Jean looked down at her plate for a moment, then back up at him. “I believe I would.” She took a deep drink of the excellent wine. “Tell me everything you know.”
7
GEMMA AWOKE SLOWLY and spent a few minutes remembering what had happened. She’d been on Colin’s shoulders, then in his arms. Someone had yelled a warning, Colin had jumped to one side, then fallen, but making sure he didn’t land on Gemma. She remembered getting up, but after that was a blank. Right now, her left side ached and her head felt a bit cloudy, but otherwise she was fine.
She was in a room that looked like a cross between a bedroom and a hospital unit. The bed had controls to raise and lower it, and near her was a big machine that kept up a rhythmical beep, but the rest of the furniture was homey and comfortable.
The most extraordinary thing was that curled up in a big blue chair, sound asleep, was an angelically pretty little girl, about eight years old. She was clutching a fat teddy bear that was dressed like a pirate, complete with a purple vest and gaudy jewelry.
The child stirred, and when the bear nearly fell, she opened her eyes. She had long dark hair and deep blue eyes and very long lashes. “Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” Gemma answered back and started to sit up. Under the thin blanket she was still wearing her jeans, but her shirt and bra had been replaced by a hospital gown.
“No one saw you,” the girl said as she sat up straight in the chair and yawned.
“Saw me?” Gemma asked.
“With no clothes on. Uncle Tris made the men leave before he examined you. That’s okay because he’s a doctor.”
“I’ve heard of him.” She was trying to look at the big bandage over her ribs.
“My mother says that all the women in three counties know about her brother.”
Gemma smiled as she managed to sit up. “You wouldn’t know what happened to me, would you?”
“The whole world saw everything.”
Gemma looked at the girl in question. What did that mean?
“When you climbed on Uncle Colin and got that boy down, Deputy Carl filmed it, and he put it on YouTube.”
“That’s not good,” Gemma said as she swung around to get out of bed, but she was dizzy, so she lay back down.
“Uncle Tris gave you happy drugs.” She lowered her voice. “He thinks I don’t know what narcotics are, so that’s what he calls them to me. He’s afraid I’m going to grow up to be a drug dealer.”
“I have to agree that that wouldn’t be a good choice of careers.”
The girl stood up, her bear held tightly to her. “This is Landy. Would you like to shake his hand?”
“Sure,” Gemma said and held out her hand to grip the fuzzy paw. The bear wore a patch over its left eye. “Named for Orlando Bloom?” she asked.
The child’s eyes widened. “Nobody knows that. Uncle Colin said you were smart and you are.”
“What else did Colin say about me?”
“Just that he was worried that you were going to die. Uncle Tris said that if Uncle Colin didn’t sit down and shut up he was going to give him some happy drugs.”
Gemma smiled. “What’s your name?”
“Nell Sandlin. My daddy is in Iraq.”
“Oh,” Gemma said and offered up a silent prayer for the man’s safe return.
“When he comes home, Momma says we’ll move back to Detroit—unless she can get Daddy to stay here in Edilean.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want my daddy to come home. We can live in an igloo, I don’t care. Just so my daddy is with us.”