Chapter Twenty Three - Oliver Twist ... In The Flesh!-5

Shaking her head, she jumped back on the track she had been on previously. "I guess after that we just waited for the phone call telling us you were alive and safe. It felt like an eternity," she confessed, hugging me once again. "So, when we finally got the call and found out you were in the hospital, we all freaked. Everyone pretty much bombarded the hospital," she slightly chuckled at the memory surely surfacing in her mind. "But back to my original thought," she started. "I really, really like Theodore. He's very fond of you and really cares. You can just see it, you know?" I smiled and looked down. Actually, I didn't completely know. But I would love to get into a real face to face conversation with him. I wanted to learn about him through a real conversation. From the sounds of it, we probably would be talking a lot over the next little while. We had a lot to discuss. Shelby and I laid there for a little while longer, watching whatever show currently played on the TV screen, talking about what happened and sometimes just talking about nothing at all. "Knock, knock." Shelby and I looked up to find my parents standing in the door. I smiled, though I felt exhausted. My room was full of people today. Shelby patted my knee and said, "That is my cue to take a hike. I'll see you later, Honeybee." With a smile, she hopped up and hugged my family before waving at me and then leaving the room. My parents entered farther, coming on both sides of my bed and pulling me into a double-sided embrace. "Oh, honey! We were worried sick!" Mom grabbed me, her arms wrapped gently around my frame. Giving me a quick squeeze, she pulled away, looking me over real quick. "I tried to be the doctor assigned to take care of you, but the hospital felt it was too personal of a case for me to take," she huffed, looking annoyed as the nurse checked a few vitals and scribbled things down on the clipboard. She didn't even look in my direction. What an awful nurse. Psh. Judging from the glare on my mother's face, she reflected the sentiment. "So what's my damage, anyways?" I asked, glancing between my parents. "I feel like I've been hit by a freight train." "Well, when you fell, you hit your head pretty hard on the fireplace," my dad started, rubbing a hand over his face and putting the other on his waist. "The back of your skull received a minor fracture. When the authorities found you, you had already lost quite a bit of blood and they were afraid you died." Mom's lower lip trembled as she nodded in agreement. "The crack to your skull sent a shock wave through the rest of your body and you managed to bruise your lower back. Your body will be sore for a while, sweetheart," he finished, looking me in the eyes. I swallowed the knot that formed in my throat and nodded, knowing that if I spoke, I would just want to punch someone in the face. Namely Mr. Landon. My eyes lit up. Landon! Grabbing my parents hand for their attention, I asked, "What about Landon? Did he get away?" Smiling, my mom shook her head. "Nope. They caught him. Look, there's something you don't know about your father, Adam," she said. A knock from the door told us another visitor had made their way to my room and we all looked in that direction. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. There stood Adam in the doorway. "Well, I think someone else can answer those questions a little better than we can. He wants to mend bridges, sweetie. Let him try?" Mom said and smiled once again before kissing my forehead and standing up. My adoptive parents left the room, stopping to shake Adam's hand on the way out. After a few words were exchanged and they were gone, Adam made his way further in. He reached the side of my bed and brushed my hair away from my face and planting a kiss on my forehead, just the way Mom had done before. "Mom and Dad said you have answers about Landon?" I cut right to the chase, the curiosity burning at me. He nodded and said, "So, here's the deal: I became a cop about four years ago; went through the academy and everything. I did pretty good in it too, but that's beside the point. Rumor around the station I got assigned to was centered on booking some guy named Dean Landon. Of course, the moment that hit my ears, I demanded to be put on the case. Since I had a little bit of inside information on the guy, they accepted me almost immediately. But, about one year ago, we lost his trail. It went completely cold. I remember I was so furious. The man who killed my wife just fell off the face of the earth." Adam shook his head, his hands gripping the edge of my bed. "Once the picture of you came through my email, we pulled together a team as fast as we could. I strapped myself with a gun and we surrounded a perimeter ten miles out just in case. I went in there prepared." Smiling at me, Adam continued, "That's why I said you could trust me. I was going to get you out of there, Gabrielle. One way or another, I wouldn't let anything happen to you back there. You can trust me." I nodded, understanding. Still, a little remark managed to slip past my lips. "Hard to trust someone you've never met, though ..." Almost immediately, I regretted the words. I didn't mean for them to come out and when I looked at Adam, guilt clawed at me. I couldn't even look him in the eye and I turned my face toward my hands, suddenly very interested in my nail polish.