Bree choked on her final words as tears welled in her eyes. Damien was horrified. Was Sierra really in love with him? She couldn’t be, because she never would’ve betrayed him if she was.

“Where is she?”

“You don’t need to go there and upset her all over again. I swear if you hurt her again, you’ll have to deal with me!” Bree threatened.

Damien looked at the petite girl before him, not standing more than a couple inches over five feet, weighing less than half of him, and he realized she actually thought she could harm him. The thought was so absurd it made him smile, which was apparently the wrong move on his part. He jumped when the heel of her shoe slammed down on his foot.

“Damn!” he shouted as his toe began to throb. She knew how to aim those things. He glared down at her.

“Do not laugh at me, Damien Whitfield. You may think that me and my family are horrible people, but we love each other more than you could ever comprehend. I consider Sierra my family, and I swear I can take you out if you so much as make one more of her tears fall,” she roared.

Damien almost staggered again as the realization hit him that he liked her, he actually liked this woman he’d thought of as his enemy for so many years. He fought the warm feelings building inside toward her, but he couldn’t stop it.

“Let’s go,” he said, his voice gruff.

“What?” It was Bree’s turn to be confused.

“You obviously aren’t going to tell me where she’s located, so you’ll just have to drive me there,” he commanded as he locked his door and swiftly walked down the stone steps. He eyed her small convertible with suspicion as he glanced at the open roof and the grey sky.

Oh well, nothing like living on the edge, he thought as he maneuvered his large body into the small passenger seat. He suddenly had sympathy for sardines.

“I didn’t invite you in my car,” she said as she eyed him with suspicion.

“Well, too bad. You’ll just have to deal with it because I’m going to see Sierra.” He crossed his arms as he waited for her to make her decision.

With a roll of her eyes she finally climbed in, then gave him an evil smile before she threw the car into gear and pealed out of his driveway.

Damien grabbed the door handle, thinking he may have been a bit too rash in his decision to ride with the woman. She was obviously insane. He tried to yell for her to slow down, but as their speed picked up and she wove around traffic on the busy Seattle freeway, his words were carried away by the self-made wind.

He said a prayer for the first time in his life.

They arrived at the hospital and Damien really hoped his legs would hold him up. He hadn’t been that frightened since he was a young boy. As he touched solid ground again, he looked over at Bree with her ridiculous Cheshire grin. His respect went up another notch, dang it.

“Just remember, Whitfield, you’ve been warned,” were her parting words before she preceded him into the hospital.

Damien had no trouble keeping up with her as she moved through the hallways of the vast hospital. She stopped in front of a closed door, sent him a final warning with her eyes, then slowly turned the knob and walked inside.

Damien was stunned silent by the sight of Sierra. There were wires coming from seemingly everywhere, and a machine next to her with consistent monitoring beeps coming from it. Her face. Her poor face. Her right eye was bruised and swollen, and a scrape ran across her chin. The rest of her body was covered, but he almost didn’t want to know what it looked like.

“Her leg was broken, and she has two cracked ribs. The leg happened on the stairs. To the paramedics who came, it looked like the bruise on her side indicated someone had kicked her – hard.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Damien said, his voice quiet, but deadly truth lying behind his words.

“Not something a man who doesn’t care would do,” Bree taunted him.

He glared at her before moving to Sierra’s bed. It was his fault. He knew Douglas was a horrible man and he was under no disillusions that parents were always perfect. Though his mother had beaten him regularly, it was never to this severity. Looking at Sierra, he thought he’d had it pretty good.

Before he knew what he was doing, he lifted his hand and gently brushed her hair back. Her eyes fluttered as they slowly came open.

She looked at him with a sweet smile as if they were waking up on any ordinary day.

“Morning,” she mumbled, then flinched as she tried to move.

“Don’t move,” he warned.

Her eyes widened as she slightly shook her head, then looked around. Damien felt his heart clench as he watched the sweet smile disappear as reality set in. She looked back to him, and he saw her trying to mask her emotions, too weak to pull it off.

“What are you doing here?” she asked with a little hoarseness in her voice, while looking past him at Bree.

“Bree picked me up,” he said. He didn’t know what he was doing there.

“You hate her, though,” she rasped in confusion.

“Thanks, Sierra,” Bree mockingly said, but with humor.

“Yeah, well, she’s kind of stubborn,” he answered with a sheepish grin. “She has a hell of a stomp, too.”

Sierra looked between the two of them in shock as they both smiled. He couldn’t explain it to her because he couldn’t explain it to himself.

“He shouldn’t mock me when I’m being serious,” Bree countered.

“Yes, I’ll be sure not to do that next time.”

“Next time?” Sierra asked with hope. Damien looked at her, surprise radiating from him. She was lying in a hospital bed with broken bones, her body bruised, her future uncertain, and what she was most concerned about was his relationship with Bree.

He turned to Bree and looked at her with new eyes. Could his mother have lied to him? How could a monster inspire such loyalty, such love? He thought back to everything he’d found on the Anderson’s. All of it contradicted what his mother had said, but he didn’t want to believe that.

He couldn’t.

“Sierra, are you feeling any better?” Joseph asked as he walked in the room with a giant bouquet of flowers, balloons and a stuffed animal.

“Yes, Joseph, much better, thank you. You really shouldn’t have gotten me this room, though. I was fine in the other one,” Sierra answered softly.

“Of course we weren’t leaving you in that room. I’m so sorry your father would dare do this to you. If he wasn’t already in jail, I’d go give him an ass kicking right now,” George said as he bent down and kissed her forehead. “I have a couple friends on that force, maybe they can sneak me in,” he added with hope.

“No you won’t George Anderson, and before you even think it, neither will any of the boys. You won’t stoop to that man’s level by getting in a brawl. He won’t ever come near Sierra again. Now, quit talking about him or you’re going to upset Sierra,” Esther, George’s wife, said as she walked in behind him.

George’s shoulders slumped as if he was really disappointed he didn’t get to go give a whooping to the man.

“Thank you, George. Your concern means the world to me,” Sierra said as a tear fell. George bent down and tenderly hugged her before stepping away, giving Esther a turn.

Damien turned to Bree and mouthed, it wasn’t me, while pointing at his eye and implying the fresh tear from Sierra. He enjoyed the way Bree’s eyes opened in surprise at the joke. He was starting to realize Bree just may take him down if he made her best friend cry again. The love and affection was overwhelming in the room and though it was a foreign family sensation, Damien loved being a part of it.

“Damien, I brought this with me. It’s yours so you should have it back,” Joseph said as he stepped beside him and placed a small toy in his hand. When he looked down and noticed the faded D.W carved in the bottom of the wooden rocking horse, he felt a lump form in his throat.

“I’m not ready,” he said, his voice a bit gravely.

“Take all the time you need. All we ask is that you give us a chance,” Joseph said, respecting Damien’s need for space.

“I need to think. You focus on getting better, Sierra. I need you better. I’m so sorry I was such a jerk. I’ve really missed you…,” Damien said as he reached down and reassuringly squeezed her hand. She nodded as her eyes grew watery, but no tears fell, thankfully.

He wanted to lean down and kiss her, but it was too much right then. Without saying anything more, he gripped the small rocking horse in his hand and walked from the room.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“I’m sorry, Mom, but you let me down. You lied to me my entire life, preventing me from having a family who loves me, and you almost cost me everything. You did cost me years – many years of happiness. You used your hands as punishment, you cut me down, and still, I loved you. I tried my best to honor you. What I’ve come to realize in the last three months is that you didn’t deserve my honor or respect. I won’t come back here again. What you did to me was unforgiveable. I hope you’ve found happiness wherever you are, I truly do, but I’m done with your burdens.”

Damien stood over his mother’s grave, a solitary flower in his hand. He’d come to say goodbye. For the last three months, he’d slowly gotten to know the men he’d vowed to harm, the cousins he’d thought were so evil. He found them the opposite of everything he’d ever believed. They were kind and caring, and he actually had a lot in common with them when he let go of the bitterness.

His mother had been wrong. He’d never know why she’d made up the lies she did, never understand how she could deliberately try to damage her son so deeply, but he had to let it go. There was nothing he could do about the past. He did, though, have control of his future.

A pang hit his heart as he thought of his future. He’d tried speaking with Sierra a couple weeks after she’d gotten out of the hospital, but she’d told him he needed time to bond with his new family – he needed time to heal.

He missed her. In a few short months, she’d shown him so much more than he ever thought he deserved. Her passion for life, her unguarded love, when in all rights she should’ve been even more bitter than he was. She had a natural light about her that drew people in, and he wasn’t immune. He wanted so much to be with her.

With new resolve, he turned, determined to make her listen to reason. They were meant to be together. As he looked up, his mouth lifted in a sad smile.

“I thought you could use a shoulder to lean on.”

“More than you know,” he said as he fought back his emotions.

Trinity wrapped him in a hug and he leaned on his best friend, grateful she was there.

“I figured you’d be here. You always visit on her birthday, though I’m glad you finally realize she doesn’t deserve it. I’m sorry, Damien, I’m so sorry for what you went through. I’m sorry she was such a bitter, cruel woman. I’m so impressed with the man you’ve turned into. That’s all because of you, because of what’s in your heart. You’ve chosen to be a good man even though you have every right to hate the world,” Trinity said as she cried in his arms.