Page 21 of Holiday Loss

It was lying in the snow, unmoving, and the closer he got, he could see that the snow around her head was stained red.

How had he ever thought the color was his favorite?

Now red would forever remind him of this moment, of the woman he was falling for lying motionless in the snow, blood oozing out from a head wound.

Dropping to his knees beside her, he barely felt the cold from the snow seeping into his jeans. He had to know.

Dead or alive.

Had he already lost her before he’d even really had a chance to be with her?

Had his interest in a woman cost a little boy his mother, the only parent he had?

Ripping off his gloves, he touched his fingers to her neck and sagged in relief when he felt it.

A pulse.

Alive.

Not gone.

“She’s got a pulse,” Donovan told the other man.

“Looks like she was hit over the head with this.” The doctor pointed to a branch lying discarded by Jessica’s side, then knelt beside her andbegan to examine the wound. As he probed it Jessica groaned, her eyelashes fluttering against her pale cheeks.

“Jessica? Can you hear me, sweetheart? It’s Donovan.” Carefully as he could, he brushed his knuckles across her cheek, terrified of doing anything to hurt her.

She mumbled something incoherent.

“Jess?” He tried again. “Answer me, baby.”

“Freddie?”

“He’s okay,” he assured her.

“The little girl … Lissy …?”

“Is okay, too. It’s you we’re worried about right now.”

“Head hurts,” she mumbled, still fighting to open her eyes.

“It’s going to be okay, ma’am,” the doctor told her. “An ambulance is coming, we’ll get you to the hospital. Likely concussion, possible hypothermia,” the doctor said to him.

All things considered, Donovan knew they were lucky and knew things could have been a lot worse. If the stalker was out for blood, a girlfriend for a wife, then he could be looking down at her dead body right now. Whether this was all the stalker had intended to do, or if Lissy’s screams had deterred him from doing more, Donovan would never know, and it terrified him.

This time they’d been lucky, but what about next time?

Chapter

Fifteen

December 18th

12:18 A.M.

Her head throbbed, and all she wanted to do was sleep for about a million years.

Everything was too bright, too loud. Even though the hospital room had the lights turned down low, it still hurt her eyes. The only sound was the soft snores of her son as he slept curled up on Donovan’s lap, but even that was enough to aggravate the pounding behind her eyes.

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