happy cheers and congratulations as Corey passed around his phone to show the chubby-cheeked, bright-eyed baby.
Since his mother had disappeared up to the maternity ward shortly after being stitched up, he knew that she’d been by his sister’s side the entire time.
He wanted to go see the new baby but wanted to wait until he wasn’t covered in blood and sweat.
He told Corey to tell his sister that he’d see them in the morning. Corey hugged him and agreed, then told him that Lilly and baby Ben were resting comfortably.
“I’m also sending your mom back down to you. She’s tired and worried about her brother.”
“I’ll come wheel her down myself,” he suggested.
“No need.” Then he handed George his phone. “Now, look at your nephew,” Corey said with a smile.
“He looks like me,” George said with a grin as he looked at the photo of his sister looking tired but happy as she held a very small baby that had the Jordan eyes, chin, and mouth. He could see a lot of Corey and Carter in there as well. Pride had tears stinging his eyes.
Robin laughed. “All babies look alike.”
He gasped and shook his head. “You have obviously not seen enough Jordan babies. Each one is perfect.”
She hugged him. “Congratulations, Uncle George.”
Less than half an hour later, his dad walked into the waiting area, dressed in scrubs and smiling. “Todd has made it through surgery just fine. He’s resting now and can start receiving visitors in the morning. Megan, you can go back and see him now. He’s awake and asking for you.” He nodded to the nurse, who showed his crying aunt through the double doors. “Now, I’m going to go see my new grandson and then take my wife home. I suggest you all do the same.”
His dad walked over and wrapped his arms around his mother, whose leg had been bandaged after receiving close to a dozen stitches. She also had a pair of crutches to use while she healed. She’d been wheeled to and from the maternity ward earlier, since there were plenty of wheelchairs available to her.
Then his dad walked over and hugged him for the longest time. “I love you, son,” he said before turning and wheeling his mother towards the elevators.
George’s arm had needed six stiches across the forearm where he’d been told a bullet had grazed him. He’d expected it to be a piece of glass, like his mother’s leg, but the doctor who stitched him up said it was definitely a bullet wound.
The entire family exited the hospital quietly like a bunch of dazed zombies.
While Conner drove the four of them back to Pride, he held onto Robin in the back seat of the car.
“We got lucky today,” Conner said softly.
“Yeah,” they all agreed.
“You knew that Kevin had gotten out of prison?” Conner asked him.
“Josh asked me to look into his potential release a few weeks back,” he told them. “I knew there was a possibility, and I found out he’d made parole a few days ago. We did everything we could to keep him from coming back to Pride.” He leaned his head back and took a deep breath. “I should have—”
“Leave it,” Conner broke in. “There is no way you could have known. Just like Brenda, Tom, Suzie Williams, or even Josh couldn’t have known what he would do. We’re just lucky Aiden was there and caught him before he could reload and enter the pizzeria.”
“You locked us in a freezer,” Kara reminded him.
Conner reached over for Kara’s hand. “We didn’t know if he was going to storm in and keep shooting.”
“So you strong-armed us into a freezer?” Robin asked, glancing over at him.
“We just wanted to protect what’s ours,” George said.
“And what about you?” Robin asked. “Why weren’t you in there with us?”
“You too,” Kara asked Conner.
Instead of answering, George pulled Robin closer and kissed her.
“Okay, that’s one way to shut us up, but too bad you have to keep your hands and mind on the road,” Kara poked Conner on the shoulder. “So, tell me what your excuse is.”
“It was just…”—he shrugged— “a gut reaction.”
“We didn’t really think,” George added as he looked into Robin’s eyes. “I just wanted to protect the woman I love.”
“Aww,” Kara said softly.
“Shush.” Robin waved her sister’s mocking tone away. “You… love me?” she asked him.
He smiled. “If after what we just went through today, I can’t say it freely… I doubt there’s any better time to say it. Yeah.” He nodded and