Reunion Read Free

more from a loss of his own identity. He couldn’t remember a time in his life when he’d been afraid. At least not like this. But now there were times when he caught himself hesitating before turning a corner in the hospital hall. And when the nurses were making their nighttime rounds, the urge to sleep with a light on was almost overwhelming. If Gabriel Connor had been a lesser man, the fear inside him might have won, but he was strong, both in body and in mind, and he refused to let it take hold.
    He strode to the window overlooking the hospital parking lot, trying to pick out the familiar color of his uncle Mike’s car. If it was down there, it wouldn’t be hard to find. Canary yellow was impossible to miss. When he saw it parked at the end of a row, a bit of his anxiety lifted. Good! That meant Mike was already here. Within the hour Gabriel would be home.
    Then his expression stilled. Home would never be the same. Pain dug a little deeper as he turned away from the window. It seemed impossible to believe that his mother and father were no longer of this earth. That they’d died without his knowledge, been buried without his presence, seemed obscene. His only comfort had come from knowing that Mike Travers, Brent and Angela’s best friend and the man Gabriel called uncle, had stood in his stead at the graves.
    He took a deep, shuddering breath, raking his fingers through his hair and telling himself to focus on the future and not the past. But it was hard. His last memories of his parents were of his father’s sudden shout of warning and his mother’s screams. After that, everything was a blessed blur that had faded to unconsciousness.
    Guilt ate at him constantly. He’d replayed the moment over and over in his mind a thousand times, watching his father sliding behind the wheel of Gabriel’s new car and insisting on driving to the restaurant where they were going to eat. Now he wished to God they’d stayed at home. If they had, they wouldn’t have been driving on the Northwest Expressway, and the drunk who’d crossed the center median would have crashed into someone else.
    He pivoted angrily, slapping the flat of his hand against the wall, unaware that he was no longer alone.
     
    Mike Travers paused in the doorway. When he saw Gabriel’s mood, his smile disappeared. This man was like the son he’d never had. He’d adored him as a child and loved and respected him as an adult. He was well aware that he could never take Brent and Angela’s place in Gabriel’s life, nor did he want to. But something had to be done about Gabriel’s growing anger. This wasn’t the first time he’d witnessed such an outburst, and, as a psychiatrist, Mike knew only too well the long-term effects that guilt could have on a man.
    “Gabriel.”
    Surprised to find he was no longer alone, Gabriel looked up, and when he saw Mike’s face, the anger within him began to subside. He managed a smile, shamed that he’d been caught acting out on these moods that had taken over his life.
    Michael Morris Travers was a small, frail man pushing his way toward his sixty-eighth birthday. His hair was thin and graying, and his clothes were always rumpled. Considering his skill and reputation as a top-notch psychiatrist, his appearance was often deceiving.
    It had been a source of constant amusement between Brent and Angela that their best friend looked more like an absentminded professor than the consummate professional he actually was.
    Gabriel frowned. “Look, Uncle Mike, I, uh…”
    Mike put his hand on Gabriel’s arm and felt the muscles knotting beneath his touch.
    “It’s all right, boy. I’ve had a few days like that lately myself.”
    Gabriel relaxed. He never had to explain himself with his uncle Mike.
    “Ready to go home, boy?” Mike asked.
    Wariness crept into Gabriel’s expression, and he shrugged.
    “As ready as I’ll ever be.” He picked up the phone and called to notify the nurses’ station that he was ready to