Sweet Queen

by Luna Maye

  It felt like his chest cavity had been stripped open, his heart vulnerable and exposed as they lifted it off the side of the mountain in a back brace. When they pulled her into the back of one of the response team vehicles, Cal silently followed. Cradling her hand as he sat by her side, pushing her hair back from her delicate face.

  “Don’t take us to Espanola, drop us off at the airstrip. Victor has the plane ready.”

  The medic spun around in his chair, abruptly facing Cal, a stubborn glint in his eye.

  “You know that’s not protocol, she needs immediate medical…”

  “And she will get immediate medical attention with the best hospital staff and facilities possible in Taos. There’s not going to be any discussion on this. I called ahead, and they’re already waiting for us.” He impatiently cut off the younger man as he kept eighty percent of his focus on Shelli’s too-pale, angelic face. She looked as if she was sleeping through a pleasant dream, not fighting for her life. If only that were truly the case.

  By the time they finished the ten-minute drive to Victor’s airstrip, Cal was near his breaking point. He helped the medics unload Shelli and lay her on the backboard in the center of the floor on Victor’s larger jet. Victor was finishing last minute flight checks and cautiously dismissing the medics once Shelli was settled.

  “Are you sure we don’t need them with us, Cal? I know you’re protective of her, but we’ve still got around a thirty-minute flight to go. I don’t want to run into trouble mid-flight.”

  “No, it should be okay. They said she was stabilized, but none of us can figure out what’s keeping her from waking up. She should be pulling out of this by now; her body only has a few cuts and scrapes. It’s the head injury that’s the problem. Her airbag didn’t deploy.” He settled in one of the passenger seats closest to the front of the plane so he could speak with Victor while keeping an eye on Shelli. Victor tossed him a clean shirt as he climbed up into the cockpit. With Shelli’s head bandaged up and the bleeding subsiding, there wasn’t much need for his bloody shirt and he dropped it into a small trashcan in front of him. Climbing up into the pilot’s seat, Victor cleared their plane for takeoff and settled in behind the controls.

  “Mina is worried about her, but I made her stay at the compound until Rita can drive up with her to Taos. I don’t want her stressed out with the baby on the way.”

  “I definitely get that. I’m sure Shelli will be glad to see her when she wakes up.”

  If she wakes up. It was unsaid between the two of them but it rang out nevertheless. Cal ran his fingers lightly down Shelli’s cheeks, trying anything and everything to get her eyes to open, her lips to perk up into the delicate smile he loved on her porcelain pretty face. But she remained pasty pale and silent as stone throughout the flight, during unloading her at the hospital and her sickly pallor only increased as they rolled her away on a gurney into the intensive care unit at the emergency room and out of Cal’s sight.

  13

  Shelli

  Soft, white light pierced the tender skin of Shelli’s eyelids and her head beat with the heavy thud of an incessant bass drum. She stretched her back lightly, her muscles sore against the scratchy cotton of thin bed sheets. Sighing inwardly, she forced herself into a seated position keeping her eyes closed against the light.

  It was still early morning and her body was exhausted from months of last minute closings and open houses but, in Dallas, the housing market waited for no one and she had a laundry list of clients to see later that day. Ready to face the daunting task of morning meetings and appointments, she opened her eyes and then gripped the bedclothes around her, shocked to find herself not ensconced in the safety and privacy of her luxurious downtown condo.

  Immediately her whole body tensed, the aching head, the too-bright lights and scratchy sheets — she couldn’t help but feel a small sliver of deja vu, as if she’d experienced it all before and to a very bad end. Pulling her body further into itself, she tried to shake the feeling of terror creeping up in her throat. It was an unconscious response, one she couldn’t fake or fight, only embrace as a shadow of a horrific memory. Almost as quickly as the feeling overwhelmed her it was gone and she tried to shake it off, breathing in deeply and calming herself as she realized she was in a hospital room and not the foreign place that haunted the edges of her conscious memories.

  Lights blinked on the beeping monitors near her head and an IV ran down along one side. She felt her head, a thick bandage attached to the left side of her temple. That explained the incessant throbbing, but not how she arrived at the hospital, the distinctly southwestern landscape outside wide windows or the man asleep in the chair in the corner.

  How had she not noticed him before? He looked haggard, exhausted and unkempt. His hiking boots were caked with dirt and spotted with blood. A shirt two sizes too large for him hung off of his frame and his thick, wavy hair hung in unruly strands close to his shoulders. She leaned closer, trying to study his face. He was handsome, for an older man, and had a gruff, outdoorsy appeal she was sure other women might appreciate, but upon close inspection she was certain she didn’t know him.

  Silence permeated the room and as she filtered through her memories. Finding an abundance of missing information and countless holes in her consciousness, she began to panic, the beeping of her heart rate monitor escalating in the stony silence permeating the room. As her breathing increased, the man in the corner began to stir, first tipping his head back to stretch his thickly corded neck and then quickly sitting up, his heavy eyes popping open and meeting hers, followed by a swift intake of breath. He swept to her side so quickly it startled her, and she pressed back against her pillows in shock.

  “Oh my god, Shelli, baby. You had us so worried…you’ve been out for days. Do you feel okay? Can I get you…” His brow wrinkled as he fired questions at her and she continued to try to figure out who he was, why he was here, and why he called her Shelli. Everyone knew she hated nicknames and preferred to go by Michelle. But her musings and his excited stammering were cut off as a tall female doctor entered the room, her eyes down on her clipboard, already speaking as she moved, briskly entering the room with a no-nonsense air.

  “She’s doing just fine, Mr. Callahan. Both mom and baby are in excellent health and as soon as we do a few more neurological tests, she’ll be cleared to leave the building. She’s very lucky her injuries were minimal throughout the rest of her body and the swelling on her brain dissipated so quickly.”

  The woman lifted her eyes from her clipboard to peer out at Shelli and Cal over her glasses and was met by two of the most shocked faces she’d ever witnessed in her years as a physician in the emergency unit. A pause of stunned silence quickly gave way to two very startled people talking over each other.

  “What baby? Shelli’s pregnant?”

  “Oh no, she can’t mean me. I have a career to focus on, a life. And who the hell are you anyway?” Shelli’s head swiveled back and forth between the overbearing man and the amused doctor, wincing in pain as the motion caused shooting pains down her neck. The shock of the sensation did little to dull her ire and concern as she faced off with the strange man now trying to reach out and grip her hand. “What are you doing in my hospital room?”

  His wide gaze met hers; filled with so much surprise, exhaustion and regret that she almost felt some remorse for her petulant reaction. Almost.

  “Oh fuck, she doesn’t even know who I am? What’s wrong with her, I thought you said she was fine!”

  “Where am I even? This isn’t Dallas.”

  The doctor sighed deeply, rubbing her temples, and sliding off her glasses.

  “Let me clear this up. Michelle, you are pregnant a little over two months along now. You were in a car accident four days ago in which your airbag did not deploy, leaving you with a substantial head injury. Now, it appears you are suffering memory loss, which is absolutely normal in severe head injuries, Mr. Callahan.” She turned to raise an eyebrow at the man, silently as
suring him the situation was under control.

  “Now, I’ll let Devon fill in the blanks for you as he is the person who brought you in to the hospital. Your memories should come back naturally over the next weeks or months. There’s not an exact science to the realm of memory, but I expect you will make a complete recovery. There is no medical reason your mind won’t continue to function at full capacity. I’ll leave your chart here for the time being, and an aid will take you for your last few tests within the hour. I expect to discharge you this afternoon. Let myself or a nurse know if you have any further questions.”

  The doctor swept out of the room, not pausing to look at Shelli or Cal and completely ignoring the tidal wave of questions she left in her wake.

  Shelli looked over across the room where the man whispered, “I’m going to be a dad” over and over again to himself under his breath.

  “Oh, hush. This is definitely not your baby. You’re much too old for me, even if I did go for homeless mountain man types. It’s more likely to be anyone other than you. Maybe the barista at the coffee shop on fifth, that guy is delicious and he’s always making eyes at me.”

  Cal’s head snapped up, shock evident on his face. He made a move forward as if to approach her and set her straight. Unconsciously, she shrunk away again, something about his quick move toward her, his commanding height and furrowed brows eliciting a sharp, involuntary response beneath the surface of her current state.

  Her arms crossed tenderly over her abdomen, protectively guarding her child, despite being notified of its existence only moments before.

  Cal’s brows smoothed out, and his face softened as his warm, golden gaze slid over her, taking in her protective pose and pulling himself back a bit to give her space.

  “Shelli, I know you don’t know me, and I don’t know how much time you’ve lost, but I can assure you, that’s my child, too. We’re not that far apart in age, you’re thirty-seven now. I’m the one that found you when you wrecked your car. You were pushed from the road by a log that came free from a logging truck up the mountain. I knew the vehicle from the logo of your catering company on the back window, and I had a mutual friend fly us up here. He and his wife should be by soon.”

  Shelli eyed him warily, her light-soaked eyes squinting at him, more from her mistrust than from the bright hospital room or the sharp cloying smell of anesthetic.

  She was all alone, hundreds of miles away from home, and missing fundamental pieces of her memory with an unknown man’s baby in her belly. As far as life situations go, she couldn’t imagine much worse.

  “I don’t know you, I don’t trust you, and there’s no way to verify your story. Have you notified my father yet? Where are we anyway? This is definitely not Dallas. And, if you’re my knight in shining armor, why was I so afraid when I woke up? Why was my first response crippling fear? Explain all of that to me if you know ‘Shelli’ so well.” She ended her rant with what she hoped was a stone-cold sneer. It was the only facial expression option she had available other than crumpling into an ugly-crying mess and Suttons didn’t cry. Not in public and not ever. At least that’s what her father always said.

  “I don’t know who your daddy is, Shells. You’ve never mentioned him before. We’re in Taos, New Mexico; it was the best, closest hospital from where you currently live in the Chama River Valley. As for the rest…”

  He cut off, shouldered past by a fierce looking woman with thick, dark curls, intricately inked skin and a small baby belly of her own. Her odd grey eyes searched Shelli’s own guarded green gaze and then snapped up to the mountain man pacing in the other corner of the room.

  “How is she, Cal? What’s wrong?” His helpless, lost expression washed away, and he snapped to immediately, the woman’s commanding air stopping him in his tracks.

  “Her memory is gone. She doesn’t remember me at all — thinks she should be in Dallas. If she doesn’t remember you and she thinks she’s much younger than me, I’d guess she lost anywhere between twelve and fifteen years. She was very scared when she first woke up and she wants to know why.”

  He moved closer to Mina, speaking as if Shelli wasn’t in the room listening to them talking about her as if she weren’t here. She glared at the man, Cal or Devon, whatever his name was, but he was completely unaffected. He cast his gaze away as if it hurt to look directly at her.

  Mina took in a soft breath, turning to face her, regret and compassion settled firmly in her direct gaze. The near-pity she saw there made her cringe and stoked the fire building in her blood in the face of all the assumptions and information being heaped upon her.

  “Shelli, you’ve had a very hard life since you left Dallas, one that I can’t give you all of the information on.” She paused, seemingly gathering her thoughts and steeling herself before continuing. “You were taken out of Dallas against your will and were held in Albuquerque for almost six years before I found you and brought you here six years ago. Now we lead an all-female motorcycle club in the valley.”

  Her gaze assessed Shelli’s stunned expression, seemingly trying to measure whether she could handle any more information or if she would be overwhelmed. Shelli’s head felt empty and cold. The more she tried to reconcile the hoity-toity socialite she’d once been with an apparent kidnapping and a leadership role in a motorcycle club, the less sense it made. She felt herself shutting it all up inside, settling in to the blank mask that served her well under years of parental scrutiny and difficult deal making.

  “You have a good life here, a very happy life, but I know some of the experiences you had in Albuquerque might cloud your reasoning and make you unnecessarily fearful, even if you can’t fully remember or process why. You’re always safe with me or my husband Victor or with Cal, so there’s no need to worry, although I know you’ll need some time to adjust.”

  Shelli felt numb, her fragile control over her tumultuous emotions stretched thin as both Cal and Mina studied her, a bug under a microscope, their gazes pressing against her like a physical palpable thing. She cleared her throat, trying in vain to process her next steps, next thoughts, next questions — anything beyond the startlingly empty void of her recent memories.

  “Has anyone called my dad? He should be my next of kin. Can anyone validate the things you’re saying? I would like to be sure before I agree to leave here with someone that I’m truly going home.”

  Mina’s face softened, hope lighting behind her eyes as if Shelli’s own reasonable, if automated, response led her to believe things might be normal again.

  “I do know your dad passed away, shortly after you were taken to Albuquerque. It’s one of the reasons you were treated as harshly as you were during that time.” Mina’s eyes shifted slightly as if she was holding back a good deal of details, and Shelli narrowed her gaze on her supposed friend, wondering if she should push for specifics or be content with what little information the woman was willing to share.

  She suddenly felt very tired and alone as she lay there in bed, in a strange place, with people once familiar to her that she had no recollection of and a baby in her belly. She sighed and held her hand over her stomach, sinking further into the pillows at her back and nodding to Mina, waiting for her to continue on with what she had to say, anxious to get both of the interlopers out of the room so she could have a few minutes of peace to process her options.

  “I can show you some photos of us together before your discharge, and you can leave notice here at the hospital of who checked you out so they have a record of it. We would never endanger a woman, that’s one of the core values of our club.” Mina’s face shone with an openness and honesty Shelli couldn’t ignore and was too tired to fight so she simply nodded, before the sound of Cal clearing his throat penetrated the stillness of the room.

  “Or a child,” he added, looking at the women as he spoke and clarifying when Mina looked at him with a questioning gaze, lost to the connection of his statement. “You wouldn’t hurt a woman or a child — Shelli is pregnant.” He lifted his
head to meet Mina’s gaze, the two sharing a meaningful look together before she turned back to Shelli, sucking in a deep breath as her eyes swam sharply with unshed tears.

  “Oh, Shelli. We get to be pregnant together! Why didn’t you tell me before? It doesn’t matter now, I guess. We’ll get you home and taken care of.” She walked closer, setting on the edge of the bed where Shelli lay, scooting closer to the center to sit by her side.

  “I know you don’t feel like you know me now, but if you had remembered the last twelve years, we’d be celebrating this moment together. I’d be making plans to throw you a party, and you would already be designing our babies’ first birthday cakes. We’ve been through too much together for me to give up on you now, Shells, so I suggest you buckle up for my stubborn, abnormally hormonal ass to be stuck to your side like glue for the next six months.” Mina reached over, forcefully throwing her arms around Shelli’s neck and squeezing her tightly in a hug, her baby belly bumping up against Shelli’s own still-nearly-flat abdomen. Shelli held her body stiff, unsure about the other woman’s overly exuberant touch and unfortunately Mina noticed. She pulled back slightly, a furrow coming up between her brows and a gentle hand coasting over Shelli’s forehead.

  “Oh, sorry. Are you feeling okay?”

  She nodded just enough to be seen, but internally Shelli was anything but okay. Her body and mind were screaming at her so loudly she could hardly hear anything else, but the tail end of Mina’s relieved babbling managed to break through.

  “I’m just so happy you’re okay, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have about the past. We’ll get through this together but please be nice to Cal, he’s a good man and I’m fairly certain he loves you.” She whispered the last part low, so the other occupant of the room couldn’t hear her words and Shelli just nodded meekly. Her head ached and the day was almost too much to bear. It felt like an albatross looped around her neck, making her heart weary, her eyes worried and wild as she considered her few options moving forward.