“Ready?”
“To die? Sure,” Gracie told him, both teasing and silently praying that in this area, Mason had most definitely changed. Rushing headlong down the side of Maroon Peak on top of a makeshift litter was not her idea of a pleasant way to die. Not today anyway.
“Oh ye of little faith!”
Gracie laughed, “Quoting Scripture? Really? Well how about ‘Forsake foolishness and live!’ That’s seems to fit quite nicely.”
Mason chuckled, “Proverbs?”
“Words to live by,” she added with a smile.
Mason chuckled and then told her with confidence, “This is not foolishness. This is ingenuity at its finest.” Without further ado, Mason slipped on his gloves, picked up the long poles on the litter and suggested, “Hang on!”
Gracie grabbed the sides of the litter, emitting a little scream mixed with both joy and fear as the litter began to move forward. She did her best to keep her weight in the middle of the litter so that they wouldn’t accidentally tip over. Mason guided the litter over the fresh powdery snow, and as they exited the trees and entered a nice open space, she tipped her head back and met his laughing eyes.
“Okay! This is awesome!”
“Told you so.” He made sure to keep their speed down, and soon he could see the chopper circling overhead. “There’s our ride!”
Gracie looked up, shielding her eyes from the sun. The chopper circled overhead once, and then it slowly descended to land on the snow a short distance away. Mason stopped their litter, and quickly removed his snowshoes before reaching down for her.
“Ready to go get that knee looked at?” he asked, knowing that she’d been in pain all morning and doing her best to ignore it.
Gracie groaned, “A shower sounds better, but I guess I better go get it checked out.”
“Okay. Let’s hit Vail first and then if they release you to go today, I’ll have Justin or Kaillar drive over and pick us up.”
“I don’t want to put you guys out any more. You don’t have to stay at the hospital with me.” But I really hope you will.
Her wish seemed to be his as well. Just before they reached the chopper, he stopped and whispered into her ear, “Tell me I’m not the only one who feels like you never left eight years ago.”
Gracie searched his eyes and shook her head, “I can’t. I feel the same way. This morning…”
Mason kissed her forehead tenderly, “Was just the beginning. Let’s get your knee fixed up and then go from there. I’m really glad you came back to Silver Springs.”
“So am I.” I wish I’d never had to leave. She tried not to think about the reasons she’d been forced to leave in the first place. She didn’t want to dredge up the past, knowing that nothing other than pain would result. For her. And for the Donnelly brothers. Her father was the impetus that had caused their mother to take off, and the reason she’d never been able to come home again.
Would Mason still have feelings for her once he knew the truth? That was one question that she was in no hurry to get answered.
Chapter 9
Vail Hospital facility, Monday afternoon…
Gracie gave the orthopedic surgeon a small smile as he left the exam room, and then she leaned her head back against the gurney and closed her eyes. Guess you’re going to get a chance to see what being a patient is like, up close and personal.
She’d been right in her initial assessment that she’d done a number on her ACL- her anterior cruciate ligament. Just a little piece of fibrous tissue, but one that performed the job of connecting the major bones in her leg together. She hadn’t torn it completely apart, but the tear was significant enough that without surgical intervention, it most likely would never heal properly.
Dr. Geske was a very well-known orthopedist who just happened to be available to immediately perform the surgery. Since she’d not eaten anything for breakfast due to some nausea, and her head CT had come back clean, she was good to be put under anesthesia right away.
Mason stuck his head around the exam curtain and moments later asked “Hey! Can I come in?”
Gracie scooted herself back up on the bed, her leg completely immobilized by the leg brace a nurse had applied to it upon her arrival. She smiled and waved him forward, “Sure, come on in.”
“So I passed Dr. Geske in the hallway, and he said you’re headed up to surgery in a few minutes?”
“Yeah.” Gracie cleared her throat, and then nodded her head, “The ACL is torn pretty badly. But the good news is that Dr. Geske is here and can fix it today. I’ll be in a leg brace for six weeks or so, which will make getting around in the snow interesting, but after that and some therapy, I should be good as new.”
“That is good news. Not the surgery or the rehab part, but I’m glad Stan’s here to fix things up.”
“Stan?” Gracie asked.
“Dr. Geske. He’s been courting Sarah for the last several months, but she’s pretty adamant about not giving up her place in Silver Springs, and he can’t really move too far away from the hospital.”
“Do they…”
“Love each other?” When she nodded, he grinned, “Yeah. But Sarah has some misguided notion that if she leaves town, no one will take over the motel and travelers and visitors alike won’t have any place to stay. Not everyone wants to drive up the mountain for a night’s stay.”
Gracie’s brain took off running. Becca would be perfect taking over for Sarah!
Gracie knew that moving to a small town would be a perfect place for her damaged friend to heal, and Becca knew firsthand how to run a hospitality business. She’d grown up on the Big Island of Hawaii, her parents owning and operating a tourist resort there. Gracie had never understood why a beach girl would leave and move to the mountains of Colorado, and Becca had never gone back home to her knowledge. At least, not in the last four years they’d known one another.
“Hey, where’d you go?” Mason asked, reaching over and clasping her cold hand in his big warm ones.
“I was thinking about Sarah’s problem and a solution to it.”
“Really? Well, I’m sure Stan would love to hear about it.”
Gracie nodded her head, “Once I get out of here, I’ll see what I can do. Not sure it will work, but I think I know of just the person to take over Sarah’s place so that she can move here.”
“Well, why don’t you worry about getting yourself better before you try to solve everyone else’s problems? I called Justin, and Kaillar’s going to drive over tonight. He’ll drive us both home in the morning.”
“Home?” Gracie murmured, not having given much thought to the logistics once she left the hospital. The surgery would only require an overnight stay, and then only because it was happening so late in the day. They wouldn’t let her leave until they were sure that she wasn’t going to experience any negative side effects from being put out. They would also want to make sure she had good control of her pain level. Being a physician herself, she would be given more leeway than other patients, but only as much as she could convince Dr. Geske she was going to be a good patient.
“I also spoke with Doc. Now, don’t be upset; but I thought he would want an update on your condition. He wasn’t expecting you to start until after this week.”
“I wasn’t planning on it. My trip up here was designed to lock down a place to stay and get the paperwork figured out.”
“Well, is there any reason you need to go back to Denver before the weekend?” Mason asked, hoping she would say no.
Gracie thought for a moment and then shook her head, “Not really. My lease on my apartment is up at the end of the month, and Melanie is good to go with her husband now since his discharge is complete.”
“What about the other girl? Becca?”
Gracie shook her head, “Becca moved out last month. She’s hoping to land a job with the Division of Wildlife as a photographer, and she didn’t want to hold Melanie or me up. She’s renting on a month
to month basis right now.”
“So, what about your stuff?”
“Well, I do need to go back and finish packing things up, but with my knee…I don’t know how that’s going to happen. I might just have to hire some movers…”
“Nonsense. How about you spend Thanksgiving with us at the lodge, and Friday we’ll head back to Denver with the truck and the trailer and move you back here?”
Gracie looked up at him and shook her head, “Mason, you don’t have to take care of me. I know you must have other things to do…”
Mason sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping her hand in his. He met her eyes and lowered his voice, “Gracie, I feel like the last eight years I’ve been in a holding pattern. I never forgot you, and while I admit there were days I didn’t think about you, I never much looked at another girl. I couldn’t. When you left Silver Springs, you took my heart with you. And now you’ve brought it back.”
He stood up and shoved a hand through his hair, “I know this sounds crazy. And I can’t explain it, but seeing you again…being with you…I feel like my life can finally start moving forward once again.”
Gracie felt tears sting her eyes. No one, not her parents, or even the few friends she’d made in med school, had been able to understand how a boy she’d grown up with and given her heart to as a young teenager could affect her so strongly. They had all accused her of being overdramatic, and living a childhood fantasy.
But Gracie had known, deep in her soul that Mason was the one God had set aside for her. She’d known it then, and she knew it now.
“Mason, you don’t have to try and explain it to me. I feel the same way.”
“Then it’s settled.” Mason stopped speaking when a nurse and the anesthesiologist entered the room. “I’ll see you on the other side.” He winked at her, and then slipped back out of the curtained area.
“So, Miss Shelton. I hear you’re going to be our guest for the next few hours. Just a few questions, and then we’ll head upstairs…”
Mason headed for the surgery waiting room, praying silently that God would watch over her, and offering up prayers of thankfulness for keeping them safe thus far. Gracie would get her knee fixed and for the first time in years, Mason was actually looking forward to the upcoming holidays. He had much to be thankful for this year.
Chapter 10
Monday evening, Vail Hospital…
Gracie was having the most horrible dream. She was standing on the top of Maroon Peak, the snow was blowing around her, and she was pleading with someone. She looked around her, and there in the distance was her father. She was pleading with her father to undo it. To take back the wrong he’d done, and not destroy all of their lives.
Her mother stood a short distance away, a blank expression on her face as she watched the interaction between her husband and her daughter without emotion.
“Mom! Make him undo it!”
“Dad! Why can’t you undo it? Please! At least tell the truth!”
Her father wasn’t saying anything. He just stood there, looking resolute. Determined to hide his sin for as long as possible, no matter what the cost to his wife and daughter.
Gracie wasn’t a young girl in her dream; she was a grown woman. A grown woman who had allowed his father’s actions to destroy her life.
And then her dream shifted, and she was standing at the edge of canyon. Mason stood on the other side, and she walked up and down, trying to find a way across to him. There was no bridge, just the remnants of rope and boards, dangling from the opposite side.
“Mason! Help me!”
Justin and Kaillar joined Mason, and handed him a picture. Mason looked at the picture and then at his brothers. Finally, he looked across the canyon to where she was standing with her arms outstretched.
“Mason! Help me! The bridge is out!”
Mason looked at her with saddened eyes, turning the picture in his hands around so she could see it. It was a picture of his mother. When he looked up at her again, she felt his abandonment clear to her soul. He knew what her father had done, and now wanted nothing to do with her. Nothing…
Gracie jerked awake, a scream of agony lodging in her sore throat. She blinked her eyes to see pale green walls, and the persistent beeping of a machine nearby. She turned her head, and could see the heart rate monitor and pulse oximeter happily running, and then she realized she was in a hospital room. In a hospital bed, to be exact.
The dream was still so vivid in her mind, that when Mason walked in a moment later, she felt tears flood her eyes as she waited for him to leave her a second time.
“Gracie? Sugar, what’s wrong? Are you in pain? I can get a nurse,” he seemed frantic as he pushed her call button and searched her face. “Hang in there, hon. They’ll get you some more pain medications in just a minute.”
Gracie shook her head, “No meds.” Her voice was hoarse, and she realized it was from the ventilator tube they’d inserted during the operation. Her throat hurt almost as bad as her knee.
Mason gave her a tight smile, “Of course you need more meds. I don’t like seeing you hurt.”
But you’re going to hurt me when you find out the truth. You won’t be able to stop it.
Suddenly, Gracie knew that she’d never be able to handle his rejection when it came. Better to go back to the way things were before she came back to Silver Springs. Better to only grieve a dream, and never know just how perfect her life could have been. If only…
She looked up at him, and then away. She couldn’t do this. Not with him standing there, looking so concerned for her. Loving her? Heavenly Father, please give me strength…
She waited for some measure of comfort to fill her soul and mind, but it was as if she’d just asked a brick wall for help. All she felt was helplessness as she contemplated making Mason leave. Don’t send him away. Trust him. The little voice inside her head was trying to talk sense into the muddled mess of her emotions, still vividly entangled with her dream. Reality and fantasy seemed to blend together, until she could only feel the gaping hurt from her dream.
The nurse entered and misread the situation entirely. “Gracie, I have a stronger painkiller right here. I’m going to put it into your IV so it will kick in faster.”
Gracie kept her head turned away until the nurse started to leave and then she reached out and grabbed her hand. She kept her eyes off Mason and then begged the nurse, “Please have him leave.”
The nurse looked at her as if she were insane, “Hon? Surely you don’t mean that.”
Gracie nodded her head, more tears falling from her eyes. “I’m sure.” She turned her head away, listening as the nurse, Glenda according to her name badge, explained to Mason that Gracie needed her rest, and that his presence seemed to be upsetting her.
When Mason protested vehemently being asked to leave the room, Gracie’s heart broke in two pieces as the nurse told him that her patient had requested he leave.
“Gracie? Sugar, what’s going on?”
“Sir, I really must adhere to my patient’s wishes. You could leave your name and number at the nurses’ desk, just in case she changes her mind.”
Gracie could hear Mason arguing with her, begging the nurse to just let him find out what was wrong, but she was a fierce warrior and ushered him from the room with a dire warning to not come back until he was asked.
The nurse stepped back inside the room, handing her a handful of tissues and told her, “Girl, I don’t know what craziness is going through your brain, but that man out there loves you. He hasn’t left your side except to use the facilities since you came out of surgery. Frankly, he was starting to drive us all crazy with the questions and such.”
Glenda came around and sat so that Gracie and she could see each other. “Gracie, hon, you look like your world just crashed down around you. It might help you to get things back into perspective if you could talk about them.”
“Talking won’t undo what’s already been done.
I should have never come back to Silver Springs. I just wanted to forget the past and move forward, but I guess deep down I knew that wouldn’t be possible. No one can truly move forward if they don’t deal with the past first, right?”
Glenda looked at her and then asked, “That depends on whether or not it’s your past. Hon, do you believe in God?”
Gracie nodded her head and offered a watery smile, “He’s the only reason I’ve made it this far.”
“Good, then you know there’s nothing too hard for Him to handle. Let me ask you something. This thing that can’t be undone – did you do it?”
Gracie shook her head, “No. And that’s what makes it so hard. I didn’t even know what had happened until years later. But it robbed that man out there of the chance to grow up knowing his mother. And when he finds out why she ran off and got killed, he’s going to blame me.”
Glenda was quiet for a long moment and then she asked, “Would you blame you if the roles were reversed?” Glenda asked.
Gracie blinked, once and then again. “I…I guess…”
Glenda stood up and patted her shoulder, “That pain medication is starting to take effect. Do yourself and that young man out there a favor and put yourself in his shoes; figure out how you might react if the roles were reversed. I’ll be back later to check on you.”
Glenda exited the room to see Mason leaning up against the wall outside; a stricken and confused look on his face. She walked over and stood right in front of him, “Give her some time.”
“I don’t understand…what’s going on here?”
“My guess is she was keeping something from you and the anesthesia caused everything to get all jumbled up in her head. She seems to think she’s to blame for your mother’s death.”
“What?! That’s preposterous. My mom died when I was an infant. How could Gracie have had anything to do with that? I need to go talk to her.”
Glenda stayed him with a hand on his arm, “I can’t let you do that. Look, whatever this incident in her past is, she believes you’ll hate her when you find out the truth. My advice to you, stay close and pray that God will help her realize she’s not responsible for the actions of another.”
Three Brothers Lodge - The Complete Series Box Set Page 15
