31.

*Joe*

I sat in a chair in the waiting room, staring down at my hands, which were clasped between my knees, close to the floor. The room was cold, but I didn't even notice. Sure, I knew the title of every magazine on the table and had memorized the faces of everyone that had walked through the waiting room since I'd been there, but I wasn't totally alert. Part of my mind was devoted to thoughts of Katelyn.

And thoughts of our baby.

When we'd first shown up in the ER, I had fabricated a story of my wife falling and hitting her head on the coffee table. I had told them that she was pregnant and that she'd been unconscious when I found her, which had sent the doctors and nurses into a frenzy. I'd heard so many people speaking at once that I wondered how they could get anything done above the din of voices.

"I need oxygen in here."

"Check the fetal heartbeat."

"Pulse is too fast."

"Blood pressure is too high."

"We need to get her to an MRI."

"No detectable blood loss."

"Sir, we need you to leave," a slightly overweight nurse with a bun of brown hair told me, touching my arm gently.

"I can't," I whispered softly. "My wife…"

She smiled sadly at me as if she understood. "I know, sir. We'll take care of her, I promise." And I had let her lead me to the waiting room, where I had taken a seat and waited. Zach had come in not long after that. "What do you want me to do?" he'd asked.

"I killed him," I answered simply. "He's back in the motel room."

"I'll get rid of the body," Zach had promised and then gestured to the closed doors of the rooms down the hall. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Probably," I said. "But I don't know about the baby."

Zach's expression turned sad. "I'm so sorry, Joe."

"I want her in that safe house as soon as she's released form here," I said. "It was stupid of me to stick her in a motel in Roseville."

"It wasn't stupid," he said. "You left no traces. This guy was just good. Where should I dump the body?"

"Anywhere you want," I said. "In the dump or in the woods somewhere. Let the buzzards have him."

"I'll get it done," he said. "And I'll make sure the safe house is ready for Katelyn."

"Thanks," I said. "And would you mind moving everything from the motel room to the safe house? I know that's a lot of work…"

"Nah," he said, waving it away. "It won't be hard at all. I'll get it done by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you. And Zach?"

"Yeah?"

"I still want you there," I'd told him. "To guard her."

He nodded. "I'll do it."

"Thank you."

"Anytime," he said and smiled before leaving.

I snapped out of the memory when a nurse in pink scrubs approached me. "Mr. Henshaw?"

I looked up. "Yes?"

"Your wife is stable. You can see her now."

I stood up so fast that the nurse blinked a couple of times. "What about the baby?"

She smiled comfortingly at me. "The baby's fine. They're both fine."

I breathed out a sigh of relief and followed her down the hall and into Katelyn's room. A doctor was at her bedside, asking her questions and writing her answers down. He smiled at her, promised to check in soon, and then left, along with the nurse, leaving me alone in Katelyn's room.

She gave me a timid smile. "Hey."

I smiled back at her. "Hey."

"So, the baby's okay," she said. "I just had a concussion and they were worried-"

"I know," I said as I approached the bed. "The nurse said that you're both going to be fine."

She nodded. "I know. I'm so relieved."

I sat down. "Katelyn… Rider…"

"He's dead," she said and smiled at me. "I know. I saw his body."

"And you're okay?"

She nodded. "I hated him, Joe. Sure, he used to be my best friend, but the guy that used to be my best friend and the one that showed up in the motel tonight are two totally different people. I didn't even know him anymore, Joe."

I nodded slowly and sat down gently on the bed beside her, taking her small hand in mine. I stroked the back of her hand with my thumb and breathed out. "I was so scared, Katelyn. I was just going to stop in to visit you and I come in and he's there… attacking you…"

"How did you stop him?" she whispered. "He was so strong; so angry..."

"Have you forgotten who I am?" I asked with a smile. "I'm Joe freaking Solomon."

She laughed and I sighed, serious again. "It scared me so much."

"I know," she said. "I was really scared, too."

"Katelyn," I said, picking out my words very carefully so that she didn't think I was calling her incompetent. "I want you to go to the safe house as soon as you're released from here."

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "Why? I thought that everything wasn't ready yet and-"

"I know," I said quickly. "But it's getting taken care of as we speak."

She didn't ask any questions. "Okay."

"I just want you to stay safe," I said softly, kissing her on the temple. "I need to keep you and the baby safe."

She nodded. "You know that I wouldn't be agreeing to hide if it weren't for this baby."

I smiled, knowing that it was true. If Katelyn wasn't pregnant, there was no way in hell that she would stay in a safe house to be protected. She would want to be out there fighting. She was far too independent for that. "I know."

The nurse that had led me to Katelyn's room came in then. "I need to give you a quick shot, dear. For the baby."

Katelyn nodded.

The nurse administered the shot quickly and then left. Katelyn's eyelids began to droop and I smiled at her. After a quick kiss, I said, "Sleep tight."

"I love you," she whispered.

And she was already drifting when I replied, "I love you, too."