Her Loyal Seal(20)

“Doctor, you told me that my recovery has been remarkable.”

“That’s because you’ve had so much rest. Some of the visitors you’ve had didn’t hurt either.” Dr. Wood’s eyes sparkled. Lydia laughed and the two women were definitely on the same page.

“Clint is back in California. He won’t be back.”

“Oh, I think you’re reading that wrong. He’ll be back.”

“He’s taken all the time off he can,” Lydia assured her doctor. “It doesn’t matter anyway, there’s not a future for us. I asked him to leave for good.”

The door opened, and Beth walked in with a man Lydia didn’t recognize.

“Where’s Ed?” Lydia asked, referring to Edward Lasson, the US Marshall who was guarding Lydia while she had been in the hospital.

“His wife is sick. This is Nelson Barber,” Beth grinned. “Ed called and told me he was okay, also he has all of the correct identification.”

“Oh, I hope Ed’s wife is okay.” Lydia heard about Carmella and really liked everything she had heard about her. Beth bit her lip.

“What?”

“Ed didn’t sound like himself. He sounded really upset. I think she’s really sick.”

“He has plenty of vacation to take care of his wife,” Nelson said easily. “I just wanted to let you know that I would be guarding your door for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.” He let himself out of the room.

“Lydia, I’ll check on you tomorrow, but I think I should be able to release you the day after that.”

Lydia smiled.

“That’s really good news. I’ve missed her,” Beth said. Lydia looked at her sister, and realized her mother wasn’t the only one who had been feeling the strain. She held out her hand to Beth.

“I’ll let you two visit. Remember, this time if you feel any of your symptoms coming back, you have to tell us immediately.”

“I promise.”

“I’ll be dragging her into your office. This won’t happen again.” Beth gave Lydia a dark look. Her little sister looked fierce.

“I promise both of you. I won’t backslide again.” Beth wrapped her in a tight hug. For the first time Lydia realized how much she scared her. Dammit, she should never have let it get this far, it was like she was squeezed between a rock and a hard place.

She heard the door close behind the doctor, and then she pushed Beth back so she could look into her face.

“Okay, I want to hear everything. Tell me what’s been going on.”

“It’s been fine.”

“Sit your butt in that chair and tell me everything. If you leave anything out, I’ll know, and you will be in big trouble.”

Beth sat down and Lydia listened.



****



Lydia slammed down her e-reader. She’d thought it would be a breeze to comprehend the textbook in English. She was wrong. Dammit, getting her Master’s degree in the United States would take her twice as long. She was fluent in English, she was a 4.0 student at the University in Mexico, but the course work was just different enough that her degree was slipping away.

Then she had to figure out what she would do with it when she obtained it. Hell, she didn’t even know where she would be, or who she would be. She heard horror stories about the Witness Protection Program where they wouldn’t let you work in the field you had studied for. She hated this.

“Damn you, Papa!”

She clapped her hand over her mouth. Had she really said that? She thought about what Beth said. Her little sister was so worried about her parents, that she was making herself ill when she should really be trying to heal. She wouldn’t have to heal if her father hadn’t started working for the cartel.

All the time Lydia had been studying to fight the corruption in her country her father had been helping them to launder money. Fine, she’d been killing herself to graduate early and getting a double major, but how could she have been so blind? She wasn’t sure what made her sicker, her father’s actions or her own stupidity. He might have eventually done the right thing and went to the authorities, but that he had even done it for a day, ruined every ideal she had ever held about her father.

Everything Beth had told her sounded like Papa was finally convinced to testify. That meant Witness Protection. Lydia thought about Clint. Then her heart melted. Actually melted. The idea of not seeing Clint Anthony Archer again was not to be born.

She traced the back of her e-reader. What was the point of even studying? She took a deep breath and then another. Her lungs were doing much better. She was feeling so much stronger. She eyed the closet holding the clothes Beth brought for her to wear home. Wouldn’t it be great to just walk out of here? Just leave?