Page 169 of You Found Me
“I hate that phrase,” Della croaked. “You know I hate that phrase.”
Tears bubbled in Lizzie’s eyes as she held a cup of water to Della’s lips. “How are you feeling? The doctor says your poor throat is bruised, and your ankle is sprained, but nothing’s broken. They didn’t check for… Sweetie, he didn’t…do anything…else…did he?”
Della closed her eyes against the idea. “No.”
“Oh, thank God.”
To Della’s horror, her take-charge, fix-everything oldest sister burst into gut-wrenching sobs.
Mattie rushed forward. “Lizzie, honey, it’s okay. She’s okay.” Mattie ushered Lizzie back to her chair, where Lizzie sat with one hand on her belly, the other holding a tissue.
“You scared all of us, DellBell, but it’s hitting Lizzie extra hard right now.” Piper grimaced as she pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat. “Baby hormones.”
“Oh…” Della’s own eyes were blurred with tears too. “Where’s Ward?”
Adam and Blake backed away toward the door. “He’s next door. He wanted to know when you woke up…”
They scurried out.
“Cowards,” Piper sniffed.
“You can’t blame them,” Mattie said. “A room full of crying women can be a little intimidating.”
Despite herself, Della managed a watery giggle. “Ward? The surgery…”
“The surgery went very well,” Lizzie said as she dabbed her eyes. “All he’ll need is a little physical therapy for the damaged muscle in his thigh. He’ll be good as new in a couple of months.”
Piper blew her nose. “Seriously, Dell…I’m so sorry this happened to you. We never should have left you alone.”
“You didn’t.” Della tried to sit up, but the world was still pretty hazy, so she collapsed back against the pillows.
Piper hit a button to raise the bed into a sitting position. Della gave her a grateful smile.
Mattie was doing that tears falling without any actual sobbing thing that she did when she was really upset. “We were all so worried, Dell. It’s been a rough twenty-four hours.”
“More like thirty-six,” Piper said. “Renic’s been on a rampage ever since he got the alert from Spencer. He’s going to revamp our entire security protocol.”
Della could picture that. Renic would have been really upset that her security had been breached. She tensed. “He didn’t…he didn’t fire Ward, did he? It wasn’t his fault!”
“Of course not, sweetie.” Lizzie waved that idea away. “Ward quit.”
“Quit?” Della gaped at her. “He can’t quit.”
Lizzie blinked at her with watery confusion. “Why not? It’s over. It’s all over. Your stalker is dead. The assignment is over. We’ll all go back to our normal security teams.”
Della stared at each sister in turn. They didn’t get it. She didn’t care about who they hired for security. “Ward…”
“Don’t you worry about him. He’ll be fine. Renic is making sure of it.” Mattie said as she sat on the edge of the bed and put asoft hand on her leg. “I’ve been thinking. They want to keep you overnight for observation. You had a nasty crack to the head at some point. But after that, you’ll need somewhere to recuperate. Why don’t you come stay with Adam and me? You can hang out on the beach or by the pool, and you won’t have to worry about cameras or people sneaking into the house because it’s an island. You’ll have all the time you need to rest.”
“I…thanks, Mattie. That’s really sweet, but…” The idea sparked a wave of panic through her chest. She didn’t want to go live on an island with Mattie and Adam. Picturing them in their pre-wedding bliss made her heart hurt because she’d be there alone…without Ward.
“Well, you can’t stay with me,” Piper said. “We have to go back to a seedy hotel for the rest of the shoot. But you can stay at my house as long as you want. You and whatever security team.”
“You can always come stay with me,” Lizzie said. “You know there’s plenty of room, and I’d love to have you there. Weren’t you planning on coming anyway, closer to baby time?”
There was a time not so long ago that was exactly what Della wanted to do, but now…tears pricked her eyes. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Wires Crossing. She didn’t want to let all this go. “Yes, but…”
A nurse knocked at the door and came in. “Excuse me, is there a Lucy Carmichael in the room?”