Gavin rushed from the exam room, out into the hallway, and up the stairs to the master bedroom. He shoved off his soaking wet shorts and slid into sweatpants and a long sleeve T-shirt before grabbing his cell phone and racing back downstairs with a warm pair of socks in his hand. He entered the exam room, and even though he knew the likelihood was low, he hoped to be greeted by the woman’s open eyes. Instead, he found her completely unmoved and unchanged.
Gavin dialed the hospital’s ER desk number as he bent to put the thick socks on the woman’s tiny feet. A harried nurse answered briskly, “BethAnn here.”
“BethAnn, it’s Doctor Gavin Faulkner. I need a helicopter or an ambulance in Shadows Landing.”
“Hiya Doc. Status?” BethAnn asked, cutting to the chase. He knew most of the doctors and nurses at Charleston’s main hospital, and they’d be all hands on deck tonight.
“Unconscious woman with a head wound.”
“Bless your heart, Doc. You’re not going to get emergency services with a little ol’ thing like that. Not tonight. Besides, the road out of town is flooded, and we’re grounded until the wind calms down. As long as she’s not critical, as in about to die any second, she’s best to stay put with you.”
“It was worth a shot. I’ll monitor overnight and bring her in as soon as possible. Thanks BethAnn.”
“You can thank me by saying a prayer for us. A hurricane and a full moon. Someone done gone and pissed off a higher power. You stay dry, Doc,” BethAnn ordered before hanging up.
Gavin had one more shot at getting the woman into the hospital, and he’d give it a try. He pulled up his contacts and called his cousin Wade in the Coast Guard. Wade answered, but over his voice, Gavin heard the roar of waves and wind.
“I found a woman in the river. She’s unconscious with a head wound. Can you pick her up for a hospital transport?”
“Sorry Gav,” he barely heard Wade yell over the growing sound of helicopter blades. “I’m about to fly out to help a sinking fishing boat. We don’t have a single free bird tonight. If it’s not critical, stay put. The worst is over and the waters will start receding some when the tide moves out.”
“Stay safe,” Gavin yelled back and got a quick “Yup” before Wade hung up and went off with his crew for a rescue. Gavin turned and looked at the woman. Her shivering was lessening, so he pulled up a chair and slid his hand into hers. “You’re safe now,” he told her as he watched the steady beat of her heart on the monitor. When he deemed her stable, he stood up and gathered his supplies to suture her head wound. He rolled the woman onto her side and was rewarded with a low groan. “It’s okay. You’re safe, but you have a nasty cut on your head. I’m going to administer something to numb it. You’ll feel a prick and then a little bit of a burn, but you won’t feel a thing as I sew it up,” he said, talking to her as he did exactly what he told her he was going to do. He believed even unconscious people could hear what was going on. Now, they may not be able to process it, but his soothing voice might keep her calm.
Gavin pushed her hair from the wound as he cleaned it and grimaced. There were several gashes as if something hard and pointy had hit her head. It was amazing it hadn’t killed her. The wounds were deep, and he could see her skull in places. “Here we go. You’ll be good as new in no time.”
* * *
Gavin let out a breath as he pulled the medical gloves from his hands and threw them away. He placed the woman on her back but angled her head so she wouldn’t be lying on her wounds. Then he cleaned the small surgical room, dimmed the lights so they wouldn’t hurt her eyes when she woke, and took his seat next to her again.
“Come back to me,” Gavin said softly as he took her hand in his and leaned forward. “You’re safe now.”
He watched for any sign she heard him, but the woman did not wake while time went on and the winds and rain died down.
2
The waters covered her head, dragging her down. Ellery opened her eyes, but in the dark night she couldn’t see under the water. She struggled to swim to the surface, but she couldn’t tell which way was up. There was nothing but darkness surrounding her. Something hit her leg and she screamed, water filling her mouth as the last breath escaped her lungs.
She didn’t finish the thought that it could be a shark as she swam in the opposite direction. Her high heels fell from her feet as she frantically fought toward the surface. Her lungs burned, her vision seemed to be blurring, and the water was constantly pulling at her.
Her fingers broke free first then her head. With a gasp, she dragged water and air into her lungs before a coughing spasm hit. Waves pushed her under as lightning flashed above the ocean. Frantically, Ellery fought to reach the surface and once she did, she looked around, but there was nothing. Just open water and the city in the distance. The city lights from Charleston flickered as heavy sheets of rain fell. Just the thought of swimming that far had her head spinning. She didn’t know what had happened or why she was there. As she tried to think, the pain in her head intensified.
Ellery lifted a hand to the pain on the back of her head, and when she pulled it away her fingers were dark with blood. Blood, ocean, sharks . . . Ellery struggled to keep her head above water. Black dots danced in her eyes and before she knew it, she threw up champagne and ocean water. She struggled to kick toward the city but too soon she grew weak and dizzy. A dark shadow lay ahead in the water and Ellery froze. Too bad the ocean didn’t. The waves, wind, and tide pushed her forward. As Ellery prepared to fight off a shark, the water dropped her right on it—a log.
She felt tears fall as she pulled her bleeding head and the upper part of her body out of the water and wrapped her arms around the ocean-weathered log. It smelled of the ocean, and barnacles clung to it as tightly as she did. The black dots danced until there was nothing but darkness. But then she remembered her body being pushed, air forcing itself in, and warm lips touching hers. When her eyes fluttered open, the handsomest face she’d ever seen was bent over hers. It must be heaven and she must be getting a kiss from an angel. But then she threw up and the darkness took her once again. Until now.
Ellery’s eyes shot open. It took a moment for them to focus. Even though she felt as if she were still drifting in the ocean, she realized she wasn’t. Slowly, she turned her head to the right. It looked as if she was in some kind of hospital. But it was so quiet. And something was holding down her hand. Panic flared again until she slowly turned her aching and throbbing head to find a hand clasping hers.
It wasn’t just a hand. A man was asleep against the exam table she was lying on. He held her hand with his and was leaning forward, resting his head on his other arm, which was resting on the table close to her thigh. She couldn’t see his face. All she could see was his dark brown hair. It was short, yet messy. As if he’d gone to bed with wet hair and now it was sticking out in every direction. But who was he? He wore sweats and a T-shirt. Not your standard doctor or nurse attire.
Ellery made a tiny move to sit up and groaned out loud. Her vision blurred as she was hit with a wave of nausea. The man’s head shot up.
“You’re awake,” he said calmly, even though she could tell he was relieved. “How do you feel?”
“Like I might throw up on you,” Ellery said with a very scratchy voice. Her throat was so dry. It was then she really took a look at the man and gasped. It was the man from her dreams—the man whose lips had pulled her from death.
He quickly stood and walked across the room. He returned with a curved pan in case she had to throw up and a disposable cup filled with water. “Try small sips,” he said, setting the pan in her lap before putting one strong arm behind her and slowly helping her sit up. Waves of nausea crashed into her as her head spun wildly out of control.
The man pulled out a penlight and began to examine her as she tentatively took her first sip of water. “Who are you? Where am I?” Ellery asked.
The man lowered the light. “I’m sorry. You must be very confused. My name is Dr. Gavin Faul
kner. This is my house and clinic. I was securing my boat in the middle of the night when I found you floating in the water during the hurricane. I jumped in and got you out, but you were unconscious. I tried to get you transported to Charleston Memorial Hospital, but the helicopters weren’t flying with the high winds, and the roads are flooded, so we can’t get you into town.”
“Am I on Mount Pleasant?” she asked of the island across from Charleston. He really was the man of her dreams. And he’d saved her.
“No, Shadows Landing. We’re a little inland from Charleston.”
She knew of the small town with the interesting past. “Barbeque Festival,” she muttered before taking another small sip of water.
Doctor Faulkner grinned, and his eyes reminded her of the Spanish moss that hung from the oak trees in and around Charleston. They were green with a hint of gray, and when he smiled, they brightened.
“That’s right. And what’s your name?”
“Ellery.”
Doctor Faulkner smiled again. “Nice to meet you, Ellery. You have a concussion. You’ve been hit by something very hard. I’ll call the sheriff and see if he can get someone to help get you back to Charleston. You’ll need to be admitted to the hospital for observation and get a head scan to make sure there isn’t a brain bleed, although you’re not currently showing symptoms of one.”
“No!” Ellery’s stomach churned. Something tugged at her mind, almost crippling her with pain as the memories tried to fight their way free.
“It’s okay. Relax,” Doctor Faulkner said gently as he rubbed her back with one hand and held her hair back with the other as she vomited up even more ocean water. Her head felt as if it were going to blow off. The black spots were back, and they weren’t just dancing. They were going full mosh pit crazy.
The darkness began to drag her under. With one last effort, she tried to make her mouth move as the doctor lowered her back onto the exam table. “Don’t tell anyone I’m here. Please.” And then she was lost again in the darkness.
* * *
Gavin looked down at the woman who had passed out again. He felt her pulse, took her vitals, and sat back to watch her. She was stable and knew who she was. As night turned to morning, he wondered about her. Why didn’t she want anyone to know where she was? What had happened to her? The head wound, the water rescue, the fear. Gavin had seen enough boating accidents to know the injuries and the demeanor didn’t fit. He didn’t think Ellery was a victim of an accident. Instead, she matched up with victims of violence. Something very bad had happened to this woman.
Her face was lined with worry as she was trapped in a replay of her nightmare. Gavin took her hand in his and saw the tension in her face ease. “You’re safe, Ellery. I’ll take care of you.”
Gavin pushed a strand of her now dry hair from her face. It was a golden blonde color and her eyes were the color of the sky on a clear summer day. Her nose was pert, her cheekbones high, and her lips full. Was she married? Did her husband or boyfriend hurt her? Gavin was interrupted from further speculation by a knock on the door.
Reluctantly, he took his hand from hers, pulled the blanket to her shoulders, and headed to his front door. When he didn’t hurry to answer it, there was an increase in the banging before he heard the sound of a key being inserted in the front door. Before Gavin could open it, the door swung open and his sister Harper strode in. She was wearing jean shorts, monogramed knee-high rain boots, and a strappy shirt. Her shoulder-length brown hair was freshly highlighted with some dark blonde as she blew in like the hurricane had the night before.
“What took you so long?” Harper asked as she walked right into his house. She cringed when she looked in the mirror and muttered something about humidity and hair before putting her long hair into some kind of sloppy bun with a grimace on her face.
“I have a patient,” Gavin answered. “Did you get any damage from the storm?”
Harper snorted. “Not because of the weather. Gator and Junior got into it after having a couple of my hurricane specials.”
Gavin shook his head. His sister owned Shadows Bar where all the locals gathered at night for some drinks or to play pool or darts. Whenever there was a hurricane, she offered two-for-one hurricane drinks. “I told you that was going to get you in trouble. Do I need to patch them up?”
“Nah,” Harper said, sitting on the couch and crossing her legs. “Gator won pretty easily. I tried to tell Junior not to get into a wrestling match with a man who hunts alligators for a living, but you know Junior.”
Yes, yes he did. Gator looked about what you would expect from a man nicknamed Gator. Six feet tall and two hundred fifteen pounds of country muscle with a beard and a University of South Carolina fighting gamecocks baseball cap that Gavin had never seen removed in twenty years. His skin was tan and leathery from all his time in the water with the gators. Junior, on the other hand, was barely five foot eight in his work boots and maybe weighed one forty if he was soaking wet. He was the town handyman.
“Did Junior have his hammer on him?” Gavin asked.
“You know he doesn’t go anywhere without it,” Harper said with a sigh. “Which is why I had to leap over the bar top, knock Junior off his stool, and tussle that hammer from him before Gator pulled his hunting knife.”
Gavin narrowed his eyes and scanned his sister again. “Is that why you’re favoring your left arm?”
“Yeah. Can you look at it? I’m worried I dislocated the darn thing again.” For as beautiful as Harper was, she was equally powerful in mind and body. She also didn't hesitate to use that power to break up fights.
“You need to stop getting involved in bar fights. You should have let the sheriff handle it.”
“Couldn’t. The sheriff was down at Stephen’s,” Harper said, emphasizing the “f” sound as Stephen did. And you never called him just Stephen. It didn’t matter that he was only a couple years older than Gavin, the second he’d gotten his Ph.D. in American history focused on southern studies, he’d insisted everyone call him Professor Stephen Adkins or if he was really feeling pretentious, Dr. Adkins. It once led to a very embarrassing incident when Gator’s younger cousin, Turtle, came into the bar bleeding and asking if the doctor was there. Stephen had answered before Gavin could but passed out when he’d turned around and saw blood from a slice across Turtle’s arm.
“What did Stephen need?” Gavin asked when he knew he shouldn’t. It would only make him mad.
“He demanded the sheriff fortify the historical center while he preserved the historical documents,” Harper said with a roll of her eyes much like his, but only deeper green.
Gavin felt his blood pressure rise. “Shadows Landing Historical Center is the most fortified building in town.”
“Don’t I know it,” Harper muttered and then hissed as Gavin pushed her shoulder back into place. “Thanks, Gav.”
His sister popped off the couch and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I’m off to have breakfast with the girls. See you soon.”
“Bye, Harper. Tell them I say hi.”
The girls consisted of their cousin, Tinsley, and an old family friend who had recently been widowed and had moved back to Shadows Landing. Edie Greene Wecker’s husband had been killed in action. Edie’s brother, Walker, was Gavin’s best friend and was the only survivor of the Navy SEAL mission that had taken her husband’s life. Now Edie was back in Shadows Landing, and Walker was happily married in Keeneston, Kentucky. The whole Faulkner family was spoiling Edie, probably to the point she’d go running back to Virginia or to Keeneston if they didn’t back off, but she was practically family and family helped family.
Speaking of helping . . . Gavin turned toward the kitchen. He’d make Ellery some broth to see if that would calm her stomach and help strengthen her. As he cooked, Ellery’s blue eyes never seemed far from his mind. He was a doctor. He healed people. But he’d never felt so protective of a patient before. He didn’t want to only heal her, he wanted to care for her.
3
“I thought you might be hungry.”
“I’m starving,” she said, finding the black dots had receded. While she felt weak and wrung out like a wet dishtowel, it was still better than the first time she had awoken. “What time is it?”
“It’s almost noon,” he told her as he held the bowl for her. Her hand shook as she lifted the spoon to her mouth. Dr. Faulkner held the bowl close to her mouth to make it easier for her to eat but let her move at her own pace. The first sip was like a burst of flavor. Her stomach growled as the soothing broth calmed her sore throat.
“Who knew broth could taste like a five star meal?” she joked as she took another sip. By the fifth, her hand shook less and her body felt more grounded. When she finished, the doctor set the bowl down and turned to her.
“I think we need to talk now.”
Dread filled her, but she nodded. Every time she thought about her missing memories, her head rewarded her with stabbing pain.
“Do you want to sit up?” the doctor asked.
“Yes, please,” she said as the doctor moved the back of the table to a sitting position. She leaned against it and realized she no longer wore her clothes. “Dr. Faulkner, what happened to my clothes?”
“They’re over there,” he said, pointing to the countertop. “I had to get you dry and warm. And please, call me Gavin.”
Gavin. Ellery sighed. The man was tall and strong, and she’d heard his voice in her dreams telling her she was safe. His voice kept her from going too deeply into the darkness.
“I didn’t get a chance before, but thank you for saving me. I’m so relieved you weren’t hurt.” Ellery watched as he pulled his seat close to her and sat down. At some point he’d changed out of his sweats and into scrubs. She also noticed it was no longer completely quiet. She heard the muted sounds of conversation coming from somewhere behind one of the doors.
Saving Shadows: Shadows Landing #1 Page 2
