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He shook his head. “It was an emergency. Medical staff only. But they brought Evan out to me after they cleaned him up.” He felt the corner of his mouth lift in an automatic smile. “He was still kicking and crying. He looked like a really-pissed-off hobbit. And in that moment, I knew my life would never be the same.”
Hanna smiled, too, because she no doubt knew exactly what he meant. But the smile didn’t last. “I heard your mom say something to Boone when I was in the hospital. They were in the room but thought I was asleep. Your mom said you’d had flashbacks of your father’s death.”
Jesse wanted to curse. He definitely hadn’t wanted Hanna to hear something like that when she’d been dealing with her trauma, but yeah, he had had a flashback or two when he’d been trying to save Hanna’s life.
“My dad died when I was eight,” he said, choosing his words. No need to add more bad images to the ones she no doubt already had. “A car accident. I was with him when a tire blew out and caused him to crash into a tree. I tried to do CPR, but it didn’t work.”
“Eight,” she murmured. Maybe to remind him that he’d been a kid and not responsible. Both of those things were true, but guilt was greedy and apparently had the power to last a lifetime.
“I’m guessing that was one of the things we had in common,” Hanna continued. “Because I lost my father when I was young, too. He had a heart attack.”
Jesse studied her face. “You remember any of that?”
“No, but my mother told me about it.” Her sigh was long and heavy. “And that’s the problem. Not specifically with the memories of my father, but the memories of everything. Especially those of when I was attacked.”
“‘You need to ask yourself about what really took place that night Hanna was shot,’” he said, repeating what Bull had said. Of course, Jesse had to keep considering the theory that Bull could be trying to create some kind of smoke screen, but they wouldn’t know until they had a complete picture.
Hanna’s memories were a big piece of that picture.
“You recalled me being in your kitchen,” Jesse pointed out. “Maybe more will come.”
“I could maybe help things along,” she said in a murmur, and it seemed to Jesse that she was talking to herself. Trying to steel herself up, too. “I could do hypnosis sessions.”
This wasn’t the first Jesse was hearing about the particular therapy that one of Hanna’s doctors had suggested. A therapy that she had flat-out rejected. She hadn’t spelled out the reason she hadn’t wanted to do it, but he suspected she hadn’t wanted to deal with the flood of bad memories that would come if the therapy worked.
“I’ll call and set up an appointment,” Hanna insisted as she took out her phone. But before she could do that, there was the sound of a vehicle in the driveway.
Jesse went on instant alert because he knew if this was someone in his family or from the sheriff’s office, he would have gotten a text to notify him.
“Stay back,” Jesse warned her, and he went to the window where he saw someone he definitely didn’t want to see.
Hanna’s mother, Isabel.
The woman wasn’t alone. There was a tall, dark-haired man with her, and Isabel was clearly arguing with the deputy, Theo Sheldon who had blocked her from coming closer to the house. Jesse’s phone dinged with a text from Miguel Navarro, the ranch hand who was standing guard.
Should we let her in?the ranch hand asked.
“It’s your mother,” Jesse relayed to Hanna, and that caused her to groan. She groaned a second time when she heard Isabel shout for the deputy to get out of her way, that he couldn’t stop her from seeing her daughter.
“She’ll have another stroke,” Hanna muttered. “Best to let her in.”
“She’s not alone,” Jesse pointed out, causing Hanna to come closer to the window for a quick glance.
“That’s Dr. Warner.”
Since Jesse was also worried about the woman possibly having another stroke, he responded to Navarro’s text.Let her in but search the doctor for any weapons.
That was probably overkill, but Jesse didn’t know the man, and he didn’t want to take the risk. After all, Bull had had plenty of time to put a plan into motion, a plan that could involve forcing the doctor to help Bull get to them.
Jesse watched as his cousin, Deputy Theo Sheldon, frisked the doctor and then gave Jesse a thumbs-up before he let the pair head for the house. Isabel was obviously spitting mad, but he was surprised at how healthy she looked. He’d seen other stroke victims with limited mobility and serious speech problems, but Isabel was moving just fine. And, judging from her shout at the deputy, she had no trouble talking.
As he’d done with Mason and Agent Shaw, Jesse temporarily disarmed the security system and opened the door. Isabel made it to the porch first and she greeted him with a glare.
“You Rylands can’t keep me from my daughter,” Isabel added in a snarl.
Dr. Warner didn’t protest, but Jesse heard the man’s heavy sigh as he followed his patient into the house. Isabel went straight to Hanna and dragged her into her arms.
“How are you holding up? Is the baby okay?” Isabel asked. Coming from her, it sounded like her usual demand.
