Chapter 40

Kelsey POV

The fluorescent lights of the nearly empty surgical waiting room buzzed overhead.

I sat in the corner of an uncomfortable plastic chair, cradling Liam against my chest. His small arms were locked around my waist.

He hadn’t shed a single tear for nearly an hour, and that terrified me more than his earlier sobbing.

I stroked his damp, tangled hair. “We’re going to be okay,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure whether I was soothing him or myself.

Liam shifted slightly, his exhausted hazel-green eyes blinking open. “Mom?”

“I’m right here, baby.”

He turned his head toward the heavy double doors leading to the surgical wing. “Is Gary going to die because he jumped in front of that lady to save me?”

The guilt in his tiny, cracked voice shattered my heart.

I gently cupped his tear-stained face between both hands. “No, sweetheart. The doctors are working very hard to fix him.”

“But he got shot.” His lower lip