Earthquakes are common in the Sinai. Three major fault lines converge there. We had experienced them many times in the three years we'd been there…but I never expected an earthquake to be the turning point in my life. I guess I should have. Mom always said a building had to fall on me. From her mouth to God's ear…
We were finished for the day and preparing to head for home. Unexpectedly, the trailer began to shake. Connor held onto me. “What the hell—”
“Earthquake,” I said. “We’ve got to get outside.”
“Lynne!” Tim called from outside.
I ran for the door with Connor behind me. We got outside as the quake gained in intensity. “The equipment!” Tim shouted. Isabella was herding their three children toward the Land Rovers.
Tim and I ran toward the equipment. Connor ran after us. I got there first. Large rocks began to fall from the mountainside. One came down in front of Connor as he tried to get to me. Another hit my left shoulder, knocking me to the ground.
“Lynne!” he shouted. He got to me as I was trying to get up. “Are you all right, darlin’?”
“I think so,” I said, dazed, as he helped me to my feet.
More rocks showered us as the earth continued to shudder violently. It only lasted a few moments, but felt like an eternity. Connor shielded my body with his own, holding me tightly against his chest until the tremblors finally ceased.
23
Connor
“Take your shirt off,” I told Lynne as we entered the house. “I need to examine you.” I kicked off my shoes next to hers on the mat at the door.
She shook her head. “All I need is a soft bed and a good night’s sleep,” she insisted.
“You could have a fracture there,” I argued. “If so, you’ll need to go to the casualty.”
“The—what?”
“I believe you Americans call it the emergency room,” I clarified.
“I’m fine. No fractures, just tired and sore.” Her expression softened. “Thanks for being my knight in tarnished armor out there.”
“Then humor me, all right?” I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She could indeed have a fracture there. “Let me see your shoulder.”
“You just want to get me to take my clothes off.”
I gave her a stern look.
She hesitated for only a moment, then turned away from me and pulled the T-shirt up over her head to expose her shoulder. There was a large, purple discoloration covering her left shoulder blade.
“You’ve a nasty bruise there,” I said, tracing it with my fingertips. “You need to have it x-rayed, just to be sure it’s not fractured. I’ll drive you to the hospital—”
“No,” she said stubbornly. “If I’m still in pain in the morning, maybe, but not tonight.”
I lowered my head, kissing her shoulder. She laughed. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“When you were a wee girl, did your mum never kiss your scratches and bruises to make them better?” I asked.
“Sure, but it never felt like that.”
“I should hope not.”
“I’m going to bed,” she said then. She pulled her shirt into place.
“Not yet.” I turned her back to face me again. “I believe we have some unfinished business.”
“Unfinished business?” She gave me a blank look.
“You were about to free me from my self-imposed prison when the earth threatened to swallow us,” I reminded her.
“Ah, yes. Your armor.”
“You were in the process of removing it, as I recall.”
She hesitated. “Oh, yeah. Now I remember,” she said. “Maybe later.”
I shook my head. “Now.”
She resisted. “It’s late.”
“I just saved your life. In some cultures, that would mean your life now belongs to me.” I refused to let her go.
She made a face. “You’re not interested in my life, just my body.” My shirt was still unbuttoned. She reached out tentatively, running her hands up my bare chest. “You said this was working, I believe.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s working. Don’t stop.” I nuzzled her neck. “Get me out of it, darlin’,” I whispered. “Set me free.”
She kissed me, a bold kiss that let me know she was finally ready for me. She pushed the shirt off my shoulders. It fell to the floor as I grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. “It’s only fair,” I said with a smile that left nothing to her imagination.
“I wasn’t wearing any armor,” she said, kissing my chest.
“That’s a matter of opinion.” I pulled her close. “At any rate, you’re not wearing any now.”
“Or much of anything else.”
I wanted to say something important. I wanted to tell her I'd realized I loved her, but decided against it. Instead, I kissed her….
It was morning. The storm had come and gone. The earthquake was over, but the aftershocks remained. I lay beside Lynne, staring up at the ceiling. “Did you sleep at all?” she asked.
“No.”
She hesitated. “I hope I wasn’t too much of a disappointment,” she said.
Her comment surprised me. I turned on my side to face her. “Why would I be disappointed?” I wanted to know.
“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s been a while since….”
I stroked her cheek. “Look at this face. This is the face of a man who’s quite satisfied.” I reached past her and took her phone from the nightstand. “Ring up Tim. Tell him anything to keep everyone away from our door today.” I wanted—needed—to be alone with her for as long as possible.
She nodded, not even trying to argue. She punched in Tim’s number. He answered almost immediately. “Can you do without me today?” she asked. “No, I’m pretty sure it’s okay. Connor says I have a nasty bruise and he’s insisting I have it x-rayed.”
I started kissing her neck. My beard tickled her, and she tried to push me away. “As a matter of fact, he did examine me. It was my shoulder, Tim, not my—never mind. I’ll talk to you later.” She pushed me away again and put the phone back on the nightstand. “That was mean.”
I was concerned. “You don’t plan to keep us a secret, do you?” I wanted to know.
“I wasn’t sure if you did.”
“No, I don’t,” I said, kissing her again. “I’m quite territorial, darlin’. I want everyone to know you belong to me now.”
She kissed the tip of my nose playfully. “Does that mean you also belong to me?” she asked.
“If you want, but I have to warn you that I require quite a lot of attention if you wish to possess me.” I nibbled her earlobe. “Think you’re up for it?”
“I think you’re trouble. I thought you were trouble from the start,” she said, “but I’ll take my chances.”
“Will you, now?”
“Why were you so quiet afterward?” she asked then.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
She didn’t believe me. “If we’re going to be together, we have to be honest with each other. Talk to me,” she urged. “Please.”
I must have seemed to be struggling. I felt like someone trying to make an important statement in a language I'd never spoken before. “I love you,” I said finally.
“You don’t look like a man in love,” she observed. “You look terrified.”
“I am terrified,” I admitted. “I haven’t loved anyone since I was five years old, and that was quite a different kind of love.”
She took my face in her hands. “I’m scared, too,” she admitted.
I tried to smile. “This is insane.”
“Yeah, it is. Really crazy. We should both be locked up.”
“Together. Only if we’re together.”
She sat up, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The bruise on her shoulder had completely disappeared. How…
"It was an act of God," she said.
"What? " I was still focused on the missing bruise.
"Us. Tonight.
I was still on the fence…until…"
“If you want to get married, we can do that,” I said then.
She gave a little laugh, then realized I wasn’t joking. “You’re serious?”
I didn’t smile. “The paperwork doesn’t mean shit to me,” I acknowledged. “A legal document won’t influence my commitment to you one way or the other, but if a marriage license proves to you that I love you, then so be it.”
She took a deep breath as if considering it but feeling a degree of uncertainty. “Well,” she said finally, “if that’s a proposal, then I suppose my answer has to be yes.”
I didn’t hide my sense of relief. “I was starting to think for a moment there that you might actually turn me down,” I said, kissing her neck.
“There’s a condition,” she went on.
I drew back. “Do I have to get you pregnant before you’ll marry me?” I asked, feigning concern. “What will people think?”
She never got the chance to respond. My satellite phone rang, interrupting us. “Damn!” I muttered under my breath as I released her. I rolled over, snatched my jeans off the floor and fished my phone from one pocket. I knew who was calling without asking. This was the third time in the past four hours Edward had tried to reach me. I turned back to Lynne. “Don’t go anywhere,” I said. “This won’t take long.”
“Is something wrong?” she asked, pulling the sheet around herself as she rose up on one elbow, watching me collect my clothes.
“Nothing I can’t fix,” I assured her, bending down to kiss her. “I’ll be right back.”
I jerked on my jeans and stalked down the hallway to the front door, slamming it in my wake. I punched in Edward’s number as I stomped down the front steps.
He picked up on the first ring. “Where have you been?” he demanded.
“None of your damned business!” I snapped. “This had better be good. Do you have any idea what time it is here?”
“If you had returned my first call—”
“If I had not been otherwise occupied, I would have!” I was anxious to be done with this. I wanted to get back to Lynne. I had just done something monumental: I'd told her I loved her. Edward was an unwelcome intrusion. “Has the world come to an end without my knowledge?”
“I realize you’re annoyed with me, but—”
“The word is pissed, Edward. Pissed off. And you’re damned right I’m pissed off. Your days of ordering me around like your trained pony are over. I’m not coming back to London. I’ve just asked Lynne to marry me.”
“You can’t be serious!”
“I’ve never been more serious in my life,” I assured him.
“Your work—”
“Work was all I had before I came here,” I reminded him. “I gave everything to the project. Now, I want something for myself, and you and your associates will have to accept that.”
“And what will you do there?”
“Make up for all the years I’ve lost.” I ended the call abruptly.
I should have told him to go to hell long before now, I thought, raking a hand through my hair in exasperation. Time to cut all ties with Andrew’s past. It’s for the best. We’ll stay here. No one will ever find me. She’ll never have to know what I’ve done.
24
Lynne
I was out of bed and dressed, watching him from the kitchen window. When he didn’t come back inside after fifteen minutes, I worried that something might be wrong.
He was pacing out there in the darkness. He paced when he was angry or frustrated. I knew him well enough to give him space when he was dealing with a problem, but now I wanted to go to him. I was going to be his wife. I didn’t have to pretend to be indifferent. I could show concern. I could help him when he was working through a problem. I can stick my nose right in there now.
I went outside. “Are you all right?” I asked.
He turned to face me, forcing a smile. “Never better.”
I was dubious. “Right. It shows,” I said. “Merlin, if something is bothering you, I—” Before I could finish, he grabbed me, scooping me up into his arms, holding me tightly.
“Connor!” I shrieked.
“Snake—” he gasped.
“What?”
“Snake…bit me….”
“Put me down,” I told him. I needed to check the bite.
“No…not sure…it’s gone….”
“Put me down!” I ordered. In the dim light, I saw the creature slither away in pursuit of a small rodent. “I have to check the bite!”
Finally, he lowered me to the ground. I got on my knees. He had come out without his shoes. There was a bite on his right foot that was already beginning to swell. I dug into my pocket. My cell wasn’t there. It must have fallen out when he removed my shorts. I pulled his satellite phone from the clip on his belt and called for help….
“I have to be with him,” I told the triage nurse as Connor was wheeled into the ER on a gurney, the doors swinging shut behind the EMTs who had tended him on the medivac helicopter that brought us from the local hospital in Taba to Cairo.
“We have to have some paperwork completed first,” the nurse said stubbornly. “The doctor will tell you when you may see him.”
“He could die!” I shouted, causing everyone in the emergency admissions area to look my way. “I have to be with him!”
“We need someone to sign consent for treatment,” the nurse argued. “Since he’s unconscious, we need his next of kin, someone legally responsible. Are you related?”
I thought quickly. “Yes,” I lied. “I’m his wife.”
The nurse shoved some papers on a clipboard at me. “Sign all of the blanks indicated.”
I glared at her, scribbling my name on the forms. “I want to see my husband now,” I said in a low, threatening voice. “You don’t want to get in my way.”
I turned and ran into the ER, leaving the stunned nurse staring after me.
The wait seemed like an eternity. I wasn’t allowed to be with Connor while he was being treated, and no one was telling me anything. Tim and Isabella had stayed with me for a while, but I finally sent them away. I insisted I needed to be alone, needed to think. “Bring me some clothes, some stuff,” I said, distracted. “I don’t know how long we’ll be here.”
I could hear them talking as they departed. “I’ve never seen her like this,” Isabella commented as they left the waiting area.
Tim frowned. “Neither have I,” he admitted. “When I got out there, she was on the ground with him, with him lying across her lap. She was going nuts.”
“She found the right guy, as you wanted her to,” Isabella said.
“I hope he makes it. If he doesn’t, that damn snake might as well have gotten both of them,” Tim predicted.
“He’s been given antivenin, and we’re monitoring his hematological values closely,” the doctor assured me. “He is most fortunate. The bite of the desert horned viper can be fatal. He will have to stay in the hospital for a time, and even after he’s released, he will not be able to resume normal activity for several weeks. But he should recover fully. He had a seizure in the casualty, but that’s not unexpected, given that’s he’s epileptic.”
I tried to hide my surprise. “Of course,” I said slowly. He’s epileptic?
We stood outside Connor’s room. Through the door, I watched two nurses check Connor’s vital signs and IV. I said a silent prayer of gratitude.
After the doctor left, I pulled up a chair next to Connor’s bed and sat down, assuming he was still asleep. He opened his eyes and smiled at me. “I must be dead,” he said. “I’m looking at an angel.”
I gave a tired laugh. “Even now, after all you’ve been through, you’re still full of it,” I said. “Tell me, why did I have to hear from the doctor that you’re epileptic?”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “I should have told you,” he said.
“Yes, you should have,” I agreed. “Why didn’t you?”
“I i
ntended to,” he said. “Just never got around to it.”
“Right.”
“I don’t have tonic-clonic seizures,” he said. “What I have is temporal lobe epilepsy. Are you familiar with it?”
I nodded. “A little.”
“Over the years, I’ve had countless EEGs, CT scans and MRIs. They’ve all been inconclusive, but there’s been enough there to convince every doctor who’s ever examined me to come to the same conclusion,” he said.
“TLE has been often misdiagnosed as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. I see things, hear things. I have blackouts. How would you have felt when I went off into the desert all those nights if you had known?”
“The same way I felt not knowing,” I said. “Afraid you’d go off some night and never come back. I always worried you’d hit a land mine or be attacked.”
“You never said anything.”
“I didn’t want to sound like a nagging wife.”
He took my hand. His felt clammy and there was a heparin lock inserted into the back of it, there in case he went into cardiac arrest and had to receive medication immediately. “What does the doctor say? Am I going to live?”
“Absolutely. You’re too mean to die,” I said. “Your recovery’s going to be a long one, though.”
He grimaced. “How long are they planning to hold me prisoner here?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t think the doctor even knows yet,” I said, kissing his forehead. “I’m staying here with you until you’re released.”
“You don’t have to.”
“As long as you’re here, so am I,” I said firmly. “I won’t consider you out of the woods until you walk out of this hospital. Maybe not even then.”
“I never had you pegged for a worrier.”
“When Tim and I were at the University of Utah, a mutual friend was in a car accident,” I recalled. “The driver was killed. Our friend was the lucky one—or so we thought at the time. He only broke his leg. He seemed to be recovering, but the break had caused a blood clot. The clot made its way to his heart. His roommate found him dead in their room. No warning, nothing.”
Chasing the Wind Page 10