“How is my baby?” she whispered weakly. “Momma missed you, Cassie.”
Cassie sniffed back her low sobs as she nodded faintly. “I missed you, Momma. I was so afraid you wouldn’t come back. That I would be all alone and scared for forever. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Elizabeth lifted her gaze as Dash smoothed his hand over Cassie’s hair. Elizabeth knew he had been the one to tell Cassie of her mother’s accident and that she would be confined to the hospital for a while. Exhaustion had sapped her body before the wound, making her healing take progressively longer. But she would be leaving the hospital soon. In a few days. Though the doctors warned her she would have to take it easy.
“Hey, beautiful.” Dash touched her cheek as she gazed over at him. “I couldn’t keep her away. She’s as stubborn as her mother is.”
His voice was rich and gentle, nothing like the hoarse, pain-filled tone he had used to scream at her as the darkness flowed over her the night she had been shot. She could still remember the horror that had echoed in his ragged howls as the darkness closed over her. She didn’t want to ever hear such pain coming from him again.
“Hm.” She smiled sleepily. She was sleeping a lot. The doctors had assured her it would help her heal. “I get to leave soon.” She couldn’t wait to sleep in his arms again, to feel him holding her, loving her through the night.
He stayed with her as much as he could at the hospital. When he wasn’t there, Dawn or Sherra, who had come from the Breed Compound with Cassie, stayed with her instead while guards waited outside the room. No chances were being taken with either her or Cassie’s protection.
“Soon,” he promised.
“Momma?” Cassie raised her head. “Dash said I’m going to have a brother or sister. Am I?”
Elizabeth smiled, fighting to hold her eyes opened. She had missed Cassie so desperately, she hated to fall asleep on her.
“Yeah,” she sighed sleepily. “You like that idea?”
“Yeah.” Her head bobbed swiftly. “We should celebrate with chocolate, though. I told Dash we need a big ole chocolate cake, just like the one Simon brought me the other day. It was all kinds of chocolate.”
Elizabeth winced, frowning over at Dash’s chagrined expression. “Simon, huh?”
She felt sorry for Cassie’s babysitters. There was nothing like chocolate to keep her running at full speed for hours on end.
“Oh yeah. He’s really nice. And he doesn’t mind tea parties, either. Him and his Ladies had tea with me twice.” Cassie stared down at her with all seriousness, as though the man she had been having tea with wasn’t the same man who had hacked his way through six guards as he heard Dash’s howls shatter the night.
Elizabeth fought the weak laughter building in her chest. Lord, she would have loved to see that one. Her eyes drifted closed a second before she fought to open them once again. And there was Dash, watching her, loving her. Her heart swelled with emotion at the thought.
“Come on, pumpkin. Kiss Momma asleep and head outside with Merc and Simon. I’ll be right out,”
Dash finally told Cassie softly as Elizabeth’s eyes fluttered sleepily. Cassie smacked a timid kiss to Elizabeth’s cheek before she jumped down from Dash’s lap and headed to the door.
Dash turned back to her, his eyes dark with concern as he leaned close, touching her cheek gently.
“Doing okay?”
“Great.” She had to keep her eyes open. Had to stare into his wonderful gaze as long as she could.
“You?”
“Damned cold at night,” he sighed. She could see the effects of his sleeplessness. “But everything is arranged. When you’re released we’ll stay at the Breed compound until you’re strong enough, then we’ll head home. I have a place…” He watched her carefully. “It’s a nice little house, Elizabeth. Big enough for a family, not too far from town, but we’ll be safe there.”
“As long as we’re together, Dash,” she whispered. Nothing else mattered to her.
“Yeah.” He lowered his head then, his lips whispering over hers. “I love you, baby.”
She smiled as her eyes drifted closed. “Love you…mate. Forever.”
Dash left the hospital, catching Cassie up in his arms as she threw herself at him. She had barely let him out of her sight since the morning after Elizabeth’s surgery. She cried if he left without her, and Dawn said the little girl would sit at the window, watching the road with a desperation that broke all their hearts until he returned to the hotel.
He hugged her close, feeling her tremble in his arms as he carried her out of the hospital. She was quieter since Grange’s death. Almost as though she were expecting something more to happen now. Expecting a kick that would once again tumble her into the nightmare of the past two years.
“Do you still love me, Dash?” The surprising question was whispered in his ear as he stepped into the elevator.
He looked down at her head as the doors slid closed. “Of course, Cassie, why wouldn’t I? I told you, you’re my little girl now too. That won’t change.”