Pain meds dripping through the IV tube fuzzed regular details like the sun shining through the window and the bedpan on the rolling table.
Sifting through her mother’s words made her head throb. She pressed her fingers against her temple—and winced as she touched the bandage. She’d come that close to dying from a bullet to the brain.
Stella thumbed the remote and raised the head of the bed, wincing at the stab of pain as her leg moved all of a couple of millimeters. “What about your whole witness protection program?”
“A lot of years have passed since I was in the loop.” She smoothed back her silver-streaked hair. “I haven’t been an active agent in so long anything I know is outdated. Maybe I’ve been hiding out here in Africa, afraid to face you and your brothers. Afraid to face myself.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say.” She reached for the cup and sipped more water to clear her throat and her thoughts.
“I don’t intend to camp in your front yard, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“That isn’t what I said.” The thought of spending more time with her mother was scary, yes, but also… amazing.
“Sorry to be defensive.” She rubbed her bare ring finger where she’d once worn a plain gold wedding band. “I haven’t put together my whole plan, but knowing that you almost died out there and I could have missed the opportunity to see you again? I just want the chance to get to know you and your brothers again.”
“I can understand that.” She felt the same way. Second chances were rare in life. “If you need help, just let me know.”
“I’m a teacher. I can support myself, and sadly, there’s no shortage of orphan schools in the United States as well. I’ve been thinking about that a lot as your agency friends work on placing Ajaya somewhere in the States.”
“What about your, uh, boyfriend?” She hadn’t missed how Mr. Al-Shennawi never left her mother’s side—except for now.
Annie smiled, as if reading her thoughts. “He’s just outside the door. We’ve talked about taking teaching jobs at the same school, maybe lead a beautifully boring life together.”
Stella reached a hand out to her mom, knowing all too well how much courage it took to hope for a happy ending. “I hope your dreams play out for you, Mom, I really do.”
Her mother looked at her extended arm, an olive branch, and her eyes filled with tears. Annie squeezed her daughter’s hand. A sense of peace filled Stella, a lot more soothing than any painkiller dripping from that bag on the IV pole. She and her mother still had plenty to talk through and fences to mend, but they’d made a good start.
“Hey, Mom? Could you do me a favor?”
“Anything. Just ask.”
“Could you find Jose? I really need to talk to him.”
Reaching out to her mother had been a good first step in putting her life back together. But nothing would be okay again until she made things right with Jose. The love she’d seen in his eyes when he’d treated her back at the festival gave her hope. She just prayed she hadn’t been hallucinating from blood loss.
Because the pain in her brutalized leg was nothing compared to the agony she would feel if she lost Jose for good.
***
Jose stared into the steaming cup of coffee his buddy Bubbles kept refilling. The big lug sat beside him on the cracked leather sofa, offering silent support.
The night had been the longest of his life. Hands down. Once he’d stabilized Stella at the scene, he’d been left with no choice but to turn her over to paramedics. Fang had held him back as he’d tried to force his way into the ambulance. Only Mr. Smith’s promise to keep him in the loop had managed to calm him down enough to keep him from getting arrested.
The bastard Brown had survived and was under guard on a different floor of the hospital. Jose had ditched his bloodied ABU jacket, but refused to leave the hospital. He waited, in his camo pants, boots, and T-shirt. The doctor sounded knowledgeable, but trusting Stella’s care to someone he didn’t know in a third world country hospital was tough, to say the least.
Normally he would have flipped his sobriety coin. God knows the painful crawl of hours waiting for word on Stella had been beyond stressful. He glanced at Bubbles. “Thanks for hanging out here with me.”
“No problem. It’s what we do for each other.”
The words resonated, reminding him of how he’d said the same thing to his teammates in the past. They all said it. His team had been like a family to him, helping him keep his head above water, just as he liked to think he helped them.
How much better would it be in a rock solid family? With Stella? Because he knew now. He was in for the long haul. He was a marathon man, after all.
Soft footsteps whispered down the hall, coming closer, around the corner. Stella’s mother walked into the waiting room.
Jose stood, fast, sloshing hot coffee onto his finger. “Stella?”
Exhaustion stamped its mark on her face, her clothes wrinkled from sleeping in a chair. She looked like… a worried mother. “She’s awake and asking to see you. The doctor’s checking her over now.”