17.

You look like something that came out of a slow cooker.

Text from Phoenix to Amethyst

A METHYST

I knew that it would be a few more hours before we got any more information about Zoey's condition, so I decided to walk with Wren and Roscoe down to the maternity ward so I could detour into the nursery and get a baby fix to help soothe my soul and ease my mind.

Even though I didn't have any patients in the nursery right now, there was always at least one or two babies who could use a little attention. The nurses always welcomed an extra set of hands.

We had just stepped off the elevator when my phone buzzed with an incoming text, so I shooed Wren and Roscoe off to do their rounds since they both had patients recovering from birth and Roscoe had another in the early stages of labor. I was shocked as I read the details of the message from the answering service and hoped it was a mistake.

I turned around and pushed the button to call the elevator back so I could go to the pediatric floor. Once the doors opened, I rushed out toward the nurses' station. A nurse I'd worked with when I first graduated from medical school before I started at the clinic with my family greeted me with a grim smile before she said, "I heard about your friend, and I want you to know that we're praying for her every chance we get."

"Thank you."

"Your patient was rushed to the emergency room by ambulance after suffering from heat stroke," Cheryl said as she handed me a tablet with all of the pertinent information on the case. "A woman loading her groceries into her car spotted him alone in the car next to hers, but he was already unconscious. He's stable now but under constant supervision by a patient care specialist that Child Protective Services sent over."

"And his mother asked you to call me?"

"Yes. She was very firm when she requested that you be his primary doctor. The father argued against it, but it was really up to the specialist, and she agreed since you have history with the patient and the mother obviously trusts you."

I asked, "Did the dad mention that I was the one to call CPS in the first place?"

"He was very vocal about that."

"Good. I'm glad I made an impression. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it stuck."

"I'll come with you," Cheryl offered.

"I'd appreciate that," I said with a sigh. I looked down the hall toward the room my patient had been assigned to and said, "I guess there's no time like the present."

"That's usually what I say about having an ice cold beer."

"I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I could put a couple back right about now."

"Have faith, Dr. Hamilton. Your friend will be just fine."

"She's a fighter, so I know you're right, but it's hard not to worry," I said as I walked down the hall beside Cheryl. We stopped at the closed door, and I took one more look at the tablet to re-familiarize myself with the parents' names and the patient's latest stats before I knocked lightly and then walked inside. I nodded at Susan, Archer's mother, and then glanced over at Archer's father, John. I was happy to see that John's girlfriend wasn't in the room and hoped I wouldn't have to meet her today. Or ever. The limits of my patience and tolerance were stretched thin right now, and I was sure that interacting with her might get me a prison sentence. "Ms. Hayes. Mr. Massey."

"You've got a lot of balls showing your face after what you did."

I slowly turned to face my patient's father and took a deep breath while I counted to ten before I replied. Ms. Hayes took the words right out of my mouth when she said, "You've got no balls considering you let that fucking bitch around our son again."

"It was an accident, Susan. Tell me you've never done something you regret and . . ."

"That's easy. Marrying you ranks at the top of the list. However, that didn't almost kill my son twice, so there's that."

"If you're going to argue, then you should do it somewhere else. He might be sleeping, but the tension in this room will do absolutely nothing to help his recovery," I snapped. With them now silent, I walked over and rested my hand on Archer's soft hair and studied his face. There were dark circles under his puffy eyes, but his breathing was steady. I looked up at the IV bag and checked the fluid rate before I gave instructions to the nurse on how to proceed with his care. Once I was finished assessing him, I hugged the tablet against my chest and faced his parents. "I'm going to keep him in the hospital for at least forty-eight hours for observation."

"I want a second opinion."

"Technically, I am the second opinion since the attending in the ER already wrote the orders."

"Well, I want another one."

Suddenly, I snapped, and all of the professionalism that I'd trained so hard for and worked to cultivate disappeared. "It was 104 degrees today, and the woman you chose to let take care of your child less than a month after she insisted she didn't realize that giving a toddler alcohol to make him sleepy would be dangerous to his health accidentally left him in the car when she went into the grocery store. Making sound decisions clearly isn't your forte, Mr. Massey, because the odds are against her, and I firmly believe that she is trying to get rid of your son because he takes your attention away from her."

"You can't talk to me like that!" When I didn't respond, he said, "It was an accident, and Jill is beside herself with guilt. She'll never let anything happen to Archer again."

"I'm sad to hear that you're willing to take that risk because I'm not. The odds are that the next time your girlfriend has an accident involving your son, it's probably going to kill him." I looked over at the CPS worker and said, "Let your supervisor know that I'll be calling the judge from the previous case to explain what happened today and ask if he'd like to change his opinion on the matter. I'll also be contacting the judge assigned to this case to give him my thoughts on what's safe for my patient. I'm going to put in his medical record that the father's girlfriend is to have no contact with him, supervised or otherwise. As far as I'm concerned, that should be a permanent resolution, however it may come about."

"What the hell? She's my fiancée and soon to be his stepmother. There's no way in hell I'm going to keep him away from her."

"And obviously, you care more about her than you do for your son, so that's enough of an answer, Mr. Massey. I'll make sure and express your opinion to the judge when I speak to him."

For the first time since I'd walked into the room, I saw relief on my patient's mother's face. I decided to make it my mission in life to keep it there. It wasn't often in my line of work that I drew a line in the sand and dared someone to cross it, but this case was definitely one I felt justified in fighting for.

I walked over to the notepad that was on the table by the phone and wrote my personal cell number on it along with my uncle's office number. I handed it across the bed to Archer's mother and said, "Call me anytime, night or day, about concerns for Archer, and call the number to that law office first thing in the morning and ask for Marcus Hamilton. I'll let him know what's happened so far and that you'll be in touch."

"Thank you, Dr. Hamilton."

"As for you, Mr. Massey, it seems that you have a choice to make, and it shouldn't be a hard one. Choose wisely because the decisions you make during the course of this investigation will affect you for the rest of your life."

"That sounds like a threat."

"No, sir. That wasn't a threat, but I'll give you one. Tell your girlfriend that I'll do whatever it takes to make sure she sees jail time for neglect, and if that's not possible, I'll figure out another way to show her that abuse doesn't always just happen to innocent children. Occasionally, it happens to adults, too, and when it does, it's much, much more painful." I handed Cheryl the tablet and smiled at her when I said, "I'll be back to check on him before I leave and then again in the morning. Make a note that the father's girlfriend isn't allowed to visit the room for any reason."

"Yes, doctor."

I nodded at the CPS worker who had been watching the drama with wide eyes and then at Ms. Hayes before I said, "Make the call."

"I'll do it first thing in the morning."

"Good." I looked over at Mr. Massey and smiled before I said, "Congratulations on your engagement, Mr. Massey. I'm sure you and your wife will have a wonderful life alone together."

Since I'd been upstairs for so long, I got on the elevator to go back down to join my family and hopefully get an update on Zoey's condition. When the elevator doors opened, I saw that even more family and friends had arrived, some of whom had traveled from Colorado Springs.

I greeted them all with hugs and hesitant smiles, considering the situation, and then went into the packed waiting room to find my parents. Dad was off in the corner with some of his club brothers - men I'd known as my uncles for my entire life, while Mom was sitting next to Gamma, Aunt Summer, and almost all of the women I loved as if they were blood family.

"Any news?" I asked before I leaned down and kissed Gamma on the cheek.

"What happened?" Mom asked in concern.

"I just went upstairs for a few minutes. One of my patients was admitted."

"Are they okay?" Gamma asked. "You've got a strained look on your face, Amy. Talk to me, sweetheart."

"An odd look?"

"She's being nice. What she means is that you have that crease between your eyebrows that means you're either about to lose your temper or you've already blown up. What's going on?"

I gave them the short version of my patient's history with his future stepmother and watched Gamma's eyes narrow in anger as my mother's face showed that she was plotting a slow and painful death. Their reactions weren't a surprise to me because I knew how the women in my family felt about protecting not just their own children but any child.

"Have you talked to Tiny in the last few hours?"

"I should call him and let him know I won't be able to see him this evening since I plan to stay here," I said as I pulled my phone out.

"You don't know?"

"Know what? I can't take any more bad news right now, Mom."

"Pearl called your Uncle Marcus to go down to the police station because Tiny needed a lawyer. He was arrested at the scene because the officers thought he might have been involved in Zoey's attack," Mom explained.

"How could he have been involved in that? The last I heard, he was going for a ride."

"He was the man who pulled over and saved Zoey's life," Mom explained. "The good samaritan was Tiny."

"Oh my goodness," I whispered. "And they arrested him?" I stood up suddenly and said, "I've gotta go to the station. They can't do that! He'd never hurt her. I know he wouldn't."

"Marcus is on the case, sweetheart. He sent word that Tiny is out and going home to check on his family. I'm sure he'll be here soon," Mom assured me.

"I can't wait to meet him," Gamma said with tears in her eyes. "I owe him my everlasting gratitude. So does everyone else here."

"You haven't met him yet?" Willow asked. She looked at me in question, and I shrugged.

"We've only been seeing each other a few weeks, and he's already met so many of the cousins that I'm already worried he might bolt."

"I'll meet him today, whether he comes here or you take me to him," Gamma said in a tone of voice I knew better than to argue with. "Sam, Carlie, and the rest of the family will want to thank him in their own ways, but I want to get my hands on him and give him a hug."

"I'll text and ask him to come up as soon as he can."

"Do that right now."

By the time I got out of the shower, Tutu had already left to pick up Tameka from school and deliver her to dance class. The boys were together at school for their own sports practice, and Tutu had assured me that she'd explain what had happened over dinner tonight.

In return for her taking care of what was supposed to be my job, especially since this was my day off, I had made a promise that I'd bring Amethyst to meet her in the next few days. Even though I was closer to forty than thirty, I'd even asked if Tutu would mind Amethyst staying over now and then. Tutu was much more progressive than a lot of people her age and said she'd love to have Amethyst around, especially since she knew that she was the reason I'd been smiling a lot more lately.

I hoped Amethyst would agree - not that I worried at all about how she'd handle being around the kids, but because I felt bad that I abandoned Tutu to take care of them from Saturday when I got off work until Monday morning when Amethyst had to go into the clinic. If Amethyst would agree to stay over with me, I could be more present with the kids on my day off and have her get to know my family like I'd already gotten to know so many members of hers.

Once I was dressed, I pulled my hair back and then went outside to fire up my bike. It was hard to explain how relieved I was when I walked out of the police station and found it parked on the sidewalk, shiny and whole with a young man named Duke Conner standing guard. He thanked me for helping his friend Zoey and explained that his boss was her twin before he assured me that there would be no charge for picking up my motorcycle at the crime scene and bringing it over.

I was about to pull away from the curb when I got a text from Amethyst asking me to come to the hospital and letting me know which floor they were on and how to get to the waiting room where she was sitting vigil with her family. The drive didn't take long at all, and within just a few minutes, I was parked and walking toward the building. I was anxious to hear how the officer was doing and knew that Amethyst would have the latest news, but even more than that, I wanted to see her and get things out in the open about why the cops were so eager to arrest me today.

It seemed like all roads led back to the day I almost killed my brother-in-law. No matter how much I'd changed since then, I knew that at my core, I was the same man who so easily beat and tortured another human, even though he was close to the bottom of the rung as far as humanity was concerned. When I asked the woman at the front desk where to find the stairs, she directed me toward the bank of elevators, so I had to ask again. She looked at me like I was crazy and reminded me that I would be climbing four flights of stairs but shrugged and showed the path I needed to take to get to the stairwell. By the time I got up there, I was almost winded, so I decided to consider that my workout for today since it was unlikely that I'd make it to the gym. I walked out into the hallway and knew exactly where Amethyst was waiting with her family because the crowd was overflowing - some men and women sat in chairs alone, others had a man seated with a woman or child perched on his lap, and even more people standing in small groups talking in hushed voices.

I had just reached for my phone to send Amethyst a text asking her to meet me in the hallway when Emerald appeared in the doorway. Her face lit up with a smile, and she hurried my way. I walked toward her, not quite matching her speed, and was surprised when she threw her arms around me and gave me a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you came," Emerald said as she let me go. "Let me take you to Amethyst. I'll let her introduce you to Sam and Carlie, and I'm sure Gamma wants to get her hands on you too."

"I've heard about your gamma. She reminds me of my tutu."

"She's the best. You're gonna love her. Papa Smokey too."

"Amethyst has mentioned him many times. I'm not sure I've got the stamina to keep up with the man. He sounds like a wildcard."

"All of them are, and don't discount the women," Emerald said as she hooked her arm in mine and led me toward the waiting room. "I'll call you a liar if you tell anyone I said this, but the women are much more terrifying than the men give them credit for."

"I believe that, but I'm sure Amethyst isn't nearly as crazy as you think. She's the calmest woman I've ever met."

"Still waters run deep, my friend, and just because Amethyst is better at hiding her crazy than the rest of us doesn't mean it's any less."

"I'll keep that in mind."

I walked into the large waiting area with Emerald on my arm and realized that I recognized more than half the people here. I'd met several of them at the tattoo shop when they came in to see one of my co-workers, my favorite smartass barista was sitting next to the woman who helped me and my niece at the bookstore the other day, the waitress who had served me the best chopped beef I'd ever tasted was sitting with the woman who owned the garage where I rented a bay to work on my truck, and the woman from the bakery who I accidentally proposed to after she served me the most amazing croissant I'd ever had was slumped in her chair, napping with her head resting on Amethyst's shoulder.

Even though I knew that Amethyst had a huge family - some of her blood and some of her heart, I had no idea that they were like threads that connected her to almost every corner of Rojo. The people in the room varied from business professionals to obvious working class and everything in between, and the colors of their skin were just as diverse. Black, white, Asian, and Hispanic people were all represented and intermingled seamlessly just like I wished could happen all over the rest of the world.

"Special delivery for Amethyst Hamilton," Emerald announced cheerfully when we stopped in front of Amethyst's chair.

She smiled at me and then looked at her friend who was sleeping peacefully against her shoulder and whispered, "I want to get up and give you a kiss but . . ."

I leaned forward and rested my hands on the arms of her chair before I gave her a chaste kiss on the lips and stood up again. "Hi, sweetheart. How are you holding up? I understand the officer is one of your closest friends."

"She is. Our fathers grew up together, and I've known her since we were just babies."

"Let me help you," a woman who was sitting on the other side of the sleeping woman said. "Em, swap out with Amy."

As if they'd done it a million times before, the woman lifted the sleeping lady's head so that Amethyst could get up, and Emerald slid into her spot before the other woman gently let their friend's head rest against her shoulder.

"That's Janis. She starts working at the bakery in the wee hours of the morning, so she's learned to sleep anywhere," Amethyst explained.

"And we've learned not to wake her up because she's cranky even when she's happy, but when she's tired, she's like a rabid grizzly with its foot stuck in a trap," the other woman explained. She stuck her hand out and said, "I'm Holly, by the way."

I shook her hand and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Holly is my cousin," Amethyst explained. "I heard what you did for Zoey, Tama'i, and words can't even express how grateful we are."

"I did what anyone else would have done in that situation," I hedged.

"No. Too many people would have just passed by and thought a call to 911 was enough, but by the time help arrived, Zoey would have probably been dead," Emerald argued. She looked at Amethyst and said, "Take him to meet Gamma, and let her go with you when you introduce him to Sam and Carlie."

"That's a good idea," Amethyst agreed as she squeezed my hand. "Come with me."

I walked with Amethyst to the other side of the room, and halfway there, I noticed that the majority of the people were watching our progress. A few of them looked confused and were whispering to each other, but most of them looked happy to see me, their smiles belying their puffy eyes and tear-stained faces. When Amethyst stopped walking, I looked ahead and saw an older woman sitting on the knee of a silver-haired man. Her eyes got wide and began to well with tears as she hopped off her perch and took a few steps toward us. Without a word, she threw her arms around us both. Over her small frame, I watched as the man she'd been sitting with stood along with the couple who were seated next to them.

Suddenly, the woman let us go and grabbed Amethyst's hand as she put her other hand up to touch my face. "Thank you so much, young man. If you hadn't helped our Zoey, we'd be gathered for an entirely different reason."

"It was the least I could do. I'm just sorry I didn't get there sooner."

"I understand that one of the men died instantly and the other is downstairs lingering . . . for now."

"I hadn't thought to check on him," I admitted.

"No sense in it," the woman said dismissively. She sighed as she let her hand drop from my face and said, "It's too bad the other one went so quickly."

My mouth dropped open in shock as the man standing behind her coughed to hide his laughter. He pulled her up beside him as he stuck his hand out to shake mine. "I'm Smokey Forrester, and this lovely woman is my wife Martha."

"You'll call me Gamma like everyone else in my family."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I thought I'd take him to meet Sam and Carlie. They're in the surgical waiting room with Aunt Sandy and Uncle Tink."

"I'll go with you," the woman insisted.

Amethyst squeezed my hand again before she smiled at me and said, "I'm really glad you came, Tama'i."

"I am too."