I Know Who Holds Tomorrow by Francis Ray

Medical Center next door. After they took Wes to surgery, I went to see her to make sure she was all right. Her name is Manda.”
    Madison breathed a sigh of relief that the little girl was unharmed, and was proud of Wes that he had thought of the child. Then another thought struck. “Where’s her mother?”
    Zachary’s silence answered her question. Her head fell forward. Tears brimmed in her eyes. Another child that would grow up without its mother.
    Zachary curved his arm around her shoulders. When the elevator door opened, they walked on together. People shifted. Zachary nodded his thanks and kept his arm around Madison. She swiped at the remaining moisture in her eyes as they stepped off the elevator on the fifth floor.
    â€œAccording to the eyewitness, Wes tried to push her out of the way, but he wasn’t fast enough,” Zachary said tightly as they continued down the hall.
    Rage swamped Madison. She came to an abrupt halt and whirled on him, her small fist clenched. “Don’t you dare tell me the driver was on a cell phone.”
    Zachary’s black eyes blazed with equal fury. “The police think he was drunk. He had been arrested twice in the past three months for DWI.”
    â€œHe probably didn’t get a scratch on him,” Madison said bitterly.
    â€œNot then, but he tried to leave the scene and struck an abutment. He was pronounced dead at the scene,” Zachary said.
    â€œSo much misery because he couldn’t or wouldn’t stop drinking.” She lifted troubled eyes to him. “What do you think the odds are that he left a wife and children who loved him?”
    â€œProbably high.”
    â€œHe’s destroyed two families, then—his and that woman’s—he won’t add a third,” she said firmly. “Wes is going to be all right.”
    â€œYes, he is,” Zachary agreed.
    Madison started down the hall again. “Do you think Manda’s family would mind if I went up and saw her?”
    â€œI don’t think they’d mind at all,” Zachary answered, hoping his voice sounded normal. Lord, what a mess —and it could get a whole lot messier if the truth came out.

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    Friends and associates of both hers and Wes’s crowded around them as soon as they entered the conference room, but stepped back for Wes’s parents. Madison looked into Vanessa’s eyes. During the years she had known Wes’s mother, Madison had been the subject of her scrutiny. Those eyes had held everything from disapproval to disgust. Now they pleaded.
    Madison thought of two years ago when she had looked into her obstetrician’s eyes, begging for reassurance that he hadn’t been able to give. Her marriage had died the day her unborn child had. Her fault or Wes’s, she didn’t know anymore. Nor did it matter.
    â€œHe was awake for a little while.”
    â€œThank goodness,” Vanessa said, blinking back tears. “Did he ask for me?”
    Madison thought the question odd, but her expression didn’t change. “He was only awake for a few moments. His concern was for the little girl, Manda. It was her mother that Wes had stopped to help. He was injured when he tried to push the woman out of the way of the car. She didn’t survive.”
    â€œHe’s a hero. Wes is one of the most compassionate men I’ve known,” a male voice rumbled.
    Madison glanced around to see Louis Forbes. Murmurs of agreement to Louis’s statement filtered across the room.
    â€œMy son is the best there is,” A.J. said proudly. “When can we see him?”
    Madison faltered. “I forgot to look at the visiting schedule.”
    â€œThe next time is little over an hour and a half from now, at five,” Zachary said.
    A.J. glanced at Zachary, then centered his attention on Madison. “Would it be all right if Vanessa and I visited first?”
    â€œOf course,” Madison agreed,