But as far as what happened tonight, they’d have to wait to hear the details from Fiona.
The waiting room doors opened, and a woman wearing a set of sweat-drenched scrubs entered.
“You all here for Fiona Samuels?”
Chase jumped to his feet. “That’s right. Is she okay?”
The doctor smiled. “The surgery went well. As the x-rays showed, the fall twisted her neck and spine. But I’d been worried there might be a fracture we weren’t seeing. I found some old damage, probably from her accident years ago, and I repaired that. We can repair the body in ways today that simply weren’t available twenty years ago. I know she’s suffered from headaches since the accident. There was a dislocated bone applying pressure on a nerve and almost totally shutting off blood supply in an artery. Relieving that should help those.”
“Where is she, doc?” Chase asked. “Can I see her?”
“She’s in recovery. We should have her in a room in about an hour. We don’t usually let people back into our surgery recovery area, but seeing as you threw yourself over her to protect her, I think you deserve some special attention.”
Chase felt the heat flush his cheeks.
The attractive female surgeon leaned toward him. “I know everything,” she said with a smile. “My husband’s a detective on the police force.” She straightened. “If you’ll come with me.”
“Vivi and I are headed home,” Shade said. “I’ll touch base later today.”
Vivi kissed Chase’s cheek. “Thank you.”
After they left, Hank and Sadie left, saying they were going to hang around for a few days until they could talk with Fiona, so they were headed to find a hotel.
The doctor led Chase down a cold, sterile-looking hallway. His heart dropped when he saw the woman he loved lying in the bed. A white bandage covered the left side of her head. The heart monitor on the shelf above her beeped out a steady sound. Four IV bags hung from poles delivered fluid into the needle in her arm.
He grabbed the back of the chair next to her bed to steady himself.
“It looks worse than it is,” the doctor said. “She’s doing great.” She nudged him into the chair. “Sit.”
“Can I touch her? Hold her hand?”
“Of course.”
He took the hand of the arm without the IVs. Fiona’s skin was dry and soft and warm. He lifted her hand to his face, pressing her knuckles to his cheek and then to his mouth.
“I love you, Fiona,” he said. “I should have told you before now. I love you.”
Fiona continued to sleep.
The recovery nurse kept coming in and talking to Fi. “Wake up, Fiona. There’s a good-looking man sitting here beside you wanting you to wake up and talk to him. Come on, honey. Wake up.”
Fiona groaned. That was the best sound Chase had ever heard.
“What?” she said in a thick voice. “Where am I?”
“You’re in the recovery room,” the nurse said. “Your surgery went great. You’ll be back on your feet in no time. You have to wake up before we can let you go to a hospital room.”
“What happened? Chase?”
“I’m here, love,” Chase said. “I’m right here.” He pulled her hand to his mouth again. “You scared me so bad. I thought I’d lost you after I’ve looked for you for my whole life. I love you, Fi.”
Her eyelids fluttered. “You love me?”
“I do.”
“See, honey?” the nurse said in a loud voice. “He loves you. You have to wake up. Open your eyes.”
Fiona’s eyelids slid open to a crack. “I can’t see.”
“It’s okay, babe,” Chase said. “I can see enough for both of us.”
“No,” she groaned. “It’s too bright. The lights are hurting my eyes.”
Chases looked up at the nurse. “She’s been blind for twenty years. The lights shouldn’t be bothering her eyes.”
“Fiona. Open your eyes for me,” the nurse ordered.
Fiona opened her eyes and squinted. Then she began to cry. “You have blonde hair,” she said. “I can see you. Where’s Chase?”
Chase saw his future crumble. If she regained her vision from something the doctor had done in surgery, she’d hate his scars. She could never love him looking as he did.
She rolled her head toward him. “You’re beautiful,” she said. “You are so much more handsome than I’d pictured in my head.” The hand he was holding cupped his face. “I love you, Chase.”
Four Weeks Later
“I’m not promising anything,” Chase said. “I’m not the cook Fi is.”
Fiona bumped his hip. “Don’t listen to him,” she said to Shade and Vivi. “He’s a great cook.”
“Don’t worry, Chase. Shade will eat anything. Trust me. I couldn’t boil water when we married and he never complained.”
“That’s the way it is, darlin’, when a man’s in love.” Shade put his arm around his wife and hugged her.
Chase carried a platter of steaks to the table. “I think we’re ready.” After he set the plate on the table, he pulled out Fiona’s chair.
Shade did the same for his wife, who laughed. “You haven’t pulled out my chair in years.”
“Yeah, well, maybe Chase’s is a good influence on me.”
“Thank you, Chase,” Vivi said with a grin.
Once they were all seated and food was ladled onto plates, Vivi said, “Fiona. I don’t understand about your vision. Shade explained it, but I didn’t understand.”
Fiona’s gaze met Viv’s. “Dr. Mason isn’t sure, but she thinks the blood flow to my eyes was hindered by the compression from a dislodged bone from that wreck twenty years ago. There was enough blood trickling through so that the nerve and tissues weren’t destroyed, but not enough to allow me to see. Once she released that pressure and normal blood flow was restored, I got some vision back. It’ll never be completely normal, but I’ll take it. I can see well enough to read, cook…” She looked toward Chase. “See the man I love.”
“She was perfect when I met her.” Chase took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Any news on the Haven family story?”
Fiona had spent hours with Shade going over her time with Lori, especially that night. Even though the police departmental psychiatrist had never met Lori before her death, he’d hypothesized that she was so traumatized by her brother’s death, that she’d allowed him to live on in her head until he became as real to her as herself.
Shade took a drink of his wine and said, “Looks like if Lori didn’t directly give her mother the pills that killed her, she probably helped. The police department in St. Louis had always felt Mrs. Haven’s death didn’t fit the typical suicide pattern. As far as Mr. Haven’s death, they’ll never know for sure if Lori was directly responsible.”
“She said she was,” Fiona said.
Shade shrugged. “I know, but she’s dead, so the department is not reopening the case.”
“And her story about her grandparents?” Chase asked.
“They were terrified of Lori. They knew she wasn’t right. They did want they could, got her institutionalized for her mental illness, and she was there until about three years ago. They refused to let her live with them and she disappeared. Obviously, she moved back to Big Branch. They were embarrassed when they confessed they were relieved when she left and didn’t look for her. They’re older, well into their seventies. They feared for their lives if she moved back in with them.”
“Don’t blame them,” Fiona said. “That girl was nuts.”
“Psychiatrist said Lori was very conflicted mentally. She really was trying to keep Bobby from hurting you, but that side of her was getting stronger every day, until she could no longer control it.” Shade looked at Chase. “You were probably the motivation for Bobby to get stronger.”
“Fuck,” Chase said. “I know that. I’d regret coming and setting off this whole situation, but I can’t, not when I found my future wife.”
“Yeah,” Vivi said. “H
ow come you’re not flashing that big diamond ring in my face?”
“Oh. My bad.” Fiona shoved her hand under Vivi’s nose. “Dig this.”
“Wait just a darn minute,” Vivi said, giving Shade a mock frown. “That diamond is bigger than the one I got for bearing your children, Shade.”
“Thanks, man,” Shade said to Chase
Chase just shrugged. “What can I say? I want the world to know that Fiona Samuels is mine.”
Fiona walked over to her future husband and put her arms around his neck. “I love you, Chase. There is no diamond big enough to adequately display that.”
He pulled her into his lap. “I love you too, Fiona.”
He kissed her while Vivi cooed her delight.
“I think I’m going to like our new neighbor,” Vivi said to her husband.
“Me, too,” Fiona said from Chase’s lap. “Me, too.”
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Cynthia D’Alba started writing on a challenge from her husband in 2006 and discovered having imaginary sex with lots of hunky men was fun. She was born and raised in a small Arkansas town. After being gone for a number of years, she’s thrilled to be making her home back in Arkansas living in a vine-covered cottage on the banks of an eight-thousand acre lake. When she’s not reading or writing or plotting, she’s doorman for her border collie, cook, housekeeper and chief bottle washer for her husband and slave to a noisy, messy parrot. She loves to chat online with friends and fans.
You can find her most days at one of the following online homes:
Website: cynthiadalba.com
Facebook:Facebook/cynthiadalba
Twitter:@cynthiadalba
Pinterest: Pinterest/CynthiaDAlba
Newsletter:NewsletterSign-Up
Or drop her a line at [email protected]
Or send snail mail to: Cynthia D’Alba PO Box 2116 Hot Springs, AR 71914
Other titles by Cynthia D’Alba
Now Available:
A Cowboy’s Seduction
Texas Justice
Whispering Springs, Texas
Texas Two Step: The Prequel
Texas Two Step
Texas Tango
Texas Fandango
Texas Twist
Texas Bossa Nova
Texas Hustle
Texas Lullaby
Saddles and Soot
Texas Daze
Big Branch, Texas (Kindle Worlds)
Cadillac Cowboy (Hell, Yeah!)
Texas Ranger Rescue (Brotherhood Protectors)
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
About the Author
Other titles by Cynthia D’Alba
Table of Contents
Brotherhood Protectors: Texas Ranger Rescue (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 8
