She managed to stagger into the kitchen, and she opened the medicine cabinet to get some ibuprofen. After shaking out four pills, she returned the bottle and started toward the cabinet for a glass.

Pain assaulted her, spearing through her, robbing her of breath. She fell, hitting the floor with a thud, driving the air from her lungs in a painful rush. She lay there, balled into a fetal position, afraid to move because the pain was so horrific.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

“Ryan,” she called weakly. “Adam? Ethan?”

Darkness hovered on the fringes. She fought unconsciousness as the pain intensified. She heard a distant sound, tried to call out again, but the blackness swirled until she was dizzy with it.

RYAN awoke, a frown turning his lips downward. It was automatic to reach for Holly, a habit he hadn’t broken in over thirty years. But she wasn’t there. Something had awakened him. His name. He could swear he’d heard her call.

Throwing aside the covers, he hurried out of bed and into the hall. No lights were on in the house and it was silent. The fire had long since died out in the living room and only a few glowing embers remained.

“Holly?” he called.

Something like dread pitted his stomach and clutched at his throat. He hadn’t checked his brothers’ bedrooms because he’d just known that wasn’t where she was. After surveying the living room, he walked toward the kitchen and damn near tripped over her before he’d gotten far.

His heart bottomed out. He dropped to his knees, yelling her name hoarsely. She was in a tiny ball, knees drawn up as if she were in unimaginable pain. Her skin was hot and dry to the touch. He immediately felt for a pulse, relieved to find a steady rhythm against his fingers.

“Adam! Ethan!” he roared. “Get in here!”

Gently, he collected Holly in his arms, unsure of what to do. He only knew he wasn’t leaving her lying on the cold floor.

Not ten seconds later, his brothers ran down the hall and appeared in the kitchen.

“What happened?” Adam barked.

Ethan crowded into Ryan, his hands going to Holly’s face and then her neck, frantic, just as Ryan had been to feel the reassuring pulse pattern.

“What’s wrong with her?” Ethan demanded.

“I woke up when I thought I heard her call for me. She was gone and so I got up and found her on the floor,” Ryan said grimly. “Get the keys. We have to get her to the hospital.”

His words sent his brothers in different directions. Ethan grabbed a blanket and tossed it over her as Ryan headed for the door. Adam sprinted toward the bedroom and returned a moment later, dressed and holding the keys to the SUV.

“Get me some damn clothes,” Ryan bit out in Ethan’s direction. “You can change on the way and I’ll get dressed when we get there.”

He wasn’t about to let Holly go long enough to rectify his current mode of undress.

FOUR hours later, the three brothers paced around the waiting room, edgy, silent, worried sick. The doors burst open and their children rushed in, their faces white, eyes filled with fear.

Adam immediately went into protective mode. His wife was in surgery and he was scared out of his mind, but he didn’t want his sons and his daughter to be as afraid as he was.

“Daddy,” Callie said, rushing into his arms. “What’s wrong with Mama? What happened?”

Adam crushed her to him and held on a long moment while his sons went to stand by their other two dads. Lily stood back with Max, but she looked no less concerned than everyone else.

Adam pulled away from Callie and motioned his brood into one of the smaller side rooms usually reserved for the doctor to speak to the family. When everyone was pushed inside, he took a deep breath and glanced over at his brothers.

“Your mother is in surgery.”

Dillon looked crushed. Michael’s lips drew into a grim line, and Seth looked utterly baffled, as if he couldn’t quite grasp it all.

Callie’s eyes filled with tears and Max wrapped a supportive arm around her.

“What’s wrong?” Dillon croaked out, his voice choked with fear.

“Appendicitis,” Ethan said quietly. “They believe it may have already ruptured. They didn’t waste a lot of time going in. We won’t know more until the doctor comes out of surgery.”

No one looked as though they had any idea what to say or do. They stood numbly, staring at one another, helpless anxiety reflected in their gazes. If Holly were here, she’d take charge. She’d soothe everyone. Do what she did best. Love with all her heart and warm the entire world inside and out.

Adam sank into his chair, his legs no longer able to hold him up. Callie immediately wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “She’ll be all right, Daddy,” she whispered fiercely. “She loves you all too much to go down. She’ll probably be back on her feet in no time. You know she wouldn’t miss Christmas for the world.”

Adam smiled faintly, amused by the fact that his precious daughter was the one providing comfort for him. It was his job to protect his children. His wife. Only now his sons and his daughter were gathered around, offering their support to him and his brothers.

All through the rest of the night, they sat in grim silence, and the realization of just how important a role Holly played in their family was outlined in stark reality. She was the very center. The heart and soul. The one around whom the rest of the family revolved. Every heart. Every child. Every man. They all loved her with a fierceness that couldn’t be described, only felt.

She was everything to this family, and Adam didn’t even want to contemplate how they would survive without her. She was their strength. Their light. The glue that held them all together.

He could see her in every one of his children. Callie’s infectious smile. Her exuberance for life. Her kindness and gentleness. Her fierce stubbornness and her endless capacity for love and her undying loyalty to those she loved.

Seth’s steadfastness. His quiet strength. His resilience. Michael’s intelligence. His work ethic. His quiet spirit. The way Dillon loved with all his heart and soul. Just like Holly.

“Daddy?” Callie whispered. “She’ll be okay.”

It wasn’t posed as a question but he could hear the uncertainty in his daughter’s voice. She was trying to offer him the encouragement she so desperately needed herself.

Adam drew her into a hug. “Yes, baby. Your mother’s going to be fine. She’s a fighter through and through. She’s been down before, much worse than this, and she refused to stay down.”

Just then the doctor came into the small room and everyone looked up, the sudden silence tense and forbidding. Tension coiled and snaked through the room. Dread mounted and everyone leaned forward, eager to hear what the doctor would say.

“Mrs. Colter is out of surgery,” the doctor began.

Not able to contain himself another moment, Adam shot to his feet, but Ethan beat him to the doctor.

“How is she?” Ethan demanded. “Will she be all right? When can we see her?”

The surgeon held up a placating hand. “She’ll be fine. She’ll make a full recovery. We were able to remove her appendix before it burst. I’ll want her to stay in the hospital a day or two so I can be certain there’s no infection or leakage, but if all goes well she’ll be home before Christmas.”

The relief in the room was palpable. Adam’s shoulders sagged and his eyes burned with sudden tears. Holly was his life. His entire life. And, oh God, he couldn’t lose her.

Dillon’s arm went around him and Adam turned, hugging his son fiercely as the others comforted one another.

“When can we see her?” Ethan asked hoarsely.

The doctor eyed the room full of people with doubt. “You can’t all see her. One of you can go in when she gets out of recovery.”

Ryan scowled. “Hell no. We can manage three, but we’re going in to see her.”

The doctor cleared his throat. “It’s customary for a spouse to have access. The rest of the family must wait until she’s in a room.”

“We are her damn husbands,” Ryan snarled. He jabbed his thumb into his chest and then jerked it over his shoulder to point at Ethan and Adam.

The doctor’s brows lifted and he went silent. He fiddled with his clipboard and uneasily fidgeted. “Uh, well, there isn’t a precedent for this. Perhaps you should take it up with the nurse in charge.”

After saying that, the doctor beat a hasty retreat, muttering under his breath as he went.

Ryan turned back to Adam and Ethan. “Let’s go. They’ll let us in or I’ll tear this damn place apart.”

Ethan chuckled, the tension escaping in a rush. “You don’t have a good track record with hospitals, man.” He turned to Adam. “Remember when his cranky ass was shot and he pissed off every nurse and doctor in the ER and on the floor until they put him in the same room as Holly?”

Adam smiled but his heart clutched at that long-ago memory. At the moment he knew he’d be every bit as forceful as Ryan if they dared to keep him away from his wife.

CHAPTER 13

IT was as if time had stopped and for the moment Christmas had been suspended into a nebulous cloud that floated above the Colter family. Everyone refused to even contemplate the holiday without Holly at home, surrounded by her family.

She was, as Adam had asserted, the very center, the heart and soul of her husbands and children.

Holly sat in the hospital bed, her fingers gripping the sheet as she considered her options. With Christmas just a few days away, the very last thing she wanted was to be stuck in a hospital room when she could be at home, surrounded by the family she so dearly loved.

“I’m not asking, Dr. Hollister,” she said calmly, because she’d long ago discovered that calm was hard to argue with. “I’d like to be discharged today. I understand your concerns, and I’ll heed your instructions to the letter, but I would recover more rapidly in my own home.”

“Nothing like throwing me to the wolves,” the doctor said dryly. “Those husbands of yours will kick my ass if I let you walk out of here before they believe it’s time. Hard to remember who has the medical degree here.”

The light sarcasm in his voice made Holly grin. Dr. Hollister had been Holly’s physician for years. He was well acquainted with her unusual situation, just as he was very well acquainted with her husbands’ huge protective streak when it came to her.

“I want to be home for Christmas,” she said, an ache in her voice that was more pronounced than any residual pain from her surgery. “It’s going to be so wonderful this year. And I’m cooking!”

Dr. Hollister stared at her over his glasses and tactfully cleared his throat. “Well, maybe it’s best if you aren’t puttering around a kitchen quite yet.”

Holly snorted. “You’ve listened to far too many stories about my lack of ability in the kitchen. My daughter-in-law is a dream cook, and she’s taught me how to make the most awesome holiday dinner.” Her smile softened wistfully. “All my babies are going to be home this year. That hasn’t happened in so long. We always have most, but not everyone. No way I’m going to miss that.”

Dr. Hollister smiled indulgently. “I’m going to let you go, Holly. I don’t fool myself into thinking that if I said no you’d actually listen to me. But I want you to follow my care instructions to the letter, and don’t think I won’t outline them in great detail to your husbands.”

She scowled at him. “I’m not staying in bed twenty-four/seven. Just so you know. Don’t even hint to my husbands that this is part of your care plan.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “What I’m going to tell them is that you are to resume normal activities with caution and that you are to rest perhaps more than usual until you’re feeling more yourself again. I want you to take your medications and I want you to listen to your body, Holly. I’m serious about this. If it’s telling you to slow down and rest, then do it. You don’t want to end up back in the hospital, I assume?”

She shook her head vigorously.

“Then follow my instructions and we’ll all be happy. Your husbands included.”

“Okay, okay,” she grumbled. “How soon can you have me discharged?”

He sighed. “One-track mind you have. Give me an hour, okay? I need to give the nurse my report and write your scripts. She’ll be down to set you loose as soon as I’m done. Happy?”

She beamed at him. “Thanks, Pete. You know I appreciate you.”

He rolled his eyes. “You only appreciate me when you’re bending me to your will.” He leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Take care of yourself, okay? I’ll want to see you again in a week. If you don’t want to drive up to the city, I’ll be happy to come out on a Saturday.”

Holly snagged his hand and squeezed. Over the years, Pete Hollister had become a family friend. During that terrible time when she’d been attacked and then had discovered her pregnancy, he’d been a rock. And because she’d trusted him, she’d continued to seek his medical care in the years afterward. She and her husbands had donated a large sum of money to fund his clinic for those who couldn’t afford healthcare and had no insurance, and as a result he felt deep loyalty to the Colters. It was nothing for him to drop everything and make the trip to Clyde if one of them needed care beyond what the general practitioner in Clyde provided. And, well, he didn’t seem to trust others to care for the Colters. He’d sort of adopted them, and while he gave her husbands grief over being so protective of her, he was just as protective of the Colters as a whole.