The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  “My first guest was diagnosed with lupus in her twenties. For seven long years, she’s battled the disease, undergoing several surgeries. But when the disease attacked her kidneys, she figured she was going to lose her battle.”

  Sarah’s heart went out to Cheryl. The story sounded so similar, but from what Cheryl had told her, this was a common path for lupus sufferers. Thank God, Sarah had been able to heal Cheryl. Now, she couldn’t heal anyone, no matter how much they needed her help. Would the guest have an aura?

  No. The auras had all disappeared. Sarah hadn’t seen one since the glow Libby sported when she’d almost drowned. Sarah tried to brush aside a painful pang of guilt. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t heal now. Her gift had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. At least her own near-death hadn’t been necessary this time.

  “But my guest fought back. In fact, she fought back by seeking Divine assistance. She found a faith healer.”

  Faith healer. It took a second for the term to work its way through Sarah’s brain. She was obviously hearing things, or perhaps she just been mistaken. Tanya simply hadn’t said what Sarah thought she’d said. Her heart started pounding a brutal cadence. The urge to get up and run suddenly washed over her in waves. Something was wrong here. Something was very wrong.

  Tanya stood up, as she always did to welcome a guest, and turned to the same entrance she’d crossed through at the beginning of the show. “Will y’all please welcome to the Tanya Brady Show my new friend, Cheryl Sutton?”

  Sarah blinked. Several times. It was the only movement she could manage because the rest of her body had frozen stiff. She’d been set up to be Tanya Brady’s next sacrificial lamb.

  Surely she’d heard wrong. Surely her friend wouldn’t do this to her. She had healed her, damn it! Cheryl was well because of Sarah.

  Ross. Surely her boss wouldn’t do this to her. Before she could allow her mind to absorb the fact brother and sister had so cruelly brought her to this farce, Tanya sprung her next surprise.

  “And with Cheryl is our second guest, a man y’all might’ve read about a lot lately, what with the press coverage of his spiriting away the very woman Cheryl credits with her recovery. Welcome to the Tanya Brady Show Chicago’s own Pulitzer Prize nominated reporter Josh Miller.”

  With the exception of “Josh Miller,” none of the other words would register in Sarah’s mind. The only thing she could think about was how to escape. Quickly. Ross’s muscular arm flew out to block Sarah from jumping to her feet and flying through the closest exit. She turned to hiss an insult at her collaborating boss when she caught Josh’s arrival on the set. Having him so close after so long, she couldn’t help but stare. He stared right back, having the audacity and poor manners to smile at her.

  He looked the same, dressed in his typical dressy-casual. Khakis and a navy-blue polo shirt. No, Josh wasn’t a suit and tie kind of guy, even on a television show. Handsome. Earthy. Irresistible. Not that Sarah had expected their weeks apart to change him in any way. He’d never truly loved her, and he obviously hadn’t mourned her loss.

  Just seeing him again made her heart hurt. She felt like an ocean swimmer drowning in the undertow. Letting herself gape longingly at him for a moment, she finally forced herself to look away as her injured pride kicked into gear. Josh had been a major conspirator in this catastrophe. Damn him.

  Struggling against Ross’s tenacious hold, Sarah fought to get loose. As strong as he was, she might as well have been trying to claw her way through concrete. Her thoughts screamed for her to get the hell out of there. Her heart pounded so hard, the rhythm echoed in her ears until it was all she could hear. As she tried to gain her feet, she suddenly realized Josh hadn’t taken the seat next to Cheryl. Neither had Tanya. They were now both standing directly in front of her.

  It evidently hadn’t been enough to publicly humiliate her with that horrible newspaper article. Together with all the stories about the time she’d been “missing” while she’d been with him in Montana, her name might as well have been Mudd. No, Josh evidently needed to add to the witch hunt by tricking her into appearing on one of the most popular talk shows in the country, where the host would no doubt verbally attack her. And the Queen of Gossip would probably let some audience members join in on the assault too.

  There was no way out. Sarah’s eyes filled with angry tears. She wouldn’t say a word to any of them. Not a single word. Sarah vowed to make this Tanya Brady’s most boring show ever.

  When this debacle was over, Sarah decided she would head straight for Cheryl’s house, pack what little she owned, and get the hell away from this pack of jackals.

  She’d trusted them all.

  She was a fool.

  Ross had given her a job—a chance for independence. A chance to make a difference in the world by working for such a great charity.

  Cheryl had given her a home—a place to belong. A chance to have a real friend again.

  And Josh? Sarah had mistakenly thought he’d given her the best gift of all. Love. A chance to be a part of a loving family. God help her, she still wanted that, impossible though it was.

  Sarah wiped away helpless, humiliated tears as she prepared for a public crucifixion thanks to the three people she’d mistakenly offered her trust, her friendship, and her love.

  “I am privileged to introduce to you the woman who brought about Cheryl’s miracle,” Tanya said as she reached out for Sarah’s hand, which she literally had to pry off Ross’s arm. Sarah hadn’t even realized she’d gone from fighting his hold on her to clinging to him like some frightened child. Her nails were digging into the sleeve of his pin-striped suit. “Ladies and gentlemen, Sarah Reid.”

  The Queen of Gossip had the strength of a professional wrestler. She took Sarah’s hand away from her death grip on Ross with seemingly little effort before she dragged Sarah to her feet. Tucking Sarah’s hand in the crook of her elbow, Tanya escorted Sarah to the four chairs on the middle of the set.

  Too late! Sarah’s mind screamed. You’re trapped!

  Chapter 22

  Sarah was pale and a bit thinner than Josh remembered. Had she been sick? He wondered for a moment if she’d started healing again. Had her gift come back?

  Could she be looking peaked because she might have missed him? Maybe she might have mourned their split despite her anger over the story. Heaven knew he was heartsick enough he couldn’t sleep and rarely ate. Sarah had missed him. That’s what his heart wanted to believe.

  Josh fell in step behind Sarah as Tanya Brady rather forcefully escorted her to the stage. No wonder the woman was often called “The Barracuda” by industry insiders. She obviously did whatever she needed to get her way, even if her true nature hid beneath sweet smiles and honeyed words. Sarah never stood a chance. He tried not to grin, hoping all of their plans would go as smoothly as getting Sarah on stage.

  When they got closer to Cheryl, she reached out to take Sarah into her embrace. Sarah didn’t resist, but she sure didn’t hug back. Her body looked stiffer than an ironing board. Sarah finally sat in the chair Cheryl all put pushed her into, but she looked like a mannequin. No emotion. No expression. Nothing to show what was going on inside that head of hers. If it wasn’t for the solitary tear slipping down her cheek, Josh might have thought she was catatonic. Hadn’t she been listening to anything Tanya Brady had said? This show was about Sarah—about all the good she’d done in the world.

  He suddenly feared he’d made an enormous mistake. This was supposed to be a way to force Sarah to hear the whole story, the real story. He’d been so concerned with making sure she sat and listened, Josh hadn’t spent enough time thinking about how this surprise would initially affect her. It probably didn’t help that the talk show hostess was making this all so damned melodramatic. His heart had just figured once Sarah heard the truth, everything would be put to right again. What he’d ignored was the reality of how she’d feel about all the hoopla surrounding the beginning of the show. Sarah had obviously been t
oo shocked to take anything in. And now she was unsuccessfully fighting back tears. She didn’t understand.

  Damn it. He felt lower than an earthworm. All he’d managed to do so far was hurt her. Again.

  Josh wanted to sit next to Sarah, hoping he could help her through this and get her to see what was really happening. Tanya pointed for Cheryl to take the seat before he could grab it and then planted herself on Sarah’s other side. The woman he loved was sandwiched between two women who were literally gushing over her, but she acted like she was preparing for her own execution.

  Why couldn’t Sarah see how much everyone here admired her? Instead of absorbing their praise, she stared at her lap as if wanting the whole ordeal to quickly end. She sniffled and breathed a ragged sigh, the sounds wrapping around his heart and squeezing it too tight to beat.

  He suddenly couldn’t stand not being able to touch her when she was this close, especially when she needed some comfort so desperately. Reaching around Cheryl, Josh took Sarah’s hand into his, wanting to give her a reassuring squeeze. “Sarah?” he whispered. She stared at his hand holding hers for a moment, turned her face to shoot him a blistering glare, and then snatched her hand away as if she’d been burned. The action stung, but he understood how she was feeling. “It’ll be fine, honey. Just listen to them. Listen to what they’re saying.”

  Tanya Brady clucked her tongue at him then took command. “Now Cheryl, why don’t you tell us what things were like for you before you met Sarah Reid?” She’d already put her hand on Sarah’s shoulder, but Sarah was back to staring at her own lap.

  Cheryl dove head-first into her story. “Every day felt like a trial. Some mornings I couldn’t even haul myself out of bed. If I tried, I would literally collapse. The doctor didn’t know what was wrong, so he called it ‘chronic fatigue’ and told me to take vitamins. I called it a ‘pain in the butt’ and went to another doctor.”

  “What were your other symptoms?” Tanya asked.

  “Swollen joints. My hair was falling out. I had rashes on my skin anywhere the sun hit it, especially on my face. Little things that made my life miserable. Then, worst of all, my kidneys started shutting down. I was scheduled for my first dialysis the week I went to see Sarah. My brother wanted to donate a kidney so I could have a transplant.” Cheryl turned and took Sarah’s hand into hers. “But I never had to keep that dialysis appointment, and I didn’t need my brother’s kidney. Sarah healed my lupus. She saved my life, and I can never thank her enough.”

  For the first time since Josh had seen her at the studio, Sarah seemed to be paying attention to what was happening around her. She hesitantly glanced up to let her gaze meet Cheryl’s, blinking a couple of times as if disbelieving what she heard.

  “It’s true, Sarah. You’re my savior.”

  “My, my, Cheryl,” Tanya exclaimed in that hypnotic drawl. “You were cured by this little slip of a woman? How on Earth did you know for sure you weren’t just in remission?”

  “My big brother,” Cheryl said, throwing Ross a chastising glare, “didn’t believe me. He insisted I see my doctor and have blood work drawn. All the tests, the same ones that said I had lupus, were negative. The disease is gone.”

  Some of the audience broke into a quiet applause, the Queen of Gossip smiled. She was clearly getting to them, but it was a slow process. Josh wanted things to get done faster. Sarah was still upset, damn it.

  “Why, that’s marvelous!” Tanya exclaimed. “How exactly did Sarah bring about this miracle?”

  “She hugged me.”

  “She hugged you?”

  “Yep. She put her arms around me, put a hand against my back, and pulled the illness right out,” Cheryl replied with a decisive nod emphasizing her point.

  A louder buzz of chatter rose from the audience. Josh caught a couple of comments that sounded skeptical. Remembering how cynical he’d been, he couldn’t blame them. He wanted to put himself between Sarah and the remarks, but from the tightness in her face, she’d already heard at least a few of them.

  Tanya raised a hand like a teacher scolding an unruly class. Silence quickly fell over the studio. “Now I understand how y’all might be a little skeptical, so I’d like to bring on someone who’ll shed some light on this for us.” She stood up and swept an arm toward the back of the stage. “Please welcome Dr. James Childs.”

  The doctor, dressed in teal scrubs and carrying a clipboard, a stethoscope draped around his neck, came sauntering in through the same entrance Josh had used. The man sat down in a chair on Tanya’s other side. Dr. Childs had obviously been chosen because he looked like some romance novel cover model. Bulging muscles. Wavy hair. Bronze skin. Very Fabio. Josh had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the dramatics. But if having a Chippendale dancer on the set would help people believe Sarah, Tanya Brady could have the man come on stage dressed in nothing but a banana hammock.

  “So, Dr. Childs,” Tanya said, shifting to face him and favoring him with a bright smile, “tell me what you know about Cheryl Sutton.”

  “After spending time reviewing her medical records, I can tell you Ms. Sutton was diagnosed the way most lupus victims are—after years of suffering multiple debilitating symptoms that no doctor could seem to find a connection between. For example, her hands,” the doctor said, nodding to Cheryl who held her hands up as if to emphasize his point, “were swollen to the point sometimes she could barely bend her fingers. She had absolutely no energy, a symptom we call ‘chronic fatigue’ or ‘toxic fatigue.’” He nodded at her again.

  She smiled back, flirting so conspicuously, Josh almost growled at her.

  The doctor continued his story. “Patches of hair were falling out every time she shampooed. After running blood work, her doctor found that Cheryl’s ANA test was positive with a very high titer and a peripheral pattern, indicating systemic lupus erythematosus.”

  “My, my,” Tanya interjected, laying a hand on the doctor’s arm. Did every woman go into spontaneous heat around this guy? “Such scientific words. What exactly do they mean, darlin’?”

  “Cheryl’s immune system went a bit...haywire and started attacking her own cells.”

  Josh lost the rest of the explanation as he concentrated on Sarah. Understanding was slowly dawning on her as she listened to the doctor describe how sick Cheryl had been while Cheryl seemed to take great delight in showing the audience just how healthy she was now. She teasingly flexed a bicep then tugged at her hair and grinned. Sarah’s hazel eyes grew wide as she seemed to take it all in. After a moment of watching Dr. Beefcake, she shifted her gaze to meet Josh’s. About to reach across Cheryl again to take Sarah’s hand, Josh was interrupted by Tanya Brady.

  “Ya’ll stay tuned. We’ll be right back.”

  Thank God. A commercial break. Josh no sooner opened his mouth to talk to Sarah when Tanya interrupted him again. “Now do you see, Sarah?”

  Sarah stared at the woman. Then she slowly shook her head, but she still didn’t say a word.

  “We’re here to show people you’re real, darlin’.”

  “To show them what you did for people like me,” Cheryl added.

  Josh reached for Sarah. Before he could take her hand, she turned to him, still looking bewildered. All he wanted to do was scoop her into his arms and carry her away from all this so he could explain the rest in private. The stage manager started his stupid countdown ending the break before Josh had even said a word.

  “Five, four...” The last three seconds were shown by the manager’s fingers. Josh figured he had a finger he’d like to show the annoying guy.

  “Welcome back, y’all,” Tanya drawled. “We’re here with the lady many of you have been reading about—faith healer Sarah Reid. Now it seems to me part of the problem with this whole situation was that li’l ole story y’all have probably read, the one that claimed Sarah was stealing from people who went to her for healing. The reporter who wrote that story, Josh Miller, started his research convinced, as many of you are, that Sarah could
n’t possibly do what people claimed. But since the article ran, he’s had a change of heart. Let’s hear what he thinks now.”

  At last. The moment of truth. What he said now would either save or destroy his future with Sarah. Josh nodded and dove right in head first, confident the woman he loved would forgive him for all the hurt he’d never meant to cause. “The story was never supposed to see print.”

  Tanya frowned at him. “Then why on Earth did you write it?”

  “A year and a half ago,” Josh replied, “I lost my wife to ovarian cancer. We tried everything we could to save her, including a visit to a faith healer. All he did was raise Miranda’s hopes, take our money, and disappear. Just another grifter, like most faith healers are.” God, that sounded cold. But to show how unique Sarah was, he needed to be brutally honest. Then people could see why she was so special.

  Sarah’s gaze had dropped back to her lap and she squeezed her hands into fists so tight, her fingers blanched. Josh was having trouble concentrating on the story he should to be telling because he worried about what might be flying through her thoughts.

  “No one believed Cheryl when she told them she’d been healed,” he said, continuing the story. “Her brother, my cousin Laurie’s husband, was angry, thinking Cheryl had been ripped off.” Sarah sent a withering stare at Ross Kennedy that made Josh grin and almost lose track of what he was saying. He was too pleased to see the spunk he knew and loved start to sparkle back to life in her. “Cheryl wasn’t taking her meds, and he was afraid for her health. So he called me and asked me to expose the supposed faith healer. I love investigative stories, but this one hit too close to home. I might not have been able to catch the guy who stole from my late wife, but I figured I could expose this faith healer. I didn’t know that when I set out to ‘expose’ Sarah Reid, I’d find the genuine article.”

  “Well, if you believed her, darlin’, why the story we all read?” Tanya asked.