Angel in Disguise

by Patt Marr

  “I thought we’d take turns,” she said, her fingers crossed. “Since I’ve already got my pack on, I’ll go first.”

  “You don’t need a turn. I’m twice as strong as you are. Give me the pack, Sunny.”

  “It’s a new era, Pete. Women carry their share of—”

  “Not today,” he broke in, snatching at her pack.

  She backed away, out of his reach. She’d counted on Pete’s good nature to get them over this hump, but she’d underestimated the macho factor. She didn’t want to make him angry, but if she gave in now, he’d be terribly embarrassed later.

  She turned and started down the trail.

  “Sunny!” he bellowed.

  She didn’t stop. Let him think she was head-strong, willful, obstinate, a brat. That was better than seeing him humiliated when the weight of the pack made it impossible for him to go on.

  Pete felt as angry as he had during his first days at rehab. Now, as then, he had no choice but play the hand he’d been dealt. But he didn’t like it, and he sure didn’t like bossy schoolteachers. They were all alike.

  He followed her down the trail, not too closely, but making sure he kept up. The descent was more difficult than he’d expected, and the snow hadn’t helped. Once he lost his footing on a slippery tree root. Another time he’d have fallen in a pile of burro waste if Sunny hadn’t called out a warning.

  An hour into the hike, Pete was ready to apologize. Sunny must have suspected how painful this would be for him. With every step, the needles and knives bit deeper. Yesterday he had managed to ignore the pain until midafternoon, but today it was already a constant, relentless torment.

  He did his best to hide it, but she knew. He could tell by the way she tried to distract him, pointing out unusual things, a tree here, a bird there, the way a person humors a tired, crabby kid. It was embarrassing, though it did help. A little.

  She pretended not to notice when he stumbled or had to rest, leaning hard on the stick, but she missed nothing. He knew it. It was galling to realize the doctors had been right, warning him about stress of this kind. No wonder the settlement had been so generous. Step by agonizing step, he tried not to think of living on crutches for the rest of his life.

  They came to a clearing where a bubbling creek ran close to the trail. A few feet ahead a meadow lay beneath a crystal-blue sky. If his mind hadn’t been so pain fogged, he would have enjoyed it. Under a pair of trees whose trunks had grown together, Sunny sat cross-legged, waiting for him to catch up.

  “Ready for a break?” she asked cheerfully.

  He could have told her cheerfulness was not a quality much admired by people in pain, but it wasn’t her fault he hadn’t had the guts to be honest with her about his disability.

  Disability. Man, he hated that word.

  She’d been a real trooper and done nothing but take very good care of him. If it killed him, he’d be sweet as pie the rest of the way. He ought to tell her how much he admired her spirit, her strength, her resourcefulness…and he would. Just not right now when he had to grit his teeth against the pain.

  She had pulled her sleeping bag from her pack and spread it next to the tree. “Come sit down,” she said, patting the pallet.

  She looked pretty, sitting there, her coppery hair pulled back with little wavy straggles around her face. She wore no makeup, but she didn’t need it, not with those beautiful brown eyes and that smile that made a guy feel better just to see her.

  Painfully he dropped down and stretched out on the sleeping bag. “Sorry I’m not keeping up,” he said, trying to sound good-natured.

  “You’re doing fine. It hurts, doesn’t it?”

  “Some.”

  She knew better. He saw that.

  “You are one tough guy, Pete Maguire.”

  “Not so tough,” he denied.

  She didn’t argue, not with words, just with her eyes.

  “Interested in a snack?” she asked, opening a bag.

  Pete held out his hand, and she filled it with gorp, the energy treat she’d introduced him to yesterday.

  “How about some painkillers?” she asked.

  Pete held out his other hand.

  “Same amount as the gorp?” she teased.

  He nodded, but she shook two tablets into his hand. He leaned his head against the tree trunk, closing his eyes, willing the pain away.

  “Do you remember passing that meadow yesterday?” she asked.

  He opened one eye. He did remember. They had crossed it just before stopping for the night after hiking most of the day. Had they actually covered less than a mile this morning? Already his hip was shot. How was he going to make it back at this rate?

  “A helicopter could land in that meadow,” she mused.

  Pete opened the other eye. She was right. It was a little drastic, getting rescued by a helicopter, but if it meant the difference in walking or spending the rest of his life on crutches, he was all for it.

  “Great idea,” he said, hopeful at last.

  “Wonderful! I was afraid you’d give me a hard time.”

  “Nope. Let ’em come and get us. I’ve got no pride.”

  She placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. It felt nice and loving and exactly like something Sunny would do.

  “I figure I can make it to your truck and have the helicopter here in four, maybe five hours.”

  Not a chance! Let her hike out of here on her own? It was out of the question. “Forget it,” he said firmly, tense, ready for battle. “You’re not leaving on your own.”

  “Well, how do you think we’re going to get the helicopter? Yell real loud?” Her big brown eyes questioned his sanity.

  She could put a lid on the sarcasm. “You probably didn’t notice,” he explained, trying not to sound patronizing, “but Meggy expects us back tonight. She’ll check, believe me. When I’m not back, she’ll send help.”

  “But, Pete, your sister doesn’t know where we are.”

  “She knows which trail we took.”

  “That’s real specific.”

  “It’s good enough. And better than you hiking by yourself.”

  “C’mon, Pete. Think. We’ll be stuck here another night.”

  “Would that be so bad?”

  “No, but you need medical attention, and I’ve got school tomorrow. I can’t not show up.”

  “They’ll excuse you when you explain you were stuck with a cripple,” he said, hearing his bitterness and hating it. “You’re not leaving here by yourself. End of subject.”

  Sunny rose to her feet and adjusted the backpack straps over her shoulders as if she hadn’t heard a thing he’d said. “I need the keys to the pickup,” she said, holding out her hand.

  He ignored her.

  “Fine. I’ll hitchhike when I get to the road.”

  “No!” That didn’t bear thinking about. If he couldn’t bully her into doing things his way, he’d have to try another tactic. Speaking from his heart, he said, “Please, Sunny, don’t go. I would go crazy thinking of you by yourself.”

  Her face softened, and he felt such relief.

  “That’s sweet.”

  It was going to be all right.

  “But, Pete, you really can’t go crazy in five hours, and that’s all it will take.”

  Infuriating! That’s what she was. Who was she to say how he’d feel? Didn’t she care about his wishes at all?

  “You’ll have my sleeping bag,” she said, patting his shoulder like he was a child, “and everything you need in the odd chance that something would happen and you had to spend the night here. I have what I would need in an emergency—my down jacket, food, water, matches, a knife.”

  His jaw hurt, it was clinched so tight.

  “By the time you take a little nap, the helicopter will be here. Especially if you give me the keys.”

  Pete closed his eyes. If anything happened to Sunny, he’d never forgive himself. Yet, what choice did he have? She was going to have her way about this. He fished the k
eys from his jeans pocket and tossed them blindly in the air.

  He heard her catch them, and he felt another kiss on his forehead. It may have seemed the same to her, but this kiss flamed his frustration. He closed her out, keeping his eyes shut, his face expressionless, wanting her to know how upset he was.

  Her feet crunched across the pine needles as she walked away.

  He didn’t want his last words to her to be angry. “Be careful,” he said gruffly.

  She stopped. He heard her turn and take one step back. That’s it. Stay. He sent the message silently, desperately.

  “Please don’t be mad at me, Pete.”

  She didn’t want to leave him—that much he could tell. But she was going to anyway, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.

  When her footsteps died away and the only sounds were birds and the rushing creek, he opened his eyes and scanned the meadow. Sunny’s bright hair was easy to spot. Without him to hold her back, she moved quickly. He’d been through many bad times in the past two years, but he’d never felt like such a failure. If not for his stubborn pride, Sunny wouldn’t be alone on a wilderness trail.

  He raised his eyes heavenward and prayed. “God, if you’re really there, I need to know it. So I’m asking. Please…take care of my girl.”

  Chapter Eight

  It was early evening when Sunny parked Pete’s pickup at the hospital and sprinted inside. The emergency room was teeming with activity and confusion. At the desk no one paid attention to her, and she wanted to scream. It had taken forever to get here, and she couldn’t wait any longer.

  “Excuse me,” she said firmly in her best teacher voice.

  A teddy bear of a man in turquoise scrubs looked her way.

  “I’m looking for Pete Maguire. He was brought here by helicopter.”

  “You a relative?” the man asked, munching on a powdered sugar doughnut.

  “No, a friend. We were hiking together on Big Bear.”

  “You can wait with his sister.” He pointed to a corner where a cluster of males wearing assorted hospital uniforms hovered around Meggy Maguire. Sunny couldn’t tell if they were doctors, techs or what, but the E.R. couldn’t be too busy if that many staff members could attend to one very pretty brunette.

  Meggy spotted her and broke from the group. “I’m so glad you made it,” she said, greeting her like a long-lost friend. “Thank you for calling me. Pete sure wouldn’t have.”

  “How is he?” Sunny said, impatient to know.

  “They’re checking him out now. His own doctor is with him. This is where they brought Pete when he was, uh, sick another time.”

  “You mean when he had his accident?”

  “You know about that?” Meggy looked surprised.

  “Is it a secret?”

  “It shouldn’t be, but Pete’s weird about it. None of his friends have even seen him since—” She stopped abruptly, covering her mouth with her hand.

  “Since The Face?”

  Meggy’s blue eyes widened. “You know about that, too? Boy, you two must have gotten close.”

  “Your brother… He’s quite a guy.”

  Meggy heard the catch in Sunny’s voice and could have done a cartwheel. Sunny had fallen for Pete! Standing there in worn hiking boots, wrinkled khaki shorts and her heart on her sleeve, the woman looked wired and primed for one purpose, making sure Pete was okay. Finally fate had given her brother a break.

  “Have you seen him?” Sunny asked, peering around the area.

  “Just for a moment before he got them to kick me out.”

  “He did that?” Sunny’s brow puckered.

  “It’s standard. Pete hates to have people see him in a time of weakness. He turns into an old grouch.”

  Sunny smiled. “You should have seen him when I insisted he lean on me to answer nature’s call.”

  Meggy hooted so loud, the big guy at the nurses’ station warned her with a raised brow. Cowering for his benefit, she confided, “My brother loves to be the protector, and he’s very good at it. But when he becomes the ‘protectee,’ watch out. I’m surprised he didn’t bite your head off when you left to get help.”

  Sunny chewed on her lip, not meeting her eye.

  “He did bite your head off!” she said, instantly decoding that look. “Oh, Sunny, I’m sorry.”

  “I didn’t mind,” Sunny said, her brown eyes earnest. “He was in a lot of pain. He could have yelled all he wanted if it would have made him feel better.”

  This pretty redhead and her brother had connected! She looked at Sunny with potential sister-in-law eyes and liked what she saw. The copper-colored mane was a mess, there was a dirty streak on her cheekbone, a stain on her T-shirt and a scrape on her arm. She’d had too much sun and not enough sleep. But Meggy knew what her brother would see. He’d look into those big worried eyes, see the distress there and go straight to work, trying to make her feel better.

  “When do you think they’ll let us see Pete?” Sunny asked. “He was so upset with me when I left him. I’ve got to see him. I really have to.”

  The woman was a bundle of nerves.

  “If I know my brother, he’ll ask for a No Visitors sign even before he gets a diagnosis. They won’t ‘let’ us see him.”

  Panic flared in Sunny’s eyes.

  Mercy, the girl was a mess. “Don’t worry,” Meggy soothed. “We’ll get in.”

  Her new hospital friend, the intern with the intelligent, brooding eyes, strode purposefully toward them. “Your brother’s going to be fine. He’ll need some rest and a round of meds, but it wasn’t much of a setback.”

  Tension left Meggy’s body in a gush, and she turned to rejoice with Sunny. But Sunny’s eyes were closed, her face upturned in silent prayer, “Thank you,” on her lips. Scruffy as she was, the woman looked positively radiant.

  “They’ll be taking your brother up to ortho,” the intern said. Leaning toward her, he added for her ears only, “I’ll sneak you up once he’s settled in his room.”

  She clasped his hand. “Thanks, Jon!”

  “You were right about the No Visitors order,” the intern said.

  “I knew he’d do it.”

  She wasn’t about to let Pete hole up in his cave again. She knew his tricks, and she’d known he’d pull this.

  “If there’s anything else I can do,” the intern said, “let me know. You have my pager number.”

  “I really appreciate your help, Jon. I won’t forget it, and I’ll be calling you. You’re going to make a fabulous Dream Date contestant.”

  Pete was glad to be out of the E.R. and into a private room where they could post a No Visitors sign. Tomorrow he’d check out of here and into that new rehab place, a private clinic where nobody could find him, not even Meggy. He’d sleep away the prescribed time of idleness, courtesy of some nice little pills.

  He should have had them on Big Bear, though if he had, he might have missed Sunny’s bedtime story, and that would have been a shame. She was such a sweetheart. And funny, smart, brave…and something else. He couldn’t think for the painkillers were already doing their job. Oh, yeah. Sunny was a really good kisser.

  And she said he was a good kisser. He guessed he was, given the right inspiration. Lisa must have thought he was a lousy lover, so bad she had to find someone else. Someday he’d introduce her to Sunny.

  The nurse finished settling him into the room, and he asked her to draw the curtain. A veteran at this, he knew how it was. The staff forgot and left the doors open, then people peeked in when they passed. Why wouldn’t people respect a person’s privacy?

  In the E.R., Meggy had slipped in and driven him nuts, wanting to hold his hand, fussing over him. She knew he hated it when she got weepy, but did she keep the waterworks under control? She did not. As often as she got her way, it seemed he ought to get his when he was the one in the hospital.

  Of course, he understood her fears. He’d even shared them. When his doctor said there wouldn’t be any permanent damage
, he’d about cried himself. Two weeks of bed rest and some pills, that’s what the doctor ordered. It could have been so much worse. Maybe he had a guardian angel of his own.

  God, it’s a step of faith for me to believe You’re listening, but I think You must be. I don’t know how much You had to do with this, but it had to be a lot. And You’re still taking care of Sunny, right? I know this isn’t much of a prayer, but I’m grateful.

  He felt better, praying that prayer, though he’d never done much of it. The Maguires said grace at meals. That was about it.

  He was glad Sunny had her faith. She needed all the help she could get with that family of hers.

  In the E.R. they’d told him Sunny was there and wanted to see him. He would have liked to see her, too, but only in a room with one of those trick mirrors where he could see her and she couldn’t see him. He’d give a lot for the sight of her pretty red hair and that thousand-watt smile. Throw in a good view of her gorgeous legs, and he’d donate cash to the hospital.

  He’d tell them to buy everybody a bed as comfortable as this one. It was the best bed ever, though the stuff flowing through his IV might have something to do with it.

  “Is he in here?”

  He heard that and, even though it was a whisper, he knew that voice. His bloodhound sister had tracked him down.

  “Over there, behind the curtain,” said a man, his voice soft.

  Footsteps—three sets. One, rubber soles that squeaked on the tile; another, maybe sandals; and the third, boots that clumped, but not heavily. A hand wearing Meggy’s class ring pulled on the curtain. Pete closed his eyes and tried to look comatose.

  “Is he all right? He looks so pale.”

  That was Sunny! Bless her heart. If he wasn’t such a bear about wanting his privacy, he’d perk up and reassure her himself.

  “He’s on some pretty heavy meds,” the male said knowledgeably. “He probably doesn’t even know we’re here.”

  That was probably a young intern who’d bigshotted his way around the No Visitors order. He’d bet Old Red that Meggy promised to put the doc on TV.