Page 71 of The Unknown Colton
But even if she recovered, he might still lose her. He’d been the idiot that Kansas had called Eli’s partner. Troy had been waiting for his future to start instead of living it. Instead of just focusing on his love for Lakin and not worrying about anything else.
Now, he was worried only about her.
* * *
Ever since he got the ransom call, Will had been scared to death that they might lose their daughter. He’d held onto the hope that if he paid the ransom, they would get her back. Or that Eli and Kansas would find her.
But Troy Amos had.
Eli had told them when he’d called them. Troy had found Lakin, and they were in an ambulance on their way to the hospital.
“Why?” Will had managed to choke out.
Eli knew better than to sugarcoat things with him. He’d replied honestly, “She was running to escape her kidnapper and fell.”
Will hadn’t asked any more questions. Maybe becausehe hadn’t wanted to know how badly she was hurt. He just wanted to see his daughter.
So did Sasha. Together, they rushed into the hospital waiting room, holding onto each other.
“How is she?” Will asked his son who stood next to Troy and Kansas.
“We’re waiting for them to come back from CT and let us know,” Eli replied.
“CT?” Sasha whispered. “She hit her head?”
His face grim, Eli nodded.
“She regained consciousness in the ambulance,” Troy said, his voice gruff.
“She’ll be fine, Uncle Will. Aunt Sasha, she’ll be fine,” Kansas said, but she sounded as desperate to believe that as they were.
“Lakin’s strong,” Eli said.
Will knew that, but he still remembered the sweet little toddler who’d woken up with nightmares so often after she came to live with them. She wasn’t the only one who had nightmares back then. He and Eli had had some, too, after finding the bodies of his parents and Caroline and her killer.
But Lakin was alive. And she would stay that way. She had to…
Will couldn’t lose anyone else he loved.
“Sir,” Troy said. Tears shimmered in his green eyes. “May I speak to you and Mrs. Colton for a moment…alone…?”
Troy had found her; he’d ridden with her in theambulance. Maybe he knew more than the others. Will was almost afraid to talk to him.
But Sasha, probably knowing that Troy needed comfort as much as they did, released Will to hug their daughter’s longtime boyfriend. “Thank you for finding her, Troy,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
Troy deserved their gratitude, let alone some of their time. So Will walked with the young man and Sasha toward a quiet corner of the waiting room that was beginning to fill up with Coltons and Amoses.
So many people loved Lakin, but no one more than Troy. She had to be okay for his sake as much as for hers and theirs. She had to be okay.
CHAPTER 25
Lakin heard voices, but these were soft whispers, not the shouts from her nightmares or even from earlier… Was it today that she’d heard Troy yelling for help? How much time had passed since she’d slipped and fallen trying to escape from Whitlaw? From her biological mother’s murderer?
She gasped at the sharp jab of pain over the loss. The woman had given Lakin life and had done her best to protect that life.
“She’s awake,” a soft voice said with awe. “Sweetheart, are you all right?”
And she opened her eyes to the mother she knew, the one who’d been there for her as long as she could remember. Who’d loved and supported her unconditionally. “Mom…” Lakin whispered, her throat raspy.
