“You’re right,” Neil said. “Not about my not owing you because, I’m sorry, but Fay and I do owe you. You gave us a life, a childhood, showed us what a family should be like and I can’t help but be grateful. But we are yours.” He reached over and grabbed Carl’s hand. “Dad.”
* * *
NO SOONER HAD Maddie heard the car pull into the driveway than she opened Fay’s front door. It had started to rain a few hours ago, a cooling mist that coated the driveway, sparkled in Neil’s headlights before he shut the car off. She watched him get out from behind the wheel and slowly make his way up the walk. It was obvious he was exhausted. Heartsick.
She could relate.
“Tell me,” she said as soon as he reached the step.
“She was awake,” he said, his eyes bleak.
Maddie shivered in the cool air. Realizing she was blocking him from coming into the house, she moved aside. “Did she say anything?” she asked as she shut the door.
“She said it was an accident.”
Maddie shook her head. “How could—”
“Is Aunt Fay dead?”
They both turned. Bree, in her pajamas, her feet bare, stood in the kitchen doorway, her face tear-streaked, her eyes puffy from crying.
“Why isn’t she in bed?” Neil asked Maddie.
Maddie knew he was worried, upset, so she didn’t get angry at his harsh tone. She laid a hand on his arm. “She was worried. There was no way she’d get to sleep so I let her wait with me.”
He gave an almost imperceptible nod, trailed his fingers over the back of her hand before approaching their daughter. “No, Aunt Fay’s not dead. She’s alive. Thanks to you.”
Bree started crying again, tears leaking silently down her cheeks. “I was so scared....”
Neil scooped her up in his arms. She was too big to be carried, her feet dangling by his knees, but he didn’t even pause, just walked into the kitchen, sat on a chair and shifted her onto his lap. “I know you were but you were very brave.”
“And very smart,” Maddie added, lifting the pot of freshly made coffee in a silent question. When Neil shook his head, she refilled her own mug, added milk from Fay’s fridge. “We were able to get the boys settled down about two hours ago,” she said, taking the seat opposite Neil. “Elijah was pretty traumatized.”
He woke up to the EMTs and firefighters in the house. Luckily, Leo had snatched him up before he’d seen his mother’s unconscious body.
“Mom wanted to stay at the hospital for another hour in case Fay woke up again,” Neil said. “She wanted me to let you know she’ll be here by six or so to relieve you.”
Mom? Maddie wondered if he even realized that he’d called Gerry mom but now wasn’t the time to ask. “It’s no problem. I’m crazy about those boys and I love Fay. You know that.”
“I do.” He reached out and clutched her hand, their fingers linking. “Thank you.”
They sat that way for a moment, she and Neil holding hands, Bree on his lap, her head resting on his shoulder. And for the first time since Bree’s frantic call, Maddie’s heart rate calmed down.
Bree yawned and rubbed her left eye. “How did they get Aunt Fay to wake up?”
Maddie squeezed Neil’s hand then eased back to take a sip of her coffee.
“They had to get the sleeping pills out of Aunt Fay’s stomach,” he said. “Once they did, they were able to wake her up.”
Not as easy as that, Maddie imagined. They would have had to have pumped Fay’s stomach—a painful process.
“She was sad about Uncle Shane,” Bree said.
“How do you know?” Maddie asked.
“I heard her on the phone with him. She was crying, asking him to come home but then she hung up and told me she was okay. That everything would be all right in the morning.”
“We still haven’t been able to get ahold of Shane,” Neil said. “From what we’ve gathered and from what little Fay said when she woke up, he took off with that girl from the convenience store. Off to start a new life somewhere.”
Maddie hit her fist on the table. “That rat bastard. Oh, God,” she breathed. “What if he comes here? What if he wants to take the boys?”
“We won’t let that happen,” he said, sounding so weary, it broke her heart. “I’ll get ahold of an attorney as soon as possible.”
In this instance, Maddie could appreciate that he’d take