“I feel like hell I wasn’t there when she called.”
“She got him help, though.”
“Yeah, our little cousin has a will of steel.”
“Tell me about it.”
Gideon laughed. “I don’t have to. I saw you go up against her in court.”
* * *
“I can’t believe you’re here, Ronan.” Hayley hugged him again, awkward though it was sitting down this time. Her emotions were bouncing all over the place. Down so low over Seth she thought she’d never climb out of them. Then reaching heights of joy when her oldest brother appeared today.
“I am here, Red.” He brushed his hand down her hair. “Though you’re more auburn now.” He frowned.
“What?”
“You must have been beating the men off with a stick all these years.”
“How did you know about Seth?”
“I’ve kept track of you and Finn.” He gestured to the group. “And them.”
“How? There are privacy laws, you know.”
“I, um, get alerts.”
“What kind of alerts?”
He glanced over her shoulder. “Look, Hayley. A doctor came out.”
Abandoning the topic for now, she stood and they both hurried over to the rest of the family. She held Ronan’s hand because she was afraid he’d disappear in a puff of smoke. “I have some news about Mr. Casella. Is his wife here?”
“He’s not married. We’re his brothers and sisters.” Rafe fudged the truth a bit. “And this is his mother.”
Julianne Ford held Carmella’s hand. Huh. What would Seth think of his long-lost girlfriend showing up?
“I’m the surgeon, Dr. Joe Manson. Your brother or son is stable now.”
“But he was stabbed.” This from Ali, who held Rafe’s hand.
“Let me explain. Abdominal injuries are classified by the organ that is damaged and how the injury occurred. They can be blunt or penetrating.
“Most concerning is when the object enters the abdominal cavity. Gunshots usually cause significant damage. However, stab wounds that don’t hit organs cause less damage. That’s what happened to Mr. Casella. He had internal bleeding, but we stopped that with surgery to the blood vessels. An artery was nicked but reparable.” He smiled. “Quite frankly, it’s a miracle that the stomach, spleen, and liver weren’t affected.”
Hayley wilted and leaned against Ronan.
“So, the prognosis is?” Gideon asked.
“Excellent. He’ll make a full recovery if he follows orders and lets someone take care of him.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Carmella said.
“I’ll help,” Julianne put in. “I’m off now for the summer.”
“We’ll all help.” Rafe’s tone was reassuring. Safe. “If he lets us.”
“He will,” Carmella insisted.
When the doctor left, Hayley caught something in the corner of her eye. Finn had come into the surgical waiting room. About five feet away, he slowed, then rushed forward.
Lifted his arm.
And slugged Ronan in the jaw. Ronan stumbled backward, then went down. Finn lunged for him.
Carmella screamed.
Rafe jumped between the two of them.
Gideon said, “I didn’t know our Finn had it in him.”
Finn still had his arms up, boxer style.
And Ronan rolled to his feet. Turning, he kissed Hayley on the forehead and walked away. She wanted to run after him, convince him to stay, but Finn was visibly upset. And her duty was to the man who’d been there for her, day after day, year after year. He deserved her attention.
Not the man who abandoned her.
* * *
“Well, that was a shit show.” Hayley threw her purse and coat on the chair, then flopped down onto the bed, on her back, arms out. She looked absolutely bedraggled with her hair down and messy, her lipstick bitten off.
Standing before her, Paul cocked his head. “Finn seems so mild-mannered.” They’d already talked about Seth and his recovery.
“Ronan was his champion. Whenever kids picked on him for being a bookworm, Ronan was there to punch back, sometimes literally. Sometimes with his quick wit. I think maybe Finn took Ronan’s disappearance from our lives harder than I did, though he never would talk about him after he left.”
Dropping down next to her, stretching out, Paul crooked his elbow and put his head in his hand. She was so precious he wanted to take away her pain. “By the looks of you two together, he was your champion, too.”
“You should have seen how he went after my mother whenever she got on us.”
“What about your father?”
“Dad talked to him, and Ronan told him if he didn’t stand up to her, he—Ronan—would.”
“Gutsy move.”
“Still, Ronan was close to Dad.” She seemed far away. “The same week he passed away, Ronan’s ex-girlfriend died, and Ronan said he had to get out of Hidden Cove. We never heard from him again.”
Because he could tell she was getting sad again, he reached out and brushed back her hair. “That’s good news about Seth.”
“Yeah. I’m glad Aunt Carmella and Rafe stayed the night with him.”
“He’ll be sore for a long time.”
“Can you imagine, somebody walked right into Legal Aid and went after him?”
“Aren’t there any security precautions in place?”
“Some, but they’re not enough. He complained to the bosses but they never put in an alarm. They will, now, though.”
“Too late for Seth.”
“I need a shower.” She frowned as she glanced down at his body. “I have clothes here, but you don’t. Hold on a sec.” Bolting up, she walked out of the room.
Paul laid back on the bed as she’d been and stared up at her ceiling, where a fan whirred. God, he had to have another chance with this woman. He had to. The thought of losing her was untenable.
She came back bearing an armful of clothes and tossed them on the bed. Shirts, pants, shorts, a bathing suit, some pajama bottoms. “Help yourself.”
He rolled to a sitting position then stood. “Did you disturb Finn? He said he was going straight to bed.”
“I didn’t want to do that. Those are Ronan’s clothes. I guess he doesn’t have a whole lot of interest in coming back into the fold.”
“I was thinking, Hayley. He must be close by. He got to the hospital fast, almost as fast as we did.”
A startled look. “What are you saying?”
“Maybe he’s living in New York.”
Her
