The Orchard Inn

by A. M. Kusi

  Voices called from above. River told them they needed help. Two men brought a removable stretcher down. After carefully wrapping her neck in a white brace, they laid her on it.

  “He has a gun,” Ella managed, warning River and the paramedics about Declan.

  River followed Ella and the volunteers up the ravine where they loaded her into the ambulance. They checked her injuries, pulling out supplies from the secure shelving and drawers. One of the paramedics put an oxygen mask over her face, while another started cutting her shirt open with scissors. River was momentarily blinded by all the blood and carnage. He could only think of all the things he wanted to tell her and hadn’t had the chance to.

  “Sir, we have to take her to the hospital. Are you family?”

  “I’m her boy-b-brother,” River lied.

  River climbed in next to Ella, watching her get hooked up to machines via lines. She was covered in blood. River reached out and held her hand. “Baby. I love you. Ella, I love you. I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave me. I’m so sorry, baby. I need you. Please stay with me.”

  “She has a GSW to the left upper quadrant of the abdomen,” a female EMT said, placing thick, padded gauze over the wound.

  River had watched enough crime dramas to know that meant a gunshot wound. The fucker shot her. River’s stomach sank as he watched Ella’s eyes flutter closed. “Ella, no. Ella!”

  Ella started shivering. She appeared disoriented.

  “Sir, I’m sorry, you need to get out of the ambulance. She’s going into shock. We need to leave now! You can ride in a squad car,” one of the male paramedics stated firmly, motioning to an officer River recognized as Gregory who’d appeared outside the ambulance.

  “No, I need to be with her,” River protested.

  “You are just going to get in the way, son. Let them do their work,” the officer said.

  River kissed Ella’s forehead and left the ambulance, getting in the policeman’s face. “You could have prevented this! She told you he was dangerous, and you did nothing!” River said, angrily.

  “Look, son, I understand you are angry. I was looking for him. He broke the restraining order and disappeared when I went to arrest him. Let’s go. I’ll take you to the hospital. I’ll have the deputy make sure your car gets back to the inn.” The officer led River to his car.

  River knew he was taking his anger at himself out on the officer. He shook with rage and worry. He couldn’t lose Ella. She was the love of his life and he had wasted so much time being angry at things that were out of both of their control. He promised himself that no matter what happened, he would spend the rest of his life making it up to her. River’s stomach revolted and he vomited on the side of the road before getting into the police car.

  The ride to the hospital went by agonizingly slowly, silent except for the wailing sirens and radio crackling as the operator came on once in a while.

  River rushed out of the patrol car as the ambulance transporting Ella was being unloaded. He followed Ella and the paramedics in, praying to a higher power he didn’t normally believe in, wishing he could trade places with her.

  River watched them push a very pale, blood-soaked, unconscious Ella through the double automatic doors for emergency surgery when a nurse and the three paramedics held up their hands for him to stop. River knew it was pointless, that they wouldn’t let him through. He fell into a pile on the floor, his hands on his head as he began to sob. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “Son, let’s go to a waiting room.” River vaguely heard Gregory’s voice as two strong arms pulled him to his feet. River reluctantly put one foot in front of the other until he entered a small room filled with a few beat-up chairs, and a coffee table packed with glossy magazines.

  “She’s going into surgery,” Gregory said before taking a seat next to him. River stared down at his blood-soaked hands and shirt, drowning in guilt.

  An hour later, a few stricken yet familiar faces entered the room. Lucas was there, carrying a sleeping little Avery. Annie wheeled Maggie in on a wheelchair. Her head was bandaged, and she was holding Julia’s hand.

  “How is she? What happened?” Maggie asked, her voice hoarse.

  River swallowed. “I found her in his truck off the road in a ditch. It had hit a tree and flipped…She was shot.” His breath hitched and he lowered his head into his hands, ashamed.

  Maggie reached her hand out in comfort. “Ella is a fighter. She will make it through this. I thought she was overreacting, wanting to leave the country. I should have listened and made her leave earlier.”

  River snapped his head up to meet her gaze. “This isn’t your fault, Maggie. I should have been there. I should have never let her leave Boston. I should have never abandoned her.”

  Officer Gregory interjected, “I may not know Ms. Shaw well, but what I do know is that she wouldn’t want either one of you blaming yourself for a lunatic’s actions.”

  River didn’t want to admit it, but the officer had a point.

  They all settled in, waiting for news of Ella.

  A doctor came to update them a couple hours later. “Are you the family of Ella Shaw?”

  “Yes,” they all said in unison.

  “I’m Dr. Varma. I took care of Ella when she came in a month ago.”

  River turned a questioning glance towards Maggie, who kept her eyes glued to the doctor.

  “Ella is out of surgery and resting in the ICU. She hasn’t woken up yet, and she probably won’t for some time. The bullet entered her left ribcage and hit her spleen. We had to remove it. She was lucky it missed any vital organs. She has several cuts and abrasions from the accident, and a concussion, but she seems to be out of the woods. It’s just a waiting game now. She was lucky the bullet hit her where it did; it was a close call, if ever I saw one. She will have a long recovery ahead of her. Without her spleen, she will be more susceptible to infections long-term.” The doctor paused, looking between Lucas and River. “Which one of you is her brother?”

  River looked sheepishly at Officer Gregory before answering, “That would be me.” River could feel the questioning stares on him.

  “If you want to follow me you can see her for a few moments, but we should keep the visits to a minimum. One at a time.”

  River followed the doctor in stunned silence. He entered behind the curtain, seeing Ella’s brown hair flowing around her on the pillow like a mermaid underwater. Her eyes were black and blue, with bruises covering one side of her head. She had scrapes all over her face and arms. The rest of her was covered in a sterile hospital gown and blanket. He saw the oxygen tubes in her nose; IVs with clear liquid and one with crimson blood hung from a metal hook in the ceiling, with tubes running to her arms. An intercom paged someone, and the heart monitor beeped.

  “She lost a lot of blood so we had to give her a transfusion,” Dr. Varma said, motioning to the IVs. “She might wake up in the next hour or so, but she will be really out of it.”

  “Thank you,” River said, taking a seat in the empty chair. He stared at Ella’s fingertips and the chipped black polish, afraid to touch her.

  “You can hold her hand,” the nurse said with a kind voice.

  River took Ella’s palm in his, feeling the warmth spread from the spark their touch ignited. It coursed throughout his body. He knew he loved her with every fiber of his being. He just hoped he would get the chance to tell her. The nurse left, giving him some privacy.

  “Ella? Baby? Please wake up.” River touched his mouth to her cold hands, and a tear streaked down his cheek.

  River reluctantly left her after several minutes, letting Maggie come in and see her.

  He took Annie aside and asked her, “What did the doctor mean about seeing her a month ago?”

  Annie looked at him curiously. “Well, as her brother, shouldn’t you know?”

  River blinked. “I wante
d to ride in the ambulance with her. They asked if I was family and I just blurted it out. Did she…I mean, did she try to hurt herself?”

  Annie studied him before answering, “Ella has grown a lot more than you are giving her credit for. She got herself help. Though she will always have to deal with her depression, she has done what she needs to in order to keep herself healthy mentally, emotionally, and physically. The day you left, she had an episode—a panic attack. She hyperventilated and passed out. They brought her here as a precaution.”

  River looked down, ashamed, knowing how much pain he had truly caused Ella. Knowing he still doubted her and saw her as someone who needed to be fixed. Hearing that she had been rushed to the hospital while he’d driven away from her made his chest ache like a knife had been stabbed through his own heart.

  “I’m going to get Avery home,” Annie said, taking the sleeping girl from Lucas’s arms.

  Lucas stood and stretched. “I’ll drive you, Annie. River?”

  River turned to look Lucas in the eye, prepared for what he had to say.

  “Take care of our girl.”

  River promised, “I will.”

  Maggie returned to let River back into the room. She waited with Julia and told River to keep her updated, handing him back the phone he had dropped at the inn.

  An hour passed in silence, with nurses coming and going, checking Ella’s vitals.

  Ella’s eyes fluttered open, and quickly closed tight as she groaned.

  “Ella?”

  Ella groaned in response.

  “Ella? Are you in pain? I’m Nurse Meyer, and you’re at the University of Vermont Hospital. You were in an accident.” The nurse explained.

  Ella’s hand squeezed his tighter and felt the tingling current flowing from the contact. River hoped she knew he was there.

  “I’m going to give you some morphine. You might feel sleepy.” The nurse said.

  River watched as Ella drifted off into sleep. He stayed by her bed, leaving only when Maggie insisted on taking a shift until the sun came up.

  He took the opportunity to relieve himself and call his assistant. He told Dorothy to cancel everything on his schedule for the next three weeks. Next he called Jax to take over his accounts and cover his consulting trips. River called his parents finally, explaining that Ella was in the hospital and he needed to be there for her.

  Julia brought him a cup of coffee while they sat in the waiting room. He accepted the cup as she spoke. “She is going to pull through.”

  “Thanks,” he said, taking a sip of the bitter coffee. He was exhausted from his long drive, and everything that had happened in the last three weeks. He couldn’t rest though, not until he spoke to Ella and told her how sorry he was and how much he loved her.

  “Besides, you two have some unfinished pottery that’s still sitting on my shelf, waiting to be slathered in enamel.”

  River smiled, remembering their time together at the studio.

  His phone dinged with an incoming text from Maggie.

  Maggie: She’s asking for you.

  River jumped up, setting his coffee on the table before jogging to wait by the double doors for Maggie. She exited through the sealed doors with a smile on her face, switching places with him. River walked down to Ella’s room, and saw her eyes open.

  Chapter 28

  Ella watched as the man she loved with every part of her being walked into the hospital room. She heard the monitors beeping, alerted to her rising heartbeat.

  “Ella,” he said. And she could see his bloodshot eyes glistening with tears.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, seeing his gaze darken.

  River reached his hand out to hers. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I am the one who owes you an apology. I was so stupid. I was afraid, and I thought things mattered that really don’t. I abandoned you when you needed me most. I broke my promise. I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

  Ella felt a tear escape her partially swollen eye. “I forgive you.”

  River sat in the chair next to her as she spoke. “River, this doesn’t need to change anything. You don’t have to be here. Go back to that beautiful woman I saw at your apartment. Go back to the inn.”

  River looked at her as if she had just struck him in the face. “What?” he asked incredulously.

  “You can go. You don’t owe me anything. Honestly, it still hurts for me to see you. I know you can’t trust me, and you don’t love me anymore. This,” she said, motioning to herself in the hospital bed, “doesn’t change anything. Once I’m better, I will leave. I can’t risk anyone else’s life.”

  “Ella, that was my sister, Harper, at my house. I’m not leaving you ever again. Please don’t ask that of me,” he pleaded. “I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life proving that to you, if you’ll let me.”

  “What?” Ella asked, wondering if it was the pain medicine she was on. Had she just hallucinated River Parker telling her the three little words she never thought she’d hear from him again? That was his sister she’d met at his house and seen in the photos? He hadn’t moved on?

  Ella’s stomach dropped, and her chest tightened. She bit her lip and asked, “If you loved me, then why didn’t you talk to me? Why did you just leave and not say anything? Not even a text to say that you needed time. You left me and I never heard even one single word from you. How do I know that when things get hard, you won’t disappear again?”

  River stood and bent down closer to her face. Looking directly in her eyes, he said, “I abandoned you like everyone else has in your life. I did the very thing I swore not to. The very thing I thought I was above. I will always regret that decision, but I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  Ella felt her breathing grow ragged and her body come alive with his closeness. She searched River’s hazel eyes and saw that he meant every word. His closeness did things to her body that not even the morphine could.

  River continued, “Ella Shaw, I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you and couldn’t get you out of my mind. I promise to prove my love to you every single day of the rest of my life if you’ll let me. I should have been there to save you.”

  She exhaled. “I didn’t need you to save me. I needed you to stand by me. You can’t fix me. I have to do that on my own, but your support will mean everything in the world to me. I am bound to have ups and downs along my healing journey. Being with me means that you’re there through the hard moments as well as the good times. I love you too, but if you ever walk out of my life again…as much as I love you…I deserve better than that.”

  River nodded his head, acknowledging he’d heard her message. She wasn’t the frail, damaged girl he’d thought she was. She was stronger than she looked. Her scars were merely a reminder of the pain she had been through, and the fighter that she was.

  “I promise I won’t abandon you again.” He bent lower, kissing her lips tenderly.

  Ella reached a hand to the back of his head, pulling him closer to her, needing his touch. River broke the kiss, and placed a hand on hers comfortingly.

  The alarm dinged, alerting the need for the IV bag to be replaced. Two nurses came in to swap out the near-empty bag for another and stopped abruptly. They gave each other an awkward glance before one of them spoke, “You sure are a very close brother and sister.”

  They swapped the bag while Ella looked to River.

  “Brother?” Ella asked, arching her eyebrow, confused.

  River looked at his hands, and then rubbed the back of his neck as he answered, “I lied and told them I was your brother when the ambulance took you. I just wanted to stay with you. I thought you were dead when I found you. Then they said you were shot and asked if I was family. I panicked.”

  “Oh, my! You two had us worried.” The nurses burst into a fit of laughter as they left them alone in the room again.


  A throat cleared from the doorway. Ella looked up to see Officer Gregory.

  “Hello, Ms. Shaw.”

  “Hi.”

  “I need to ask you a few questions about the accident…alone.”

  River nodded, gave Ella a kiss on the cheek, and left her and Officer Gregory.

  Ella answered Gregory’s questions and told him what had happened. He wrote down notes and nodded as he followed along.

  “What happened to Declan? Is he in the hospital?” Ella asked, her eyes darting reflexively towards the hallway.

  Gregory looked solemnly at Ella. “He won’t be bothering you anymore. Declan Carter died on the scene. It seems he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and they found him partly exited through the windshield. It must have happened on impact.”

  Ella held a hand to her mouth in shock. “I killed him?”

  “You did what you needed to do to protect yourself from the man who abducted you. There will be no charges filed against you.”

  Gregory turned to leave, but hesitated. “I was looking for him to make the arrest. I’m sorry I didn’t get to him before he got to you.”

  “Gregory?” Ella called.

  He looked in her eyes as she spoke.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Ella was in the hospital for a week before she was released. Maggie needed time to recover from her own concussion and bruising, so Emily and Tanya covered at the inn.

  River brought Ella home to her room where he cared for her for three more weeks of healing. Maggie felt well enough to be at the inn by the time Ella was home. Julia and Annie pitched in, helping to run the last few events for peak foliage season on the mountain.

  Lucas came by when he wasn’t at the pub. Emily, Tanya, and Amber stayed on after school started so that Ella could have more time to recover. She got stronger each day and felt like she was going stir crazy with nothing but paperwork and the online portion of the business to keep herself busy. River remained by her side, and she slept in his arms each night, though they had not yet been intimate again.