By Her Side

Chris glanced at the clock on the wall and cringed. It was quarter after eleven. He should have called home the minute he’d gotten to the police department. Maybe by some stroke of luck everyone would be sleeping.

As Sergeant Evans pulled the squad car into the driveway a few minutes later and Chris saw a light glowing behind the curtains in the family room, he knew the chances of sneaking upstairs without disturbing anyone were slim. Hopefully it was his mom waiting up for him. Nora tended to listen first and ask questions later. His dad was just the opposite.

He opened the car door and Sergeant Evans pulled a business card out of his pocket and gave it to Chris.

“I’m sure you’ve got your future all figured out, but give me a call if you’re interested in the ride-along program,” he said.

Chris tucked it into his back pocket and paused to watch the squad car cruise away. Then he remembered the three chapters he should have had memorized by now. Sighing, he slipped in through the front door and stepped carefully around the floorboards near the coatrack that had a tendency to squeak. He’d been busted by that squeak on more than one occasion over the years.

“It’s about time. If you didn’t show up by midnight I was going to call the cops.” Heather didn’t even glance up from the textbook cradled in her lap as he tried to slink past the family room.

“That’s who I was with.”

Chris waited for her reaction and it didn’t disappoint him. Heather lifted her nose out of the hallowed pages of the College Prep Advanced English text and her mouth dropped open.

“What are you talking about?”

He flopped into the chair across from her and gave her a play-by-play of the last few hours, ending with Sergeant Evans’s invitation to take part in the ride-along program.

“You’re going to, aren’t you?” Heather ventured cautiously. “You want to. I can see it on your face.”

Chris closed his eyes. How could he put it into words? He didn’t quite understand what had happened, either. All he knew was for the first time in months, thinking about his future didn’t give him that restless feeling. He felt excited instead.

“Come on, Chris,” Heather urged quietly. “Talk to me. I know you’ve been having a hard time.”

That shouldn’t have surprised him. It was the weird bond between twins everyone liked to talk about. It was true, though. He’d always felt closer to Heather than he did to his older brothers. Womb-mates, she laughingly called them. Even though he and Heather were close, there were still some things she didn’t understand. How could she? Everyone but him was a round Hamilton peg that fit into a round Hamilton hole.

“I did something that mattered tonight,” Chris said. “And it felt good. Something bad might have happened to Rich if I hadn’t stepped in. He was scared to death. So was I.” He could admit it now but it hadn’t stopped him from getting involved.

“But Dad…” Heather began, and then hesitated, not wanting to put a damper on his excitement.

She didn’t have to. Chris had weathered his father’s disapproval at various times over the years but even now he wasn’t sure he could stand strong under the weight of his disappointment.

“Pray about it first, Chris,” Heather said.

Her words hit him with the force of a pile driver. He had prayed about it.

If You have something in mind, God…You better move fast….

A sense of wonder washed over him. Maybe he’d already received the answer. Because even though he’d just spent the past hour with a group of police officers—people he’d never met until tonight—he’d felt like he fit in.

Chapter One

Present Day

“Time for the second shift to take over, Mrs. Hamilton. You’re officially off duty.” Chris slipped into the hospital room and wrapped one arm around his mom’s slim shoulders, shoulders that felt too fragile to carry the weight that had been put on them recently.

Nora lifted her head and smiled at him. A genuine smile that momentarily eased the tired lines in her face. “Chris. I didn’t think you’d be able to come by this evening.”

“I talked to Jason and rescheduled my training. Thanks to all the times you’ve fed him supper, he owes me.” Chris kept his voice low because he could tell his dad was asleep. “How has he been today?”

“The same.” The words came out with a ragged sigh and Nora’s smile faded. “He did wake up a few hours ago, muttering orders.”

Chris thought that might be a good sign. As weak as his dad was, he’d be more concerned if Wallace wasn’t trying to run Hamilton Media from his private room at Community General Medical Center, where he’d been transferred recently following a bone marrow transplant in a Nashville hospital. Just when he was feeling well enough to be released, a low-grade fever had weakened him enough to keep him at Community General longer than they’d anticipated.

“I’ll be here if he wakes up again,” Chris promised softly. “Go home for a while, Mom.”

Maybe a few hours of rest wouldn’t completely erase the tiny creases that fanned out from the corners of his mother’s eyes, but Chris figured it couldn’t hurt, either. Nora had been incredibly strong during the past few months after Wallace was diagnosed with leukemia. Several rounds of chemotherapy hadn’t been successful and finally Dr. Strickland, the oncologist in charge of Wallace’s care, told them that only a bone marrow transplant could save him. Everyone in the family had been tested and none of them had been a match. Still, Nora had held up under the strain as the search began for another donor.

In a time span that convinced them of the power of prayer, a donor had been found and the transplant had taken place. Now it was just a matter of time—waiting to see if the transplant would be successful.

Nora’s faith and encouragement had kept them all going. The compact leather Bible she was holding in her lap was a permanent fixture in the room, giving them all strength and comfort when they needed it. But now…

It wasn’t the bluish shadows under his mother’s eyes that worried him. It was the shadows in her eyes. They’d appeared when Chris’s older brother, Jeremy, had walked out on them and abruptly resigned from his position at Hamilton Media. Wallace had decided it was time to divulge a family secret and the bomb that he’d dropped—that Jeremy wasn’t his biological son—had rocked the entire family. To make matters worse, in the midst of all the turmoil, his youngest sister, Melissa, had taken off for parts unknown with her boyfriend.

At a time when the tough fabric of family should have held them together, it probably felt to Nora, with her caring mother’s heart, that they were being torn apart.

And he didn’t know how to help her.

In fact, it seemed to Chris that he didn’t know how to help anyone. Even using his contacts at the police department, he hadn’t been able to find Melissa. And he certainly couldn’t do anything to keep Hamilton Media going. Tim had stepped in and taken over as CEO while his sisters did their part to keep things running smoothly. All he could do was sit in the chair next to his dad’s bed and make sure his mother remembered to eat and sleep.

As if she read his mind, Nora gave his hand a squeeze. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Chris forced a smile and bent down to brush a kiss across her temple. “I’ll call you in a few hours.”

“I used to scold Melissa for calling you Officer Bossy, you know,” Nora said, a faint glimmer of humor in her eyes. “Now I understand why she gave you the nickname.”

Hearing his baby sister’s name, frustration surged through him. Melissa must have known that her disappearance would only be another burden for Nora to carry. He’d done enough “search and rescue” missions with Melissa when she was floundering through her turbulent teens to last a lifetime. Not that he’d stop trying to find her now, even though she was an adult.

Maybe he didn’t always feel like he had a lot in common with his family, but he’d give his life to protect them.

“If Vera Mae lets me in the kitchen, I’ll make you and Jason a carrot cake,” Nora said, returning the Bible to the nightstand. She knew he’d read it later.

“I’m not sure you can do that in your sleep.”

“I can’t sleep,” Nora said simply. “But I do need to make some phone calls and take care of a few things at home.”

When she stood up, Chris hugged her, wincing when he realized his suspicions were correct—she’d been wearing loose-fitting clothes so no one would notice she was losing weight.

“You can make us a carrot cake if you promise me you’ll eat half of it,” Chris whispered in her ear.

Nora chuckled. She knew she wasn’t fooling him. “Maybe just a slice.”

After she’d left, Chris took her place beside the bed.

He still hadn’t gotten used to seeing his dad look so vulnerable. The chemo and the effects of the transplant had ravaged Wallace’s lean, aristocratic features, leaving his skin pale and waxy. For Chris’s entire life, his dad had been a force to be reckoned with. When he’d gathered his courage as a high-school senior and told him he was going into law enforcement, the silence that greeted his announcement was more deafening than if Wallace had yelled at him. He hadn’t tried to change his mind, but Chris had felt an invisible wall between them ever since.

He’d take their awkward conversations any day over none at all.