The Family Gathering (Sullivan's Crossing #3)(89)

“Okay,” Cal said. “Let’s not make things harder. I want you to hear me on this, Mrs. Jergens. The Boyles are very bonded with your grandson. They want nothing so much as to give him a strong, loving family and to watch him thrive. If you get him home and have a moment of doubt, please don’t hesitate to call on any of us. We’d all be happy to step in and help. We’ve all grown to love the boy.”

Connie went to Sierra. She sat on a kitchen chair in the corner of the room, as far away from them as she could get. “Come on, baby,” he said gently. “Let me have Sam.”

She held him against her shoulder. She shook her head. “No,” she said. “No, Connie, no.”

“Baby, we don’t have a choice,” he said, gently pulling the little boy into his arms.

“No,” Sierra cried. “Oh God.”

Connie carried the baby to Mrs. Jergens, kissed him on the head and handed him over.

Mrs. Jergens struggled to hold him in one arm and hang on to her cane with the other. For a tense moment it looked like she might drop him, but she managed to get out the door. Jeanne Blasette scrambled along behind, opening the back door of the car for her and helping her get the baby situated. They could hear Sam crying as they took him away, Mrs. Jergens driving her car. When the sound of the car engine could no longer be heard, the house was silent but for the sobbing of Sierra.

Connie went to her and pulled her into his arms.

“Thanks for trying, Cal,” he said.

“I’m not giving up,” Cal said. “I’ve left messages with her lawyer. Maybe he can talk some sense into her.”

“Thanks. We’ll take any help we can get.” He dropped back onto the couch, holding Sierra on his lap. “I’ll stay home the rest of the shift. I just have to call my captain and tell him. He’ll understand.”

“What can I do for you right now?” Cal asked. “Can I get some food together? I can call Maggie and ask her for a tranquilizer or something.”

Connie was stroking Sierra’s hair, rocking her. “Nah, Sierra’s pregnant. She won’t take anything now. I’ll take care of her.”

“Pregnant?” Cal said in a whisper.

“An accident, but we’re happy about it,” Connie said. “Okay, we’re not happy about anything right now. It’s safe for you to leave. I can take care of my wife.”

“I’ll keep at it, Connie.”

“Great. Just don’t tell us anything that will get our hopes up only to have him torn away from us again.” He kissed Sierra’s head. “We love him. We want him to be okay.”

“Me, too,” Cal said.

*

Sierra cried for hours. In early evening at the urging of Connie she agreed to eat a little canned chicken soup and drink some water for the baby’s sake. “You can’t get dehydrated, it could hurt the baby.”

“I can’t stop crying,” she said.

“That’s okay,” he said. “I’m here. Let’s take care of you and the baby. We don’t need any more heartache.” He spooned the soup into her as if she were the baby.

“I’ve gotten a bunch of texts,” he said. “No one wants to get in our space and bother us, they don’t want to call and wake anyone if they might be sleeping, but there are offers of food, company, prayers, anything. Cal told the family—Maggie, Dakota and Sully. My captain told some of the guys. Lisa and Rafe want to offer comfort when you’re up to it. They’re waiting to be told the coast is clear.”

“Do you want company?” she asked. “Because I don’t.”

“I don’t need company,” he said. “I need to take care of what’s left of my family.”

After a few hours and a little food and water, Sierra fell into an exhausted, troubled sleep. She woke in the dark of night and the clock by the bed said it was 2:00 a.m. She heard some fussing and for a split second she thought the baby was back, fussing in his crib. She sat up with a start.

A dim light from the living room illuminated the crack in the bedroom door. She pulled herself out of bed and went toward the sound. She found Connie sitting bent over on the living room chair, his head pushed into a soft toy, muffling his cries. He sat, alone, sobbing his heart out.

She went to him, kneeling at his feet, rubbing a small hand over his back.

Connie raised his head. “We didn’t give him any of his toys.”

“We’ll take some to him,” she said. “Come to bed and let me hold you.”

“I’m okay,” he said, sniffing back his tears, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand.

“Neither one of us is okay,” she said. “Come to bed with me. I need to take care of what’s left of my family.”

He stroked her cheek. “You okay?”

“God, not at all,” she said. “But we’re going to hang on to each other and get through this. There isn’t anything they can throw at us that will break us. Because we’re a really powerful team.”

“Lotta tears on this one,” he said.

“Yeah. It might take us a while to get through it.”

*

“I can’t imagine what I was thinking, saying I liked being around family, after all,” Dakota said. “My family is falling apart.”