“No changing the subject.” She laughed and squirmed away. “Seriously, Ben, when tidying up is more important than a willing, naked woman, maybe it’s time to try a pill?”
“I realized that last night while I listened to you snore. I’ll have Sam prescribe me something mild. Now onto you.” Ben slowly peeled the sheet away from her body. “My dad ran a background check and is threatening to use your jail time against you in the election. But you can tell me about that later if you’d rather have sex first.”
Kline saw red. “Damn him! He dug into my past?”
“I guess that’s a no to the sex first plan?” Ben settled against the headboard while she did the same.
“That son of a—sorry.” She struggled to reel in her temper. The mayor was an ass, but he was still Ben’s father. “It isn’t at all what it looks like on paper. But in a foreign country, I could have been put to death for it.”
Ben sat up straighter as concern furrowed his brow. “What happened?”
She hated thinking about that time in her life. It was what had made her return to the US for good. She never wanted to be that scared and vulnerable again.
“About a year and a half ago, my relief group had been assigned to work in this tiny village. We were there to help show them how to clean up their water supply and cook sanitary food. They’d had some missionaries come through before us, so some of the kids could speak a little English and had learned rudimentary math skills. I offered classes part of the day, and I had this small group of kids who sporadically came by the school hut for lessons. That’s when my troubles started.”
Ben’s head tilted. “You were arrested for teaching kids?”
“Well, come to find out, not all of the kids told their parents. Particularly one boy. His father barged into the classroom and grabbed his kid by the arm and dragged him outside. Then he started beating the poor child.”
“For going to school?”
“From what I could understand of their language, it was for not doing his chores. But no matter how hard the child begged, his father wouldn’t stop hitting him. The kid was bleeding from his nose and mouth so I stepped in to stop it. I couldn’t just stand there and watch.”
Ben slipped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “Of course not. So then what happened?”
She wrapped her arms around Ben, thankful he seemed to understand she could use a hug before she told the rest of the story.
“The man started beating me. The guy was a good six inches shorter, but he hit like a linebacker, so the self-defense classes we all had to take kicked in.” She shivered at the memory of fighting with the man. “I shut the guy down. What I didn’t know was that he was related to the leader of their clan. Later that night, four men came into my tent. They gagged me, bound my hands and feet, and threw me into the back of a truck. We drove for hours, and finally stopped in a small town. They cut me free and then threw me into a nasty jail cell with ten other women.”
“God, I’m so sorry, Kline.” Ben laid a kiss on the top of her head and wrapped her up tighter. “Were you able to let anyone know where you were?”
“No. And that was the scariest part. Luckily Nate tracked me down. I told him to tell my mom I was in a remote place for a while. I didn’t want her to worry.”
“Have you ever told her?”
“Just the basics. Only Nate knows the whole story.” She blinked back the tears that burned in her eyes. She’d buried that time in her life so deeply, to tell the story brought back all the raw pain.
Ben whispered, “If it’s too upsetting, you don’t have to tell me the rest.”
“No, it’s okay.” Oddly, for the first time, she wanted to tell her story. “I didn’t know if I’d ever get out. Nate told me I was lucky I was an American, because the tribesmen realized they might be able to trade me for something. Nate’s father was in Congress at the time, so he promised he’d get the embassy involved, but it took weeks. As the days passed, the number of women in the jail grew smaller and smaller. My cellmates ignored me when I tried to ask what was happening to them. Then one day, when the guards came to take the only other prisoner left, an older woman, she finally spoke to me. She said something like, ‘To live, you have to run.’”
“Escape or be killed?”
Kline nodded against Ben’s chest. “But I’d searched and couldn’t find a way out. So, that night, alone in the cell, I lay in that filthy, rat-invested box and wondered who would care if they killed me? My mom, sure, but I hadn’t stayed in one place long enough to make good friends after I left Denver. My old college teammates drifted out of my life because I went long stretches of time without Internet. I vowed if I ever got out of that jail, I’d get back to the US and make a normal life for myself.”
Ben slid a hand across her cheek and tilted her face up. “Didn’t the party last night show you how wrong you were, Kline? You were never alone.”
She wiped away her tears. “Yeah, I know that now, but I let the bad memories from when I was a kid get in the way. After Nate’s father finally arranged my release, I still had over a year’s commitment to my group, so I looked for safer teaching jobs closer and closer to home, the last in Tahiti. So now I’m a free agent.”
Ben whispered, “Anyone else would’ve bagged that last year and come straight home.”
“You know I never go back on my word.” She gave him a squeeze. “I thought about you a lot in that jail cell. Mostly, that I hoped you were happy.”
Ben ran his hand up and down her back. “I haven’t been truly happy since the day you left.”
His words hit her straight in the heart. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and whispered, “Me either. No more lies between us, okay?”
“Absolutely.”
Ben rubbed Kline’s back as guilt weighed heavy in his chest. If he hadn’t lied to her, they wouldn’t have broken up. It was his own fault he’d lost the love of his life. And if she’d stayed in Anderson Butte with him, she would never have had to go through such a horrific experience. The vision in his head of a man hitting her, and then of her being thrown in the back of a truck gagged and bound, killed him. He wished he could go back in time and do things differently.
His phone buzzed on the nightstand beside him, drawing him out of the dark space in his head. The screen showed it was his father. Ben was tempted to let it go, but maybe it’d give him a chance to tell his dad about Kline’s arrest. So he’d back the hell off. “Hello?”
Sue Ann yelled, “Something’s not right with your daddy!”
“Calm down and tell me what’s wrong.” Ben laid a kiss on the top of Kline’s head and then slipped out of her embrace.
“His color isn’t right, and he’s having a hard time breathing.”
“I’m on my way.” He’d warned his father to slow down. His heart wasn’t healthy enough to handle his perpetually stressed-out life. But the man was as stubborn as a two-year-old.
He grabbed a pair of jeans and the first shirt his hand landed on in the closet. He called out to Kline, “It’s my dad. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
When he stepped out of the closet, Kline was dressed too. She asked, “Is there something I can do to help?”
“Call Ryan and ask him to pre-flight the chopper. Just in case.” Ben didn’t wait for an answer. He grabbed his medical bag and car keys, and flew out the door. In less than two minutes he was in front of his father’s house.
Ben took the porch steps two at a time and raced through the front door. “Sue Ann?”
“We’re in the kitchen.”
One look at his father and Ben’s suspicions were proved correct. Blue-tinged lips told him his dad wasn’t getting enough oxygen. “Tell me how you feel, Dad.”
His father struggled to draw enough air to speak. “Like a damn elephant is sitting on my chest.”
Ben handed his father aspirin to chew and then called Kline as he wrapped the blood pressure cuff on his dad’s arm. She was closer and faster th
an Joyce. When Kline answered, he said, “Can you go by my office and grab two of the rolling canisters of oxygen from the storage room behind Joyce’s desk? There are masks and tubing in a box just above. My spare office keys are in the bowl by my front door. Have Ryan load everything in the back of the chopper and be ready to take off.”
“Okay. I hope he’ll be all right.”
“Thanks.” Ben hung up and tried to stay calm and detached, as he would with any other patient who was probably having a heart attack. After taking his father’s pulse, Ben reached inside his bag and filled a syringe. “Just going to give you a little something to ease the pressure, Dad. And then Sue Ann is going to drive us to the chopper. We need to get you to Denver.” Ben was grateful for the equipment they kept permanently on the chopper. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use the paddles.
Sue Ann said, “Oh, then I need to pack a few things.” She started for the hallway.
“No time. Pull the car as close as you can to the front porch.”
Sue Ann stopped her retreat. “Are you sure—”
“For the love of God, woman. Get the damn car!” his father hissed. The meds had started working, thankfully. Dad’s color was better, but not great. Hopefully Ben could keep him stable until they got to the emergency room. He’d call Sam from the chopper and have her meet them at the ER.
Feeling helpless, Ben took to pacing in the waiting area of the busy emergency room. Sue Ann seemed oblivious to the fact that her husband had probably had a heart attack and played games on her cell phone to pass the time. It made Ben question which Sue Ann loved more—his father or his money.
Ryan had gone to get coffee for everyone half an hour ago. He must’ve walked down the street to get them the better stuff.
Ben sat again and took to alphabetizing the stack of magazines beside him.
“What are you doing?” Sam stood before him with her arms crossed.
Dammit. She’d caught him. “Nothing. How’s my dad?”
Sam sat next to him and pulled out her prescription pad. As she scribbled she said, “Cranky, but stable. Go get this filled for yourself, and by the time you get back I should have his test results.”
Ben read the script. It was for an anxiety med. “I guess it’d give me something to do other than sit here.”
Sam’s right brow spiked. “Really? I thought you’d just tear it up like the last one.”
“Then why did you bother giving it to me?”
Sam’s lips tilted into an annoyingly smug grin. “Kline talked you into it, didn’t she?”
“You probably put her up to it.” Ben stood to go.
Sam laid her hand on his arm to stop him. “Sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood. I’ll go see if the labs are in yet. Be right back.”
Ryan finally came back and handed out coffee, just as Sam appeared again and held a swinging door open to invite them all inside. “You can see him now, but not too long. He needs to rest.”
Dad sat propped up in the bed, hooked up to machines and with a scowl on his face. He looked a whole lot better than he had in the chopper. Ben asked, “So what did you figure out, Sam?”
Dad said, “I’m sitting right here. You can ask me.”
“I don’t know if you’ll tell us the truth. I’d rather hear from Sam.”
Ryan and Sue Ann both nodded in agreement.
Sam said, “If it’s okay with you, Mr. Anderson?”
Dad waved his hand. “Go ahead.”
Sam picked up the chart at the end of the bed and handed it to Ben to read for himself as she addressed Sue Ann and Ryan. “Mr. Anderson had a heart attack. Lucky for him it was mild, and seems to have left minimal damage. We’ve prescribed some meds that should keep things under control for now, but Mr. Anderson needs to see a cardiologist and begin a treatment to clear the blockage from his arteries, and a diet program to prevent this from happening again anytime soon.”
Sue Ann asked, “So he shouldn’t be running for mayor now, should he?”
Sam shook her head. “Mr. Anderson needs to relax and take it easy. When he feels up to it, he needs to start exercising daily. Walks at least.”
His father’s jaw clenched. “My kids won’t step up, so I have no choice. If anyone asks about this today, we had business to attend to in Denver. Is that clear?”
Sam said, “Mr. Anderson, is being mayor worth dying for?”
“Yes! An Anderson has always run our town. That can’t change.”
Ben put his father’s chart back in the holder. “Is dropping dead in the middle of your term going to do any good? Because there’s a decent chance that could happen if you ignore Sam’s advice.”
His father shrugged. “Over my dead body is the only way I’ll ever let a Grant run my town.”
Ryan said, “Kline helped with the oxygen tanks this morning, so she knows you had a medical issue. If she tells anyone, then you’ll just be proved a liar.”
Dad pointed his finger at Ben. “Then you better make sure that doesn’t happen. I can’t have people voting for her just because they think it’ll be best for my health. Tell her our debate is called off tonight. And don’t tell your sisters about this.” He moved his finger Ryan’s direction. “You can come pick me up tomorrow at one. I need to be back before my four o’clock appointment with Joe McDaniel. Tara’s father better not hear about this either, Ryan, or we could lose the distillery to Denver.”
Ryan turned to Sam. “Will he be released tomorrow?”
Sam sighed. “If he remains stable for twenty-four hours, then yes.”
Dad said, “Good. Now all of you go on home and keep your mouths shut about this.”
Ben locked gazes with Sam, who shook her head in exasperation. “I’ll keep an eye on him. Call you later.”
“Okay. Get some rest, Dad. And if I have to ask Kline to keep this under wraps, then you’d better not mention Kline’s background check information either.”
His father frowned, but nodded.
Sue Ann wiped away a tear and then laid a kiss on his dad’s forehead. “You’re a stubborn old mule, but I love you anyway.”
Maybe she did care.
As they walked out the sliding doors to the parking lot, Ben dialed his phone to ask Kline not to mention his father’s illness. She didn’t have to comply with HIPAA rules the way Ben did, but he hated to ask her to lie. Especially when she could possibly use it against his dad to prove he wasn’t physically fit to be the mayor.
She had to have figured out his father’s medical issues might be serious when she saw him being loaded into the chopper behind the clinic. And he’d asked her to grab the oxygen to save a few precious minutes.
Thinking of the oxygen made him stop dead in his tracks. Kline had been alone in his office. Had she snuck a peek in her mother’s file? Worse, what would she do if she found out she’d been tricked into coming home by a lie?
Kline settled in with her laptop on her mother’s living room couch to go over Barb’s lesson plans and then to continue her research for the debate later that night. When her phone vibrated and danced across the coffee table, she snatched it up.
Ben. About time. “Hi, how’s your father?”
“They’re keeping him overnight for observation. He should be back tomorrow. Did you mention any of this to your mom?”
“No. She wasn’t home when I got here. Some fundraiser at church.”
“Good. Please don’t say anything to anyone.”
“Why?”
“A favor to me?”
“Okay. I’m sure no one will notice that I’m the only one at the debate tonight. Should be an easy win for me.”
Ben didn’t laugh at her joke. “He said he needed to cancel.” The strain in Ben’s voice worried Kline.
“That’s fine. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He was quiet for a moment, then said, “So did you look?”
She knew exactly what he meant. She’d rushed the oxygen out to the chopper just moments before they all arrived in S
ue Ann’s car. After the chopper took off, she was sorely tempted to go back inside and snoop through her mother’s file. “No. I wanted to, but just couldn’t bear the thought of lying to you about it afterward.”
He let out a long breath. “Thank you.”
Ben seemed so stressed out. Maybe she could lighten his mood. “As a reward for my gallant restraint, maybe you could bring the file home with you and leave it open on the kitchen counter?”
“Nope. But I can think of something much more fun to do on the kitchen counter.”
In her best Marilyn Monroe sexy whisper voice, she said, “Make love?”
“If you come for dinner tonight I’ll make something you’ll love.”
She chuckled. Ben used to get skeeved out at the idea of sex in the kitchen—way too unsanitary for him. “Okay. But I have school tomorrow, so I have to be in bed early.”
“Taking you to bed early works for me.”
“Then it’s a date. What time?”
“Six. And it is a real date. I’m hoping if all goes well tonight, you’ll finally admit how you feel about me.”
“I can tell you right now. When you push me for things before I’m ready, I feel annoyed with you. But when you make me dinner, I feel very favorable toward you. See you later.” She quickly hung up.
Still smiling, she went back to her lesson plans. Could be fun to see how hard he’d work for it. As much as she’d tried to bury her feelings for him for so many years, she loved Ben—she’d apparently never stopped. Hopefully, love would be enough this time around.
Ben chopped fresh herbs as he made one of Kline’s favorite dishes, determined to bust through the wall around her stubborn heart. He needed to get her to commit to him and to staying in Anderson Butte before the election in four days. So no matter the outcome, she’d stay.
He had the one piece of information Kline needed to be sure she won—his dad’s poor health. If people in town knew how bad his father’s heart problems were, and that holding office could literally lead to his death, they’d elect Kline without hesitation. As much as his father was a bully, he did a good job running the town. People respected him for that. They’d want him to take the time away to rest, have the treatment he needed, and then get better.
It Had to Be Them (An It Had to Be Novel Book 4) Page 18
