Rosemary tried to remember how to stop, all of her training going out of her head as she saw the edge of the slope rushing at her. Having a glimmer of sense, she forced herself to fall over, trying to land away from the edge, but the momentum carried her too far and she put her arms out as she started to tumble over the edge. She felt the tug and pull of her limbs, the groan of tendons, heard the snap of her skis releasing and more shouting in the moment before she rolled into a tree with a loud ooph. She could swear she was going to end up with bruises on top of her old bruises—the last of which still hadn’t entirely faded from her accident in the garage.
She lay perfectly still for a long moment, trying to decide if all of her limbs were still connected to her body, and that she hadn’t broken anything.
“Are you all right?” a male voice asked. She didn’t open her eyes to see him, but she could tell he wasn’t too near her yet, probably up on the run where she belonged. Strike that, she didn’t belong anywhere near this place.
“I think I’m still alive,” she called back up to him. “I can still wiggle my toes and fingers, so I guess I didn’t lose my leg out there in the trees.”
She shifted her head and arms a little, testing the muscles.
“Don’t move. I’m a doctor.” The man’s voice was closer now and she heard him moving through the snow. “I can’t believe he did that. I saw him moving toward you, too close, too fast. I called out, but he just looked like he’d lost control.” Calls for others to get help from ski patrol ricocheted down the mountainside. “Just lay there and tell me where it hurts.”
“Um, everywhere.” She looked up at him. He was near fifty and only his face peered out between the layers of his clothing. The snow was deep and he had to wade through to her.
“Where the most?” he asked, pulling off his gloves.
She thought for a moment. “Where I hit the tree. I hit it pretty good with my hip. And my shoulder is sore,” Actually, it hurt really bad, but she didn’t think it was serious. She’d worry about that more later.
“Good. Just stay there, hold on. Are you too cold? Any trouble breathing or chest pressure?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be fine.” She thought of her daughter and worry assailed her. “Cleo. My daughter Cleo should be waiting for me at the bottom of the run with my sister and friend. They’re going to worry about me. She’s been through too much already. I don’t want her to worry.”
“You must be a good mom, worried more about her than yourself when you’re hurt.” He pulled off her goggles and looked into her eyes. “Ski patrol will have a radio and can let them know what’s going on. Tell me about Cleo.” He checked her over for wounds, touching her feet and making her squeeze his hands while he kept her talking about her family.
Rosemary tried to keep most of it vague—if her rescuer didn’t know who she was, she didn’t want to draw attention to it. They’d had more than enough problems with the press the previous summer and she didn’t need any more.
Ten minutes passed before the first ski patrol member showed up, and it was another fifteen minutes before search and rescue arrived with more equipment.
“Load her in the stokes. Careful,” a tall dark-haired man said. She vaguely remembered that his name was Hank, and he’d gone out with Jonquil a few times in the fall. “Take it easy. Sorry, Miss DiCarlo. We’ll get you to the hospital just fine.”
She didn’t bother to correct him regarding her name. “Did you hear back from the guys at the bottom of the hill? I need to know my daughter is okay. She’s with Jonquil.” She had made the request when the ski patrol guy stopped, but he hadn’t had any luck finding out where everyone was.
“Let me try.” Hank pulled out his radio and she described what Jonquil and Cleo were wearing. A few minutes later as they loaded her onto the back of some kind of ATV with tracks instead of tires, he came back over. “They’re waiting for you at the lodge. Someone mentioned it to the resort manager and he found them.”
“Gage. We know him.” She sighed with relief. “So they’re okay? My daughter?”
“Is fine,” he reassured. “They said she’s with Jonquil and the guy. They’re worried about you and will be waiting when we get you down there.”
She let herself feel relief and refocused her attention on holding her arms tight across her stomach to keep her shoulder from jostling too much.
The trip to the lodge took much longer than she would have taken on the skis. She had a moment where she wondered what happened to the ski equipment she’d rented, then decided to forget it. If someone else didn’t collect and return the equipment, she would pay for it and be happy she never had to use it again.
Still, through the whole ordeal, she couldn’t forget the feeling of those hands on her back, the hard push that didn’t seem accidental at all.
When she reached the ambulance in the parking lot, Harrison, Cleo and Jonquil waited for her.
“Are you okay?” Cleo asked, reaching for her, wet trails on her cheeks. “Don’t die, Mom.”
“I’m not going to die,” Rosemary said, grabbing her daughter’s hand and squeezing it. She wondered if Cleo even realized she’d called her Mom. “I’m fine, really. Only a few bumps and bruises. They just wrapped me up to be extra careful. Watch, I’ll be up and chasing you around in a couple of hours.”
Harrison touched her cheek—almost the only part of her face that wasn’t covered with some kind of gear. “We’ll meet you at the hospital. See you in a few minutes.”
“Thanks.” She wanted to tell him how much she appreciated that he was holding her girl, supporting her. But she couldn’t do it here. They removed her from the back of the four-wheel drive machine and into the ambulance.
The EMTs took her blood pressure again, asked her all of the same questions that they’d already asked once and started an IV in the arm that didn’t hurt as much. Harrison, Jonquil and Cleo arrived at the ER and checked in on Rosemary almost before she was fully settled in the new bed.
Harrison carried Cleo, who was still crying. Cleo grabbed Rosemary’s hand as soon as she was close enough. “Why didn’t they take that stuff off of you yet?” she asked, sniffling. Her eyes and nose were red and her face crumpled as tears slid down her cheeks.
Rosemary felt terrible for scaring Cleo. “The doctor hasn’t even had time to see me yet, bug. Wait a few minutes, okay? I’m fine, really.”
Harrison and Jonquil held a spirited discussion about the joys of their active childhoods, resulting in a multitude of bumps, bruises and sprains. They didn’t mention any broken bones, which was fine by Rosemary. The last thing she wanted was to tempt fate into giving her a broken bone right now when she had so much on her plate. Jonquil was barely out of a cast as it was.
It was pushing two hours when the doctor finally released her from the backboard, gave her directions to settle the swelling in her sprained shoulder and a prescription for pain medication.
Back at home Harrison helped Rosemary inside. She was able to walk, but she was sore all over, especially around her hip, which left her with a bit of a limp. The stairs up to her bedroom looked about a mile long.
“I need to call to get someone to cover for me tomorrow,” she said as he helped her sit on the sofa in the great room.
“I think you’re going to want more than one day off,” Harrison said. “How about if I call in help for three days. We can re-evaluate Tuesday morning.” He squeezed her hand.
Three days when she had only been back from DC for a couple of weeks? “I can’t be gone that long, there’s so much to do.”
“They’ll survive without you. You keep saying Tate is capable; give him a chance to prove himself. Let it go. Be here. Take care of yourself and your girl.” He studied her, touching her chin. “She needs you here. Needs to know you’re okay—she was hysterical thinking you might die and leave her alone.” He brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek. “You need to restructure your life anyway. Consider this a chance to re-prioritize you
r time.”
She felt a little angry that he didn’t think she managed her time well—she was keeping it all together, wasn’t she? Running a kitchen took a lot of work; she couldn’t just walk away. Especially since her father’s will required her to work there until the first of September. She pressed her lips together rather than responding. She was angry and in pain, which she knew would automatically make her testy, and things were going so well with him, she didn’t want to ruin it. “Hmmm.”
“You must be using amazing restraint not to be arguing with me.” Harrison brushed fingers over her forehead, down her cheek and along her bottom lip. “Or you’re a lot worse off than I thought. The doc didn’t give you any narcotics, did he?”
She smiled. “Morphine. It’s wearing off, though. I’ll need some Tylenol or something soon. There’s a prescription for something stronger, but I don’t want to fill it unless I have to.”
He brushed his lips over the trail his fingers had just taken, a soft brush across her skin, soothing and comforting. “I’ll take care of it.” He ended with a light movement of his lips across hers.
Jonquil and Cleo entered and Cleo rushed over to snuggle, wrapping her arms around Rosemary’s waist. “I thought you were going to die, like Mom and Dad. It scared me so much.”
Rosemary hugged her daughter, holding her close. “I know, sweetie. I’m sorry I scared you. I scared me too.” There hadn’t been a deputy at the scene or the hospital, but they had said they’d send someone by when they finished dealing with something big that was going on downtown. It must have been huge to have all of the local law enforcement busy.
“Don’t do that again,” Cleo lectured.
“I won’t. No more skis for me. I’m such a klutz! I don’t know if you should be skiing either,” she teased, though she really didn’t intend to keep Cleo from going out with Jonquil or Harrison if they wanted to take her. She’d worry every minute, but she was determined not to overprotect Cleo if she could stand it. Maybe she’d keep her home for a little while, though—until she didn’t have pain to remind her of what could happen.
“I liked skiing. You’re just no good at it,” Cleo pointed out. “I’m better than you.” She looked a little proud about this fact.
“True enough. I guess if you go with someone I trust, you can still go.” She leaned her cheek against Cleo’s head. “But not right away. I want to hold you close for a few days, at least.”
Jonquil came over with a selection of food from the fridge, offering them to mother and daughter. “Juice, milk, water, soda?” Jonquil asked while Harrison walked back over with a bottle of painkillers.
“Water would be good,” Rosemary said.
“Orange juice,” Cleo requested.
Over the next couple of hours, almost everyone in the family stopped in to see Rosemary and check on her condition—even Gage stopped by, claiming it was a courtesy, though he only spoke with Rosemary for a few minutes, then spent nearly half an hour verbally sparing with Jonquil about the best places to rock climb in the area.
Finally Deputy Oliver, a thirty-something man with a Southern accent, showed up, asking to see Rosemary. The house was full of people milling and talking and doing their own thing, but keeping an eye on her. It was a little suffocating.
“Is there somewhere we can get some privacy?” he asked, looking around at the room full of people.
Rosemary considered whether she could handle the stairs. “Let’s go downstairs. We have a room there where we’ll be able to hear ourselves think,” she told Deputy Oliver.
The trip wasn’t fun, but she decided it was mostly stiffness causing her discomfort, which she could live with. When she had settled on the sofa, he looked at her. “Seems you’ve been having a pretty rough time of it lately.”
“You have no idea.” She felt like everything was piling on her.
He took the chair a few feet away. “You want to run through what happened?”
Rosemary described the encounter the best she could remember.
“And you think the guy pushed you, that it wasn’t an accident?” He jotted down notes.
Rosemary nodded. “I’ve thought about it a lot today. The guy who first came over to me said it looked like the man who pushed me lost control, but I don’t think it was an accident. I felt both of his palms on my back, and there wasn’t a hint of warning. He wanted me to go over the edge.”
Deputy Oliver’s eyes sharpened. “Why? Is someone mad at you? Any employees you fired since you moved here?”
She sighed, thinking about all of the people she had let go. “I’ll have Harrison send you a list of disgruntled former employees.” She didn’t think there were issues with the people who were left on her staff, but she could be wrong.
“There are more than one or two in the, what three or four months you’ve been open?” His brows lifted.
She crossed her arms defiantly. “I have very high standards.”
He grinned. “I’ll just bet. I’ll get that list and let you know what we find out. If you think of anyone else, you let me know.”
“Thanks.” Rosemary followed him back up the stairs and was happy to go to bed early that night. Cleo shared her bed again, too upset to sleep alone. Rosemary wondered if this was going to become a regular occurrence.
Officially, Rosemary wasn’t coming in to work Monday morning, but there hadn’t been time to meet with everyone after the accident when Cleo wasn’t around, and she needed to talk to everyone, to ensure they knew what was going on.
So, despite her desire to follow the doctor’s recommendation and stay in bed, she made herself get up and went in for the morning executive meeting. Before the meeting, she asked Lana if she would have the family stay afterward.
“And what about catering and events,” Lana asked Delphi when they reached the end of the executive meeting.
“We’re on target for the Drummond wedding. Clare is up to date on all of the details and ready to take point on this and all of the subcontractors have been confirmed. Jeremy’s scheduled elsewhere but Kyle Jenkins is taking the pictures. I’ll be printing BEOs this morning for their review.”
“Why is Clare taking point?” Rosemary asked. This was the first time she’d heard about it.
“I’m going to be in Denver over the weekend. Clare’s good and the Drummond wedding is a lot less hands-on than many we’ve done. It’ll be fine.”
“What are you doing in Denver?” Rosemary pushed. Delphi’s reticence only made her more curious, though that rarely did any good, as Delphi didn’t share anything she didn’t want to, no matter how much the rest of them nagged.
Delphi shot her an icy glare. “You went to DC several times and didn’t share why. This is my weekend. Unless the world is about to end, I better not hear from any of you. Capiche?”
“Gotcha.” But Rosemary intended to find out, if she could.
“Anything else?” Lana asked everyone. When no one answered, she ended the meeting, but the family stayed.
“So what’s going on?” Joel asked Rosemary when the non-related staff cleared out. “Harrison said Trent wanted a list of everyone you fired or ticked off since you moved here.” He and Deputy Oliver had been on a first name basis for several months now.
“It wasn’t hard to put together,” Harrison said.
“Who knows if someone else didn’t like the way I looked at them or something,” Rosemary pointed out, not enjoying her new role as the center of attention. “He’s digging because the accident wasn’t an accident.” She ran them through events and what her rescuer had said. “Someone wanted to hurt me.”
“Maybe to kill you,” Joel took it a little further, causing a cold chill to rush down her spine.
“Anyone in particular who’s mad, not just the general list of people you ticked off?” Delphi asked.
“Rulon,” Harrison said. “He threatened her in the middle of the grocery store, drew some attention.”
“So if someone else is mad, they might know tha
t Rulon threatened you and try to throw it on him?” Joel suggested.
“Yeah, I guess, but I don’t know if they have any evidence linking him to the incident. I left a message for Deputy Oliver this morning, but he hasn’t returned it yet.”
“All right, we batten down the hatches then.” Joel’s mouth was grim. “We’ve done it before and you know protocol.”
“That was before we had a young girl living with us who likes to open the window to listen to the birds sing in the trees,” Rosemary pointed out. “I keep catching her doing it even though it’s freezing outside. She also forgets to lock the doors behind her.”
“Then you’re going to have to figure out how much to tell her, and check the door and window locks constantly,” Joel said. “You probably need to vet all of her friends’ families too, just to make sure you know where she is and who she’s with.”
Rosemary grimaced. “I know. I’ve been trying, but it’s been hard to track everything. My work hours have been a little inconvenient. Thank goodness she’s mostly been hanging out with Vince’s niece at Etta’s, so that’s one less thing to worry about.”
“Sounds like you need to restructure things,” Harrison said, his voice light as he reminded her of his earlier comment. “And maybe do some of your paperwork from home instead of at the office. And there are all of us; we can fill in and keep an eye on her if you need to be at work when she’s not in school. You probably need to let her school know something’s going on, too, so they can watch out for her.”
All of this talk made Rosemary’s stomach feel a little unsettled. “I think I’m going to be sick. How am I supposed to keep her safe if we don’t know who’s trying to hurt me or how far they’re willing to go?”
Harrison reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. “We’ll find them and take care of it.”
She appreciated the sentiment, but it didn’t make her feel any safer.
Rosemary sat at her bedroom desk that night after putting Cleo to sleep. The pile of paperwork from the lawyers had been growing, but she’d been putting it off, overwhelmed with adjusting to motherhood and problems at work. She was just as overwhelmed with the thought of handling the Markham estate. So she’d ignored it.
Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides) Page 13
