A Rose in Shadow

Chapter 82

Samantha had wrapped the bread carefully in paper and tied it with red and white twine. It almost looked like a lovingly gifted present, which Adam supposed it actually was. He noticed his mother's expression change to that of pleasure. Apparently even women weren't immune to Samantha's charms, Adam mused.

Putting an arm around Samantha's waist his mom reached out blindly with her other hand to Adam, trusting that he would take it, the loaf of bread held tightly in her hand by the string, before leading them both toward the house. On the porch the rest of the family waited and watched and Adam could see the repressed anger cross the features of all of the McCabe men when they took in the bruises Samantha was wearing.

Last night while the family had been catching Mackenzie up on what had happened, Adam excused himself to the bedroom to call his parents. It was late but he wanted to fill them in. If Samantha wasn't up to the visit tomorrow then they wouldn't be making Sunday dinner either. His dad answered on the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, dad. Sorry to call so late."

He could hear rustling in the background and his mother's voice. "Hold on, Adam, we're going to put you on speaker." More rustling before he could hear his mom more clearly. "Okay, honey. What's wrong?"

Hearing her voice brought tears to Adam's eyes and he took a moment to swallow and clear his throat, blinking them back.

"I know that I told you that I'd met Samantha through work but I hadn't told you the circumstances. I can fill you in on most of this later but the short version is that someone had become fixated on her and was stalking her" he heard his mom gasp. "I wasn't sure if Patrick might have already mentioned some of this to you".

"Today he broke into our apartment while I was at work and held her hostage. He hurt her" his voice cracked again and he heard his dad swear.

"Jamie was able to get in and get the guy down. Samantha's okay" he could hear his mom softly crying and pushed on. "She needed a few stitches to her temple and had a cut on her cheek. Her wrists were rubbed raw from the ropes that he used to restrain her and she had some of the fibers caught in the cuts so they worried about infection a bit but think that they got them all." He was talking on auto-pilot now "I told you that she's almost finished her nursing, right, so she knows what to keep an eye for".

His dad's voice interrupted. "Son."

Adam closed his eyes.

"She's okay" he murmured. "Anyway, I know that this is a lot to lay on you at this hour and I'm sorry. I just wanted to let you know as much as I could now. We're still planning to come for dinner tomorrow, Samantha is insistent, but if she's not feeling up to it we won't make it"

"Don't worry, honey" his mom added. "Call us in the morning".

"We love you, son" this from his dad.

"I love you both too."

Adam and his brothers had been raised by their parents to be respectful, of women, of their elders and to never raise their hands to another person in anger. The boys, given their professions, acknowledged that in some instances physical confrontations were unavoidable and were sometimes the only way to diffuse a situation but at these times the goal was always the same, for everyone to be safe with minimal harm.

As they neared the house, Patrick jumped down the three stairs from the porch to the ground and, eyes determined, strode over to Samantha where he scooped her from his mom's embrace and squeezed her tightly. Samantha smiled lovingly at him and touched his cheek with her hand before kissing him gently. Sensing Patrick's concern for her she gave him a tight hug, letting him hold her until he was ready to let her go. Leaning back she patted his chest and looked directly into his eyes. "I'm okay, Patrick. Really". She gave him a reassuring smile when he squeezed her again and kissed the top of her head. Letting out the breath he had been holding he released her and stepped back to grab her hand.