The Alaskan Rescue (7 page)

“I believe they were all in a car accident. But the real
question here is how come he’s still alive?”

Sashi’s eyes watered. “I don’t know.”

“I was baffled, too. I went and asked a dear friend and
colleague of mine the same question. You know what he said?”

Sashi just blinked.

“He said, ‘Ah! The young man hasn’t yet figured out the joy
that he’s still alive!’”

“I get it,” Sashi said, her voice cracking. “You want me to
find joy in why I’m alive.”

“Yes.”

Sashi couldn’t speak for a moment. At last she asked, “How did
Kendra die?”

“The bear killed her, probably at the very moment you were able
to escape into the cave,” Cole answered.

Sashi couldn’t stop her gut-wrenching cry. She reached out to
Cole and his arms drew her into an embrace. She sobbed on his shoulder. He held
her tenderly, saying nothing more. He just gave her tissues and rocked her
gently.

When Sashi was finally able to speak again, she didn’t dare
move from her cocoon. “How long was I asleep here?”

Dr. Samuelson answered. “Eight days.”

“How could I have been out for so long?” she mumbled against
Cole’s sleeve.

“You had a cut on your back that got infected,” Cole replied.
“It was touch and go for a while. I blame myself for not checking you out
better. I’m sorry I didn’t do a thorough job of taking care of you.” His voice
sounded shaky.

Sashi looked up from his loving embrace and saw his pain. “Why
are you apologizing to me? You saved my life. Don’t ever apologize to me again.
I don’t think I even recall getting a cut on my back. My leg and arm hurt so
badly, I don’t remember feeling pain there.”

“It doesn’t matter. I should’ve been more meticulous.”

“Stop it. You saved my life. You were the angel who came and
rescued me.” She reached up and touched his face. Their eyes met and she almost
kissed him, but Cole started to ease himself away. She felt a little wounded by
his retreat.

“A lot has happened while you’ve been asleep,” he said.

“Tell me.”

“Well, the Knights are taking care of all your medical
expenses.”

“That sounds like something they would do.” A sob escaped. “I
just can’t believe Kendra’s gone.”

Dr. Samuelson stepped in. “Sashi, we’re going to leave now. You
need rest. And I think it would be a good idea to call your mom. You should talk
to her.”

Cole reached down and handed Sashi the blanket. “Your family
sent you this to remind you of home. I’ve heard that they’ve called hourly, just
waiting for you to come around. They wanted you to phone them as soon as you
did.”

“I will.” She stared at Cole. “I need to thank the Knights for
all their help, but I don’t know how I can talk to them after what’s happened to
Kendra.”

“You have to remember that you lived,” Dr. Samuelson
interjected. “You tried to save their daughter. People don’t give their money
away freely. They must love you dearly. This is a gift. You need to start seeing
your survival as a second chance at life. As soon as you’re well enough I’m
going to have you come to group therapy to begin the healing process and deal
with your feelings of guilt.”

“But how...?”

“One hour, one day at a time.”

Sashi wondered how she could ever be a whole person again after
losing her best friend. And what did it all mean for her and Cole? Would he ever
feel for her the same way? Or was he going to just be a doctor to her now?

Chapter Five

Cole eyed her with concern. “Just so you know, my
friend Jake, who’s the head ranger, and another buddy of mine, Trace Hunter, the
captain of the Alaska State Troopers, tracked the bear and put it down. The cubs
have been taken to a zoo in Canada. I hope that will bring you some peace.”

Sashi shook her head. “Maybe it will bring peace to Kendra’s
family. We messed up, Cole. Broke all the rules about safety in the wild. I just
wish...” Her words trailed off.

“No amount of wishing is going to change the situation. You
have to learn to be grateful for the life you have.” He could see the confusion
on her beautiful face. All he wanted to do was hug and comfort her.

“So how long am I going to be in here?” Sashi asked,
sniffling.

“Maybe a week or two, and then you’ll have your own little
apartment. In a couple of weeks we’ll have you come back here for daily rehab
sessions and group therapy with Dr. Samuelson, here.” The best part of all this,
Cole thought, was that Sashi would not be returning home so quickly.

“How will I get around? Is there a bus service?”

“A couple of times a week, when you’ll be in group therapy with
Dr. Samuelson, I’ll bring you to the hospital with me. On the days you don’t
have group therapy, you’ll take a cab to the hospital for physical therapy. Your
therapist, Mary Brown, will take you home. She’ll also help clean the place and
cook dinner. Mary is Joe Running Bear’s daughter.”

“How is this all possible?” Sashi asked, her brow furrowed. “It
doesn’t make sense. I can’t afford it.”

“No, you can’t,” Daniel replied. “But if you take the help from
the Knights, from Mary and from others who are willing to assist you, you’ll get
the care and treatment you need and deserve. One day you’ll be able to dance
again. If you were to go home now, would you be able to get that kind of
care?”

“You doctors already know the answer to that question,” she
said, “but I’ve never been the type to let anyone take care of me. It’s very
hard. How come my parents haven’t come here?”

“I believe your parents are saving their money to fly out and
pick you up once you’re better.”

Daniel stood up. “I’ll leave now so that you can call your mom
and dad. Then you need to get a good night’s sleep. Once your phone call’s done,
the nurse will give you something to help you sleep.”

“It’s been good talking to you, Doctor.”

“See you soon, Sashi.” He turned and left.

* * *

S
ASHI
LOOKED
AT
C
OLE
. “Please don’t go till I’m asleep. I’ve got to
call my parents.”

He handed her a cell phone, then sat in a chair close to the
bed. She punched in the numbers she’d known since she was a child and heard her
father’s voice. “Daddy—I’ve missed you so much.”

“We want to see you, baby,” he said. “Tell me and we’ll be on
the next flight out, which we’ve wanted to do all along. But since we heard
they’re holding off burying Kendra till the autopsy is completed, we’re debating
between coming while you’re healing or when you’re better. When do you think
you’ll need us most?”

“Oh, Dad, I always need you and Mom, but I guess you know the
Knights are helping me out financially.”

“Is that my little girl I hear on the phone?” said Sashi’s
mother.

Hearing her mother brought tears to Sashi’s eyes. “I got my
blanket, Mom. I miss you so much and wish you were here. But they have an
incredible staff here and I’m going to need you more when the real healing
starts.”

“Did you know I talked to you for hours and hours while you
were in the coma? The Knights paid the long distance bill. And we’ve spoken to
your doctor, Cole Stevens. We understand that he’s the doctor who saved your
life. He must be pretty special.”

“He’s a great doctor, Mom, but can we talk about him
later?”

“So he’s there with you in your room right now.” Her mom
paused. “That’s good.”

“Yeah. Mom, they gave me some medicine and I’m starting to fall
asleep, so I better let you go. Love you.”

* * *

C
OLE
TOOK
THE
PHONE
and turned it off. Then he
lowered her bed to a flat position. Sashi’s eyes were closing and he could see
she was falling asleep. He needed to leave the room and go home. As he walked to
the door, he looked back at Sashi who, despite her pallor, was utterly
beautiful, her gorgeous red hair something he would love to get lost in.

You need to take a breather, pal,
he told himself
.
He’d walked such a tightrope since he’d found her on the cave
floor. It was an enormous relief to know she hadn’t died and would recover. The
most important thing now was to help her recover
mentally
after such a traumatic event.

No matter how much he liked Sashi, he refused to take advantage
of her while she was in such a weak state. Since she was stuck up here in Alaska
with no family or friends, he would be the doctor she could trust. He’d be a
friend,
not
a boyfriend at the beginning of a
blooming relationship. The promise did not make him particularly happy, but it
was the right thing to do.

* * *

I
T
HAD
BEEN
THREE
DAYS
since Sashi had seen Cole and she missed him. But he could be out on a rescue or
simply have the time off. She was nervous and excited to see him again. What was
it going to be like? Now that their relationship had changed so much, Cole was
her doctor and the man who’d saved her life.

Not only had she fallen for him that night beneath the stars
when they had kissed so intimately, but now he had become her lifeline here in
Ketchikan. How was she going to behave with him? She didn’t know what to do.
What did a person in her circumstances do? All she could do was follow her gut
instincts and hope they led her in the right direction.

To pass the two hours until her first group therapy session,
Sashi found a rerun on TV that kept her entertained. The show was
So You Think You Can Dance.
She’d heard about the
series, but never had time to see it. Now she could see why some of her friends
enjoyed it. The dance sets were incredibly well choreographed.

Sashi sipped on water and glanced at the clock. She wondered
what the group therapy session would be like. She’d never gone to a psychiatrist
before. There was a part of her that didn’t want to go at all. Yet, the horror
of what she’d lived through and the loss of her best friend continued to haunt
her daily and in her dreams.

All she thought about was how she should have,
could
have done more to save Kendra. She felt entirely
undeserving of the Knights’ generosity.

One thing she definitely wanted to do was find Freddy and give
him a piece of her mind. If he’d acted like a man, Kendra would never have run
from the cabin. She would still be alive with his child.
That bastard.

She seemed to leap from sorrow to hate at a moment’s
notice.

She missed Kendra so much. Her friend would’ve known exactly
what to say to cheer her up.

She needed to get herself together. Sashi was grateful Joe had
brought her suitcases to the hospital. It was nice to wear her own clothes. One
of the nurses had dressed her in a comfortable dress for the day and put her in
a wheelchair.

Sashi waved to the nurses on her floor as she wheeled herself
through the hospital corridor. As the door opened she backed herself in, hitting
the button for level four, the “crazy” ward as she liked to call it.

She pushed the handicap button to back herself into the room.
After wheeling around, she just about fell out of her chair when she saw who was
sitting opposite Dr. Samuelson.

* * *

C
OLE
WAS
ELATED
TO
SEE
Sashi come through those doors. Over the past few days he’d had to go out with
Jake and find some hikers lost in the Misty Fjords. He’d radioed in to the
hospital to see how Sashi was doing. It was a known fact that when someone was
as physically fit as she was, the ability to regain strength and heal was
greater. So he wasn’t surprised to learn about her amazing progress.

Except that nothing beat seeing the real thing. Sashi Hansen
was in her full glory, getting her sass back. She wore a floral print dress that
hugged her chest in a way that made his heart pound. He took in the rest of her.
The sleeves left room for bandages. The dress came to her knees and of course
her one foot had the boot she’d be wearing for another seven weeks.

But the other foot had a shoe with a little flair, a dainty
flat covered in silver sequins. And her hair—the glorious red tresses seemed
shot with gold as they tumbled over her shoulders. And as she wheeled closer to
him, he noticed her lovely eyes—greener than he remembered them being. God, she
was beautiful.

His heart beat furiously.

He had to remind himself that she needed a doctor and a friend
who was in control and professional.
You’ve got to let her
heal before she knows how you feel.

* * *

“Y
OU
’
RE
HERE
!”
SHE
EXCLAIMED
with joy. “But why? I don’t
understand.”

He looked happy. “I’m here for group therapy.”

“What?” She felt as though she was going crazy. “You mean the
group is just the two of us?”

“Yes.” Sashi looked at him more closely to see if he was
telling the truth, but she shouldn’t have. His tanned face was more handsome
than ever, and his shirt and jeans showed off his broad shoulders and muscular
thighs. It seemed every time she saw him there was something new. Like how sexy
he looked when he put his hand on his neck, causing his biceps to bulge, and met
her gaze. It was enough to make her weak at the knees. Thank heaven she was
sitting.

At last she averted her eyes, not wanting to look at him
anymore. Until she figured out what was going on between them, she decided she
needed to focus on her recovery and not her heart.

She closed her eyes, fighting for composure. She was here to
heal. All they’d shared was a night of kissing, and then he’d rescued her. Now
he was her doctor. “I may not understand, but I’ll roll with it.” She turned her
attention to Dr. Samuelson. She’d already done some therapy with him this week,
and she trusted him.

The psychiatrist stood up and walked up to the chalkboard. He
wrote, “Survivors Guilt,” then returned to his seat. “Sashi and Cole, I’m glad
you’re both here. Each of you has survived a very traumatic event. We’re going
to do a variety of exercises to help you cope with the pain you’re suffering
now.”

Sashi turned to Cole in shock. “Is he serious? Have you been
through something terrible, too?” She immediately felt a new connection with
Cole.

Cole brought his chair closer to Sashi’s. “Yes,” he said. “I
once lived through a nightmare.” Their eyes met in mutual pain. Sashi was barely
aware that she’d grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Cole’s about to start a process that’s very difficult,” Dr.
Samuelson said. “He’s going to try to tell us how exactly his trauma occurred.
He brought in a picture to share, in order to recreate the scene. Cole? We’re
ready when you are.”

* * *

H
E
DIDN
’
T
REALIZE
HOW
MUCH
he needed Sashi’s strength until she grasped
his hand. They both had suffered and soon she would know what he’d done to his
brother.

From a back pocket he pulled out his wallet, then flipped it
open to a picture of two handsome teenage boys standing on their skis next to a
helicopter.

Sashi leaned closer. “Are you the shorter one?”

Cole turned to her in surprise. “How did you know?”

“It’s your eyes and the way you hold yourself. Is that your
brother? He looks just like you.”

“Yeah, that was my older brother, Luke. We were two years apart
but pretty much inseparable. We were ski racers who traveled the world racing.
When we weren’t racing, we were training in South America, New Zealand and on
the glaciers of Europe and Oregon.”

“Wasn’t that dangerous?” Daniel asked.

“Sure, but we weren’t scared of anything, especially Luke. We
loved coming back home to Alaska and skiing up in the Chugach. Nothing beat
heli-skiing on fresh powder.”

“Tell us what happened,” Daniel encouraged him.

Cole began to rub Sashi’s hand almost like a worry stone. “I
was heli-skiing with Luke where we grew up in Valdez. It was a perfect snow day
and Luke was one of the best skiers in the world. The family thought he was
going to make the Olympics that year. He jumped first. I followed him.

“The powder was shoulder deep and the air crisp with the scent
of pine. With a sun shining above us, it was heaven. We laughed as we
crisscrossed down hundreds of vertical feet of snow, until we came to a chute
where we both stopped. It was a gnarly one, and only the craziest of crazy
skiers would ever go on it.

“I said to Luke, ‘The trials are only a week away. Let’s play
it safe, bro.’ But he never played it safe. My heart pounded so hard I thought
it was going to burst. I had a dreadful feeling and screamed, ‘Don’t!’

“He jumped into that chute like he was born to ski it. But the
last storm had turned the snow to ice underneath the powder. It gave way and
Luke was sucked in like a vacuum. He was wearing a beacon. I jumped down to the
other side of the chute and chased that damn avalanche, praying I would get to
him in time to dig him out.

“I did get to him and started digging, but the snow gave way. I
fell another hundred feet, sliding down the mountain till a tree stopped me. I
broke my left leg in a place similar to your break, Sashi. All I could do was
drag myself back to Luke.