Page 55

DOYLE

Teddy only hesitatedfor a second before opening the door for him and flinging himself into Wally’s arms. Wally’s heart warmed as a smile spread over his face. He knew it was a cowardly move, but he also knew if he had Teddy on his side, Sadie would be far more likely to forgive him.

When the monsoon started, Wally’s worry did too. He didn’t want to go into town to find Sadie without talking first, but he wondered if that might have been a bad choice. He also didn’t want to leave Teddy unattended with Caroline on the loose.

It was when he walked to the front window after catching some movement through the streams running down the panes that he saw what was happening.

“Stay in here and grab the shotgun!” he yelled to Teddy as he’d rushed out into the rain.

The rest felt like slow motion. He’d already started running toward her when the shot rang out. He’d skidded to a stop in the mud as she fell, his chest clenched like he’d been the one to go down. Then all he saw was red as the bastard stomped over to step on her and kick her leg where the blood flow had already melded into the stream of mud surrounding her.

Wally nudged on his antigrav boosters and launched himself as Otto began to bend over her. The giant hadn’t even seen it coming. The collision of their bodies knocked him a good ten yards away from Sadie with Wally landing on top of him. The gun went flying from his hands. Wally began wailing on the man, picturing him as the punching bag at the gym.

Otto tried to find purchase, but Wally was quick and a hell of a lot smarter. By the time Wally stopped, fists sore and out of breath, Otto lay flat in the mud, unmoving.

Wally grabbed a gun from the muck and pointed it at him even as he called on the speaker in his hat for help from security. When he turned, he saw Teddy standing near a prone Sadie, shotgun pointed in his direction.

Wally backed away then rushed to her side, sliding across the slick ground on his knees, where he immediately started ripping her skirts to make a tourniquet for her wounded leg.

It felt like forever until they reached his location, even though he knew they were close by. Feet rushed past him as the rain slowed to a stop. He was vaguely aware of Jackson beside him, but he couldn’t pry his gaze from her pale face, long lashes fanned across her cheeks. He wiped the water from her forehead, feeling her wet curls between his fingers. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and he longed for her eyes to flutter open so he could watch her smile again.

“We need to get her to the TCR,” Jackson said gently as he put a hand on Doyle’s arm. “Do you want to carry her or should I?”

In answer, Doyle stood, lifting her easily from the ground and holding her carefully against him, trying not to jostle her wounded leg as he moved in the direction of the TCR.

“I called for a floater, so we’ll intercept it on the way,” Jackson said as Teddy fell into step beside Doyle, holding his mom’s limp hand.

Doyle nodded, not trusting his voice. That would be good. A floating stretcher would make the trip faster, and the doc could take care of her sooner. He silently thanked Jackson for not suggesting they bring her to town to get treated by 1888 medicine. For all he knew, there would still be leeches involved. And after that cyanide tablet he’d prescribed for Teddy, Wally didn’t trust the town doctor in the least.

Time seemed both fast and slow as they trekked onward silently. Partway there, four people in black uniforms passed them at a jog, security on their way to take care of the cleanup. The team with the stretcher met them two thirds of the way to the TCR. Beneath the hovering device, the ground had already hardened again, only a few puddles remaining to prove it had actually rained.

Teddy followed onto the TCR, and though he wore an expression of awe, he didn’t hesitate for a second. The trust he showed and the way he took the truth in stride as Wally gave him the shorthand explanation warmed his heart. When they met the doc at the medcenter, Teddy stood with Wally in the room on the other side of the AC glass, watching with large eyes as his mother was cared for. He flinched when she used a magnetic device to remove the bullet, then whistled low as the laser closed up the wound quickly and easily, leaving only a faint white scar the size of the hole. Referring to the holograms hovering above her, the doc moved on to Sadie’s right hand. She waved a wand that emitted a blue laser slowly over the back and down her wrist a bit.

The doc tucked her now clean body clad in a hospital gown beneath a white sheet and nodded to them both. The glass door whirred open, allowing them entrance.

“She’ll be good as new when she wakes up.” She left them.

Doyle sat heavily at Sadie’s side, marveling at her dark hair spread out around her on the pillow, now loose. He picked up her hand that had been crushed moments before, and gently brushed her knuckles with his lips.

Teddy took her other side and hand, then looked at Doyle.

“I can’t believe this place was so close to the ranch this whole time. But why didn’t you just tell us who you were?” he asked.

Doyle sighed, still unable to take his eyes off her. “I should’ve, Theodore, but I was afraid of messing up the timeline. What if telling you changed something that was supposed to happen and that led to something that led to something that made it so I was never born? Or it caused a war or something?”

Teddy’s nose twitched like he’d seen Sadie’s do on occasion. “Seems like a stretch to me.”

Doyle shrugged. “Truth is, the second we landed, things changed.” He stopped talking. He wouldn’t tell the kid he was supposed to be dead.

“Look, I don’t know what happened with you and Ma, or why grownups are so weird about telling the truth. All I know is we make a good family, and maybe it isn’t as doggone complicated as you both make it out to be.”

The conversation halted as Sadie’s head rolled one way then the other before her eyes sprang open, resting on Teddy. The smile Doyle had been craving lit her face and softened her gaze, crinkles forming in the corners of her eyes. “Baby, you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, Ma,” Teddy assured her.

“But Otto,” Sadie went to sit up, realized she was wearing only a thin layer of material, and stopped.

“He’s been dealt with,” Doyle said, drawing her attention.