Little Boys Blue

by Susan Kearney

  But Cam had explored the mine with his brothers when they were boys and knew there was a second entrance, just off the main artery. He hurried inside and rounded the bend, then raced outside again, sure that Julie had taken the boys out the mine’s side entrance. Cameron suspected she’d hidden a four-wheel-drive vehicle there for her escape.

  Fear for his sons’ safety urged his feet faster. He raced after Julie and skidded around the bend and back out into open air.

  Sure enough, she was lifting the sleepy twins into the back seat of a Jeep. Cam’s relief that the boys were semiconscious tempered his fury.

  He reminded himself Julie was unbalanced—just as she spun around and aimed her gun at him. His fist connected with her wrist and threw off her aim as she pulled the trigger. The bullet spit by harmlessly.

  In pain from the force of his block on her arm, she dropped the gun.

  Rage and tears combined, she attacked him with her hands. “You should have loved me. Me. Not Sandra. Not Alexa. Me!”

  Her raving made her violent, dangerous and unpredictable. Cam had never struck a woman in his life, couldn’t bring himself to do so now. He shifted to the side and swept her feet out from under her. She fell hard and he scooped up her gun, placed it in the waistband of his jeans.

  “We could still make it work,” she pleaded with him, proving once again how unbalanced she was.

  He checked his boys’ pulses and kept a wary eye on Julie. “You murdered Sandra, didn’t you?”

  Julie raised her chin. “I did it for us. So you could inherit her money and we could be together.”

  “I didn’t care about Sandra’s money. I loved her.”

  “And I killed Alexa, so now you are free.”

  “What?” Cam’s heart stopped and skipped several beats. Alexa was fine. She’d told him she was fine.

  Julie smoothed back her hair, oblivious to his confusion. “You’re free to marry me. She’s dead. Or she soon will be. I shot her in the gut. After all the trouble she caused me, she deserves a slow and painful death.”

  Horror stabbed him, made his hands shake. He took the keys from the Jeep’s ignition and slipped them into his pocket. He picked up Flynn, then Jason, and hurried back to Alexa. Julie wouldn’t get far on foot.

  He suddenly recalled Alexa’s pallor and weak voice, which he’d attributed to her having shot Leo. He hadn’t seen any blood, but then, she’d twisted away, so he hadn’t gotten a good view.

  Cameron needed to call Rafe and the chopper, but he didn’t have a free hand. It seemed to take him forever to reach Alexa. He gently placed the sleepy boys on the ground beside her and reached for the cell phone.

  He turned her over and paled at the wound. There was blood. Too much blood. He tried to staunch the bleeding while he called Rafe on his cell phone.

  The helicopter ride was a nightmare. At least the boys slept through it. Cameron knew Alexa wouldn’t make it to the hospital without a transfusion. Luckily he matched Alexa’s A positive. He started giving her his blood until he barely remained conscious.

  Then he slumped, vowing that whatever happened, if Alexa lived, he wouldn’t pressure her to stay. She’d practically given her life to save the twins. It would be selfish of him to ask more of her.

  He loved her so much. He loved her enough to let her go. But first—she had to live.

  ALEXA OPENED HER EYES, and the first thing she saw was Cameron. “You look terrible.” Her voice came out in a croak, and she licked her dry lips and looked around the room.

  A bright light glared at her. Machines beeped, and she figured out she was in a hospital bed.

  Chin dark with stubble, eyes darker with worry, Cam leaned over her. “Don’t try to move. You’re hooked up to a few monitors and an IV’s in your wrist.”

  She felt his hand holding hers and squeezed. “Love you.”

  “Sounds good, but I won’t hold you responsible. You’re on heavy-duty drugs. But you’re going to make it.”

  She recalled rising out of her body, a long tunnel filled with light. And Sandra hugging her. “Sandra told me it wasn’t my time. She sent me back. And I do love you.”

  His brow rose skeptically. “Uh-huh.”

  She could tell he thought she wasn’t lucid, but she’d never been so sure of anything in her life. As she’d lain on the ground, her life’s blood leaking out of her, all she could think about was Cameron and the twins. Not some precious job that took her all over of the world. Not unearthing a piece of art from some dusty attic. Not pocketing a finder’s fee.

  She wanted Cameron. She wanted the twins. She wanted her family.

  She wanted to tell Cam, but she couldn’t find the strength. Her mouth was dry, her throat parched. He seemed to realize her need and lifted a glass with a straw to her mouth. Two small sips wasted her. The effort sent her to sleep.

  When she awoke again, she felt stronger. A nurse hovered over her bed, checking the IV in her wrist. “How do you feel?”

  “Like I’ve been shot.”

  “Are you in pain?”

  “Not if you’re going to put me back to sleep again.” Alexa turned her head and took in the flowers spilling over from the nightstand and the dresser to the floor. The room smelled like heaven, and she breathed in deeply. A mistake. Breathing hurt.

  “If you’re up to it, you have visitors. But the doctor says they can only stay five—”

  Cam strode into the room and glared at the nurse. “She’s awake and you didn’t tell me?”

  “Where’s my hairbrush?” Alexa asked, knowing she must look a wreck.

  Cameron laughed and then he danced the frowning nurse around the room. “Now I know she’s going to be all right.”

  At the commotion Chase and Laura stepped into the room. Laura ignored the dancing, crossed to the bed and gently used her own brush on Alexa’s hair. Laura pulled out a small pink bottle and held it up. “I brought nail polish.”

  “Good. Maybe once I look more like myself, the big oaf will believe that I love him enough to stay in Colorado.”

  Cameron stopped dancing with the nurse who left the room. “I thought that was the morphine talking.”

  Laura handed Alexa the hairbrush and nail polish and tugged on Chase’s arm. “We should leave.”

  Chase resisted her tug. “This is just getting interesting.”

  Cam shoved his brother toward the door. “Get out.”

  “I want to hear this,” Chase protested.

  “Hear what?” Rafe had apparently heard the commotion and entered the room, curious to know what was going on.

  “Is anyone else listening outside?” Alexa asked, barely containing her grin. Grinning hurt. Yet with all the love shining out of Cameron’s eyes, the concern in Laura’s, the humor in Chase’s and Rafe’s, she figured that the Senator and Tyler couldn’t be far behind.

  Sure enough, the Senator and Tyler crowded into the room, each of them holding a twin. Keith ran to his father, and Chase lifted him into his arms. The only one missing was Laura and Chase’s newest baby, and only because he was too young to expose to hospital germs.

  “Okay, we’re all here now,” Rafe teased. “What’s so important?”

  “First,” Alexa demanded, “someone tell me what happened to Julie and Leo.”

  “Leo’s recovering while incarcerated in the county lockup,” Cam told her. “Julie’s in a Denver psychiatric hospital. She’ll probably be judged unfit to stand trial.”

  “What’s incarpatrated?” Flynn asked.

  “What’s a sytrick?”

  No one answered the boys, and Alexa grinned, wondering how long the adult vocabulary could continue to keep the twins in the dark. Alexa helped change the subject. “So how did I get to the hospital?”

  “Rafe flew you.”

  “Then I donated blood,” Rafe bragged.

  “Really?” Alexa looked to Cam for an explanation.

  “You needed more blood after we landed at the hospital and I’d already given you what I could. So R
afe volunteered.”

  “What did we do in the helicopter, Uncle Rafe?” Jason asked, his tiny face screwed up into a frown. “I can’t remember.”

  Rafe ruffled his hair. “You were blessedly quiet and followed my directions to sleep.”

  Flynn scratched his head. “And that helped?”

  “We got Alexa to the hospital, didn’t we?”

  Alexa motioned for the twins to come closer and took their hands in hers. “Thanks for the help.” Clearly they didn’t remember much—if anything—of the entire incident, and she was relieved. They were bright enough to figure it out from all the talk, but they wouldn’t remember being separated from their father, wouldn’t remember their fears.

  Rafe slapped Cam on the shoulder and looked at Alexa. “Now what made Cam so happy he was dancing with a nurse?”

  “This is private,” Cam growled.

  “We’re all family here,” Chase said innocently.

  “I love him and I’m staying,” Alexa told them, knowing the words felt right.

  Laura and Chase exchanged knowing grins. Tyler looked at his feet. Rafe chuckled. “Now that she’s half-full of Sutton blood, she can’t think straight.”

  “It must be the morphine,” Tyler added, getting into the spirit of teasing Cameron.

  The warmth and love surrounding her was incomparable to any feeling Alexa had ever known. She belonged with this man, with this family. She knew it in her heart and she knew it in her soul. “It’s not the morphine. I know what I’m saying. I love him.”

  At her repeated announcement, Flynn and Jason exchanged high fives.

  Rafe rolled his eyes. “Is that all?”

  Tyler dug his elbow into Rafe. “Shh. Don’t interrupt.”

  Alexa saw Laura wipe a stray tear from her eye. But Alexa was focused on Cameron.

  Cameron leaned over her. “You don’t have to leave your job. You can—”

  “I won’t be a part-time wife or part-time mother. I’m not ever going back to my job.”

  Cameron protested halfheartedly, probably to test her. “But you love your work.”

  “I’ve been thinking about opening a gallery in Highview.” She winked at him, “It’ll be expensive.”

  “Better hide your credit card,” Chase warned.

  “—But I’m staying here with you and the twins.”

  “For good?” Flynn asked.

  “Forever?” Jason echoed.

  “For as long as your dad wants me,” Alexa agreed.

  Flynn whispered to Jason, “Dad’s smart.”

  Jason whispered to Flynn, “He won’t ever let her go.”

  “That means we have a mother,” Flynn told Jason, his voice full of awe.

  “And we’ll get more hugs and kisses and chocolate-chip cookies?” Flynn’s voice rose on a hopeful note.

  Without needing adult confirmation, the twins exchanged high fives again, big smiles and round eyes making them look, for once, more innocent than mischievous.

  The nurse returned with another frown. “It’s been more than five minutes. Everyone must leave.”

  “Good.” Cam kissed Alexa gently on the mouth. “Everyone can leave except her doctor.”

  “Is that so?” The nurse raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, Nurse.” Cameron leaned over Alexa protectively. “This doctor’s going to keep kissing his wife until she’s all better.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-5043-0

  LITTLE BOYS BLUE

  Copyright © 2000 by Susan Hope Kearney

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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  *The Sutton Babies