Page 75 of Embattled Ever After

Chapter Twenty-Four

Alex had a feelingshe was going to pace a hole through the waiting room floor. Actually, several of them were waiting for Duncan. When they’d wheeled him out of the room toward surgery, she’d gently been guided to the waiting room to wait with the rest of the friends and family. The surgeon, Fisk, promised he would notify her as soon as he could.

So here she paced, waiting for anything to happen.

“You should take a break, Alex,” Lora said, motioning to a chair when Alex drew close.

She sat down, realizing the incessant pacing was probably as irritating to them as the waiting was to her. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I’m not used to being on this side of the situation.”

Lora patted her knee. “Don’t be sorry. We’re all worried about him.”

Alex glanced around at the group in the waiting room. Yes, they all were. There were couples in their own little bubbles of intimacy, stroking hands and leaning into shoulders, worry lining their faces. And there were single people, gathered in a smaller group a few chairs down. They were all worried about him. Some of the people she knew, others she didn’t. Duncan’s parents had arrived within minutes of Chad’s call, and hadn’t moved from the chairs they were in. Worry lined their faces. Alex had given them the same info she had the rest, but that hadn’t seemed to ease their minds.

Unfortunately, she didn’t feel like she fit into either group. The other half of her heart was in surgery at the moment, and she knew she might not see him for hours. Her heart shuddered with pain because he hadn’t woken before the surgery. She hadn’t had a chance to actually say that she loved him. Alex doubted he’d heard her outside when he was laying on the cold concrete in front of the hospital.

That was the most devastating part of the day. She’d seen Zeke being spun toward them, and she’d known there was no avoiding the collision. But she’d damn well tried to roll away so that she didn’t land on him, and that had actually worked.

Duncan had looked shocked, a wince of pain on his lean face. The glasses he’d been wearing went flying. She’d have to look for those and see where they went. Then the pain had contorted his features and she’d known it was bad. Within seconds of the fall, she was screaming for help.

Thank God they’d been here, at the hospital itself. If they’d been further away… well, she just wouldn’t think about that.

John rolled into the room with Shannon on his heels. She looked refreshed, like she’d managed to take a nap and eat something. When they spotted her, they headed her way. “Can we talk to you somewhere private?”

Nodding, she followed him down the hallway and around a corner to a small, empty office. Motioning her in, he closed the door behind them and flicked on the light. Alex crossed to a blue cushioned chair, and Shannon sat beside her.

“We would like to know what went on this morning. You knew who that guy was. How?”

“I met him months ago in Kansas City at the hospital. That was Aiden Willingham.”

John stared at her, head cocked. His handsome face scrunched up into a weird expression. “What?”

“Aiden Willingham,” she repeated.

“The homeless guy?” Shannon asked.

Alex nodded. The other two sat back, absorbing the information. “But, there’s more,” she admitted.

They waited, watching her closely.

“When I went out to see if I could find the injured guy who’d bled on you, we found a bunch of blood in the back of the truck. A huge amount. Aiden was there and he’d been nicked on the shoulder. Not deep, just painful. I asked him what was going on and why he had protected you. He gave me this funny smile and said, ‘because he’s my big brother’.”

John stared at her uncomprehendingly for several long seconds, then shook his head, his face turning thunderous. “What the ever loving fuck are you talking about?”

“That’s what he said, John. He was your Good Samaritan Shannon, when you had your wreck,” she flipped her hand. “And this morning he protected you.” She turned her gaze to John. “For some reason when he said that some things clicked. Even under homeless grunge, there was something about him that just rang a bell somewhere in the back of my head and yesterday, when I saw him cleaned up, he’d looked more familiar to me. It was because he looks like you.”

John shook his head like he’d just been dealt a harsh blow. Shannon covered her mouth. “Oh, fuck,” she breathed.

John still seemed dazed. “My brother’s name was Jaime, or something like that. Not Aiden.”

Alex shrugged. “I think anyone can change their name nowadays. He must have had a reason.”

“That’s why I thought I had met him before,” Shannon said. She got up and crossed to John, cupping his face. “Don’t be angry. You know you have a brother, there must be some reason why he’s been hidden all this time.”

Without giving him a chance to deny her, Shannon sank down into his lap and wrapped her arms around her strong husband’s neck. “You have a brother out there, John,” she whispered.

Alex saw the shine of emotion in his eyes before he buried his face into Shannon’s hair. Silently, she got up and left the room, her own throat tight. She didn’t have a lot of family either, so she could appreciate the emotions John had to be feeling right now.

Those concerns went out of her head though, when she saw the orthopedic surgeon walking down the hallway toward the waiting room. He glanced up and smiled, and the terrible ball of fear in her stomach that she’d never felt for another person began to ease.

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