Free Faithless Angel by Kimberly Raye Page A

away and summoned her courage. “I’m Faith Jansen,” she said to the woman behind the desk. “I’m here about Daniel Michaels.”
    “Just the woman we’ve been waiting for.” The nurse smiled and handed Faith a clipboard stacked with forms. “Just return these when you’re done.”
    “Told you so,” Jesse murmured when Faith cast an incredulous look at the nurse.
    An enormous amount of paperwork later, Faith sat in the ER waiting room and sipped a cup of strong black coffee. Bradley came through a pair of swinging double doors and dropped down beside her. His eyes were bloodshot, his expression tired. She quickly stifled the pang of guilt that went through her.
    “I swear, that boy gave me the scare of my life,” Bradley muttered, rubbing his palms on his navy blue sweatpants.
    “Exactly what happened?”
    “Emily leaned out her own window a couple of rooms over just in time to see Daniel take a dive. I heard her scream and raced upstairs to find out what was going on. By the time I got outside, Jesse was already there loading Daniel into the Suburban, despite the boy’s cussing and screaming. That man sure can handle the rough ones. Even Mike was a little white when he saw Daniel’s arm. But Jesse came through in a pinch. Where is he?”
    “He went to move your Celica. We had to park in a loading zone;”
    “Loading zone?” Bradley’s face lit with worry, and Faith almost smiled.
    “Calm down. You didn’t get towed. How’s Daniel?”
    “He’s settled down, finally.” With a shake of his head, he added, “For the life of me, I can’t figure out how this happened. Mike had just climbed into bed. He didn’t even have time to close his eyes before Daniel made a beeline for the bathroom. Mike started to get up to go after him. He swears the boy didn’t have time to unzip his pants, much less unlock the window, pull a chair over, and climb through, but I’ll be damned if he didn’t.”
    “But how—” Faith started, her words drowned out by the voice of the nurse who suddenly appeared at her side.
    “Ms. Jansen?” the nurse asked.
    “Yes?”
    “The doctor said it’s all right for you to see Daniel now. He thinks the boy should hear that we’re keeping him for a few extra days from someone other than our staff. Since you’re his foster mother …”
    Faith shook her head and started to protest, but before a syllable could pass her lips, Bradley nudged her arm. “Go on, Faith.” He pushed her up from her seat. When she turned pleading eyes on him, he shook his head. “I’d do this for you in a heartbeat. You know that. I love those kids, even the Daniels of the bunch. But I’m tired.” He rubbed his eyes and shook his head firmly. “I’m not used to doing this by myself.”
    She opened her mouth to argue with him, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, she nodded.
    The nurse led Faith down the ER hallway, the bright lights nearly blinding her. Not that she needed anyone to lead her around. She was all too familiar with the main floor and the trauma unit.
    They stopped just short of the elevators and turned right, then proceeded down an unfamiliar hallway.
    “Where are we going?” Faith asked.
    “Psychiatric unit.” But Faith had already read the bold red letters emblazoned across a set of white double doors that loomed up ahead. These doors didn’t open automatically like all the rest in the hospital. Instead, the nurse punched a black button and identified herself into a speaker box just to the right. A beep sounded and the doors swung wide.
    The nurse ushered her down another hallway, past a row of closed doors that Faith would have bet were locked. At the far end of the hall sat a nurses’ station filled with TV monitors of each room in the ward. Before they reached the station, the nurse stopped in front of one closed door. She pressed a black button and the door opened.
    “Here you go,” she said, turning to Faith. She waved her inside. “When you’re done, just