Texas Sirens: Small Town Siren Part 23

Abby gasped as Ruby pulled a revolver out of her bag. The next minute seemed to go by in a strange sort of slow motion. Abby watched in horror as Ruby held the gun and fired in one fluid motion.

It would hit her in the head, Abby thought. She was going to die. She felt Sam jerk on her hand, but it didn't do any good.

And then she was on the ground, covered completely by Jack's big body. Abby hit the concrete steps with a resounding thud and felt the wind knocked out of her body.

It took a moment for the horror to hit Abby. At first she was stunned, but then the keening sound of someone wailing cut through the pain of slamming into the ground.

"Jack?"

Everything around her was chaos. Mike was rus.h.i.+ng forward to do something. Someone was crying and screaming about her baby. Abby thought that was Ruby. Christa was down on her knees beside Abby, tears streaking down her face. Through it all she heard her mother talking on a cell phone.

"Yes, there's been a shooting," her mother was saying.

Sam was suddenly staring down at her. His face was a ghostly white. "I'm going to move Jack, Abby. I'll get you out in just a second."

Abby felt panic well up. "He's been shot?"

"Yeah." Sam didn't look like a man whose best friend was going to pull through.

192.

As gently as he could, Sam pulled Jack off of her and laid him down on his back. Abby managed to sit up. Jack had promised to protect her, and Jack never went back on his word. He'd leapt in front of the bullet meant to end her life. His dress s.h.i.+rt was covered with blood. He'd been shot in the chest. Through the panic, a professional sense of calm came over Abigail. Sam looked like he was going to be sick. Christa was weeping. Mike had Ruby's gun in his hand and was holding her back. It was up to her.

Abby got to her knees, slapping at Sam's hands when he tried to pull her to her feet. "He isn't dead," Abby barked in a voice that would have let any intern know to back off. "Don't move him any more than we have to."

She quickly took the phone out of her mother's hand. "My name is Abigail Barnes. I am a trauma nurse. We have one man down with a GSW to what looks like his left lung." Abby listened to the 911 operator as she felt for a pulse. "It missed the heart, but the victim is unconscious and...I've got air bubbles in the blood. I'm pa.s.sing you off to someone else, but we need a care flight. He needs surgery and possibly life support. He needs to go to Tyler."

She handed the phone back to her mom. Suddenly, Jack's green eyes were open. She felt a flood of relief that she didn't allow to slow her down one bit.

"You okay?" He struggled to get the question out.

Abby looked around for something suitable to use. Jack's lung was punctured, and he was losing air out of the hole in his chest. It was what they called a "sucking chest wound" in her field. She had to get it covered. The big bouquet of lilies caught her eye. "Sam, tear the cellophane off those flowers."

While Sam went to do her bidding, she stared down at her patient.

"I'm fine, Jack. And so are you."

He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't. The pain was evident on his face. It was pinched and stark white.

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"I bet it hurts like h.e.l.l, baby," Abby said sternly. "That's what you get for jumping in front of a bullet, Jack Barnes. Listen here, husband of mine, there's no eternal rest for you today, got that?" Sam handed her the piece of plastic, and she gingerly covered the wound. Jack groaned when she pressed down, but his breathing eased immediately.

"Better," he managed. "I'm not allowed to see a white light?"

Abby let a small smile tug on her lips. He still had a sense of humor, and as a nurse, she knew the value of that. "You can see it all you like, but don't you dare walk into it."

Abby felt Sam at her side. His hands were shaking.

"I love you," Jack said, a weariness taking over. His body went slack.

In the distance, Abby heard the thud of a helicopter coming to take Jack. Abby held her hand against his chest and prayed they would make it in time.

194.

Chapter Fifteen.

Six Weeks Later

"Should he even be on a horse six weeks after chest surgery?"

Lexi Moore looked out the window. Abby followed her line of sight.

Jack was by the barn. He carefully dismounted his horse.

Abby was more than happy to have her daughter in Willow Fork.

Having Lexi in the house she shared with Jack and Sam made it seem more like home than ever.

"He's made a remarkable recovery," Abby murmured with a grin.

"You know your mama's taking excellent care of him." Abby's mother joined them at the family room window. She hugged her granddaughter.

"I hear she's the reason he's alive," Lexi said with a proud glance at her mother. Lexi had the Echols's coloring. Her black hair and dark eyes gave her a slightly exotic look. Her hair was up in a high ponytail. To Abby, she looked younger than her twenty years.

She would always be her mama's baby, Abby figured.

"The way Jack and Sam tell it, Mama was practically a superhero.

She managed to bandage up Jack so well the paramedics didn't have to do anything but load him onto the helicopter when they got there."

"The doctors said she made the difference," Abby's mom commented. "Then, when Ruby collapsed, Abigail gave her CPR."

"That didn't make a difference," Abby said briskly. She didn't like to think about that day at all. It only led to her thinking about the interminable hours she and Sam had spent huddled together in the 195.

waiting room praying that Jack would make it through. It was so much nicer to look forward, but Lexi deserved to know.

Lexi turned and enveloped Abby in a hug. "You did everything you could, Mom. You did way more than anyone could have asked.

She shot your husband, and you still tried to save her life."

"Well, I was hoping she'd spend the rest of it in jail," Abby allowed.

There were tears in Lexi's dark eyes as she ignored the joke.

"Uncle Walter really appreciated it. He and Aunt Jan think the world of you."

Lexi had been visiting with Adam's brother and his family quite a bit while she spent time in her father's hometown. Walter had shown her around town and told her all kinds of stories about Adam. Abby had been worried, but Lexi seemed to be enjoying learning about the dad she'd never met and getting to know her little cousins.

"Oh, there's Sam," Lexi pointed out, shaking her head. "I'm going to have to get used to that."

"Used to what?" Abby stared out the window, trying to see what her daughter was talking about. Sam dismounted and went to help Jack, who slapped him across the chest. They bickered back and forth for a moment and then smiled as they walked into the barn to put up the horses.

"How hot my dads are," Lexi admitted with a groan. "I'll never be able to bring friends here. They'll drool over my dads."

Abby slanted her daughter a cautious glance. She had been pleased with how well Lexi had taken everything up to this point.

Abby had to suffer through a few "Moms Gone Wild" jokes, but her daughter had seemed thrilled with the marriage. "It's all right to be embarra.s.sed. I know that this new marriage of mine is...odd."

Lexi grinned at her. "I believe the word you're searching for is bigamy, Mom. Don't worry. I'm going to be a writer. All my friends will just think it's eccentric and cool. Besides, threesomes are all the rage on campus."

196.

"I don't think I wanted to hear that," Jack said as he walked in.

Abby knew he took his new step-father role seriously. He'd groaned when he heard his daughter was dating a musician.

"It sounds perfectly normal to me." Sam followed Jack. Abby had noted how carefully Sam watched Jack since he left the hospital. He was always close, waiting to lend Jack a hand if he needed it. "Now, when we start getting into foursomes or fivesomes, one has to start questioning the morality of the woman involved."

Abby rolled her eyes. He was still on her about that one little book.

Sam had purchased a bookcase and placed it in their bedroom.

He'd lovingly stored her entire collection of erotica, even the really filthy stuff.

Benita walked in and, with a huge smile, announced that lunch was ready. Jack winked at Abby as he turned and started for the dining room. Sam was talking to Lexi and Diane about the renovations they were doing to the house, and Abby hung back for a moment, watching her family walking in for a meal together.

She felt love surge through her heart as Sam said something that made Jack's laugh boom through the house. He'd proven to be a perfect patient. He'd followed her every order. He seemed to bask in her attention and genuinely appreciated the love she lavished on him.

Sam had stepped up and kept the ranch running in perfect order. Any worries he'd had about taking care of things were a distant memory now. Sam seemed surer of himself than ever before, and Jack was more peaceful. Her daughter and her mother loved her new husbands and had accepted them without a qualm.

"Abby, are you coming, sweetheart?" Jack asked, looking back into the living room.

"The roast is going to get cold," Sam pointed out.

"I'm coming." Abby brushed away the happy tears in her eyes.

She couldn't help but cry when she thought of it. It had taken twenty years.

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Well, she thought, it had taken a lifetime, but she was home. She was finally and forever home.

THE END.

www.sophieoak.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Sophie Oak has spent most of her life devoted to the written word.

Prior to becoming a novelist she worked in theater and comic books.

She lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her husband and three precocious children who wonder when mom is going to write a book they will be allowed to read. Her answer: probably never. Sophie believes in happy endings for everyone, no matter how extreme the story. Her stories may feature some of the fringe elements of s.e.xuality, but at the heart they are always about love. Sophie would love to hear from readers. You can write her at

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