Barton grinned. “No argument.”
Ren turned back to Sari. “I’m staying with Merrie. I’ll sleep standing up against a wall if I have to, but I’m not leaving this hospital.”
“Nobody asked you to,” Sari replied. She drew in a long breath. “Thanks, Ren. Thanks for coming all this way. And for giving Merrie an incentive to wake up.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied. “I’ve got a lot of making up to do. I just want enough time to do it.”
“That doctor’s pretty good,” Mikey commented.
“He was good to us when we had to come here for treatment,” Sari said with a smile. “Merrie and I were in his office a lot, too.”
“Why?” Ren asked, curious.
“Our father could be brutal. We had several incidents while we were both in school,” Sari said bitterly.
Ren frowned. “He doesn’t sound like much of a father.”
“Believe me, he wasn’t,” Sari replied.
Ren deduced that there was a lot he still didn’t know about Meredith. He was just happy that he had a chance to start over with her.
*
SEVERAL HOURS LATER, they were still in the waiting room. Dr. Coltrain was cautiously optimistic. Sari and Ren had taken turns going in to see her during the very few visiting periods they were allowed while she was still in the intensive care unit.
At midnight, Sari and Paul insisted that Ren come home with them.
“She’s going to be all right, but you won’t be if you don’t get some rest,” Paul said firmly. “We’ll go back first thing in the morning.”
Ren finally gave in. He hadn’t slept in days. “They’ll call you if something happens with her?” He looked in the direction of the nurses’ station.
“Yes, they’ll call us,” Sari assured him. “They have both our cell phone numbers.”
“But it doesn’t matter,” Paul said with a smile.
“It doesn’t?” Ren asked blankly.
Paul nodded toward the door. Mikey walked in with Mandy at his side. She smiled at them and sat down in the waiting room with a big bag of knitting.
“I’ll be right here if she needs anything,” Mandy said. “Now go home and get some sleep,” she added, including all of them in her sweeping gaze. “Nothing will happen to my baby while I’m here.”
“Or me,” Mikey added, sitting beside her. “Gotta protect the cook, right?” he asked, grinning at Mandy. “Best roast beef I ever ate.”
Mandy blushed. “Oh, Mr. Mikey,” she protested.
“Best cook in Texas,” Paul added, bending to kiss Mandy’s cheek. “Thanks, honey.”
“I knew you’d never leave if somebody in the family didn’t stay here,” Mandy said. “Get some sleep. I’ll call if there’s any change at all. But there won’t be. She’s got a reason to live, now,” she added, glancing warmly at Ren.
“All right,” Sari said. She hugged Mandy. “If you need anything...”
“If she does, I’ll go get it for her.” Mikey chuckled. “Go home.”
They left, still uneasy, but too tired to do much arguing.
*
REN’S FIRST SIGHT of Graylings took his breath away. “She said she lived on a small ranch,” he said as he gaped at the huge mansion, all its lights shining bright and welcoming in the darkness past the white fences and tall mesquite and oak trees.
“It is small, by Texas standards,” Sari said with a weary smile. “But we have some of the most famous racehorses in the world. And some great security. FBI approved,” she added with a grin at her husband.
“I seem to do better on security than I do on limo drivers,” Paul said wryly.
“It was a fluke,” Sari said. “He slipped through with some shady support. You couldn’t have known.”
“Dead right,” Barton agreed, sitting in the seat beside Ren, facing Paul and Sari. “Any background check wouldn’t have found anything. I’m assuming the contract killer set up the identity check. The guy from Houston sure wasn’t smart. What sort of would-be assassin leaves the rental slip for the truck in the glove compartment, for heaven’s sake?”
“A clumsy one,” Paul said. “And it’s going to cost him.”
“Count on it,” Sari agreed. “When we catch him, Mr. Kemp will turn him any which way but loose.”
“He certainly will,” Paul said.
*
ROGERS PULLED THE LIMO up to the front door. They all got out and Paul unlocked the door, swinging it open to polished oak floors with Persian carpets and a crystal chandelier handmade in Italy.
Ren whistled softly. Skyhorn Ranch had comfortable furnishings, but nothing as fancy as this. He noted that two paintings on the wall, which looked like originals, were crooked.
Sari noticed him staring at them. “I did that one,” she said, indicating a landscape with a racehorse in the foreground. “Merrie did that one.” She indicated a painting of a golden retriever.
“You paint?” Ren asked.
“I move the paintings so that they aren’t straight,” Sari said, and her face tautened. “Revenge.”
“Their father was a perfectionist,” Paul explained.