Mended Hearts (New Beginnings Series) (28 page)

Now God had sent her Sonny and she would do whatever it took to get out of there and back into his ar
ms. She had no idea where he was right now, but she felt him right there with her. She knew he was doing what he could too.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

What Sonny was doing was praying. And trying to take care of Kelli for Gracie. Kelli was looking worse by the minute and Titus was in his ear, telling him they had to get her to the hospital for a CAT scan or something. Kelli had been there for Gracie, so all he could do was make sure Kelli was okay when Gracie was free.

He took the bull by the horns. “Charley, get over here.” Charley scurried over and they each took one of Kelli’s arms
, lifting her from her chair. “You drive her to the hospital. We’ll tie ‘er up if we have to. Come on Kelli, honey. Don’t give Gracie a reason to be mad at me when she gets here. If we don’t take care of you, there’ll be hell to pay.”

Titus and
his wife, Beth, hurried over. Titus said, “We’re coming too. Come on, Kelli. Let’s go.”

Kelli looked imploringly at Sonny. “Promise you’ll call if you get any news.
Any
news. Okay?”

“The very second we hear something, you will too. Okay?” He hugged her when her good eye started leaking again. “It’ll be okay, honey.”

Charley, Titus and Beth steered her toward the door. As they walked past Mathias he startled her by gently putting his arms around her too. “I’m so sorry, Kelli,” he choked out.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Now Gracie was getting impatient. Why couldn’t she come up with a plan? She had convinced Rob to let her make coffee. He was fading fast, so she didn’t have to work too hard to sell the idea. Of course, he didn’t have to know she was using decaffeinated coffee grounds. It was a miracle she even had them, but Kelli tried to stay caffeine-free past six o’clock in the evening, so Gracie had recently stocked it for her. God bless Kelli, she thought. She was coming to the rescue again.

She glanced around the kitchen, hoping to find some inspiration. She had cough syrup in the medicine chest in the bathroom, but he wouldn’t let her in there alone
so she couldn’t get to it to smuggle it out. He’d be able to taste it if she spiked his coffee with it anyway. She noticed it was nearly five o’clock in the morning already. When she peeked out the window she saw that the sky was beginning to lighten. She didn’t have any idea if that was going to be good or bad for her situation.

She knew there were cops out there, but didn’t know
exactly what they were doing. Every so often, they used their bullhorn to try to get Rob to answer her cell phone. That was the phone they were using to try to make contact. He refused to speak to them. He refused to even acknowledge them at all. He was still under the delusion that as soon as she agreed to reconcile with him, all she’d have to do was vouch for him and all of this would go away.

She considered playing along with him—planning their future together and giving him a false sense of comfort by pretending she wanted a new start with him too. But when she even considered it, her stomach clenched. She would have felt like she was being disloyal to Sonny
—even if it was a lie. She’d have to come up with something else. She prayed that God would send her inspiration.

She looked around the kitchen again and saw that a
ll of her knives were gone. She realized he’d been in her apartment long enough before she got home to hide them. She couldn’t figure out what else she had to use as a weapon—at least anything that would stand up to the power of a gun.

Rob startled her by
walking up behind her. Gracie slammed the cabinet door shut, hoping he hadn’t seen the “decaffeinated” label on the coffee can. She willed the coffee to drip through the basket faster. She wondered if she could slam the full pot of hot coffee against his head before he could get a shot off.

Just then a movement through the side door window caught her eye. She fought against showing any reaction, but he must have seen something
on her face, because his head swung around. He saw the SWAT officer the same second she did, and he raised the gun. In that split second she decided no one else was going to get hurt because of her and this insane man—Kelli was one too many.

She lunged for him, trying to push the gun away from the window. As she fell across him the gun went off. She jerked backwards into the wall and slid to the floor, her shoulder on fire.
She stared down in disbelief. She couldn’t be shot. How did she get here? Her eyes traveled up until they landed on his stunned face. He’d gone white as a sheet, staring at the blood running from her shoulder and across her chest.

Her phone immediately started chiming, and a disembodied voice came screaming through the bullhorn, begging him to pick up the phone . . . to please let them know what was going on.
Was everyone okay? Was someone shot? All Gracie could think was, duh . . . of course, someone was shot.

Rob’s knees gave out, and he dropped to the floor. Gracie backed as far from him as she could and looked into his eyes, which moved from her shoulder to her eyes. She was shocked to see his had changed. They looked like good old Rob’s eyes, as they filled with tears.

He watched her watch him and sobbed, “Gracie . . .”

“Rob?” she asked, praying this was the sane Rob.

“Oh, my God. Gracie.” He curled up and sobbed harder. The problem was he still had the gun in his hand.

Gracie grabbed the dishtowel hanging within arm
’s reach from the refrigerator door handle and pressed it against her shoulder. She didn’t think it would do much good, because it was soaked through immediately. She crawled over to Rob.

“Rob . . . let’s go outside. I need some help here. I need a doctor.”

He looked up at her. “I never wanted to hurt you. Do you believe me, Gracie?”

She nodded. “I do, Rob. I believe you.”

He just stared at her and jumped when her phone started ringing again.

She said, “Can I answer it?
Can I tell them we’re coming out?”

“You can go. I’m going to stay here.”

She really didn’t like the look in his eye. Or the way he was holding that gun. She could have killed him herself a little while ago, but now she didn’t want him to hurt himself. “No, Rob. I won’t go without you. And if we don’t go soon, I could bleed to death. I know you don’t want that.” She watched him as some kind of internal debate was going on in his head. “Come on, Rob. Please. I don’t think I can make it out there on my own. I need you to help me.”

She didn’t know why she used that argument, because he’d never been all that interested in doing things for her before. Oh, well . . . it was worth a shot.
And apparently miracles still happened. Rob sat up and pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it.

“Yes,” he said woodenly. “Yes . . . We’re coming out . . . Okay.” He handed the phone to Gracie.

“Hello,” she asked tentatively.

“Gracie?” a man’s voice answered. “Are you okay?”

“Um . . . I’m losing a lot of blood, but yes, I think I’m okay.”

“Alright, Gracie . . . do you think he’s serious about coming out peacefully?”

“Yes. He didn’t mean to hurt me. He wants me to get help.” She continued to watch Rob and his eyes had filled up again at her words.

The negotiator asked to speak to Rob again, and it was obvious they were giving him very specific instructions on how to surrender.
After Rob hung up the phone, he looked into Gracie’s eyes for a long time.

“I’m sorry, Gracie.”

She didn’t respond—just watched him crawl to the side door, crack it open and slide the gun out. Then he opened the door wide and crawled out—down the two steps that she and Sonny liked to sit out on, sharing a beer. She didn’t see anything more, just heard a lot of shouting as SWAT officers swarmed over him and took him into custody.

Several officers came through the door with weapons drawn, one stopping to take care of her as the others cleared the apartment.
The rest was a blur as the EMTs came in to patch her up enough to get her loaded into the ambulance.

CHAPTER 20

Sonny was going crazy, and it took all of his teammates to keep him from storming out and over to Gracie’s apartment. The liaison officer who’d sat at Savannah’s with them all night had informed them that a shot or shots had been fired inside her apartment about twenty minutes before.
She swore that if they couldn’t get a response in the next few minutes, SWAT would storm the place anyway.

Officer Greene’s phone rang again and Sonny crowded her, trying t
o hear what was being said. The guys pulled him a few feet back and held on to him. Held him up, really. Her conversation was blessedly short, and she disconnected.

She looked over at Sonny. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Where?” He asked, dreading the answer.

“She’s on her way to
the hospital. He’s in custody.”

“The hospital? How bad is it?” He had to know what he was walking into.

“I don’t know, Sonny. She’s conscious. She’s talking and seems lucid. Let’s go. I’ll drive and use the siren.” Officer Greene started for the door.

Sonny grabbed Mathias and they ran out behind her, the others calling out that they’d meet them at the trauma center.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

This situation was almost more frustrating than waiting for the hostage situation to be resolved. All the nursing staff would tell them was that Gracie was there and that the doctors were with her.

Charley, who had joined them with Kelli after she had been released, was convinced they could figure out a way to get in. They were SEALs, after all. Their CO quickly talked him down and they were all just pacing grooves into the floor.

Except for Trace. He had his hands full with an almost hysterical Meg. She’d been a rock through the whole ordeal, taking care of everyone
at Savannah’s. It wasn’t until they were in his Jeep on the way to the hospital that she went completely over the bend. Trace had looked helplessly at Tobi in the rearview mirror and she wedged herself between the front seats the best she could to hold on to Meg. After they parked in the parking lot, Trace pushed his seat back as far as it would go and pulled her into his lap, soothing her as she blubbered all over him. He could make neither heads nor tails of her mutterings . . . something about mimosas, flower swags, handkerchief hems and sleep overs. Well, he could kind of figure out what she meant by the last one. Now they were in the waiting room and she was finally calmed down. Her sobs had turned to hiccups and he and Tobi were looking at one another—shell-shocked.  They’d never seen her like that before.

A couple of detectives walked in and asked where they might find the Laurent family. Since her parents’ flight hadn’t made it in yet, that consisted of Mathias—and Sonny. Mathias insisted he be included. They were informed that they did indeed have Rob Chilton in custody. He had surrendered after he’d accidentally shot Gracie, who was trying to keep him from shooting
at a SWAT officer. They also mentioned that Rob was under suicide watch, apparently distraught over Gracie’s shooting. Sonny looked over at Mathias and snorted. It was impossible for either of them to feel sorry for Rob Chilton.

The detectives
informed them that Rob’s parole officer had arrived and was waiting for the state police to send someone over to help him transport Rob back to the prison in Sacramento. His parole had been revoked and there would be new charges pending. They needed to interview Gracie first. They also wanted to interview Kelli again. The investigation was just beginning and they were asking for patience from the family. They left their business cards and told them they were welcome to call if they ever needed more information.

Finally, Gracie’s doctor came in looking for Mathias and Sonny. He took them into the hallway and gave them the news. She would be fine. She had been shot
at close range with a small caliber bullet that had gone completely through her shoulder. She’d lost a lot of blood, and they wanted to do surgery to repair some of the damage. They had started blood transfusions and she was being prepped for surgery. If they wanted, they could accompany her up to the surgical floor. She’d been sedated, but was still conscious.

Of course, they wanted to see her, so the doctor started to walk them back to where she was being prepped. Mathias stopped him and asked if they could bring her best friend along. The doctor chuckled and asked if there wa
s any chance this best friend’s name was Kelli. Gracie had apparently been asking about her since she’d arrived. The doctor thought it would be good for her see that Kelli was fine—it would calm her down before her surgery.

When Mathias escorted Kelli out of the waiting room, the doctor’s eyes widened, and he started having second thoughts about Gracie seeing her. She looked horrible
and he must have winced, because she looked up at him and cracked, “Are you sure my makeup looks okay?” Then she winked at him with her good eye—the one that wasn’t swollen shut. He decide it would be good for Gracie to see her after all.