“Listen to me. Let my partner concentrate on Destiny. I need you to sit still and get warm. We’ll work on your injuries when we get you both to the ER. We are doing all we can for her. Are you listening?”
Jacob’s eyes flicked back to the woman’s face.
“My name is Josie. Destiny is my friend, too.”
They stared at each other for a moment before she broke the connection. She jumped from the side door and slammed it shut. Jacob watched her through the small window as she trotted toward a police officer. The officer nodded in answer to something, then slipped inside his patrol car. The medic—Josie—climbed into the ambulance’s driver’s seat, snapped on the siren, and followed the cop’s blue lights toward town.
Turning his attention back to the medic bending over Destiny, Jacob saw the name Pete embroidered on his rescue jacket. He’d already stripped her and placed heat-packs under her arms and along her sides. He covered her with a wool blanket and tucked it tightly up around her chin. He strapped an oxygen mask over her pale face with a whoosh of escaped air. He tapped her left forearm as he prepared to administer an IV.
“Josie!” he yelled toward the front of the ambulance, “I can’t get a line started. She’s too cold. Step on it!”
Jacob saw Josie nod her response before she leaned over, grabbed the radio, and updated the hospital.
Exhaling a breath he hadn’t realized he held, he swung his attention back to Pete, who placed two fingers on the side of Destiny’s neck.
“Does she have a pulse?” Jacob’s question came out in a whisper.
Pete placed a stethoscope on Destiny’s chest and listened before turning to him, nodding. The man’s brow wrinkled with concern, and Jacob knew she was in trouble.
“Sir, she is alive. I don’t see any external injuries besides bruising and the lacerated hand. She is also suffering from exposure. We can’t confirm internal injuries until we have her in the ER. How long has she been outside?”
“Since about midnight. I have no idea what time it is now. I do know she’s been thrown to the ground at least twice by that bastard.” Jacob spit out the words and started to shake.
The paramedic must have noticed. Pete glanced once more at Destiny to confirm she still breathed, then turned to patient number two.
He removed Jacob’s ski jacket and sweat-dampened shirt, and then wrapped him in a heavy wool blanket. Jacob inhaled the homey scent as a heater blew warm air toward his face. He barely felt Pete’s fingers clasped around his left wrist.
“Your pulse rate is nearly normal.”
“I’m so tired,” he whispered. Overwhelming concern for Destiny, on top of fatigue brought on by their ordeal, caused him to sit and stare. He didn’t feel like moving from this spot.
Ever.
“You may be going into shock. We’ll get you some help when we get to the hospital.” He released Jacob’s wrist to write down something on a clipboard.
“What’s that?” Jacob’s words slurred and he blinked, trying to keep his eyes open.
“I am making a note of your vital statistics on his run sheet.” The paramedic paused, his pen halting in mid-air. “Whatever happened up on that mountain had to have been pretty bad.”
***
From the driver’s seat of the speeding ambulance, Josie tried not to think of her cherished friend lying unconscious in the back of the rig. Pete knew how much Destiny meant to her. He’d be exceptionally vigilant while they raced to the hospital.
Instead of concentrating any further on her unconscious friend, Josie turned her thoughts to the handsome stranger. His words of concern proved his strong feelings for Destiny.
“An admirable character trait, which makes me wonder…did Destiny fall in love with this guy? Could he be the one?” What happened on that mountain to injure these two and leave another man dead? If the deceased attacked them, did he have anything to do with last month’s murder?
As they sped along, Josie forced herself not to glance into the back of the rig.
More important to keep my eyes on the road.
She followed the cruiser up Main Street, and then pulled up to the ambulance entrance at Fairfield Hospital.
“Sir, I need some personal information before we treat you in the ER,” she heard Pete say.
The man’s low mutterings signified he answered while Pete jotted down the information on a run sheet. Josie flung open the ambulance doors and locked eyes with Pete. Did he understand how seeing her friend like this killed her deep inside?
Pete jumped to the ground. Wordlessly, they lifted the stretcher from the rig. As she pulled Destiny’s limp form through the doors, she heard Pete speak to their other patient.
“Mr. Oliver, please stay where you are. I will be back for you in a moment. Destiny needs to be taken care of first, okay?”
***
Jacob nodded and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back against the padded interior of the ambulance. As he rested, the rumble of wheels and the whoosh of automatic doors swinging open, soothed his nerves.
“Your destiny is with her. Love her as you protected her,” the voice he knew well said.
“Thank you for your help,” Jacob said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I tried.”
“You compassion saved me. Thank you. This is goodbye.”
Jacob exhaled, and then waited patiently until Pete returned with a wheelchair, then wheeled him into an empty examination room.
“Where’s Destiny? I need to be with her.” He threw off the blanket and rose from the wheelchair on wobbly legs. Pete grabbed him around the waist as he began to sway and lifted him to a bed. His palm pressed down on Jacob’s chest.
“Lay flat on your back, sir.”
He grimaced when his legs followed him up. Why had all his strength deserted him when Destiny still needed him?
“Hold on, Mr. Oliver,” the medic said, “We have yet to determine the extent of your injuries, and until we do, you need to lay still. Doctors are examining Destiny as we speak. This is a small hospital. All its resources are being spent on her at this very minute.”
“I understand, but—”
Pete slipped a pillow under Jacob’s swollen knee and said, “You would only be in the way. Rest. Wait here, and don’t move. You’re obviously in great pain and a little distressed.”
“I don’t care about myself, its Destiny I need—”
“When she wakes up I am sure she would not be happy to find you unconscious.”
As Pete stared at him, letting his words sink in, Jacob relaxed his clenched muscles with an audible sigh. He nodded as strong shivers racked his body.
“I’m so cold,” Jacob whispered.
Pete called for a nurse. Jacob endured their handling as they removed the rest of his clothing, then placed heat-packs in his armpits and groin. The nurse mumbled something about checking his vital signs once he stopped shaking.
“By that time, sir, we should have some news about your wife.” She gave him a forced smile as she dimmed the lights. The door swung shut behind her, leaving Jacob alone in misery.
“My wife,” Jacob repeated, letting the sound of the words slide off his tongue. He knew he should have corrected her, but the sentimentality of the words pierced his heart. His life changed forever in that one perfect moment of clarity. He wanted Destiny as his wife, no matter what.
With his eyes shut tight, he drifted into oblivion. Alone and with a heavy heart, he dreamt of a future with Destiny by his side.
Always, and forever.
***
Josie held her best friend’s icy hand as a nurse re-bandaged the other. The ragged wound looked nasty. Since it still bled, the nurse paged an intern to come stitch it. She winced when the nurse plunged a needle in her friend’s butt cheek.
“Tetanus shot?”
The nurse nodded, and Josie worried when even a needle’s bite hadn’t woken Destiny. Her skin was pale as chalk, except for the blue-gray tinge around cracked lips barely visible under a
n oxygen mask.
“I saw this woman eight hours ago and she looked fine.”
A doctor arrived and glanced at the heart monitor, which kept constant track of Destiny’s vital signs. Her blood pressure registered too low and her pulse rate beat too slow but she breathed easily on her own. Warmed oxygen flowed through the mask.
“The concentrated oxygen should eventually bring more color to her face and lips,” the doctor said.
Josie’s eyes followed the rise and fall of the heavy blankets lying on her friend’s chest. She hoped she’d wake up soon. They needed to talk about that man who hadn’t wanted to leave her side. She looked up at the doctor, and he motioned for her to join him out in the hall where they could talk in private.
“How is she, Doc?” Unable to hold back the tears, she sobbed. Pete, returning from the admitting desk, saw her face, and wrapped her in his arms.
The wonderful comfort of his embrace calmed her desperation and fear for her friend. When he pressed his lips against her forehead, her knees weakened.
“Ms. Blake is unconscious, most likely due to exhaustion,” the doctor explained. “Hypothermia may have damaged her fingers, forehead, nose, and toes, but I don’t believe she suffers from full-blown frostbite. We won’t know until she warms up. Her heart rate and blood pressure need to come up, as well. Whatever happened to her over the last eight hours or so certainly caused severe exhaustion.” He paused. Anxiety etched his brow with fine lines and his mouth slipped into a cautious frown.
“What else. Please. Tell us.”
“She may also suffer from emotional trauma. That, alone, might require a serious amount of time to heal. She’ll need support from her family and friends.”
“I don’t think she has any family. She never talked about them, anyway. I’m her best friend. I’ll…we’ll do anything to help her overcome this,” she promised. She glanced at Pete who nodded in agreement.
“I don’t see any reason why you cannot stay and visit, then. No one else will be allowed in until she wakes, though.”
“But, Doc. The man we rescued along with her,” she said as she pointed toward the opposite examination room, “I think he’s very special to her.”
“Then I will instruct the nurse to allow him to visit after he’s been examined. I’ll check him now and—”
A pager’s vibrating wail echoed off the hallway’s walls. All three looked down at their hips.
“It’s mine,” the doctor said. Glancing at the read-out, he excused himself then headed for the nurse’s station, leaving the two paramedics embracing in the hall.
“See,” Pete reassured her, “Destiny is mending and may wake up any minute. You need to calm down so you can offer the support she needs. Want to grab a cup of coffee before we go back on duty?”
“A cup of coffee sounds great. Can we drink it here in the hallway while we wait for the next emergency call?”
Pete nodded. They headed toward the cafeteria. When he lowered his arms, leaving her adrift, Josie missed his touch.
CHAPTER 23
Jacob woke with a start. As the fog cleared, he glanced around. He lay on a bed in a sterile-white room amid cabinets and odd-looking machines.
Where’s my commanding officer? I have to get back to my beat. Why can’t I concentrate?
His knee throbbed. Hadn’t the doctor told him he’d broken his leg?
“Crushed it, were his exact words.” Jacob threw off his blanket and looked down at his leg. Wait. Something’s wrong. Where’s the body cast? Where’re the pins and rods holding my leg immobile?
As his vision focused, reality drifted into his brain.
I remember. I’m in an examination room at Fairfield Hospital.
Sighing deep and loud, he welcomed the realization he wasn’t in Boston. He shivered as the memory of bitter cold clawed at his entire body. In actuality, his body moaned with the pleasure of an enjoyably warm sensation. He wiggled his toes and fingers. Someone had removed all his clothing then wrapped his leg in a large bandage. The knee throbbed, but not like the time he’d crushed it in the car wreck.
Memories of his patrol car’s devastating crash faded, and he pushed up to his elbows to get his bearings. He lay on a stretcher in an exam room. Alone. The raw compulsion to see Destiny exploded into his immediate thoughts.
Where is she? How is she?
Shoving aside the blanket, he eased himself off the examination table and stood with his weight on his good leg. Even so, he had to grip the lowered bed rail for support.
The door burst open.
The nurse who’d helped Pete undress him marched into the room, then stopped. Both her hands rested on her hips. One thick-soled orthopedic shoe tapped a furious beat as she stared at him—a naked man—wobbling on one leg.
“Mr. Oliver. What do you think you are doing?” Her gaze burned into his face with angry concern.
Pushing embarrassment aside, and focusing on his mission to get to Destiny, he hopped to a nearby chair. He grabbed his clothes and attempted to dress without falling on his face. Watching his determination, and without another word, the nurse marched over to his side.
“You ought to get back into bed.”
“I have to see Destiny Blake and no one is going to stop me. I love her.”
She gazed back at him with compassion and understanding. Would she help him? “Lucky for you I’m a romantic at heart.”
In silence, amid the muffled sounds of a busy little hospital, she helped him get dressed. The nurse assisted him into the wheelchair then wheeled him across the hall to the room where Destiny’s lifeless body had disappeared.
Dim lights and strange sounds filled the room. Monitors hummed, IVs dripped, and oxygen flowed. A man stood talking to another nurse.
Mindful of the wires and tubes, Jacob reached under the blanket for her hand. Warm skin welcomed his touch. Halleluiah! The man slipped closer to the other side of the bed and removed the oxygen mask.
Her face and lips had regained their natural color. Love spread across Jacob’s chest, piercing his once ice cold heart. Sensing someone behind him, he turned to see Josie standing near the door. Pete came up behind her then put an arm around her shoulder.
“We came back to see how you two are doing. Are you okay Mr. Oliver?”
“I’m fine. I just got here, myself.” As the two paramedics watched, he pushed his body up from the wheelchair and leaned over Destiny’s limp body. Jacob kissed her cracked lips with gentleness.
“I love you, Destiny. I will take care of you for the rest of your life. Please wake up and tell me you love me too.” Jacob glanced at the man he assumed was her doctor as he mumbled a prayer.
“Love you, too, Jacob,” Destiny whispered.
Jacob gasped.
The doctor bent down and checked under her closed eyelids. “She’s coming around. Her vital signs look normal. Keep talking to her. She needs friends, right now.”
Jacob thanked the man, then glanced back at the two paramedics at the door. He motioned for them to join him by her bedside. “You heard him. Doctor’s orders. Get in here.” He smiled, feeling the pull at the corners of his cracked lips and the taste of salt from new tears.
Josie and Pete smiled back in unison. Then their questions began.
***
Destiny’s head hurt, and her arms refused to budge. Tingling from head to toe, she basked in the warmth caressing each ache and pain.
Why can’t I remember? She thought, as she tried to sit up.
“No, that’s not happening.” She hurt in so many places she decided it would be best to stay right where she lay. Wherever here was.
“Wake up. You are safe now, thanks to him.”
She forced open her eyes. Blinking, she focused on an unfamiliar white ceiling above her.
Why am I in bed?
A machine thrummed with a staccato beat while numbers flashed. Tubes and wires snaked everywhere, and some led to her chest and left arm. Someone had strapped both arms to a metal rail
belonging to a strange bed covered in a white sheet and matching blanket.
“Why am I naked? Wake up from this bad dream, right now.” No one responded. The ghostly voice said she was safe. The voice belonged to Cindy Nelson, the young woman she’d met during one brief moment in time at the dining hall salad bar. The woman she’d seen walking along a campus sidewalk with Marcus. The face plastered on posters all around campus. The madman also recognized her voice, since he’d screamed obscenities at Cindy. His shock gave Destiny a chance to fight for her life. But, if it hadn’t been for Jacob…
Lying prone, attached to machines in a strange place didn’t frighten her. She took a slow, deep breath. Muffled voices filled the hall outside the only door to her room. A medicinal odor and the tantalizing aroma of fresh brewed coffee filled the entire room. A hospital?
It hurt to think, so she settled back into the fluffy pillow until warm fingers caressed her forearm and transported her out of a deep fog. She cringed in terror. The madman had grabbed her, again! Startled, she shrieked.
“Ms. Blake! You’re awake. It’s okay, dear. I have to remove your IV. Please stay still so I can finish this and then I will get the doctor,” a strange woman said, but her uniform and security badge meant she was a nurse. Destiny relaxed.
“Where is everyone?”
“The doctor will have the answers. I’ll inform him you’re awake.”
After the nurse left, Destiny tested her freed limbs. Each part moved. Most worked in a normal fashion with only a little pain.
“You’re awake!” Josie squealed as she barreled through the door. Her best friend leaned over her bedrail and hugged her. “Sorry. I’m hurting you.”
“No, it’s okay.”
“How do you feel?”
“I’m fine, now that I know where I am.” She glanced toward the door where Pete stood, waiting. “What’s up with you two? Did I see him…?”
Josie’s face lit up with a smile and nodded toward Pete. “The day we brought you here, he lent me his shoulder to cry on. Then he and I shared a cup of coffee and he told me he has feelings for me.”
“That’s wonderful. I bet he never dreamed you have always felt the same.”
Shiver Page 18
