Sweet Water

by Lena North

  “Miller says Joe is okay,” he told me.

  “Thank you.”

  “Mrs. C was crying, but I promised her that you would be fine too,” he continued.

  “Okay,” I replied.

  “We’ll talk more when you feel better.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m sorry I shouted at you, Nellie. I was so worried, and –”

  “Don’t get scared, Dante, but I’m passing out for real now,” I interrupted him, feeling a fatigue that was different from before wash over me. “Tell them to give me blood.”

  “Baby,” he whispered. I could see how he swallowed and valiantly tried to hide his worry from me.

  “I love you,” I murmured both in my head and out loud because if I didn’t make it, I wanted him to have heard me say it at least once. I wanted to have said it to someone, at least once.

  Then everything went black.

  They told me later that complete mayhem had ensued when they brought me into the hospital. My lips had been blue, my heartbeat erratic, and they wanted to take me away for emergency care immediately. Dante had refused to leave my side, and they promptly called security. Then Olly rolled in on his cruiser, and with a few swift steps, he placed himself in front of the guards, ready to fight them to let Dante move with the gurney rolling me into the hospital.

  The security staff had been understandably reluctant to engage in a fight with the huge, snarling man standing between them and the man they were supposed to apprehend, so there had been a short but uncomfortable impasse, and then Mary came running. A few terse words of explanation from Olly had her attacking the security staff, screaming loudly and open hand slapping them. Since she was more than a head shorter than all of them, they had mostly spent their energy on making sure she didn’t accidentally harm herself, and then Jamie waded in.

  With a few words, he got everyone to calm down, ordered the nurses to get me into an examination room, waved at Dante to go with them and ordered him to stay in a corner and told him to, “Keep the food trap closed unless otherwise requested.”

  I didn’t remember anything at all because I’d been passed out. They tried to wake me up with no success, my temperature had been low, so the nurses put thermal blankets around me, and then Jamie ordered a scan of my brain which again put Dante’s hackles up. He started by questioning the necessity of it and moved on to telling them that he was planning to stand next to me during the procedure. Jamie’s vehement, and loud, protests rustled me partially out of my unconsciousness.

  “Don’t be an idiot. Surely you don’t think I’d let anything happen to her? It’s Jinx Sweetwater, and she’s our –”

  “Our national treasure,” Dante cut him off sourly. “Yeah, man, I heard about that shit.” There was a short silence, and then Dante continued, although his voice sounded slightly calmer. “I get that you think she’s our national treasure, but you need to get that she isn’t to me. You see Jinx Sweetwater, her amazing brain, and all the things she could do. I see what she already does. I see her sweetness and her loyalty. I laugh when I’m with her, and she makes me stronger. She makes me a better man. So, she isn’t a national treasure to me.” There was another pause, and then he said softly, “To me she’s Nellie, and she’s my treasure.”

  There was such a long silence I thought they’d left the room. Then Dante continued speaking, and he sounded like his usual calm, reasonable, self again, “I promised her I wouldn’t leave her alone, and I intend to keep that promise. She asked for you to be the only one to work on her and I guess it’s because you’re the only one she trusts in this place. Surely we can find a way to accommodate –”

  “Everyone, out,” Jamie ordered sharply, and by the speed of the footsteps, I assumed that the nurses weren’t used to him giving orders in that tone. Then he asked quietly, “She’s afraid of hospitals?”

  Dante didn’t reply.

  “Do you know why?”

  “Yes,” Dante said, but didn’t elaborate.

  “Crapola,” Jamie muttered.

  Dante remained silent.

  After a while, I heard a sigh, and then Jamie’s voice again, “I admire your loyalty, even if it’s a damned nuisance. We have to get the MRI done, so we don’t have much time, but I need to tell you a few things.”

  There was another silence from Dante and another sigh that must have come from Jamie.

  “Jesus, you’re stubborn,” he muttered, and added, “I’m just a year older than Jinx.”

  “Huh?” Dante said.

  I tried to open my eyes because this was news to me, and it changed a lot of things. I’d been fourteen when I started my studies, and that meant that Jamie had been only fifteen. No one had known, or at least, they hadn’t talked about it.

  “She was their prize,” Jamie whispered, and my heart skipped a beat. “The rest of us… we were nothing, suddenly. I heard them whisper about her when they brought her in the first time, and we all heard more over the years. Then she did what none of us had managed. She cracked security, picked the locks and got out. The program was shut down after that, and they left the rest of us alone.”

  “What?” Dante breathed.

  I tried so hard to move, but my body didn’t cooperate. I wished Dante would touch me so I could communicate with him, but he didn’t, and Jamie kept talking.

  “It wasn’t until a few weeks after I started Uni that I realized who I had in my class. She said something that was so way above what a fourteen-year-old girl should manage. Then she pushed her hair back, and I saw a tiny scar in her scalp, right behind her ear, and my gut did a free fall. I tried to talk to her, but she kept to herself, and I didn’t want to be a nuisance. I never understood why she didn’t practice, though. Always thought she went into medicine for the same reasons I did… to make sure there were good doctors too. I didn’t get that she did it so she’d never have to see one.”

  “Oh, man… I’m –”

  “It was a long time ago,” Jamie cut Dante off. “But you should know that when I call her a national treasure, I mean it, but I also mean that she’s my treasure. She was our hero, and we owe her everything, so she still is.”

  “Jamieson –”

  Jamie cut him off again, “I’ll get you a coat and an ID-badge on the way down to radiology.”

  Then my bed was moving, and I heard Dante murmur, “Can I tell her?”

  “Yeah,” Jamie replied immediately, but added a bit stiffly, “Thank you for asking me first.”

  “My girlfriend is Jiminella Sweetwater, man. I’ve learned the hard way to always ask for clarification when it comes to you genius types,” Dante said calmly, and after a stunned silence Jamie started chuckling. Dante joined him, and I wanted to too, but instead, I sank back into unconsciousness and didn’t wake up again until much later.

  It was another angry voice that stirred me, and I regained consciousness slowly. It felt as if I was floating, and I wondered how much painkillers they’d given me.

  “I’m not leaving,” Dante growled.

  “Dante –”

  “No. I promised her I wouldn’t leave, so I won’t,” he insisted, cutting off Wilder, but she kept pushing.

  “Dante. There are four of her friends in the room. Dad and Mill are standing shoulder to shoulder outside her door, and four of the birds are circling the hospital. You haven’t left Jinx’ side since we left the lab and that was what? Fourteen hours ago?” She made a small pause, and asked gently, “Honey… Don’t you need to use the bathroom?”

  I heard quiet chuckles around the room, but Dante insisted.

  “I promised, and for the first time in her life someone will actually keep a promise to her,” he said, but added under his breath, “Even if it kills me.”

  The chuckles were louder then, and he was incredibly sweet, but I forced myself to move my hand a little, hoping that he’d touch me because I couldn’t find the energy to move my mouth but I hoped he might hear my thoughts.

  “Nellie?” he said at the s
ame time as he took hold of my hand.

  He was leaning over me, and I felt my mouth curving when his short beard scraped my cheek.

  “Go. Use the bathroom,” I whispered.

  There was a long silence, and then he murmured, “Did you just give me permission to pee?”

  Since he spoke out loud, a cheer echoed in the room, but I still didn’t find it in me to move, so I kept pushing words to him in my mind.

  “Or whatever,” I clarified magnanimously. “No need to restrict yourself.”

  He started laughing and squeezed my hand.

  “Hawker,” he bellowed, and I heard the door open.

  “What?”

  “Can you stay in the room for a little while?” Dante asked, and since I heard him moving away, I supposed that he either got a confirmative nod or else he was desperate for the facilities. Fourteen hours, I thought. Probably the latter.

  “Are you awake, Jinx?” Hawker murmured close to my ear.

  I moved my hand a little, and he took hold of it.

  “Welcome back, genius-girl,” he said, in a voice tinged with something I thought sounded like relief. “The ridiculously geeky doctor apparently said that you’ll be fine,” he added.

  Someone cleared their throat loudly by the door, and I felt Hawker move.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “Jamieson,” Jamie replied calmly, and when Hawker didn’t say anything at all, he added, “MD and geeky dude extraordinaire.”

  “Huh,” Hawker said. “You don’t look like you sound,” he added when the silence stretched out.

  This was absolutely true. Jamie was from the islands, and he had a lighter shade of the beautiful brown skin that was common there. His eyes were blue, though, and I’d seen pictures of him in the newspapers, so I knew that what had been a ball-shaped, red mess of curls when we started university was now an auburn mop of dreadlocks reaching well past his shoulders. He was also tall, lean and muscular in a way that resembled Hawker’s own build. He wasn’t beautiful like Mac or Dante, but he was definitely hot. At least, until he opened his mouth.

  “Maybe it’s just you who’s a tad bit narrow-minded?” Jamie asked lazily.

  Oh crap. I didn’t think baiting Hawker Johns was a good idea under normal circumstances and doing it now when everyone was on their toes after the night we’d just had, was plain stupid.

  “No fighting allowed in my room, boys,” I rasped out.

  “Jinx!” Wilder shouted, in a way that I thought was slightly exaggerated, but I guessed she was as eager as I was to keep her dad from getting arrested for assaulting someone.

  “Hey,” I murmured.

  “Okidoki,” Jamie said cheerfully, and I opened my eyes then, wondering if he was for real. He winked at me as he leaned over my bed and pressed a button next to my head, and I realized that his general dorkiness was just as much an act as Bozo’s flamboyant persona. “I need for everybody to leave. We have to do some tests,” he added.

  “No,” Hawker said. “Told d’Augustine I’d stay, so I will.”

  The argument that I could tell was about to erupt was thwarted by Dante walking through the door. His eyes were on me immediately, and his mouth was a tight line that slowly curved into a relieved smile.

  “Hey,” he murmured.

  “Hey,” I echoed.

  “Everybody, get out,” Dante ordered, keeping his eyes locked with mine.

  “We need to –” Jamie started.

  “I do not care,” Dante cut him off. “Give me five minutes,” he added, and the way he said it didn’t open up for argumentation, so the others trooped out.

  Dante walked over, kissed me gently, and sat down on a chair next to me. I turned my head slowly toward him. He looked tired, and I realized he had the same clothes as the night before. I was about to tell him to go and take a shower when he suddenly leaned forward until his forehead rested on my chest, and he was burying his face in the blankets. His shoulders shook a little and I heard him drawing in deep, ragged breaths.

  “Jesus,” he said hoarsely after a while and put his arms around me.

  “Dante…” I whispered, and he held me tighter.

  “I thought you’d die when you went into the river. The currents are so dangerous, Nellie, and even our strongest swimmers would struggle in those waters. And then I felt how you were slipping away…” He took a deep breath but it sounded ragged, and he shuddered. “I thought you’d die,” he repeated.

  I raised my hand and caressed his hair gently.

  “You saved me,” I murmured.

  He was silent a while but then his arms relaxed again, and he turned his face toward me. His eyes had softened, but the lashes were still wet, and I moved my left hand to cup his cheek. Then I stared at the gold band on my finger. It was wide, and an enormous, blue stone was set deep in it.

  “What is that?” I asked and narrowed my brows to glare at him because I suspected that I already knew.

  Dante was silent, but I could feel how the muscles in his arms tightened.

  “Dante,” I prompted.

  “My mother’s engagement ring, I had Danny bring it here.”

  “Really?” I asked, and when he moved to sit up again I added weakly, “Are we suddenly engaged?”

  “Nellie,” he murmured.

  “Because I can’t say I remember being asked,” I told him. “A girl should be asked, don’t you think?”

  “It’s Jamieson’s fault,” he mumbled, looking uncomfortable.

  “Am I engaged to Jamie?” I asked sourly.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied. “He told them that we were engaged so I could stay by your side. Something about hospital rules and next of kin.”

  Oh.

  “Okay,” I said, embarrassed about my reaction. “I’ll just –”

  He put his hand on mine when I started to twist the ring off my finger.

  “I’ll work up the courage to ask, Nellie. You should keep it until then.”

  I stopped moving and wondered what on earth that meant.

  “Okay,” I repeated weakly and was about to ask for clarification when the door was thrown open.

  Jamie announced loudly that five minutes had passed and then a whole group of doctor-looking men and women in white coats descended upon us.

  Chapter Twenty

  You think I’m a dog?

  I had to stay at the hospital one more night, and when they released me the next day, everyone that wasn't me had agreed that the best thing would be if I stayed a week at Double H.

  They talked about being close to the hospital on account of the hairline fracture in my skull, the effects of blood loss and the mild hypothermia I didn’t agree to have had. I thought it was ridiculous and guessed I got the real reason for why I couldn’t go to Marshes when I heard Hawker order Kit go there for a few days and work with Dante on security systems, both for the lab and around the village. Olly announced that he’d go with them, which pissed Hawker off.

  “You’re needed to deal with other things,” he growled.

  I interpreted that to mean hunting down the men that had captured me.

  “I’ll be tracking, Hawk,” Olly grunted.

  Mac straightened, and Miller narrowed his brows, but they didn’t say anything.

  “No,” Hawker said.

  “Can’t stop me,” Olly retorted and walked out of the room.

  “I’ll go with him,” Mac sighed and left too.

  I looked around the room until my eyes locked with Wilder’s. She shrugged and made a small grimace. Dante just squeezed my hand, and then it was apparently decided that I’d be at Double H for a while.

  So, there I was, resting on the front porch of Wilder’s home. I let my eyes glide over the big ranch sprawling out around me. I’d always loved the beauty of the lush green hills rolling down toward the plains in front me, but they had lost their appeal. The air seemed stale, and I missed the water. I wanted to walk barefoot in the sand and breathe in the scent of the ocean
.

  Joe limped up the steps and looked longingly up at the soft pillows I was resting on. Then he sank down on the wooden floor and gave me a look clearly communicating his unhappiness, which I could easily understand. He had stitches on his hind leg and on his belly, and a plastic cone the size of a satellite dish around his neck.

  Miller had tried to tone it down, but the anatomy of a dog wasn’t all that different from a human, so I understood exactly how close Joe had been to moving on to greener pastures. One of the bullets had just grazed his side and belly, but if it had hit him an inch or two higher, it would have gone straight into the liver. He would have died within minutes then. The other bullet had still been in his backside, although it seemed as if it had come from some distance, so he’d probably started running away when they fired that shot. Miller had removed it, and it had done some muscle damage, but the bones had been intact. My dog had been incredibly lucky.

  “I know, buddy,” I told his pathetic face. “You don’t like the cone, and you don’t like that you can’t jump up on the couch. But you had a bullet in your butt –”

  He snorted, and my brows went up. I’d tried so many times to communicate with him, and it never worked, but I still wondered sometimes.

  “Sorry, my darling,” I said. “I meant that you have a badge of honor in the form of twelve stitches in your backside, of course.”

  Then I leaned down and removed the cone. I wasn’t supposed to, but he was right at my feet and looked like he was settling in for a nap. I could put the cone back on if he started licking his wounds.

  They’d brought him to the hospital in the middle of the night, sneaking him past the nurse who had been charmed into a puddle by the combined efforts of Mac and Dante. Kit brought him in and lifted him up on the bed where he promptly lay down right on top of me, surveying me calmly. I was crying, and I tried to be quiet, but it was impossible. He’d saved me just as much as Dante had, and it made my head hurt, but I couldn’t hold my sobs back as I caressed the sides of his beautiful face. He waited until I calmed down, and then he licked my cheeks, slowly and softly as if he knew I was injured.