Drama in the Church Saga (5 page)

A strange man came and rushed to her side. “I am so sorry, ma'am.” She looked up into the stranger's handsome face and was stunned by how handsome he was. His lips caught her attention first. He had a perfect set of full lips with a small mustache above his upper lip. Her sudden fascination with his lips scared her.

He asked her a series of questions, but Elise could not respond. Her sudden attraction to him left her speechless. Without warning, another shot of pain went up her leg.

“Ma'am, are you all right?” the stranger asked.

Elise nodded her head yes.

“I am so sorry.”

Elise found the strength to utter the words, “I'm okay.”

“I'm so sorry. You came from out of nowhere. I should have been more careful riding my bike.”

“No, I should have been looking at where I was going.”

“Can I take a look at that?” he asked, pointing to her leg. She slowly moved her hand so he could look at her wound more closely.

“That cut looks pretty deep. You may need stitches.”

“You think so?” Elise had a tremendous fear of hospitals. Her Nana died during surgery when she was eleven, and the mere sight of a hospital gave her the chills.

“Can you stand up?” He helped her to her feet, but she couldn't put pressure on her leg. He made a suggestion. “How about you stay here and I'll go get my car? Then I'll take you to the hospital.”

“No, you don't have to do that.” She looked at her leg. “I don't think it's that bad. I don't need to go to the hospital.”

“Let's just get a doctor's opinion.” He knelt down and looked at her nasty wound.

Elise became hysterical. Her hands began to sweat and a look of horror came over her face. “No, please. I'm terrified of hospitals. I don't want to go. Please don't ask me to go.” Elise grabbed hold of his hand and tried to keep him from going to his car.

He knew she needed medical attention. “Relax; I'm not going to leave you. I promise. You're going to be all right, but you need to have a doctor look at your leg.”

“I don't want to go!” she screamed.

Surprised by her outburst, he tried to calm her. “Everything is going to be all right. You have to trust me. I'm going to pull my car around to the trail so you won't have to walk far. Stay right here. I'll be right back. Okay?” he asked.

Elise looked at him and nodded. The stranger ran away and Elise leaned back against a nearby tree. She hoped she wouldn't regret agreeing to go to the hospital.

Sheridan sat in the hospital waiting room watching reruns of
Three's Company
and looking at the hands on the clock move slowly around the dial. He was angry with himself for being so negligent.
How could I have hit someone with my bike? Please, God, let her be alright.
He was tired of waiting. They had been there for hours and the nurses wouldn't give him an update about her condition. When they arrived at the hospital he had attempted to go into the emergency room with her, but the hospital staff stopped him. They said that if he was needed, they would call him. He held her hand the entire ride to the hospital, but when he had to let go, she looked terrified. She even cried out for him. He felt bad. He had broken his promise not to leave her side.

Sheridan's intention that morning was to get in a little exercise by riding his bicycle through the park before he went to his friend Kyle's barbecue. He had been looking forward to the get-together all year long. He and a few of his buddies played cards, drank beer, and ate crabs—a party strictly for the guys.

He looked at the clock again. He had already missed the first three hours and he still needed to go home, shower, and change clothes. He decided to stop a nurse and try again to get some information. “Excuse me, could you give me an update on the woman I brought in?”

“I can't tell you anything, but I'll have a doctor come talk with you,” the nurse replied.

Sheridan sat back down. He hoped he wouldn't have to wait much longer. All he wanted to do was get her stitched up and back to her car, and be on his way to the barbecue.

“Mr. Reed.” A doctor invited him to walk down the hospital corridor. “Mr. Reed, your wife is ready to go. She just needed a few stitches. She did get a little hysterical when she saw the needle we used to give her a tetanus shot. I guess she's a little scared of hospitals, huh?”

Sheridan looked at the doctor strangely when he referred to Elise as his wife. He guessed the nurses had assumed she was his wife when he informed them that he would be paying for her hospital bill. After all, he was the reason she was in the hospital.

“Oh, yeah! She hates hospitals.” Sheridan remembered how she reacted in the park when he suggested that she go to the hospital.

“I gave her a light sedative. She'll sleep 'til morning. You can take her home now.”

The doctor pulled the curtain that surrounded the emergency cubicle. Elise lay on the bed sleeping soundly. Sheridan had to admit, she was a very attractive woman. Her slightly tousled hair lay over her left eye. Her beauty branded his heart, leaving a lasting impression.

“Here's a prescription for the pain.” The physician handed Sheridan a piece of paper. “The nurse will bring you her discharge papers.”

What am I going to do with her now that she is asleep?
Sheridan wondered. “Damn, I'm going to miss that barbecue,” he said out loud.

 

 

Elise focused her eyes on a photograph that hung against the wall across from her. The photo captured the innocence of a twelve-year-old boy dribbling a basketball. The photo and the boy were both unfamiliar to her, so she closed her eyes again, thinking it was all a dream. She turned over and pulled the covers over her head.
This bed seems awfully hard
, she thought.
It's usually much softer.
She smelled the scent of the sheets and that too was unfamiliar. These sheets didn't smell like Gain laundry detergent. She lifted her head and stared around the room. This wasn't her bedroom. The walls were a dull blue color. The far wall was devoted to baseball caps of various shapes and sizes, and trophies were crammed onto a small shelf in the corner.

Not exactly sure where she was, she listened to the noise coming from the other room. She could hear someone cooking in the kitchen. Elise attempted to swing her legs off the side of the bed, but a surge of pain shot up her leg. She grabbed her leg, hoping to stop the burning sensation.

She looked up and the stranger from the park was watching her. He stood in the doorway holding a bowl. He wore a Dajuan Wagner basketball jersey with a pair of black, oversized basketball shorts. His muscular, tattooed arms exposed the fact that he worked out daily.

“Good morning. Are you hungry?” he asked. Elise watched the words slide off his lips. His lips invited her to come closer. For a split second she wondered what it would feel like to have those lips pressed against her lips, neck, and breasts.

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?” he asked.

The last thing she remembered was being in the hospital and being poked with a needle.

“You may still be a little incoherent from yesterday. The hospital gave you a sedative. They said you were pretty upset about getting a needle.” He flashed a devilish smile that looked like Denzel Washington's.

The throbbing pain from her leg was becoming a little too much for her to bear. The stranger noticed her holding her leg. “Your prescription pain pills are sitting on the nightstand next to you.”

She turned and grabbed the bottle of pills. “Thanks,” she replied.

“I'm making breakfast. Would you like something to eat?”

She glanced over at the clock sitting on the nightstand. “Oh my goodness! It's eight o'clock in the morning? I spent the night here?” Elise thought about how worried Miles would be. “I have got to get out of here!” She jumped off the bed and the immediate pressure she applied to her leg caused her to stumble. Sheridan ran over to catch her before she fell to the floor. They looked into each other eyes and the attraction between them multiplied by ten. Elise pulled away from him.

“Where's my cell phone? I can't believe my phone didn't ring all night.”

“Ma'am, you didn't have a cell phone on you,” Sheridan informed her.

“I must have left it in my car. You kept me here all night? I don't even know you. Did you ever think I could be married? What am I going to tell my husband? He has probably called the police and reported me missing.” Elise yelled a series of questions at him. She pushed his hand away from her and leaned against the wall to regain her balance.

“I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to cause you any problems. When I took you to the hospital, they assumed I was your husband. You didn't have any identification on you or a cell phone, so I had no choice but to bring you to my house. The sedative they gave you put you in a deep sleep. I couldn't ask you where you lived.” Sheridan's voice got higher and higher. He tried to defend his actions to her.

Elise felt bad for lashing out at him the way she did. “I'm sorry. It's not your fault. You don't know my husband. If I'm ten minutes late coming back from the supermarket, he gets worried. Can you take me back to my car?”

He walked out of the room upset by her accusations
. How dare she get mad at me for helping her out? I could have left her at the hospital and they would have labeled her a Jane Doe. I messed up my plans trying to be a Good Samaritan.
He grabbed his keys from the key holder hanging by the front door. He looked at her, rolled his eyes, and walked out, leaving the front door wide open. She followed behind him, limping.

Sheridan hated for a woman to be upset with him. Although he knew that he had done no wrong, he didn't want her to leave upset. “I really didn't expect for you to sleep through the night. I thought you were going to wake up in an hour or two and go home. Is everything going to be all right at home?” he asked.

“Everything will be fine,” she replied.

He pulled up next to her car.

“Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?” she asked.

“In the glove compartment.”

Elise pulled out a small notepad and pen. She scribbled her name and address on the sheet of paper, tore it off, and handed it to him. “I assume the hospital is going to send my hospital bill to your address.”

“Yeah, I did give them my address.”

“When you get the bill, can you send it to me?”

“No.” He pushed the paper away. “I'll take care of the bill. I am the one responsible for your accident.”

“No, I insist. Please send me the bill and I will have my insurance company take care of it.”

“Okay,” he replied reluctantly, taking the slip of paper.

 

 

Thirty minutes later, Elise opened her front door and came face to face with Miles. He sat on the bottom step of their winding staircase with his head in his hands. He lifted his head and Elise saw the worry in his eyes.

He saw the bandage wrapped around her leg and he ran over to her. He lightly brushed his hand over the gauze covering her leg. “Elise, what happened? I was so worried about you! I've been calling you all night. Where have you been?”

“I got in a minor accident in the park.”

“In a car accident? Are you all right?” he asked and pulled her over to sit on the steps.

“No, not in a car accident.” She carefully sat down on the steps, trying her hardest not to move her leg any more than she had to. “Some guy ran into me on his bike in the park yesterday. I was bleeding badly, so he took me to the hospital and they gave me stitches.”

“You went to the hospital?” he asked, surprised.

“They gave me a tetanus shot. I completely lost it when I saw the needle. They had to give me a sedative to calm me down. So I spent the night at the hospital.” This was the first time she had ever lied to her husband. She felt it would be best if she spared him the truth. The truth would only add to the problems they already had.

“The hospital! I didn't even think to call there.”

“I left my identification and cell phone in the car, and the man who took me to the hospital didn't know my name. So they had no idea how to contact my family.”

“Who is the guy who took you to the hospital?”

“I'm not sure. I didn't get his name.”

“You never saw him before at the park?”

“No!” She wondered if he believed her story. “I caught a cab from the hospital back to my car this morning.”

“Honey, I was so worried about you. I had so many terrible thoughts running through my mind. I wasn't sure if I should call the police. I thought . . .” He stopped mid sentence.