Country Secrets

by Caz May

  His outfit choice shows off his muscular physique and I wonder what his chest looked like underneath his shirt.

  I curse myself for thinking such thoughts about someone I don’t even know.

  Staring at him is cut short, when he realises I’m now awake.

  He looks down at me, again brushing my cheek with his hand.

  “Hi, good to see you awake,” he says softly.

  His voice rings in my head, sexy and gruff. The opening of his mouth with his words makes me scan his face closer. I deviously want to run my hands through his mass of curly hair to mess it up and I can’t help but smile slightly. The corners of his mouth rise up in a sexy as grin, showing perfect dimples and teeth. Just looking at his lips makes my insides stir again with the strange fluttery feeling.

  Again I curse myself and my body’s reaction to this scrumptious man in front of me.

  A soft murmur escapes my lips and hearing it he looks straight into my eyes when he speaks softly and calmly, “Its ok you’re safe. Don’t speak.”

  No words escape my lips. I feel like I’ve forgotten how to form words, one look at him and I’m speechless, but it’s more than that and I’m petrified.

  I have no idea where I am, or what has happened in the last few days. Speaking and getting involved with him, some mysterious gorgeous stranger, with his world would only make it harder to continue my escape.

  I need to get out of this hospital bed.

  Reaching down I tear at the edges of the tape of the IV. Ripping it out won’t be nearly as painful as what I’ve experienced, by someone I’d loved.

  It’s strange to think of my husband in past tense. I’d once loved him, but the pain he’d inflicted on me ate away at that love.

  The mysterious new man puts a hand over mine, shaking his head. I stop tugging at the IV, feeling defeated and sighing heavily when the door cracks open again. The nurse finally walks in and from the look on her face it’s my guess was I’m not going to get out of here anytime soon.

  (6) Addison

  Coming back to Ridgehope hadn’t been part of my plan. After breaking his heart I’d escaped to the city, wanting to get away from the small town gossip about why we broke up.

  Rumours were abundant, including that I was pregnant with someone else’s baby. If only they knew the truth, they’d know how much those words hurt.

  Escaping to the city though hadn’t exactly worked out as planned either. The pain of the past was just too much.

  Physically I probably fitted in there better, but I was a country girl at heart.

  I’d only been back a month and was settling into working at the hospital.

  It was a little more fast paced than being a General Practitioner as I was before and focusing on obstetrics had been a welcome change. Ridgehope Memorial is a small hospital, but we always had a number of patients and serviced a wide farming community.

  One patient in particular that came on ward in the last few days has piqued my attention.

  Brought in by ambulance, bleeding and unconscious I was assigned as her doctor, by the annoying new doctor that has swanned in like he owns the place.

  At first I was confused, but when a routine ultrasound was done on her it all made sense. What didn’t make sense though was the person who was by her bedside when I walked into the private room.

  My heart leaps in my chest, pounding fiercely as I take him in, watching her on the bed.

  I knew it was inevitable to see him at some point, but in these circumstances I’m taken aback.

  “Hunter?” I ask, even though I know it’s him. His head is down looking at the woman on the bed, “Is that you?” I continue.

  His incredible dreamy blue eyes look up at me, and he scowls.

  “Addison, what are you doing here?” he asks, with an odd tone in his voice.

  I think his question is rather ridiculous, considering I’m wearing scrubs, but I answer, “I work here Hunter.”

  He shakes his head at me, not believing my words.

  “I thought you moved to Adelaide,” he states, even though it’s technically a question.

  “I did, but I missed it here. I came back a month ago.”

  He stands up, pushing back the chair back he was sitting in hastily. His hands ball into fists like he’s angry.

  “And you didn’t think to contact me and tell me?”

  “I wanted to but…” I pause, unsure of what excuse I could even say. I’d wanted to contact him, but I knew that he probably wouldn’t have wanted to talk to me anyway. The pain of my rejection was no doubt still raw in his heart.

  “Oh come on, Addison. It’s always been about you. What you want, what you need,” he says, cutting through me with the words that have a vindictive tone, that is so unlike him.

  He’s almost at the door to leave, but I can’t let him go, yet, without saying something.

  “Please Hunter, let me explain,” I beg.

  “No, I don’t want to hear it Addison, I didn’t then and I don’t now,” he says with the same vindictive tone, shaking his head.

  Sighing deeply, I touch his arm and nod to the woman on the bed, “Um, Hunter, do you know her?”

  He shakes his head again. It isn’t like him to not have anything to say.

  “No, I don’t. I found her passed out in the farmhouse,” he says with a hint of pain in voice.

  To say I’m taken aback is an understatement. I really thought he knew her, from the way he was looking at her and soothing her with his words.

  “Oh well, um, I can’t disclose her details to you then,” I state, feeling like a bitch even though it’s my job.

  His reply doesn’t come, instead he turns his eyes away from me and goes straight out the door without another word.

  On the bed by the mystery woman is a bunch of flowers. Something about the whole situation doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t help but wonder if Hunter had done something to her?

  But I knew he couldn’t have, he’d never do anything to hurt someone intentionally.

  I need to tell this woman about what had happened, but I don’t want to wake her, as she’d slipped into sleep again when I was talking to Hunter.

  Busying myself with checking her IV and putting the flowers in a vase on her bedside I wait a few minutes, hearing her murmuring as though she’s about to wake up again.

  Her eyes flutter open just as I’m about to leave.

  “Hi, how are you feeling?” I ask calmly.

  She grunts back, not saying anything coherent.

  “Thats ok, you don’t have to say anything.”

  I pull the seat up by her bedside, taking a deep breath to speak my next words.

  “Miss did you know you were pregnant?”

  She shakes her head, and I can see tears stinging her eyes. It’s clear she’s possibly hiding something and I’m intrigued. When she doesn’t offer a reply I continue speaking, delivering the bad news.

  “Unfortunately you had a miscarriage,” I say matter of factly, trying to leave out the emotion in my voice.

  The tears on her face begin streaming down her cheeks then.

  I feel heartbroken for her.

  Telling people this kind of news never gets easier. It’s the worst part of my job. Again she grunts, as though she’s trying to speak, to tell me something.

  “You also had a deep gash on your leg that needed ten stitches and….” She reaches down and touches the bandage as I speak, “You also have multiple other cuts and bruises.”

  She’s sobbing uncontrollably now. Part of me wishes I could hug her but it isn’t professional to do so.

  “Let me change your dressing and I’ll get some pain relief for you,” I state when she lets out a deep sob.

  Standing up to collect supplies she grabs my scrubs, pulling me back.

  She doesn’t speak but asks with a hand gesture for something to write on. I know this private room well, and there is note paper in the bedside drawer. Grabbing it out I hand it to her with a pen.
>
  Quickly she writes in scrawly handwriting.

  ‘Who is he?’

  “Hunter Mackenney. He’s a local farmer.” I say in reply. The words sound strange in my head.

  She sighs deeply, smiling as though she’s thinking dirty things about Hunter in her head.

  I completely understand that sigh as another woman to know Hunter Mackenney. He has that effect on every woman he meets.

  She begins writing again, pausing, tapping the pen on the paper as though she’s unsure of the words she wants to write.

  ‘When can I leave?’

  “We are keeping you in for a least a few days until your bruises and things heal. You’re lucky to be alive.”

  ‘I should be dead’

  What am I supposed to say to that?

  No one should wish such a thing and it makes me wonder what has really brought her to Ridgehope.The only thing I can think to do in response is to shake my head.

  “Don’t say that.” I laugh lightheartedly before continuing, “Plus Hunter seemed pretty interested in you.”

  A smile spreads across her face. She is as affected by Hunter as I am, but sadly for her Hunter isn’t hers. Seeing him again has definitely sparked the feelings inside me again. The feelings I’d tried to bury deep within my heart are still burning and I’m going to do everything in my power to get Hunter Mackenney back.

  We belong together.

  (7) Hunter

  Rushing out of the hospital to reach my ute feels like an endless maze.

  I needed to get out of there fast as the air in the hospital private room became stifling as soon as Addison entered.

  I can’t deny that she’s still breathtaking and definitely still looked mighty good in her scrubs, but my body didn’t have the same reaction to her it once did.

  The same can’t be said for my heart though.

  There’s still an ache for her there for sure, but it’s more an ache for a woman in general and a longing to be with someone again.

  Loneliness is eating away at my heart, but if Addison thinks I’m going to take her back she is sadly mistaken.

  She’d always had bit of a ‘my shit don’t stink’ attitude, just because she had a degree, had gotten out of Ridgehope for a while to ‘make something of herself’.

  She’d left me heartbroken and her vindictive nature was infuriating.

  I’d never understood why she’d wanted me to give up the farm my family had worked so hard for.

  It was my life, and I wanted her in my life as well but it was never about what I wanted.

  It was always about Addison.

  Driving back out to farm I drive past the car, still on the side of the road.

  It seems strange that it’s still there. I wonder if maybe my brother Quentin doesn’t know about it, as the local cops were usually onto things like that fairly quickly.

  The woman from the hospital hasn’t left my mind and I’d spent most of my time in the hospital with her, just talking to her about my life and telling her jokes that made her laugh.

  She hasn’t spoken a word, seeming so damaged and it makes me long to know her story. Desperately I want to know why she is covered in bruises and scratches, other than the one on her leg.

  Part of me feels guilty that my badly maintained fence has caused the large gash on her leg.

  My lack of farm maintenance has caused her to experience more pain and I want to make it better.

  Taking her pain away is the least I could do. It always pained me that I couldn’t take Dad’s pain away when he got ill.

  I’ve always loved taking care of others, even when I was younger I’d looked after the lambs, hand raising them when their mothers couldn’t.

  It was possible my need to take care of people was part of the reason Addison and I didn’t work out. She had that need as well, which was what led her into medicine. But I resented her taking care of me, as I’d always had an independent streak too, liking the solitary life and my own company.

  Still I craved the touch of a woman, to feel close to someone and to share my life with someone who wanted the same things I do. It hurt more than anything that Addison hadn’t wanted to share her life with me.

  Arriving back at the farmhouse I’m greeted by an eager Blitz. He’d gobbled all his food down and is pawing at his bowl for a refill.

  Laughing at his silliness I let him follow me inside the house.

  Seeing the blood still on the floorboards makes my heart sink. She really had gone through an ordeal.

  I really want to know what happened to her, as I want to make it better and take her pain away. Addison doesn’t seem like she’s going to give me that information easily, and the only way is to be vindictive like she is.

  It’s against my better judgement and so out of character for me, but I have to do anything possible to find out about the mystery woman.

  Blitz is following me around, literally a lost puppy dog. He tries to bite the mop when I pull it out of the cupboard. He thinks it’s a monster that must be attacked when in use.

  His crazy behaviour always makes me smile, but angers me at the same time, especially when I just need to get something done, like mopping up the blood I can’t bear to look at any longer.

  My Mum had taught me well when it came to household chores.

  I can hear her voice in my head ‘Cold water for anything to do with blood’.

  Following the voice I let the cold water rush into the bucket with the disinfectant. Slowly I mop the floorboards, her blood disappearing from the floor and turning the water in my bucket red.

  My heart feels truly wretched for her, for what she’s experienced.

  If I’d not been out droving I’d have been here to help her.

  The guilt of my absence strikes my heart, her beautiful face appearing in my mind.

  Trying to shake her image from my mind I busy myself, cleaning the sheets, soaking them in cold water. Thankfully I’d had a waterproof mattress protector on the bed, so the blood had not reached the mattress.

  Tidying up made me feel content. The farmhouse isn’t in the greatest condition but when it’s clean and tidy it feels like home.

  My thoughts are filled with her, her laugh and her blue green eyes that sparkle when she sees me coming into the room.

  I have questions in my mind, wondering where she’s from? And why she can’t go home?

  Not knowing her name, or anything about her just makes me curious.

  She’s astoundingly beautiful, in a different way to Addison, which makes my curiosity towards her unnerving.

  I’d always gone for the pretty blonde types, the women so different to my own dark haired appearance. But her dark chestnut, almost black hair and beguiling blue-green eyes had captivated me the moment I lay eyes on her.

  When she woke up in the hospital, her eyes trying not to focus on me tugged at my heart and stirred something inside my body that I haven’t felt for a long time.

  It’s lust, but feels deeper than that, a more emotional connection, not just physical.

  I can tell by the way she looks at me that she feels something to.

  Normally I’m not someone who’s bitter but I have a devious plan ticking over in my mind to find out more about my beautiful mystery woman.

  (8) Addison

  Every day, every god damned day he came in and sat by her bedside.

  I didn’t even want to venture in to check her charts, or change the dressing on her leg. Her bruises and the gash on her leg were healing well and her bleeding from her miscarriage had lessened, to the point of barely anything now.

  I still knew nothing about her past, her reason for turning up in Ridgehope and she hadn’t uttered a single word since she’d been there.

  She still preferred to write everything down, so I’d tried to get some information out of her when Hunter hadn’t been around which was near impossible, as he seemed to be spending every waking minute at the hospital.

  I can’t help but wonder who is runnin
g the farm in his absence. It’s unsettling me, more than it probably should be but I’m curious as to why he's taken a sudden interest in her. It’s going to make getting him back a hundred times harder.

  Peering through the window of the room he’s seated beside her again. He’s talking and she’s giggling at his words, obviously enjoying his presence. His hand is resting on hers, and he caresses her cheek with the other.

  They look so happy together, like they’re a couple and anyone would think that he did know her intimately. Just the thought of them being together makes my heart constrict in my chest.

  If he does though he would have kissed her in that moment but he doesn’t, instead he stands up, placing his Akubra back on his head and turns to head out the door.

  It’s as though he senses me being there and is trying to go out of his way to avoid me. If I’m being honest with myself, I know he’s trying to avoid me and it hurts like hell. I really just want to talk to him, to explain my reason for leaving.

  I turn the door handle just as he does, bumping straight into his muscular physique.

  God, I’ve missed his amazing body.

  He pushes at my chest to steady us both, his hands a little too high on my body, causing my nipples to react to the touch.

  “Hi Addison,” he says in his sexy voice.

  At least it sounds sexy to me, my heart now pounding in my chest.

  “Hi Hunter. I was just coming to check on her,” I say, trying to not sound breathless from his touch.

  “Yeah, cool. Is she going to be released any time soon?” he asks casually.

  I shake my head in response, before replying when a look of shock crosses his face, “Not as yet. She’s definitely better, but we don’t know anything about her so the chief is reluctant to release her.”

  “Oh, so you know nothing about her? She won’t speak to me.”