Sean's Reckoning - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,48
adds please and thank you to her commands.”
“Only because she’s terrified you’re going to rat her out to Hodges,” Ruby insisted.
“Hey, ladies, could you keep it down? My head’s killing me,” Hank muttered hoarsely.
Ruby was on her feet in an instant, the expression on her face a dead giveaway. Deanna wondered if Hank could see it. Was he smart enough to see all the love Ruby would willingly shower on him, if only he was ready for it?
“Hey, beautiful.”
Sean’s voice drew Deanna’s attention away from the other couple. She smiled at him. “Now I know your injuries were more severe than they’re saying, if you think I’m beautiful.”
“You are beautiful.” He started to sit up, then winced and fell back down. “Have you been here all night?”
“Yes.”
“Kevin?”
She gestured toward the corner. “Sound asleep.”
“Go home.”
“Trying to get rid of me after I’ve invested all this time and energy worrying about you?” she teased.
“You fainted last night. You need to be in bed, too.” A devilish grin crept over his face. He patted the bed beside him. “Of course, there’s plenty of room here.”
Deanna laughed. “I don’t think so. By the way, after you fell asleep I tried to reach your brother. There was no answer at the apartment, so I left a message on the answering machine at the pub. Somebody named Rory called here a little while ago and spoke to the nurse. He says Ryan and Maggie went away for a couple of days, but they’ll be back this afternoon and he’ll let them know what happened.”
“Thanks.” He glanced across the room toward Hank. “Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?”
Hank’s pithy response had them all grinning.
“Watch your language,” Sean said, sobering. “Kevin’s here.”
Hank winced. “Sorry.” He fell silent, his expression unreadable. “Hey, buddy, I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Sean said. “You’d have done the same for me.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that you risked your life to come back after me.”
“I’m the one responsible for you being in that building in the first place. If I hadn’t been so damned stubborn, you’d never have been in danger.”
Deanna heard the unmistakable regret in Sean’s voice and knew that he’d have been tormented for the rest of his life if he hadn’t gotten Hank out alive. She reached for his hand and squeezed.
“Just be grateful you’re both here to tell the tale,” she said. “You can’t go back and change the past.”
Sean studied her intently. “Something you might want to remember, as well,” he said lightly.
Before she could reply, Kevin yawned widely, blinked and stared around the room until his gaze fell on Sean.
“Hey, Sean,” he said sleepily.
“Hey, kiddo.”
Wearing socks but no sneakers, Kevin padded over to the side of the bed, his gaze immediately drawn to Sean’s injured face. “Does that hurt?”
“Not too much.”
Kevin nodded, his expression thoughtful. “Still, I’m thinking maybe I don’t want to be a firefighter after all. You can get hurt real bad.”
“Knocked off your pedestal already,” Hank teased Sean.
Deanna saw a flicker of sorrow in Sean’s eyes, but he managed a grin. “You’ve got a lot of years before you have to decide what you want to be,” she told her son.
“Maybe it would be cool to be a doctor,” Kevin said.
Ruby grinned at him. “Then you’d have to give shots,” she teased.
Hank moaned. “Don’t go talking about shots, okay?”
Kevin’s eyes blinked wide at the evident hint of panic in Hank’s voice. Ruby and Deanna both stared at him, as Sean began to chuckle.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared of shots,” Ruby said to Hank, apparently delighted by the evidence that the courageous firefighter had a very human weakness.
“What if I am?” he retorted defensively. “A healthy respect for needles seems like a perfectly normal reaction to me.”
The same nurse who’d been on guard duty during the night appeared just then and overheard Hank’s remark. “Uh-oh, don’t tell me I’m going to need restraints for this.”
Hank frowned at him. “Who the hell are you?”
“Our warden,” Sean said grimly. “I remember him from when we first came in. And judging from that tray he’s carrying, he’s armed.”
Ruby leaned down until her face was scant inches from Hank’s. “Concentrate on me. I promise you won’t feel a thing,” she said, then glanced up to wink at the nurse.
Hank opened his mouth to protest, but Ruby swooped in and kissed him just as the nurse administered the shot. Deanna glanced at Sean and saw the speculative gleam in his eyes as the nurse headed his way.
“Forget it,” she