Page 82 of Bailey-Rose: The Complete Duet

Care Bear’s eyes went wide and slowly used her other hand to tentatively touch her chest. Of course, she was bandaged up so she couldn’t feel the incision, but I’d seen it when they changed the dressing, and it was from her neck to her navel. My sweet, tender-hearted Care Bear already had an underlying fear of the scars she’d had from other surgeries, worried that we would see her as imperfect. Nothing in the world could happen to her that would make me think she was anything less than perfect. I knew she wouldn’t believe me or the others right away, but that simply meant I got to convince her every day for the rest of our lives how beautiful I thought she was.

“You gave us one hell of a scare, Care Bear, but you did it. You pulled through and beat the odds,” I told her, staring deeply into her eyes, trying to look super serious. “Bailey-Rose, you are a total badass.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she smiled, trying not to laugh or burst into hysterics, I’m not quite sure. However, the look in her eyes told me she truly didn’t believe she’d survive if forced to go through the surgery, yet here she was.

“Those better be happy tears because there is no use for sad tears right now,” I reminded her as I wiped them away with the sheet. “Things are only going to go up from here, I know it. We sat the entire six hours in the waiting room, dreaming up things we wanted to do together. Even your brothers gave us a few ideas. Let me tell you, boy have we gotten in some bonding time with them. Crew is lucky to be alive after how loud he snores, but we’ll forgive him because we’re family now, right?”

“My family,” she managed to whisper then looked at the others gathered at her feet. “My pack. People I love.”

I ducked my head as tears welled up in my damn eyes at hearing her say that. Fuck, this woman had a chokehold on my heart and didn’t deserve her love, but I was going to damn well strive to be a man who did.

“All right, I think it’s time we give you something to help you rest and take away the pain for a little while. It’s going to be a rough recovery, I'm afraid. But if there’s one thing I know about you, kiddo, it’s that you're not afraid of facing a challenge,” Dr. Arbour said, giving her a wink before turning one of the medications back on.

Within seconds, her eyes fluttered closed and was once more fast asleep. I cradled her hand for a little longer before I stood, letting Crew take my spot for a while. Wandering over to where Gareth was once more hunched over his laptop, I plopped down beside him. Glancing at the screen, I saw a series of tabs open about service dogs.

“Wow, you’re really latching on to this idea, aren’t you,” I commented.

He paused in his reading to hand the laptop over to me. “Read this article and tell me it doesn’t seem like the perfect thing for our girl.”

“Ah… this is about a guard dog, not a medical alert dog,” I pointed out.

“Just read the damn article,” Gareth grumbled before shoving up to get another cup of coffee.

Out of all of us, he’d been the one to sleep the least. I suppose it made sense with everything that happened with his sister. I'd be an irritable asshole, too, if I were being haunted by a loss from the past. Focusing on the article, it didn’t take me long to see why this idea had turned into his obsession. It appears certain breeds of dog could be taught to be both a medical alert dog and a guard dog, especially with a situation like Bailey-Rose where she didn’t need mobility help and wasn’t at risk of stumbling over them if the dog were trying to herd them away from a situation.

“Okay, I’m in,” I stated once Gareth sat back down. “So what kind of dog did you pick, and when is it showing up?”

Gareth blinked at me for a second then laughed. “What⁠—”

“Nope, don’t even pull that shit. I know you, Gareth,” I said, cutting him off. “Spill.”

Instead of answering, he pulled up a page showing a massive dog that Bailey-Rose could ride if she needed to. It had a light golden coat, making it look like a fucking lion, having me question if it was a dog. Scrolling down, I saw his name was Waffles, and according to the message that popped up, Waffles would be arriving at our home in two weeks. Bailey-Rose was going to lose her mind, and I couldn’t wait to see it.

“Put me down, Gareth.”

It’s been two weeks since my surgery and one week that I’ve been back home. While I was recovering in the hospital, working with various physical therapists, the guys had decided to make a second nest on the main floor of the house, meaning I didn’t need anyone to carry me around. In fact, I needed to get in at least fifteen to thirty minutes of purposeful activity each day.

“Baby girl, we are about to sit down with two detectives, who will ask you to talk about what happened. You’re just gonna have to suck it up because having you safe in my arms is the only thing that’s going to keep me from chewing their asses out. It’s been two fucking weeks, and they still haven’t found the bastard,” Gareth grumbled as he carried me down the hall to the living room.

Since coming home, the guys had been amazing and doing their best not to smother me. Before I stepped one foot back into our home, I sat them down, and we had an honest conversation about how we were all feeling. While I was the one who had been attacked, fought back, and landed herself in the hospital, this had been hard on them too. We agreed that if I had a night nurse who left in the morning after making sure everything I needed was pulled together, the guys wouldn’t try to smother me. For the most part, it was working.

“Maybe that’s why I don’t want you holding me,” I countered. “I’m not thrilled with the fact my crazy ex-boyfriend is out there waiting for the next chance to drug and kidnap me.”

Ulysses, who’d been walking ahead of us, stopped and whirled around so fast Gareth had to lurch to a stop, making me hiss in pain.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, Rosie, I didn’t realize you guys were that close behind me,” Lysse apologized, reaching out to take my hand, searching my face to make sure I wasn’t in too much pain.

We had to hold off on my next dose of pain meds because it made my memory foggy, and I wanted to make sure I could tell the cops everything.

“I’m okay,” I said after a second of taking slow, deep breaths. “Just didn’t have time to prepare myself for abrupt movement. You know, if I were walking, this wouldn’t have been a problem.”

Gareth just gave me an unamused look. “No, it would have been worse.”

“He’s right. Sorry to break it to you, but on your own, I’m a hundred percent certain you would have crashed right into me instead of stopping in time,” Ulysses agreed, kissing the back of my hand. “Anyway, the reason I felt the need to pull a U-turn is because I want to make it perfectly clear that Randall isn’t ever going to get that close to you ever again. One close call is all any of us, including your brothers, are willing to risk.”

I let out a sigh and squeezed Lysse’s hand. “Add me to that list as well. That’s one experience I would like never to repeat again.”

“Talking to the detectives will be a good step in the right direction. We’ve told them what pieces you’ve shared with us, but I know they have a lot of questions to ask as well,” Gareth shared. “If it gets to be too much, then you say the word, and we’ll tell them to come back another time. What you have to share is important, but, baby girl, your mental health is more important to me, no matter the guilt trip they try to lay on you.” He nuzzled a kiss to my hair, which had me preening under my Alpha’s attention.