I’m so sorry….
She screamed into the next roar of gunfire.
But the split second that should have passed before impact slid by her. Then another. Followed by a thud and a groan that ripped her eyes open to see Luca crumpled at her feet—and Max sliding down the wall of the hallway outside the conference room.
She stumbled over her brother’s body, making it to the hall before her legs gave out. Wilting to the floor beside Max, she reached for his gun arm, which was still raised, pointing at nothing, and pushed it to the ground.
“It’s over,” she said. The dimly lit hallway was fading to gray around them. “Tell me it’s finally over.”
“We got ’em all, Sam.” Max’s breathing was too fast. Too shallow. He’d been shot at least twice more. Blood was everywhere. “My people are on their way down. You and Gabby and your baby, you’ll be safe.”
But safe wasn’t enough as the feeling of the floor beneath Sam disappeared into the gray. She wanted more, so much more.
She wanted to tell Randy she’d thought of a name for their baby….
“Randy,” she said, fighting the darkness. Refusing to give in to it. “Did he make it? Is he alive? Tell him, Max…Make sure you tell him that I fought. That I believed, because I loved him. And tell him I want our daughter’s name to be…”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“THEY’RE BOTH DEAD,” Randy said as soon as his sister entered the well-guarded hospital room where Charlie was being checked out, despite his assurances that he was fine.
Emma was cradling Randy’s sleeping daughter close. Chris followed her past the two APD officers at the door, carrying the baby’s car seat. Emma stopped where Randy was sitting in a chair by the door. Chris headed for Charlie’s exam table, whistling at the deep bruising mottling Charlie’s chest.
Then they were all looking at Randy.
“Luca Gianfranco?” Chris asked.
“Dead,” Charlie responded when Randy couldn’t. “They have the body down in the morgue. Him and…”
“Sam?” Emma’s eyes filled with tears.
Randy took his daughter instead of answering. Holding her soft body close was the only thing he’d felt since Glinda relayed the news that both Sam and her brother had been killed in whatever crossfire had erupted.
Seth had been in to check out Charlie’s injuries and order X-rays. He’d said Max Dean was being examined a few rooms down, shot to hell but still alive, thanks to his own bulletproof vest. The APD officer and the deputy marshal who had opened fire on Randy and his decoy team were both dead, plus the man who’d gone with Dean and Sam downstairs. But Randy couldn’t think past the only reality that would stick in his mind.
“They’re both dead,” he repeated.
Sam and Luca, what was left of the Gianfranco family, was gone. Except for Sam’s sister. What would happen to Gabby now?
“I’m so sorry.” Emma knelt beside him.
“You did everything you could to help her,” Charlie said. “You must have really…”
“Loved her?” Randy and his brothers never talked about anything that deep. But Randy could now, because of Sam.
She’d done what she’d promised. She fought. She’d stood up to her brother and protected her baby, even though it had meant she couldn’t come back to Randy. He looked down at their child.
Sam had brought his heart back to life and given him a future he’d never thought he wanted. Now, what would he do without her in it?
“I’ll love her for the rest of my life.” He looked from Emma’s sad smile to Chris and Charlie. “I finally understand what that means, and I don’t ever want to let it go. I don’t want to go back to what I was before. I don’t want to forget how it feels.”
“You won’t,” Emma insisted.
His brothers nodded in agreement.
“We’re here for you, man,” Chris promised. “Whatever you and your baby need, you’ve got it.”
Except what Randy and his daughter needed was Sam.
The door opened and Seth stepped in, clipboard in hand.
“They’re ready for you in X-ray,” he said to Charlie, “though I don’t expect to find anything more serious than a cracked rib or two.” Seth took in the rest of them. “One of you can head down with Charlie. Randy, why don’t you bring your daughter with me, and we’ll have a pediatrician check her out.”
Emma and Chris had been rerouted to Atlanta, once Luca had been contained. There was no point now in taking the baby all the way to the children’s hospital in Charlotte.
“We still need to get the baby in to see a specialist.” Emma stepped to Charlie’s side as a nurse and an orderly came in.
“First thing tomorrow,” Seth promised. “But I don’t want to miss anything. Let one of my staff do a quick once-over.”
“We’ll be back up as soon as we can,” Emma said as the orderly wheeled Charlie by.
Charlie held up his hand.
The attendant stalled beside Randy.
“Thank you,” Randy said, clasping his brother’s hand and letting Charlie pull him into a fierce hug. “Thank you for—”
“Any time.” Charlie’s slap on Randy’s shoulder was weak, but familiar enough to make Randy smile. “Whatever you need, man. I’ll always have your back.”
Emma hugged Randy next, then ran a hand over his daughter’s soft head. Randy turned back to Chris once they were gone.
“I’ll be here,” his brother said. “Go do what you’ve got to for your little girl.”
Randy nodded and followed Seth into the hallway.
One of the APD officers at the door followed as they headed toward another room not far away. There were men posted there. They eyed Seth and Randy for several silent seconds before one of them opened up. Seth motioned for Randy to precede him into the room. Randy came to an abrupt halt at what waited for him inside.
There were two beds, both occupied. Max Dean was unconscious in one and hooked to about a dozen machines. In the other bed lay Sam, propped up against a pile of pillows and staring silently back at him.
RANDY WAS STANDING in the doorway, holding their daughter, staring at Sam with the same shock as when he’d walked into her hotel room.
Had it really been just yesterday?
“You’re…” He stepped to the foot of her bed and stopped, as if he was afraid to believe she was really there. “You’re alive?”
“She is now,” Glinda said from her position just inside the door. “Up until about thirty minutes ago, Samantha Gianfranco was lying on a slab beside her brother down in the morgue. Now, it seems reports of her demise were exaggerated. Turns out she was wearing her own protective vest when her brother tried shooting a bullet straight through her heart.”
“I don’t understand.” Randy looked from Glinda to Max, then back to Sam.
“I’m sorry,” Sam said, mesmerized by the sight of Randy and their daughter. The dizziness that had sucked her under downstairs was still there. But she refused to slip into it again. Not now. “I didn’t know they’d told you I was dead. Again. I…”
“She was unconscious when our people got there,” Glinda explained. “She and Dean have been seen by trauma specialists, and we wouldn’t tell her anything more until a few minutes ago. Max is stable and scheduled for surgery—several bullets caught him in the arms and shoulder. Sam’s only bruised, thanks to her vest. But given her previous injuries, the doctors want to monitor her for a few hours. She should be fine.”
“Fine?” Randy wasn’t stepping closer. He wasn’t reaching for her. “Why would you say she was dead, put me through that, then change the story?” He stared at Sam. “You’re running again, aren’t you?”
Sam didn’t know what to say. When she’d come to, no one on Max’s team had been telling her anything. Not even whether Randy was alive or not. Now, he and their baby were standing in front of her. And he’d been told Sam was dead?
“There’s nothing to run from now,” Glinda explained. “We have one of G
ianfranco’s men in custody. The muscle Luca had with him in the basement, some kid named Danny. He’s shot to hell, and we weren’t sure he would talk at first. But once he heard Gianfranco’s dead, he’s loosening up. Giving us everything Sam could have and more. Which means the Gianfranco organization is over, and Sam’s out of the entire mess without having to testify. She’s clean.”
Clean. Assuming Randy could see past the trail of dead bodies and destruction she’d left in her wake. He’d just found out she was alive. And instead of holding her, he’d immediately assumed she was running—after everything she’d done to stay with him. Is that what he wanted, to finally be free of her? Had he reached his limit, now, when Glinda was telling Sam she was free of Luca?
Sam waited for him to say something. Anything.
Glinda cleared her throat.
“We’ll be just outside the door,” she said as she led Seth out.
Randy continued to stand there, staring.
Was it shock? Or was he trying to find a way to tell her this had all been a mistake? Facing him suddenly felt more impossible than confronting her brother had, but Sam pushed herself higher against the pillows.
“I love you,” she said, not to change his mind about anything, but because he had to know. Even if it was over.
She wouldn’t blame him for walking away, but she was done running. She wanted the dream, the family he’d promised her. He had to know how much.
“I think I’ve loved you since that morning in Savannah, when I made myself leave. I want you to be happy, Randy. I’m sorry for all this, but I’ll never be sorry that I met you, or that we had Jasmine. It will be a few months before I’m settled somewhere with Gabby. I’ll understand if you don’t want to, but maybe if you could come to see me then. Come to see Jasmine. Maybe we could find a way to start over. Maybe you could even find a way to love me again. Once—”
“Jasmine?” Randy finally brought their daughter closer.
Sam couldn’t stop her tears from falling. But they weren’t from sadness, not really. Or because he wasn’t saying he loved her back. Seeing Randy looking so alive and so comfortable holding their daughter was enough. It was everything. He was going to be the best father. Sam was going to feel lucky every day that her child would grow up knowing what it was like to feel safe and loved with the Montgomerys in her life. Even if Sam could only experience it herself as an outsider.
“I want to name her Jasmine,” she told him. “Your mother sacrificed everything so you could become the man you are. Because of her, you were there for me. You got me through this, when you had every right to walk away. You were what I needed to face my brother and my past and finally be free of them. I want our daughter to understand that one day, when she’s old enough for you to tell her. She’ll be so proud of her name, I promise. I know she will.”
Randy’s expression was wary, as if he was afraid of letting himself feel anything for Sam again. Then suddenly, he was leaning forward and kissing her softly, tenderly, before pulling back. Sam’s tears fell as she clutched the tiny squirming body he’d left in her arms.
She stared up at Randy. At his smile.
“We’ll tell her together.” He braced his hands on either side of Sam and leaned forward to kiss first their daughter’s head and then Sam’s. “We’ll give her everything she needs, together.”
“Are…are you sure?”
“I can’t not have you in my life, baby.” His brown eyes were the warm place where Sam wanted to build her future. “When they told me you were dead, I promised myself I’d find a way to hold on, for Jasmine. Knowing you’re alive will make that impossible, if I don’t have you with me.”
“But your family.” Sam shook her head. “They must—”
“You’re my family now. You’re what Emma and Charlie and Chris will want for me, I assure you.”
“Because of the baby?” Sam couldn’t be part of damaging the magical bond Randy shared with his siblings.
“Because you brought love into my life, sweetheart. They can see that. They’ll want this for me, no matter how hard it’s been to get us to this point. You’ve taught me how to trust this need to wrap my life around someone else. No control. No guarantees. No walking away when it gets too deep. Just—”
“Now,” she said with him. Was it possible? “Just today, and every other day, for as long as we have each other?”
There was a suspicious wetness in Randy’s eyes now, too.
“I love you,” he said. “Never doubt it, Sam. Jasmine and I will love you every day, for the rest of our lives.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5257-2
THE FIREFIGHTER’S SECRET BABY
Copyright © 2010 by Anna DeStefano.
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