Page 51 of Protecting Jess

He returned the gesture, giving her a tight squeeze before releasing her, anxious to see Jess to reassure himself that she was fine. “Where is she?”

“She’s in surgery.”

He locked his legs together to stop them from buckling. “How serious is it?”

Kaley shook her head. “They wouldn’t tell me. I’m not family. Finn—” She grabbed his arm. “Do we call her parents? She wouldn’t let me last time, but this time, she has you, and you know them.”

“I know she’s not going to be happy with me, but I’m going to call them. They need to know. They need to be here.”

Jess’s friend nodded. “I agree. I just wish…”

“I know.” He didn’t need Kaley to finish. The lack of information was annoying, but he understood it. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to bend the rules to make sure he was informed. “I’m going to find out what I can.”

“Good luck. But as I said, they won’t say anything because you’re not family.”

“They can’t withhold the information from her fiancé, can they?”

Kaley’s eyes widened before she smiled. “No, I guess they can’t.”

“I’ll be right back.” Finn swiveled and headed for the information desk, noting that Kevlar and Smiley were walking through the door, with Oak rushing up behind them.

He canted his head in Kaley’s direction and Oak gave a chin lift, while Kevlar and Smiley made their way toward him.

“I need information on Jessica Killian,” Finn said, his voice firm but calm, and he plastered a smile on his face. One he hoped was friendly and not scary.

“Are you family?” the lady enquired.

He glanced at her name bag. “Elsie, I’m her fiancé, Petty Officer Third Class Finn Spelling.”

Throwing about his military ranking wasn’t something he normally did, but he wasn’t above using everything possible to get the information he needed.

Elsie smiled up at him and tapped on her keyboard, the thin wire glasses she wore slipping down her nose. “Thank you for your service. Your fiancée is in surgery. You can wait for her in the surgery family waiting room, up on the fourth floor. I’ll ask the nurses there to let the surgeon know you’ve arrived.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate it.” Was that his Texan twang coming out? During his time in the Navy, his speech cadence had changed, but every now and then, his upbringing floated out.

“You’re welcome.” The phone rang and Elsie picked it up.

Finn joined his friends, which wasn’t far from the desk. “We can go up to the fourth floor waiting room. They’re going to let the surgeon know I’m here.”

As a group, they made the short journey to the room. Everyone but Finn sat, and he headed over to a quiet corner to make the call that he knew was either going to be well-received, or Jess wasn’t going to speak to him ever again.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up. “Finn! How are you?” Aunt Poppy’s happy voice filled his ear, and a wave of emotion he hadn’t been expected dumped all over him.

“Hi, Aunt P-Poppy.”

Dammit. Now she’s going to know something is wrong.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Have you called your mom?” His aunt fired off the questions briskly, and he could hear the click-click of her shoes.

He pictured her walking down the hallway toward the kitchen or living room or wherever Slick was.

“I’m okay. I’m not hurt, but—” he paused. It wasn’t going to be easy to say what he had to, but he had to do it. Had to rip the Band-Aid off and just tell them. The quicker he did, the quicker they could get there. “Jess is. She got stabbed.”

“What? Slick!” Aunt Poppy yelled at the same time. In the background, he heard Jess’s dad answer his wife, but the rest was muffled.

“Finn?” Slick’s deep voice sounded down the line. “What’s happened to Jess?”

Finn gave him a quick rundown, because he didn’t know much. “I’ll call Dad, and by the time you get to the airport, there will be a plane waiting for you and Aunt Poppy to bring to you to San Diego.”

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