“I'm his father.”
“They finished running some tests on him and are waiting on the results. I'll let you know as soon as we have them.”
“But Doctor, can you at least tell us if they're going to be okay?” Helen asked.
“I can't say anything for sure until we have the tests results.”
“How long before you have the results?” Anne chimed in.
“Probably another hour. Is there anything else any of you need right now?”
“Yes, reassurance,” George muttered.
“That I can't give right now.”
Dean felt the tension in the room and he knew that the doctor felt it as well. He knew that there was nothing the doctor could say at the moment to make them all feel better.
“Thank you, Doctor, for the update. Please, let us know any new news right away.”
The doctor nodded and quietly left the room.
Kenneth sighed and rubbed his face. George got up and slowly started to pace around the room.
“Did Daniel or Elle call?” Anne asked no one in particular. Dean heard that Daniel was a computer geek who lived in the city two hours away but he promised them that he would stop by the celebration. Helen and Kenneth’s golden boy…he could never do anything wrong in their eyes. He was always thoughtful and considerate, always there whenever any family member needed it. His job in the city was stable and he was very good at it, so good that he got two promotions the first month he started. Even Daniel’s girlfriend was perfect: grade-A honor roll student, graduated from an Ivy League school, and was well on her way to becoming a successful businesswoman in one of the top 100 companies in the country.
Elle Stevens was their “close as a sister” cousin who lived with them when her mother committed suicide. Living in the next town over, she recently earned her nursing degree and was now working with geriatric patients. Elle worked hard to pay for her education, and she refused any financial help from Anne saying that she couldn’t accept charity from her.
Her father answered, “Yeah, he was already on the way here when the accident happened so he's coming straight here. We couldn’t find Elle when we left the Ballroom. Someone said she went to the store to get more drinks so we called her but she didn’t answer so I left a message. Hopefully, she will get the message and be here soon.”
When silence filled the room Dean asked, “I'm going to get myself some coffee. Anyone want anything?”
“I'll have some water,” Jeri told him as she held on to Helen's hand. “Helen, would you like something?”
She shook her head. “Not right now, honey. My head's just rolling everywhere.”
“I'll take a coffee--black with sugar,” Kenneth answered.
Dean looked at George Tensel, who paced the floor. “Mr. Tensel, do you want anything?”
“Not now, thanks.”
He looked over at Anne. “Anne?”
She leaped at the opportunity to get away from the coldness of her father and the situation. “I'll go with you. I'm not sure what I want.”
Dean walked to the door and opened it for her. When they were out of earshot, she stopped and turned towards him.
“Promise me you won't tell anyone about my gift.”
“Of course, as long as you do the same.”
For the first time, she looked at him, really looked at him. His eyes were hazel with speckles of green. His lips were full and seemed soft and his chin was perfectly chiseled. With his surprisingly good looks, he would have been a great actor or even model.
She snapped herself back to reality and smiled at him. “It's a promise then.”
A flash broke through their moment and Dean whipped around to see where it came from. A young kid grinned as he took another photo and then ran off. Dean was about to bolt after him but Anne grabbed his arm.
“Don't. It's not worth it.”
“I just can't stand people like that,” he mumbled through clenched teeth.
“Just let it go.” She led him away in the opposite direction. The sign in the corridor pointed right towards the vending area. Anne pulled out her clutch purse and Dean stopped her.
“Let me.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.
“Your dad wanted black with sugar, right?”
“Yeah, he usually likes his coffee strong.”
He pushed a few buttons and waited for the vending machine to make the coffee.
“Thanks for staying with us.”
Dean looked at her, surprised by her comment. “It’s my job to stay with you and protect you.”
“I know, but you could have turned down the offer,”
“Your parents did a lot for Jeri when she just moved in. She considers you family and we don't turn our backs on family.”
“I never really got a chance to talk to your sister much. All I know is that Mom thinks of her as another daughter,”
“I hope you're not jealous.”
Anne couldn’t hide the slight twinge of regret in her voice. “Mom had a very hard time when Missy and I left. Having Jeri move into town was just what she needed to move on with her life. In a way, it made us feel less guilty about leaving home.” She relaxed her body against the vending machine and remembered the sorrow on her mother’s face when she told her she was moving to Los Angeles and then how happy her mother sounded when Jeri moved into town. “I really want to get to know your sister. She sounds like a great person.”
The coffee was finished and he punched in another order. “She is. She's the best sister I've ever had. Eric and I are lucky.”
“Eric?”
“Oh, he's our other brother, the oldest. He's a Marine now in the Middle East.”
"Aren't you guys scared?"
"Of what?"
"Of losing him. We always hear on the news reports of some soldiers killed or severely injured."
"It's a risk that we take."
He grabbed the second coffee, which he made for himself and placed it on the counter next to the machine. He took two lids from the basket and sealed the coffees. "You take risks like that with your stunt driving."
Anne looked at the choices on the vending machine. Coffee would make her already frayed nerves go haywire, and soda would have just the same effect. "That's different. It's a controlled situation and we always have medical personal on site."
She pushed a button and waited until a bottled water popped out.
"You still put yourself into dangerous situations. I'm sure your parents were thrilled to hear about you doing that."
He took out another bill and added it to the vending machine and pushed the water button.
Anne shrugged her shoulders. "They were able to get over it." Only after a couple of days of reassuring them. “Cars wouldn’t hurt me. They were more concerned about the people in Hollywood finding out about what I could do.”
"I'll get that," she said as she reached down for the other water.
“That’s a legitimate concern.” He lowered his voice. “How were you able to keep it a secret?” They started to walk down the hallway and out of the corner of her eye Anne saw a woman pointing her cell phone at her, clicking away. She sighed. Were people so bored with their own lives that they had to fixate on hers?
“Cars have become more and more automated.” she whispered to him. “It was easy to explain how the light turned off or the car started by itself. No one ever questioned it.”
If Dean saw the woman, he didn't show it. They both quietly turned a corner and headed down the hallway.
"So how did you get into stunt driving?" he asked her as they moved aside for a patient on a gurney.
"It feels like such a long time ago. I was close to eighteen, I guess, and I usually would go to the race track here in town to let Hawk stretch his wheels, so to speak." They turned down another corner.
"Well, one day my manager came out on vacation and he knew the owner of the track. Jim, the owner, told him about m
y excellent driving and he had to come out himself to see."
"And that's how you ended up doing stunt driving."
"Yup, pretty much."
They stopped at the door to their personal waiting room and lowered his voice. "But who was really driving, you or your car?"
"Combination of both. He taught me what I needed to do in order to stay on the road and based on that I learned how to control him. Plus the other stunt cars were just as helpful."
She pushed open the door, walked over to Jeri and as she handed her the water she asked, "Anything?"
"No, not a peep," she told her as she graciously took the water and began to drink it.
"I'm so worried," Helen murmured as she slowly rocked back and forth. Kenneth leaned over to her and took her face in his hands.
"Missy's a fighter, Helen. We taught all our kids to be fighters. She'll pull through for us and so will Evan. We all just have to stick together, honey."
Tears welled up in her eyes and Kenneth leaned over and kissed her gently. Jeri got up and gestured for Anne to sit next to her mother. She then walked over to Dean and leaned against him as he wrapped his arm around her. He knew what she was thinking. That kind of love reminded her of their own parents before they died in a plane crash. They both adored each other and never said any harsh or demeaning words to each other. They were soul mates and their children only hoped that they were both together in a wonderful place. Jeri always told him that she wished that all of them would find that kind of love because that's what makes life worth living.
A knock at the door startled them and the door cracked open. Daniel poked his head in. "Oh, good, I found you guys. There's a mob out there! I thought that I wouldn’t be able to find you!"
"What mob?' Dean asked as he looked behind him.
"They're not in the hospital. They are outside by the entrance. There are reporters from every single TV station out there. I had to show them my ID to get in."
"What!? That's insane! What are they all doing here?" Kenneth bellowed.
"Dad, come on. Missy's a big supermodel and Anne is a big star. They all want to see them. Speaking of which, what's the news?"
Anne spoke up, "She was in surgery and now they are running more tests. We're waiting on more news on Evan."
Daniel shook his head and began his round of hugs and handshakes.
He extended his hand to Dean. "Thanks for being here, man."
"Jeri and I consider you guys family."
The minutes just seemed to drag as their chit chat started to idle. Christina soon arrived and sat with her father in the corner. Elle soon followed and Kenneth vacated his seat for her as he went over to George and Christina.
When the doctor came in almost two hours later, a hush came over the room.
“The good news is that both Missy and Evan don't have any signs of brain damage.” He calmly told them.
“What's the bad news?” Kenneth bluntly asked.
The doctor sighed. “They both need to regain consciousness in order for us to really assess if there is any permanent damage.”
Helen's face got paler. “Permanent damage?”
The doctor shoved his hands into his lab coat. “With accidents such as these there are some cases where the patient has some sort of brain damage. I just want you to be prepared for anything. It's really a miracle that they are both alive.”
Helen grabbed another tissue out of her purse and wiped her eyes.
He nodded. “Both of them are heading to private rooms and the nurse will bring you to them as soon as they are situated.”
“Thank you for the update, Doctor.” Kenneth told him.
When the nurse came with the room numbers almost thirty minutes later they all bolted to the elevators in lighting speed.
Chapter 4
Holding on to Missy’s hand, Anne felt the sting of tears as she tried to keep all her emotions at bay.
Missy had to pull through for all of them. Anne couldn’t think of how her life would be without Missy.
“We have to live a little,” she once told Anne and Elle as they cruised down the roads in the middle of the night. Anne only had Hawk a few weeks and was still getting to know him and Missy kept telling her they just needed to go out and have some fun with her new car.
As they drove down the streets, they stopped at a light and a brand new white sports car pulled up next to them with music blaring.
“Hey, honey!” the young jock driver called out to them. “Does that thing have any balls or is it just a pretty little thing like you that needs to be shown what balls really look like?” His two passengers hooted and hollered as they made obscene gestures.
Elle inhaled sharply and whispered, “Anne, just ignore them!”
“No way, Elle!” Missy snapped back. “Anne can take them!”
As she looked over at the obnoxious punks, Anne felt her blood boil as they puckered their lips at them.
“They’re walking home.”
“What!?” Elle squealed as the light turned green and Anne floored the gas pedal. Hawk soared ahead of them and Anne threw more of her energy to him as his engine roared louder, causing Elle to close her eyes and Missy to holler.
They stopped at the next red light which was two miles away and the jocks pulled up next to them.
“You cheated, you little bitch! You have nitrous in that thing!”
The passenger in the front got up and mooned them out the open window as the other two laughed hysterically.
“Oh my…!” Elle screeched in the back.
“Wow, that is one ugly ass!” Missy laughed.
Anne’s lips curved and she threw her energy towards the neighboring car and asked it to floor it hard to the left. It instantly responded and caused the passenger to be taken by surprise and fall on his bare ass as the car drove away with his friends and his shorts which were caught in the seat belt holder.
Stunned, the guy stood up and screamed at the runaway car. “Adam, you asshole! What the fuck!?”
He ran after the car, which was already blocks away. Missy and Elle laughed hysterically as Anne drove beside the half-naked jock as he ran and tried to cover his jewels at the same time.
“You know, I would love to offer you a ride but you and your friends told me that my car doesn’t have enough balls for you so I guess you will just have to show the world what real balls look like!” Anne smiled as she floored Hawk and drove away.
She squeezed Missy’s hand again and swore that if she got out of this, she would do everything she could to make some more time to spend with her.
Exhaustion started to take over her as her eyes began to close. Her father went to their home to pick up a spare change of clothes for himself and her mother and was due back any minute. When he left, Anne felt some of the tension leave her body. She didn’t know how she was going to repair the rift between them and she wasn’t sure if she ever would. It hurt like hell that he blamed her for Missy’s accident.
Her mother held Missy’s limp hand and kissed it every few minutes as if to try and help her wake up from her unconscious state. Every time Anne wanted to apologize for missing the holidays, a lump would form in her throat and the words just couldn’t come out.
Dean sat in a chair on the other side of the room and pretended to watch the TV as his eyes darted back towards the door. Jerilind went back to her home and promised to return in the morning with real food and refreshments for all of them.
The exhaustion on Anne’s face was hard to miss. Helen placed her hand on her shoulder. "Go home, honey. Your father and I will be here and we'll call you if anything changes."
Normally, she would have refused but all the stress of the day wore on her body that she couldn’t even see straight.
"I'll be back first thing in the morning," she promised as she kissed her cheek, hoping to ease her mother’s worry.
Dean looked at her when she stood up. "I'm going home."
&
nbsp; "I'll take you."
"No, you don't have to. I'll be fine."
"I wasn’t giving you an option."
Anne huffed, "Look, I told you that I don't need a babysitter."
"Anne." Her mother stopped her. "Please have him go with you. All those people from the news media are making me nervous. I already have one daughter that I'm worried about I don't need two."
The worry on her mother's face just crushed her heart and she let her argument drop.
"Alright."
Gently maneuvering around all the tubes and wires, she leaned over to Missy and kissed her forehead. “Love you, Missy.”
As she turned back she kissed her mother’s cheek again and hugged her. “If you need anything…”
“We know--you are a phone call away.”
Dean quickly walked over to Helen and she stood up and grabbed him in a bear hug.
"Stay with her," she whispered to him. "I'll feel better knowing that you're with her."
"I will."
"I put some extra-large men's clothes in the guest bedroom downstairs at her house."
Dean couldn't help but smile. "Thanks. I’ll make sure she stays safe."
"Thank you.”
With that, Dean left to go catch up with Anne who was halfway down the hall already.
"We'll have to go out the back," he told her as she pressed the elevator button.
"Way ahead of you. Hawk should be waiting there."
He glanced around them and saw that no one was close enough to hear their conversation. "How does he know where to wait for you?"
“He follows my energy. It's like a beacon to him and the reverse is true with me. If I need him, I know where to go because I can feel him."
The elevator opened and they stepped in. With no one around, Dean continued to pry.
"How can you feel him?"
With a sigh, she looked over at him. He seemed genuinely interested in her powers and how she used them.
"You know how when you get out of a mall or museum or stadium and you walk into a parking lot and you get that feeling that you parked your car in a certain spot? That's how I feel him, except I know for a fact where he is exactly."
"How far can you track him?"
Driven By Love (The Heirs 0f Orion Series Book 1) Page 5
