Page 71 of Justice for JoElla

Landon pulled the other chair up at the far side of Brandon’s bed and sat down. “Has he been awake?”

“Not yet. The nurse said he will be shortly though.”

“Yeah, Jerrica’s on the floor today, but she said she talked to Ruth a little while ago and they’re bringing him down. Told me I should probably be up here so he didn’t get confused.”

“That’s a good idea.” They waited there together, watching Brandon’s face, waiting, hoping.

Then he grimaced and squirmed just a little. That was followed with three deep, closed-mouth sighs, and then it happened?his eyelids fluttered. Very slowly, his eyes opened and he fixed them on his brother. “Landon?”

“Yeah, bud. I’m right here. How ya feelin’?”

“Not so good. Oh, god, I messed up, Landon. I messed up so bad.”

Landon glanced over at JoElla, but she had no idea what Brandon was talking about. “You messed up? How did you mess up, bud?”

“I let him kill her. He killed JoElla, Landon. I wanted to keep her safe, and I failed. Oh, god, no, I failed, Landon. Please, I tried so hard…”

“You didn’t fail. She’s right there.” Landon pointed across the bed, and when he did, JoElla squeezed Brandon’s hand again.

His head turned slowly and he peered from under his sleepy lids at her. “JoElla?”

“Hey, babe. I’m right here. I’m fine. “

“No. You were dead. He shot you. I saw the blood.”

“That was yours, not mine. You’re in the hospital. Do you remember anything?”

Brandon shook his head slowly. “No. Nothing except he was going to shoot you. He didn’t shoot you?”

“No. I’m fine. He shot you. And then Quint shot him.”

“Quint shot him?”

“Yeah. He’s dead, Brandon. He’s not going to come around again. It’s all fine. We just want you to get well.”

“I remember… Right before you died, I told you that I love you.”

“No. That was right after you were shot. And I said?”

He grinned. “I love you too, dumbass.”

JoElla laughed. After all the days of crying and fear, it felt good to laugh. Landon was laughing with her. “Yep. That’s exactly what I said.”

“Well, I love you too, dumbass,” Brandon said with a dopey grin.

“By the way,” Landon said, interrupting, “the kids will be back in a bit. They’ve been here on and off since you came in.”

Brandon looked at him like he couldn’t understand what was being said. “Kids? William and Elizabeth?”

“Yeah. Those are your kids, right?”

“Yeah. My kids. They came?”

“Yes. They’ve been here every day. They came to the hospital the night of the shooting and they’ve been in and out ever since.”

“Really? My kids?” Landon nodded. “Well, hell, it’s a damn shame when you have to get yourself shot to get your kids to return your phone calls.” Landon started to chuckle. “Little assholes.”

“Just like their dad,” Landon pointed out.

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