Forgotten (Shattered Sisters Book 2) (13 page)

"Hmm. Wait, wait, I remember now. Because she had a red car and she was always riding on the hood."

"No." Brit giggled, relaxing back onto the pillow. "Because she
wore
a red hood.”

"Right. That would have been my next guess. Anyway, she was walking through the woods one day...I think she missed the bus. And along comes this big, bad raccoon." Brit squealed. "Squirrel?" Ash attempted. "No, wait, it was a ‘possum. I'm sure it was a ‘possum. A big, bad ‘possum."

Joey closed her eyes, soothed by her niece’s musical laughter. And then....

"I love you, Uncle Ash."

"I love you, too, kiddo. No more swimming in the river, okay?"

"I didn't mean to. I fell."

"I figured that."

"I caught a frog, but he got away, and when I tried to get him, I slipped."

"Well, no more frog catching near the river, then. At least, not without me. I'm a world-class frog catcher, you know."

A miserable feeling settled over Joey like a shroud. What had she done? How devastated would Brittany and Bethany be when they found out the uncle they were fast growing to adore was no uncle at all? And Ash? How much pain would the truth cause him?

Ash left the treatment room when Caroline arrived. Brittany was fine, and glad to see her mother and sister. Ash hurried through the corridor and started toward the room where they'd taken Joey, only to be stopped outside the door by a nurse.

"You can't go in there."

Ash shook his head, frustration pulling at his nerves. "The hell I can't—"

"Sir, the patient is—"

He started to go around her. "The
patient
is my
wife."
Then he stopped and stood still, blinking. For a second there, he'd believed it was true. For the briefest moment, he had stopped playing a role. He wasn't pretending. He actually felt like a man desperately worried about his wife. He drew a calming breath.

"At least tell me what's going on."

The nurse smiled gently. "She's fine. The doctor's suturing her leg. Why don't you sit down? I'll let you know as soon as you can go in."

He clenched his jaw and stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep himself from bodily moving the slight woman out of the way and charging into the room. He couldn't sit, so he paced, keeping that closed door always in his sight. The nurse went in and it took all his will to keep from following. What seemed like hours, but in truth was only minutes later, a doctor emerged. The nurse came out behind her and sent Ash a nod.

He rushed into the room, then stood inside the door as relief sapped his nervous energy. Joey sat on the edge of a bed wearing a thin white hospital gown that covered her thighs. Her bare legs dangled over the side.

She met his eyes and smiled. “You look like a drowned rat."

He glanced down at his wet shorts and the sweatshirt that still stuck to his skin. Then he glanced back up at her, and quick crossed the space between them, pushed the gown up, away from her injured leg. Thick, white bandages padded the length of her outer thigh. The memory of the way it had looked before, torn, bleeding, made him close his eyes for just a second.

He felt her palm on his cheek. "Hey, it's all right. I'm fine."

Reaction must be setting in. And it was a powerful reaction. He felt sick. He stared hard at her face, the green eyes that were already regaining their sparkle, the slightly puzzled smile. He studied it, just to prove to himself that she was really okay, and wondered just when she had dug her way under his skin.

"Brittany is fine, too," he told her. Mainly just for something to say to cover his jumbled emotions.

"I know. Dr. Fritz told me."

"Dr. Fritz?"

She bent her head and tugged the rubber band from her wet, tangled hair. "Her last name is unpronounceable. Ouch." She scowled at the hairy rubber band before tossing it toward a wastebasket.

She was okay. It was finally sinking in, and as it did, the questions that had been overshadowed by his worry came to the surface. Questions that made him uneasy.

"So what happened?"

She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to comb out the snarls. "I think it was a rusted-out barrel. I felt it slice into me when I dove in. Didn't see it, so I can't be sure.''

He bit his lip and watched her intently. "That's not what I meant." He caught her hands, stopping their movements. She faced him again, frowning. "How did you know, Joey?"

"How'd I know what?" She knew what he was asking. It was clear in her eyes.

"That Brittany fell in. We were all there together. You just went white all of a sudden, yelled her name and took off for the river. So the question I'm asking is,
how did you know
?"

Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips, and she hesitated before answering. "I...heard a splash."

"From that distance?" He shook his head. "No one else heard a thing, Joey."

"Well, I did."

"So how'd you know it was Brit, and not Bethany?"

She bit her lip, her gaze lowering. "Bethany is afraid of water. Brittany is a little fish. Or, at least, she used to be. Maybe that will change now."

Ash stood close to her, his thighs touching her legs where they dangled from the edge of the bed. He studied her face, wanting to be angry with her for holding things back. But he couldn't. He was just so damn glad she was alive. He replaced her hands in her hair with his own and shook the still-damp tangles out. For the first time he questioned his own skepticism. Maybe there was actually something to this psychic thing.

"You saved my life, Ash. Brit's, too. You could have drowned trying to pull us both to shore."

She was grateful. She meant it. Her eyes were like billboards announcing her true feelings. He knew when she was lying, when she was hurting, when she was scared. He knew when she was wanting him and fighting it. "No chance of that, princess. Frogs are great swimmers."

He stiffened then, because she slid her arms around him, beneath his, and lowered her head to his chest. "I'll never be able to repay you for this. There aren't any words. If I'd lost that little angel..." She shook her head. "How am I ever going to thank you?"

"You could try trusting me, Joey."

She lifted her head, meeting his eyes.

"All frogs aren't the same, you know. Some of them are pretty decent characters, given half a chance."

She blinked as moisture gathered in her eyes. "I'm afraid..."

"Of what?"

She shook her head quickly. "That you'll go away...that you'll stay. That I'll become a gullible fool like my mother, and my sister Toni’s mother, and so many others." A tear spilled onto her cheek.

"You're a lot of things, Joey. But gullible isn't one of them. Maybe you ought to try trusting your instincts."

She shook her head. "That's what my mother did, and then my sister. Look where it got them."

"It doesn't have to be that way."

She looked at him then, her eyes so intense he felt them penetrating his mind. He leaned forward intending to kiss her senseless. He'd show her, make her believe... He was brought up short when the door opened and the same petite nurse stuck her head in.

"Your sister asked me to bring you these." She set a plastic grocery bag on the floor. "Dry clothes." She left them alone again, and the door swung closed.

He cursed the woman's timing. The mood was broken. Joey lowered her arms and averted her eyes. Sighing, Ash picked up the bag and pulled a pair of shorts and a T-shirt out of it. Joey slid from the bed to the floor and winced when she put weight on the leg.

"Easy now." Ash set the clothes on the bed and gripped her around the waist, lifting her right back up to the bed again. He grabbed the shorts and crouched in front of her to slip them on, over her feet, pulling them to her knees.

She grabbed the waistband. "I can take it from here." She slid down, landing only on her good leg this time, and tugged the shorts up under the gown. She tried balancing on one leg while reaching behind her to undo the ties in the back, but wobbled and would have fallen if he hadn't caught her.

"Enough with the modesty, Joey. Turn around."

She sighed and presented her back to him.

Ash untied the gown. He couldn't keep his eyes from traveling over the gentle curve of her spine. And he knew it wasn't really necessary to slide his palms slowly over her skin as he pushed the gown down from her shoulders, but he did it anyway.

The hospital gown landed on the floor. He stood still for a moment fighting the demon that drove him to turn her around, to look at her, to touch her. It was a hard battle, harder because it was one he didn't want to win. But he stiffened his resolve and reached past her for the T-shirt her sister had brought for her. As she gripped the bed for support, he pulled it over her head, holding it in place while she inserted one arm, then the other. And it really was accidental that the backs of his fingers brushed over her breasts as he pulled the shirt down over her body.

He felt her shudder, though. He lifted her hair out of the shirt's collar, and then he held it aside and lowered his lips to the back of her neck. He didn't think about doing it, wasn't even aware he was going to until his lips brushed over her nape. He heard the breath escape from her in a rush, and something like pain squeezed his chest.

Then he straightened and stepped away from her. He had to, or God only knew what the little nurse would see the next time she popped through the door.

There was too much tension, too much confusion inside his head. He cleared his throat as she turned to face him. "You, uh, want to hobble, or ride on my back and let me hop you out of here?"

She smiled, but it was shaky, uncertain. "I can walk." As if to prove it she took a step, but then gasped audibly.

He got in front of her, bent his knees and crouched down. "Climb on."

"Ash—"

"Don't argue with your husband, lady." He looked over his shoulder at her with mock severity. "Climb on. I’m about half dry already so you won’t get too wet."

She gripped his neck and slid her legs around his waist. Ash held her soft-skinned legs to his sides. She started to droop, so he reached behind him, palms to backside, and shoved her up higher. "Rrribbit."

She laughed aloud. "You're crazy, you know that?" He walked with her on his back into the corridor and down it. "No wonder you were so great with Brit in the ambulance. You're just a kid yourself."

He frowned, remembering the fear in the little girl's huge blue eyes. "I can't stand to see a kid scared, and she was ready to climb the walls in there.”

"You were afraid a lot when you were growing up, weren't you?" she asked softly, her words pinpointing the most vulnerable target possible.

Without hesitation he nodded. "Yeah. I was." It wasn't until after he'd confirmed it that he wondered how she'd known.

She leaned down and brushed her lips across his cheek. "Whatever it was didn't stop you from becoming a hell of a man, Ashville Coye. A hero, in my book. My hero."

He shook his head. "Poor princess, waiting for a knight on a charger to show up, and instead you got a frog on a lily pad."

She started to say something, but they emerged into the waiting room then, and Caroline came to meet them. Brittany looked a good deal better, and Bethany's face glowed with joy.

Both girls lunged for Ash's legs, hugging him fiercely.

"Can I ride next?" Bethany shouted.

"No, me," Brittany said. "I'm the one that almost got drowneded."

"Your Aunt Joey is the one who hurt her leg, so I guess she has you both beat. But when we get back to the house I’ll give you both a turn.”

Squeals preceded them into an elevator, and then out to Caroline's minivan. Caroline lowered the third row seats, and Ash lowered Joey in through the open hatch door, so she could keep her leg stretched out. And when they reached the house, he scooped her up again and carried her inside. He saw the suitcases near the door and glanced at Caroline.

"They're ours. I took them out of the car before I left for the hospital."

Joey's face was tight when Ash lowered her to the sofa. "You should have locked the door, Caroline."

"Sorry, little sister. I was too busy wondering if you'd survive the trip. Sheesh, at least I thought to toss the groceries into the fridge. Bags and all, but what the heck?"

Joey's frown deepened. Ash leaned closer to her. "What is it?"

"I don't know." She shook her head slightly. "Something..."

"Rides now, Uncle Ash!"

He turned Joey sideways on the couch, lifting her injured leg onto a pair of throw pillows. “I’m going to make you my super deluxe subs for lunch, you lucky kids.”

"Go change your clothes first, Ash. I can start the subs," Caroline offered.

"I'll help—"

"You
will sit there and rest," Ash told Joey. "Doctor's orders." He turned to Caro. "Five minutes." Then he ran upstairs to put on clean clothes. He returned and approached the girls. "Bethany, for courage above and beyond the call of duty, for remembering what you learned in school and calling 911 for your sister, I award you the first ride." He hunkered down and a giggling Bethany climbed onto his back, wrapping her small arms around his neck. "Careful not to choke the old guy now." Ash straightened and began a mock gallop around the living room, into the kitchen and out the other side. All the time, though, as he gave each child a turn, he watched the worry on Joey's face increase. It scared him.