Hayley - Kathryn Shay Page 0,45
emotion long, but every sob touched his heart. When she finally stopped, she sat back and wiped her face with the handkerchief he gave her. And sighed.
He didn’t rush her. Finally, she began to talk.
“I’d called Seth tonight because I’ve been overwrought over what happened between you and me. He was working late. Alone, at Legal Aid. I told him a hundred times not to do that. He was describing a particularly nasty case. All of a sudden, the guy involved …h-he came into the office. Seth said something about a knife. Then the phone fell. I heard him scream and he never came back on the line.”
Shaking his head, he cupped her cheek. It was damp. “That is horrible. You must have been paralyzed.”
“No, actually I wasn’t.” She explained the steps she’d taken, who she called.
“You were shocked and upset and you still got the right information to the right people.”
“I guess.” She checked her watch. “I’m not even sure how long it’s been, but I should call Rafe.”
“It couldn’t hurt.”
She clicked into her phone and put it on speaker, so he heard, “Hayley.”
“Do you know anything, Rafe?”
“We got to the hospital as soon as we could after Megan called us, but Seth was already in the ER treatment area. A doctor did let us know Seth was going into surgery.” Her cousin’s voice was strained with worry.
“I was hoping for better news.”
“Sorry. Meg said you listened to the whole thing, honey.”
“It was awful, Rafe.”
“I bet. I’ll let you know when I hear anything more.”
“Are you kidding? I’m on my way out there.”
“You’re coming to Hidden Cove alone? You gotta be upset. Maybe traumatized.”
“I’m not alone.”
“Is Finn with you?”
“No, he’s out of town, but coming back in tonight. I’ll leave him a message. I’m with my friend, Paul.”
“Then I’ll see you soon.”
When she clicked off, she turned bruised eyes on Paul. “I don’t feel any better.”
“You shouldn’t, not until we see how the surgery goes.”
She grasped his hand. “Thanks for being here.”
“Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, sweetheart.”
* * *
He walked into the emergency room at Hidden Cove Memorial Hospital wearing non-descript jeans, a navy t-shirt and hoodie, with a ball cap on his head. Glasses perched on his nose. One hid his trademark dark hair, with a bit of gray in it now. The specs he didn’t need. He still hadn’t decided if he’d let his presence be known. He’d wait till Hayley and Finn arrived to decide. He also didn’t know what the family had heard yet, but since he couldn’t ask them, he dropped down into a vinyl chair about thirty feet away and reviewed what he already knew.
Seth was in surgery.
A client’s husband had stabbed him.
Fifteen minutes later, Hayley walked into the waiting room. His heartbeat escalated as he stared at his little sister in the flesh. She was with Paul Covington. He knew she’d been seeing him. They both crossed to the Casella clan.
Rafe, the titular head of the family, hugged her. Said something in her ear. Gideon, the next to oldest, took his turn. His gruff policeman cousin had a soft side, the reports he’d gotten told him. Alessia, who’d become a beauty, was next. She and Hayley held on extra tight.
Though he wondered where Finn was, at least Hayley had her cousins and her aunt, Carmella. She seemed to be stoic now, like he remembered she was when Bridget insulted or slighted her all those years ago. Carmella was with a young woman who seemed familiar. Maybe a friend of Seth’s?
He focused in again on Hayley. She was incredibly upset. He could help with that.
It was time, he guessed.
Standing, he crossed to his relatives. They all turned to see who the stranger was. He took off his hat and glasses and said, “Hi, everybody.” He focused on Hayley. “I came for you, honey.”
Shock made her face white. “Ronan?”
“It’s me, baby. Come here?”
He held out his arms and she threw herself at him. And he hugged her tight for the first time in twenty years.
* * *
Ronan, her long lost brother, sat with Hayley apart from the others. Paul had stayed back from the family but knew all about Ronan because Hayley had told him what happened, that he’d abandoned her twenty years ago.
Just like you did. It was a dagger in the heart to him to have that in common with him. But Paul was here for Hayley now, so he dismissed the comparison.
She looked stunned, but happy to see her brother.