She knew how much her mother loved her work and how much her father was looking forward to being retired. Seeing the thrill in both of her parents’ eyes warmed her heart even further.
When she mentioned that they would neighbors soon and explained that Conner had asked her to move into the new home with him, they were both thrilled.
By the time they left the pizzeria, she was drained, and they spent the rest of their day snuggling on the sofa and watching movies as the rain turned into snow.
The following morning, she sent Conner off to work after a large home-cooked breakfast before heading to work herself.
Conner still didn’t like that she walked to work each day, but since she enjoyed it, she convinced him that it was easier than driving the few blocks.
He’d even tried to convince her to purchase a small car for the short drive.
That morning, however, with the fresh snow on the ground and a thick chilly fog in the air, she had added an extra layer to stay warm.
Passing the flower shop, she waved at Suzie and Kate. The women were busy changing out the front window display in preparation for Halloween, which was only three weeks away. As a business owner, Kara knew that holidays tended to spread out and start early since customers were eager to get into the spirit.
She was just about to turn the corner when she heard tire squeals. She had a moment to tense just before something hit her on the side of her head, just above her ear. Her left arm jerked forward as if it had been hit by an invisible force. The sting in both places didn’t register until her body was flung towards the pavement. The echo of the gunshots registered the moment she hit the fresh snow, looking up into the dark grayness of the sky.
Her only thought, as the cold and grayness overtook her, was that she hadn’t told Conner that she loved him yet.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Don’t you dare die on me,” Conner begged Kara as he looked down at the blood-soaked snow beneath her body. He was holding a clean rag against her temple. Or trying to, at any rate. His hands were shaking so bad that he worried he wasn’t doing any good to stop the flow of blood coming from the wound.
Suzie had called him less than five minutes before, screaming that someone had shot Kara.
Conner had arrived at the scene at the same time that Aiden had. Aiden was focused on the blood coming from Kara’s arm, while Conner could only focus on Kara’s face.
Her lying on the corner of the street soaked in blood was the worst thing he’d ever seen. She was as pale as the snow surrounding her, the snow not soaked in red, at any rate.
“God damn it, where is that ambulance?” Aiden cursed. “We need more blankets,” he said over his shoulder to Suzie and Kate.
It was then that Conner noticed that both of them were only dressed in jeans and sweaters, which were all covered in blood.
“I’ll run back and grab some more,” Kate said, taking off quickly towards the store.
“We need to move her,” Conner suggested.
“No.” Aiden shook his head. “Not until we know if she’s been hit anywhere else. We can’t chance her losing more blood. She’s already lost a lot.”
It seemed to take the ambulance forever to get there. By then, they had covered her with a few more blankets to keep her warm. Aiden had tied a tourniquet around her upper arm and was yelling into his radio while he continued to hold the blood-soaked towel to her temple and spoke softly to her.
“Kara, sweetie, wake up. Open your eyes,” he kept telling her over and over. But her translucent eyelids remained stubbornly closed.
He was pushed aside as the emergency medical crew started working on her.
Just as they were loading her into the back of the ambulance, Robin came running up the street. She hadn’t even put on a coat or boots and was only wearing a sweater, jeans, and tennis shoes.
When she noticed the blood all over the snow and him, she cried out, and Conner had to catch her to stop her from running after the ambulance.
“Aiden’s going to drive us to the hospital,” he told her. “He can speed.” He followed Aiden to the waiting cop car, pulling Robin along with him.
He didn’t care that he was, himself, soaked in blood. Conner’s eyes were glued to the back door of the ambulance, watching the shadows of the crew working on Kara in the back. He counted his heartbeats as the patrol car sped behind the ambulance.
Robin asked him questions, demanding answers, and he was thankful that Aiden answered them. It was impossible for Conner to even speak at this point. If anything happened to Kara, he doubted he would ever be able to put a sentence together again. His entire body ached; his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest.
Robin reached over and took his hand in hers, and he looked down at them. His hand, sticky with drying blood, and hers, pale and so much like Kara’s that he felt tears sting his eyes.
“She’s going to be okay,” Robin kept saying.
He turned his eyes towards hers and noticed that she was crying as well.
Pulling her into his arms, he closed his eyes and sent up a silent prayer.
The three of them stormed the emergency room shortly after they wheeled Kara inside and disappeared through double doors.
“You guys wait here. I’ll see if Aaron is around,” Aiden said quickly.
Doctor Aaron Stevens, Conner’s uncle, could be found some of the time at Edgeview hospital. Every surgery his uncle did was held at the newer facility they were now standing in.
“Who would do this?” Robin asked as they stood just inside the outer doors. “Why? Why shoot Kara?”
His mind snapped to what Suzie had told Aiden about seeing the blue truck speed away after they’d heard the shots and noticed Kara lying in the snow.
“It’s all my fault,” he whispered. “My family’s.” He closed his eyes and swayed slightly.
Robin’s arm reached up to steady him.
“Aaron’s not here,” Aiden said as he approached them. “But Dr. Karen Logan is. She’s a friend,” he told Robin. “She’s assured me that she’s working on Kara now and will let us know as soon as she can.”
Aiden motioned to the chairs. “We’d better sit down.” His eyes ran over Conner, and he nodded towards a bathroom. “Why don’t we go clean up first?”
Conner glanced down at his dark blue uniform and noticed the deep blood stains and the caked-on blood that covered his hands.
He followed Aiden to the men’s restroom and scrubbed up as best he could.
When they stepped out, the small waiting room was filled with Kara’s family and his own.
He was wrapped in his mother’s arms, followed by his father’s. Only then did he allow himself to lose it.
He felt even more arms wrap around them and heard others crying around him.
While they waited, speculation ran wild. Aiden was in constant contact as they hunted for the same blue truck that had sprayed them with dirt and rocks.
“It’s got to be Thomas Carson’s goons. I just can’t figure out why they’d go after Kara,” someone said.
“He came to the barn and talked to Kara a few months back. He said he was a lawyer and had an offer on our property,” Robin said. “Then he stopped by and talked to me a few times.” Her eyes moved to his. “I told him we weren’t going to sell. He seemed to grow more agitated each time he stopped by. He kept claiming to be a lawyer and when I told him I knew who he was, he dropped the facade and offered me double what we paid for the property.”