With another blink, reality slammed into her and tears sprang to her eyes. Sammi was gone.
She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears and the memories of the past couple of days. Simon delivering the news, the stressful drive to Dallas, the huge pit in her stomach as she’d met with a blurry cast of police, court and Child Protective Services representatives, and funeral officials. Then the hours of trying to get Hannah to stop crying.
Hannah.
She sat up and spotted her niece across the room, curled up and sleeping in Simon Teague’s arms. She didn’t know whether to be thankful or annoyed. By the sound of his breathing, he’d gone to sleep, too. Though how he could sleep with his big frame in that atrocious chair, she had no idea. Normally, she would love the idea of him being knotted into kinks when he woke up, but she couldn’t muster her normal animosity toward him. Especially when he held Hannah so firmly and safely, ensuring she wouldn’t tumble onto the floor.
She took the opportunity to really look at him, those long legs and strong arms, the handsome face with angular lines, the blond hair that was always lighter in the summer but now had darkened to its winter color that was more like straw. She’d never thought a man holding a baby could be sexy, but he somehow managed to pull it off.
Or maybe despite everything, she had to admit that there was a good reason Sheriff Simon Teague could charm any woman from the grandmothers manning the Hospital Auxiliary booth at Blue Falls Hospital to her niece. He was sexy as hell.
She had to get him out of her room before she forgot that he wasn’t her favorite person. That he was the one who’d let Carter ruin his life.
Focusing on that old anger, she slid from the bed and strode quietly over to where he sat. As she reached for Hannah, his eyes opened.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, sounding way too concerned for her liking.
“I need to take her before you drop her.”
He glanced down at Hannah snuggled against him, her little chest rising and falling in contented sleep. For the briefest, craziest moment, Keri envied her niece.
Instead of handing Hannah over, he pulled his legs beneath him and stood, careful not to jostle Hannah too much. “You want her in the bed or the carrier?”
She gave up trying to extricate her niece from him. “The bed.” She flicked back the covers and watched as he eased Hannah onto the bed. Thankfully, she didn’t wake up. Rather, she curled onto her side and hugged the bunny close.
Though she risked waking Hannah, Keri couldn’t resist dropping a kiss onto her baby-soft cheek as she tucked the covers around her. When she turned away from the bed, Simon was rotating and stretching his arms.
“They go to sleep?”
“Yeah, got the pins and needles thing going.”
Why was she engaging him in conversation? She wanted him out of the room, out of Dallas, back out of her life.
And yet, she wasn’t so blind and callous not to recognize what he’d done for her. She’d gotten some much-needed sleep all because he was willing to help and be uncomfortable, not something he had to do. It didn’t make everything okay between them, but she was one to give credit where credit was due.
“Thank you,” she managed, something she couldn’t have imagined saying to Simon again only two days ago.
“No problem. She’s a sweet kid.” He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but instead he shifted and headed toward the door. “See you in the morning.”
She nodded and followed him. This time, she didn’t shut the door behind him quite so quickly. If pressed, she’d say it was because she didn’t want to risk waking Hannah. Under no circumstances would she admit that his actions in the past twenty-four hours had softened her view of him.
One day of helpfulness didn’t make up for not telling the truth when it mattered most.
* * *
SIMON HAD TO ADMIT IT was way better waking up in a bed than a crappy chair, even if the bed wasn’t his own. The kinks he’d felt after holding Hannah for hours were gone, but he’d have no problem sleeping for another couple of days.
He lay staring at the ceiling and listening. No crying. He wondered if Keri and Hannah were still sleeping or had headed down to the lobby before the complimentary breakfast was over. At that thought, his stomach growled. He’d managed to eat a few bites of his barbecue dinner while he waited for Hannah to get tired but had left the rest behind in Keri’s room when he’d retired to his own. Maybe he could nuke the rest of the sandwich.
Unwilling to get up quite yet, he reached for his cell phone on the nightstand and dialed his office.
“Sheriff’s Department,” Connor Murphy, one of his deputies, said on the other end of the line.
“It’s me. How’s it going down there?”
“Fine. Snow’s pretty much all gone now. How’s Keri?”
“Been better.” Though she was holding up better than a lot of people would. But then she’d always been a tough cookie. He remembered how Clark Furst had teased her when she’d started developing breasts and how he’d gotten her fist to his jaw as a result. Sammi had been an athlete, too, but she’d had more feminine tendencies than Keri.
He closed his eyes and rubbed his calloused hand over his face. Still didn’t seem real that Sammi was dead.
“You headed back today?” Connor asked.
“Not sure yet.” Depended on when the funeral was. If it was quick, there was no point in driving back to Blue Falls only to have to turn around. “I’ll call in later once I know more. Listen, I need you to run some checks for me. Try to locate Keri’s brother. If I know Carter, there will be a ticket or arrest somewhere that’ll point us in the right direction.”
“Will do. I’ll let you know when I find something.”
Once Simon hung up, he dragged himself to the edge of the bed and stretched his back and shoulders. That’s when he noticed the sheet of paper tucked under the door. Thinking it was the hotel bill, he retrieved it. But it wasn’t a computer printout. He opened the piece of hotel stationery.
Sunshine came to pick us up early this morning. Thanks for your help.
Keri.
He knew she was going through a horrible time, but something about the note made him angry. He stared at her writing and it hit him. She couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Even after all these years, she still couldn’t forgive him.
Well, that was partly his fault, wasn’t it? She thought he hadn’t told the truth in the aftermath of Carter’s first arrest, and he hadn’t. Only her idea of the truth and what had really happened weren’t the same thing. Not that it mattered anymore.
He crumpled the paper into a tight ball and tossed it across the room into the trash can.
He’d done his duty. If he were smart, he’d just head home.
But then he wasn’t the Teague brother most accused of being smart, was he?
* * *
SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE BROUGHT Hannah. As Keri sat in the front pew two days later, staring at the open caskets of her sister and brother-in-law, she kept hoping Hannah wouldn’t notice her parents. She didn’t want her to have nightmares, not like the ones Keri feared she’d have after this dreadfully long day was over.
Hannah still clung to the bunny Simon had given her, despite the fact Keri had bought her half a dozen other new toys. Keri tried not to be irritated, especially since the bunny was keeping her niece occupied as she sat on Keri’s lap.