“You have a son to think about now.”
That stopped her. It always did. It was the one point that was inarguable. The subject that caused her the most pain when she thought of what she had to do. There was never a time when she didn’t think about Jack’s safety. When she didn’t consider his future. Once the rebels were in power and a democracy was restored, she could go on with her life and concentrate solely on being a mother to her precious son. But until then…
“It’s hard to do the right thing sometimes.” She looked at Robert, found his eyes already on her. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him so tense. His jaw was tight, his brows drawn together, his mouth pulled into a severe line.
“If anything happens to me,” she began, the words coming in a flood, “I want you to promise me you’ll take care of J—”
He moved so quickly she didn’t see it coming. One moment she was standing alone, and in the next instant her body was flush against his. He stared at her with a fierce expression, his nostrils flaring.
“Don’t ever say that,” he said between clenched teeth.
“It has to be said.”
“Damn it, Lily—”
“I need to know Jack will be—”
Her words were cut off abruptly when he crushed his mouth to hers. Anger that he would kiss her when she was trying to say something so important sparked at the back of her brain. But that spark was quickly doused by the feel of his mouth against hers. The taste of desperation on his lips. The emotion pounding through her with every beat of her heart.
He released her an instant later. Lily stumbled back, stunned by the truth of the moment, shocked even more by how badly it had shaken her. Robert stood a few feet away from her, breathing hard, looking every bit as shaken as she felt.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” he said.
“Once the transfusion is complete, I’m going to meet with the rebels.”
“No, damn it.”
“Robert, I need to do this. I have to.” But even as she said the words, Lily sensed danger. She felt the black presence of impending doom pressing down on her like a thunderhead.
And even with the sun shining and the man she loved close enough to touch, she knew that all would not end well, just as it had not ended well for a little girl named Strawberry.
Chapter 13
The Hospité de Rajalla was in dismal condition, Robert thought as they entered the building through a rear exit. Two years ago it had been a bustling city within a city, with a state-of-the-art surgical center and two hundred beds. But, like the rest of Rebelia, the civil war had made its mark. The south wing, once the maternity ward, had been so badly damaged it was closed and cordoned off with wooden horses and great sheets of polyurethane. Several of the windows had been broken and hastily repaired with cardboard and tape.
He squashed the uneasy desire to look over his shoulder as they walked down the wide hall toward the bright overhead lights of the nursing center. He felt relatively certain none of DeBruzkya’s soldiers had spotted them, but there was no way he could be absolutely sure. He would do everything in his power to expedite Jack’s transfusion, then he planned to take Lily and Jack to the ARIES base camp he’d set up when he’d arrived.
If a man and a woman traveling with backpacks and an infant were out of place, no one gave any indication. Nurses in white uniforms rushed down the wide hallways with purposeful strides, their shoes muted on the tile floor. A female voice blared in rapid Rebelian over the intercom system.
Upon entering the city limits, they’d stuck to the back streets and alleyways. But they’d passed very close to a group of soldiers several blocks from the hospital. Four of them, wearing camouflage and the identifying black berets. They’d been smoking cigarettes and drinking black tea, but Robert hadn’t missed their watchful eyes or the automatic weapons strapped to their shoulders.
“Do you think those soldiers noticed us?” Lily asked.
Robert looked over at her, felt the familiar pull and tried hard not to think about all the things that could go wrong while they were here. “I think they were too busy showing off those nifty new uniforms to the women at the café across the street.”
She shot him a quick smile. “Especially the one in the short skirt.”
“She had nice legs.”
She arched a brow.
He rolled his shoulder. “Hey, I’m a doctor. I appreciate fine anatomy.”
She huffed. “Well, she didn’t look very impressed.”
If he hadn’t been so tense he might have laughed. Even in a time of war life went on, he thought. Young men tried to impress young women. People laughed and cried and overcame.
Men and women fell in love.