The blood drained from my face and my stomach dropped as if I'd swallowed a stone. “Zane." I called his name instinctively instead of either one of my two brothers. "What's happened?"
He walked toward me, took me in his arms and brushed my forehead with a tender kiss. The comfort of his warm, bulky frame was just what I needed after the morning I had endured. I don't think I could live with any more bad news today.
After a long, awkward silence, Max spoke. "The Australian Government called."
"Oh, sweet Jesus.” My mother’s gasp echoed through the eating area. Letting go of Zane, I raced over to her, hugged her and held onto her shoulders to let her know I was there. Everyone was gravely silent as we waited for Max to continue. He didn't. Jada appeared by his side and they hugged.
What were only minutes of silence actually felt like hours.
Marco was the one to move forward and face us all. His eyes zeroed in on Milan for the briefest of seconds. He was probably checking to see if she was with Blake. She wasn't; they had stopped dating a couple of weeks before, both of them realising it wasn't going anywhere. They still remained friends, though.
“They've found Miccah,” Marco announced with sadness in his voice.
“Oh, thank God. That is good news, isn’t it? Why are you all looking so sad? Is he okay?” my father queried.
“No. He’s...fu—screwed up. Bad. Seriously bad. He had surgery two days ago, right after they found him. He was barely alive. Somehow, the army couldn’t make contact with us until now to let us know what had happened.”
“Surgery? For what? I need more information, son. Spit it out.”
Marco let out a huge sigh as he swore again. His hands were balled into fists at his sides and his jaw was clenched so tightly, I wasn’t sure he’d be able to answer.
“Surgery, to repair his mangled left leg. They are still not sure if he will make it or not. Evidently, he’s lost a couple of fingers on his left hand and has suffered from shrapnel wounds all over the lower half of his body. He has burns to his chest and legs and part of his face, too. As far as the doctors could tell, he has no brain damage. Considering he was missing in action, he is lucky none of his internal organs were hit. That is a positive, at least. We need to keep positive through all this.”
I was shocked as much as I was relieved. At least he was alive. “Can he come home then? I mean, to a hospital closer to home so we can be there for him while he recovers?”
Marco nodded. “As soon as he’s stable, they’re transporting him to The Royal Adelaide Hospital. He’ll be there for some time before he’s discharged. They have no idea when that could be.”
“But it’s good news.” My father turned to my mother. “Rosa, did you hear them; our son is coming home. He will make it. I have faith in him, he’s a Brunetti. He will pull through, I know it. My God, my son is alive!”
I released my mother so she could go and hug my father. She sagged against him, crying silently as he stroked her hair. I sat on the chair my mother had vacated in her urgent rush to get to my dad. I wrapped my arms around my chest and closed my eyes, letting my tears fall.
I could sense Zane next to me but he didn’t touch me or try to talk to me. He just stood there with his hands jammed in his back pockets and let me cry. Knowing he was beside me made me cry even more for some stupid reason.
I needed to cry. My heart was aching.
***
ZANE
Damn, I sure wasn’t expecting my contacts to call so soon with information about Miccah. I thought it would take weeks, possibly months and by then it would probably be too late. With lunch over, everyone headed off home and it was just the rest of us hanging around, talking and offering each other comfort.
Pep Brunetti gave me one of those ‘I’m watching you’ looks as he left, but at the same time, he shook my hand so hard, thanking me for all I had done to find Miccah. I’m sure if he knew what I wanted to do to his daughter, he would’ve broken my hand.
After the announcement about Miccah, Mia, Jada and Milan cried together but it was great to hear them all smiling and laughing together over some crazy woman doing a floorshow to ‘Ballroom Blitz’ on the dance floor. I couldn’t help but laugh as I played pool with Max and Marco until Winter entered the pub with none other than Brandon. Fucking great! Like I need more shit to go down today. Marco came to stand beside me and held onto my arm. Max wasn’t far behind him. It looked like they were both ready to pounce on me if I so much as touched Brandon.
“Hey, keep it cool, buddy. Brandon is a good kid and a good worker. You just stole his girl, that’s all. How would you feel if it was the other way around?” Marco had a point. I’d be furious if Mia ended up dating Brandon.