Page 48 of A Burning Rage

Annie steps in and takes her from me. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s go play with Evvy and Emmy.” Annie’s own two-year-old twin daughters are in the family room playing with their brother, Aiden.

“Mama, where is Daddy?” Luke asks. His lower lip trembles as he tries not to cry.

I cup his face and gaze into his baby blues. “Sweetie.” The words die in my throat. I can’t tell this sweet child that his father’s life is hanging in the balance, that he took a bullet meant for me, but I have to tell him something. “Daddy got hurt and he’s in the hospital.”

“How did he get hurt?”

Oh, God.

“He got hurt when he was getting out of the car.”

“Did he fall down?”

“Yes.” At least that much is true. He fell at my feet, bleeding profusely with a bullet hole in his abdomen.

“Is he okay?”

“The doctors are taking good care of him.”

Luke frowns at my less than forthcoming answers. “When will he come home?”

“He’ll come home when he’s all better.”

“When will that be?”

I don’t know how to answer that. No one does.

Mom comes up behind me and gives Luke a big smile. “Daddy will be home as soon as he can,” she says in a chipper voice as she runs her hand over his hair. “He misses you so much, and he can’t wait to come home to see you.”

That elicits a smile from Luke. “Can I go see him?”

I wasn’t really expecting that, and I’m running out of half-answers.

“Not right now, honey,” Mom says. “Your mama needs to take a shower and change her clothes. Maybe another time, okay?”

“Okay,” Luke says, sounding only partially mollified.

My mom nudges me. “Go do what you need to do. I’ve got this.”

While Mom and Joe distract Luke, I run to my bedroom and take the quickest shower ever. Then I change clothes and pack an overnight bag to last me at least a few more days.

When I return to the kitchen, I see Luke in the family room playing cars with Aiden. Fortunately, the boys’ backs are to me, so Luke doesn’t notice me. My mom’s giving Ava a bottle, and Annie’s reading to the twins.

Although I feel guilty about it, I’m going to sneak out of the house while my kids are distracted. I glance at Joe, who’s waiting patiently in the foyer. He gestures to the door, and when I nod, he quietly opens it. I follow him outside.

“I just can’t handle his tears or his questions right now,” I say as I follow Joe to the Escalade. “Does that make me a terrible mother?”

Joe opens the front passenger door for me. “No, Ms. Beth. It doesn’t. You’re doin’ the best you can for that boy under the circumstances.”

The drive back to the hospital is nerve wracking because I’m counting the minutes I’ve been gone—forty-five. Anything could have happened in that time. Shane’s blood pressure could have dropped again, or he might have started spiking a fever from infection. And then I have a horrifying thought. What if his doctors decided to bring him out of sedation, and I wasn’t there?

I don’t know what I was thinking. I never should have left him.

As soon as we arrive at the hospital, I head straight to Shane’s ICU room. When I step inside, I find Cooper seated in my chair, reading something on his phone. Shane is just as I left him, still sedated, still lying quietly. Only the sound of beeping machines indicates he’s still with us.

Cooper stands to give me back my seat.

Before I sit, I lean over to kiss Shane’s forehead. “I’m here,” I say to him. “I’m right here.”