Reunited with Her Army Doc

by Dianne Drake

  “Probably more. And for a photographer it’s the best vantage point if you want a good shot of the eagle’s nest over on the opposite ridge. It puts you almost up inside the nest, it’s so close.”

  “He couldn’t have gotten down there,” Caleb said. “It’s too far. There’s no path.”

  “But we all used to do it. Use to go up past Priscilla’s, then hide out in the cave to smoke because we didn’t think anyone would ever find us there since most people wouldn’t make that climb.”

  “I wasn’t one of those kids, Leanne. I didn’t go down to that cave with you. I wasn’t a climber. At least, not like you were. Didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of you.”

  She gave him a puzzled look. “Sure, you were. I remember you being down there.” She had a vivid impression of him there. Saw it as clearly as she saw him standing there with her. “You, me, Scott...some of the others.”

  “No,” he insisted. “I didn’t go down there with you. Ever.”

  Well, she certainly didn’t understand that, because she did remember him there—one of the few things she truly remembered from back then. But now wasn’t the time to talk about it. Especially not if Matthew might be down there. “Matthew could be there, Caleb. If everybody’s already looked around the trail, then the cave...”

  “He would have fallen,” he said, his voice so quiet she could barely hear him. “He might have scooted on his belly to get himself as close to the edge as possible, but it would have been almost dark, and he might not have seen the sharp drop-off. And since we didn’t go all the way up there with him that day, he’d have no way of knowing...”

  Leanne turned away from the window, stared at Caleb for just a second. then broke into a dead run out the door and straight to Caleb’s truck. By the time she got herself into the driver’s seat, he was in next to her. And neither one of them spoke for that interminably long drive to Eagle Pointe.

  But when they finally did arrive, Leanne held back at the truck. If Matthew went over the edge, they needed help. Needed more than she and Caleb could do together. “You go on up, and I’ll be right behind you. I’m going to let my dad know where we are, and have him get some other people up here to help us.”

  Rather than answering her, Caleb grabbed hold of Leanne’s shoulders, gave her a quick kiss on the mouth, then headed straight up the trail to the top of the point. And Leanne, as it turned out, was only steps behind him as she’d discovered there was no cell reception in the area. When she got to the top, she stopped short of Caleb, who was down on his hands and knees, shining his flashlight down below, trying to scan the small ledge at the mouth of the cave.

  “He’s not there,” he said. “Which means, if he did fall, he either crawled into the cave or missed the ledge altogether...”

  “He’s in the cave,” she said. Not that she knew. But it’s what she hoped. Because if he’d missed hitting the ledge and fallen on down—Dear God, she didn’t even want to think about that because no one could survive that fall. “Do you have a rope in the truck?” she asked.

  “In the bed. Under a tarp.”

  She nodded, her mind still swirling with all the awful possibilities, then blew out a jagged breath. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” As she descended the trail back to the truck, she heard Caleb calling out Matthew’s name. Over and over. But as she came back up with the rope, it was quiet. Too quiet. And when she got to the top—Caleb wasn’t there.

  “Caleb!” she cried. “Matthew!” No answer. So, she moved closer to the edge. “Caleb! Can you hear me?”

  When he didn’t answer again, she got down on her hands and knees and crawled over to the edge, taking care not to put her weight down on one of the serrated, unsupported overhangs that fringed the entire span of the view down. And that’s when she saw him. Caleb. On the cave ledge. Sprawled out, flat on his face.

  Not moving.

  Chapter Ten

  LEANNE WAS IN Caleb’s truck, pushing the speed as far as it was safe to do, heading back to town, continually pulling over, punching buttons on her phone, hoping to get reception, then moving on when she didn’t. Try after try, no bars, nothing. She was desperate to hear her dad’s voice on the other end. Desperate to get help up to Eagle Pointe. And more desperate than anything not to have to leave Caleb behind. And Matthew...if he was inside the cave.

  And daylight...she was desperate for that, too. But it wasn’t yet two, and whatever happened to rescue Caleb would be done in the dark. Which scared her, as nobody in Marrell, to her knowledge, was qualified to do that kind of rescue. And like it or not, she was probably the best climber in the area, next to Jack Hanson, who was on his way in from Phoenix but not here yet. Which meant...

  Suddenly an image of Eagle Point flashed its way past her memory. It was at night. That night. Everybody was there. Including Caleb. All the kids from town. Doing things they shouldn’t be doing. Partying. Drinking. And... Her stomach knotted. Her breath caught in her lungs. The image disappeared.

  Leanne pulled over yet again, tried her phone again, and clicked it off once more when she got nothing. Except another flash. Caleb. Talking to Scott. The two of them looking at her. Laughing. She could see it. But why that image? Why was that returning? And now? Caleb... Scott... The image stayed there as she continued toward town. It was poking her now. Not staying flat but coming to life. Springing out, grabbing, clutching her, choking her... And she was getting light-headed. Her breathing labored. So, she pulled over again, punched in her dad’s phone number once more. Tried to catch her breath. Tried to calm the panic attack that was trying to take her.

  Then, suddenly, all she could see was her anger. Red. Furious. And directed at Caleb. She wanted to hurt him. Wanted him to hurt the way she did, because he hadn’t turned out to be her friend the way she’d always thought he was. Because... “Oh, no,” she whispered, as her hands started to shake, and the floodgate of memories opened. “Oh...no. No.”

  “Hello? Leanne?” a familiar voice crackled over the phone, breaking into her thoughts. “Is that you, Leanne?”

  She slapped at the tear sliding down her cheek, then shook her head to stop the dam that had just burst. “I’m in Marrell, Dad. Came in a little while ago. And I have an injury out here. I need help. Caleb’s been injured. He might be...”

  * * *

  “What are you doing up here?” she asked her dad, who’d trekked up the mountain path with a dozen others.

  “I may be old, but I’ve done this more than you have.” He was carrying a backpack full of medical supplies, which he handed over to Leanne. He stopped near the edge and shone his flashlight down. “Any signs of life?”

  She shook her head. “It’s been half an hour, and Caleb hasn’t stirred. I’ve been calling for Matthew, but if he’s in the cave, he’s either too afraid to call back or he’s hurt, too.” She slung the pack over her shoulder and headed to the edge of the cliff, where a rope was being tied off for her. To her knowledge, this was the first time she’d ever really worked with her dad.

  “You sure you want to be the one to go over?” he asked her. “A couple of the men up here are pretty experienced climbers.”

  “Not as good as me, Dad.” But he probably didn’t know that. Hadn’t paid attention during that summer Jack Hanson had taught her. “And since I’ve got the medical background...” She gave her dad a quick hug and got herself into position to be lowered. “Who’s minding the hospital, by the way?”

  “Dora. And Jack will be here shortly. He’s about an hour out, last time I heard.”

  “Good. Too bad he didn’t make it in time to go down with me.” She cinched in, and backed all the way to the edge. Took a deep breath, then lowered herself. All the while facing her returning memories as she climbed. The last time she’d climbed down there had been that night. Caleb had gone down, she didn’t know why. Didn’t care. Hadn’t cared then. In fact, all she’d cared
about had been getting down there with a couple of friends following her, and to humiliate him. Betray him the way he’d betrayed her. Or betrayed, from a teenager’s perspective.

  Now she was going down to rescue him.

  Luckily, twelve feet didn’t take any time to scale, and within a minute she was kneeling alongside Caleb, feeling for a pulse. Thanks heavens it was strong. But his face...his beautiful face was all bashed. Cuts, bruises, what looked to be a broken cheekbone. And his shoulder...the one he’d injured before. Definitely broken. “You’re in rough shape,” she said, as her hands skimmed the rest of his body in a quick assessment. Legs seemed fine. Belly wasn’t distended or rigid, so he might have escaped internal injuries. Pupils equal and reactive. “But you’re stable, and I’ve got a litter on the way down to pull you back up top.”

  Except she had to go and see if Matthew was in the cave before she strapped Caleb in, because if Matthew needed to be out of here first... “Don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m going to look for Matthew.” She picked up his hand and brushed a light kiss to it. “Just don’t move, Caleb. Listen to me. Do not move. And, please, trust me. No matter what I’ve done, no matter what I’ve said in the past, trust me now.”

  She waved up to one of the rescuers who was on his way down to stay with Caleb. Then grabbed her backpack, darted into the darkness of the cave, turned on her light and started to navigate the narrow passageway toward the back. It wasn’t a very wide cave but it was deep. And she hesitated before she proceeded. “You can do this,” she whispered. “You’ve got to do this...” She blew out a hard breath and fought back the nausea trying to rise in her. Not because she feared the cave. She didn’t. But because she feared what she might find in it. “For Matthew,” she said, then took a step, then another. Stopped. Steadied herself against the passage wall, and the horrible memories trying to push her back, and called out to Matthew again. Her voice was so unsteady, she didn’t even recognize it as it bounced along in front of her. “I’m coming after you.” Fighting unwilling legs. Fighting clear thoughts of what had happened. To Caleb. And to her.

  “Matthew? Are you here?” Her voice echoed back through the chamber, but that’s all she heard. So, she kept going forward, kept looking. Shining her light. Shivering against the chill. Struggling against the mental avalanche that was threatening to bury her alive if she let it. “Matthew...” But she wouldn’t let it. She was stronger than that. Finally, stronger now that she knew. And she had two people she loved who needed her help. “Can you make a noise so I’ll know where to look?” she called out.

  But he didn’t, and her next minute was filled with starts and stops, listening, moving on. Then, after what seemed an eternity but which her logical brain told her had only been a few minutes, she stumbled over something in the passage and fell to her knees. Before she righted herself, she flashed her light over the passage floor, and that’s when she saw it. A camera lens. It had rolled off to the side and she’d almost missed it. But it was there. And Matthew was, too, somewhere.

  Scrambling to her knees, Leanne pushed herself up to standing, doubled her speed and continued toward the back, where the narrow passage closed into a belly-crawling tunnel for about fifty feet, then opened into a large chamber. A chamber she knew. The chamber where she’d watched her friends strip Caleb naked, at her urging, then leave him there without a rope to climb out. The chamber where Matthew had to be.

  And he was there. After her belly crawl, pushing her backpack along in front of her, she reached the end of the tunnel, and even before she was out of it, her flashlight captured Matthew huddled in a fetal ball, rocking back and forth, whimpering.

  Thank God.

  “I broke my camera,” he sniffled, as she crawled up to him.

  She made a quick assessment and discovered he was fine. Cut up, banged up and bruised. Scared. Cold. But fine. Her response was to grab him up in her arms and simply hold him close. “We’ll get you another one,” she promised, as tears streaked down her cheeks. “We’ll get you another one.”

  * * *

  He hated it here. Hated the bed, the food, the hospital gown. Most of all, he hated being away from Matthew, but Matthew was back in Marrell, staying with Caleb’s parents, and he didn’t particularly want them bringing him to Helena to see him because right now the way he looked...it would scare the boy. That’s the last thing he wanted to do. Matthew had escaped his fall with only minor injuries, and he didn’t want him subjected to anything more than what he’d already been through.

  The irony of it—he hated that cave and everything it stood for. It was that cave where he’d been ruined. Yet it was also that cave that had saved Matthew after he’d fallen. Because it was warmer inside than it was outside. Matthew might have died of exposure all those hours out in the woods without his jacket. But all those hours in the cave had protected him.

  “I hear you’re not being the most cooperative patient today,” Leanne said from the doorway.

  She’d been in to see him every day, always hesitant, always very quiet, but it was truly the only thing he looked forward to. His body hurt, physical therapy hurt, everything hurt. His bad disposition didn’t help matters either. “I don’t like the food.”

  “Or the respiratory therapist, or the cleaning lady, or your bedsheets.”

  “They scratch.”

  She laughed, even though the look on her face showed clear discomfort. “And you’re going to be in here at least another week, maybe two. So, how’s that going to work?” She put a bag down on his bedside tray, then pulled out containers of soft food. Cottage cheese, applesauce, custard. Nothing that required much chewing as he couldn’t chew yet.

  “It’s not. Which is why I’m going home.”

  She popped the lids off the food containers and handed him a spoon. “No, you’re not. You need another procedure on your face, or you’re going to end up with a crooked cheekbone. And Sinclair Hospital doesn’t have what you need to rehabilitate that shoulder...again. Besides, Jack Hanson’s staying on for a while, maybe even permanently, to head up a real mountain rescue team. And I’m working there part-time, so we really don’t need you back in any capacity yet. Not that you’re in any shape to come back to work.”

  “Like I’m not in any shape to raise a spoon to my mouth,” he said, fighting to tamp down his bad mood. He was angry—so angry with himself for literally climbing too close to the edge. But the closer he’d got, the more memories of that night had bombarded him, and he had been so caught up in those that he’d gotten sloppy. That’s all there was to his fall. He’d got sloppy.

  “Is that a hint? You want me to spoon-feed you?” Before he could answer, she spooned out a bit of custard and aimed it at his mouth. “Now, open up...”

  “I can feed myself,” he snapped, as he grabbed hold of her wrist to stop her, then realized he didn’t have another hand available to take hold of the spoon, since his entire left arm was splinted against his body.

  Leanne laughed. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a situation there.”

  “The only situation I’ve got is being here when I don’t want to be.” And memories. Ones he’d successfully pushed aside for so long. Had never put away like Leanne’s had been. More like subdued. But now they had been unleashed, and that night was playing over and over in his mind. He couldn’t stop it. Stripped naked, left there like that, with no way to get out for an entire night and most of the next day.

  “I don’t think so,” she said seriously, shaking free of his grip.

  “Why do I get the feeling you’re about to do something I’m not going to like?”

  “Because it’s time. Because I remember.” She sighed heavily and shut her eyes. “Because you’re well enough now to listen to me, and I need to talk.” Then she opened her eyes and looked directly into his.

  “When did it come back to you, Leanne?” he asked seriously.

  “When I th
ought you were going to die. Funny how that turned out. You said a trauma might have caused my condition, and it was a trauma that cleared it up. I remember what I did. I see it every time I shut my eyes now. I hated you so much...”

  “But why?” he asked.

  “Because we’d grown apart. Because you’d been the friend I’d counted on until Scott McBriarty stepped in and took my place. Because you replaced me with him the way my dad had replaced me with you.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  Leanne walked over to the window, glanced outside at the parking lot, then turned around and sat down on its ledge. “Maybe there’s nothing to say. Still, what you did to me...”

  “What I did?” He had no idea what she was talking about. He’d only ever loved her. Even after they’d grown apart. But by then he’d been smart enough to know that guys like him didn’t end up with girls like her. So, trying to stay away from Leanne had been deliberate. But she had always been his flame, and he had always been her moth.

  “Being friends with Scott.”

  “I wasn’t allowed to have friends? Is that what you’re telling me, Leanne, because I don’t understand.” But there was more. Something she wasn’t telling him. Something that was hurting her. He could see it in her face. And, despite his frustration, all he wanted to do was hold her. Take care of her. Protect her. The same things he’d always wanted. Maybe even when he’d been married to Nancy.

  “You laughed at me that night, Caleb. Up at Eagle Pointe. You and Scott. You were whispering back and forth about me, and I couldn’t take it any longer.”

  “Take what, Leanne?”

  “The fact that you continued to be his friend after he...” She stopped, shut her eyes, then rubbed her forehead. “After he attacked me.”

  “What?” Caleb nearly screamed.

  “That night, when you asked me to meet you at Miller’s Pond. I went, Caleb, because I missed you. I didn’t care that you were geeky. I didn’t care about anything except...you. But you were the one who walked away from our friendship. And, yes, it made me angry. So, I snubbed you, and made fun of you because I was hurt. It’s the way a kid acts. All emotion, no real thought. But when you left that message in my school locker...all I wanted was to go out there like we used to do and skip rocks. I wanted us to be friends again.”