Diana forgot her irritation with Andy as they started toward the main door of Harborview Hospital. She practically jogged to keep up with him. He pulled open the front door for her and waved her in, and she didn’t miss the distant, odd look in his eyes before he glanced away. He didn’t touch her back, her shoulder, or try to take her hand, as he’d done earlier. He walked straight to the information desk, and Diana followed and stood beside him when he asked the woman with short jet-black hair about Jed Friessen.
“Diana.” It was a deep male voice that called out.
She turned and saw Brad, Jed’s brother, walking toward her, wearing faded blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a jean jacket, with a fairly new tan cowboy hat on his head. He had the same powerful build as Jed—the same heavy stride. Damn good-looking, but then, all the Friessen men were.
“Brad, you’re here. Did you see Jed?” She ran toward him.
Andy was all of sudden beside her, too, reaching out and patting Brad’s arm. “Rodney called you?”
Brad spoke over her head to Andy. “Dad called as soon as they got Diana’s message. I grabbed a ride on a floatplane heading to Seattle as soon as I heard they were moving Jed. I got here right after he arrived.”
It took Diana a minute before she realized Brad was watching her with deep brown eyes, a shade darker than Jed’s. He rested his large hand on her shoulder and squeezed before pulling her into his arms. She rested her head against his chest but felt stiff as a board.
He stepped back and looked down at her, his face an image of concern. “Diana, are you okay, honey?”
“You didn’t answer me about Jed. Where is he?” Her voice sounded pathetic even to her own ears.
Brad glanced over her head, again at Andy, and that set her blood to boil.
“What the hell is wrong with you Friessen men? I’m not some mindless twit, and when you don’t answer, I’m thinking the worst, that something has happened to my husband.…”
“Hey there, Diana.” Brad kept his hand on her shoulder, holding her as though she was his responsibility and he expected her to fall apart. “Come over here and sit down.” He tried to lead her to the lobby, where the sofas and chairs were, but Diana stopped after a few steps and smacked his hand away.
“Brad, for God’s sake, please. Where’s my husband?”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and moved her toward the sofa. “Diana, I want to talk to you about Jed. Sit down, honey.”
Diana finally relented when she noticed people staring at her in the lobby. She was causing a scene. Brad sat right beside her. Andy stood in front of her, his arms crossed.
“Jed’s upstairs in ICU. They need to take him into surgery. There is pressure on his spine. He broke it in two places, and they need to put in a screw.”
“Oh God, Brad.”
“Diana, they’re most concerned with the head trauma. He has a skull fracture, and there is a bone fragment pressing on his brain. They have to go in and relieve the pressure.” Brad never took his eyes off her. He was Jed’s older brother, a man she didn’t know very well, but Jed idolized him, always had. Brad now owned the family ranch outside Hoquiam, where Jed grew up, with new wife, Emily, his autistic son, Trevor, Emily’s little girl Katy from her first marriage, and their new baby, Becky. What she did know about the Friessen men was that they were all about family.
“I want to see my husband.” She said it again because she needed to see him—to touch him—and until she saw him, this gigantic ache in her chest wouldn’t ease.
Brad glanced up again at Andy, who nodded. “Okay, let’s go up.”