now I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy toward you for helping Lamar.”
Ryan laughed. “Go. I’ll give you a call once he’s out of surgery.”
Jack nodded. “You do that.” He grinned. “Or give Maggie the honor. I wouldn’t mind waking up to the sound of her voice in my ear.”
“Go to hell,” Ryan said. If Maggie was going to be whispering in any man’s ear, it was going to be his. And it was looking more and more as if that was going to be inevitable.
Chapter Nine
Maggie knew precisely why Ryan had let her be the one to escort Mr. Monroe into the hospital to see his son. He hadn’t wanted to be a part of an emotional family reunion, even if he was the one responsible for making it happen. Because there had been no reunion for him and his brothers, the prospect of this one made him uncomfortable.
He needed to be there, though. He needed to put his discomfort aside if he was ever to know that happy endings were possible.
As Maggie and Jamal Monroe stepped off the elevator, she turned and looked at him. “I know I have no right to ask this, especially after insisting that you get right over here, but would you mind waiting a few more minutes before you see Lamar?”
He regarded her with surprise. “You want to go in and make sure they want to see me?”
“No, I know how happy they’ll be that you’re here. In fact, that’s the point.”
He studied her knowingly. “This has something to do with Mr. Devaney, doesn’t it? You seemed real anxious that he not take off. You still worried he might not show up?”
“No, I’m sure he’ll be here any second, and I think he should be a part of this.”
“So he gets the credit he’s due for tracking me down?”
She smiled at the all-too-cynical reaction. “No, so he can see for himself the look in Lamar’s eyes when you walk through the door.”
At her explanation, his natural suspicion gave way. He nodded in apparent understanding. “I suppose a couple more minutes won’t make any difference,” he said. “And I do owe the man for his trouble.”
“He doesn’t want your thanks or your sense of obligation,” Maggie was quick to assure him. “He just wants you and your son to be together. I can’t explain why this meeting is so important to him, but it is. Trust me.”
They were still standing by the elevator when Letitia Monroe emerged from Lamar’s room and spotted them. An entire spectrum of emotions flashed across her face, from anger to love to relief. Her husband took a few hesitant steps in her direction, then paused and waited. She hurried down the corridor and straight into his arms. Her shoulders shook with sobs as he tried ineffectively to console her.
“Jamal Monroe, I ought to slap you silly for putting us through all this worry,” Letitia said finally, sniffing loudly and wiping her eyes with a tissue Maggie provided. “But I’m too relieved to see you. The rest will have to wait.” She glanced around. “Where’s Mr. Devaney? I know he had something to do with you being here.”
The elevator doors whooshed open just then, and Ryan emerged. Letitia threw her arms around him in a fierce hug that almost knocked him off his feet.
“I will be indebted to you for the rest of my life,” she declared. “Thank you for finding Jamal and getting him here in time.”
“The truth is, he found us,” Ryan said modestly. “All I did was poke around and ask a few questions.”
“But I don’t doubt for a minute that it was all that poking around that stirred things up and flushed him out,” she said with conviction. She slipped her hand into her husband’s. “Let’s go see our boy.”
They started down the hall, but Ryan held back. Maggie regarded him with a questioning look, but it was Letitia who turned around and said impatiently, “Hurry up. Lamar’s expecting you. And I imagine Father Francis has heard about all of the boy’s pitiful jokes he can stand for one morning.”
“I shouldn’t intrude,” Ryan said, looking around desperately for someplace to flee.
“Intrude, nothing. You’re part of this family till the end of time,” Letitia said emphatically. “And I don’t want to hear anyone saying otherwise, including you.”
Maggie grinned at the woman’s belief that she had the right to boss Ryan around. Maybe she should steal a page out of Letitia’s book. Ryan appeared a little shell-shocked.
“I guess she