In Dark Woods (Signal Bend Series #4.5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

body would let him.
    Never say die.
    Never say die.
    Ride or die.
    He couldn’t ride.

FIVE
     
    Gia was finally asleep in her car seat, and Lilli turned the volume down on They Might Be Giants. Checking the rearview to make sure the volume change didn’t disturb the sleeping toddler, Lilli settled in for the rest of the long drive. She’d made it so many times now that she could drive without paying full attention. She gave her head some rein and let it think.
    Eight weeks ago, after six weeks in the county hospital, Isaac had been released to rehabilitative care. There was a rehab care center on the County campus, but Lilli wanted better for Isaac. If there was even the slimmest chance that he could regain his body, she was determined to find it for him. She was prepared to take him anywhere in the world to find it for him.
    She had not needed to go far. One of the most highly regarded c enters in the world, specializing in paralysis rehabilitation, was in St. Louis. It was also one of the most expensive centers, and their insurance was not remotely keeping up with the pace of the cost of his care. It hadn’t been keeping up in the hospital, and it was paying for even less of the cost of the rehab center, proportionally.
    They had a lways been financially strong, and they were neither of them extravagant people. Isaac had been on solid ground when they met, and she had the sizable inheritance from her father. Then, they had bought the Keller property and built the B&B on it. And they’d donated the money to get the town library open and running. And then Isaac had been shot.
    The B&B was doing well, but she’d funneled a lot of the profits back into it, raising the salaries of the employees, keeping everything running at top form, improving services. She’d laid out a decent sum to improve its appeal as a venue for smaller-scale weddings. In terms of money that actually went into their personal accounts from the business, it was creating only a modest income. Enough to live as comfortably as they had been, but no more.
    Isaac was still nominally the President of the Night Horde, and as such, he got his larger cut from their protection payments and other income. But he’d also paid his larger share of the cost of starting the wine bar, which was not yet open for business, and thus far was only sucking on the shriveling teat of the Horde’s accounts.
    And then there was the cost of her staying most of every week at the Residence Inn across the street from the rehab center. That was on them completely. But she wasn’t leaving him alone. If he was alone for more than a day, the depression came over him so hard he gave up entirely, and she was afraid he’d hurt himself—or worse. He had his hands and arms back, and he was a smart man. Even in the rehab center, he could figure it out. So she stayed close and let Shannon and Show continue to raise their daughter well more than half the time.
    Though he had regained feeling almost to his waist, Isaac was still paralyzed from that point down. But with full use of his arms and hands, he’d built back a lot of strength. He was strong and able to sit up with little help. He had mastered his wheelchair quickly and could get himself in and out of bed without help, once he was secured into his brace. As long as she stayed close and he could keep despair at bay, he worked hard at his therapy, and he had made a lot of progress in these eight weeks at the rehab center. More than anyone had given them cause to hope.
    Lilli would sell every holding, every belonging, her own blood before she’d take him away from a place that might help him to walk. Maybe even one day to ride.
    But she was beginning to worry that she might have to.
    Show had confronted her about it a week or so ago. Learning that Dom, on Show’s word, had checked into their private accounts, Lilli had been livid. She’d punched Show, and he’d let her. Then he’d forced her down to the couch and insisted she