“Where’s my daughter? Where’s my daughter?”
Adam jumped out of the squad car before his colleague Clay had even stopped outside the brick building that housed Spring Bunnies. His heart had been beating at triple speed ever since the call about a man holding a teacher and a kid hostage had come in. All the way to the school he’d prayed his daughter was safe, that she wasn’t the one inside the building. He scanned the small crowd of kids, looking for Sophie’s blond curls, but when Dee came toward him with outstretched arms and a sad frown, the solid ground turned into quicksand.
“No.” The word came out as a plea. He looked around, refusing to acknowledge the truth, still hoping to see his little girl run toward him. Still hoping to see Ellie. Neither of his two girls were there, though.
“The man showed up out of the blue, saying he wanted to see his son, that he knew he was there.” Dee’s words barely pierced through the haze. “We understood he was talking about Sammy and told him he wasn’t at school today. Ellie asked him to leave his number, so we could get Mrs. Saunders to get in touch with him. We thought it’d be enough to get him to leave.” Dee let out a sob, and Adam’s heart took a plunge.
Please, let my girls be okay, he prayed as he took a step around Dee, heading for the entrance. She stopped him.
“He has a gun, Adam. He threatened to start shooting if we didn’t tell him where his kid lives. Ellie told him if he let all the kids go, she’d give him Sammy’s address, but Sophie wouldn’t leave Ellie, not even when I pulled her away.” Another sob escaped her lips, and she wrapped her trembling arms around Adam. “I’m sorry, Adam. I tried, but she wouldn’t let go of Ellie’s leg, and I had to make sure all the other children were safe.”
His heart clogged his throat with its wild beating, and his head spun. He gently pushed Dee away, as Clay reached his side and told him what their plan of action was. Adam shook his head. He wasn’t going to stand here and wait until this man killed his daughter and the woman he loved. He’d hesitated once and lost his wife. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. He hadn’t been able to apologize to Ellie about his stupid behavior, seeing as she hadn’t been home yesterday, and now more than ever he felt the need to let her know how much she meant to him. He needed to tell her he loved her.
Just as he took a step toward the building, the white door opened, and Sophie dashed out, crying hysterically. He opened his arms and caught her just as she flung herself at him. His heartbeat slowed down just a little as he cuddled his baby girl in his arms, stroking her hair and reassuring her everything was okay.
“The mean man wants to hurt Miss Ellie,” she said through the sobs, gripping the collar of his shirt with her tiny hands. “You have to save her, Daddy. You can’t let dat mean man hurt her.”
Adam kissed the top of her head and held her close to his chest. “I won’t let that man hurt Miss Ellie. Don’t worry, baby girl.”
He put her down, crouched and took her face in his hands. “You stay here with Mrs. Dee now, and I’ll go save Miss Ellie, okay?”
Sophie nodded. He kissed her brow, then turned to find Dee was already by his side and nodded when she took Sophie’s hand. He looked at Clay and asked him to wait there, make sure everyone was okay. Clay’s warning to stop flew right over his head as he rushed to the entrance and walked through the door with his Glock drawn, held up in front of him.
He peeped through the glass opening on the door that led to the playroom, where they knew Ellie and the man were. They stood on the far side of the room, near the door that led to the kitchen, and when he looked more closely, the scene that met his eyes made his blood freeze and his heart stutter. The man had an automatic handgun aimed at Ellie, his hand shaking as she was talking to him, her palms raised in front of her, her head tilted to the side. The sweet expression on her face, even though he knew she must be scared to death, made Adam’s throat constrict.
He couldn’t let that crazy man kill the one woman who’d made him believe in love again, even after life had crushed his heart and soul, destroying all his dreams of a happy future. He couldn’t save Hannah, and he hadn’t been able to find the other man involved in the robbery, but he could save Ellie. He had the chance to do what he hadn’t been able to do three years ago. He could finally redeem himself for not saving his wife.
Flashbacks from his past mixed with the present as his vision blurred: Ellie’s straight, light brown hair morphed into blond curls, while the blond-haired man’s face disappeared and in his place stood the man who’d killed Hannah. The man he’d failed to kill three years before.
Adam shook his head, his breath coming out in labored puffs as he tried to clear his mind, to focus on the here and now.
You can do it, Adam. You can save her.
He thought he heard Hannah’s voice behind him, just like yesterday at the cemetery and he whipped his head around, expecting to see her. Instead, his eyes met Clay’s, who’d walked in quietly and was now standing behind him. Adam felt like a fool. Great, he was hearing voices now.
“Don’t do anything rash,” Clay whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder and pulling him away from the door. “Dee said the man seemed high on something. Look at the way his hand’s shaking. The last thing we want is for him to pull the trigger because we scared him.”
“The last time I didn’t do anything rash, my wife died,” Adam said through gritted teeth, shaking Clay’s hand off. “I’m not going to let history repeat itself. Stay here and cover me.”
He opened the door, hoping it wouldn’t creak and alert the man to his presence. Right now, Sammy’s father had his back to the door, and Ellie faced him. Her eyes locked with his; he brought a finger to his mouth, and she looked away.
“What?” the man yelled, the gun shaking in his hand. He turned and jumped backward when he saw Adam with his gun aimed at him. “Who the hell are you? Back off or I’ll shoot her.”
“You want to know where your son lives? I can take you there, but let her go first.”
“Ha. You think you’re so smart, huh?” The man sneered, waving his gun in the air. “The moment I let her go, you’ll either shoot me or arrest me. I’m not that stupid, dude.”
“You think your son would want to know you hurt his teacher?” Adam tried a different approach, while Ellie inconspicuously took a step back, away from the man. The guy noticed the movement and grabbed her by the arm.
Adam’s heart jumped into his throat. “Let her go. I don’t want to shoot you, man, but I’ll have to if you try to hurt her.”
“I have a right to see my son. He should be with me, not with that old hag.” His hand squeezed harder around Ellie’s bicep. She winced.
“Let. Her. Go.” Adam took a tentative step, his hands steady on his Glock aimed at the man. As sorry as he would feel for Sammy afterward, he knew this time he wouldn’t hesitate: if the man showed any intention of hurting the woman he loved, Adam would shoot him. The little guy wouldn’t miss this kind of father figure anyway. As far as Ellie had told him, Sammy had never known his father. He’d refused to acknowledge his son when Sammy’s mother had told him she was pregnant, and he’d never shown up before. Adam had no idea why he’d decided to show up now, and in such a melodramatic way, on top of it all. Maybe he just needed money for his next fix and thought kidnapping the kid and asking Mrs. Saunders for a ransom would provide the money.
“Get my son here, and I’ll let her go.” He pulled Ellie hard by the arm, making her wince again.
“Come on, you know I can’t let a kid around a man with a gun; you said you’re not stupid, didn’t you? Let her go, and we’ll speak to social services. See if they can come up with visiting arrangements.”
“Social services will never let me see my son. I have a damn right to see him!” He raised his voice, shaking his gun in exasperation. A trickle of perspiration rolled down Adam’s spine. This was getting out of control; he should’ve shot the man the moment he’d stepped into the room, instead of trying to reason with him. The guy was high on God knows what drug, and he wasn’t going to surrender until he got what he’d come here for. Adam would never let this man anywhere near that sweet little kid, though, so he’d have to leave there either in cuffs or in a body bag.
“I’ll talk to them.” Ellie’s tone was calm, patient, as if she was dealing with one of her kids. “I’ll talk to Mrs. Saunders and make sure you can see Sammy as often as possible. We’ll figure something out, I promise. Please, don’t make things worse.”
There was a slightly panicked edge to Ellie’s voice now, and Adam wished he could do something to get the guy’s hands off her. He wanted to take her in his arms, kiss her and forget everything.
“Shut up! You.” He shifted his attention from Ellie to Adam, nodding at him. “Get my son here now, or I swear I’ll shoot her.”
Adam took a fortifying breath. Held it in. Then he let it out with the words he spoke through gritted teeth. “If you so much as raise that gun toward her, you’re dead. And I mean it.”
The guy scoffed. He scoffed! Adam tried, and failed, to rein in his temper. His Glock was aimed at the man’s chest, all he had to do was twitch his index finger on the trigger, and it would all be over. But even though he’d told himself he’d learned from his past mistakes, he still didn’t like the idea of killing another human being.
“How about I raise it toward you, then?”
The hand holding the gun went up. Adam’s instinct for self-preservation kicked in. He took his aim, and going against his initial intentions, he pulled the trigger.
Two gunshots echoed in the room. Adam stared at the man falling backwards to the ground. Ellie’s scream reached his ears, as she ran toward him. It was then he felt the burning sting in his left shoulder. While warmth spread from his shoulder blade down his arm, a cold chill ran through him as he realized why he’d heard two shots.
A second later, he crumpled to the floor.
* * *
Ellie couldn’t believe this was happening. In the three seconds it took her to reach Adam and take him into her arms, she realized her life would mean nothing without him and Sophie. Although at first she’d attached herself to the little girl just out of professional habit, just like she had to Sammy, it hadn’t been long before she’d understood she’d been lying to herself, to Charli, and even to Adam. She cared about the little girl because deep down she wished she were hers. And even though she’d known all along she shouldn’t be entertaining romantic thoughts about the father of one of her kids, she hadn’t been able to deny her feelings. She loved Adam, she loved Sophie—she wanted the whole package, Meatball included.
Adam’s colleague had run in, checked on Sammy’s dad and called an ambulance, then went out to give them a minute alone while he waited for the paramedics. As she was crouched on the floor, with Adam’s head on her lap so he could breathe more easily, she thought she was just about to lose it all, before she’d even managed to graze with her fingertips that dream of a happy family she’d been having these past few weeks.
“I’m sorry,” he said, breathing heavily. Ellie shushed him, blinking back the tears without success. “I was… I was a jerk the other night…”
Ellie’s vision blurred and she shook her head. She opened her mouth to say something, to tell him she loved him and that she wasn’t mad at him, when the door burst open, and two paramedics rushed in, pushing a gurney. The male paramedic rushed to their side, while the female ran to check on the man lying on the floor only a few feet away.
“He’s dead,” she said, before rushing to help her colleague with Adam. She put her hands on Ellie’s shoulders and pulled her back. “We’ll take it from here, Ellie. Move aside.”
Ellie frowned at the woman, wondering how she knew her. Then she remembered she was the mother of one of the kids and grabbed her forearms.
“Debra, please don’t let him die,” she whispered, choking on a sob. She didn’t care if the woman realized there was something between Ellie and Adam, nor if she went and told Dee and got Ellie fired. All she cared about was for them to save Adam—and save Ellie’s life as a consequence.
“We’ll do our best, but we have to go to the hospital now,” Debra said, gently prying Ellie’s fingers from her own arms.
Adam’s eyes fluttered open, and he stretched out his right arm from the gurney, reaching for Ellie. She stood up and took his hand.
“Look after Sophie… She’ll need you…” he said, his voice barely audible. She bent to be closer to his face. “Tell her I love her… I’ll always… love her…”
What was he saying? “Adam, you’ll tell her yourself. You’ll be all right,” she said, even as fat tears streaked her cheeks. His eyes rolled back, and she let out a gasp. Debra and the other paramedic pushed the gurney out of the room and rushed toward the exit, where the ambulance was waiting.
Her legs turned to jelly, and she wanted to crumple to the floor, curl up in a ball and cry until there were no tears left, until she couldn’t breathe. Instead, as soon as Sophie’s screams calling her daddy reached her ears, she forced herself to run outside and make good on what Adam had asked her to do. Sophie needed her right now, and in a way, Ellie needed Sophie, too.
“Daddy, Daddy!” Sophie was screaming at the top of her lungs, running after the gurney, with Dee in tow. Cayden came running from the fire truck and reached for her a second before Ellie. Sophie kicked and wriggled, while he tried to calm her.
“Sophie, it’s okay, I’m here,” Ellie said, taking her tiny hand. Sophie looked up and flung herself at her, wrapping her arms around Ellie’s legs.
“I don’t want Daddy to go to heaven wif Mommy!” she said through the sobs and wails. Ellie picked her up and held her to her chest, stroking her soft curls.
“He’s not going anywhere, sweetie. He’d never leave you.” The little girl’s desperate sobs only served to increase the raw pain inside her heart, spreading through her chest and reaching down into her soul. “We’ll go see him at the hospital, so when he wakes up you’ll be there, okay?”
Sophie nodded against Ellie’s chest and squeezed her tiny arms tighter around Ellie’s neck.
“Let us give you a ride,” Cayden looked at Ellie and put a hand on Sophie’s back. “You can ride in the front seat next to me, and I’ll let you press the button for the siren. Wanna do that, princess?”
Sophie looked up at him, with her bottom lip still trembling. Cayden smiled, stroking her back, and she nodded.
“Come on, let’s go.” Cayden guided them to the fire truck, where he had a quick word with Nate. When he nodded, Cayden turned back to Ellie and motioned for them to get in, before getting behind the wheel himself.
The ride to the hospital on the outskirts of Spring were the longest five minutes of Ellie’s life. Cayden and Nate did their best to keep Sophie’s mind off her dad’s condition, especially when they let her push the button and the siren started wailing. The giggle she let out warmed Ellie’s cold heart, bringing a little reprieve from the grief that tied it in knots.
When they reached the hospital, Cayden guided Ellie through the corridors. His firefighter uniform and the fact he was family opened doors that would probably be closed for her, as she wasn’t related to Adam.
Kean had been the first one to reach the hospital, since he’d been working on a house a block down when he’d gotten the call from Cayden. The frown that marred his beautiful, masculine face—so similar to Adam’s—softened when Sophie called out his name. He opened his arms and picked her up, lifting her in the air and making her giggle.
Ellie wished her mind worked like that of a three-year-old. She wished she could forget all the bad things that had just happened, that riding in a fire truck would be enough to take her mind off the fact that Adam might not make it out of that operating room. Nate and Cayden had reassured Sophie that her dad would be okay soon, and once he woke up she could tell him she’d been in the firetruck and pushed the button for the siren. She’d been so excited, it had been the first thing she’d told Kean as soon as he’d picked her up.
“Your daddy’s gonna be so jealous you rode in the fire truck. He always wanted to but never did.” Kean smiled at Sophie, but when his eyes landed on Ellie, they softened, and she could tell he was fighting tears. He took a step closer and reached for Ellie. She didn’t know whether this was ethical, whether gossip would spread, or whether Adam would have something to say about it, but at that moment she didn’t care. She closed the distance, and let Kean’s arm surround her.
Holding Sophie on his right hip, he pulled Ellie to him, and she rested her cheek against his strong chest, letting tears flow. Kean’s embrace was warm and reassuring, and she welcomed the comfort he was offering, but it was nothing like Adam’s.
At that very moment, with Kean’s heart beating under her ear and against her cheek, she realized how her mother must have felt the day Colonel Murray showed up on her doorstep bearing the awful news that her husband had been killed in action. As a suffocating feeling of dread slowly clogged her throat, Ellie finally understood why Amelia Hawthorne had slowly withered away, letting life seep out of her and eventually decided to put an end to her suffering by swallowing those pills.
Ellie had promised herself she’d never get to the point where another person could take away her own will to live. But as she waited in that cold waiting room, surrounded by Adam’s family who’d arrived only a few minutes before, she knew deep down in her heart that if Adam didn’t make it out of that operating room, she’d never be able to pull herself out of the dark ravine she’d fallen into the moment the bullet had hit him.
After three long years of resenting her mother for giving up on life and on her children, Ellie finally felt ready to let go of her anger and forgive her. Ellie had never truly known the meaning of true love, the kind that warmed your heart and burned your soul, until now—until she was on the verge of losing it. Now she knew what losing the person who owned your heart felt like, after having enjoyed the thrill of love for only a few short weeks.
Minutes ticked by, each second dragging as she sat on a cold, hard plastic chair, waiting for someone to show up and tell them Adam was okay, that he was safe. In the three hours and forty-five minutes of excruciating wait, Ellie was welcomed into Adam’s family, even though she’d thought they would consider her responsible for Adam being there in the first place. If he hadn’t come in to rescue her, if she’d managed to talk Sammy’s father down, Adam wouldn’t be fighting for his life.
His parents offered comfort and accepted hers in return. Lauren sat by her, held her hand and reassured her Adam would be okay. Even Jenna had hugged her as soon as she’d arrived and brought her coffee when she returned from the cafeteria where she’d taken Sophie to buy a hot chocolate.
When the doctor showed up, wearing a pair of clean, light green scrubs and a worn-out expression on his face, Ellie shot to her feet, followed by everyone else in the room. In concise and comprehensible words, Doctor Lang informed them they’d removed the bullet, that it hadn’t damaged any organs, and he was positive Adam would recover quickly from the wound, as long as he rested and followed the medical instructions the doctor would provide.
“I want to see my Daddy,” Sophie piped up, waking from her nap and pulling herself up straight in Kean’s arms. “When can I see my Daddy?”
Doctor Lang smiled. “He’s just waking up, so he might be a little groggy,” he said, looking at Kean, who nodded in response. “But I think he’d like to see you. Just be careful you don’t hug him too hard yet, okay?”
Sophie nodded and smiled. “Can Miss Ellie come, too? I fink Daddy wants to see her because he likes her.”
Everyone in the room chuckled as Ellie’s cheeks heated. “I think maybe you should go with your Grammy. I can see him later.”
“You go ahead, dear. Adam will be happy to see you and Sophie.” Enya Cavanagh rubbed Ellie’s shoulder and smiled. “We’ll say hello when he feels a little better. All I wanted was to know he’s okay.”
Kean put Sophie on the floor and took a step back, smiling at Ellie. Sophie grabbed Ellie’s hand and pulled her out of the waiting room. “Come on, Miss Ellie. We’ve got to see Daddy!”
Ellie followed Doctor Lang to Adam’s room and stopped outside when the doctor said he’d check on him first. Sophie pulled her by the hand, eager to walk in and see her daddy, and when the doctor came out a minute later, she dashed toward the door, stopping on the threshold as she looked inside.
Ellie peeped into the room, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw him lying on the bed, the left side of his chest—his bare chest—wrapped in white bandages, and IV lines and other cables attached to his body.
Only one thought crossed her mind at the vision: I love this wonderful man.