Black Hills Angel (Black Hills Series)

by Wilson, A. C.

  "I would let your highly efficient secretary have the day off and let her take care of the information you do not have. I will let you know if I find anything useful. This way you don't have to lie to her if she asks you how you got the information." Margaret shared a conspiratorial grin and walked towards the door. Matt just shook his head. She was definitely just like his mother. He was grateful for her counsel.

  Half an hour later, Matt was trying to finish up the last of the paperwork for the city permits. Papers were scattered all over his desk, but he didn't see much of the words. They could have been written in Egyptian hieroglyphs for all he knew! He couldn't get Andy out of his mind long enough to concentrate. He just had this weird, hollow feeling that kept blooming brighter and stronger in his chest. Even though he tried to push it away, it would soon be right back.

  Matt fished for his cell phone underneath all of the papers and files. Finally locating it underneath the sewer maps, he had made up his mind to call Andy. Something wasn't right and he didn't know what it was, but he needed to assure himself that everything was fine. In that same moment, his phone screen lit up as it started to ring. It surprised him. His heart thumped in omen. It was Nora's cell. Nora.

  "Hey Nora, what's wrong?" His heart raced, slamming fiercely against his ribs. He swallowed hard, mentally hearing his voice crack. Chaos was on the other end. He couldn't hear anything except for yelling, Harper screaming in distress, Nora sobbing, and sirens. Sirens? Ambulance sirens!

  "Ma...Matt, you have to...um...meet us at the hospital." Nora sobbed into the receiver, Harper wailing louder. His head spun and he tried to force calm into his voice.

  "Nora, what happened to Andy? Where is she?" His gut churned painfully, twisting and wrenching.

  "Please, Matt, just hurry. I don't think she is going to make it!" Whatever his sister said after that was a jumble of hysterics and the blood pounding in his ears. Time slowed to a crawl. Each breath he took he had to remind himself to take another one. Devastation ruled absolutely.

  "I will be right there." Matt forced himself to say, but he wasn't sure he actually said the words before he hung up the phone. He threw open his office door and made Margaret jump as the panel reverberated against the wall. Her eyes went wide in surprise.

  "Call my brother and have him meet me at Regional Health. Andy's been in an accident." From the sound of his voice and the paleness of his face, Margaret grabbed the phone immediately and speed dialed Garrett. Matt didn't wait for questions. All he knew was that there wasn't much time and he couldn't lose her. Whatever the hell had happened, she couldn't leave him before he told her how much he loved her.

  ***

  He growled in frustration. His head hurt, his heart hurt, and his hand hurt from momentarily losing it in the hallway and punching a door jam. Shit! That was smart! Matt circled like a caged tiger, pissed and just waiting for the moment he could pounce on one of the nurses or even better, a doctor.

  "You have to calm down, Matt or you're going to get us thrown out of here!" Garrett grumbled from behind him. Garrett arrived a few minutes before Matt had at the Emergency Room and the picture he had painted made him tremble. Andy had been struck by a car while she had been on her way back to her car. When she was hit by the vehicle, she had been thrown into the windshield and over the side. His stomach turned, and his heart shuddered at the hell she must have been through. He only caught a glimpse of her as the doctors and nurses wheeled her past to x-rays. She was as white as the sheets she lay on with her hair knotted and tangled about her head. Her t-shirt was covered in blood. He couldn't recall her face clearly. It was like his brain had just slammed the door on whatever image had been there. He was well on his way to panicking and being angry seemed the best way to prevent it. If he were angry at least he was present. If he panicked, Matt feared he would lose track of everything.

  "Why don't we know anything? No one will say a thing to me. I don't have any of the answers they are looking for." Matt paced the waiting room windows, back and forth, back and forth. "God! I just want to strangle someone with my bare hands!" The last was said so softly, he shook with the power of his convictions. He flopped himself down into one of the padded chairs and covered his face with his hands. This was such a nightmare!

  "All you can do right now, brother, is be here. Wait. I know that is difficult, but you can't do anything, but wait. The head nurse assured me that she would let us know if there was any development." Garrett mumbled from the chair next to him. The waiting room was eerily quiet. Only a news reporter on the television in the corner said anything. Although the volume was turned so low that it was beyond him what was bantered about. Matt glanced over at his brother. Garrett looked strangely out of place in the small, uniform chairs. He was uncomfortable and tired. Matt looked back up at the round clock on the wall. Six hours. Six miserable hours since time had all but stopped. Six hours since he had the phone call from Nora.

  She was hysterical. Harper was inconsolable. There had been no choice but to call Margaret for support and have her take his sister and the baby home. Matt had tried to glean as much information from Nora as he could, but it required more patience than he had. He was sorry that he had snapped at her.

  Poor Nora.

  Her eyes were red from crying, her voice hoarse from screaming, and she looked as if every nerve had long since been torn apart. Margaret had calmed Nora long enough to decipher the snorts, sobs, sniffles and shaking into a coherent tale. Nora had seen it all happen. She said they had been walking back to Andy's car after shopping at the store. Andy had stopped momentarily to search her purse for the car keys. It seemed that out of nowhere a car came speeding through the parking lot without preamble and struck Andy.

  The car probably wouldn't have stopped, according to a police officer at the hospital, except for the broken windshield that impeded any vision at all. Matt was white hot with fury. Monica! It had to be her. The officer wouldn't say as the investigation was pending and charges had yet to be filed. Bull shit! Matt had nearly planted that man a right hook to the chin! It would have landed him in jail for sure. Good thing Garrett had been around to simmer him down.

  No answers. No one had answers. The head nurse had been understanding at least.

  "Is there any immediate family that can be notified?"

  "A mother and father, but the relationship is strained." Matt answered as truthfully as he could. "She has an infant daughter."

  "A husband?" Soon. Very soon.

  "No. No husband."

  "The father of the baby, is he available?"

  "No. He isn't available." He's dead. What would happen to poor Harper if her mother died too?

  "I cannot release information to you unless you are intimately connected to Miss Martin."

  "We are engaged to be married. She's my fiancé." It tumbled from his lips before he knew he'd actually said something. The head nurse had cocked a disbelieving brow in his direction.

  "I didn't see a ring." Her thin lips pressed together.

  "It was just last night." Matt felt the foundation of his sanity crumbling. Acid boiled in his stomach.

  "I see." The head nurse considered him for a couple of minutes, the world anchored to what she thought was the truth. Matt blinked rapidly to dispel tears welling in his eyes. He'd be damned if he cried; at least not in front of this woman.

  "All right. I will see what information I can find for you. I would advise calling her parents. Estranged or not, they deserve the right to know what has happened to their daughter." The nurse disappeared through a couple of doors and Matt was left alone with Garrett in the lobby. They had been waiting for two hours. Still no answers.

  "Do you think that I should call her parents? I don't even know their names." Matt asked of Garrett, who sat beside him. His brother left his chin propped up on his fist and shrugged.

  "I don't know. This does seem pretty serious. I know our parents would want to know even if they were mad as heck at one of us." Garrett blew out a breath.
Matt blinked, his eyes gritty and sore.

  "What if I do call them and she is fine. Will she forgive me for contacting them?" Matt asked, his voice raspy and strained. Garrett shrugged again. Matt tried to summon the urge to be annoyed, but it took too much effort. He was so drained.

  "What if you don't and she isn't fine?" Forever the devil's advocate! Put that way, Matt didn't really see the choice. He needed to contact her parents. How was he even to begin? There was so much that was a mystery.

  "Well since I don't even know their names, I'm going to have to find someone who does." Matt took out his phone and tried not to think about how badly this could all blow up in his face. His chest ached. So many things were flying down a crash course in his brain that he barely registered the woman on the other end of the line.

  ***

  One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Freaking annoying machine! She wished that someone would shut it off. Andy growled, testing her arms and legs. Sweet Jesus! Pain rocketed up her left side as she tried to shift in the narrow hospital bed. Sucking in a hissing breath, Andy squeezed her eyes tighter. She felt like road kill a few days old and it triggered something deeply emotional inside her. Tears leaked out the corners of her eyes, sliding down her cheeks and into the pillow cover. She couldn't take a deep breath and that frightened her all the more. A ton of bricks might have been sitting on her chest for all she knew. Her chin quivered as she fought the quagmire of insecurities that threatened to envelope her completely.

  Her whimper must have caused some notice and Andy felt a large, warm hand envelope hers that was fisted in the thin hospital blanket. Panic filled her as she clung desperately to the warmth and strength of that hand. Swift, shallow breaths only increased the fear as she kept her eyes welded shut. Tears continued to pour down her cheeks and she was engulfed by an agonizing wave of fresh fears. Bright bolts of color flashed behind her eyes bringing with them small flickering pictures. Andy was shocked by the ferocity of those images. Shiny metal panels. Sparkling glass. Streams of red. Smells wafted over her memory. Fresh bread. Tart cranberry. She wrinkled her nose at the next and then her stomach turned traitor. Hot asphalt. Andy fought to keep the bile down that rose into her throat, but her body had taken over. She turned over as much as her beaten body would let her. Vomiting pitifully, Andy wanted to scream out with the intense pain and yet, it meant she was alive.

  Each wracking heave thrust her further beyond the manageable line of agony. A roaring in her ears took all her focus to keep from leaving the present and succumbing to the black nothing that waited with arms open. She jumped at other hands touching her, nothing like the warmth of the large one that had suddenly disappeared. It was like losing a life line to the present. Chilly, professional touches made the panic continue if not increase. All she could think about was the loss of that hand. She squeezed hers, fisting it in the blanket again. A motherly buzz continued around her. Andy didn't care at the moment what was happening. The warmth had gone and so had her desire to be present. A softening of the blurry edges of her vision began and soon, she crossed back over into the darkness.

  The next time she resurfaced, the warmth had returned. There was no annoying beeping in the room. Her tongue did feel a bit larger and drier than she remembered. Fear circled the edges of her consciousness, but she tried to dislodge some of it by taking inventory. Reality always had a way of pulling things firmly into focus. Andy knew she was in the hospital. The weird sterile smell was the tip off there. If that weren't enough, she was wearing one of those scratchy, paper-thin gowns and if she weren't mistaken, it gaped in the back. She took a shallow breath and continued her perusal. Soreness was indeed a gigantic misnomer for the way her body felt. Andy took stock of herself.

  Toes. She wiggled them.

  Legs. Gently she pulled her legs to her just an inch. A slight zinger shot to her waist and chest.

  Head. She tilted her head slowly to the side. It felt heavy and fuzzy.

  Shoulders. Shrugging was a bit painful too.

  Hands. Squeezing the warmth made something akin to giddiness bubble inside her. The warmth squeezed back. How interesting!

  "Open your eyes, sweetheart. Please open your eyes." The scratchy depth of the voice just a foot or so from her magnified the warmth in her hand. The touch was an anchor to her soul and she focused all of her faculties on it. The existence of that secure warmth prompted her to honor the request to open her eyes. It was difficult to summon strength to lift one eyelid, even a crack. She gritted her teeth in determination. At least this exercise took her mind off the fact that she felt cut in two at her middle.

  "Yes, slowly open your eyes. That's it!" Encouragement came from beside her, but she was too focused on doing as he asked to squeeze his hand back. He. His hand. She didn't know why, but she was sure of it as she was of living that a special man was speaking to her.

  The light from the room was blinding as she lowered her guard and lifted both lids. The world was bright and blurry. Everything confused her, except for the deep voice whispering encouragement. Pressing her lips into a thin line, Andy groaned as she opened her eyes wide. The bright light had been dimmed by closing the window blinds into her room. The first thing she saw was an amazingly handsome face smiling warmly into her face. The smile didn't meet his expressive blue eyes. There she recognized a debilitating worry for her. Tears pricked her eyes again, but this time she held them back. She couldn't fall apart yet. She needed a moment to strengthen her resolve to know just what had happened. The flickering images that had bombarded her mind's eye before started to come together. It was the picture this puzzle was creating that frightened her.

  "How long?" Andy's voice was scratchy and sluggish. She couldn't complete her question, but by Matt's nod he seemed to understand what she wanted to know. She watched him swallow, squeezing her hand in a firmer grasp.

  "Two days. It's been two days since the accident." He was close, but he leaned further towards her. Forty-eight freaking hours! The ability to grasp the concept of time was nearly too much. Her lower lip trembled. She half-cried out when she tried to take a deep breath to steady her careening world. Andy didn't want to focus on the spidering network of breath-taking pain. Matt lifted the back of her hand to his cheek, lightly grazing the stubbly growth against her skin. Focus. Let him pull you back. Clamping her mouth closed, Andy began counting the shallow breaths until she felt calmer. There is no damn way to get over this immediately!

  "Baby, I know it hurts. The doctor felt it necessary to lower your pain management meds. You haven't been coherent in twenty-four hours." Matt kissed her hand gently. He looked haggard and overset. The dark stubble on his chin and cheeks said he hadn't taken time to shave in the last day or so. If she listened to her gut, she knew he hadn't been home since being notified of the accident. She felt queasy, but it was matched only by the swelling of her heart for this man. He was a miracle. One she had prayed for so hard, but never dared to dream would be granted to her.

  "Oh, God! Harper and Nora?" Her feeble voice cracked at the thought that slammed into her like a brick wall. It made her gasp; losing whatever air she had managed to hold onto. Matt held firmly to her hand as the other one covered her eyes.

  "Shit! No, Andy, everyone else is fine. Harper and Nora are safe at home with Margaret." Matt raised his voice over the din that was spiraling out of control in her head. "I should have said that to you first. I'm sorry."

  She opened her eyes to see him leaning over her. His face was inches away and her heart tripped at his nearness. He continued to hold her hand in his own and he lifted the other to sweep along her cheek. The heartfelt caress stilled the chaos wrecking everything in her life and she was content to just be here with him. Each shallow breath was less painful and thoughts of everything else stepped away for the moment. Her green eyes held his expressive blue ones. Fire licked at their connection and her body responded just as her heart had. She needed him. He was the balm that soothed the ills of the world. She wasn't sure how she could tell hi
m that. His lips drifted closer to her own and she welcomed his token. Maybe she didn't have to tell him. Maybe he already knew.

  Chapter Twenty

  The doctor appeared the morning of the third day of her stay in the hospital. By now, Andy was figuratively climbing the walls! She was trying to be patient, but laying around in a strange place with cords and patches stuck to you in God knows what places with nurses coming in and out at all hours was enough to drive any sane person batty! Andy knew she could see around the bend and it wouldn't be long before she rounded it completely, if she had to lay here one more day! Matt wasn't helping. He was all about giving her time to heal and rest. I can freaking rest in my own bed! In my own pajamas! She could feel her blood pressure spiking. Grimacing at the middle age doctor, Andy knew she had better play nice, or at least attempt it, despite her short fuse. Better said than done!

  "Please try to understand, Miss Martin, that you have bruised ribs and a severe concussion. You were hit by a car." He said the last slowly with an emphasis for each word. Andy glared at him. He hardly batted an eye at her menacing look. No doubt he gets this a lot!

  "Andy is very aware that she was struck by a car, Doctor. What must she do to go home?" Matt's voice was calm and collected. Andy couldn't believe her ears as she glanced up and down at her self-appointed guardian. The doctor looked at her chart, flipping pages and pursing his lips.

  "Well her vitals look good. Everything seems to be stabilizing. I can authorize release and after I get the paperwork for you to sign, you can go home." He raised his hand when he saw her smile. "However, you must take it easy. Be very careful lifting anything. Rest is what you need. In a couple of days, you can start easing back into a normal routine, but don't push it if your body isn't ready. Over-the-counter pain medications should help take the edge off." The doctor lifted a brow for her compliance. Andy nodded, trying to tamp down the elation at almost being free!