Just One Kiss (Whisper Lake #4) - Barbara Freethy Page 0,95
Davis checked on Tom, she said, "Is he dead?"
Davis looked back at her. "Yes. He's dead."
"I killed him." She felt numb with shock. She should feel bad that she'd killed a man. She'd spent her entire career trying to save lives, not take them. But she couldn't get to that expected feeling of remorse. She kept remembering Tom's madness. He'd killed Kelly's boyfriend, and he'd threatened to kill all of them.
"Where's your sister?" Jake asked. He put the gun on the nearby mantel and took his hands in hers.
"She's in the bedroom. I should get to her."
"I'll check on her," Davis said. "Take a minute, Hannah. Get your feet back under you."
As Davis left, Jake gave her a searching look. "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?"
"No. But if you hadn't come, he would have killed me, maybe Kelly and Violet, too." She drew in a much-needed breath. "But you came—just in time."
"I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here. We ran into a few problems on the way." He looked back at the man on the ground. "I assume he was alone. Is there anyone else we have to worry about?"
"No. He was alone. He was crazy, Jake."
"I'm so happy he didn't hurt you. I heard a woman scream, and my heart stopped."
"That was Kelly. She was faking pain. We were trying to get him to go into the other room."
"Thank God." He put his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze. "I was so worried about you, Hannah."
She savored the comfort of his arms for a long minute, wanting to stay there forever, but the sound of Violet's cries brought her head back up. "Want to meet my niece?" she asked.
He smiled. "I do."
They walked into the bedroom where Davis was examining Kelly and the baby.
"You did well, Hannah," Davis said approvingly. "Everyone looks good."
"Hannah was amazing," Kelly said, meeting her gaze. "Although, for a minute there, I was scared you were going to cut me open."
"I was just trying to get him out of the room."
"I know. I tried to play along."
"You were almost too good. I started thinking you might really be in pain."
"I feel wonderful now. Dr. McKenna said Tom is dead." Her sister's gaze sought hers for confirmation.
"Yes, he is. He can't hurt you again, Kelly. You and Violet and Brett are safe."
Her sister's eyes watered, and tears slid down her cheeks. "Because of all of you. I didn't know what was going on when I heard the shots, but I just had faith that the next person to walk through the door would be someone who wanted to help me." She looked at Davis. "I couldn't believe it was you, Dr. McKenna."
Now that Hannah thought about it, she couldn't quite believe it, either. She looked at Jake. "How did you and your father end up coming here together? You never do anything together."
She saw Jake and his father exchange a look, and then Jake said, "That might change. It turns out we're a better team than I thought."
"Jake has a lot to tell you," Davis added.
She didn't know what that meant, but seeing that the anger was gone between them, she felt very hopeful that they might be finding their way back to the relationship they'd once had.
"I want to hear it all," she said. "But we need to get Kelly to the hospital."
"That won't be happening for a while," Jake said. "A tree fell across the road and the bridge is down."
"Are you serious? How did you get here then?"
"Jake found a way," his dad put in. "He's very resourceful."
"So are you," he told his father. "You drew Tom's attention without managing to get yourself shot."
"You needed a distraction; I gave you one."
"So, what are we going to do?" Kelly asked.
"We'll stay here until help comes," Davis told her. "Don't worry, Kelly. I will take care of you and your baby until we can get you to the hospital."
"You're being so nice to me, Dr. McKenna—all of you are," Kelly said, her eyes tearing up once more. "I don't deserve it. I abandoned my family years ago. And then I came back and left my son for Hannah to take care of." Kelly's gaze sought hers. "I thought you might hate me, Hannah."
"I could never hate you. You're my sister."
"But I left you behind."
"It hurt," she admitted. "But we were all in survival mode after Dad died."