Fighting For You (Danvers #4)(56)
Mac grimaced, “If those are gonna be your in-laws at some point, you should probably go ahead and bail now. No one would blame you. The mother is a real piece of work. She came barging in with the father and girl trailing behind her. Instead of asking how her daughter is doing, she starts attacking Beth and even throws in an insult about God punishing Ella because she’s friends with an unwed mother. Beth took it better than most would but her sister and Nick are about to go ape shit. I hate to throw this on you now, but you probably need to do something quick before this gets worse.”
“Fuck,” Declan muttered under his breath. This kind of drama was the last thing he needed, but he owed it to Ella to take care of this for her. She would be horrified about her mother hurting her best friend. If he could deflect some of the anger onto himself and save a riot, then that’s what he had to do. Stepping forward, he had a strong urge to tuck his tail and run when Ella’s family zeroed in on him. “Mr. and Mrs. Webber. I’m glad you are here.” Shit, he actually got that out with a straight face. “I know you’re worried about Ella. They just took her back to surgery and my friend, Julie,” he looked around, but Julie had apparently taken one look at the situation and decided to bail, “Well, she is a nurse here and she has promised to keep us all updated.”
“Who put you in charge of my daughter’s affairs?” her mother snapped. Waving her hands around to include everyone, “If it weren’t for all of you people, this would have never happened to Ella. She would be safely at home right now instead of in some hospital.”
Ella’s father and sister had been quiet through the exchange up until that point. Her father stepped forward and laid a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Dot, this is not the place.”
Crystal stepped up beside her father saying, “I agree with Daddy. This isn’t doing Ella any good. We don’t even know what happened.”
Her mother huffed, “I don’t care to know what happened from these people.”
“Dorothy, that’s enough!” Everyone in the room jumped a foot as Ella’s father’s voice reverberated off the walls. “Our daughter has been in an accident and her friends are here to support her. If you cannot control yourself, then please go home. I will not have you embarrass Ella any further with these attacks.”
Crystal gave her father a look of admiration before saying, “You go, Daddy.” Declan found himself smothering his first smile of the day at this quirky girl who reminded him so much of Ellie in that moment that it made his heart literally hurt.
Ella’s father stepped forward and extended a hand. “Declan, wasn’t it?” At his nod, he said, “Bob Webber. Could you tell us what happened please?” He was happy that Bob had decided to formally introduce himself since their first meeting had been under less than ideal circumstances. One quick glance showed Ella’s mother standing off by herself, clearly unhappy with her husband’s words, but wise enough to stay quiet for the moment.
Declan filled them in on everything he knew about the accident and Mac stepped forward to let them know that the police would be by to speak to Ella as soon as she was able to talk. He assured them that he was doing everything he could in the meantime to find out what happened and to locate the driver of the car.
The tension slowly lessened in the room as the Webbers settled into one side of the waiting room and the rest of them in the other. He wasn’t sure how long he had been staring off into space when someone tapped his shoulder. He was surprised to see Crystal sit down beside him. “It’s okay,” she smiled, “I’m not going to go all crazy on you like Mom.”
He gave her a smile in return, once again struck by how much she resembled her sister when she smiled. “That’s good to know. I don’t think I could handle another round this soon.”
“I’ll bet,” she laughed. “She means well most of the time, but she has no idea how to go about communicating with people. She is so caught up in what people think about her that it has taken over her life. I just know she is as miserable most of the time as she makes all of us. Poor Daddy, I’m so proud of him for finally sticking up for Ella today. He used to be kind of like Mom, but I think he has gotten burned out from all of the social climbing. He’d love nothing better than to be left alone in his workshop to putter around.”
Declan really looked at her for probably the first time, seeing a lot beneath the surface. “It must be pretty tough on you with Ella gone from home.”
Crystal sighed, and then looked down at her hand for a moment, gathering her thoughts. “I was pretty jealous at first,” she admitted. “I was trapped in a marriage that was mostly miserable and I had completely bowed to the pressure of trying to be the perfect daughter. When Ella moved out and seemed to be doing so well, it finally hit me that instead of being jealous of her for finally getting a life of her own, I should take control of my own. I’m not saying it happened overnight, but I’m trying. I may end up in divorce court before it’s over, which of course means that Mom will never speak to me again, but I’ve got to live my life.” Her voice caught on a sob when she added, “Ella showed me that.”
He could feel a lump in his own throat as he thought of the woman he loved lying in surgery. That woman meant so much to the people around her. He had tried to fight it. He had railed against it, denied it, and just downright lied to himself—and her—but if he was honest, he was a goner from their meeting at Suzy’s house. When she had ended up sitting next to him at dinner, he had been hooked. She was so obviously ill at ease that he had felt all of his protective instincts kick in. When Nick had flirted with her to put her at ease, he had wanted to kick his ass. That night had begun a cycle for him. He had started seeking her out almost every day, first making it look accidental and later, as their conversations had gotten easier and increased in frequency, he had begun bringing her things like her favorite coffee or candy. Hell, he didn’t even know when the habit had started. He just knew she had become the focal point of his day. His Ellie deserved so much better than someone as f**ked up as him, but if she would give him a chance, he would spend the rest of his life trying to become a man worthy of a woman like her.