Dustin dropped down to Logan’s side, his hand going to his son’s leg. “Hold on, Logan.”
Greer had to concentrate on directing the spirits to spread their healing warmth into rebuilding the damage from the bullet. It took a great deal of strength, and Logan was fatally injured. When one was so close to Death’s door, it wasn’t easy to pull them back.
He had to get him away from Death’s door before he could work on Holly. Then he would let the hospital do the rest of the work.
Rachel handed Ema to Sutton, running down to sink next to Holly.
“Don’t touch her, Rachel!” Greer cried out, his shoulders starting to shake with the sobs he was holding back.
His wife was giving dying gasps, trying to breathe. The intensive damage would be more than Rachel could withstand with her carrying the tiny life in her womb.
Rachel leaned back on her thighs, crying as Cash lowered down next her, putting his hands on her shoulders to hold her back.
Greer focused inwardly. “Spirts, hear my pleas. Save Logan.”
He felt Logan’s fragile soul trying to break free from his voice, moving closer to the doorway as it slowly opened wider, beckoning him closer with the beauty inside.
“No, Logan, no!” Pressing harder down on his chest, he directed the spirits to work faster to repair the damage that was draining his life blood from him.
Holly gave a deep gasp then stopped breathing, as Logan’s tenuous hold on life left him.
Tears rained down his cheeks at seeing her giving her last breath. He kept his hand on Logan’s chest, about to climb over Logan’s body so he could at least try to hold her to life until an ambulance arrived.
Rachel saw what he was trying to do. “You won’t be able to save Logan if you do.” With finality, she looked up at Cash. “I can’t let her die.”
“Rachel, our baby! Don’t …”
Rachel ran her hand over her still flat stomach. “I’m so sorry, little girl. I can’t let her die. I just can’t. I love you.” A tear slid down her cheek as she met Cash’s eyes.
Acceptance shone in his as he released her.
“Rachel …” Greer pressed both his hands back down on Logan’s chest. “I can—”
“You can’t, Greer. You can’t be the brother I love if you let her die. I can’t, either.”
Not giving him a choice, she pressed her hands to Holly’s chest. She had almost waited too late. Her soul had already gone through the doorway. Snatching her back, she nearly passed out, but then she got her bearings and started the healing process enough until the ambulance to arrive.
Greer started shaking with fatigue. The bullet was moving closer to the surface as he healed. Dustin put his hand on his back, steadying him, linking them together. Dustin’s touch was a shot of adrenaline. He didn’t have the same healing as Greer and Rachel. What he had, though, was a parent’s love for his child; the same love Holly shared.
He finally understood why she had protected Logan when he was a baby. A parent’s love knew no boundary, whether that child was conceived from their body or not. When you loved someone, there were no boundaries. You would do anything for them to live.
That was why Rachel was trying so hard to save Holly. They had drawn close as sisters. She couldn’t watch Holly die any more than she could have been able to watch him or their brothers die.
Tate went to Cash, holding his hand out to him, while Cash left one hand on Rachel’s back. Tate then held his other hand out to Sutton. Carrying Ema, she sank down on the ground next to Tate, linking hands with him.
When Logan started breathing, Greer used one of his hands to pull the bullet out that was now close to the surface.
“Thank you.” Giving the spirits their praise, he nearly fell over.
“I’m coming, Rachel!” Stumbling around Logan, Greer fell down beside Rachel, immediately bringing his hands to Holly’s chest, heartsick at what he saw.
So close to death, Holly was dragging Rachel into Death’s doorway, like a drowning victim dragging their savior down into the bottomless depths.
“Let go, Rach!”
“I can’t.”
“Cash!”
Cash immediately wrapped his arms around Rachel’s waist, pulling her backward to the ground.
Tate touched his back, still holding Sutton’s hand as he worked on her. Now that Rachel was free, he could concentrate on Holly.
“Spirits, hear my plea. I’m begging you to save my wife,” he begged the spirits that were already moving away from his voice. “Help her! I’m begging you. I’ll pay any price you want. Take me instead. You can bring back what hasn’t been taken yet. Help her!”
He felt the spirts regroup, starting on the massive injuries.
Holly was fighting their efforts.
“Dammit, woman, I’m not ready to let you go. If you don’t stop fighting me, I’m going to give your ass …” Changing tactics, he tried to cajole the woman he loved instead. “You promised children, Holly. You can’t leave before you give me a part of yourself.”
He increased the pressure on her chest, healing warmth blazing out from his palms. “I know it’s beautiful, but our life will be just as beautiful. I can take you there again for a visit, but where you’re going, you’ll be leaving me behind. You loved Logan enough to sacrifice your life for him; can’t you do the same for me?”
Greer leaned over, covering her lips and breathing into her mouth. “Breathe, Holly, breathe.” His tears rained down onto her cheeks.
A gasping breath blew against his face.
“That’s my woman.” Straightening, he redoubled his efforts, directing the spirits.
Tate scrunched closer, so he could feel the warmth sink into his clammy skin.
“Please, Ma, Granny … help me. Heal her.”
The toll it was taking to heal Holly was excruciating. His strength was weakening.
“You’ve never let me down, ever. Please help me!” he begged, raising his eyes toward the sky, pleading to a higher power. “Spirits, you helped me heal Tate and Rachel when I couldn’t do it alone. I’m begging you not to leave me alone now,” he yelled out, lifting his voice to the Heavens above.
His hands filled with unending love, increasing the warmth of his palms into a fire so hot he thought it was scorching his skin. He didn’t pull them away, though the heat was so painful it was like dunking his hands in lava.
The spirits were now repairing the damage at lightning speed, knitting the flesh on her back closed, moving with a colorful array that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.
Greer was reverently witnessing the profound beauty as his prayers were answered.
When bright red lights flashed into his face, nearly blinding him, he felt the warmth leave his hands. God and the spirits left to watch over them from above.
“Thank you.” Greer knew Holly had been healed enough to let modern medicine take over.
The EMTs loaded Holly first, then Rachel. They would only let one person go with them in the ambulance, so Cash went. Greer would follow in his truck. Holly was unconscious, but her vitals were stable. Rachel was conscious and deserved to have her husband with her.
Grim faced, Knox motioned the ambulance to leave, so the other one could load Logan inside.
Greer saw Dustin jump into the ambulance. He then watched the driver slam the doors shut before jumping inside and driving down the driveway.
He headed for his truck, not wanting to be too far behind Holly, Logan, and Rachel.
“Greer!” Knox yelled as he was about to get in his truck.
“I’m going to the hospital. You want to know what happened here, ask Tate!”
“You’re going to need these.” Knox tossed him the truck keys.
So concerned with Holly, he hadn’t noticed Knox had moved it, so he wouldn’t have to run to Tate’s house to get it.
“Thanks.”
“I’ll drop Tate off at the hospital as soon I get his statement.”
Greer was alre
ady putting the truck in gear, leaving it to Tate to explain what had happened.
As he drove down the driveway, he saw a deputy put Sutton and Ema in his car, while another took pictures of the two bodies lying in the yard with the fairy lights swinging in the wind.
It was a sad ending to the beautiful day he had imagined for Holly. He cried alone in the cab as he drove to the hospital, yet he managed to swallow the large lump in his throat when he strode toward the ER, seeing Cash’s friends pulling into the lot as the sliding glass doors closed behind him. He started to go to the reception desk when he saw Cash coming through the door in the hallway. Greer went to meet him halfway, hearing the sliding door open again behind him.
They would never be able to admit to being friends. Their prides had them barely tolerating each other. But from the broken expression on his brother-in-law’s face, he cast his pride aside, taking the man into his arms.
“Is Rachel okay?”
“We lost the baby.”
Greer’s arms tightened. “I’m sorry. I tried not to …”
Cash straightened. “Rachel wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if Holly had died. I couldn’t have, either. It was our choice to help.”
His expression broke again before he managed to regain control. “Logan is fine. They’re going to keep him overnight to keep an eye on him. Dr. Price said he couldn’t tell he had been shot, other than having the scar as proof.
“Holly is in surgery. He said as soon as he is out with her, he wants to talk to you. He said she’s stable, and that he’s never seen anyone shot so badly and still be alive. He said she’ll be in surgery for a while.”
“Thank you, Cash.”
Cash nodded, starting to walk toward his friends, when he halted. “Greer, Rachel said you saved her once when she was little.”
“When she was seven years old.”
“She said, even if she had survived, she wouldn’t have walked again.”
Greer remembered the tragic accident that would have probably left her breathing through a machine if a higher power hadn’t intervened.
“There’s always a price,” Cash stated. It was obvious yesterday wasn’t the first time he had heard it.
“Always.”
“You think we’re even now?”
Greer’s own face broke. “Yes, I think you’re even.”
Cash brushed his tears away before turning to face The Last Riders.
“Cash, you can’t …” Greer started before Cash got too far away.
“I won’t,” he promised as he was enfolded in the group of bikers.
Greer found a seat in the waiting room.
Shade said something to Viper before he came to sit down next to him, straightening his long legs out in front of him.
“I don’t need company.”
“Didn’t think you did.” Shade crossed his hands over his stomach.
They sat there as the waiting room gradually filled with even more Last Riders.
“Cash has a lot of friends, doesn’t he?” Greer stated, seeing the sliding doors couldn’t close with all the people waiting to talk to him.
“They aren’t only Cash’s friends. They’re yours, too. They just know you’re too much of a jackass to accept any sympathy from them.”
“I don’t need any sympathy from them. Holly’s going to be fine.”
“It’s hard for a man to almost lose the woman he loves. Some men need friends to lean on. Others don’t.”
“Which one were you when Lily almost died?” Greer’s lips curled in the beginning of a smile.
“I was a jackass, too.”
Greer saw The Last Riders make room for Sutton, who was carrying Ema, and Tate. Cash held his arms out for his sleeping daughter, brushing his cheek against her hair. The sight of Cash and his daughter broke his heart. The baby they had lost would never feel the earthly love of being held in her father and mother’s arms.
After talking to Cash for a few minutes, Sutton and Tate came to sit down with him and Shade.
His older brother looked as if he had aged ten years. He took his responsibility as head of their family seriously. Almost losing two was a bitter pill to swallow.
“Sutton, you look about ready to drop. You and Ema should have stayed home.”
“Cash wanted Ema, and I wanted to see Logan, Rachel, and Holly.”
“Holly’s still in surgery, and they’ll let us see Logan when he’s situated in his room.”
Shade stood. “I’ll give Cash a few minutes with Ema and then call Lily to come get her. That way, Sutton can stay.”
“Thanks, Shade.” Greer held his hand out.
“No problem.” Shade took his hand in a firm grip. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“I will.” Greer felt his cell phone vibrate as Shade left. “Dustin sent us Logan’s room number. It’s on the bottom floor next to the ICU. He said Dr. Price arranged it so Logan will be able to see Holly when she comes out of surgery.”
He walked beside Sutton and Tate down the hall, finding Dustin sitting on the bed, talking to Logan. His nephew was pale, but the little boy was sitting up in bed.
Greer stood at the foot of the bed as Tate and Sutton hugged him. Then Sutton sat down next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders.
“Daddy said Holly’s hurt, but he won’t let me see her.” He lifted tear-filled eyes to her. “Will you take me, Sutton?”
“I can’t yet. As soon we can, I will,” she soothed him.
He avoided meeting his eyes, keeping them on Sutton. “I got hurt, too, but I’m all better.”
“Yes, you are. Holly is, too. It’s just going to take her a little longer. Lie down and get some sleep.”
“I don’t want to go to sleep.” He started crying harder. “I don’t want to leave Holly again.”
Sutton lifted her eyes to the ceiling, not wanting to break down in tears.
Greer knew it wasn’t only being afraid of losing Holly again. He was afraid of dying, and Greer didn’t blame him. Grown men were afraid of it. For a child coming so close to death and discovering the fragility of life, they discovered it was unlike in cartoons and movies. It was overwhelming and traumatic to realize it involved pain and fear. Now, that was all he was remembering—the dark void. But when he remembered the beauty he had been reaching for, the fear would ease.
A knock on the door had them turning to see Dr. Price coming into the room.
“Holly’s out of surgery. When she comes out of the anesthesia, you can see her, Greer.”
“Me, too?”
“You, too. But just for a few minutes.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Greer …” The doctor looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t want to say it in front of Logan, so Greer followed him into the hallway. “I don’t know how you … But I …”
“I didn’t do anything.” He stared meaningfully into the doctor’s eyes.
“You could help so—”
“I can’t help anyone,” he gruffly refused before clearing his throat, knowing what the doctor was asking. “It took a long time for you to get that fancy doctor degree, didn’t it?”
“Quite a few.” He nodded.
“I see you when you’re running through town in the evening. Even saw you in a couple of those marathons the town puts on. I used to be a runner, too.”
“I’ve never seen you running at the marathons.”
“That was when I was in middle school. Stopped when I went to high school. You want to know why?”
Dr. Price’s lips quirked. “Why?”
“Discovered I was a short distance runner. No one could beat me when I was sprinting. But when I ran longer distances, I got my ass whipped every time. I will always be a sprinter; you, on the other hand, can win the race.”
“Together we—”
“If you had to choose between running or being a doctor, which would you pick?” Greer cut him off coldly.
“Being a doctor.”
&
nbsp; Greer narrowed his eyes on the doctor, giving him a silent warning. “That’s how I feel about running and my family. Nothing, and I mean fucking nothing, means more than my family. Get my meaning?”
“Yes, I do. I’ll have the nurse take you to Holly now.”
Greer could tell the doctor was peeved, but he didn’t give a shit. Holly would be furious if he didn’t mind his manners, though.
“Oh, yeah, Doc? Thanks for pulling Holly through.”
He paused, giving a self-deprecating smile. “I didn’t do anything. You did all the work.”
“I didn’t do anything. The Good Lord did it all.”
31
Holly carried the two wine glasses out to the front porch, holding one in the crook of her arm as she shut the door.
“Mind if I join you?” she asked as she handed Rachel one of the glasses.
When she shook her head, Holly took a sip of her wine, sitting down on the edge of porch next to her.
“It’s beautiful out here.” Holly tried to think of something to talk about with her sister-in-law.
Since her miscarriage, Rachel’s fiery personality had undergone a drastic change. She was so somber. The only time she exhibited any trace of emotion was with Ema.
Neither Cash, nor her brothers, knew how to help her. Even the weekly counseling sessions Cash had Rachel take with him weren’t working.
Taking another sip of her wine, she looked down into its dark depths, biting her lip. “Do you hate me?”
Rachel swung her head toward her at the sudden question. “Not once have I thought that.”
Holly rubbed her lips together, making them firm to keep them from trembling. “I should have answered Mitch’s letters. If I had known his friend blamed me for his death, I could have talked to him, made him understand how sorry I was that he had died in that accident.”
“There was no way you could have known Brett was in love with Mitch. He didn’t even know. When the police checked his apartment, he practically had a shrine to him. They think he’d been in love with him since high school. If Mitch didn’t know, there was no way you could have.