Page 110 of Right in Front of You

“And if I don’t, there’s only one regret that I’ll have. I’m so sorry we couldn’t keep you safe, sweetheart. I wish I had known earlier about you. I always wanted you to be my daughter. I prayed that you would be mine, but he…” Doctor Burke coughed. “He switched the tests. I’m so sorry.”

He sobbed with what looked like the last of his tears.

“What can I do? Tell me how to save you.”

“I believe you’re more updated on lifesaving than I am.” He looked down at the knife sticking out of his abdomen. “You’ve done everything you could. All we can do now is wait. But I’d love for you to call me Dad. Just once. Please let me hear you say those words. I can’t die without hearing them.”

“Dad.” Molly was sobbing as well. “Is it really true? Why, for all these years?”

Molly’s mom knelt beside the two of them. She held Molly’s hand as well as Doctor Burke’s. It was one of the most loving exchanges I’d ever seen.

“We were young and didn’t have the strength to fight our parents. Donald went away to school and Ron was a nice young man. He used to be different. Yes, when Donald came back for the wedding, we…”

“It’s all right mom, you don’t have to explain.”

“I do. We made love the night before my wedding to Ron.” She looked lovingly at Donald. “He wanted me to cancel everything but I felt guilty. The family was here, everything was set… it was the biggest mistake of my life. A month after I married Ron, I found out that I was pregnant. We did a paternity test, which tested positive as Ron being the father. Except I didn’t know that he’d switched the results. Not until today.”

“Oh, Mom. I’m so sorry. You’ve lived with a man you didn’t love for all these years.”

“I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have done more, sweetheart.” Her gaze drifted form Molly to Doctor Burke. “The ambulance… Donald, it will be a while.” Mrs. Fowler then looked toward the door where we knew no one would barge through. Hope Bay was so remote, it would take at least a half hour for them to reach us.

Fuck that! I dialed my father’s number in between the chest compressions on Fowler. I never thought I’d be trying to save the bastard’s life.

“We need a police escort to the hospital. I’m driving Doctor Burke, and I can’t wait for the ambulance. Can you get the chief?”

“We’ll meet you out on the road.”

That’s how we intercepted the ambulance halfway to the city. The paramedics took Doctor Burke. Molly’s mom stayed in the ambulance with him while I drove Molly and her unconscious father to the hospital. The bastard definitely had a knack for cheating death. I still wanted him dead; and yet here we were, trying to save his life in the back of my car. Molly didn’t stop the compressions, and every so often repeated under her breath, “For Sarah.” My left ankle was twisted awkwardly, broken, but I wouldn’t let anyone know that until we got to the hospital. There was no way I’d let anyone else drive Molly. I’d never leave her again. I reached to the back and smoothed my hand over her bare arm.

“I’m fine. Really.”

“You almost killed a man, Molly.”

One single shot from Molly’s hand could have stopped the chaos, but it hadn’t. It seemed like we couldn’t get rid of Fowler that easily.

“I know… I know… This is for Sarah.”

“It’s okay to be upset, Molly. He should be dead.”

“I’m not upset. I promise.”

“Then why are you shaking?”

“Burke. He’s my father.” When I looked in the rearview mirror, I saw her smile.

“Yeah, he is.”

“And he may die.”

“Hope, Molly. If anyone has it, I know it’s you. Hold onto that hope. He has to make it. Sarah will make it as well, and your father – well, not your father, you know what I mean – will go to prison for a long time.”

“Does it make me a bad person?”

“What?”

“That I don’t feel bad about shooting him?”

“If you hadn’t done it, I would have.”

“I’m glad it was me, then.”

“I know, Molly. And I promise I won’t ever let him near you again. He’ll be in prison for the rest of his life.”

Molly kept counting out loud, one, two, three, with each pump to Fowler’s chest. Hopefully she wouldn’t be traumatized after the ordeal. Something told me that having Ron Fowler out of her life for good meant a new beginning for us both. But would it be enough to spare Doctor Burke? And save Sarah?

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