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A loud crashing noise followed by a yell woke her with a fright. She sat up, sliding her thumb from her mouth as her heart raced frantically.

What happened? What was that?

Pushing the covers back, Maggie stumbled from the bed and out the door. She heard someone yell downstairs. That sounded like Jack!

Without a thought to what was going on or to her own safety, she ran toward the stairs, launching herself down them. Someone had turned the lights on and she could see Jack was crouched at the bottom of the stairs.

There was something else there . . . no, some one else.

“Uncle Willy!” she cried out.

Ian appeared, his phone to his ear, staring up at her in concern.

He ended the call and rushed toward her as she continued down the stairs, nearly tripping in her haste.

“Be careful!” he barked.

“Uncle Willy! Oh my God. What happened?”

“He fell,” Ian told her, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to him.

“Is he all right? Please tell me he’s all right,” she begged, trying to free herself from Ian’s hold.

“Stay calm, Little girl,” Ian said. “He’s going to be all right.”

A sob escaped. “Why isn’t he waking up? Let me go. I need to go to him. He needs me.”

“He’s hit his head,” Jack told her. “It knocked him unconscious, but his pulse is steady.”

“Promise?” Tears raced down her cheeks as she swiped at them and her nose.

“I promise.”

She nodded, trying to slow her frantic breaths.

“An ambulance is on the way,” Ian said. “The best thing you can do for your uncle is to get dressed. And grab your handbag. Can you do that?”

“Yes . . . yes, I can do that.”

Instead of letting her go, he carried her up the stairs and put her down.

“I-Ian?”

“Yes.”

“He’ll be all right?”

“He’s going to be just fine. Now, go.”

She ran.

“Maggie? Sweetheart?”

She opened her eyes. And smiled. Now, this was the sort of dream she liked having. One where she was woken by the most gorgeous man in the world.

“You’re so pretty.”

Jameson smiled, although there was something in his eyes. Something tense and worried.

“Why do you look worried? This is my dream.” She reached up to pat his cheek. “Don’t be sad. Be happy.”

“Maggie, can you wake up for me?”

“Nooo, I don’t wanna.”

“Come on, sweetheart. I know you’re tired, but I need to talk to you about your uncle.”

This was such a weird dream. Why would he want to talk to her about her uncle . . . suddenly, she gasped, sitting up straight.

Her entire body groaned. She’d fallen asleep on some sort of hard bench. In the waiting room at the hospital.

“Oh no! How did I fall asleep?” She jumped to her feet, but the room spun and she would have fallen if Jameson hadn’t grabbed her, holding her steady.

“Maggie!” Ian yelled. “Bloody hell, what happened?”

Suddenly, he was in front of her, trying to push Jameson out of the way.

“She’s all right,” Jameson said calmly. “She just got up too quickly. Chill, Ian.”

“Maggie?” Ian asked.

“I’m all right. I just got a td dizzy.”

“She needs to be sleeping in a proper bed, not on a damn bench,” Ian snapped. He sat and drew her onto his lap.

She might have enjoyed being in his lap if it weren’t for the worry running through her.

“We’ll get her into bed soon,” Jameson soothed.

She shook her head, ignoring the way her stomach bubbled with nausea. “No. I need to see Uncle Willy. Is he all right? Did he wake up? What’s going on?”

“He woke up briefly,” Jameson told her. “He’s going to be all right. We did an MRI and some X-rays. He has some swelling from where he hit his head. We’ll monitor him, but on the whole, he’s in pretty good shape. Amazingly, he didn’t break anything. He just has a few bruises.”

She let out a sigh of relief.

“I know when you arrived that Doctor Myers spoke to you about any allergies or anything we needed to know about him, but I wondered if I could talk to you about a few things.”

She licked her dry lips, staring up at him. What did he know?

“When your uncle woke up, he was very disorientated, which is understandable. But he seemed to think he was back in the past.”

“Did he?”

“We’ve sent for his medical history but that could take a while. Is there anything you can tell me?”

“I, uh . . . can we speak in private?”

Jameson nodded understandingly. “Of course. Come with me, we’ll talk in my office.”

“She can’t go anywhere without me,” Ian said, closing his arms around her protectively.

Jameson sighed. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“No.”

“Fine. You can wait outside my office.”

“All right.”

Jameson nodded, then stood and reached out a hand to her.

But Ian stood and lifted her into his arms. Then he moved her around so she was pressed to his firm chest with his arm under her bottom.

“Ian,” she murmured.

“Hush, Little girl. You’re too exhausted to walk. And I need to hold you.”

She gave in.

What was she going to say? Was she really going to protest?

They walked in silence to Jameson’s office. Ian put her down on a chair, then crouched in front of her. His hand went to her chin. “I’m outside if you need me.”

Part of her wanted to beg him to stay. But she knew she couldn’t do it. With Jameson, she felt like she didn’t have a choice but to tell him. He would find out anyway. And if he was Uncle Willy’s doctor, then he couldn’t tell anyone, right?

So she let Ian walk away, even though she could tell he was reluctant. The door closed behind them.

“Can I . . . can I see my uncle?”

Instead of sitting behind the desk, Jameson moved to sit beside her. He turned his chair to hers. “Of course. Although he’s sleeping right now. Which is also what you should be doing.”

“I already slept. I just want to see him.”

“very well. I’ll take you there after we talk.”

“Thank you. He really is going to be okay?” she asked.

“I think so. We need to keep an eye on him. It was quite the fall, and he’s lucky he didn’t do some serious damage to himself.”

“Is he on his own?” Worry filled her.

“No, sweetheart. Jack is watching him. And a nurse will check on him all the time.”

“Okay . . . okay.”

“The two of you are close?”

“He’s the only member of my family who loves me unconditionally.”

As soon as she said the words, she wished them back.

“What?”

“Forget I said that.”

“Maggie,” he said in a warning tone. “Are you sure that’s true?”

“Sadly, I am. But that doesn’t matter. Taking care of Uncle Willy does. He’s always looked out for me.”

“He was very confused when he woke up. It could just be the head injury, but when we did an MRI of his brain, we noticed that there was some shrinkage of the Hippocampus and . . .”

“He has early onset dementia,” she blurted out.

Honestly, telling someone was actually a relief. There was no one she could talk to about this. Uncle Willy hadn’t wanted her to tell anyone.

Sympathy filled Jameson’s face. “Oh, baby.”

She sucked in a breath, unable to take that from him. That look. Him calling her baby.

Jack’s name for her. She kind of wanted Jack right now. For him to grin and make a joke.

“I’m so sorry, Maggie.”

She nodded, unable to speak without bursting into tears. She’d shed enough tears over the last . . . what time was it, anyway? Sun streamed through the window in Jameson’s office. She glanced at the clock on the wall. Shoot. It was just after eight in the morning.

“He doesn’t . . . he doesn’t want anyone to know. So you can’t tell anyone.”

“Sweetheart, no one will think any differently of him.”

“Of course they will.” He couldn’t be that naive.

Jameson bit his lip. “Ian and Jack should really know this. They will be around him the most. What if he gets disorientated and confused? Upset?”

“Then I’ll be there.”

“Sweetheart, he fell down the stairs and has a concussion.”

She felt those words like they were hits to her body. Was Jameson saying that this was her fault? That Uncle Willy had been disorientated and fallen because she hadn’t been waiting up for him?

“This is . . . it’s my fault?”

Jameson’s eyes widened. “What? No, no! Sweetheart, that wasn’t what I was saying at all. None of this is your fault.”

But she thought it was. Deep down. What if he’d needed her and she hadn’t been there? He might have been searching for her.

Maggie rubbed at her chest. Why couldn’t she take a full breath? What was wrong with her? She gasped and rubbed harder.

“Easy. Hey, everything is all right. Maggie, look at me.”

She ignored him. She couldn’t breathe! Panic flooded her.

“Maggie. Look at me.”

The command in his voice shocked her into glancing up at him.

“Now, I want you to follow my directions.” He put her hand on his chest. “We’re going to breathe nice and slow. In and out. I’m going to count. In. One. Two. That’s it. Out. One. Two. And again. No, you’re not allowed to look away. Listen to me. In. One. Two. Out. One. Two. You’re doing so well. And again. That’s it. Well done, I’m so proud of you.”

Jesus.

What was he doing to her? As the panic faded, she started to feel warmth flooding her. She needed more praise. More. More.

So greedy.

“That’s better. Good. Nice and slow. No. Don’t close your eyes. Keep looking at me. Good girl.”

She shuddered. Did he know what those words did to her? She stared down into his concerned green-blue eyes. “So pretty.”

Jameson shook his head. He was crouched in front of her, looking like a dream come to life.

“I’m not the pretty one. And you’re hurting my street cred every time you call me pretty.”

“You have street cred?”

“Hey, brat. Yes, I do. I’m going to have to start punishing you whenever you call me pretty.”

Yeah, she’d take those punishments. She grinned. What was wrong with her? Her head was spinning. She felt tired. Weighed down.

As if he’d just realized what he’d said and that he was still touching her, he dropped her hand and moved back. Standing, he walked behind his desk.

Ouch.

So he really didn’t want to risk her touching him, huh? She tried to shore up her defenses. To keep the hurt from showing on her face.

“I’m sorry. That was completely unprofessional of me.”

That’s why he was worried?

Okay . . . now she felt worse. He didn’t even consider them friends?

Well, he barely knows you . . .

And the more he does, the less he likely wants to know more.

Urgh, shut up, subconscious.

“Maggie? Are you all right? Do you have a headache?”

“I’m good,” she lied. Her head was thumping. “Just an internal struggle.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that any of this is your fault. And, of course I will keep quiet about your uncle’s condition if that’s what you both want.”

“It is.”

“I am worried about his safety. If he is becoming disorientated, then he could wander off. He could hurt himself or others.”

“We don’t know that’s what happened,” she said. “And he’s usually doing really good. He’s never hurt himself or others.”

Except for her.

But that was her secret.

“All right. Well, we’ll see how he is when he wakes up. But if something happens again, you might have to reconsider his care options.”

“He’s not going into a home,” she said fiercely.

“I wasn’t suggesting that, sweetheart. I mean, uh, Maggie. Do you have help back home? Are other family members aware of what’s going on?”

“We’re fine. I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”

His frown deepened and he opened his mouth, but she took the opportunity to stand. “If that’s everything, can I see him, please?”

“Sweetheart, this is too much for you to take on alone.”

“I didn’t say I was alone. I have a family.” But she wasn’t telling any of them. Uncle Willy wouldn’t want that. “I want to see my uncle.”

“All right.” He moved to the door and opened it.

Ian filled the doorway. “What’s going on? Maggie? Why do you look worse? Shit. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said to him. She couldn’t deny the surge of relief at seeing him.

He’s not your safe place.

None of them are. You can’t rely on them. It will make it that much harder when it’s just you again.

“I don’t believe you. What did you tell her?” Ian barked at Jameson.

Jameson sighed. “Ian, I can’t tell you anything about her uncle and you know that. Maggie wants to see him. Are you coming with us?”

Ian just grunted. But when she followed Jameson out, he brushed his hand over hers.

Letting her know he was here.

And it brought tears to her eyes.

Just keep it together.

They walked down a corridor where she saw Jack up ahead, watching them. His dark gaze narrowed as she grew closer.

“Maggie?”

“I’m fine. Really.” She managed a smile for him. “It’s just been a long night.”

Jack reached out and tucked some hair behind her ear.

“After you see your uncle, you’re going home to bed,” Ian dictated.

Yeah, they’d see about that.

Jack opened the door, but as she went to move past him, he placed his arm out to stop her. Then he leaned in.

“Whatever you need, I’ll get it for you. Just ask.”

She glanced up at him and he winked at her. Some of the tension in her body eased.

“Thanks, Jack.”

Moving into the room, she sucked in a breath at the sight of Uncle Willy. He looked so small and pale.

Older.

She let out a small grunt of pain.

“It’s all right. Remember, he’s woken up and we’re monitoring him. His stats are stable.” Jameson’s voice was soothing and she soaked it up.

Okay. So maybe she’d lean on them all for a while. Later, she could establish some barriers between them to protect heart.

“Sit down,” Ian commanded, guiding her to a chair beside the bed.

She dropped down as he pressed on her shoulders. Then she took Uncle Willy’s hand in hers.

“We’re staying for twenty minutes,” Ian said. “Then you’re going home to sleep.”

Sure. Uh-huh. Whatever.