Erin's Way

by Laura Browning

  “Tony,” Sam said sharply, fear bubbling up inside him. “What’s going on?”

  The EMTs were strapping her down as quickly as possible.

  “Seizure,” Tony grunted as he tightened a strap across her lower legs.

  Sam’s heart pounded. He didn’t want to distract either man working on Erin, but he recalled seeing a drug overdose in which the victim had gone into seizures before dying. While Tony and Drew talked back and forth about blood pressure and pulse, the siren blared as the ambulance raced along the narrow highway.

  Jesus, Sam prayed, don’t let her die. Please don’t let her die.

  He started to breathe a sigh of relief as the seizures suddenly stopped just as they turned into the hospital parking lot, then everything crashed. Her breathing had nearly ceased, her blood pressure plummeted, and her pulse beat erratically. Tony and Drew worked silently now, something that petrified Sam more than their earlier staccato conversations.

  Sam slammed himself as far into the corner as he could, his heart thudding heavily and his breathing rasping. His mind screamed no. They couldn’t get this far just to lose her when they’d finally found her and gotten her to safety.

  As soon as the rear doors opened, Sam scrambled to get out of the way, half- running, half-hopping in pursuit as Erin was wheeled into the emergency room. The driver must have radioed ahead. Medical staff surged forward to take charge.

  So did Stoner and Catherine, who’d obviously beaten them to the ER. Their shocked expressions were no doubt a mirror of what he was feeling.

  “I thought Jake said she was okay?” Catherine cried in disbelief, as they watched everyone frantically working on Erin.

  Sam paused in his hopping half-run after them. “This just happened as we turned in. I’m going with them.”

  He made it as far as the treatment room before an apologetic nurse blocked his way. “Sorry, Sheriff.”

  Sam peered over her shoulder. “Come on, Karen. I’ve known you since you started kindergarten.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t give that okay. You get Doc to give you a nod and that’s a different matter.”

  “Can I stand right here?”

  Karen sighed. “Yes.”

  Sam refused to leave. Thank God it was a small emergency department. From his vantage point, he could see everything they were doing. Other than the bruising that discolored her cheek, her skin was deathly pale. Erin had always had beautiful skin, but now she looked nearly waxen, and that made Sam fear once again that he would lose her after all.

  “Her breathing is stabilizing,” the young man near her head said.

  “Blood pressure’s coming back again and her pulse is nearly back to normal,” another nurse added.

  Now he would be able to tell her family she was okay. At least he hoped so.

  “Sam? What are you doing out here?” Jenny asked as she hurried toward the room. She was still clad in surgical scrubs. Her gaze found his before traveling to the young doctor bent over her sister-in-law.

  “What’s up?” she asked from the doorway.

  “Looks like a drug overdose. The sheriff brought in a canteen containing water laced with something. We’re testing it right now, but he and Chief Allred both suspect Ketamine based on other evidence they found. What we’re seeing is consistent with that, so we’re treating accordingly. Respiration, pulse, and blood pressure crashed as the paramedics brought her in, but we’ve stabilized her.”

  Jenny glanced at the monitors hooked to Erin before taking a moment to study Sam and nod. “Come on in. I need to ask you some questions while we’re working on her.”

  Sam limped in ahead of her and moved to a place along the wall where he would be out of the way but still able to see what was going on.

  “You’re moving pretty well, Sheriff. Everything okay?”

  “I thought you needed to ask me about Erin, not about me.” Sam scowled. He didn’t want to be in here chatting about himself, so he replied shortly, “I’m getting around fine, Doc. It’s Erin I’m worried about.” He glanced at her, lying so still, tubes coming from an IV and more tubes providing an oxygen feed. “Is… Is she going to be okay?”

  “We should know soon. How long has it been since you found her?”

  Sam glanced at his watch. “About an hour.”

  Jenny nodded. “Well if it’s Ketamine she’s taken…”

  “Ketamine she’s been given,” Sam corrected softly but distinctly. “Jenny, she was cuffed in the crawlspace of a trailer, probably for almost three days, with nothing but a canteen full of spiked water. There was no choice here. She didn’t take anything.” Sam’s jaw clenched. The distinction might be small but it mattered. Big time.

  Jenny nodded. “Sorry. You’re right. Thirst would have forced her to drink to stay alive.” She pulled off her colorful cap and shoved it into her pocket. “Ketamine’s effects are short-lived, Sam. It hits quick and resolves quickly. Depending on how much she’s been given since her kidnapping, she could be disoriented, even slightly amnesiac about her experiences. If you’d like, I’ll go with you to talk to everyone. You can come back here after that to stay with her. We’ll want to keep her, so we’ll admit her and move her to a room once we’re satisfied she’s stable enough.”

  She glanced over to where Karen carefully cleaned Erin’s wrist, and her golden eyes narrowed. “If I haven’t already said so, I’m really glad that son of a bitch is dead.”

  Sam rested his hand on her shoulder. “Then you understand exactly how I feel.”

  “Dr. Richardson,” the nurse interrupted, “she’s regaining consciousness.”

  * * * *

  Erin didn’t want to leave the party she’d dreamed of. All her relatives were there and so nice. But the great-grandmother, who had looked so much like Erin they could be twins, told her she had to. It was time to go back. Go back where?

  Other noises now intruded, and the radiant light of her great-grandmother’s world faded to be replaced with a harsher one. Even from behind closed lids she felt the pain of this reality. She cringed away from it, trying to go back to what was surely the best dream she had ever had, but the gentlest of pushes sent her away.

  “Come on, open your eyes for me,” a pleasant male voice urged.

  She wanted to hang on to where she’d been, but she couldn’t quite remember it. There had been friendly people there who made her feel competent and confident. People she knew. Her lids fluttered, and the harsh light invaded. She wanted to close them and keep it out.

  “No, no. Open your eyes for me.”

  There was something important she should remember.

  “Can you tell me your name?”

  That was ridiculous. Who would forget…their name? She shook her head slightly.

  “Let me try,” a female voice spoke from the other side so she turned her head that way. What a beautiful woman with the most amazing golden eyes, like a lioness. “It’s Jenny, honey. How are you doing?”

  “I’m fine.” Was that her voice? She didn’t recognize it, and it hardly even seemed to come from her.

  “She’s not recognizing me,” the golden woman said and gestured toward someone just out of sight. “Come over here. Maybe you’ll trigger her.”

  A large shadow fell over her, and she looked up a long way until her eyes encountered his face. His skin was pale, his mouth tight as if he held it that way to keep it from trembling. Lines of weariness slashed his cheeks and purplish circles hovered below his eyes. His eyes. She stared into depths that appeared almost black, and in those velvety depths she saw pain, weariness, and an unshakeable love. She had dreamed of him ever since she was a little girl, ever since he had cradled her in his arms and told her she would be all right. She had believed him then and believed in him ever since.

  “Sammy.”

  One word. It came back to her in a rush.

  “Sammy,” she whispered again in wonder.

  As she looked at him,
his dark eyes filled with tears that overflowed and ran unheeded down his beard-shadowed cheeks. The mouth he’d held so tightly broke and trembled.

  “Oh, Sammy. Matty…killed you. I didn’t think they would let me in heaven, but I must be… ‘cause you’re here.”

  “I’m not dead, baby,” he whispered. “Neither are you. We found you in time.”

  His huge palm engulfed her hand, but the pressure he put on it as he squeezed was gentle and steady. Warmth radiated from his grasp, along her arm, and into her mind and heart.

  “Can you tell them who you are?” he managed to ask.

  She smiled, feeling a confidence she’d never had before flood through her.

  “I’m Erin. Erin Richardson,” she stated firmly and turned her gaze back to the man hovering at her side. Her voice was a whisper as she continued, “And I love you, Sam Barnes.”

  “I love you too, baby, for as long as I can remember and until my last breath on my dying day. I’ll tell you every day, Erin. I should have said it sooner.”

  She had waited an eternity to hear those words on his lips. She wanted to leap up and throw her arms around him, but weakness held her immobile, so she put everything she could into the smile she gave him. “You can say it as much as you want, but I can see it, Sam, and that’s even better.”

  He held her hand while the medical staff prepared to move her to a room. Erin stared at Sam’s face and refused to release his hand. She never wanted to let go again. When he stepped reluctantly back so they could shift her onto the gurney to take her to a private room, Erin saw the cane he held in his left hand. Her gaze bounced to his questioningly.

  Sam’s lips twisted ruefully. “They nearly succeeded in killing me, baby. I took a bullet through the leg and one through the arm.”

  But he was alive. She swallowed thickly, blinking back tears of joy as she watched the fluorescent hospital lights flash by above her head while they wheeled her along the corridor. In deference to Sam, they moved slowly enough now so he could keep up. Erin watched him struggle, and tears stung her eyes yet again. She had brought Matty and Andre, and they had nearly killed the most precious thing in her life. Sam limped beside them, and she saw how he kept his right hand in his pocket, providing his arm with some support. Erin closed her eyes, willing away the tears that hovered, ready to fall at any moment.

  The old Erin would have viewed this as yet another screw up, but the last few days had taught her a hard lesson. She wasn’t to blame for Andre Delacroix or any of the events his actions had set in motion. Some things were simply out of her control, out of Sam’s control. Some events just had to be gotten through in the best way possible.

  And she had.

  She was okay. Sam had found her and right now she didn’t even care how, just that he had. More important than that, Sam was alive. He might be hurt, but he was still alive, still hers, and he’d told her he loved her.

  “Okay, Erin,” the nurse at her head said, “we’re going to shift you from the gurney over to the bed.”

  She closed her eyes, fighting the faint dizziness when they lifted and shifted her. Tubes were readjusted and covers tucked. The control for the bed was set next to her and pillows plumped behind her head.

  “Is there anything else you need right now?” an older nurse asked.

  Erin blinked and looked at the nurse. “I’m hungry.”

  “Doc’s ordered something brought up for you, but just a little bit. Your body’s got to readjust to eating.”

  She nodded. The door shut behind them.

  “Sam?” Her eyes searched for him.

  “Right here, baby.”

  He moved back to her side, pulled a chair forward, and sat heavily. Erin eyed the cane. She bit her lip to stop its trembling.

  “I’m so sorry, Sammy,” she choked. “All of this is my fault.”

  He took her hand. “No. It’s mine. I was supposed to protect you. I failed.”

  She turned her head to study him, seeing the immense pain in his face.

  “No! If I had never agreed to meet Matty and Rick…”

  “They would have found you anyway, and if I hadn’t met Rick, he might be dead, and I might never have been able to get you back.”

  Rick was alive. What about the other two? Should she know? There was only one way to find out. “What about Matty and…and Andre?”

  Sam stroked the back of her hand with his callused thumb. “Both dead, baby. From what we’ve been able to piece together, Andre shot Matty, not too long after they took you. Your friend Rick agreed to work with us so we could get Delacroix. Things turned critical, though, before we were able to take him alive. He pulled a gun and was getting ready to shoot, so one of the snipers took him out.”

  Sam paused for so long she turned her head toward him and saw his head was bowed as he continued to rhythmically stroke the back of her hand. She had never seen him this…distraught. It was the only word that seemed to fit.

  “Sam?” she questioned in a whisper.

  “I thought I’d lost you.” His voice was hoarse and tight. When he looked at her with his intense, dark eyes, she saw the tears again.

  “Oh, Sam.”

  He swallowed, sitting quietly for a moment to compose himself. He was such a proud man. Big, masculine, and she was sure the last thing he wanted was someone to see him cry.

  She needed to get him talking before his feelings overwhelmed him. “How did you find me?”

  “I ran over to Delacroix and tried to get him to tell me where you were, but even with his dying breath, he wouldn’t say. Sweet heaven, Erin. You can’t imagine… You’ve got Jake and my chief detective to thank. A house key with Matty’s name on it is what led us to you. Jake and Jim decided he had either rented or purchased a house or apartment to hide you. We worked the realty companies and also the private classifieds for places within a specific distance from the restaurant where Rick met with Delacroix for dinner.”

  Erin blinked. There were so many rentals in the area she knew it had been a monumental undertaking. She blinked again, thinking of all of the people involved in getting her home safely.

  “Erin? What is it, baby?”

  She shook her head. “I can never thank everyone enough.”

  Sam squeezed her hand. “Look at me.” When she did, he continued. “Seeing you safe and whole is all the thanks they’ll need. That’s why we do what we do.”

  They were silent, just gazing at each other, drawing comfort from being able to touch, to feel. Sam ran his hand over her hair, then cupped her cheek in his palm. Erin reached up and covered his hand with her own. This was exactly what she had longed to feel during the entire time she was cuffed underneath that trailer.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of feeling your hand on my skin,” she whispered.

  Sam smiled. “And I will never get tired of touching you. I just hope the feeling is mutual.”

  “Just wait until we’re both back to full speed. I’ll show you just how mutual it is.”

  The door opened a crack. Jenny poked her head in. “I have dinner and your family. Which do you want first?”

  Erin laughed. “Both.”

  Chapter 14

  Stoner and Catherine stood outside the room beside Tabby and Joseph. Stoner looked around him, wondering how the other three could look so serene. From the moment he’d heard Erin had been found, worry nagged him. He wanted to know what had happened to her. Jenny had mentioned drugs, and he feared more than anything else that he might walk into the room and see once again the brittle, strung-out Erin from the past.

  “Come in,” Jenny told them. “You can’t stay long because she’s not very strong, but she wants to see all of you… Where’s Evan?”

  “Here.”

  Stoner glanced over to see his son carrying a stuffed bear. “Dare I ask what that’s for?”

  “In case Jenny’s cruel enough not to let Sam stay with Erin, I’ve brought her a substitute.
”

  At the grin on Evan’s face, Stoner smiled, some of the tension leaving him.

  Jenny shook her head. “Come on. She’s anxious to see all of you.”

  Stoner let the others precede him. It wasn’t fear, he told himself, just good manners. But in the back of his mind, he knew the reality. They had always seemed to be at cross-purposes where Erin was concerned, as though everything about their lives was just a step out of synch. Before her kidnapping, he’d finally begun to feel things were going to be all right. But now?

  He stepped into the room and pushed the door shut behind him before turning to face her.

  “Daddy?” Her voice was hoarse, but alert and lucid. Such a surge of relief poured through him that Stoner was barely able to raise his gaze. When he did, though, he saw clear, blue-gray eyes that, though they were shadowed with pain, looked at him with love.

  “Oh, baby,” he whispered, barely even noticing as everyone moved back so he could reach the side of the bed opposite Sam. “We were so afraid, and I’m so sorry we didn’t do a better job protecting you.”

  She shifted her hand on the bed, covering his. He turned his palm, cradling her delicate fingers. The last time she’d showed this kind of trust she’d been just a girl. “Don’t, Daddy. If it hadn’t happened at Sam’s house, it would have happened somewhere. Andre was determined to kill Rick and Matty.”

  “And you?” he asked, his heart thumping at just how close they had come to that becoming reality.

  She shifted her gaze to Sam. “Eventually. He made some comments about taking me back to the islands, but I don’t think he would have in the end.”

  Stoner stroked her short hair. “Are you all right?” He didn’t want to ask about the drugs, but she seemed to understand.

  “I will be.” She looked at their joined hands. “Great-grandmother Richardson sends her greetings.”

  Concern knitted Stoner’s brow. He’d always thought Erin looked remarkably like his paternal grandmother. From the stories he’d heard as a boy, he suspected their personalities weren’t too far apart either. “You saw her?”