Tina eased her hand away from her patient’s and turned around to face the other nurse. “Keeping him company. It always bothers me when we have patients who don’t have any family.”
The other nurse’s face softened. “Yeah, I know what you mean. But didn’t your shift end at eleven last night?”
“I went down to the emergency room to help out. They were really swamped with patients who had been at the Steele masquerade ball.”
“I heard about that.” The other nurse frowned. “Is it true that David and Lisa Steele were killed?”
“It’s true. And apparently the killer got away.”
“Was this guy hurt at the ball?” The nurse gestured at the patient in the bed.”
“No, he was in a car accident. He might have been chasing the man who shot the Steeles.”
The other nurse’s eyes opened wide. “Was he with the killer?”
“Why would you think that?” Fatigue sharpened Tina’s voice, and she struggled to steady it. “I have no idea. I’m sure he’ll be able to tell us when he wakes up.”
The other nurse gave the man an assessing look. “He looks pretty stable right now. You’d better go home and get some sleep, Tina. With all these patients, we’re going to need you back at work later today.”
“You’re right.” Tina glanced at Tom Flynt one more time, then turned away. “I’ll be back for my shift this afternoon.” She hesitated, then asked, “Is Detective Jones still out there?”
“He sure is. He strikes me as the kind who doesn’t give up easily.”
“Don’t let him bully you.”
The other nurse grinned at her. “I’d like to see him try.”
Tina smiled back. “That’s what I figured you would say, Jenny.” And that’s why she’d mentioned it. Now it would be a point of honor for Jenny to protect Tom Flynt.
She wanted to ask Jenny to have someone call her if the man’s condition changed, but she stopped herself just in time. She must really be tired, she thought as she stood up, to think about lowering her guard too far and showing her feelings. It was a good thing she was going home. Maybe by the time she returned in the afternoon, she would have reassembled the careful barrier she kept around her emotions.
She allowed herself one last look at Tom Flynt’s still form lying on the bed before she turned and left the room.
Tina slept lightly, waking up more than once from a disturbing dream. She told herself that it was merely because of the many injured people she had helped treat the night before, but too many of the dreams featured the still, unconscious face of Tom Flynt, their mystery patient. Finally, at mid-morning, she flung the blankets off the bed and gave up trying to sleep.
She puttered around the house in the bright sunshine. It was hard to believe it was the first of November, but she knew the air would hold a bite of winter when she stepped outside. Already there was snow in the mountains surrounding the town, and it wouldn’t be long before they had snow in Grand Springs.
Tina did her morning chores automatically, then sat down to read her newspaper and drink a cup of coffee. The newspaper was full of stories about Jonathan Steele’s masquerade ball and the murders of his brother David and sister-in-law Lisa. Finally, Tina closed the paper and went upstairs to get dressed. She was too restless to stay at home until her shift started. Besides, with all the patients who had been admitted the night before, they probably needed extra hands to help out.
“Face it,” she told herself, “you just want to get back to the hospital to see Tom Flynt.”
Of course she wanted to see how her patient was doing, she thought defensively. She had spent a great deal of time with him the night before. It was only natural to be curious.
But her interest was far more than curiosity. Here in the safety of her own house, she could admit it. Tom Flynt had fascinated her. And the fact that he had been carrying a gun only compounded her interest.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you,” she scolded herself, as she pulled on a clean white uniform. “You, of all people, should know enough to stay away from a man with a gun.”
But it didn’t matter. She was suddenly in a fever of anticipation to get back to the hospital and see if Tom Flynt had woken up, and how he was doing. Once he was awake, her interest would end, she told herself. Once she’d talked to him, she’d see he was an ordinary man, just like all the others. And on top of that, a man who carried a gun.
She drove through Grand Springs, marveling at the fact that everything looked so normal. There was no trace of the chaos and tragedy that had struck the town the night before. It looked like the peaceful, quiet place it had been since the last disaster, a blackout, had hit the town several years earlier.
When she arrived at the hospital, a couple of hours early for her shift, she hurried to her floor. She almost swept past the nursing desk, but stopped herself just in time. She paused and smiled at the harried-looking nurse reading a file.
“Hi, Sue,” she said, and the nurse looked up at her.
“Oh, hi, Tina,” she answered, surprise in her voice. “What are you doing here? You’re on afternoons, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but I figured we’d be busy so I thought I’d come in early.”
Sue’s face relaxed in a grateful smile. “That’s great. Thanks. We’ve been running all day. We can always count on you, Tina.”
Tina nodded in the direction of Tom’s room, hoping her interest looked casual. “I took care of Tom Flynt, the man with the concussion. How’s he doing?”
Sue grabbed Tom’s chart and glanced at it. “About the same, it looks like.”
“Is he still unconscious?”
“As far as I know.”
Tina nodded. “I think I’ll look in on him, as long as I’m here.”
Tina hurried away from the desk and stepped into Tom’s room. It was much brighter in the light of day, and the sunlight slanted off his face, making his beard look dark and heavy. It didn’t look like he’d moved since she had left a few hours before.
She stood watching him for a moment, then sat down in the chair that still stood next to his bed. “Hi, Tom,” she said in a low voice, as she watched him. “I just stopped by to see how you were doing before I reported in to work.”
As she spoke to him, she thought she saw him stir. She paused for a moment, then spoke again, in the same low voice. “Are you getting ready to wake up? It’s all right. You’re safe now, and there are a lot of people here to help take care of you.”
This time he definitely moved, and Tina’s hands tightened on the bed rail. She saw his throat muscles ripple as he swallowed once, then his eyes fluttered open.
Her first thought was that he had beautiful eyes. They were light brown, the color of well-aged whiskey. When she realized what she was thinking, she shook her head. What was the matter with her?
She leaned toward the bed. “Hello, Tom,” she said in a low voice. “How do you feel?”
He looked up at her, a puzzled look on his face. “Who are you? Where am I? What’s going on?”
It wasn’t unusual for accident victims not to recall their accident once they recovered consciousness. “You had a car accident last night, just outside Grand Springs city limits. You’re at Vanderbilt Memorial Hospital, and you’re going to be fine.” She smiled down at him and lightly touched his hand. “The doctor can tell you exactly what’s wrong with you, but you have a cut on your head that we sutured, and you had a concussion. Hold on a minute, I want to get the doctor.”
She hurried out of the room and down to the desk. “Sue, Tom Flynt just woke up. Will you call the doctor? I’ll go back and stay with him.”
Without waiting for an answer, Tina hurried back to the hospital room. Tom Flynt was trying to sit up, and Tina eased him back onto the bed. “Why don’t you wait until the doctor gets here before you try to get up? He’s going to want to take a good look at you, Mr. Flynt.”
He stared at her, and she saw the confusion in his eyes, and the growing fe
ar. “I don’t understand,” he whispered, his voice harsh and scratchy. “What car accident? What’s Grand Springs? And who is Tom Flynt?”
Chapter 2
Without pausing to think, Tina took his hand again. This time, his fingers curled around hers, holding on with an intensity that almost hurt.
“You’re Tom Flynt,” she said gently. “That’s your name.”
He frowned up at her. “That doesn’t sound familiar.”
“You had a car accident. Do you remember anything about that?”
She watched him thinking, then he began to shake his head. He stopped immediately, pain creasing his face. “No. I don’t remember anything about a car accident.”
“That’s not unusual. The mind often blocks out traumatic memories. Many people who have been in an accident can’t remember what happened.”
“What did you say my name was?”
“Tom Flynt.” She waited to see if there was any recognition in his eyes. There wasn’t.
“What was the name of the town?” he asked.
“Grand Springs. In Colorado,” she added.
She saw the fear creeping into his eyes. “Do I live here?”
“I have no idea, Mr. Flynt. The police haven’t told me.”
“Police?” The tone of his voice changed, became more urgent. “Why are the police involved?”
“Because of the car accident,” she said patiently. “They’re investigating it.”
She saw him frown again, as if he were trying to concentrate. “There’s something I need to remember.”
“Don’t worry about it, Mr. Flynt,” she said. “Your memories will probably come back very soon.” She heard a noise at the door, and turned to see Dr. Steve Wilson standing there.
“Good morning, Dr. Wilson.”
“Hi, Tina.” The doctor gave her a quick smile, then looked past her to the patient on the bed. “I understand that Mr. Flynt has woken up.”
Tina reluctantly let go of Tom’s hand, then stepped aside. “Just now.” She didn’t want to examine why she was reluctant to break contact with her patient.
Steve Wilson sat down in the chair next to the bed and talked to Tom Flynt for a while. Then he stood up and examined him. He made some notes on Tom’s chart, then sat down again.
“You’ve had a concussion, Mr. Flynt, and two cracked ribs. One of the fractured ribs abraded a lung, and although the bleeding into your chest was minimal and appears to have stopped, we’ll need to keep you in the hospital for a few days to let it heal. All in all, though, I’d say you were darned lucky.”
Tom Flynt watched the doctor steadily. “I didn’t recognize my name, or the name of this town.”
Steve nodded. “You’ve got amnesia. It’s not uncommon after head injuries and traumatic events like car accidents, but your memory seems to be totally gone, which is more unusual. I’m confident it will return, but it might take a few days. And just in case, I’m going to have a specialist take a look at you.”
He turned to Tina. “Let me know if anything changes,” he said. “I’ll be in later.”
Tina noticed that Tom watched Steve Wilson carefully as he left the room. When he had disappeared down the hall, Tom looked back at her. “He seems distracted. Do you know why?”
Tina was stunned. “For someone who can’t remember his name, you’re certainly perceptive. And if he’s distracted, it has nothing to do with you. Steve is having some problems at home right now.”
Tom nodded. “I thought something was wrong.”
“It hasn’t affected his work. He’s a great doctor,” she said quickly. “And everything he said was correct.”
“Don’t worry, I believe him. It’s hard to argue that I don’t have amnesia when I can’t remember my name.” He gave her a wry smile.
His brown eyes were warm and glowing, and, just as she had thought, the lines around his eyes crinkled when he smiled. Her stomach swooped and dipped, and she tightened her grip on the bed rail.
“Do you have any questions I could answer?” she asked hurriedly.
“Can I look in a mirror?” he asked.
“Of course.” She found a hand mirror in the bathroom and handed it to him.
Tom took the mirror with the same sensation of unreality that had enveloped him since he’d woken up to see the nurse smiling down at him. He stared at the face in the mirror for a long time, but it looked utterly foreign to him, as unfamiliar as the name “Tom Flynt.” He struggled to beat back the panic that threatened to overwhelm him. Finally, he handed the mirror back to the nurse who stood next to the bed. He noticed that his hand was shaking.
“I don’t look familiar at all.”
“It’s all right,” she said quietly. “Don’t try to force yourself to remember. That will only make it worse.”
Tom stared at her bright blue eyes and the rich, dark red of her hair. “You haven’t told me your name.”
“I’m Tina. Tina White,” she said.
He turned the name over in his mind, but it didn’t sound familiar, either. Fear clawed at him again, its dark fangs waiting to devour him. He closed his eyes, forcing the monster to recede, until there was nothing inside him at all. His mind felt like a huge black void, totally empty. Except for this woman’s voice.
He grasped at the one familiar thing he’d found. “Did I know you before…before the accident?” he asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “We never met before last night.”
“But your voice sounds familiar to me. It’s the only thing that feels familiar.”
To his surprise, he saw her face turn a delicate shade of pink. “I think that’s because I was talking to you last night. You were unconscious, but I didn’t know how much you might be able to hear. And you were alone. So I…talked to you.”
“You did?” As he watched her, fascinated, her cheeks turned a deeper shade of red.
“We always encourage family members to talk to unconscious patients,” she said, her voice prim. He watched her try to regain her composure. “It can’t hurt, and we think it might help. So I talked to you.”
“And I remembered,” he said slowly.
“On some level, I guess you do.” Tina moved around the room, keeping her back to him, straightening the already-straight machines that surrounded his bed.
“I definitely remember your voice.”
“Then I guess you weren’t as deeply unconscious as we’d feared.” She turned to face him again and pasted what looked like a professionally detached smile on her face. “Maybe that means your memory will come back quickly, also.”
The reminder about his memory jogged something deep in his brain. A sense of urgency surfaced, made more frantic by the fact that he couldn’t remember why.
“I need to remember something,” he said suddenly.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Flynt. It will come back.” Tina’s voice was once again warm and soothing.
“No, there’s something specific. Something I need to do.” He moved restlessly, ignoring the stabbing pain in his left side and the pounding in his head. “Maybe if I got up and walked around, I would remember.”
“You can’t do that,” Tina said, moving closer to the bed. Her blue eyes stared down at him, full of concern and understanding. “I know it’s hard, but you’re going to have to stay in bed for a while and let your lung heal. And your head.” She hesitated, then leaned forward. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to forget everything, including who you are. It must be horrible. You must feel so helpless and alone. But we’ll do everything we can to help you heal. And I know the police are trying to find out more about you. Chances are we’ll have your family standing next to your bed in a few hours.”
She hesitated, then said, “Do you think you have a wife, or children?”
“No,” he said immediately, then frowned. “I don’t know if that’s true or not. But I don’t feel married.”
Her mouth curled into a slow smile, and he couldn’t stop staring at her. His heart be
gan racing, and it had nothing to do with his injuries. Tina’s whole face seemed to light up when she smiled. “I’ve heard that line before,” she said.
For the first time since he’d woken up, Tom relaxed. “Yeah, I guess you probably have. But it’s true—I don’t feel married.” He smiled at her. “But then, I don’t feel like my name is Tom Flynt, and I’ve never heard of Grand Springs, Colorado, either.”
Tina nodded. “I’m sure the detective will be back to talk to you today. He came by last night, when you were still unconscious.”
Hearing that the police would come by took away his smile and brought the urgency back. Tina must have seen the change, because she sat down and leaned toward him. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. But whenever you mention the police, I get this sense of urgency. Like there’s something I should know.”
He saw her hesitate, saw her knuckles whiten on the metal rail of his bed. “I’ll tell you what happened last night, what led up to your accident, at least as far as we know. Maybe that will help you to remember.”
“You don’t have to do that, Ms. White. I’ll talk to Mr. Flynt.”
Detective Bob Jones stood in the doorway, looking at her. Assessing her.
She raised her chin. “Mr. Flynt has amnesia, Detective. He can’t remember anything, including his name.”
The detective looked over at him, and Tom could see the hard cynicism in his eyes. “That’s convenient.”
“It’s the truth,” Tina said hotly. “You can ask Dr. Wilson. He was in here just a few minutes ago.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to the doc,” said Detective Jones. “But first I want to talk to Mr. Flynt, here.”
Tina moved over to stand next to him. It almost looked as if she were trying to protect him. “You can talk to him for a while, Detective. But he’s got serious injuries and I won’t let you badger him.”
“I don’t badger anyone,” the detective said, but he was watching Tom instead of Tina. “I just ask questions.”
“Ask away,” said Tom.
The detective studied him for a while, and Tom stared back. There was nothing familiar about the older man’s face. “Do I know you?” Tom finally asked.
A Thanksgiving To Remember Page 2
