Loving Laura (The Cantrelle Family Trilogy) by Patricia Kay Page B

you think it’s important for us to find out who sent me that money?”
    “I don’t know,” Neil said honestly. It might have been sent by a good Samaritan who didn’t want to be thanked and had a perfectly good reason for not just donating the money to the Survivor’s Club. On the other hand, it might have some other, darker, connotation. All Neil knew for sure was that he was mighty curious. He smiled at Alice. “But I’d sure like to know. Wouldn’t you?”
    She nodded, then stood up. “I’ll look for the stub. But right now if I don’t get hopping, Jimmy will be late to his Boy Scout meeting.” She turned to the boy. “You’d better hurry, honey. Go get your uniform on.”
    After Jimmy left the room, Neil said, “I’m going to the hospital. Do you want me to drop him somewhere on my way?”
    “Oh, Neil! I completely forgot to ask about Norman. I heard about the accident.” She hit her forehead. “God! What’s wrong with me?”
    It didn’t surprise him that she’d heard. News traveled fast in Patinville.
    “How is he?” she asked, concern etched into her face.
    “Holding his own as of this morning.” He quickly told her about the loss of Norman’s leg and brought her up to date on his prognosis.
    “Oh, Neil. Your poor parents. Is there anything I can do to help?”
    Neil put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her close for a minute. “No. But thanks for offering.”
    “Is he allowed to have visitors?”
    “Only family right now.”
    “Well, I’ll keep checking on him, and when he’s up to it, I’ll go see him.” She smiled sadly. “I’ve always liked Norman.”
    He dropped a kiss on her cheek. “You’re a pretty special lady, you know that? I was afraid you wouldn’t even let me in the door today.”
    “I’ve never blamed you, Neil.”
    “You had every right to.”
    “That’s crazy, and you know it. What happened to Jimmy was his own fault.”
    “I wish I knew what made Jimmy leave the apartment that night. I’ll never understand it.”
    “Well, Jimmy was impulsive. You know that.”
    “I know, but he was also a good cop. He knew better.” Neil sighed wearily. “No, I should never have left the stakeout.”
    “Neil,” she said, exasperation now evident in her voice, “What choice did you have? When Erica showed up, you had to get her out of there. And you
told
Jimmy to call for backup.”
    “Yes, but I should have had some control over my personal life,” Neil said stubbornly. He’d been over this so many times.
    “The Department knew you were having some serious problems with Erica. According to the testimony, even Lt. Richardson knew Erica had called several times with emergencies that turned out to be false alarms. They should have pulled you off that stakeout, made sure you got your home life straightened out. They
knew
she was unstable where you were concerned. If I blame anyone, I blame them.”
    God knows that’s what he wanted to think. Thinking like that would go a long way toward making him feel better, but was it realistic? The fact remained that he
had
left the stakeout when he wasn’t supposed to. That Jimmy had urged him to go, said he’d call for backup, didn’t lessen the guilt he would always have to shoulder.
    “Come on,” Alice said softly. “Let’s not talk about this anymore tonight. Here’s Jimmy, ready to go. And if you were serious, I’d love for you to drop him off at the Scout Hut.”
    So twenty minutes later Neil was pulling up in front of the small frame building that housed Patinville’s Boy Scout troops.
    “ ’Bye, Neil,” Jimmy said as he scrambled from the car.
    “ ’Bye, sport.”
    “Will you be back to see us?”
    The boy’s eager face smote Neil. “You can count on it,” he promised.

Chapter Six
     
    Laura stared at the closed door to Norman’s room, heart pounding and mouth dry. For the past four days, ever since she’d told Neil she intended to marry Norman, she’d worried that she wouldn’t be able