The Phantom of Black's Cove (15 page)
Read The Phantom of Black's Cove Online
Authors: Jan Hambright
Five Months Later
Olivia couldn’t stop her hand from shaking as she brushed the top of Ross’s head, smoothing his hair in a nervous gesture.
Five months of waiting for the formula to be produced boiled down to this one moment.
Jack pulled the plunger down on the syringe, filling the hypodermic with NPQ. This was Ross’s dose, the one that had been stolen from him all those years ago by Mildred Redmond and given to her son, Benton, instead. It was only right that he received it now.
Tears burned the back of Olivia’s eyes. There were so many possibilities ahead. Her and Jack’s wedding was less than three months away and she’d have her baby brother back…whole again?
Jack shoved the needle into the IV line and depressed the plunger. He’d already reached for Ross’s thoughts
and found his mind active and filled with questions much like his sister’s was most of the time.
Glancing over Ross’s head, he gazed at her, witnessing the broad grin on her lips, and he found himself praying Ross’s awakening would be everything she needed. The annihilation of her guilt and resentment.
The clinic had been razed. It was a new beginning for them all.
Ross’s fingers started to twitch, uncoordinated movements that slowly fell into sync.
Excitement pulsed in Jack’s body. He knelt next to Ross, searching his face for signs of cognitive thought.
A weak noise rumbled in his throat, rising out in a burst of sound.
Jack felt Olivia’s hand on his shoulder. He reached up to cover it.
It was working. The NPQ was working. Putting Ross’s broken pathways back together, stimulating his motor skills.
Granted, there were months of physical therapy ahead, but they had therapists lined up and ready to help.
“Liv…Liv….” The name formed and sputtered from his mouth.
Olivia couldn’t believe it. She knelt in front of her brother. “I’m here, Ross. I’m right here.” Reaching up, she pressed her hand to his cheek, staring into his eyes and seeing recognition for the first time in thirty years.
He was going to make it. He was going to come back to her.
A smile tugged on one side of Ross’s mouth and her heart squeezed. She had Jack to thank for this miracle.
It was true. Love made you strong. And she planned to be the strongest woman in the world.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3475-2
THE PHANTOM OF BLACK’S COVE
Copyright © 2009 by M. Jan Hambright
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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