Page 123 of Saving the Last Heir
Her face grew stern, brows furrowing as she glared at me. “Absolutelynot. There was no way of knowing if there were more of those assholes prowling around down in that fucking bunker or whatever it was.”
“True,” I admitted, though I had to believe that if Joseph had any other men down there, they would have run for it. Even a guylike Joseph didn’t have unlimited resources. Christian and I had fought off at least two or three dozen men throughout the night. That had to have depleted his numbers.
“Once I found the exit, I called Christian,” Shyanne explained. “I didn’t know who else to call for help. He’d already returned and was trying to dig through the burnt-out house to get to the stairwell when I got ahold of him. He came in a car, and we brought you here. Your…uh, your mom wasreallyworried about you.”
Mom?
I sat up, which sent a jolt of pain through my body, but that didn’t matter. My mother? My sister?
“Is she here? My mother?”
Shyanne nodded, a hopeful smile spreading across her lips. “She’s here. Do you want to see her?”
“I do,” I said, and I’d never meant anything more in my entire life. “Please?”
She gave my hand a quick squeeze, then went to the door. After a few quick murmured words, she pulled the door open, and people filed in. Christian and Bryn, who had a shit-eating grin on her face, and Mom holding my beautiful baby sister. The backs of my eyes stung as they all moved to circle my bed.
“My brave boy,” Mom said, putting her free hand on my cheek, her smile warm and gentle. Then she slapped my cheek.
“Ow! What the hell, Mom?”
She leveled a finger at me. “You should have told me what was going on. Now that I know you aren’t going to die, I can chew your ass out like a mother should.”
I rubbed my cheek. “You were already so stressed. I didn’t want you to worry. I had it under control.”
She snorted a laugh and bounced the baby on her hip. “Oh, yeah. Christian and this young lady filled me in on how youhad it under control.” She rubbed Shyanne’s shoulders lovingly. “Dear, you were a sweetheart to help him. I can’t thank you enough for getting him back to us.”
Warmth and love spread through my chest, even as my cheek stung. She was right, though. If the tables had been turned, I’d have beenirateif Mom had done all this without telling me. That hadn’t set in while I’d been going through it. Now that it was over, it was easy to see how horrified she must have been when the story had been relayed to her.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You’re right. I should have told you. I didn’t?—”
“Want to stress out the grieving mother?” Mom said. She gave me a sad smile. “I understand. I…wasn’t mentally where I needed to be but…” She ran a finger across my sister’s cheek, eliciting a giggle. “I’m good now.”
“What’s her name?” I said, gazing at the baby. “Did you pick one yet?”
Mom glanced around at the others, then back at me. “I was waiting until you woke up.”
She handed my sister to me, and I suppressed the wince and groan of pain that threatened to spill out of me as the chunky baby settled against my chest.
“I had a lot of names picked, but…” Her eyes misted over, and her lips trembled for a moment before she got herself under control. “After Christian and Shyanne told me what you did for her… I had to choose something else. She should be named after the man who brought her home. Meet your new sister, Jackson. Her name is Jacqueline.”
She’d named her after me? Why do that? Still, emotion overcame me. The relief that it was all finally over, that I had my family back, that this small wonder sat here in my arms, alive and well. It was too much. The tears flowed freely as I squeezed my sister, hugging her for all she was worth, enjoying the heat of her body against mine. For her part, Jacqueline appeared fine with the attention, and she lay her tiny head against me.
“How areyoudoing, Sweep?” I said, looking at Bryn through tear-blurred eyes.
Bryn shrugged. “Good. I guess. Mom and Dad are evenmoremad at Christian than your mom is at you, though.”
I could imagine. It was the only way to make sure the plan worked. Had the entire family been privy to what was going on, Joseph’s spy might have figured it out. There was no way to fake the anger and fighting that took place in their house. It would probably be a while before Mr. and Mrs. Bauer were cool with me again, but that was fine. I could rebuild that trust. Their daughter was alive and well, and that was all that mattered.
“Yeah,” Christian said. “You’ll never believe the look on their faces when I told them what was really happening. I was sureDad was gonna slug me.” He snorted a laugh. “My little brotherdidslug me, actually, but we’re good now. For the most part.”
Handing Jacqueline back to Mom, I said, “Are you guys physically all right, though?” I glanced from Christian to Shyanne. “No one’s hurt?”
“I’m sore as hell,” Shyanne admitted.
“I feel fucking great,”Christian said.
Bryn slapped his arm. “Language, Christian!”
