originally intended to be in college. Teresa was hardwired to help anyone in need. She needed to make a difference in other people’s lives.
Even if all she could do was make a little girl with a brain tumor forget her surgeries for a few minutes and bring a smile to her face at Christmastime, she was going to do it.
“There you are.”
Teresa looked up from her laptop to see a petite woman with dark brown hair and cheekbones that matched her own waddling up to the counter.
“Emilia.” She quickly stood to greet her oldest sister. The white coat and shadows beneath her eyes told Teresa that Dr. Emilia Rodriguez-Grant had just finished a long shift in the E.R.—if she wasn’t still on duty. “What brings you to the third floor?”
“Have you looked out the windows?” Emilia pointed to the bank of glass in the playroom before bringing her hands back to rub at her pregnant belly and the small of her back. “We’re supposed to get three to five more inches of snow on top of what’s already on the ground tonight.”
Here we go again.
Teresa inhaled a steadying breath but couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “It’s December in Missouri? Snow happens.”
“Don’t get smart with me.” Emilia tugged a lock of her recently bobbed hair behind her ear, practically clucking like a mother hen. “It’ll be dark soon. But the sun was bright enough today to melt some of the snow. You know when the temperatures drop, it will refreeze into ice. Driving will be very dangerous.”
Although she would’ve liked to blame this overprotective streak on Emilia’s pregnancy and the fact their mother had passed away just over a year ago, Teresa was far too familiar with her older sibling’s smothering concerns. It was both a blessing and a curse to be part of such a tight-knit, loving family. While she knew she was loved and would never lack for someone to care about her, she was the baby of the family, and asserting her independence was a challenge she’d been working on for most of her twenty-nine years.
“Thanks for the weather report. But I’ve been driving since I was sixteen—in worse conditions than this. I’ll be fine.”
“You know we promised Mama we’d look out for you.” Why hadn’t that dictate been given regarding any of her older sisters and brother? Maybe their father’s murder when she was a baby or the fact she’d been mugged her first summer out of high school or having a veteran cop for a big brother made them all unusually cautious about protecting their own. Still, it would be nice if one day her brother and sisters would see her as an equal adult and not that fatherless baby or traumatized teen. “I want you to head for home as soon as your shift is done,” Emilia cautioned.
Teresa risked a little nudge toward independence. “I need to pick up some groceries. And I was planning to do a little Christmas shopping.”
“Teresa—”
“Then I’m going straight to my apartment to bake cookies for Laila and the other pediatric patients to decorate. What kind of trouble can I get into buying baking goods and Christmas gifts?”
Emilia arched a dark brow. “Gamberro—” aka Troublemaker “—is your middle name, Teresa.” She tempered her skepticism with a smile and a hug. “Just remember you can call any of us if you have a problem with your car or the roads. I don’t want you stranded out in the cold.”
Were any of her older siblings getting the same lecture? Of course, they all had spouses and children at home expecting their arrival, who’d worry if they didn’t show up at a certain place at a certain time. Teresa didn’t even have a cat waiting for her at her apartment. She should be more appreciative of their concern.
“I won’t be. But just in case, I’ve got an emergency kit in my trunk, complete with blankets and flares, and I’ll keep my cell phone in my pocket.” Teresa tightened her arms briefly around her sister, then pulled back to touch Emilia’s distended belly. “Now you go home and get off your feet. Hug Justin and my nephew and get yourself and this little one some rest.”
The tension in her sister’s face eased as she placed her hand beside Teresa’s. “I think this one is going to be like her tía Teresa.”
“Pretty and smart?”
Emilia laughed. “A handful. I swear this one tosses and turns twenty-four hours a day. Not at all like when I was pregnant with her big brother.”
Teresa sobered with concerns of her own. “Do you need me to drive you home? Is your blood pressure spiking again?”
“No, no.” Really? Her family wouldn’t even let her do this little thing? “Justin is coming by the hospital to get me after he picks up Joey from day care. I’m fine. You just take care of yourself. Unless you want Justin to drive you home, too?”
Teresa bit down on her frustration and summoned a smile for her sister. “No, thanks. I’ll be fine.”
Emilia cupped Teresa’s cheek before turning away. “Have you decided what you’re doing for the holiday yet?”
“I’m planning a Christmas party for the children here the afternoon of the twenty-fifth.”
“I mean Christmas morning. It would be fun for all of us to help with your party later in the day. We could make extra food and bring gifts. Joey and our nieces and nephews would have fun playing with the boys and girls here.” Teresa knew that look—the one that said I love you and You’ll need our help at the same time. “But you’ll be joining us all at AJ and Claire’s to unwrap presents and eat brunch, right?”
Teresa understood mixed emotions all too well. Just as much as she loved her family, she wanted them to respect her skills and maturity and desire to be who she needed to be. But that battle was for another time. Not the holidays.
Her answer was sincere. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Nash couldn’t remember how long he’d been driving, and he had no clue where the highway was taking him.
Shaking off the fogginess in his head, he pulled off the next exit ramp and drove through some cookie-cutter neighborhood mecca. The front yards were dotted with wire reindeer and giant inflatable lawn ornaments. The snow and suburbia were as foreign to him as the need to find an ally who could help him.
He blinked away the frost forming on his eyelashes as his brain skipped from one random thought to the next. It was freaking cold here in Missouri; he had no driver’s-side window to roll up and he’d lost his hat. He loved that hat. It was a sentimental homage to the boys ranch where he’d lived and worked and gone to school after his parents’ deaths at the hands of a pair of drugged-up teenagers who’d invaded their home. Nash had grown up and taken a job with the DEA to combat the flow of drugs into Texas and other parts of the U.S., to stop another tragedy like his parents’ murders, to help troubled kids like he’d been find a healthier way to deal with the crap life threw at them.
He usually oversaw or handled undercover operations where an agent infiltrated a gang or cartel or independent meth lab to gather information to stop the drugs being made, trafficked or sold. But two of his agents had been
