Piper’s arms. Shit.
Tana knew that if she went barging in to tell them all that had happened, Sawyer would never let her go off alone after Matt and Beth.
If she was able to find Matt, having the local sheriff tag along wasn’t going to sit well with him.
Tana ducked into the hospital’s chapel two doors down from Piper’s room and pulled out her cell to dial Lorna’s number.
Lorna answered on the third ring, and Tana breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hi Lorna, it’s Tana,” she whispered. “I was wondering if you could come and meet me at the chapel, two doors down from Pipe’s room.”
“Is everything all right?” Lorna sounded a little panicked, seeming to pick up on Tana’s unease. The last thing she needed was for Lorna to alert Sawyer to where she was.
“Everything is great,” she lied. “But don’t tell the others about this—it’s a surprise. I just need a little help if you’re up to it.” Tana knew that asking for help was what was going to clinch her plea with Lorna. That woman was a natural caregiver and would go to any lengths to help a friend.
“Sure,” Lorna hesitated. “I will be there in just a minute.” Tana thanked her and ended the call.
She sat down and pulled Sarah onto her lap, offering up a prayer for her little Beth to be safe.
Lorna and Henry entered the back of the chapel, and she walked up to sit next to Tana and Sarah.
“Okay, spill it. What’s really going on?
” Lorna looked over at Tana, keeping her voice to a whisper not to wake up sleeping Henry.
“I had to lie to my husband and niece to sneak over here—this better be good.” Lorna tried to look angry, but the woman didn’t have a mean bone in her body.
“My ex found the girls and me at the playground. Torren’s been shot,” Tana sobbed, covering her mouth with her hand.
Lorna pulled Tana into her side, wrapping her arm around her.
“We have to tell Sawyer; he’ll know what to do.” Lorna tried to stand, but Tana pulled her back down.
“No,” she shouted, startling the baby. She grimaced.
“Sorry. But I can’t let you do that, not until I’m gone at least. I need a head start.
I’m betting that Matt has taken Beth back to my house.
He knows where I live—well, lived and he’ll go somewhere that I can find him.
He wants me, and he’ll be waiting for me, using Beth as bait.
” Lorna shook her head, and for a minute, Tana wasn’t sure that Lorna was going to help her.
“I need you to keep Sarah. I can’t take her with me, it’s not safe,” Tana whispered.
“Please, Lorna,” she begged. “I know that you would do the same thing if it were Henry being held hostage by a crazy man. You’d give your life for your child.
I know that I can save her.” Lorna looked down at Henry sleeping in her arms and sighed.
“I’ll keep Sarah, and we will sit here for five minutes before I go back to Piper’s room and tell my husband what has happened. That’s all the head start I can give you, Tana.” Lorna took Sarah’s hand and helped her onto the other half of her lap, opposite Henry.
“Thanks, Lorna. I owe you one.” Tana gently kissed her friend’s cheek and ran for the back of the little chapel.
She stopped and chanced one last look back at Sarah, snuggled into Lorna’s arms. “Lorna, will you please tell Torren that I love him and that I’m sorry.
Tell him that I’d never willingly leave him because he’s worth sticking around for, but I have no choice.
” Tana choked back her tears. Lorna nodded, and Tana took one last look at Sarah, knowing that she could be looking at her daughter for the last time.
Would her girls have to grow up without a mother or father, as Torren and Tag did?
She hoped to God that they wouldn’t have to ever feel abandoned by her, the way Torren felt that his parents had left him.
She would just have to find a way to get Beth safely away from Matt and stay alive because the alternative wasn’t one she wanted to think about.
Tana held her breath as she snuck past Piper’s room through the doors and down the stairwell.
She knew that a five-minute head start wasn’t much, but a lot could happen in five minutes.
She made it halfway down the stairwell before she heard the commotion back up on the second floor.
Judging by the amount of shouting, Tag found Torren, and he was back to tell Sawyer what was going on.
Tana rushed the rest of the way down the stairs and exited through the emergency room doors that she had followed Torren through earlier.
She just about made it through the double doors and outside when she heard Torren’s weak shout.
She tried to ignore him, not sure that she would be able to bear telling him goodbye.
When she heard the doctor tell him to stay in his bed, she couldn’t help but turn around. The last thing she wanted was for Torren to be in more pain or worse. Tana quickly walked back to where the doctor and two nurses were wheeling him down a hallway.
“Torren,” she cried. “Tell me that you are okay.” She gently touched his arm, not knowing where he was hurting.
“I will be. They are taking me to surgery now to dig this fucking bullet out,” he growled. “Where is Sarah? Why are you wandering around alone? You should have a guard with you.” Torren was working himself up, and she could see the worry on the doctor’s face.
“Mr. Harrison, I need you to remain calm. We need to get you up to surgery; they are waiting for you.” The doctor nodded to the nurse, and they began to push Torren’s bed towards the elevators.
“Wait,” he shouted. “I’m not going anywhere until I get a few answers.
” He tried to get out of the bed again, and this time, Tana was by his side.
She knew what she had to do to keep him safe and make sure that he got the help that he needed.
Torren wasn’t going to like any of her answers, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to like her plan to get Beth back.
If she waited much longer, Sawyer and Tag would catch up to her, and she would have no hope of finding her daughter alive.
“Tor, the doctor is right, you need to go to surgery. I can’t do this anymore, it’s just all too much,” Tana sobbed, not able to meet his eyes with her own.
“I can’t be with you anymore, Torren. I didn’t mean for all of this to go this far.
” She motioned between the two of them, chancing a look into his eyes and instantly regretting it.
His beautiful blue eyes, which were usually her anchor in any storm, were tumultuous and angry.
“So, you’re just giving up on us, just like that?
Is it that easy for you, honey? I must be one of the dumbest fuckers on the planet for falling for you.
You are the first woman that I’ve ever loved, Tana.
I thought you’d be my last, but I guess I was wrong.
” Tana shook her head, wanting to take back her words but knowing that if she did, he would never let her go after Beth.
She just hoped like hell that she wasn’t already too late.
She couldn’t lose them both—losing Torren was the only way to get her daughter back.