Radclyffe - Safe Harbor 03 - Distant Shores, Silent Thunder

by Distant Shores, Silent Thunder (lit)

  "Where are you from?" KT asked, struck by the barest hint of an accent underlying Pia's mellifluous voice.

  Pia stopped abruptly in the midst of explaining the theory and practice of dynamic splinting. "Right here in Provincetown."

  "Really?" KT barely noticed as Pia began to disengage the elastic bands attached to the ends of her fingers that protected them from unexpected motion.

  "Mmm-hmm," Pia said as she worked carefully and efficiently to remove the Orthoplast splint. "My father was a fisherman, descended from some of the original Portuguese settlers. My brother still goes out on a fishing boat every day. My mother came here for the summer with her family thirty-five years ago, met my father at a party one night, and never left."

  "I take it she was wealah, damn." KT flinched as a muscle in her forearm spasmed and an electric shock stabbed through her hand.

  "What?" Pia asked quickly.

  "Paresthesias," KT grunted, referring to the abnormal sensations commonly experienced after a nerve has been severed or badly injured. In the last few days, she had started to experience pins and needles, shooting pains, burning discomfort in her fingertips, and all other manner of abnormal nerve discharge as the damaged nerves in her hand attempted to heal. While in one respect it was encouraging, because it meant that the nerves in her fingers were starting to regenerate, the unexpected and often severe pain was wearing.

  "It's about time for that." Pia cradled KT's hand in both of hers, examining the location of the incision, the texture of the skin, the condition of the muscles, and the adequacy of the blood supply to the injured fingers. She gently traced her fingertips over the healing laceration. "This looks good."

  KT stared at the slightly raised, thick red ridge across her palm, remembering the instant when she'd held her hand out to ward off the blow and had felt the knife slice to the bone. She shivered and fought down a wave of nausea. "Yes. It's coming along."

  "You understand that for the next few weeks we'll simply be concentrating on range of motion and scar desensitization. You can't flex your fingers actively or attempt any resistive exercises. The tendon repairs are still far too delicate to risk rupture."

  "I understand."

  "Good," Pia said with a smile. "I'm going to range each digit now. I'm sure the joints are stiff, so you can expect a little bit of discomfort." She cocked her head and studied KT's face. She was pale. "Have you eaten anything today?"

  "I...uh..." Caught off guard, KT fumbled for an answer.

  "These first few sessions are going to be difficult. It's been my experience that you will tolerate therapy much better if you're rested and not otherwise stressed. Breakfast..." She stopped when she saw KT smile. KT's lips were full and sensuous, and her smile might have been beautiful had it not been curved ever so subtly downward with bitterness. "What?"

  "I was thinking about stress, I'm starting a temporary job at the East End Health Clinic today. It's not what I'm trained to do, but it's all that I can do. My hand is completely dysfunctional and might not improve significantly. I may never operate again. Somehow, I don't think a bagel is going to help."

  "Yes," Pia said calmly. "I suppose you might be right." She held KT's eyes, her own gentle and without reproach. "But we won't know until we try, will we?"

  We. It wasn't a concept that KT was used to contemplating. Even when she'd been in a long-term relationship, she'd always felt as if she were doing battle alone, Tory had supported her in her quest, but there had been only so much she could do to help. When it came down to succeeding or failing, the outcome had always rested squarely on KT's shoulders. KT stared at her hand still resting between Pia's long, deceptively delicate fingers. Her own hand, lifeless and pale, looked forlornnearly as forlorn as she felt. Nevertheless, Pia's darker, stronger fingers appeared capable. More than capable. Certain and sure. KT felt a flicker of hope and raised her eyes to Pia's, "I promise not to show up again on an empty stomach."

  "Good." Pia resumed her gentle ministrations and, as she carefully massaged and manipulated the stiff joints in KT's fingers, continued the interrupted conversation. "My mother was a society debutante, I guess you could say. She'd just had her coming-out party the summer she arrived here." Pia laughed. "She always says she hated that party, but was glad she'd gone because it gave her a pretty good idea of the kind of man she didn 't want to marry."

  KT smiled. "I guess your father wasn't one of those guys."

  "No," Pia agreed quietly. "He wasn't." She reached for the splint and set about reconnecting KT's fingers to the elastic bands and attaching the Velcro straps that held it around her wrist and palm. "You can take this off to shower. You probably already are. Be careful when the hand is unprotected."

  "What kind of exercises can I do at home?"

  Pia shook her head. "None for now." She caught the not-unexpected flicker of irritation cross KT's face, noting as she had the first time she'd seen her how extraordinarily good looking she was. Anger didn't diminish her appeal. It only made her look wilder, and a little dangerous. The fact that Pia found any of those things attractive surprised her, but she pushed the thought aside and said firmly, "It's too soon. You'll only delay the healing."

  "All right. I get the message."

  "If you cheat, I'll know."

  KT felt the words like a blow and forced herself not to recoil. Then she admonished herself for the ridiculous reaction. Pia didn't know her. Didn't know a single thing about her. "I wouldn't think of it."

  "I'll hold you to that, Dr. O'Bannon," Pia said mildly as she rose to show KT to the door. Out on the porch, she instructed KT to come again the following day at the same time.

  As KT made her way slowly down the flagstone path toward Commercial Street, she felt Pia's gaze upon her back. Before she turned left to head into town, she glanced back toward the cottage. The tiny porch was empty. She felt a pang of loneliness, but this time there was a pleasant edge to it. It was the kind of missing that comes of having enjoyed someone's company and being disappointed to have that time come to an end.

  For the first time in a long time, KT occupied herself with pleasant memories as she walked.

  Chapter Twelve

  T ory looked up in surprise as Reese walked in the back door shortly after 10 a.m..

  "Hi, honey," Tory said. "Slow morning?" Reese had left for work over three hours before.

  "Quiet enough." Reese quickly crossed the room and leaned to kiss Tory lightly on the mouth. Then she sidled around her, plucked Regina from her infant seat, swung her carefully into the air, and kissed her cheek. "Mmm, you smell good," she murmured before glancing back at Tory. "I thought I'd take this one over to the grandmoms."

  "You didn't have to leave work to do that. I was going to drop her off on my way to the clinic." On my way to see KT. All through the morning's preparation, including feeding and battling the baby, showering and dressing herself, and reviewing the preliminary work shift schedule she'd put together hastily the evening before, she'd thought about spending part of the day with KT. It was so unbelievable as to be impossible to absorb. More than six years had passed since they'd spent any personal time together, six years that reverberated still with all the things left unspoken between them.

  "Nervous?" Reese asked gently.

  Tory gave a small start, then shook her head with a wistful smile. "You are frighteningly perceptive, Sheriff."

  Holding the baby against her shoulder with one hand, Reese efficiently gathered together bottles, diapers, a change of clothing, and the sundry other items required for the day's outing. She just as proficiently organized everything in a plastic carryall. "You didn't sleep very well last night. You tossed and turned a lot." She hefted the bag in her right hand and regarded Tory tenderly. "I figured you were worried."

  "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you awake. I"

  "Nothing to apologize for." Reese bounced Regina on her shoulder softly when the baby began to fret. "I think she's ready for a ride in the cruiser." She tilted her head and r
egarded the baby seriously. "What do you think, huh? Lights and sirens?"

  Tory took the carryall from Reese and set it aside. Then she wrapped her arms around Reese's waist and rested her head on the opposite shoulder from their daughter. "I think she'd love it, but Nelson might object to you going Code 3 on the way through town to Grandmoms'."

  "He'll never know."

  "In Provincetown? Please." Tory kissed Reese's neck. "It wouldn't take five minutes."

  Reese grinned. "Yeah, you're right. Besides, I should wait until she's a little bigger so she'll really enjoy it."

  "So why did you really come home this morning?"

  "You don't believe the part about me wanting to take the baby to my mother's?"

  "Oh, I believe that." Toiy snuggled closer. "It's exactly the sweet kind of thing that you would do. But it's Saturday morning on one of the busiest weekends of the year, and you're on duty. So what are you doing here, Sheriff?"

  "I just thought you might be having a rough day," Reese said quietly.

  "And you wanted to check?" Tory asked just as softly. She didn't need to hear the answer, she knew. She rubbed her cheek against the stiff fabric of Reese's uniform shirt, taking comfort from the simple strength of it, so like Reese. "Thank you. I'm fine."

  Reese kissed Tory's forehead. "I knew you would be. I stopped by for me."

  Tory lifted her head and regarded Reese somberly. "Are you all right?"

  "Yeah, I'm fine." Reese smiled and snuggled the baby closer to her neck. "I better get going. I left Bri at the station chasing down missing-person leads." She picked up the bag with the baby's supplies. "Would you mind if I stopped by the clinic later?"

  Tory's green eyes darkened. "You never asked before."

  "I don't want you to think I'm being...overly protective."

  "I like it when you worry." Tory tenderly stroked her fingers along the edge of Reese's jaw. "And you never need to ask if it's all right to come and see me. You might want to ask Randy if it's all right."

  They both laughed.

  "I already know what he'll say." Imitating his mildly exasperated tone, Reese said, "She's behind, and you've got thirty seconds."

  "Well, I'm glad that you never listen to him." Still smiling, Tory linked her arm through Reese's and together they walked to the door. Her melancholy had disappeared, and when she thought ahead to her day, the prospect of seeing KT seemed far less daunting.

  Pia walked east along Commercial Street, enjoying the sunshine and the smell of the sea. She knew that within a few short weeks, summer would be gone and fall would be fast upon them. She didn't mind, because fall was her favorite season. The sun still held the power to warm her at midday, and the nights were cool enough for her favorite leather jacketthe one that had been her brother's when he'd been a teenager and that had been handed down to her when she was fourteen, despite her mother's protests. In addition to the weather, which pleased her, October brought Women's Weekseven days on either side of the Columbus Day holiday marked by a large influx of lesbians to town and a general atmosphere of celebration. Even though she'd grown up in Provincetown and had been exposed to the social and sexual diversity of the village since her earliest days, she still thrilled to the atmosphere of community when the town was filled with women in love. Or, sometimes, simply in lust.

  As Pia climbed the wooden steps to Provincetown Realty, her mind suddenly skittered to KT O'Bannon. While she'd been working on the surgeon's hand, her attention had been completely focused on the wound and the challenges of rehabilitation. She hadn't allowed herself to think about the devastation, or the tremendous tragedy it would be if her treatment failed to overcome the damage. It hadn't been difficult to see what the injury had done to the surgeon. Beneath her undeniably self-possessed and forceful facade had run a river of pain.

  Pia gave herself a mental shake as she pushed through into the large, single-room office. Her task was clear. She needed to bring to bear every ounce of skill and experience she had acquired over the last eight years in order to return KT O'Bannon to the life she had known before some maniac had taken it from her. If she could do that, she would be well satisfied.

  "Pia!" the woman behind the desk exclaimed. Her blond hair was stylishly coiffed, her blue eyes were subtly highlighted with expertly applied makeup, and her tailored blouse and slacks accentuated a willowy figure. At forty-eight, she looked thirty-five. "What a nice surprise."

  "Hi, Mom." Pia had her father's dark coloring and slender, wiry stature. Combined with her mother's elegant bone structure, they made her appear more exotically attractive than classically beautiful. "How's business?"

  Her mother shrugged. "It's the end of the season. Rentals are down, but we're gearing up for the off-season maintenance projects." In addition to selling real estate in the increasingly competitive Provincetown market, her mother's business also managed several of the condominiums in the village. "You're in town early. Shopping?"

  "No, I just dropped by to ask you a question about the third-floor unit. Is it still vacant?"

  "Yes. Why?"

  Suddenly, Pia was plagued with second thoughts. Just the day before she had decided it wasn't a good idea to get involved with KT O'Bannon in any way other than purely professionally. Now she was contemplating recommending to the surgeon that she rent a unit in her mother's guesthouse. The house that was twenty feet from her own front door.

  "Do you have a possible tenant?" her mother asked curiously.

  "Uh...I might." Pia rested her hip on the corner of one of the cluttered wooden desks opposite her mother's. The part-time agent who worked for her mother was not in, and they were alone in the warm, sunny room. "I have a new client, and I know that she's looking for a place to rent. It would be...convenient...I mean, she'd be close by and I know the unit is empty and she's going to be here at least for several months..." And I don t know why, but I just wanted to help her out.

  "A client, you say?"

  Pia nodded. "Yes. A surgeon from Boston Hospital. She has a hand injury."

  Her mother grimaced. "Sounds serious."

  "Very serious, I'm afraid."

  "What is she doing while she's here?"

  Elana Torres regarded her daughter intently, and Pia wondered what her mother might have seen in her face, Her mother was usually very good at reading her moods, often too good. As difficult as that sometimes was, Pia's inability to keep very much a secret from Elana had kept them connected even during the most chaotic periods of Pia's life. The first had been when Pia had realized she was a lesbian at the age of nineteen. She'd tried to hide it, only because her first crush on a fellow college student had been so intensely passionate that she hadn't wanted to share the feelings with anyone. She hadn't been ashamed, she'd been in awe.

  But her mother had seen the truth the first time she'd seen the two of them together. After dinner the night that Pia had brought Rose home, her mother had taken her aside and asked pointedly about the nature of their relationship. Unwilling to lie, Pia had told her that they were in love.

  "Are you sleeping together? "

  "It's not about that, Mom. "

  Her mother hadn't been happy, and their relationship had been strained for several years. Gradually, however, their deep affection for one another had overcome the estrangement that had resulted from her mother's disappointment that Pia would not marry and produce grandchildren, at least not in the traditional fashion. In recent years, her mother's concern had shifted more to the fact that Pia wasn't married in any fashion whatsoever. It was one of the few topics they didn't discuss.

  "Pia?"

  "Hmm? Oh...what is she doing? I don't know. I've only met with her twice."

  "But you're finding her a place to live?"

  "No," Pia said hastily. "I just thought of the unit, and it seemed like a reasonable solution."

  "Here," her mother said, reaching into a drawer. She extended a set of keys. "The next time you see her, show her the unit. If she's interested, she can drop by and I
'll go over the lease with her."

  Pia backed up a step and unconsciously put her hands behind her back. "No. I'll just tell her to stop by"

  "Don't be silly. This will save a step." Elana tossed the keys to Pia, forcing her to catch them on the fly. "You must have a number for her. Just give her a call and ask her to, drop by this evening and have a look."

  "I, uh...all right," Pia acquiesced, feeling foolish. "I'll...I'll call her."

  "Good." Elana narrowed her eyes. "Are you all right? You seem...distracted."

  "No," Pia replied vehemently, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach at the thought of calling KT O'Bannon. "I'm just fine."

  When KT arrived at the East End Health Clinic at a few minutes before eleven a.m., there were already ten people in the waiting room. She nodded to Randy, who was seated behind the intake desk. His royal blue shirt matched his eyes, which were narrowed at her suspiciously.

  "Is Dr. King in yet?" KT asked in what she hoped was a friendly tone.

  "She's in her office."

  KT extended her hand across the counter. "I'm KT O'Bannon. We met briefly yesterday. I'll be working here from now on."

  "So I understand," Randy shook her hand, because it was required of him. "Today will be a good warm-up. We have fifty patients scheduled."

  "Wonderful," KT muttered as she moved toward the doors leading to the rear. A minute later, she knocked on Tory's office door, waited for a response, and entered when Tory called out,

  "Come in."

  "Good morning," KT said.

  "KT." Tory passed a single sheet of paper across the top of her desk ia KT's direction. "This is the shift schedule for the next month. If you have a conflict because of your therapy or...anything, let me know as soon as possible so I can make adjustments."