The sound of beeping woke him. Bright. Fuck. Where the hell was he? Then the harsh antiseptic hospital scent permeated his foggy brain. For a minute, he thought he was back in Iraq, until his eyes focused on Anna. She was sitting in a chair beside the bed.

“Good morning. How’s my hero?”

“Morning? How long have I been out?”

“A little over a day. Kind of. Depending on how you count it. You needed surgery. Apparently, the knife sliced through something important, and you almost died on me.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to.”

“You’re on R&R for a while. No chasing bad guys for at least eight weeks. At least, I think that’s what the doctor said.”

“You scared the shit out of me. When the uniform told me there was blood at your house I’d thought I lost you for good. I had to save you.”

“I’d been praying for you to find me. I swear I thought I was dead for sure. You’d told me to stay home and didn’t even know I was out. I’m surprised you found me so fast.”

“Me too. Thank God you left that note about going to Betty’s. She knew all about Hugh’s brother and that’s how we found you.”

“I told you she was a wonderful woman, not at all like Hugh. I’m going to have to help her out. I feel so bad for her.”

“Help her out how?”

“I don’t know. I’ll figure something out. Maybe set her up in a senior community. Someplace where she can start over and have a nice place her kids can visit.”

“You’d do that for her? Her husband almost got you killed.”

“Yes, I would, and it was her husband who was bad not Betty.”

“You’re amazing, you were almost killed and you’re worrying about her. Are you okay? Did he hurt you? There was blood on the blindfold…”

“Yes, I’m fine. A concussion like I expected, but after I begged they let me stay here with you. The nurse would check on you and make sure I didn’t fall asleep that first night, after that they didn’t worry too much.”

“Are you sure? No internal bleeding or anything?”

“No, Ethan. I’m find, really. He didn’t do much besides smack me a few times. You are the one who almost died. You promised to be careful.”

“I was careful and I didn’t die, did I? I’m right here.”

“Yes. You are. And we’ve all been waiting for you to wake up.”

“All?”

“Yup, Steele’s been keeping me company, and Adria.” She nodded toward the corner of the room where the two of them were sitting together, whispering.

“Oh, and Steele might have let a certain cat out of the bag yesterday while we were waiting for you to get done with surgery.”

“Cat, bag? What?”

“Yeah. Apparently, the ESP crew looked into my finances during the investigation. There were some questions about money I’d been taking out of my accounts. Why didn’t you just ask me?”

Shit. Maybe he should have died on the operating table if she was going to break up with him now. If he’d had the strength he would have gotten out of bed and killed Steele with his bare hands. “Did he also tell you it wasn’t my idea?”

“Yes, he mentioned that, but again, why didn’t you ask me about it?”

“There wasn’t a good time, we were caught up in the investigation and you were just starting to trust in us. I knew you weren’t involved in anything bad.”

“You did? You trusted me that much?”

“Yes, was I wrong to?”

“No. You weren’t wrong. So, ask me.”

“Ask you what?”

She sighed, and he was confused. Maybe the anesthesia hadn’t worn all the way off. But at least she was still sitting there, she hadn’t told him to screw off, hadn’t left, wasn’t even yelling. In fact, it looked like she was smiling. Maybe he was still drugged up.

“Ask me what the money is for.”

“I don’t care, it’s your money.”

“Ugh, sometimes, Ethan. If you hadn’t just saved my life and almost lost yours. I might have to hurt you. The money is for Tag’s new rehab facility and clinic. I’ve been taking the money out of various accounts to spread it around. So you see, nothing nefarious.”

“I knew there wasn’t, but thank you for not getting mad at me.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t mad, but after Steele explained it was all his idea, I understood. Besides, how could I be mad at you? You risked everything to save me.”

“I was so worried. You have no idea.”

“We’ll work on it. I’m sorry I’ve made things more difficult than they should have been.”

“It doesn’t matter, baby. I love you. We’ll figure it all out.”

“Yes, we will.”

“And Steele and Adria? I guess you’ve been matchmaking?”

“Who, me? What is it they say about people who are happy and in love? That they want to share it with the world, or something like that.”

“Yeah, something like that. Does that mean you’re happy and in love?”

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to let you in on a little secret. Ethan Price, you’ve swept me off my feet, and I’m totally cow jumped over the moon in love with you.”

 

 

If you’ve enjoyed A Soldier’s Pledge, I hope you’ll take the time to leave a review. Look for A Soldier’s Redemption, Tag and Julie’s story, coming soon.  Lynne xoxo