Be My Guest

by Caroline Clemmons

  He yanked a couple of towels out of the linen closet. "My robe is hanging on the door here." He paused to indicate the torch hanging from her hand. "Your torch batteries are almost gone. I'll bring another lantern after I deal with the generator." His cupped hand on her chin forced her to meet his eyes. "Will you be all right here while I'm gone?"

  She gave him a dazed stare, "Why, yes, I'll be just fine," she said primly as if theirs were the most normal of circumstances.

  Her words and manner did nothing to reassure him. "Don't lock the bathroom door. If you fall or pass out, I don't want to have to waste time picking the lock." Will hurried away as fast as crutches allowed.

  Aurora sank to the floor. She needed to do something, but what? No matter how she tried, it eluded her. Her head hurt abominably but the nausea had diminished a little. As if in a trance, she removed her canvas shoes and peeled off her socks. The torch bounced against her body as she raised her hand to her head. At the back of her head she discovered a huge lump where her head hit the tree. No wonder she couldn’t think clearly.

  When Will returned with a battery-powered lantern, he found the bathroom door open and Aurora sitting on the floor. She worked to untie the scarf that bound her hand to the torch. He bent to help her, and used his pocket knife to cut the cloth of the scarf. The scarf had chafed her wrist badly but saved her life by preventing the torch’s loss. Without the light from the torch, he would not have known she sat stranded in the tree.

  Aurora offered no protest when he pulled her to her feet and undressed her as he would a small child. She moaned in pain when he pulled her knit top over her head, but made no other sounds.

  Even in the dim light her injuries shocked him. He gasped at the state of her back as he unfastened her bra. "Dear God in heaven! You've really messed up your back. Is it hard to breathe? Do you think your ribs or shoulder are broken?"

  "I...I don't know what that would feel like," Aurora said weakly. "It's this lump on my head that hurts most," She delicately explored the area of the blow to her head and tried to remember details of her accident.

  Feeling returned slowly to her numbed limbs. Her senses, too, slowly awakened. She could smell Will again. The after shave smell was gone, replaced by the smell of damp hair and the perspiration of his exertion. She tasted muddy water, and rivulets of water ran down her battered body. Eyes closed, she fought to clear her head. Memories whirled in her brain, but she’d lost control of her thoughts and ceased to comprehend what happened.

  "It was huge--biggest snake I've ever seen except in a zoo." When Will’s brows knit in question, she explained, "I saw this snake. I think it was a water moccasin. There on the railroad bed--I was going to sit down and rest a few minutes. Just as I put my cases down, it crawled right at me. Like it was coming for me." She thought of the snake again and shuddered. "When I jumped back from it, I slipped and fell. I tried to swim, but the current slammed me into that big tree."

  His gut took a punch at the possible consequences from her fall into the flood, but he spoke gently. "Aurora, that tree saved your life. You could never manage to swim in the flooded creek."

  He scanned the flashlight over her back. "I'm going to touch your ribs as gently as I can to see if I feel a break." Will probed softly at her rib cage and shoulder. He'd seen guys in the rodeo look better than this after being stomped by a bull.

  Aurora winced but he continued. When he held her shoulder while he rotated her arm, she almost passed out from the pain. He knew she needed a doctor but there was no way to get her to one tonight. "If there's a fracture, I don't think I'd be able to feel it, but there doesn't seem to be a break and your shoulder's not dislocated. Did you throw up blood?"

  She tried to concentrate. There seemed a delay from the time she heard sounds until her brain processed what Will said to her and she could respond. "I don't know...I don't taste blood, just that awful flood water."

  "Can you take a shower by yourself?"

  She nodded and immediately regretted it. "I need to lie down," she grabbed Will's arm with one hand and put her other hand to her forehead while the floor spun.

  "I know you do, but we have to get you cleaned up first. Floodwater is septic even in the wide open spaces around here, so we need to get these cuts washed out and treated with antibiotic cream. It'll take a while for the water heater to heat up any fresh water, but the water that's in the tank now is probably warm enough for a shower." Will talked as he worked at the zipper of her jeans.

  Aurora placed her hands over his and frowned. Where were the other people who lived here in this big house? Even with the trouble concentrating, she remembered his wedding ring. Where was his wife? "You shouldn't be doing this. Couldn't your wife help me?"

  His voice was terse. "No, I'm the only one here. My wife died three years ago. The nearest house is that of my foreman, and it's farther than I can manage right now. You'll just have to put up with me for the time being."

  Will stripped her jeans down and helped her step out of them. Aurora's knees resembled hamburger and scratches defaced her body.

  His eyes met hers and he took a deep breath. One more big hurdle, he thought. "Brace yourself and pretend I'm your grandmother," he said, and quickly jerked down the lacy panties that were her only remaining clothing. He turned on the shower’s taps and checked the water temperature before he helped her into the shower.

  "You'll have to hurry before all the warm water's gone." As she stood under the shower's stream, Will grabbed some shampoo from the ledge of the shower and poured some onto her hair. "Work that into your hair and rinse it out. Try to clean the area of the lump especially well."

  "It hurts to raise my left arm." She used her right hand to gently work the lather around the lump on her head.

  With the bar of soap he lathered his hand before he ran it gently over the lacerated portion of her back and then her knees. He tried to ignore the rush of heat to his loins. Damn, she was a gorgeous woman, and it had been over three years since he had been with anyone.

  He cursed himself and stepped away from her long enough to rummage in the bathroom cabinet and locate the hydrogen peroxide. Although he tried not to stare at her body, he found himself memorizing her form. If it were not for the bruises and lacerations of her ordeal, she would be perfect, at least in his opinion. He believed her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

  The minute that thought appeared, he once again felt disloyal to Nancy. In a part of his mind he remained married, in spite of the three years since Nancy's death and his now absent wedding ring.

  "Rinse your mouth out with peroxide and that'll have to do for now. If you're through with your hair, come on out and I'll help you dry off." Gently he dabbed the towel to almost every part of her body while she braced herself with her right hand on his shoulder.

  Although aware of his movements, she drifted detached from Will's actions. Shouldn't she feel embarrassed? Shouldn't she stop him? She should at least say something. Thinking required too much effort, so she let herself flow along with his motions. When she seemed dry enough, he helped her into his robe of heavy toweling fabric. The warm, dry robe caressed her skin and she clutched it around her.

  "This way, Aurora, just follow me." Will dangled the lantern handle in one hand while he struggled with his crutches for the short distance to the master bedroom.

  "Wait on the bed." The light of an old-fashioned kerosene lantern on the bedside table gave the room a soft glow. "I'll get the antibiotic cream and some of your clothes."

  Aurora eased her body onto the bed. Her right side faced the wall as she curled into a ball. She hurt everywhere and wanted nothing as much as sleep. Being out of the rain and on a real bed at last was wonderful. She heard Will coming back but could not force herself to move anything but her eyes as she followed his movements.

  "Everything in the suitcase is damp or wet. You'll have to settle for something of mine." He hobbled to a chest across the room and pulled a pair of pajamas out of a drawer.
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br />   "Come on, sit up," he instructed as he took her right hand and tugged gently.

  She tried to push his hands away. "I just want to sleep."

  "Not yet." He pulled her gently to an upright position. "We have to treat those wounds." He sorted through the first aid supplies.

  "We'll start with your head and work down." Will applied peroxide to a ball of cotton. He gently cleaned and applied antibiotic cream to each wound before he helped her into the pajama top.

  "This is a new top, isn't it?" Aurora peered down at the green satin top she wore while Will rolled up the sleeves to fit her arms. The man's extra-tall sized top covered her to mid-thigh, almost like a short gown.

  "My Aunt Rose gave these pajamas to me for Christmas. I never wear pajamas, but maybe she hoped to civilize me."

  Together Will and Aurora managed to settle her into bed. Why wasn’t she embarrassed he’d seen her naked body? That proved she definitely suffered from shock. It seemed the only possible explanation.

  Here they were, two people cut off from the rest of the world. She should be wary of the isolation with a man she had met only once. Yet security enveloped her, safety from the storm and the cares of the world outside this house that now served as her deserted island. The protected feeling surprised her. She shunned ever becoming one of those women who depended on a man for protection.

  A fresh wave of nausea swept through her but nothing remained in her stomach. When the heaving ceased, she snuggled her face into the pillow, intent on sleep.

  Will touched her shoulder gently, "Come on, sit up. Your concussion is too bad for me to let you sleep yet. Aurora, listen to me. Try to stay awake now while I get one more thing."

  She heard him leave the room but lost all track of time while she floated in the cocoon of warmth engulfing her. He returned, making a loud din because of the bucket that dangled from his hand and clattered against the crutch as he moved. After he set the bucket on the floor, he retrieved from it a cup and a thermos. Waves of steam issued from the open mouth of the thermos when Will poured hot tea into the cup before handing it to Aurora.

  "Drink this to help counteract the shock"--he reached into the bucket and brought out some crackers--"and these crackers might help the nausea."

  The tea laced with honey tasted far too sweet, but the cup’s heat warmed her icy hands. She sipped and held the warm tea in her mouth before letting it slide down her throat to soothe her quaking stomach.

  When she seemed as comfortable as someone in her battered condition could be, Will picked up the cell phone from his bedside table. He gave thanks for the dial tone and called his friend Nick's home number. When Nick answered, Will explained the situation and added, "It's the head wound I'm most concerned about. She seems a bit dazed and said she's thrown up several times."

  His conversation with Nick ended, and Will brought Aurora aspirin for pain and an ice pack for the lump on her head. "Nick said aspirin are all you should take. He's afraid anything stronger might cause you to sleep too deeply for someone with a concussion. We definitely don't need you slipping into a coma."

  She took the aspirins and drank some more of the tea. The aspirin made her nausea reappear, but she kept them down by nibbling on the crackers and drinking the rest of the tea.

  "I know the aspirins won't help much, but they'll ease your pain a little. Nick wants to check your injuries as soon as the roads allow us to get you to Snyder." Weariness showed in the slump of his body as he made his way to the other side of the bed. He sighed and unfastened the buttons of his shirt.

  Aurora's eyes grew wide and her temper flared. "What do you think you're doing?"

  He took another deep breath before answering, "Nick said I have to watch you, especially through tonight, to make certain there are no serious complications from your concussion.”

  He nodded at the bed they were to share. "This is a king-sized bed, and I'm far too tired to sit up the rest of the night. I have to get this leg elevated and get some rest, and it has to be soon. You just pretend I'm your grandmother again and I'll lie right here and watch over you while you sleep."

  She lay facing him, too weary to move. Her brief spate of temper ebbed and with it any remaining strength. Slowly, reason reappeared and she evaluated her position. Maneuvering along the railroad track to rescue her must have been torture for Will. He continued to help her here at the house when he badly needed rest himself. She must seem an ingrate.

  "Thank you for rescuing me...and for taking care of me. I don't think I could have held onto that tree much longer. There's no doubt in my mind that you saved my life tonight."

  Will sat on the side of the bed and glanced over at her briefly and ran his hand through his damp hair. "You had one hell of a day, didn't you?" He removed the boot and sock from his right foot. Earlier he had attempted to protect the cast on his left leg by encasing it in a plastic trash bag secured with duct tape. He tore away the remaining strips of the now torn plastic bag from the cast. "First you almost get kidnapped, then you lose your car and almost drown. This is definitely not the tour advertised by the local Chambers of Commerce."

  No amount of good resolve on her part could prevent her appreciation of his muscular body as he stood in the soft lantern light. Without a shirt, his powerful shoulders appeared even wider and his chest broader. Muscles rippled as he picked up the pajama bottom and ripped off most of the left leg to accommodate his cast in much the same way he altered his jeans. Startled, she gasped when he unzipped his jeans and lowered them. Aurora face grew warm with a blush, and she closed her eyes as she burrowed her head into the pillow once more.

  "I wondered how long you'd last," he said quietly followed by a chuckle. Aurora pretended not to hear him, embarrassed to have been caught staring.

  With the wick on the lantern low, he lay beside her. "I hope I can stay awake. If you need anything during the night and I've fallen asleep, just reach out and shake me gently to wake me."

  "All right, but I think I'll be fine. Now that I'm dry and warm all I want is to sleep for hours and hours."

  "Goodnight, Aurora."

  A glimmer of her normal good humor surfaced in Aurora's tired mind. "Goodnight, Grandmother." She paused. "Will? You didn't say which Grandmother."

  Will opened one eye and raised his eyebrow, "Has to be Kathleen--Lord knows one Aurora is enough."

  Chapter Three

  Aurora found sound sleep impossible for what seemed hours. Even her toenails and eyelashes hurt. Finally, the exhaustion of the day won and she drifted into a fitful sleep.

  Once again she fell into the raging floodwater. Downward, downward, the flood sucked her as her lungs gasped for air. She struggled to get to the surface, fought against the force of the water and the debris it contained, to no avail. It seemed her limbs bore heavy weights to prevent her saving herself. Deeper and deeper she sank in the swirling water, lungs bursting for air. Water invaded her mouth and nose as before, she choked, drowning in the muddy water. Suddenly, she awakened with a start and a muffled cry.

  After the second of these dreams, Will asked softly, "Are you having nightmares about the flood?"

  "Yes. I'm sorry my wiggling disturbed you. I'll try to lie very still. I dreamed about falling into the water again. I swam, but I battled helplessly as I sank." Aurora lay with eyes closed.

  Her eyes flew open as the mattress moved. "What are you doing?"

  "Aw, Aurora, surely you don't think I'm making a pass at you in your condition. I'm scooting a little closer your way so you can give me your hand more easily. Maybe if you hold my hand while you go to sleep, it'll keep away the nightmares. It's always worked with my daughter.”

  "Oh." Aurora held out her hand and he took it in his larger one. Work calluses on the inside of his palm rasped against her as she placed his strong hand between her two smaller hands. Soon she drifted off to sleep, and this time slept without the nightmares.

  Pain in her back and shoulder caused her to awaken. The lantern shed soft light. Will
's eyes were closed but she could not tell if he slept. From far away, she heard the low call of a train whistle. All sense of time ceased earlier in the evening, but she knew hours passed since her rescue. Hours to wait in that tree in the storm for this train, if she could even attract the engineer's attention with her little torch if the torch batteries had not yet discharged. No way could she have managed to hold on to that tree for this long, and she couldn’t fight that raging torrent if she had fallen back into the water. Aurora trembled uncontrollably.

  Will patted her gently and he slid close. "It's all right, it's all right. You're safe now." His voice was soft and gentle. "Don't think about the water anymore. Think about something pleasant and go back to sleep."

  His breath teased her ear, and she turned her face to rest against his bare shoulder. She slid her hand to rest on his chest.

  Will's arm tightened as he softly kissed her hair. "Everything will work out, you'll see."

  Nestled there, she believed him. She drifted back to sleep, secure against the storm raging outside.

  Gray light poured in the window between parted draperies and raised blinds when Aurora awakened. She lay immobile for a few minutes and gathered thoughts about her experiences of the previous day. The pillow beside her bore the indention of Will's head. She touched the pillow, moved her hand against the indention. Very slowly, she turned to inventory the room. Masculine and very attractive, just like the owner.

  On one of the walls and on most pieces of the furniture were photographs of a little girl at various ages. A wedding photograph of a younger Will proud and carefree beside his bride hung on the wall. Another photograph nearby showed an older Will and the same woman with the little girl.

  Aurora tried to focus on the face of the woman. What kind of person had Will's wife been? The woman in the photo appeared to be small with brown hair and eyes. She looked kind, with a sweet smile on a face very much like that of the little girl.