“I was unconscious?”
“Yes, you were.”
Brad was quiet while watching Josh entering more data into the computer. “Can I ask you one question?”
“Sure.” Josh never looked up from the computer.
“Who are you?”
*****
Ben was accosted when he made his way into the outpatient surgery waiting room.
“Ben! Do you know how Brad’s doing? Have you heard from him?” asked Emily. He was surprised to see all of four of Grace’s siblings along with her mother and father.
“Brad? Did something happen to him? I just got a message from him that... that Grace was... that she had a... uhmm... medical appointment.” He coughed into his hands, attempting to hide the rush of blood to his face. He hadn’t understood Brad’s message, but he knew his brother was upset about Ben’s fabricated story. He’d arrived to do damage control, hoping to avoid having his cockamamie story leaked to Grace and her family. Grace would kill him if she found out.
“You heard from Brad?” asked Spencer. “Was it before or after the accident?”
“What accident?”
Emily explained. “The one where Brad was running away from the hospital while carrying Grace and fell and busted his head open. Josh took him to the emergency room, and we’re still waiting to hear how he is. I thought he would come tell us or call us or something.”
“Why aren’t you over at the emergency room?”
“We’re still waiting for Grace to come out of her biopsy,” said Olivia.
“Grace is having a biopsy? I didn’t know that.”
“Then why are you here, anyway?” asked Olivia, with a shrewd stare through lowered brows. “Do you know something about why your brother tried to kidnap our sister from outpatient surgery?”
“Yeah,” Emily tilted her head as she spoke. “He didn’t seem to know she was having a biopsy. He said something about ‘not letting her mess up her face.’ Do you know what he was referring to?”
Ben felt sweat trickling down his back. “Uhmm, no. I promise, I didn’t know she was having surgery at all. She didn’t tell me about the biopsy or anything. I thought she was teaching school today.”
Emily’s shoulder’s drooped. “I just don’t understand what could have happened.”
Hannah said, “Oh look! They changed the status on her number.” The family rushed to stare at the screen.
“In recovery,” said Spencer. “I thought this was a simple procedure. Why does she have to be in recovery?”
“Because she insisted on an IV. She has to recover from the anesthesia,” his mother explained.
“This spoils all our plans,” said Claire. “We can’t get Brad to come talk to her because he’s in the emergency room.”
Ben was still trying to decipher the meaning behind Claire’s comments, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to face Olivia, who drew him to the side.
“I want you to know I’m on to you.”
He slapped his most convincing innocent expression on his face. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t answer Emily’s question. You talked around it instead.”
“I have no idea—”
“Nope, that won’t work—I recognize word manipulation. I’ve honed that skill by necessity as a younger sibling with a bossy older sibling. I suspect you’ve done the same. Pushing buttons, making suggestions, influencing emotions, skirting the truth.” She lifted an eyebrow and leaned back with her hip cocked and arms crossed. “Am I right?”
His mouth twitched into a grin before he could stop it. “Sometimes I go a bit farther with Brad than skirting the truth. It’s possible this is one of those times.” He bent forward to lock his eyes with hers. “But you can’t let Grace find out. Brad, I can handle, but I’m a bit afraid of Grace.”