AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll go find some tea.” Marlow took the kids and disappeared.
“Did you see her?” JoJo asked.
“The car was . . .” He paused, seeming to gather what he did and didn’t want to say. “The police arrived on scene not long after we did. The helicopter was moments behind them. It all happened so fast . . .”
I narrowed my gaze.
He quickly shook his head and pointed his chin at JoJo.
He’d seen Penelope.
And it was bad.
I sank down in the chair beside JoJo, no longer able to stand.
I’d just gotten my daughter back. I wasn’t going to lose her.
I couldn’t lose her.
“She couldn’t wait to drive,” JoJo said, still staring at the floor. “When she was eight, Daddy let her take his car down the driveway here.” Her smile was odd as if the memory was fond, but she couldn’t quite make her face cooperate.
They’d been this close to the city—to me—when she was eight?
“We spent two days here, and she didn’t want to do anything but drive.” She wrung her hands. “She’s so smart, she was a pro by the time we left.”
I could imagine Lewis Cunningham teaching Penelope. He’d gotten that privilege. Something I should’ve done. But I couldn’t find it in me to be bitter. He’d been a good man.
And when Penelope was out of this hospital, I’d never think of the time we’d lost again.
All that mattered now was the future.
And then we waited.
JoJo sat slumped in a chair. Still and quiet. Occasional sobs left her mouth. All I could do was hold her. Marlow read books to Blake and tried to keep him quiet. Whitley and I discussed who we could contact once we knew something.
Hours passed. Hours of agony. Waiting.
“Sir. Ma’am.” The nurse from inside the emergency room approached. “Come with me please.”
My gut wound into a tight ball.
“Is she out of surgery?” I blurted as I stood.
Another ounce of sympathy showed in her eyes. “The surgeon wants to speak to you.”
CHAPTERTWO
JOJO
“I’m Dr. Schaffer.”
“How is she?” Kane barely allowed the woman to introduce herself.
Thank goodness he had a voice because mine wasn’t working.
Penelope. My poor, poor Penelope.
“Her injuries are extensive and life threatening. Our main objective was to suture any internal bleeding and the severe lacerations as well as repair her broken bones where we could.”
