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“I was up in your room, Cym,” Jo said. “Looking at the stars for a moment and enjoying just a few minutes of silence. I saw the car pull up, and these two awful-looking men got out and went to the front door. I waited, expecting they had the wrong house. A few minutes later they came out, followed by Flynn. They pushed him against their car and waved the gun in his face. Flynn lunged at them and the gun went off.” She cried as she spoke, the words coming out jumbled and slurred. “Flynn fell to the ground, and the men got in the car and drove off. I ran downstairs and out the front door to him. The rest of them arrived seconds later. But I knew to press the wound to help stop the bleeding. Theo taught me that.”
Her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor. Viktor picked her up and carried her over to the couch.
Tears dampened my cheeks. In my lap, Delphia shook like an aspen leaf in the wind and cried into my neck. I looked at Viktor, hoping he would come to sit with us. He understood and rushed over, plopping next to us on the floor.
“It's all right,” I whispered in Delphia’s ear, and then kissed the top of her head.
Shannon had stopped crying. Anger had replaced shock and dismay. “Why would he do it? Why would he fight that way when he knows I'm in the house with our unborn child and our baby? Just give them what they want. What kind of man does that?”
“A proud one,” I said. “He built something for your family. A business that would make money for you and the kids.” Why was I defending him? I felt the same as Shannon did, but I was empathetic to Flynn’s point of view. He’d have thought he was doing the right thing.
“We didn't need more money,” Shannon said. “What more could we need? And now I may have to go on without him and raise these two kids by myself.”
“That's not going to happen,” Fiona said. “Theo will fix him.”
“Flynn's too tough to die,” I said.
Mama went to sit next to Shannon. She took her hand. “We must have faith. But I understand your anger. I'm angry too.”
“Why would he ruin our perfect life?” Shannon asked.
No one could answer that question. As much insight as I had into Flynn’s character, being so close to mine, I could not comprehend why he didn’t simply agree to give them the distillery before it led to violence. He’d risked everything. His wife and children and the rest of us, too. They’d come to my father’s house on Thanksgiving. Now he was lying in a pool of blood. No ambition or money was worth risking the safety of your family or yourself. Shannon and these children needed him. He'd made a selfish decision. As he often had. Convincing Theo to go to war with him, for one. There were others too. Not that I could remember right now.
You better live,I thought. So that I can throttle you.
Jasper came into the room and cleared his throat. His hands shook, but his expression remained stoic. That English butler training had conditioned him for whatever our family tossed his way.
“Jasper, what's happening?” Mama asked, rushing to him.
“They've taken him to the doctor's office. Dr. Neal will meet them there to assist with the surgery. Theo was able to stop the bleeding. The wound's in his chest but appears to have missed his heart.”
“How do you know?” Shannon asked.
“Theo says he wouldn't still be breathing,” Jasper said.
We were all stunned into silence. The only sounds in the room were of Shannon weeping and the attempts at comforting her by Nora.
Mama seemed to gather herself by sheer will. “Jasper, please go home to Lizzie. We’re going to need you both tomorrow, and you should get some rest.”
Jasper nodded his head in agreement and ducked out of the room.
Papa and Phillip appeared. Both had blood on their suits and looked as though they'd been punched numerous times in the gut. Papa put his arm around Mama. Phillip rushed to his wife and took her by the hand. “Isak and Theo have taken him into surgery. I’m going to follow them and wait while they perform the operation.”
“I'd like to go too,” Shannon said.
“Wouldn't you be more comfortable here?” Mama asked. “You should get rest. For the baby.”
“No, I want to be there,” Shannon said.
“Nora and my mother will stay.” She shifted her gaze from one to the other. “For when Pearl wakes?”
“Yes, we'll take care of her. We can take her back to the farm with us,” Nora said. “She can stay all day with us, depending.”
I couldn’t help but ask myself, depending on what? Squeezing Delphia tighter, I buried my face in her soft hair and prayed silently. Please God, take care of him. Don’t take him from us. We all need him.
Nora had mentioned earlier that the new owners of the farm were to take possession at the first of the new year. After Nora and Isak wed and she and her mother had moved into Isak’s home, would Flynn still be with us?
With help from her mother and sister, Shannon lumbered to her feet. This baby would come any day. What had Flynn been thinking? Would we ever have the chance to ask him?
“I’m going too,” Mama said. “I can’t sit here all night and wait.”
“You’ll be waiting either way,” Papa said gently.
“I want to be with you,” Mama said. “And for Flynn when he wakes up.”
Papa looked over at me and my sisters. “You all look after one another.”
As a unit we all moved over to hug Papa and Mama. Delphia had started to cry again. Mama knelt to take her into her arms. “Be brave for me, won’t you? Flynn needs you to be strong.”
“I’ll try.” Delphia sniffed.
Mama stood and brushed off her skirt. “We’ll go then.”
Delphia moved back to stand by me. Addie had already retreated to sit over with Josephine.
Nora had been pacing by the window. “Please let us know if you need anything.”
