“Yes.” He smiled, or tried to, then had to clear his throat before adding, “I believe I broke the land-speed record getting here.”
“I’m so sorry.” I wrapped my arms around him. He buried his face in my hair.
“Scared the living daylights out of me.” He gave me one last squeeze, then pulled away. “I’m sorry for your friend, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that it’s not you.”
“Thank you, Derek.” I felt my eyes water as I took hold of both his hands. “I’m so sorry you had to worry.”
“Worry? Oh, I wouldn’t call it that,” he said ruefully. “Anguish, perhaps. Or torture. Don’t ever do that to me again.”
I stretched up to kiss him lightly on the lips. “I promise.”
“Good.” We turned and walked back down the hall.
“Oh, Derek,” Mom said, running over. “It’s good of you to have come.”
He and I broke apart and Mom moved in for a hug. She and Derek had bonded awhile back when a gun-toting killer invaded my home and tried to make me the next victim.
“Hello, Rebecca,” he said. Then he shook hands with Guru Bob.
Somehow it was right that Derek had shown up. Maybe I’d wished for it. I seemed to draw strength from his presence. Warm happiness flowed from my heart into every part of me.
Could I be more sappy? I didn’t see how. But it didn’t matter. I was all bubbly inside and felt destined to live sappily ever after.
“Now, how do you know Gabriel?” Derek asked.
I blinked. Oh, dear. I wasn’t about to bring up a certain kiss in a certain hotel room in Edinburgh. And why was I even thinking about that when Derek was this close?
“Gabriel works with Guru Bob,” I said carefully. “He knows books and so do I. So we’ve had a few business dealings together.”
If you called Gabriel sneaking into my house and stealing a priceless fifteenth-century edition of Plutarch “business dealings.” But at least he’d done it for Guru Bob. The Plutarch theft was one reason why I didn’t trust Gabriel. But he clearly had Guru Bob’s seal of approval. And my father’s, I guessed. I was anxious to look more deeply into the whole Gabriel connection, but that would have to wait until he was out of the hospital.
“And what happened today?” Derek asked.
“It’s still not clear,” I said, and explained what I thought had happened.
“And you were first on the scene?”
“Yes.” I looked at him. “Again.”
Sensing my unease, he gripped my hand. “And the blood?”
“Was really bad,” I said, then added quickly, “But I didn’t pass out.”
“Good girl,” he said, and kissed my cheek.
He knew me too well. I’d passed out the first time I met him, when he found me kneeling over Abraham’s body, my hands covered in blood. It was sweet of him to be concerned.
“Do we know if Gabriel is out of danger?” Derek asked.
I waved my hand toward the nurses’ station. “They won’t tell us anything.”
He flashed the nurses a determined look. “Why don’t you go sit and let me give it a try.”
I frowned. “Sure.”
Derek walked over to the nurses’ station and struck up a conversation with the big scary nurse supervisor. Within seconds, she was giggling and touching Derek’s arm. He leaned in and whispered conspiratorially and she laughed out loud. Good grief.
He turned and walked back to me, smirking all the way.
I smirked, too, as I watched Nurse Ratched staring fondly at his ass the whole way.
“They’re getting him settled in a room,” he reported as we all gathered around him. “He’s had a CT scan. There’s no brain damage, but he’s been slipping in and out of consciousness for the last hour, so they’re keeping him overnight, at least. He may have a concussion, so they’ve given him a very light painkiller and are monitoring him constantly. Depending on how he does overnight, they’ll probably discharge him in the morning.”
“Oh, Derek, thank you,” Mom said.
“There’s more,” he said. “Apparently, he wrenched his neck when he fell. When he leaves the hospital, he’s to remain in bed, keeping very still for several days. He’ll need a caregiver. Is there someone in Dharma who can stay with him?”
“Mom will find someone,” I said.
“He’ll stay with us,” Mom said immediately. She glanced at Guru Bob, who nodded in agreement.
“I’d like to see him before we leave,” Guru Bob declared.
Derek nodded. “Let me speak with Sandy.”
Sandy. Didn’t it just figure that he and Nurse Ratched were on a first-name basis. But I couldn’t blame the poor woman for rolling over in the face of all that British hot-ness.