Love Survives (Love's Suicide #2)(104)

All of a sudden a little girl came climbing up into my lap. “Daddy, I go bye byes?”

I took a second to hug her against my chest. I remembered how badly I was freaking out, and the things that were taunting my mind. Initially I thought I wouldn’t be able to raise my little girl if we lost Kat, but holding her in my arms reminded me of how special she was. Nothing, not even death, could keep this child away from me.

While still keeping her close I looked up at my dad. “Tell me she’s okay.”

He smiled. “She just woke up. They were worried at first about head trauma, but she’s improving. They reset her hip and she’s pretty banged up.” He paused for a second. “Brooks there’s something else you should hear before you go in there.”

I gave him a curious stare. “What?”

“Mr. Parsons didn’t make it.”

“Come again?” He’d been alert the last time I saw him. In fact, we were fighting. How could he have died?

“He had bleeding on the brain. Apparently he lost consciousness after they brought him in. He died during surgery.”

As much as I wanted to be sad that someone had lost their life, I couldn’t feel bad for him. He’d almost killed the mother of my child out of selfishness. “So it’s over? He can’t hurt her anymore?”

“Brooks, the man lost his life.”

“He beat Kat, dad. He beat our Katy. I’ve killed people for less reasons.” When the words came out of my mouth I watched my father freeze in place. There were some things he obviously didn’t want to know about me.

He turned away. “We should go check on Kat. I’m sure she wants to see both of you.”

Before he finished speaking I was already heading toward the doors I wasn’t able to get through before. My father buzzed the ringer once, and they came open, giving us entrance. I followed him back to the room, finding my whole family standing there. Branch was backing up when he spotted me entering. I watched my mother do the same thing, giving me and my daughter the space we required.

“There she is, bug. Just like you said. Tell Mama hi.”

“Hi, Mama.”

Kat’s response was weak. I could feel the same strain to my own body seeing her in such pain. I wished I could take it all away. “Hi, baby.”

I reached down and took her hand into mine. The tears in my eyes couldn’t be controlled. This was too intense. “Don’t you ever do that to us again. My heart can’t take it.”

Kat cried softly. “I’m so sorry. I just wanted to get him away. I didn’t mean to cause the accident.”

“What do you mean? Bobby was intoxicated; way over the legal limit. He shouldn’t have even been conscious.” I was pissed. I’d been in the ambulance with him. I’d smelled the alcohol and seen how belligerent he was acting. There was no way this was her fault.

“I hit him in the face with the bottle of bourbon. He was hurting me and threatening me, saying he was going to take B away. I just wanted him to let me go. I wanted it to stop.”

“You stopped it alright and almost died doing it. You weren’t even wearing a seatbelt,” Branch added from behind me. It was strange seeing my brother so torn up. I think in so many ways he really did blame himself for all this. Perhaps it was partly his fault. The chain of events happened because he’d been selfish. For now, all I cared about was having Kat in my life.

“I’ve got this, bro. Why don’t you take Mom for a walk and give us a minute?” I needed to be alone with Kat. I wanted her to know how stubborn she’d been for thinking she could handle him on her own. Had she come running out back I would’ve protected her, but I knew she was more worried about disappointing the family with the brutal truth of her being married, to a monster at that.

I pulled up a chair once they were gone, sitting closely to Kat’s hospital bed.

“You know I’m mad, right?”

She attempted to shrug. I could tell she was upset with herself. “I had my reasons, Brooks. I didn’t want him in your parent’s house.”

I hated even thinking about the moment I realized she was gone. “Kat, I got out of that pool and B jumped back in. I had to retrieve her before I could get a towel and come inside to look for you. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I never assumed that Bobby had driven all that way to kidnap you.”

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I didn’t know what to do. All I could think of was getting him away from you and B. I knew she was safe, no matter what happened to me.”

“Listen to yourself. What about me, Kat? Did you ever consider how you being gone would affect me? Did you even think that being without you again would kill me? We’re a team, remember? No more lies or secrets. You promised.”

She shook her head as if that wasn’t enough. “I did what I had to do whether you believe me or not. I wanted you to save me, but I didn’t have time to think about it. I had to get him away from our family.”

“He could have killed you, Kat. Tell me something. Did those marks on your face and arms come from him, or the accident?”

Kat sobbed more, giving me the answer without saying anything. He’d hit her again, and if he wasn’t in the morgue, I’d be in that room strangling him myself. I hated considering my actions volatile, but nothing was going to prevent me from protecting my girls. “Please don’t hate me,” she whispered.