“There she is,” one of the doctors said, smiling at her. “BP’s coming back. She’s stabilizing nicely.” He bent closer to her. “You’re in the Chickasaw County Medical Center, Detective Tandy. Can you talk?”
Kristen’s voice came out in a croak. “Where’s Sam?”
“Mr. Cooper’s just outside. Let us get you all hooked up and settled down here and we’ll bring him right in.”
Looking down, she saw that she was naked, her clothes lying in strips on a nearby equipment table. Her left side was a screaming ball of agony, but the doctor assured her they had stopped the bleeding and once the blood transfusion was finished, she’d be feeling better in no time.
They covered her with a sheet, finally, and brought Sam into the emergency bay. He was bone-white and looked as though he’d just walked through the pit of hell, but when he locked gazes with her, his face spread into a smile as bright as a clear June morning. He caught her hand in his, lifting her knuckles to his lips for a quick kiss. “You sure know how to make an impression on a guy, Tandy.”
“Where’s Maddy?” she asked. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. The doctors just finished checking her out and now she’s with my folks in the waiting room. I’ll bring her to see you once you’re in a room.”
“Is someone watching her?” she asked, anxious.
“Riley’s playing bodyguard, but it’s over now. Burkett’s in lockup.” Sam stroked her hair, his smile widening. “Half the Gossamer Ridge police force is guarding him. The other half is out in the waiting room, driving the nurses crazy. You have quite an admiration society going on there.”
She shook her head. “I blew it back there. I heard Maddy cry out and I lost my head.”
“So did I.” He stroked a stray lock of hair away from her damp face. “It’s what parents do.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “I had to protect her, whatever the cost.”
“I know.”
“I would have done that for my brothers and sisters, Sam. If I’d had an idea what my mother was going to do-”
Sam touched her lips with his fingertips. “I know that, too. You were always too hard on yourself about that.”
She pressed her lips to his fingers in a light kiss. “You sound like Carl.”
“Carl’s a smart man,” Sam replied with a smile. “He was smart enough to love you.”
She heard the vow hidden in his words. She saw the emotion shining in his eyes. It was crazy, really, to feel so much after such a short time, but she knew it was true.
She felt it herself.
“When you get out of here, we need to talk,” Sam said.
She managed a weak smile. “If by ‘talk’ you mean you’re going to tell me how things will be between us from now on, I should warn you I already have a few ideas about that.”
He ran his thumb over the curve of her chin. “Really.”
“Yeah. Like daily foot rubs. And who gets to drive.”
“Daily foot rubs, huh? For you or for me?”
“I suppose it could be a mutual thing,” she answered, feeling a little silly being flirtatious while she was lying naked and wounded under a little bitty sheet on a gurney.
“Deal,” he said, bending to give her a passionate kiss that made her woozy head reel until the doctor came into the room to shoo him out.
Kristen watched him leave, her heart so full of joy she could hardly breathe. Maddy was safe. Burkett was in custody. And she was crazy in love with a wonderful man just crazy enough to love her back. Had she actually died back there in the abandoned church and gone straight to heaven?
If so, there was nowhere else she’d rather be.
Epilogue
They had decided against a big, fancy wedding, opting instead for a smaller lakeside ceremony, with just family and close friends in attendance. The whole Cooper clan was there, except for Sam’s brother Luke, who seemed to be the prodigal son. On Kristen’s side, there were Carl and Helen, of course, and Jason Foley was there with his very pregnant wife.
“She’s promised she won’t go into labor during the ceremony,” Foley assured Kristen when he found a minute alone with her shortly before the ceremony. “I told her if her water breaks, move closer to the lake and she’ll be fine.”
“God, you’re gross,” Kristen said with a grimace, but she gave him a hug anyway. “Thanks for coming.”
“Wouldn’t miss it, Tandy. I can still call you Tandy, right?”
“For the next twenty minutes.” Sam’s voice was close to Kristen’s ear. She pulled back from Foley’s embrace and beamed up at her husband-to-be.
“Don’t you know it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?” she teased.
He smiled back. “Looking at you could never be bad luck.”
“Ugh. Newlyweds,” Foley muttered. He winked at Kristen. “Enjoy this phase while it lasts. Dirty dishes and laundry are just around the bend.” He shook Sam’s hand, his expression growing serious. “Be good to her.”
“I will,” Sam promised. He turned back to Kristen after Foley left. She saw that he was holding a box in his left hand. He gave it to her. “I brought you a prewedding gift.”
She examined it. It was a sturdy cardboard box, unwrapped. About the size of a tissue box. Whatever lay inside was heavy.
“Don’t shake it and don’t drop it,” Sam warned. “Need my help opening it?”
“I can do it,” she said, even though her hands were shaking a little. Prewedding jitters, she supposed, although after six months of courtship by both Sam and Maddy, she was finally sure this marriage was the right thing for all of them.
The box opened easily from the top. Inside, she found a clear jar filled with water and a small cutting from a rosebush. Her bittersweet childhood memory came rushing back, more sweet than bitter for the first time.
She looked up at him through a film of tears. “I can’t believe you remembered that story.”
He grinned at her, clearly pleased with himself. “Your neighbor still lives in the same house, you know. She still has the same rosebushes.”
She stared at him. “You got this from Mrs. Tamberlain?”
“She was happy to hear you were getting married and sends her best wishes.” He leaned closer. “Do you like it?”
She felt tears spill down her cheeks, probably ruining her makeup, but she didn’t care. “It’s perfect.”
“I thought about buying you a brand-new bush,” he admitted, pulling out his handkerchief and wiping the tears away, “but I decided I wanted to give you something that showed you how much faith I have in you. In us.”
She didn’t need proof of that, of course. He’d shown his faith in her when he’d asked her to be part of his and Maddy’s lives. But she understood what he was telling her with this beautiful, unique gift.
He was entrusting her with something delicate and fragile, just like the rose cutting. Something that would need nurturing, attention and care.
He was entrusting her with Maddy. And with his own heart.
“I love you,” she whispered, rising on tiptoe to brush her lips against his.
He tugged her close, his arms wrapping tightly around her waist. “Love you back,” he murmured against her ear.
Behind his back, she lifted the jar of water holding the rose cutting to look at it again. Sunlight slanted through the windows of the room, making the water sparkle like diamonds.
And at the bottom of the cutting, she saw with delight, the first little root had begun to sprout.
