Free Family for Keeps & Sadie's Hero by Margaret Daley Page B

forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. “Besides, Johnny is here and still sound asleep.”
    She stared at the small boy in the bed, his features ashen, almost gaunt, and something twisted in her heart. She knew she couldn’t save all the children, but what was it about this one that touched her so deeply? Kindred spirits? “I guess we weren’t very good guards. Sleeping on the job.”
    “I’d better not add surveillance to my résumé, then.”
    His teasing comment eased the tension she’d experienced from waking up beside him on the couch. “I know it wasn’t likely Johnny was going anywhere last night. He was very weak and dehydrated, but I just had to make sure.”
    “How about some coffee?”
    “I don’t want to leave yet.”
    “Then I’ll go get us some and bring it back here.”
    “That would be great. I take cream and lots of sugar.”
    “How much is lots?”
    “Four or five packets.”
    His eyes widened. “You drink hot sugar water with a little coffee flavor. You ruin a perfectly good drink.”
    “That’s the only way I could drink coffee when I was younger. The habit has stuck with me. The coffee in the room behind the nurses’ station is good. Get it there.”
    She watched him walk to the door and open it, a casual grace about his movements for such a large man. From what she had discovered about him on the playing field he had been surprisingly quick for his size. Not that she would ever tell him that she’d asked about him.
    When he left, she stretched her arms above her head, then twisted from side to side to try to work the kinks from her body. She rarely slept sitting up and was surprised she had even though she was exhausted. But she could vividly recall the warmth and comfort she’d experienced when Mac’s arm went about her shoulder and he held her close to him.
    Out of the corner of her eye she saw Johnny move, trying to take the IV out. She rushed to his side and placed her hand over the connection. “If you think you’re going somewhere, I have news for you, young man. You’re staying put. Got that?” She schooled her voice into a no-nonsense tone, making sure he didn’t hear the fear behind her words. Johnny was smart enough to use that.
    The corners of his mouth turned down in a pout, and he glared at her.
    She hovered over him like a mother hen protecting her young chick. “Understand?”
    “Guess so,” he mumbled and looked away.
    Tess pulled the one hard-backed chair in the room to his bed and sat. “Good. I lost three nights of sleep because of you, and I don’t know if I can keep that up. People count on me to be sharp when I work.”
    He turned his head to stare at her. “You did? Why?”
    She gentled her stern expression. Johnny really didn’t understand that she cared about him. She could see it in his confused look. “Because you’re important to me. I care what happens to you. Why did you run away?”
    “I ain’t gonna stay with strangers. I can take care of myself.”
    She wanted to hug him to her and knew he would be upset if she tried. “With luck Mrs. Hocks will find a relative soon, and you won’t have to stay with any strangers.”
    He huffed, his glare back. “I don’t have no relatives I know. My grandma died a while back, and she was all there was.”
    Tess leaned forward. “Please promise me you won’t run away again.”
    He clamped his lips together, his eyes narrow, his mouth set in a frown.
    “Johnny?”
    “I ain’t gonna promise something I can’t keep. My word is important to me.”
    “A man of his word. That’s a good trait to have in life, Johnny.”
    Both Tess and Johnny glanced at Mac who stood at the end of the bed. She’d been so intent on the child she hadn’t heard Mac enter the room. He smiled at her and held up a cup.
    Taking a sip of the coffee, she welcomed the warm, sweet brew as it slid down her throat. She needed the time to compose a response to Johnny’s declaration. “What if we can find someone you