Snowstorm Confessions

She pulled the curtain aside and stepped in. The sight of Luke’s naked leg raised and surrounded by metal framework didn’t shake her. They’d probably had to stretch his leg a bit to reset bones. There was no evidence that the fracture had broken the skin—a good sign.

What got to her was the face above the blanket that covered him from chin to hips. He had a huge bruise around his eye, red and angry-looking, and his left cheekbone appeared swollen. Then she noticed that the arm lying along his side already sported a cast.

Damn, he’d done a number on himself.

She heard a rubber-soled step behind her and turned to see Dr. Trent. “He’s going to be okay,” he said. “They’re checking the X-rays of his leg right now to see if the reset looks good or if they’ll need to pin it.”

She nodded quickly, wondering why her mouth was so dry. “His head?”

“So far the concussion actually appears mild. We did a CT on him and saw only some insignificant bleeding. He also cracked his cheekbone. No displacement, no movement of the bone, so we’re going to leave it. His arm was a simple fracture, but his hand is a mess of lacerations and contusions. He’s not going to be happy when he wakes up from the morphine.”

Then Dr. Trent touched her arm. “He was pretty angry when he came in here. Aggressive. We need to keep an eye on that concussion, at least overnight. It might be worse than we think. Just watch it. There’s no telling how he might react when he wakes.”

She knew all of this already, but she didn’t mind having Dr. Trent repeat it. Somehow it was more calming hearing it in his measured, steady voice than from inside her own head.

Then came the question she had half expected and had been dreading.

“Bri? Does he have anyone around here? Because he’s going to need help, but mostly he’s going to need some pretty close observation. Of course, we can keep him hospitalized....”

The idea of Luke putting up with being stuck in a hospital would have been funny under other circumstances. Heck, he was going to be upset enough about the limitations his injuries were going to cause. He was not good patient material.

“There’s just me,” she said quietly. “We’re divorced.”

Trent grimaced. “Not good. Although I guess that’s why he kept demanding we get you. I don’t think he knows what decade it is right now. Well, I can sure understand if you don’t want the responsibility. Just let me know so I can make arrangements after we find out how that leg is.”

Maybe, she thought bitterly, as she stood staring at Luke, she should call Barbara to come watch him.

Bitterness aside, though, something stronger tugged at her. At last she gave in with a sigh and sat on the one chair beside the bed. She tried to focus on the steady drip of the IV into his uninjured arm, but her eyes kept straying back to his face. God, he was a mess! That cheek alone was going to cause him some huge pain.

Sheila came in, nodded to her and checked his vitals. Then she pulled out an ice pack, flexed it to activate it, and rested it gently on his cheek. “Twenty minutes,” she said.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“You haven’t eaten, have you?”

“I just got off shift.”

“Then let me bring you a tray from the cafeteria. They have a passable turkey breast tonight. Potatoes or rice?”

“Potatoes, please. And coffee. Looks like I’m going to need it.”

“You should have heard him when they brought him in. Cussing a blue streak. He said somebody pushed him, but the other guy who was up there with him said no one else was around. Then he kept demanding to see you. He said he had to warn you. I mean, man, he was out of it.”

Bri listened, her heart growing heavy. She knew even mild concussions could cause all sorts of disorientation. It wasn’t unusual for a concussed patient who was conscious to ask every thirty seconds where they were and what had happened. But claims of being pushed? A need to warn her of what? That seemed to go beyond the ordinary confusion.

Rubbing her forehead, trying to ease the beginnings of a tension headache, she felt the first real fear. Earlier she had been concerned, but not afraid. Looking at him, however, she thought of all the deficits that could arise from even a so-called mild concussion. Sheila’s description of his state when he arrived hadn’t reassured her at all.

She wished his eyes would open, that he’d look at her, recognize her and be all right. Bad as things had gotten between them, she wished him no ill. None at all. But she had never expected to ever again fear for him.

Unsettled, she wanted to get up and walk outside, at least for a few minutes, to gather her increasingly scattered thoughts and emotions. Much as she tried to tell herself that she cared about him the way she would have cared about anyone she had known, the response inside her told her she was lying.

There were threads left tying her to him and the past. She had thought them cut, but they remained. She felt as if she were on a pinnacle, suddenly surrounded by the abyss of all that she had thrown out of her life. The pain remained, but something else did, too.

This was not good.

Sheila popped in with a dinner tray and Bri thanked her. She glanced at the clock above the bed and saw that the ice pack needed to remain another five minutes. She wondered what was taking X-ray so long. She wondered if she would be able to eat.

She grabbed the coffee first. Sheila had brought her two covered cups full. She downed them both, then took a stab at the turkey, potatoes and broccoli. The broccoli was a little soggy from being in the steam tray, but otherwise Sheila was right about it being a passable meal.

She paused to remove the ice pack from Luke’s cheek and stood for a minute, just looking down at him. The bruise was still spreading, distorting his face even more. It looked as if he was going to be eating through a straw, she thought.

That little flicker of anger that had started earlier returned, but it was not anger at him. All of it arose from seeing him laid low like this. In the years she had known Luke, he’d always been a powerhouse, always on top of things, always independent. Maybe that had been part of what had bothered her, that he had never seemed to need her in any way. It wasn’t as if she wanted him to be dependent on her, but it would still have been nice to feel needed in some way. Essential.

Wow, that was a heavy thought. She pulled back from the bed and picked up the tray again. She’d wanted to feel essential? Wasn’t that a crock. She liked her own independence and had respected his. Right?

Staring down at the tray, she wondered what was going on inside her. Last week she had yelled at him for always being gone during their marriage. Now tonight she was thinking he hadn’t made her feel important enough?

Whoa. Being around him again wasn’t going to be good for her unless she could find a way to avoid thoughts like these. At this late date, it struck her as just more rationalization, anyway. Since the relationship was over, it was pointless to invent new reasons for its failure.

Her appetite gone, she took the tray out and put it on the meal cart rack in an empty slot. Catching sight of Sheila, she asked, “Who brought Luke in? There was someone working with him?”

“Yeah. I didn’t recognize the guy.”

“Where is he now?”

“He said he had to go back and pick up tools he left because he was in such a rush to get Luke down here.”

Made sense, Bri thought. Just as she reentered the cubicle, Dr. Trent appeared. “Good news. We can wrap the leg—the break won’t need any pins. You want to wait outside? With any luck, we’ll have the cast on him before he starts to wake up.”

And then what? Bri wondered as she went to the small waiting area. He’d stay overnight here, but then what?

Gloom filled her. Her mind scrambled around, trying to find other ways to manage this, but in her heart of hearts she knew she was going to wind up taking care of him, at least until he was ready to travel.

Luke Masters was going to move back into her life.

* * *

Luke was starting to wake when they wheeled him out of the bay. Bri followed, watching him stir and groan.

“You’re sure the concussion isn’t bad?” she asked Trent again as she passed him.

“Do a neuro on him if you want. Pupils are normal and reactive. All other reflexes are fine. He’s just a little addled at the moment, but like I said, we’ll keep him under observation tonight. The more you can get him to talk or at least acknowledge you, the better.”

As if he were going to talk much with that cheekbone all swollen. He must feel as though he’d been hit by a baseball bat in the head. Never mind the pain he’d start feeling in his arm and leg.

Luke was placed in a room by himself, maybe because he’d been aggressive when he arrived and they feared he might disturb another patient. The ward nurse, Karen Bloom, told her she didn’t have to stay all night.

“You know we’ll watch him.”

“I know, Karen, but he was asking for me. It might be better if I’m here.” Exhaustion was beginning to break through her worry, though. She’d just worked a twelve-hour shift, which had now stretched to more than fifteen if she counted the time in the E.R.

“Your ex, huh?” Karen said. “Not fun.”

Bri didn’t even blink. By this time tomorrow the whole town would probably know that Luke and she were once married. This was not the place to live if you wanted to keep secrets.

“It’s hard to see him this way,” she said quietly, admitting a truth she was reluctant to face.

“I’m sure it is.” Karen patted her arm. “Time for more ice?”

Bri looked at the clock over the door. “Yeah. Thanks. I’ll get it.”

She retrieved several of the instant ice packs and returned to the room. She cracked one and placed it against his cheek, feeling an unwanted ache for him. Apart from his injuries and the pain he would endure, she knew he was going to hate being cooped up. Especially inside his own body. As he’d often joked, he was a man who said “go” and his body went. This was not going to be easy.

As she leaned over him, adjusting the ice pack, his eyes snapped open. She found herself looking into those familiar gray pools.

“Bri?”

“It’s me.”

“I see that. Where did you go? I lost you.” His voice sounded thick, his words slurred by the bruising of his cheek.

She didn’t take him seriously. Concussion often caused this kind of thing. “I’m right here now.”

“What happened? Where am I?”

She’d probably answer that question a hundred times tonight. “In the hospital. You fell and got pretty banged up. You’re going to be fine.”

His unbroken arm lifted; his hand seemed to reach for her. She hesitated, and finally slid her hand into his. She nearly winced as he squeezed. “Don’t go.”

Before she could reply, he was out of it again, but he didn’t let go of her. She tried to ease her hand away so she could sit, maybe stretch out until the next time he woke, but each time she tried, he tightened his hold.

A couple of minutes later he woke again. “Where am I? Bri?”

“I’m right here.”

“Did someone beat me up?”

“You fell. You were out on the mountain, and you fell.”

“Okay.”

His eyes closed again, and this time his grip on her hand relaxed. Sagging onto the chair, she wondered if it would even be worth folding it back into a narrow bed. It would be nice to stretch out and doze, but he was coming out of the morphine now and would wake frequently. Unless the concussion was getting worse. The thought made her shudder.

She scooted the chair closer to the bed, kept her eye on the clock for the ice pack and rested her hand on his shoulder. Maybe that contact would help him.

Karen popped in and was glad to hear he’d been talking. She noted the times, checked his pupils and told Bri everything looked good.

“Who was that?” Luke awoke again. “Who was here?”

“A nurse.” She rose and bent so he could see her without moving too much.

“You’re a nurse.”

“Right. But I’m not your nurse. Karen is.” Although it was beginning to look as if she’d be his nurse soon enough, unless he chose an ambulance ride to somewhere else. Her heart sank again.

“What happened? Where am I?”

If she hadn’t been through this so many times, Bri would have been seriously worried. His confusion was normal, but she found a penlight in the drawer and checked his pupils again anyway. She needed to see for herself.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure you’re okay.”

“I don’t feel okay. Where did you go?”

She ignored the last question. “You fell. You hit your head and broke your arm and leg. Just relax. Everything’s fine.”

Everything except her.

“I lost you,” he muttered. “I couldn’t find you.”

Oh, boy, this was going to be fun. When she could, she sat again and waited for the next round. Hearing repeatedly that he’d lost her was not making this any easier to take. For three years or more, she had pretty much decided he had thrown her away. Now he was saying he’d lost her?

Deliver me, she thought as she sagged on the chair. It didn’t help any to remind herself that he was concussed and making little sense. She didn’t want to peek into these thoughts, however addled, from a man who should have remained in her past. And she hoped like hell he didn’t remember saying any of this when he improved.

They weren’t words that would make either of them happy.

* * *

By dawn, Luke no longer asked where he was and what had happened. He now remembered it from one moment to the next—an excellent sign. He was even aware enough to tell Bri to go home and get some sleep. She didn’t hesitate. He wouldn’t be released before noon, unless he made other arrangements, and frankly she didn’t want to be around for the pain he was going to experience the first time he sipped broth through a straw.

“Get him a milk shake,” Sheila suggested. “He doesn’t look like someone who will make it for long on broth.”

“Probably not. Call me if anything develops. Has anybody seen the guy who brought him in?” That was beginning to trouble her. Shouldn’t a coworker have been here to check on him?

“Not yet. I’ll let you know. Girl, you look dead.”

“I feel halfway there.”

“At least you have the next four days off.”

She’d forgotten that. She could catch up on her sleep. Maybe. Unless she needed to watch over Luke at her place, in which case she’d rather be working. It would be a great excuse to make him call someone else.

Her eyes felt gritty and burned. The bright sunlight almost hurt, and for a moment she had a wild idea that maybe the night had turned her into a vampire. Nope, her skin didn’t smoke.

The silliness indicated that she desperately needed sleep. Next thing, she’d be hallucinating. Aware that she wasn’t at her best, she drove with extra care and finally pulled into her driveway with a huge sense of relief. Home. Bed. Sleep.

She might have left Luke at the hospital, but she realized as she climbed out of her car that he had come home with her anyway. She couldn’t erase the anguished tone of voice in which he’d said he lost her.

Concussion craziness, she told herself sternly. Icy snow still covered the ground, and she walked carefully, wishing spring would just get on with it. She needed some warmth. She needed to be able to stride freely again without fear of slipping.

Dissatisfaction followed her and she tried to blame it on a rough night. She was happy with her life, she loved living in a place with seasons, including winter, and so what if one of them lasted too long?

Dang. Her own thoughts were getting as addled as Luke’s.

“Bri?”

She looked around, startled, and saw Jack standing a few feet away. A man of about thirty, he was thin enough to look like he was still a kid. His dark hair was shaggy, his dark eyes strangely penetrating. “Jack? Is something wrong?”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know. One of the cops was here a little while ago looking for you.”

“Thanks.” Somebody at the hospital had probably reported that Luke had said he’d been pushed. And that she was his ex-wife. Lovely. What was she supposed to know about anything? “I’m sure they’ll come back if it’s important. Are you on your way to work?”

“Yeah.” He nodded and started to shuffle away.

She stared after him for a moment. Somewhere in the fog that wrapped her brain, it struck her as odd that he would have known the cops were here. Then she shrugged the thought away. Jack was a pretty lonely guy, she figured. Always nice and polite, but he’d probably been walking past here when the cops came and had just waited to tell her. Made him feel important.

Inside, she barely paused. She pulled off her clothes, letting them lie where they fell as she stumbled down the hallway. Her bed was the only thing she wanted. She took just enough time to pull on a long flannel nightshirt, then crawl under the covers. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Luke and all the problems he might raise could wait.

They only waited a few hours, however. The phone started ringing off the wall around noon. Like a well-trained nurse, she came instantly awake. A headache had settled in while she slept but she ignored it, reaching for the phone beside her bed.

“Bri? It’s Jan. Dr. David asked me to call you. We’ve got a lion who wants out of the cage, but he can’t be released until we know he’ll have care. So...”

“On my way. What about the guy who was working with him?”

“He showed up, too. That’s part of what’s going on here. Plus a deputy. Sorry.”

“What am I supposed to do about that?”

Jan laughed quietly. “Soothe the raging beast? I don’t know. It’s kind of funny, actually.”

Bri sat up and realized her head was pounding. A migraine. Lovely. Funny? What in the world was Jan talking about?

Groaning once or twice, Bri struggled into her clothes, popped some ibuprofen for the migraine and grabbed a roll for breakfast. On the way to the hospital she stopped to get a large milk shake at the diner, wondering why she even bothered. Sometimes she was too nice for her own good, she thought irritably. This was not going to be a good day.

It started getting interesting, though. As she walked down the corridor in the ward where Luke was being kept, she could hear him.

“Don’t you tell me I can’t leave! I can leave anytime I want. You can’t keep me.”

Apparently he was not fully over the concussion. Luke might not like being trapped in a hospital bed, but he’d always been sensible. This didn’t sound sensible.

She entered his room to find Dr. David, Jan, Police Chief Jake Madison and a strange man clad in heavy work clothes. Firmly stuck in the bed by his elevated leg and broken arm, Luke was holding forth, his words slurred by the swelling in his face.

She rounded the bed, took his good arm, put the milk shake in his hand and said, “Shut up and drink.”

Luke paused midsentence, blinked and said, “Bri?”

“Who else? Shut up and drink. Let me find out what’s going on.”

“They’re keeping me prisoner.”

“You don’t look ready to walk out of here. Now put the straw in your mouth and drink.”

To her surprise, he obeyed. He took one pull on the straw and looked at her. “Do you know how much that hurts?”

“Not as much as you’re going to hurt if you try to stand on that leg right now. Drink.”

She turned to everyone else. “How about you all tell me what’s happening?”

Dr. David—all the docs here preferred to be called by their first names—answered first. “He can’t leave here unless we’re certain he’s going to get proper care. The concussion can have effects for weeks, as you know. Then there’s his lack of mobility. Dr. Trent doesn’t want him walking on that leg for a week.”

“A week?” It must have been a pretty bad break. She nodded. “Okay, I get that part, and from what I see he’s still not quite in his right mind.”

Luke stopped drinking. “I’m perfectly sane!”

“And perfectly concussed. Hush and drink. Let’s figure out things so we know what to do.”

She was beginning to understand why Jan could see some humor in this. She was beginning to see it herself.

“Bri...”

“If you don’t behave, I’m going to tape you with my cell phone so I can show you later just how impossible you’re being.”

He glared at her, but resumed trying to drink his milk shake.

“Now what about everyone else here?” she asked.

The stranger stepped forward, offering his hand. “I’m Mike Hanson. I work with Luke sometimes. We were out checking out the building site when Luke fell. I brought him in. The thing is, he was insisting he was pushed, so I reported it to the chief here.”

Jake Madison nodded. “We were hoping Mr. Masters might remember, but he doesn’t seem to.”

“That’s not unusual,” Dr. David said. “He might never remember what happened right before his fall.”

Jake nodded again. “I’m asking Mr. Hanson here to take a deputy out to the site to see if there’s any evidence that someone else was out there, but he didn’t see anyone at the time.”

“Not a soul,” Hanson agreed. “It was awfully slippery out there, but Luke isn’t a careless man. That’s the thing. If he says he was pushed, I believe him.”

“We’ll check it out,” Jake said. A moment later he departed, reminding Mike that a deputy would be by to pick him up shortly.

Bri followed him out. “Jake? Someone told me you or another officer were at my place early this morning.”

“Me. When I heard you’d spent all night watching Luke, I thought he might have told you something.”

She shook her head. “He couldn’t even remember for ten seconds that he was in the hospital.”

“That’s what I was just told. Your ex, huh?”

Bri simply sighed. Jake winked at her. “Fun times. Not. Good luck.”

Back in the room, a glaring Luke was still drinking his milk shake. Bri’s first question was straight to the point and directed at Mike.

“Is the company going to send transport for him? He obviously can’t work like this.”

Mike shook his head. “They said they aren’t going to hire an ambulance just to move him somewhere else. When he’s ready for a car and plane ride, he can go home. They’re sending out another builder.”

Luke released the straw. “Nobody else is going to do my job.”

Mike shook his head. “Sorry, Luke, but you’re in no condition to do it yourself. You can advise, but you ain’t climbing no mountains.”

“I’m sure not staying here.”

Dr. David spoke. “Well, you sure as hell aren’t going to stay at the La-Z-Rest. You need to be under observation. You’re going to need help until we can get you up on crutches, which doesn’t look like anytime soon what with that broken arm. Regardless, you might be a wheelchair commando for a few weeks, and you can’t be by yourself.”

The freight train was bearing down on her. Bri felt as if she were standing at the end of the tunnel and could see the light coming. At least until he could be transported, she was probably the only option. She gave up the fight, hoping she wasn’t making a huge mistake.

“He can stay with me, but I need to make arrangements for a chair and a hospital bed. I’m assuming you want to continue elevation on the leg?”

David nodded. “Best to keep the swelling down.”

“I don’t want to stay with you,” Luke said.

“Sorry, buddy, but it’s your only choice. Don’t worry, I’ll ship you out as soon as I can.”

“I’m sure,” he said bitterly, then fell silent.

Bri tried pretending a brightness she didn’t feel. “I need to get things ready.”

“I’ll help,” David said. “We’ve got plenty of rental stuff here at the hospital. We just need to arrange to move it. Are you sure you have room?”

“I never use my living room anyway.” Resignation was beginning to set in. A week, maybe two. She looked at Mike. “Can you get all his things from the motel? Eventually I’m going to need his personal care products, and maybe some clothing.”