Her mother blinked and then broke into a wide smile. “Spoken like a woman in love. We will need to find a place for him to stay and recuperate.”
“I agree.”
“Is his family here? Maybe they have a suggestion.” Her mom twisted to look down the corridor at the people milling around. Amber was talking to Brody. No, make that scolding Brody. She couldn’t hear, but she could see Amber’s attitude from where they sat.
“Brie?”
“Oh, sorry.” What were they talking about? Ryker’s family. “No, I don’t think so.” She toyed with the phone. “I wasn’t sure if I should call them without his permission.”
“Why?”
“They aren’t as close as we are. A gut feeling based on things not said. There may be substantial discord running through the family.” She looked at the screensaver on his phone. It was a selfie of them together at the inner harbor boardwalk.
“Is that him?” Her mother pointed to the picture.
“Yes. This is Ryker. Mom, he is so good to me and I love him so much. What Brody said was hurtful.”
“How much older is he?”
“Thirteen and a half years.” She traced her finger over the picture.
“Oh goodness, that isn’t bad. I have a friend who married a man twenty-five years older than she was. He was fifty when they married. First serious relationship for her and second for him. They had four kids and at seventy-five he is still as handsome and strong as he ever was. A silver-haired fox. They have had twenty-five years together and are still going strong.” Her mother pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled at her. “If you love that man, you grab ahold of him and you don’t let anyone or anything stand in the way of what you have together.”
“Brody said it would cause problems for Dad.”
“Brody needs to mind his own business. If your father has issues with your relationship with Ryker, he’ll tell you and Ryker, not Brody.” Her mom snorted. “Believe me, two people in love is a minor bump on the mountain of bullshit he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis.”
“Mom!” Shocked, she glanced around the hall. “That is the second time you’ve cussed in less than thirty minutes.”
Hannah chuckled. “What? You think I don’t know how to use curse words? I do, and I let them fly when I need to make a point or get someone to listen to what I’m saying, and that’s what you need to do. Listen. Your relationship with this man won’t cause any hardship for your father. If it does, he’ll take steps to mitigate it. As far as Brody’s problems, that’s on Brody. Your brothers are protective. You ripped him a new one, and from the looks of it, Amber is confirming your tirade.” Hannah nodded down the hall. Amber’s hands were on her hips and she was talking a mile a minute. “Just give him a while to lick his wounds. He’ll figure out he was way off the mark and apologize. And if he doesn’t, I’ll show him the light of day.”
“I was going to bring Ryker to the house on Sunday and introduce him to you and Dad and whoever else came to dinner.” She dabbed her eyes again. “Did I get it all?”
Her mother took a fresh tissue and dabbed under her eyes. “There are no more mascara rings.”
Brie laughed and stared down at the phone in her hand. “Should I call his family?”
Her mother shook her head. “Well, I would want to know if my child was hurt. Would you want to know if one of the boys was shot?”
“Yes, I would.” She opened the phone and scrolled down his list of contacts to the one that read Father. She punched the number in and put the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Terrell?”
“No, my name is Benjamin Ganas. I take it you’re calling about Ryker?”
“Ah, yes sir, my name is Brianna King, I’m Ryker’s... girlfriend. I’m calling to let you know that Ryker was injured in the line of duty. He’s going to be okay, but he’s had surgery. He’s at Sacred Heart and is being moved into the post-surgical ward.”
“Did he ask you to call me?” The man’s question was more like a demand.
“No sir. My mother and I felt we would want to know if a member of our family was injured, so I called you.”
There was a pause before he spoke again. “Brianna was it?”
“Yes sir.”
“Thank you for the call.”
She lowered the phone and frowned. The man had hung up. “Wow, okay, that was weird.”
“How so?” Her mom looked at her expectantly.
“Well, he was rather distant.” Uptight and cold were the words she’d use.
“Some people don’t show emotion easily.” Her mom patted her arm.
She nodded. Yeah, maybe. She bit her lip and glanced down the hall. Damn, she hoped making that call wasn’t a mistake. Ryker had so much on his plate as it was, he didn’t need family drama thrown into the mix.
Ryker winced as he pushed the button to lift his bed up straighter. He’d asked the nurse to send in Terrence and Brody. He needed to talk to them without Brie present.
There was a knock and Terrence opened the door, stepping inside with Brody on his heels. “Well, shit, you don’t look too bad.” Terrence walked up and shook his left hand carefully. Brody just nodded from the foot of the bed.
So be it. He directed his question to his lieutenant. “What have we learned from responding patrols and the crime scene techs? Who has the case?”
“Shootings Division has the case. Detectives Callaway and Forsythe. They are waiting to talk to you.” Terrence nodded toward the door.
“Call them in.” Brody moved to leave. “No, Terrence, you go get them. I need a moment with Sergeant King.”
Terry whistled and then chuckled. “Going to get it again, aren’t you, Sergeant King?”
Brody flipped off Terrence, causing the man to let loose with a rumble of laughter. “You’re not
