Page 58 of Single Mom for the Mountain Men
I reach out to catch her hand and press it to my lips. “These guys are going to help you,” I reassure her. “You were so brave.”
“Where is Sophie?” she asks me, her brow creasing a little as she remembers that Sophie was up here in the snow with her.
“Right here, Mommy!” Sophie says from my side, and I lift her up so that she can hug her mother without hurting her.
“Hi, baby,” her mother says to her, her voice sounding weaker by the moment. “Be good for the mountain men, okay? I’m not sure when we’ll get to talk again.”
“Okay, Mommy,” Sophie says, her voice sounding confused. “Momma? Momma?” she asks as Lena slips back into unconsciousness.
“We need to get her down the mountain,” the head paramedic says, and I nod, stepping back to allow them to carry her to the waiting four-wheeler that is just a few feet away.
We all watch Lena’s huddled form as the paramedics carry her away and then exchange a look. She might not make it, we all know that, but no one wants to speak that possibility into existence.
“Come on, you three,” the head police officer says. “I need you all to come down to the station, and we need to get statements from you. Does the little one need to go to the hospital along with her mother?”
“I want to stay with Tanner!” Sophie yells, hugging my leg. “Momma said I had to stay with the mountain men.”
“She can come with us,” I tell the officer before picking her up and cradling her against me. She throws her arms around my neck, clinging to me tightly.
“Works for me,” the officer says and gestures for us to follow him.
As we walk side-by-side to the waiting vehicles, a silence hangs between us. We’ve lost our house tonight, and we’ve been forced to commit violence, but worst of all, we might have lost Lena.
Chapter thirty-one
CHAPTER 31: Aiden
The hospital is always chilly. I don’t know why they can’t make it warmer in here. I glance over at Sophie, who’s sitting in the big chair by the window, having a conversation with her teddy bear.
“Do you need another jacket?” I ask the little girl, and she glances up from her conversation with her teddy to shake her head
Why are little kids always so warm?I wonder as I glance out at the snowy world outside the hospital windows. It’s been cold ever since that fateful night on the mountain, as if the world is frozen and waiting for Lena to wake up, just like the three of us.
Lena’s surgery went well, but she didn’t wake up when she came out it. The doctors have told us that sometimes the body knows that it needs extra time to heal, but with each day that goes by, Iworry more about whether or not she will actually come back to us.
Sophie, for her part, has seemed completely confident that her mother will wake up, and something about her childlike way of handling the stress has made it easier for the three of us to cope with Lena lying here in the hospital, sleeping, while the world goes by without her.
The police asked about next of kin for Sophie when we were first being questioned about the incident on the mountain, but we quickly assured them that she didn’t have any that we knew of and that she wanted to stay with us. There were probably other people on her father’s side of the family that she could go stay with, but we didn’t want to chance it.
Besides, any time that someone suggests to Sophie that she go anywhere without one of us, she starts shrieking about her mother wanting her to stay with the mountain men, and that ends the discussion.
I watch the little girl for a moment longer, a small smile on my lips. She’s been such a blessing in my life ever since we first went to Lena’s cabin to help with the power outage. She sees the world so simply, in beautiful ways, and she makes me feel complete in ways that I never thought could be possible.
I’ve even found myself wondering about having my own children since Sophie came into my life. That would depend on Lena, of course, but I wouldn’t mind having more kids to love.
“Still out, I see,” Brody says as he wanders into the room. “Hey, little soldier,” he says to Sophie, ducking down to kiss her cheek.
Brody has been the rock for our little family since Lena got hurt. He’s done most of the work to take care of Sophie, and he’s been cooking each night because I just don’t have the heart to do so. We were all worried that the incident with James would bring back his PTSD, but it actually seems like being so busy with caring for us is keeping his demons entirely at bay. He’s even been smiling more often.
“Gosh, I am so tired of meeting with lawyers,” Tanner says as he comes into the room. He wipes a hand down his face, then at Brody’s censorious look, he says, “Not that I don’t deserve to do so.”
The deeper that the police dig into Sophie’s father, the more dirt they turn up. There are enough criminal acts in his past to keep him in prison for life once he gets out of the hospital. The two thugs who worked for him haven’t been good citizens, either, but they helped themselves out by agreeing to inform the police about everything that James has been up to for the past few years. It feels good to know that James is going to go behind bars and stay there.
Tanner’s lawyer is still trying to sort out how much money he owes and to whom, but Brody and I have told him that we will help him pay back his debts once he has a final number. He’s promised to go to rehab for his gambling addiction as well, just to be sure that he doesn’t relapse ever again.
“I heard from the insurance company about the house,” Brody says from his spot by the window.
“Yeah?” I ask eagerly. I’m finding that living in town in a hotel is not a very good fit for me. I miss our beautiful house on the mountains, and I miss the mountains themselves even more.
