Paula lowered her voice to a whispered tone and said, “Personally, I think Ray Sullivan is still pining over his wife. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he get involved with another woman? He must have loved her a lot.”
Not if he was trying to pretend she didn’t exist. It didn’t make any sense. Ashley was about to say something when a tall, gangly guy arrived.
“I came to wheel her up for her chest X-ray,” he said.
“Good timing, Charles,” Paula said.
* * *
“HOW IS SHE, RAY?”
Ray glanced up as Vashti rushed in with Sheriff Grisham by her side. “She’s being seen by the ER doctor now. I told Ms. Ryan that I would come here with her and I didn’t want to leave until she knows that I kept my word. She indicated to the paramedics that her husband isn’t here in the cove with her. Did she fill out any papers referencing how to contact him in case of an emergency?”
“She told me her husband died a few years ago in a car accident,” Vashti said sadly.
“Oh,” Ray said, nodding his head. “I guess they assumed she was still married since she’s still wearing a wedding band.”
“It’s a good thing you were there,” Sawyer said. “From the stories I’m hearing, she nearly drowned. Word is spreading fast around town how you jumped in to save her.”
Vashti shook her head. “Ashley Ryan can swim, so I don’t understand why she didn’t.”
Sawyer glanced over at his wife. “What makes you think she can swim?”
“She told me yesterday, when we talked while having tea and muffins. She couldn’t wait to take a swim in the gulf and said she was once the captain of her swim team in college.” She then turned to Ray. “Are you sure she didn’t hit her head and pass out or something?”
“I didn’t see any sort of injury, but then, I didn’t check her all over.”
“I did and there’s no head injury.” They turned and saw Dr. Frazier approach.
“How is she, Gil?” Vashti rushed to ask. Vashti and Dr. Gil Frazier had been born in Catalina Cove and attended school together. He had moved back to town last year to be closer to his aging parents.
“Ms. Ryan appears okay, but I’m keeping her overnight for observation. She did consume a lot of water into her lungs. I heard what you guys said about her ability to swim. The reason she didn’t could be attributed to a number of reasons. The first one could be the shock of falling into the water. That section has the coldest temperatures. I’m glad you’re an excellent swimmer, Ray. Otherwise, we could have lost you both.”
Ray didn’t say anything as he remembered jumping into the water. Gil was right—the water had been freezing cold. But he’d ignored the temperature, determined to pull Ashley Ryan out.
“So she’s alert?” Sawyer asked Gil, intruding into Ray’s thoughts.
“Yes, and she asked about you, Ray,” Gil said, smiling. “I figured you would be the one person she remembers because you saved her life. I believe she wants to thank you. And don’t be surprised if she’s feeling a high degree of hero worship about now.”
“That’s not necessary,” Ray said, filled with embarrassed discomfort. “I’m just glad the woman is okay.”
“It will be necessary to her,” Gil said. “It happens, trust me. It’s a normal psychological occurrence after a lifesaving incident such as this. I’ve seen it before.”
Well, Ray hoped that wasn’t the case with her because he didn’t want anyone to think of him as a hero. He’d done what anyone else would have under the circumstances. “Is there any way I can see her before I leave?” he asked. He’d made a promise to her that he would come to the hospital with her and he wanted to let her know he’d kept that promise. He didn’t want to question why such a thing was important.
“She’s being taken up for X-rays, but I should have her in a room in thirty minutes if you can wait awhile.”
Ray felt his chest tighten. Gil had just given him the perfect excuse to leave. All he had to say was that he couldn’t wait because he had a business to run. Gil could let Ms. Ryan know he’d been there. But for some reason that wouldn’t suffice for him. He wanted to see for himself that she was all right. But more than that, he’d seen the haunted look in her eyes. The look of someone regaining consciousness to discover they’d come close to death. He’d experienced such a thing. “I can wait.”
CHAPTER FIVE
ASHLEY GLANCED AROUND her hospital room and thought it was pretty. Sterile looking but pretty just the same. Instead of blinds there were fluffy white curtains, and instead of the plain white blanket on the bed, hers was a bright yellow that matched the throw rug and hospital robe draped across her bed.
She’d only been in Catalina Cove a couple of days but it was easy to tell everyone ran a pretty clean and neat operation, and the hospital was no exception. Even when she’d been wheeled to radiology, she had expected an hour wait time. But they had seen her the moment she’d arrived.
More than anything, she wanted to call Emmie and tell her what had happened. Every single detail, especially about Devon. She doubted Emmie was going to believe her since Ashley had a hard time believing it herself.
Ashley hadn’t seen Paula anymore. It had taken every ounce of control Ashley had not to tell the woman that his name was Devon Ryan and not Ray Sullivan and that the man was her husband and not some stranger.
Ashley drew in a deep breath, thinking how weird all that sounded. But she was convinced it was true. But what if it wasn’t? What if the man she thought was Devon really wasn’t and she’d only been hallucinating after all? She had experienced quite a bit of trauma, which could account for her thinking that...
No! Ashley refused to let her mind play crazy tricks on her. But what if it had been playing tricks on her all along? What she thought she saw didn’t make sense. Her dead husband saving her life. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to calm her racing heart. No matter what, until she saw this man named Ray Sullivan again, she was sticking to what she believed.
There was a knock on her hospital door. Her heart began pounding even faster since to her way of thinking, the sound had been too hard to be made by a female’s hand. Drawing in a deep breath, she said, “Come in.”
The door opened and in walked a tall man wearing the badge of the law with Vashti by his side. Ashley knew, although they hadn’t met yet, the man was Vashti Grisham’s husband. The sheriff.
Vashti rushed over to the bed. “You’re okay?”
Ashley nodded, glad to see a familiar face. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Vashti then introduced the man at her side. “This is my husband, Sawyer. Sawyer, this is Ashley Ryan.”
Sawyer offered his hand and she took it. “Nice meeting you,” she said.
“Same here. I just hate it’s under these circumstances,” Sawyer said, smiling grimly. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks.” Ashley thought Sawyer was a handsome man and that he and Vashti made a striking couple.
She then recalled what Paula had said earlier. The man standing by her bed was one of Ray Sullivan’s close friends. How much did he know about Devon? He was the sheriff. Could she ask him? No, she wouldn’t ask anyone anything else until she got a chance to talk to Devon herself. If he didn’t show up at the hospital, then she would seek him out the minute she was discharged.
“I got your purse, Ashley,” Vashti was saying. “Unfortunately, your cell phone got wet and can’t be used. Is there anyone you want me to call for you?”
Ashley knew that more than anything she wanted to call Emmie, Kim and Suzanne, but she couldn’t do it now. “No, thanks. That’s not necessary, but if you don’t mind, could you go to my room and bring me some clothes that I can wear when I get released from here tomorrow?”
“Of course I can.”
Ashley thought of something else. “And I left my rental car parked near the marina. I
’m sure I’ve gotten a parking fine by now.”
“You don’t have to worry about it,” the sheriff said. “I will void it under the circumstances.”
“Thanks.”
“And I’ll make sure the car is taken care of,” he added.
“I appreciate that.”
Vashti glanced at her watch. “We need to go, but I will be back in the morning with your clothes.”
“Thanks.”
Ashley wanted to ask if Devon was still at the hospital but discovered she didn’t have to when Vashti said, “The man who pulled you from the water, Ray Sullivan, had to place a call. But he’ll be in to see you after.”
A few moments later the couple left, closing the door behind them. Ashley glanced out the hospital window, anticipation building inside her at the thought that she’d be seeing Devon again soon.
She recapped in her mind all that had happened since leaving Shelby by the Sea to make her eleven o’clock appointment with Ray’s Tours. Even if their paths hadn’t crossed when she fell into the water, Devon and she would have eventually encountered each other when she showed up for the cruise around the cove. What were the chances of her coming here and seeing her husband, who’d supposedly died almost three years ago? The odds were too far-fetched to be real.
But it was real. And what was even crazier was that the reason she’d come here in the first place was to finally get the strength and peace of mind to move on.
Now her mind filled with memories of her three years of courtship and five years of marriage with Devon. At some point she began feeling tired. She closed her eyes, deciding to rest for just a minute.
* * *
SHE WAS SLEEPING.
Ray knew he should leave, but for some reason he couldn’t. Rubbing a hand down his face, he wondered what the hell was wrong with him. The only excuse he could come up with was that he’d come close to watching this woman die today, and he felt a desperate need to know she was truly okay.
Fear, greater than anything he’d ever felt before, had gripped him when she hadn’t responded and then the sense of rippling relief he felt when she finally had... It was a feeling he doubted he would ever forget. And then when she’d opened her eyes and looked at him—stared at him, really—there was something about the look in her eyes that he recognized. The stare of a person realizing how close they’d come to dying. It was probably the same look he’d given the nurse when Ray had awakened after coming out of a three-week coma. Only difference was that she was able to identify herself.
But still, he knew the feeling. He knew how it felt to be at someone’s mercy. To believe that you owed your life to another person. He hadn’t wanted the feeling for himself and he didn’t want it for her. Definitely not her.
Those eyes that had stared at him had almost looked into his soul and he’d felt a bond between two people whose lives had been saved but in different ways. She didn’t know him and he didn’t know her, but what he did know was that at that moment in time, he had felt an affinity to her. Based on fear, vulnerability, unsettling consciousness or otherwise, it didn’t matter. The connection was there whether he wanted it or not. That was why he was here. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing personal.
Although he would admit to a keen sense of awareness of the woman sleeping in that hospital bed. A degree he didn’t want to feel.
He needed to remedy that and the only way he could was to ease her vulnerability. In easing hers, he would be doing the same with his own.
Ray shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he glanced around. He appreciated Kaegan for dropping off a dry pair of jeans at the hospital for him. Walking around in wet clothes had been uncomfortable as hell, but he had refused to leave even for a moment.
Drawing in a deep breath, he sat down in the chair. If Ms. Ryan didn’t wake up within the next hour, he would leave. Visiting hours would be over anyway. He would leave her a note that he had been there and that would be it.
At least, he hoped so.
* * *
ASHLEY SLOWLY OPENED her eyes and immediately felt another presence in the room. She moved her head and saw him. He was there, sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room, and his gaze was fixed on her. Wordlessly, she stared back.
He was staring at her with intense dark eyes, and she maybe had been imagining it, but she was certain that she could feel the impact of his gaze in every part of her body. It suddenly occurred to her that although he was staring at her, it wasn’t with any kind of recognition but rather with a fascination he was trying hard not to show but was a little too pronounced not to do so.
She knew her husband and the one thing he’d never been able to hide, even from the first, was his interest in her. But now that interest was not as the woman who’d been his wife, but as a woman he was concerned about and, yes, also attracted to.
At that moment it occurred to her that Devon was not acting. He honestly didn’t know who she was and that could mean only one thing. Devon didn’t know her because he had somehow lost his memory. The thought of something like that happening seemed so ludicrous, but what other possible reason could there be? Still, she felt the need to test her theory.
“Ray Sullivan?”
He smiled as he stood from the chair to approach her. “I’m surprised you remembered.”
“How could I forget the man who saved my life?” she said, forcing a smile. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I’m just glad that I was there at the time.”
“I’m glad you were, too.”
“I was hoping you would wake up before I left, Ms. Ryan,” he said in that deep, husky voice that always had the ability to make her pulse soar. Devon’s voice, looks and build had always been turn-ons for her. It seemed they still were. There was nothing average about his looks. Her husband was a very handsome man. And no matter what, as far as she was concerned, he was still her husband. Whether he knew it or not.
She felt totally at a loss and she didn’t want to feel that way. She should be overjoyed and inwardly she was. However, there were a number of questions that only he could provide the answers to. Or could he, when it was obvious he couldn’t remember anything? He couldn’t remember her?
“Well, I’ll be seeing you.”
“Wait!” she said, not wanting him to leave yet. There were so many questions she wanted to ask. So many answers she wanted to demand of him. Then she wanted to scream her joy. Cry her relief. Throw herself in his arms and make him remember her. Force him to do so, but she held back because all it took was for her to remember that incident with Carolyn Jacobs.
Carolyn Jacobs had been a member of their swimming team at Harvard. While home on spring break, she had jumped into a friend’s pool and somehow hit her head, resulting in memory loss. The doctors had warned Carolyn’s parents that the worst thing they could do to a person with amnesia was to try to force their memory back on them.
As much as Ashley wanted to tell Devon who she was and who and what he was to her, she couldn’t. At least not until she found out how Devon hadn’t died when the car he’d driven had gone off that bridge. Someone had to know something about what had happened and how he’d ended up in Catalina Cove.
What had Paula Corker told her about Devon being good friends with Sheriff Grisham and someone name Kaegan Chambray? She had met the sheriff earlier when he and Vashti had dropped by her hospital room. He was a man of the law. Of course, when she told him her true relationship to Devon, that the man who’d saved her life wasn’t just a Good Samaritan, but her husband, it would be hard for anyone to believe, but it was the truth.
“Yes, Ms. Ryan?”
“Please call me Ashley.”
He nodded. “Okay, Ashley.” His face softened a little and her heart began pounding when he said her name, just the way he’d always pronounced it. In a way that could get her blood stirring.
“I need to know everything that happened. From the beginning.”
He nodded again, and then he pulled the chair closer to the bed, and she became filled with so much joy, she could weep. She wanted to touch him, hug him, kiss him and make love to him. More than anything, she wanted him to remember she was his woman like he was her man.
She watched him ease down in the chair and bit down on her lower lip to keep from moaning out loud. Why did he have to look so good? Why was the way his jeans tightened across masculine thighs such a turn-on to her?
He began talking and the sound of his voice comforted her, made her believe in miracles and in the power of prayers. She had been given another chance with her husband, and it didn’t matter what he was calling himself now—she would take that second chance.
Every so often she would interrupt his narrative to ask him a question or to get him to clarify something he’d said. It didn’t matter one iota if he thought the near-drowning incident had fogged up her brain’s ability to comprehend. The bottom line was she wasn’t ready for him to go. She wanted to ask him questions about himself but knew she couldn’t risk him getting suspicious.
He glanced at his watch. “Visiting hours ended a while ago,” he said, standing.
Ashley had to tilt her head back to look at him. More than anything, she wanted to ask him when she could see him again, but there was no way she could do so without it sounding like a come-on.
An idea then popped into her head. “I was on my way to take a tour around the cove on your boat.”
He nodded, holding her gaze. “Yes, I know. I recognized your name.”
Hope sprang to life inside of her. Had seeing her name triggered something in his mind? “You recognized my name?”
Forget Me Not Page 5