“Get her in the chopper. There are first aid-kits on board. We can have her at Boston General by nightfall.”
Without thinking, Dale shook his head. “No. She stays here.” He turned back to the makeshift litter, which they’d placed across the back seat of Trask’s waterlogged jeep, and found Tansy conscious. Her eyes were blurred with pain, but her lips twisted in a faint smile.
“I thought you didn’t want me here.” Her words were faint but clear.
“I didn’t,” he replied automatically, then stopped and closed his eyes. “I didn’t,” he repeated, “but I do now.” He opened his eyes and glanced from Hazel to Trask, then out to the water, where the curve of the lobster’s tail could be seen across the misty white caps. He took a deep breath and gathered all the courage he could never seem to find before.
“I don’t have much to offer you,” he said with a small smile, “besides a burned down house and a dead tree.” Then he sobered. “And myself.” He took her hand and winced at the stain of fresh blood on the pressure bandage. “Never mind. We can do this later, after you’ve been seen to.” He tried to step away and wave the others in to apply their first aid.
But she wouldn’t let go of his hand. “No way, Metcalf.” Her voice was strong, her eyes brighter than they’d been moments before. “Keep going.”
Dale was suddenly aware of the crowd that had gathered around the jeep. Mickey was there with his family—they must have led the HFH helicopter to the beach. A number of other islanders had followed, and they stood on the shifting sands amid the HFH doctors Cage had brought with him. And almost every one of the islanders was related to Dale in one way or another.
They were his family.
And at that realization, it was as though the steel band that had been wrapped around Dale’s heart for so many years finally let go, carrying a gush of emotions with it. He bowed his head and, incredibly, felt a huge grin split his face.
I love you, whispered a voice in his heart. Then, in case she hadn’t heard the words, Dale lifted his eyes to hers and said, “I love you.”
A single tear slid down her cheek. “And what else?”
What else. The message was clear. Tansy wasn’t going to accept half measures from him anymore. Well, that was fine. He wasn’t giving them anymore. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mother’s ring, held it up to the light.
A second tear glittered down to join the first.
“I love you,” he repeated, “and I want to marry you. I want to rebuild my parents’ house with you, and I want us to help bring Lobster Island back to life. A new clinic. A new school. Whatever it takes.”
Without a word, she held up a trembling left hand. Dale slid the ring onto her third finger, where it fit snugly, as though it never intended to let go.
Well, that was fine because neither did he.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, knowing from the love shining in her eyes that it was, but needing to hear the words as much as he needed to say them.
She nodded and gave him a watery smile. “That’s a yes.”
The words were barely out of her mouth before Cage’s paramedics descended upon the jeep, packing and stabilizing her wound and preparing her for transport—not to Boston General, but to Hazel’s motel clinic.
When they arrived at the clinic, Hazel stood aside with Trask and didn’t join the rush to treat Tansy. Dale paused, and Tansy held up a hand to stop them from carrying her inside the room where they’d saved Eddie’s life.
“What’s wrong?” Dale finally asked.
“I’m going with Trask,” Hazel answered firmly. “We’re going to do some digging.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, but determined.
“No,” Trask demurred. “We’re going home.”
When Hazel turned to him, he grinned crookedly. “You and me, we’re going to have ourselves a yard sale. A really big one.” His grin faded and his eyes found Tansy and Dale. “When Tansy’s feeling better, we’ll all go up the mountain and dig. It should be a family affair.”
And Dale heard his mother’s voice whisper in his heart.
Family.
He lifted Tansy’s hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the diamond-and-ruby ring. Then he followed her into the shabby motel room.
It was time for people to start living on Lobster Island. Again.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3247-1
BODY SEARCH
Copyright © 2004 by Dr. Jessica S. Andersen
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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Table of Contents
Letter to Reader
About the Author
Books by Jessica Andersen
Cast of Characters
Dedication
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Copyright
Body Search Page 19
