No Place to Run (KGI #2)(60)

Sam ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I just got here. I have to see him. My brothers are with him. I’d like to be there with them. Please.”

Her face softened and she glanced back toward the nurses’ station. “Come with me.”

He followed her to the far end of the unit, to the last cubicle on the right. She paused at the door and motioned him in.

“I can’t let you stay long. If the charge nurse comes back, she’ll insist on the two-visitor limit.”

“Thank you,” Sam said.

He nudged the already ajar door and stared at his father lying motionless on the bed, wires and tubes and machines everywhere.

Garrett was sitting on one side of their dad with a chair drawn up to the very edge of the bed, while Donovan was slumped in a chair on the other side. When Donovan looked up and saw Sam, he immediately got up and walked over.

After a moment’s hesitation, Sam enfolded Donovan in a bear hug.

“How is he?” Sam whispered.

Donovan drew away and murmured low, “He’s woken up a few times. First time he asked for Ma. At first I don’t think he had any idea what had happened.”

“And now?”

“He knows,” Donovan said grimly.

Sam closed his eyes. Then he nudged by Donovan and went to his father’s bedside. Garrett looked up, his eyes bleak.

Sam eased into Donovan’s chair and leaned forward until he grasped his father’s hand. It shocked him how weak and human Frank Kelly looked lying so pale in the bed.

“Dad,” he said softly. “It’s Sam. Garrett and I are here. Can you hear us?”

To his surprise, his dad’s eyelids twitched and fluttered open. For a moment he stared at Sam as if not recognizing him. Then his lips parted.

“Sam.”

It barely came out as a whisper. More as a raspy sigh than an actual word but it was the sweetest sound Sam had ever heard. Tears burned his eyes when his dad carefully turned his hand in Sam’s until he could curl his fingers around Sam’s palm.

Slowly Frank turned his head until he locked onto Garrett.

“Garrett? Is that you?”

Garrett leaned forward and grasped his father’s other hand. “I’m here, Dad.”

“Where’s Van?”

“He’s here too,” Sam said. “Standing right here behind me.”

“Get your mother back. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. You go get your mother. Bring her home to me.” Pain spasmed across Frank’s face and a tear rolled down his wrinkled cheek. “I’ve never been without her. Not in forty years.”

“We’ll find her,” Sam vowed. “You just concentrate on getting well so when she gets home you’re not stuck here in the hospital.”

Frank nodded. “Ethan and Rachel. Are they safe?”

“Yes, they’re fine. I need . . . I need to tell Ethan about Mom.”

Frank shook his head. “No. You leave them as far away from this as you can. He has no business bringing Rachel home and into danger. You boys will find Marlene. I have every faith in you.”

“I love you, Dad,” Sam said as the knot grew bigger in his throat. “Take care of yourself please.”

“Love you too, son. Be careful.”

Frank seemed to sag deeper into the bed. His face was gray, and he looked exhausted by the few minutes of talking. Alarmed, Sam called for the nurse. She came in immediately and did an assessment.

“He’s overtired. You really should leave him to rest now.”

Reluctantly Sam rose and filed out of the room with his brothers. They gathered in the family waiting room, where Steele, P.J., Cole and Dolphin had joined Rio and his men. Rusty still sat on the sofa, her hands curled tightly in her lap, and Sophie had retreated to the far corner and stood with her arms wrapped around her waist, as if protecting herself and her baby from the world.

Despite his need to talk to his men, Sam left the knot of people and walked to where Sophie stood. He had a very real need to touch her, to feel her against him. He ran his hands up her arms and then carefully pulled her into his embrace.

“Is he okay?” she asked anxiously. “I mean I know he’s not okay, but will he be?”

He kissed her lightly on the lips. “I think so. He looks bad, and he’s worried about Mom, but I think that worry is what will keep him fighting.”

Her face fell. “I’m sorry, Sam. This is all my fault. I should have stayed away longer. I shouldn’t have come at all. I knew ...” She sucked in a wavering breath. “I knew what would happen, that my uncle would come after you, but—”

He put a finger over her lips. “You most certainly should have come to me. I don’t even want to imagine you out there still running, hurting, maybe even dead by now. We’ll work this out, Soph. I don’t want you blaming yourself. Put the blame where it belongs. On your father and your uncle.”

She buried her face in his chest and clung fiercely to him. All his reservations melted away, and all he could see or feel was her. Where she belonged. With him. Him standing between her and the world.

A phone rang and Sam turned sharply to find the source. The community phone on the wall, the one for the family to use, rang loudly, interrupting the quiet in the small room.

Donovan picked it up and muttered a hello. His entire body tensed and his expression became dark and forbidding. His hand curled so tightly around the receiver that Sam could see his knuckles whiten.