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“It’s our favorite,” he said, smiling at me like we shared a secret. “Mom, we should take Cross, he’d like it. I know it!”
The kid was probably right but Moon gave him the answer hated by kids around the world. “We’ll see, honey.”
Unlike most kids, Beau nodded. “Okay.” Then he looked to me again with mischief in his eyes. “Can I ride on your motorcycle?”
I had no fucking clue what to say to that, but I knew enough from Jana, Rocky and Teddy to know that if I looked to Moon it would mean no so, I kept my gaze glued to his.
Then I shoved a heaping spoon of cereal into my mouth.
Chapter Eight
Moon
“Oh Jana, I came as soon as I heard!” An immense sense of relief washed over me as Jana’s big eyes stared up at me from her hospital bed. Emotions warred within me but I resisted the urge to pull her into my grasp and hug her with all my might. “I’m so happy to see you awake.”
She smiled at me and reached for my hand. “Moon. Thank you.” The tight squeeze told me she was thanking me for more than being here today. “You saved my life,” she said, her voice suddenly watery and I couldn’t hold my own emotions inside any longer.
Tears fell down my cheek as I looked at the monitors beside the bed. “You and the baby seem to be doing much better. How do you feel?”
“Like I’m ready to get the hell outta here. But now that I’m awake they want to poke and prod me until I go nuts and they get to lock me up in the crazy palace.” She smiled but the smudges under her eyes told me just how much of a toll this had taken on her.
“You’ll be home soon enough and your big strapping husband will wrap you in cotton until the baby is born.”
Jana laughed. “If he has his way he’ll swaddle me in it forever.”
“He must be so relieved. Although I think the nurses and doctors are more relieved,” I told her, explaining what a bear he’d been when we first arrived at the hospital. “Even the guys kept their distance,” I told her, never really sure what to call the Reckless Bastards. Calling them club members sounded too country club for those tough guys but saying the gang might make people draw the wrong conclusions, so I stuck with the all-encompassing guys.
Jana reached out for me again and I stepped closer, leaning against the side of the sturdy hospital bed to make things easier for her. “He told me that you held him while he cried, Moon. Thank you. He’s been doing great, but he could’ve gone down a dark path if you hadn’t offered your special brand of comfort. I’m just thanking you all over the place.” More tears fell and she cried harder as I comforted her.
I laughed nervously, uncomfortable with her praise. “I don’t need any thanks, Jana. You’re my friend and I did what friends do.”
She snorted. “I couldn’t have done what you did, no matter how much I might want to. Rocky thinks you’re a secret agent.”
That pulled a laugh from me. “Well she was pretty shaken up so her perspective is a little off.”
“Don’t believe her, Jana. She’s a total badass!” Rocky strolled in with her baby on her hip and Beau at her side. “Hey babe,” she said and gave me a one arm hug.
“Jana, hi!” Beau stood on the other side of the bed with a wide grin. He was close but not too close since he’d been given plenty of warnings that she was in pain. “How are you?”
“Better now that my buddy is here.” She reached out and tugged him close for a half hug. “Thanks for visiting me. How are you
doing, Beau?”
“I’m better now that you’re awake. I missed you.” He gave her hand a squeeze and then settled into a chair with his book.
I visited with Jana for a bit longer before plenty of other well-wishers showed up. The room got too crowded, so Beau and I headed home for some quiet time before dinner in a few hours.
“Mom,” he asked in a voice too worried for a little boy. “Will Jana be good as new?”
“Yep. The doctor says she and her baby will be perfectly fine.” And that was the best news I’d gotten all week. Things were finally returning to normal, mostly. The shop had reopened and things were fine. Everyone had come back to show their support, but it was only Wednesday. The truth would be revealed on Friday night. I wondered if the gunfire scared away the Friday night crowd permanently.
“Mom?”
Already on alert by his tone, I slid a gaze to Beau who had a red face and his chest was heaving. Shallow breathing followed by a wheezing inhale, and I knew he was on the verge of another asthma attack.
“Hang on, honey!” My sandaled foot hit the gas and I sped the rest of the way home because like an idiot, I’d left the batteries for the portable nebulizer on the charger. At home.
Minutes later I had my son in my arms, struggling to carry him into the house with only one thought in my mind. Get him to the nebulizer.
