KC finally exited the plane, so tired she had to actually think about putting one foot in front of the other. Her body so weary, she couldn’t imagine a time she had been this drained. Not even when Ryan was a baby.
If her estimation was right, she hadn’t slept for close to thirty-eight hours. All that time had been spent traveling and waiting in airports or Navy depots. And severe jetlag encroached. Going to Kuwait hadn’t been this hard.
Her body wouldn’t remain awake much longer. She could probably fall asleep standing up. Didn’t horses do that? Her silly thoughts amused her, but she was too exhausted to laugh.
“KC!”
“Mommy!”
Those shouts lifted her spirits as nothing else could have. She stumbled when she turned, but her lips stretched into a grin and her heart tripped a few extra beats. These males certainly owned that heart.
Max and Ryan cleared the distance to her weaving form and Max’s strong arms wrapped around her middle. Ryan’s wrapped around her legs and if she wasn’t so tired, KC would have normally burst into tears of utter exhaustion and joy. As it was, she didn’t have the energy, or enough liquid in her dehydrated body to cry.
She put a hand to each of them and heard Max’s sigh. His arms folded her closer when he tightened them and she echoed his sigh. This was where she had wanted to be for so long. And now she was. In Max’s arms. Holding Ryan. This was where she belonged.
“We’re not doing this again,” Max murmured into her hair.
KC let out a shaky laugh. “I concur.” She had never been so thankful for anything in her life as she was to be in Max’s arms, with Ryan close.
“Mommy!” Ryan bounced around their legs, and KC thought Max received as many hugs as she, since their son seemed pretty random in his hugging. She bent and folded him close, squeezing him tightly. He allowed her embrace for several heartbeats before he wriggled away.
She went back to Max’s arms, her heart lighter and freer now that she was here. In his arms. The safest place in the world.
KC savored the feeling of both Ryan’s spindly, little boy arms and Max’s strong, masculine ones right before she passed out.
“I’d say exhaustion and dehydration. She needs sleep, liquids, and lots of tender loving care,” a voice said over her. KC couldn’t open her eyelids. They were too heavy. A needle pricked her arm and she figured they were hooking up an IV line. That’s what she would have done.
“Why would the military allow their doctors’ work to this state?” She identified that angry voice as Max’s. She’d never heard him sound so livid before. What had upset him?
“I hear they had a couple of viruses pass through the camps, which means everyone is strung out. A buddy of mine is married to a nurse who was over there. She arrived in the same condition as Dr. Gilmore, here.”
“She collapsed too?” Max still sounded mad.
“Yes. The medical profession is like this. We tend to give one hundred and ten percent and then wonder why we burn out.” The voice was kindly, but firm. KC couldn’t place it. Too tired to care, she sank back into her own little restful world.
*****
“Daddy, why did Mommy do that?” Max, with a guilty start, glanced in the rearview mirror at Ryan. Of course the little guy would be worried about his mother. And as a kid... Max was having trouble dealing with an unconscious KC and he was an adult.
“She’s really tired, Ryan. She hasn’t been sleeping enough. Dr. Latimore thought she’d been awake for more than a day, plus she hasn’t slept much before that, so she needs to sleep.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s been traveling to get home to us.”
“Oh. She’s hewe now. Why doesn’t she wake up and play with us?”
“Ryan, she’s not going to be able to play for a while. Your mom needs to sleep for a few days, okay?” Max didn’t want to sound so stern, that’s just how his statement had come out. But he knew Ryan, so maybe sounding stern wasn’t so bad.
“She can’t play?” Ryan’s voice was small.
“No. Not right away. We’re going to let her sleep.” Max darted a look at the passenger seat. KC lay there in a slumber so deep she looked dead. But he told her he would take her in whatever condition she arrived. So she resembled the living dead, but she was home.
“Okay,” Ryan said, sounding disappointed.
Changing tactics, Max said, “Ryan we need to take care of your mom.”
“We do?” Max was grateful for the interest he heard in Ryan’s voice.
“Yes. It’s our job to make sure she sleeps and eats.”
“Okay,” Ryan agreed and swung his legs. “How will we?”
“We’re smart guys, we’ll figure it out.” Max hoped, as he glanced at KC’s inert form again.
Swinging KC out of the car and into his arms was one of the most satisfying tasks Max had ever done. The solid, warm feel of her, right where he wanted her. He thought she might have lost weight, which wasn’t a surprise. He and Ryan would feed her back to her normal weight.
He brushed his lips against her hair and sniffed. She’d been traveling, after living in the desert, so she didn’t smell nearly as nice as the last time, but Max didn’t care. Too thankful for her scent and the fact she lay in his arms. Right where she needed to be. Where she should be. Max figured he wouldn’t let her out of them for at least the next fifty years. After that, he might be willing to negotiate.
“Max?” she murmured, and her brow furrowed.
“I’m here,” he murmured, grateful she asked for him. Even in her semi-unconscious state.
“Home?” Her voice was little more than a sigh.
“Yeah, baby, we’re home.”
“‘Kay.” Her easy acceptance of his house being home nearly brought tears to his eyes. But this was her home. No matter the convincing he had to do. Provided he found the guts to try.
Looking down at her sleeping face, Max realized he couldn’t let this woman go. Couldn’t allow her to slip out of his life. He needed her too much. And heaven help him if she didn’t need him.