by Casey Mayes
His eyes were shut, and if he was still breathing, I couldn’t tell.
It appeared that Harry had fought his final battle when I passed out from my own loss of blood.
Chapter 20
I WOKE UP IN A HOSPITAL BED, FEELING WOOZY FROM SOMETHING. “Did they drug me?” I asked when I saw Zach looming over me.
“You were in pain,” he said. “Of course they did. How are you doing, sweetheart?”
“Harry’s dead.”
I started crying for the man who had died fighting to save my life, but when I looked at my husband, Zach smiled at me. “It was close, but they managed to patch him back up. He’s going to be okay.”
The relief flooded through me in wave after wave. Harry had taken the blade that had been meant for me, a sacrifice as noble as anyone can make for another human being, and I knew that I owed him my life.
And I was thrilled that I’d have the chance to thank him for it.
“Don’t you want to know about Laura?” Zach asked me.
“I suppose so. I hope I didn’t kill her, but if I did, I won’t lose any sleep over it. She’s the most wicked person I’ve ever met in my life.”
Zach stroked my cheek lightly. “You won’t have her blood on your hands. She’s got a pretty sizable concussion, but she’ll be fine.”
“That’s good. That means that she can stand trial for murder.”
He brushed some of the hair out of my face, and saw that I was crying again. “Hey, are you okay?”
I tried to move my left arm, but it was still too sore, and every motion brought a new wave of pain. “I’m not, but I will be.”
He looked into my eyes. “Savannah, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you. I will never forgive myself for not being there when you needed me. We finally figured that someone planted those leaves at the hardware store, and the tip was too good to be true. Anyone could have had access to the back where the dryer was, and Rob never wavered on claiming that he was innocent. North and I had just started to realize that we’d been wrong when your call came in.” He touched my face again lightly with his hand, as if he wanted to make sure that I was really there. “I can’t believe I almost lost you.”
“We both have Harry to thank for that.”
“We will.”
“Rob came by,” Zach said. “He left you this.”
It was a small piece of chestnut, sanded and waxed, buffed to a perfect sheen. I took it and smiled as my fingers lightly touched the wood.
“What does it mean?” Zach asked.
“That things are going to be all right between us,” I said. I shifted a little in my bed and felt a twinge of pain in my side. “How bad is my wound? Did the blade do any permanent damage?”
“There’s going to be some rehab when you’re feeling better, but all in all, you got lucky,” he said.
“Funny, I don’t feel lucky,” I said.
“It could have been a great deal worse than it was. You should be out of here in three or four days, and after that, you can recover at home.”
“As soon as I’m able to travel, I want to go to Alaska,” I said.
He kissed my forehead. “There will be plenty of time to do that later,” he said. “Right now, you need to rest.”
“I made myself a promise back there, Zach, and I mean to honor it. With or without you, I’m going.”
“We’ll go as soon as the doctor clears you for travel, then,” he said.
“Good. I need one more thing, and then I think I’ll pass out again, if you don’t mind.”
He nodded. “I know what you’re asking for. Tom and Barton are on their way. They were both pretty shook up about what happened, but I think I finally convinced them that you were going to be okay.”
“That’s good, but that wasn’t what I wanted.”
“Anything,” he said as he stared into my eyes. The poor man seemed as though he wanted to burst out crying when he looked at me, but he was holding it together as long as he had to, and that was what made him strong in my eyes.
“I need a couple of pads and some pencils.”
“Savannah, you can barely keep your eyes open,” Zach said, “and one arm is useless at the moment. How on earth are you going to make a puzzle?”
“You’re right; I can’t work. At least not yet. I just want them around me. Having something familiar and safe right now means more to me than being able to make a puzzle.”
“I’ll have them here for you when you wake up again.”
“Thank you,” I said, immediately feeling better.
As I drifted off, I thought about how close I’d come to dying on that shed floor. If it hadn’t been for Harry’s act of bravery, I knew in my heart that I would be gone. I never took advantage of Uncle Barton’s great wealth, but I was about to call in a pretty big favor. Harry needed a silent partner, someone who knew business and had a deep bank account to keep them going through hard times, and I knew my uncle was just the one to do it.
It was the least I could do for the man who had saved my life.
And I planned to hold Zach to his promise to take me to Alaska. From hearing my uncles talk about their trip there together, I knew that it would be the perfect place to start my recovery, surrounded by the men I loved.
I might even get a puzzle or two finished while I was there.
Stranger things had happened.
I wasn’t exactly sure what the first puzzle would be, but I already had the snippet to accompany it written in my head.
Salvation sometimes comes from the strangest places. A friend can look like a foe, but in the end, the people we surround ourselves with are all that really matter in this life.
This puzzle is dedicated to Harry Pike, the man who saved my life, and to the memory of Joanne Clayton, who always wanted a puzzle of her very own.
Word and Math Puzzles
NAME THAT COZY WRITER
Example: AC Agatha Christie
Initials: Hints:
1. LJB Cats
2. CH Bookstore
3. CM Ag school
4. TM Penn Dutch
5. MJ More cats
6. EDS I forget
7. LC Tea for 2
8. JC Chocoholic
9. EF Patterns
10. EP Egypt
Answers:
1. Lilian Jackson Braun
2. Carolyn Hart
3. Charlotte MacLeod
4. Tamar Myers
5. Miranda James
6. Elizabeth Daniels Squire
7. Laura Childs
8. JoAnna Carl
9. Earlene Fowler
10. Elizabeth Peters
MYSTERY MOVIE TITLES
Example: NBN North by Northwest
Initials: Hints:
1. TMF Golden bird
2. TUS Round them up
3. C Where? With what?
4. TDVC Symbols
5. KTG Alex angry?
6. TSOTL Shhhh!!
7. MOTOE Trains
8. RW Watching
9. P Mommy issues
10. DMFM Don’t answer
Answers:
1. The Maltese Falcon
2. The Usual Suspects
3. Clue
4. The Da Vinci Code
5. Kiss the Girls
6. The Silence of the Lambs
7. Murder on the Orient Express
8. Rear Window
9. Psycho
10. Dial M for Murder
WHAT’S YOUR SIGN?
(Fill in the missing mathematical signs. As an added bonus, try doing these in your head first.)
Example: 2__3=6 is 2x3=6
PUZZLE 1
1q. 8__5__8__6__3=5
PUZZLE 2
2q. 7__4__6__3__16__2__3=12
PUZZLE 3
3q. 11__22__3__3__5__4=10
SOLUTION 1
1a. 8+5 (13) + 8 (21) – 6 (15) ÷ 3=5
SOLUTION 2
2a. 7 – 4 (3) X 6 (18) X 3 (54) – 16 (38) – 2 (36) ÷ 3
=12
SOLUTION 3
3a. 11+22 (33) ÷ 3 (11) – 3 (8) X 5 (40) ÷ 4=10