“Yeah?”

“Finley, honey, don’t hang up on me.”

Jesus.

She had to be f**king kidding.

Aunt Debbie.

His back went straight, his eyes lost focus, he felt Rees take her head off his shoulder and her eyes come to him.

“You got nerve,” he whispered into the phone.

“Mom called,” she told him then amended, like he was a moron and didn’t f**king know who she was talking about, something she did all the f**king time, “Your Gram, it was your Gram who called. But I can’t get hold of her to find out what’s going on.”

“That’s ‘cause everyone in The ‘Burg’s been phonin’ her and Gramps and Mr. Haines and I’m the only one of us stupid enough not to turn off my phone.”

“Do you have any news?”

Fin was silent.

Her voice was trembling when she whispered, “Fin, honey, do you have any news about my sister?”

“You bought this,” he whispered back.

Her voice broke on the word, “Don’t.”

He said nothing.

“I’m getting on a plane. Leaving right now,” she whispered. “But please, please, I need you to talk to me,” she begged.

“Do not come here,” he ordered.

“Fin –”

“You promise not to come here I’ll keep you informed. You do not call my Ma. You do not call my brother. You do not call my grandparents. You got his number, you absolutely do not call Mr. Haines. You hear whatever you’re gonna hear from me and you wait for it. You don’t call me. You get me?”

“But I have –”

“You come here, Aunt Debbie, I swear to God, I’ll kick you out of the hospital myself. Now if you wanna know what happened to your sister, you wait until you hear from me.”

There was silence then, “There’s no news?”

“She’s in surgery.”

“She’s been in a while.”

Fin had no reply to that because she f**king had. Forever. A f**king eternity.

“Listen, people here are freaked,” he told her. “I got folks to take care of. You with me on this deal or do we got more problems from you?”

Another stretch of silence then, “I’m with you on the deal, Fin.”

“Right,” he muttered then hung up and turned off his phone.

His eyes went back to Mr. Haines and he knew he’d heard everything when he nodded at Fin but he did it only once.

Then he looked away.

Rees pressed closer and he looked down at her.

Pain there too.

God, did he look like that? Because he sure as f**k felt like it.

“You okay?” she whispered.

“No,” he answered.

She smiled a lame smile, pressed even closer and clarified, “No, Fin, I mean about your Aunt Debbie.”

“No,” he repeated.

She held his eyes then dropped her head so her forehead was pressed to his chest. Then her arms slid around his middle, her head moved so her cheek was resting on his chest and she held on tight.

Jesus, his chest hurt. Like a burn deep inside. Sometimes it got so hot he found it hard to breathe.

His eyes caught movement and he saw No, his face white, had got up from his seat. He was moving to his Dad. He got close and touched his Dad’s arm. Then he got closer, rounding his front. Then Fin watched No hug Mr. Haines, his arms around Mr. Haines’s waist, Mr. Haines’s arms going around No’s shoulders, one of his big hands at the back of No’s head shoving No’s face in his neck.

Fin knew No was crying or close to it. The shit that went down, Fin didn’t blame him.

But even as Mr. Haines kept hold on his boy, his head was up, his eyes trained to the door like he could make someone appear there by staring at it. He’d been doing that almost since they got there. And he held his son and did it now.

Fin dipped his chin and called softly, “Babe.”

Rees’s head came up and her eyes went to him.

“Go to your Dad and No,” he ordered and her eyes drifted to her father and brother. Then he watched her lips quiver.

Seeing that, sitting where he was sitting right then, waiting on what he was waiting on, he sure as f**k hoped to God he didn’t see Brandon, Troy and Jeff again in his lifetime. He promised his Gramps and Mr. Haines no retribution but, he saw them again, all bets were off.

Rees finally nodded, slid her arms from around him and got up. He watched her walk to her Dad and brother and when she got there, she burrowed in. Like they did it every day of their lives, they accommodated her naturally into their huddle.

He was watching that so closely, when he felt his hand taken and squeezed, it came as a surprise. He looked to his right expecting to see Gram.

His Ma was shifting her butt into the seat beside him.

He stared at her but she didn’t say anything. She just held his hand tight, resting it on her thigh. About a second later, Kirby came and sat down at her other side. She took his hand too and held it on her other thigh.

Well, she’d snapped out of it. Finally. She was his Ma again. The good one that did Mom stuff all the time, the little stuff and, like now, the big stuff.

At least that was good.

Fin’s eyes drifted to Gram and Gramps who were sitting together, Gram’s head on Gramps’s shoulder, her hand on his stomach, their eyes to Fin, his Ma and Kirby.

Fin jerked up his chin.

Gram smiled a smile she totally didn’t mean. Gramps pressed his lips together and looked at his lap.

Fin’s chest started burning hot.

He looked to the floor. It was the wrong direction but he figured God wouldn’t mind.

Please, please, let her be okay, he prayed.

God didn’t reply. He never did. But his Dad and Ma told him God was always listening.

So Fin hoped He got the message.

*

Alec Colton walked into the waiting room and saw Mike standing there, his arm around his daughter’s shoulders, her front pressed to his side, both arms wrapped tight around his middle, his son standing close.

Mike’s eyes came direct to him.

Then he bent his head and said something quietly to Rees.

She looked up at her Dad as Colt approached. Then her eyes came to Colt. Then No moved across the front of his Dad, grabbed his sister’s arm and gently pulled her away.

Colt stopped a foot away from Mike and they both watched as No led Rees to Finley Holliday. She sat down and Holliday instantly draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her tight to his side. No sat down next to her and, still pressed tight to Holliday, Clarisse took her brother’s hand.