Adam's Thorn (41 page)

“I’m not going anywhere,
sweetheart.”  He squeezed her fingers gently, smiled reassuringly.  “I’m
waiting right here.”

True to his word, he stood near
the door, his gaze on her though she lost sight of him several times due to the
doctor and nurse moving around the bed.

The doctor claimed her attention,
checking her pupils, asking questions which she was able to answer.  The nurse
took her vitals.  It seemed like forever before they stood back, both smiling.

“Well, young lady,” the doctor
announced, “looks like you’re on the road to recovery.”

“Good to know, thank you.”  She
eased up in the bed.

Immediately the nurse was there
helping her, settling the pillow behind her shoulders.

“Is there anything you’d like?’
she asked kindly.

“A toothbrush.”  Barbie wrinkled
her nose.  “A shower.”

The nurse laughed.  “Once you’ve
sat up for a little while, we’ll see about a shower, but the toothbrush side of
things we can do right here.”

The doctor strode across the room
and spoke to Adam while Barbie brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth, spitting
into a bowl the nurse held for her.  Feeling a lot better, she rested back
against the pillows.

Adam sat down beside her, his eyes
crinkling in that engaging fashion that she just loved so much.  “Hi.”

“Hey.”  Taking his hand, she
looked at him.  “You look so tired.  Did you get any sleep?”

He smiled.  “Now that you’re okay,
I’ll get plenty.”

The nurse left, leaving the door
open behind her.

Leaning forward, Adam pressed his
lips to her brow.  “You have no idea how worried I’ve been.  How worried we’ve
been.”

“We?”  She leaned into him.

In one move, Adam cradled her close,
kissing her eyes, her cheek, before lifting his head enough to murmurer.  “Your
family.”

“They’re in the city, so they
won’t know too much.  Let’s not worry them, okay?”

Drawing back a little, he looked
at her.  “Barbie, we
are
in the city.  You’ve been in and out of
consciousness for several days.”

Her eyes widened.

“Your head injury wasn’t anything
minor.”  He stoked across her cheek with his thumb.  “It’s been a horrible
waiting game to see if everything was okay.”

“Oh.” She swallowed.  “Everything’s
okay, isn’t it?”

The relief in his dark eyes was
very real.  “The doctor said your repeat Cat Scans came back NAD, and you’re
responding appropriately.  Your vital signs are good.  Yeah, everything’s
okay.” 

His eyes were suspiciously
bright.  “Adam, you’re not crying, are you?”

“No,” he replied gruffly.

Her heart melted.  “Oh, baby…”

Tenderly hugging her into him, he
continued just as gruffly, “Stop looking at me like that.  I’m fine.  You’re
the problem.”

She snuggled in against his
chest.  “I’m sorry.”

“Thorn in my side.”  He pressed a
kiss to her head.  “But you’re my thorn.”

“So romantic.”

“Enjoy being mouthy, because you
won’t get away with it once you’re on your feet.”

The laugh felt a little husky, her
throat still dry, but right then she felt content. Except - her eyes popped
open. “Where are Fred and Barney?”

“Relax.  They’re at your parent’s
place.’

“But how-”

“I brought them with me when I
drove down.”

Angling her head back, she gaped
up at him.  “You drove here to the city?”

“The RFDS wouldn’t let me come
with you, as they already had another critical patient onboard.  No room.  So I
packed the cats in the car and headed straight for here.  Rang your folks on
the way and, well…” He tucked her head gently back against his chest.  “Anyway,
you’re getting better.”

Resting against him for several
moments, she finally had curiosity stirring as she thought about what had
happened.  “Spencer?”

Immediately tension rippled
through his arms.  “He’s in gaol.”

“Oh.”

“Just rest quietly, baby.  We can
talk about him later.”

More than happy to just rest in
Adam’s arms, Barbie obeyed.

~*~

The headache had faded, the lump
on her head gone down, she’d had no worrying reoccurrences of anything, and all
precautionary Cat Scans had come back NAD.  The hated IDC was out, she was
eating and drinking normally, walking around, and medically discharged by the
doctor.  Now she was waiting impatiently to go home and see Barney and Fred.

Her parents were waiting at home for
her, Adam having won the argument of who was picking her up and taking her
home.

Waiting in the room, Barbie looked
out the window, watching the car park, though in an area so huge Adam could
have parked anywhere and she’d not have seen him, though he’d told her he was parking
close by come hell or high water.

Barbie took a deep breath.  It was
all over.  Explaining it all to Laura on the phone had been something,
however.  How could one even begin to tell the weird, twisted story of Spencer,
Great Aunt Penny and the MIA soldier?

It had been weird enough when Adam
had told her.

She could still remember when he’d
told her four days ago.  Taking her hand, he’d sat down, looked her in the eyes
and commenced.

Turned out the MIA soldier hadn’t
gone MIA, but had instead married another woman he’d gotten pregnant over in
France during the war.  Honour bound to marry her, he’d allowed his family to
inform Penny that he’d gone MIA so she’d never know the truth, ensuring she’d
never discover him by shifting to the other side of Australia after the war.

Unfortunately, as he’d grown
older, he’d spiralled into dementia, often rambling about a treasure he’d left
behind in a little town called Peeron.  A priceless jewel.  It hadn’t taken
much for an opportunist like his great nephew to do a little digging and
realise that Penny was the woman his great uncle had mentioned in connection
with the jewel.  Spencer had tried to frighten Penny away by looking through
the window, climbing on the roof, and banging on the veranda, so he could
search the house without her there, but the elderly lady had more gumption than
he’d anticipated.

When she’d died, he’d thought he
had a better chance of finding the jewel and kept looking, but Barbie’s arrival
had put a stop to it, until he’d heard her talking in the pub about an
assistant from the antique dealer coming to value and sell the furniture and other
things.  It hadn’t taken much to come up with a phoney story of which she
wouldn't have reason to doubt.  Unfortunately, Barbie had chosen to stay in the
house during the renovations, so he’d tried to scare her away, too, only to
find it not going quite as planned.

The jewel, he’d become convinced,
was buried under the roses, for he hadn’t been able to find it in the house,
tossing through the books, searching everywhere he could find while under the
pretence of studying the worth of the furniture and other household items and
collectibles.

The police had found a hidden
tunnel in the floor under the wardrobe in the girl’s room. The tunnel actually
opened under the wardrobe, and the wardrobe itself had a fake bottom in it that
enabled Spencer to use it as a convenient getaway after his scare tactics. 

The dolls had been a bloody
classic.  She still had nightmares about them, and even though she knew there
was nothing spooky about them or the toy monkey, she never wanted to see them
again.  Ever.  Creepy things.

The whole thing had unravelled
when Patrick had rung Barbie.  Overhearing, Spencer had seen his chance
vanishing and had planned to kill her, making his escape through the tunnel
which led out to a stand of trees behind the shed.  He’d planned to come back
at another time and dig up the graves.

He wouldn’t be digging anything
for a long time to come.  Kind of hard to dig a tunnel when behind bars.

When Barbie and Adam returned to
Peeron, they’d be in time to see the empty grave and the mystery grave opened,
to lay to rest the rumours.  The two children’s graves would stay intact, their
exact location in the local church’s records.  They had, indeed, been the two
furtherest graves.

She also owed Shane a big thank
you for saving her life by going to the police station. 

Restless, not really wanting to
think about it anymore, Barbie moved from the window, pacing across the room,
wondering where Adam could be.  Checking her watch, she saw that he was fifteen
minutes late.  Given the traffic, she wasn’t surprised.

Her mind turned to her sister. 
Things had gone okay there, too, though she hadn’t been certain at first.  Her
sister had been taken aback when Barbie had talked to her one day when they
were alone in the hospital room.  Telling Melissa that she was seeing her
one-time boyfriend whose relationship to her Barbie had wrecked so long ago,
had almost given Barbie heartburn.  Guilt had surged up all over again.

Melissa had simply looked at her. 
“Really?  Do you think I’m so dumb?”

“Um...”

“Any fool can see that Adam is in
love with you.  Any fool can see that you’re in love with him.  In fact,
dummy,” Melissa had glowered at her, “Adam has already told me.”

“Oh.”  Nervously, Barbie had wrung
her hands.  “Are you…um…are you okay?”

“I’m fine.  When I first saw him
with you, I admit I was shocked.  Mostly because I hadn’t expected anything
like it.  You’d never given any hint that there was anything between you two.”

“Yeah, about that.  I’m sorry.”

Melissa raised both elegantly
plucked eyebrows before she grinned suddenly.  “Relax, sis.  I’m not going to
kill you.  This time.”  She waited for Barbie’s relieved expression before
adding, “Mum and Dad know.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.  I’m thinking you have a
lot of explaining to do to them. 
They
might kill you.”  Melissa
winked.  “Besides, I have the hottest bloke around, remember?  Sorry, sweetie,
but while Adam is a hunk, he’s nowhere near as hunky as Bill.”

Personally, Barbie couldn’t see
it, but she was relieved.

Her parents had welcomed Adam with
open arms.  He’d been staying with them when he wasn’t at the hospital, and her
mother had spoiled him rotten. 

Later her Dad had taken her aside
and told her, “I trust you not to screw this up.”  Her mother had smiled, then bolted
to ring Melissa and talk to her, coming back with a relieved expression on her
face.

Melissa and Adam spoke easily,
Adam got on well with Bill, and there really was nothing between Adam and
Melissa.  No spark, no lighting up of the eyes.  Nothing.

Melissa’s loss was her gain.

Frowning, she tapped the window. 
I
mean, Melissa loving Bill and not Adam is my gain.  Geez. 
She guessed
there’d always be a little element of guilt for what she’d done, she was only
human.  But she wasn’t going to let it spoil the rest of her life.

Hearing voices, she turned to see
Adam walk into the room. Smiling, she met him halfway, lifting her face for a
kiss and hugging him close.

“Come on, baby.”  He squeezed
her.  “Everyone’s waiting at home.  And your dad said you owe him a new bedside
clock.”

“What?  Why?”

“Because Barney’s fat arse knocked
it off.”

“Dad said that?”

“I may have ad-libbed.”

~*~

Standing to the side, Adam held
Barbie’s hand in his as they watched the backhoe dig up the so-called empty grave. 
Her engagement ring that he’d given her upon their arrival home was cold, but
her little hand was warm in his.  He stroked his thumb over the back of her
hand, enjoying the silky touch of her skin.

Standing beside him, her free hand
wrapped around his arm, her soft, curvy body pressed against his, Barbie tilted
her head back to smile up at him.

God, he loved her.  His little
thorn.  He loved everything about her, her flashes of temper, her defiance, her
sweet giving, her teasing, her laughter, her scented presence in every room of
his house.  The way she made him feel so complete.

He even had affection for her two
damned cats that made every effort to push between them on the bed.  It was the
ultimate insult when Barney perched his furry arse on Adam’s hip and eyeballed
him before giving up and flopping behind him.  Every night.  And Barney did it
with a huff, too,

He never knew a cat could huff,
but hey…he did now.

Fred didn’t have such flair.  He
just plopped on his back between them until Adam shifted him by scooping him up
and dumping him in front of Barbie, where he curled up against her stomach and
snored.

He never knew a cat could snore,
but hey…he did now.

Leaning down, Adam brushed a kiss
on her  lips.  “Okay, baby?”

“Yeah.  Isn’t this a little exciting
and creepy all at once?”

“I’ll take the creepy part.”

“Why, Adam Moor, are you creeped
out by digging up a grave?”

“I’m a believer in not disturbing
the dead.”

Her eyes widened.  “You believe in
ghosts?”

“No.”

Before she could reply, Sarge came
over and shook his head.  “Nothing in that grave, so it seems it really was a
memorial.”

“So I wonder what the mystery
grave holds?” Barbie watched the backhoe again start digging.

“Hopefully it’ll be empty as
well.”  Sarge went back to supervising the dig.

Minutes later, Sarge called out to
the backhoe driver.  “Hold up, Will!  There’s something here!”

Barbie’s hand on Adam’s
tightened.  “Do you think there’s a body?”

“We’ll soon see.”

Sarge jumped down into the hole,
bending over before straightening and wiping off what looked to be a bottle of
some kind.  “Found something.  Looks like maybe a note?”

Adam led Barbie over to the hole,
taking the bottle from Sarge and handing it to her.

“Wow.”  Her eyes shone with
excitement.  “A mystery bottle.”