Maya Banks - Softly at Sunrise

“You okay?” Garrett asked. “Sarah’s texting me wanting to be sure I’m taking good care of you. If she gets it in her head I’m falling down on the job, she’ll kick my ass.”

Rachel laughed and put her hand out for the phone. Garrett relinquished it with a grin, and Rachel quickly sent a text to Sarah telling her she was fine and then affixed her name to the bottom of the text.

Barely seconds later, the text came back from Sarah. Just two words.

Thank God.

“I’m so lucky to have all of you,” Rachel whispered.

Garrett gave her an indulgent smile and then ruffled her hair affectionately. “We’ve been friends a long time, sweet pea. I think it’s safe to say that we’re lucky as hell to still have you. Ethan knows it too. He may be stubborn as hell, but he’s not dumb.”

Rachel closed her eyes, no longer able to keep her head up. It was plenty warm in the ambulance, but a chill had settled bone deep, and she shook from head to toe.

She heard Garrett’s worried demand to the medic and the medic’s reassurance that it was just shock. A warm blanket slid over her body and was tucked around her neck. Garrett’s hand curled around hers, gripping it tightly.

Now that she allowed herself to think of all that had happened that morning, she was ready to completely lose her cool. She could have died. One of the children could have gotten hurt or killed.

Ethan could have died.

It was more than she could hold up under any longer.

“I don’t need goddamn x-rays!” Ethan roared. “What I need is to see my wife!”

Donovan put his arm out to push Ethan back onto the bed. “Look, if I go check in on her and get a report from Garrett, will you shut the hell up and get the damn x-ray? You’re making things worse by raising so much hell. If you’d just let them do the x-ray, you’d be done and out of here, and you could go be with Rachel.”

Ethan pushed up from the bed, holding his chest where the bullet had bruised his ribs through the vest.

“Just give me a damn shirt and not one of those fucking hospital gowns either,” he said in a testy voice.

He wasn’t in the mood to play nice. The very last thing he cared about was whether he’d cracked a rib. It was obvious that he hadn’t broken one or done serious damage. If the x-ray showed minor fractures of his ribs, what the hell could they do about it anyway? All they’d do is tell him to take it easy and give him something for pain.

The best thing they could do to ease his pain was to let him get to Rachel.

Donovan sighed in exasperation and then tossed him a T-shirt from his pack.

“Get your dumb ass dressed while I find out where they put Rachel. Swear to God, if you so much as move before I get back, I’ll hold you down while they sedate you. You can’t go barging through the E.R. scaring the shit out of the other patients.”

“Then hurry the hell up,” Ethan snapped.

He yanked on the T-shirt, wincing when his knuckles brushed over the tender spot on his midsection. Not that he’d admit it in a million years, but he hurt like a son of a bitch. Taking a bullet close range, even with the vest on, wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

A bruise the size of a softball had already formed.

But that’s all it was. A bruise. Hell if he was going to be sidelined over a damn bruise. He’d endured worse, and nothing was going to keep him from Rachel.

He was getting fidgety when Donovan finally walked back into the tiny cubicle. He lunged up from where he had been leaning against the bed and confronted his brother.

“So where is she? And is she all right?”

Donovan held up his hands. “Garrett’s with her, and Ma just got here. The wives are in the waiting room, and Dad’s on his way to see you right now. Just settle down. Let Dad see that you’re okay, and then we can all go down and see Rachel. The E.R. is a madhouse, and they’ve had to position police officers to keep the media out. Getting home is going to be interesting.”

Ethan sighed and leaned back against the bed again. He was going to go out of his mind if he didn’t get to Rachel soon, but he also didn’t want his Dad worried about him. The last thing Frank Kelly needed was more stress. He’d already had one heart attack, and Ethan wasn’t going to be responsible for giving him another.

The door burst open, and his dad barreled through it. As soon as his gaze lighted on Ethan, his entire body sagged in relief.

“See, I told you, Dad. He’s fine and cranky as ever,” Donovan said.

Frank Kelly didn’t respond. He hauled Ethan into his beefy embrace and damn near squeezed the life from Ethan. Ethan winced but held on to his Dad.

“I’m fine, Dad,” Ethan said in a low voice. “It’s Rachel I’m worried about.”

His Dad held him for another long moment and then pulled away, his eyes suspiciously bright.

“Your mother and my daughters-in-laware checking in on her now,” Frank said gruffly.

“I’m heading down there. Was just waiting on you once I heard you were here,” Ethan said.

Frank frowned. “They’re already finished with you?”

Ethan cleared his throat, and to his relief, Donovan came to his rescue.

“Told you nothing was wrong with the ornery bastard. He’s too much like Garrett. He’s worried about Rachel though. It would calm him down if he could just see her, so let’s move down there so he can put his mind at ease.”

Ethan shot Donovan a grateful look.

“You scared me, son,” Frank said gruffly. “I swear you boys are always getting up to something. You’re going to make an old man out of me yet.”

Ethan grinned. “Nah. Just keeping you on your toes.” He slapped his dad on the back. “Come on. Let’s go see, Rachel.”

* * *

It was hard to keep her pregnancy secret when the medical personnel were ensuring that all was still well with her pregnancy. Garrett stayed off to the side and out of the way, but then Marlene Kelly arrived, and hell no was anyone keeping her from her baby.

Disregarding medical staff objections, Marlene pushed her way to the bedside, sat down, and gathered Rachel into her arms, hugging her so tightly that Rachel felt smothered.

It was the very best kind of smothering.

“You scared the wits out of us all,” Marlene said even as she held Rachel closer to her. “I’ve never been so scared in my life, baby. It was all over the news, and then I saw you being carried away on a stretcher, and I made poor Frank break every speed limit getting here.”

“I’m fine, Marlene,” Rachel said, a smile in her voice.

She pried herself away and leaned back, taking in Marlene’s anxious gaze.

“Ethan’s the one who was hurt,” Rachel said, the smile fading. “He was shot. He had a vest on, but it still hurt him. I wish someone would let me know how he is.”

“He’s fine,” Garrett said from the corner. “Van just came down a second ago. They’re coming in just a few minutes.”

Marlene shook her head as she stared helplessly at Garrett. “I can’t even fuss at my boys for getting into trouble because they got you out, but I swear they put more gray hairs on my head with every passing day. And now that Nathan and Joe are back home and joined up with the rest of their brothers, I’ll never sleep another night through.”

Garrett stepped forward and squeezed his mother’s shoulders. “Now, Ma. You worry too much. You know we look out for each other. And we look out for this family. No way we were going to leave things with Rachel to chance with the local police. No telling how they would have f—uh, screwed it up,” he amended hastily.

“Can we come in?”

Rachel glanced up to see Sophie peeking inside the doorway. Just behind her were Shea and Sarah. Rachel smiled and motioned them inside. Her sisters-in-law hurried in and quickly enfolded her in big hugs.

“Oh God, we were so scared,” Sophie said as she stood back with the others. “How is Ethan? We heard he was shot!”

Garrett had looped his arm around Sarah, pulling her into his side, and he was quick to alleviate the worry in the women’s eyes.

“He’s fine. He was wearing a vest. He’ll be down in just a minute.”

“Thank God,” Shea breathed.

Shea stared anxiously at Rachel, her eyes brimming with worry. Rachel gave her a reassuring nod so she’d know that all was well with the pregnancy.

The door flew open, and suddenly Ethan was at her bedside, his intense gaze burning over her. Everyone hastily moved so Ethan could have access to Rachel, and then Rachel was in his arms, firm against his chest.

She closed her eyes and clung fiercely to him. “Thank God you’re okay,” she whispered. “I was so worried, Ethan. Please don’t ever scare me like that again. I’ll never forget hearing the gunshot and seeing you go down. I’ll never get that out of my head.”

“Shhh, baby,” he soothed. “That’s why we wear vests. I was never in any danger. You, however, had no such protection, and that asshole would have gunned you down in cold blood.”

“Take me home,” she begged. “I just want to get out of here and be in our home where it’s quiet.”

He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead as she lay nestled in his arms.

“I’ll get you home soon. I promise.”

She pulled away to see that Marlene and the others had backed discreetly toward the doorway where Donovan and Frank were standing.

“They don’t know,” she whispered. “This isn’t the way I want to tell them. I want to go home, and then I want to tell them properly, when the family is together and all the worry and stress is gone.”

“Is everything okay with you?” he whispered back. “The babies?”

The fear in his eyes made her stomach knot and she hastened to ease his worry.

“I’m fine. Just reaction. They gave me a shot to help calm me down, and I’m okay now. I just want to go home.”

He flashed a rueful smile. “I can’t even argue with you because I was bound and determined to get the hell out of that room I was in too. I understand how you feel.”

She pulled him down even closer so she could whisper without being overheard.

“Tell them I’ll make a follow up appointment with my obstetrician in a couple of days and make sure everything’s okay, but I want to leave now.”

He pressed his lips to her forehead and left them there a long moment.

“I’m so proud of you I could burst,” he murmured. “You kicked ass today, Rachel. Even if you scared the shit out of me in the process. Those kids owe their lives to you.”

She shook her head and frowned.

He smiled and gently nudged her cheek with his knuckle. “Yeah, they do. Now, let me go see what I can do about springing you. It’s going to be tricky to get you out of here without the media swarming.”

She made a face and shuddered. “Can’t Van land the helicopter here?”

Ethan glanced over at his brother, his expression one of surprise. “Van? I hadn’t even thought of that. What do you say? Can we give Rachel the KGI VIP treatment and land the helicopter up top and get her home that way?”

Donovan cracked a grin. “For Rachel, hell yeah. Give me half an hour, and I’ll be back. Then I’ll need to go make sure Sam hasn’t gotten his ass arrested.”

It was quiet, and the room was darkened, with only a lamp burning by the bed when Rachel entered the bedroom from the bathroom.

Ethan was sprawled on the bed, shirtless but still wearing his fatigues. Even his boots were still on, and he looked too tired to take them off.

Her heart softened as she stared at his closed eyes, and then her gaze drifted down his lean, muscled chest to the bruise that darkened his already tan skin.

He’d been so worried for her, but in fact, she hadn’t come close to injury. Certainly not as close as he’d come. That he’d been so willing to put himself between her and their children and harm’s way told her more than words how much he loved her.

She went to where his feet hung off the bed, and she took one boot to prop it on her thigh while she unlaced it. Ethan came awake immediately and lifted his foot free of her grasp.

“Don’t baby, I’ll get them. Crawl into bed and get comfortable.”

She shook her head and pulled his foot back. “Just lie still and let me get your boots off. You’re exhausted. It’s been a tough day for both of us, but I’m not the one who got shot.”

He put his hands behind his head, watching as she wrestled with one boot and then transferred her attention to the other.