Flawless Surrender (The Surrender Trilogy, #2)(55)

Tanner gripped her chin in his hand and kissed her hard on the mouth. When he pulled back he searched her eyes for something before speaking again, “Baby, talk to me. What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”

“I need to call work and tell them I won’t be finishing out my two weeks notice,” she murmured, more to herself than to him, but he nodded anyways. “And I need to cancel my plans to go out for drinks with Rachel tomorrow night.”

His nod reassured her a little, “No problem. I’m going to call Rogan right now and see if they can manage the ranch for us while we’re gone. There’s no telling how long we’ll be there.”

“No!” she didn’t mean to yell at him, but her fear just kind of bubbled up and out via her voice box. “I mean, you can’t just leave the ranch for an unknown length of time. You should stay here, and for that matter so should Dalton and Clint. This is your life, Tanner. You—” The sour look on his face caught her off guard and she stopped speaking to stare at him in confusion. “What is it?”

“You still don’t get it, Zoey. I love you. You are my life. Not this ranch, or the animals, or the ranch hands, or anything else. I will go with you to Wichita, and so will Dalton and Clint because it’s our right as your men. There will be no more discussion about it, got it?”

Zoey nodded as Dalton and Clint stepped into the room and Clint picked up where Tanner left off, “Damn right, angel. We’ll handle the details, you just get packed and be ready to go.” He looked over to Dalton, “Can you get us a flight, while I call the school for her? It would be my pleasure to tell them she won’t be coming back.”

“I will get us there as fast as possible,” Dalton agreed before he disappeared back down the hallway. Zoey accepted a tender kiss from Clint, and then he turned to talk to Tanner about the ranch business that would need handled while they were gone.

While they were distracted, Zoey went to her room to collect her things. Packing random handfuls of clothing without really even focusing on what she was putting in her bag. It wasn’t like it would matter. Who really cared if their blouse matched their shoes and their bag while a loved one’s life was at stake.

The thought of her mother being her loved one made her snort. At one time she thought she loved the woman, but after everything that had happened, it seemed almost too much for her to forgive. Even considering Eve might be dying. Guilt niggled in the back of her brain. For God’s sake, her mother might be dying and she was still pissy about missing money.

The thought rattled her nerves making her drop the pouch of makeup and hygiene products she was trying to put in her bag. For some reason, seeing all of her belongings scattered on the floor, finally flipped the switch on in side of her, and she fell to her knees surrounded by shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant to have a good cry. It occurred to her that she had cried more in the last few weeks of her life than she had in the other twenty-five years. Maybe love wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Once she had dried her tears, she completed her packing and headed for the living room to find her men. Tanner was talking to Rogan on the phone, but the moment he saw her he lifted his arm. She walked right into his embrace, relishing the smell of freshly showered man, and the comfort of his arms.

“Zoey, Rachel wants to talk to you, are you up for it?” he asked her softly, concern etching lines into his brow.

She nodded and accepted the phone. “Hey, Rach.”

“Zoey, are you alright? Do you want me to come with you?”

She hesitated because for almost two decades, Rachel was the person who supported her when she needed it. Her shoulder to cry on, her sounding board, and her confidante. But her eyes landed on the three Keegan brothers who were talking quietly on the other side of the room, and she knew her point of reference had been altered.

“No, Rach. I’m good. The guys are all coming with me. You need to be at home with your family.”

Now it was Rachel’s turn to grow quiet. When she finally spoke there was an echo of shock in her voice, “You did it didn’t you? You went and fell in love with all three of them.”

Zoey made a sound of acknowledgement, but she didn’t want to draw the guys' attention so she didn’t fill her best friend in on the story.

“Now I’m really sorry we’re not going for drinks Tuesday. When you get back I want all of the details. Even the kinky ones. But for this moment, just let them take care of you, Zoey. If I know Tanner, he wants nothing more than to be needed, and right now you need someone to lean on. Let him be your rock.”

Zoey sniffled a little, “I will, and I promise I’ll explain more later. Thank you, Rach.”

They disconnected the call, and Zoey went directly into the center of her three men, allowing their large bodies to shield her from the fear of what was waiting for her in Wichita.



*****



I’m sorry, Mrs. Keegan.

She never corrected the misconception that she was married. What did it matter? The three men walked with her in the halls and held her while she slept. Under the curious gaze of the nurses, they kissed her and cuddled her, comforting her as she waited for news.

…we’ve done everything that we can for her.

Forty-eight hours after landing in Kansas, Zoey had gotten the bare minimum of information out of the medical staff. Her mother was in a coma, and the situation was grim. There was permanent damage done to some of her internal organs, and the doctors had no way of knowing how bad the damage to her brain was unless she woke up. The brain function tests they had been running weren’t optimistic.