Fatal Reckoning (Fatal #14)(8)

“Thank you so much. I agree.” Sam went into the kitchen, where Shelby was making breakfast for Alden and Aubrey. The sight of their adorable little faces brought tears to Sam’s eyes. She kissed them both as Shelby looked on with concern. “How’d you guys sleep?” Sam caressed their soft blond hair.

“Okay.” Aubrey gave Sam a knowing look. After what she’d endured, she knew disaster when she saw it. “Can we go to the park later?”

“Maybe. Let’s see what happens, okay?” Sam didn’t want to add to their grief by sharing hers with them. Not yet anyway. “I need to run upstairs and shower.”

“Do what you need to, Sam.” Shelby’s big blue eyes were tearful and full of compassion. Sam expected nothing less from her. “We’re all set here.”

She gave Shelby a quick hug before leaving the kitchen to trudge upstairs, where Debra stood watch outside Scotty’s door. Giving the agent a grim smile and receiving an empathetic look in return, Sam went into her son’s room and shut the door behind her, taking a second to gather the fortitude she would need for this.

It killed her that what she was about to tell him would devastate her son, but he was too old to be treated like a baby. If she had her way, nothing would ever hurt him again, as unrealistic as that was. She went to his bed and sat on the edge of the mattress, reaching out to run her fingers through the silky dark hair that was so much like his father’s. Though they didn’t share DNA, father and son had several physical similarities that gave them the look of family. “Hey, bud.” She gave him a gentle nudge.

He groaned. “Go away. It’s Sunday. No school.”

“I need to talk to you.”

His eyes opened, immediately on alert. “Don’t tell me something happened to Dad.”

“No, not Dad.” Her throat closed, and she had to look away from his sweet, earnest face or risk losing it.

“What, then? Just say it. You’re freaking me out.”

“Gramps.”

“No.” He shook his head. “No.”

“I’m so sorry to have to tell you this. But the good news is he went peacefully in his sleep, and he’s free now.”

Tears rolled down Scotty’s handsome face as his chin quivered.

Sam held out her arms to him. “Come here.”

He sat up and fell into her outstretched arms, sobbing his heart out. “I’m not ready for this.”

“I know, sweetheart. None of us are.”

“You really believe he’s free?”

“I do.” Sam spoke the truth even as she ached on the inside. “You didn’t know him before he was shot. He was so big and brawny and brave. At his funeral, there’ll be lots of photos of him in uniform, and you’ll see what I mean.” She pulled back from him, wiped the tears from his face and smoothed the hair that stood on end after sleeping. “His great big life was so greatly reduced after he was shot, and it was hard for us to see him like that. I can’t begin to imagine what it was like for him to be so trapped physically while being completely aware mentally.”

“That had to suck so bad.”

“It did, and that’s why I believe that he’s in a better place now, a place where paralysis doesn’t exist, and people are made whole again.” She kissed his forehead and continued to run her fingers through his hair, which she didn’t get to do often enough these days for her liking. “I hope it makes it easier to bear to think of him as free.”

“It does.”

“He was so proud of you and loved you so much. You amused him endlessly and made his last few years so much richer. He would say, ‘That kid is just too much. I love him to pieces.’”

“I loved him too.”

“He knew that. He would tell me your visits were the highlight of his days. You were very faithful to him, and we all appreciated that.”

“I loved talking to him. That’s why I was always over there. I liked having a grandpa again.”

“I know, and I’m so sorry you have to lose someone else you love. You’ve already had way too much loss in your life.”

“Yeah, but I was lucky too, because I got to have them for a short time, and they loved me.”

“Yes, they did, and that’s a good way to look at it. Are you okay?”

“I will be.”

“Do you promise you’ll talk to me about anything you’re feeling?”

“If you do the same. This is way harder for you than it is for me.”

“I promise, and it’s hard for all of us.”

“How’s Celia?”

“She’s hurting, as you can imagine.”

“I’ll go see her.”

“I’m sure she’d love that.”

“Does Dad know?”

She nodded. “The Secret Service got word to him on Air Force Two, and he called me.”

“He must be freaking out that he’s not here when we need him.”

“He is, but he’ll be home soon.”

“I’m really glad he’s coming home.”

“So am I.” That, Sam thought, is the understatement of my lifetime.





      CHAPTER FOUR