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“What did you do, Mercedes?” he asked her gently. “Didn’t you rest last night?”
Mercedes’s lush lips almost tilted into a smile. “What do you think, Tim?” she asked, forcing her eyes open.
Tim?
No one, but no one, had ever been allowed to call Timothy Cranston “Tim. ”
“I think you were up all night pacing and worrying. ” He sighed. “I told you there was nothing to worry about. ”
“Is there not?” she asked him sorrowfully. “Chandler’s son is suddenly besieged by four young females he knew nothing of, and a sick mother to boot? Ah, Tim, do you not know human nature far better than this?”
“I know the Mackays far better than this,” he assured her, praying he was right. “And the Mackays do not turn their backs on family. ”
The look he slid them assured the Mackays that they’d better not start now.
“Is Doc on his way, then?” Christa asked Dawg as his hand tightened on her hip, his need to draw her closer evident.
“Half hour, his nurse said. ”
“Twenty minutes then. ” She nodded.
Dawg watched the young woman; hell, she had four grown daughters and she was younger than he was. He watched her, watched her daughters, and in their eyes he saw pure, raw fear.
“Cranston, what do the doctors who have suggested a specialist say could be wrong with her?” Dawg asked; the low rasp of the tone wasn’t lost on the former agent.
Cranston swallowed tightly, the action at first almost unnoticed. But the slight flinch of his facial muscles wasn’t missed by Dawg.
“They think she could have an advanced form of chemical poisoning that’s slowly weakening her lungs. One of the jobs she had was at an industrial chemical processing plant that’s since been shut down for its unsafe working conditions. ” Clearing his throat of obvious emotion, he lifted his gaze to Dawg’s, and no one missed the plea in his eyes. “The treatments she needs are expensive—”
“Timothy, no. ” Pride was evident in Mercedes’s weak voice as she laid her hand on his arm. “Let’s not talk of this. Let the girls and their br
other talk. ”
“Mercedes, I won’t let you lie here and suffer,” he snarled, his voice hoarse and filled with emotion. “Not anymore. ”
Timothy Cranston was in love.
Dawg lifted his gaze from Cranston, only to realize the four girls were watching him suspiciously, fearfully. There wasn’t one of them who didn’t expect him to turn them away.
“Doc’s here,” Christa stated as a vehicle pulled up in front of the door. “He’s early. He must have already left the office. ”
Dawg nodded. “Let’s get your mother taken care of,” he told the girls. “Once we have her checked out, we’ll talk. ” His gaze dropped to Cranston’s again before lifting back to the girls. “But have no doubt: You’re family. And we stick by family. ”
“One of you killed your cousin,” the eldest stated. “I heard one of the agents talking about it after we arrived at Tim’s. Is that how you take care of family?”
She might have resembled Dawg enough to be his kid, but it was Natches’s emerald eyes she stared at him from.
“Eve. ” Her mother gasped, obviously shocked by her daughter’s rudeness.
Dawg just gave Eve a mocking smile as his hand tightened at Christa’s hip once again. “Only those who betray us and have a gun trained on the someone we love,” he assured her. “Then, Eve, trust me, it didn’t matter who he was then; Johnny was dead. ”
Eve’s nostrils flared before she finally relaxed enough to simply nod her head.
“Mackays don’t betray one another. ” Cranston tore his gaze from their mother long enough to stare back at each girl with a glint of steel in his eyes. “Remember that, girls. You stand for who you are, what you are, and for family. That’s what your mother’s taught you, and that’s what you live by. ”
“Only if you stand for us first,” Lyrica spoke up warily.
Dawg nodded. “Understandable. And we’ll show you our good faith. ” He glanced to Natches and Rowdy. Each of his cousins nodded in turn. “We’ll take care of you and your mother, because you’re family, and that’s what families do. Whatever treatments your mother needs, whatever care, she’ll have it. Just as you’ll return to school and do your part. ”
