Holding Her Hand (Reed Brothers Book 15)(44)

“Well, I added the jewels,” I admit. I bought the silver barrettes and then I added two gemstones, one for Ryan’s birthstone and one for Mick’s. “It’s their birthstones,” I tell her.

“How did you know my birthday?” Mick asks.

I roll my eyes. “Facebook,” I say. “Duh…”

He grins. “Well played.”

Mrs. Shepherd pulls the barrettes she’s already wearing from her hair and replaces them with mine. “How do they look?” she asks the boys.

“Beautiful,” they both say at the same time. “And you don’t look a day older,” Ryan adds. “In fact, I think you look a day younger with those on.”

She pulls the dishtowel from her pocket again and slings it at him. He ducks and laughs.

“They don’t even look cheap,” Samantha says.

“They’re not,” I tell her, though she can’t hear the growl in my voice.

Mrs. Shepherd makes me very happy when she hugs me, and then she goes to show off her new barrettes. Ryan kisses me on the cheek and says, “She likes you.”

“You think so?” My heart is still racing a mile a minute.

“Yes,” Mick says. “You’re in.”

I heave out a relieved breath. “Whew!” I wipe my hand across my forehead and pretend to sling off sweat.

But suddenly, Mrs. Shepherd starts to gasp. She holds her throat and her lips begin to turn blue. “Mom!” Mick calls out, and Ryan runs to the house and comes back immediately with an injectable pen. She falls to the ground and they stick her with the pen, but her breathing doesn’t improve. Someone calls for an ambulance, and Ryan, Mick, and their dad try to keep her stable, but it’s not working.

“Oh, my God!” Samantha says. “Were there nuts in the cookies you brought?”

“Mom is allergic to nuts,” Ryan says. He’s frantically trying to keep her awake, and she’s struggling to breathe.

“You knew there were nuts in the cookies!” I tell Samantha.

“How would I know that?” she asks, standing up taller in mock outrage.

“Because I told you!”

“You might have thought you did, but your signing isn’t very good,” she says.

I hear the sirens outside and I wait with the others as they load her into the ambulance. Ryan and Mick leave together in Mick’s car to go to the hospital, and I go to my car with my security guard. “You told her,” he says to me.

“I know I did.”

“Conniving little bitch,” he mutters.

“Yep.”

“You want to go to the hospital?”

“Yes, please.”

I text my family with a group text.

Me: I think I just killed Ryan’s mom. We’re on our way to the hospital.

When we arrive, I find Ryan pacing in a hallway with Mick and his dad. Samantha is with him, and every time he stops walking, she starts to rub his arm. He lifts her fingers and pushes her away. Then he sees me.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I rush to say.

He wraps me up in a hug, burying my face in his chest. I look up. “I didn’t know she was allergic, I swear it. I told Samantha there were nuts in them and she just said your mom would love them.”

“I didn’t understand her signing,” Samantha protests, and then she begins to pick at her cuticles. “She’s not very good at it.”

“You’re a liar, Samantha!” Mick cries out loud as he signs it too. “You did this on purpose and you know you did!”

Her face flushes. “I did not!”

“Your left eye twitches when you lie,” Ryan tells her.

She stamps her foot. “Does not!”

“It does,” Mick says. “It always has. You’re lying now and you were lying then.” He points toward the door. “You should go.”

“I won’t.”

“Oh yes you will,” four female voices say from behind me, and I look around to find all four of my sisters, along with Emilio and Marta. “You do not want to f*ck with my daughter,” Marta says, pointing a finger at Samantha. I have seen Marta get all mama-bear-like before, but I have never seen her quite so forceful. She points to the door. “Out!”

Samantha turns and runs down the hallway.

“She could have killed her,” Ryan says. His face is so pale we could light a dark room with it.

“She didn’t,” Marta says. “Your mother will be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” Ryan says.

“I do. I’m a mother, Ryan. We know everything.”

“What do we do now?” Mick asks.

“Now we wait,” Emilio says.

Everyone sits down, and Mick and Ryan don’t say a word about my sisters and my parents waiting with us.

“Do you want me to ask them to leave?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “They can stay.”

“Marta,” Emilio jokes, “I haven’t seen you be that forceful in a really long time. It’s kind of turning me on.”

“Someone had to do it,” Marta says. She points to my sisters. “Two of you are pregnant, and therefore incapable of fighting. I couldn’t let you get hurt.”