And then I was on hold, listening to what sounded like elevator music for a good five minutes. Trae moved up behind me, not actually touching, but close enough that the heat of him pressed into my spine. It felt safer—which I guess was odd considering the man himself was as far from safe as I could ever get.
“Doc Macy here,” a deep voice suddenly said into the receiver, making me jump a little. “How can I help you?”
“Doc, it’s Destiny here. Rian McCree’s daughter.”
“Jesus, girl, where have you been for these last eleven years? Your dad worried himself sick.”
“It’s a long story, Doc, and not one I can explain over the phone. Where’s my dad?”
“He’s in Lubec. We had to move him into a nursing home.”
I rubbed a hand across my eyes, fighting the sting. Fighting the fear. “How bad is he?”
“Pretty bad. The disease has taken his feet, and most of his internals are on their last legs. I don’t actually know how he’s holding on.”
He’s waiting for me, I thought. He knows I’m coming. “Where is he?”
“Twin Pines Nursing Home. It’s run by a friend of mine—one who understands your dad’s needs.”
Understood what he was, in other words. At least we didn’t have to worry about medical staff uncovering odd genetic differences and reporting them. “Then you’ll know he won’t want to die in that place.”
“No.” Doc Macy paused. “I’d advise heading straight there, Destiny. He hasn’t got long.”
I closed my eyes, but really, he wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. “Can you arrange his release, then?”
“I’ll call as soon as we finish up here.”
“Thanks for looking after him, Doc.”
“There’s few enough of us left in this world, my girl. We have no choice but to look after each other.” He paused, and I heard papers shuffling. “I’ll get Mike to look after all the official stuff.”
“Thanks.”
I hung up the phone and turned around. Trae’s arms went around me, and for a moment I allowed myself to melt into his embrace, to sink deep in the sense of strength and resolve that was so much a part of this man’s makeup.
“He’s in a nursing home in Lubec,” I said softly. My face was pressed against his chest, and the beat of his heart was a rhythm that seemed to flow from his skin to mine, making it seem in that brief moment we weren’t two but one.
His lips brushed the top of my head, a feather-light kiss that sent heat shivering through every nerve ending, making me tingle.
“You want to leave right away?”
“I have to,” I said, and pulled away from his arms. The day felt suddenly colder. “But there’s a car in the trees at the driveway entrance, and I think they’re Marsten’s men. We need to deal with them on the off chance they pick up the tracker signal as we pass.”
“They’re not a problem at the moment. I knocked them out and tied them up when I first got here. The car is pretty unnoticeable, so we should have some lee-way before anyone realizes they’re missing.”
“Good. We’ll need it.”
He raised a hand and gently brushed the hair from my cheek. “Why is time so important?”
“Because as I said, Dad is dying, and he wants to do it here, not in some nursing home.”
Understanding dawned in his eyes. “A sunrise cremation?”
I nodded even as tears filled my eyes again. I ducked my gaze away from his, and reached down to grab the comforter. “We’ll need this to wrap him in. He’d like that.”
Trae raised an eyebrow but didn’t question me. I dug the keys out of my pocket and handed them to him. “You drive, I’ll direct.”
We left the house and made our way back to the car. It didn’t take us that long to drive to Lubec, but I had to stop and ask for directions to Twin Pines, because I had no idea where it was. The town had grown since I’d last seen it.