Private Lives

by Karen Young

  “I want to see her.”

  “And I understand that. I really do.” Again, Megan looked sympathetic. “But there’s no time just now. She’s surrounded by a trauma team and everyone is focused on saving her life.” She stood up. “I know you’re anxious, but until she’s out of surgery, we won’t even know the extent of her injuries.”

  “And you’re sure Jesse’s all right?”

  She sat down again with a smile. “Nothing’s sure in this business, but I saw her myself and there were no obvious injuries other than a bruise or two. Is she very shy?”

  “Shy? No, not really.” Elizabeth glanced at Ryan. “Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

  Megan’s smile faded. “We tried several times to get her to tell us whether she felt any pain, but she wouldn’t answer. Usually we can get a child’s name and frequently their age, but Jesse refused to talk.” Two lines appeared as her brows drew together in a frown. “It happens sometimes when a child is traumatized, which is certainly the case here. At any rate, as soon as she has that CAT scan, providing we find nothing wrong, I’ll see that she’s brought here to you. That should reassure her. She can probably go home.”

  “Is there someone to leave her with at your house?” Ryan asked.

  Elizabeth looked at him blankly. She’d almost forgotten he was there. “What?”

  “Is there someone she can stay with? I’m assuming you’ll want to be at the hospital tonight until Gina comes out of her surgery, right?”

  “Oh. Yes, of course.” Elizabeth put a hand to her forehead and tried to think. “Louie. He came with me to the hospital. He dropped me at the entrance then went to find a place to park the car. He’ll stay with her. Next to Gina or me, Jesse would choose Louie.”

  “I’m here, Lizzie.”

  Everyone turned as Louie came into the room. His face was creased with concern as Elizabeth stood up. One look at her and he opened his arms. “Is it bad?” he asked, taking her into a bear hug of an embrace. He seemed to take no notice of anyone else.

  “I think he’s killed her, Louie,” Elizabeth said, her control breaking now. Here at last was someone she could safely lean on. Burying her face in his shoulder, she gave in to despairing sobs. “I told her not to go! I knew he was dangerous, but she was afraid of what he’d do if she refused.”

  “Gina’s dead?” Over her head, he looked piercingly at Megan, her scrubs identifying her as the only medical person in the room.

  “No, but she’s critical,” Megan told him.

  “And Jesse?” Louie looked suddenly grave. The hand stroking Elizabeth’s back went still.

  “She’s having a CAT scan,” Elizabeth managed with a swipe at her nose. On his feet now, Ryan took a box of tissues from a table and offered them.

  “Here, sit down, Lizzie.” Louie urged her back to the settee and sat down beside her while she dabbed at her face with the tissues. “Now, give me some details. What about Gina? Will she make it?”

  “This is the person to ask,” Elizabeth said, with a look at Megan. “Dr. Blackstone says it’s impossible to tell right now.”

  Louie shot another glance at Megan’s name tag, taking note of it. He looked keenly into her face. “Is that right, Dr. Blackstone?”

  “Yes. Gina’s critical, but Jesse—as far as I’m able to tell—seems fine. But to double check, we’re giving her a CAT scan, as Elizabeth said. Now,” she moved to the door, “I’ve given everyone as much information as I know. I need to get back to Gina.”

  “You do your best, Doctor,” Louie said, as Elizabeth blew her nose. She’d probably shocked him and Megan with her outburst about Austin, but it was true. She knew he was responsible and knew, too, that he would go to his grave denying it. “Gina’s special to us,” Louie told Megan. “And her little girl needs her. So you keep that in mind as you do your job, you hear?”

  “Yes. Yes, I will.” Her tone quiet and confident, Megan gave them the briefest of smiles. But at the door, she paused and looked back at Elizabeth. “I meant it when I said I wish we’d met under happier circumstances, Elizabeth. I’m so sorry it had to be this way.”

  Elizabeth pressed damp tissues to her mouth. “Just don’t let her die. Please.”

  It was a promise no doctor could make. Megan said instead, “There’s a chapel on this floor. It never closes. In case you need help from someone with far more power than a doctor.”

  “Thank you.” Elizabeth felt her throat go tight with the threat of more tears.

  “Blackstone,” Louie said, his gaze lingering on the doorway after Megan was gone. “So that’s your sister, eh, Lizzie?”

  Sitting back on the settee, Elizabeth rested her head against the wall. “It seems so,” she said.

  “Funny the way things work out,” Louie said, stroking his beard. His expression was unreadable as he watched the door.

  “Yeah, funny.” She’d already upset him once tonight blabbing about her childhood. She wasn’t getting into that again.

  “Good to have Jesse and Gina in the hands of your own flesh and blood,” Louie said now, giving her a keen look.

  “Let it go, Louie,” she said and turned her face to the wall.

  Elizabeth hated hospitals. Her very earliest memory had been the day she’d waited in the hospital with her father while her mother gave birth. She remembered going to the newborn nursery and being lifted up to look in the wide window where the babies were displayed like so many wrapped peaches in specially formed trays. They all looked alike to her, except some were in pink blankets and some in blue blankets. If her father had pointed out their new baby, she didn’t recall it, although he must have. Then, the next time she’d been in the hospital, it was to await the birth of another baby barely a year later. Only that time she had been robbed of her mother. She didn’t recall leaving the hospital or being told that her mother had died. She just recalled being at home with a stranger who said Elizabeth could call her Nana. A year later, there was the fire and she was told that her father had died in a hospital.

  She felt the same deep foreboding now as then.

  Thirteen

  “Jesse should be finished with her CAT scan by now, don’t you think?” Elizabeth rose from the settee to take a worried look down the hall. Seeing nothing, she glanced at the clock on the wall. Another half hour had passed with no word about Gina or Jesse.

  “You’d swear the clock stopped by the way time slows down in a hospital,” Louie said, offering her a can of cola. “Here, a little sugar and caffeine’ll buck you up some. Megan would let us know if anything was wrong, Lizzie. Try not to worry.”

  Ryan had been aware of the older man’s solicitous attitude to Liz since the moment he’d entered the waiting room. Louie clearly had a soft spot for her and from his reaction when he’d heard about Gina and Jesse, he cared for them, as well. Why else would he be here in the hospital in the middle of the night? Even so, it seemed his efforts weren’t making much difference. Elizabeth couldn’t manage anything close to a smile to reassure him.

  “It’s impossible not to worry until Gina’s out of the woods, Louie.” Her voice had a smokey, sexy quality after that spate of crying. In her anxiety, she kept running her hands through her hair. It was now a tangle of rich, auburn curls framing her face. A beautiful face, he found himself thinking, even without makeup. He’d never seen her looking anything but buttoned up and unapproachable in a man-tailored suit or in a crisp shirt and trim pants. Caught off guard by the call from Megan, she’d thrown on well-worn jeans and a soft T-shirt. The effect was more to Ryan’s taste.

  Damn! He got up from the chair and walked to the door. He thought of Jennifer’s suspicions that Liz had a thing for him and decided that his little girl had it backward. He was more attracted to Liz than she ever could be to him, in spite of what he knew of their connection through her father.

  “You have to put a good face on it,” Louie cautioned her now, “for Jesse’s sake.”

  “Yeah,” Ryan said, deciding to throw
in his two cents. “Be careful making rash statements about Austin killing her as you did a few minutes ago. First of all, she’s alive, not dead, and even if she doesn’t survive, making accusations like that could land you in some very serious trouble.”

  “Austin may have a good story,” she said with color flaring in her cheeks. “In fact, he’s probably working on it right now, but you’ll never convince me that the accident happened the way he’ll tell it.”

  “Shouldn’t you hear it before condemning him?” Ryan asked.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met,” Louie said, standing now and looking at Ryan.

  Ryan put out his hand. “Ryan Paxton.”

  “Austin’s lawyer,” Elizabeth explained as they shook.

  “Well, he’s got to have one,” Louie said with his usual lack of rancor. “Everybody does, even abusive bastards.”

  Ryan shot a keen look at the old man. “You have proof of that?”

  “Nothing that would hold up in a court of law,” Louie said, sinking back onto the settee. “If I did, I’d’ve testified to it to Judge Hetherington. As it is, I only have my observations of that girl for the past five years or so that I’ve known her. Had the look of an abused woman, if you know what I mean.”

  “Not really,” Ryan said, intrigued by something about Louie Christian. “I don’t have many acquaintances who go around abusing their wives and children.”

  “Gina wasn’t his wife,” Elizabeth said, in a bitter tone. “And he never had any intention of marrying her.”

  “Do you think she knew that?”

  “I think she was in denial over everything about Austin.”

  “Even though you say he was frequently violent? What was going on that she stayed in the relationship for so long? Why didn’t she walk away after the first time?”

  “Good question.” Louie stood at the door looking toward the elevators down the hall. “Why don’t you ask Austin himself? He just got out of the elevator and he’s heading this way.”

  A moment later, Austin appeared. His expression was appropriately grave as he glanced briefly at the three people in the room. “I was told everyone was in here,” he said to Ryan, speaking in a somber tone. “Did you tell them what happened?”

  “Yeah, as much as I knew…which wasn’t a lot.” Ryan let a moment of silence linger. “Do you have any news or did you come straight from HPD?”

  “About Gina? No. You know how hospitals are, especially the ER. They don’t tell you squat.” Austin raked fingers through his hair, then rubbed both hands over his face. “God, this is a nightmare.”

  “Gina’s critical, Austin,” Elizabeth said. “She might not make it.”

  “Jesus.” He sat down abruptly and dropped his head in his hands.

  “Was she upset when you left the restaurant?”

  “Upset?” He raised his head and looked directly at her. “No. What makes you think she was upset?”

  “Ryan said she was driving too fast. She knows Memorial Drive well. She knows it twists and winds and that it’s not always well lit at night. She wouldn’t drive recklessly unless there was a good reason. What did you do to upset her?”

  Austin looked suddenly at Ryan. “What the hell did you tell them? She got in the goddamned car and drove like a maniac because that’s the way she acts after a few drinks. She hit a tree.”

  Elizabeth looked at him coldly. “You’re saying she was drunk, Austin?”

  “I’m saying she had a few drinks.”

  “She wouldn’t get drunk while Jesse was with her. So something else must have been going on.”

  “Well, if something else was going on, I don’t know about it. We had dinner, we talked a little in the parking lot, then we both got in our cars and left.” He glanced at Ryan. “Hell, I even followed them to be sure they got home okay.”

  “But you didn’t think she was too drunk to risk your daughter’s safety then,” Elizabeth questioned, openly sarcastic. “Is that what you’re saying?”

  “I’m saying I could have misjudged whether she was drunk or not.”

  “And speaking of Jesse,” Elizabeth said deliberately, “you haven’t asked about her. Or do you care?”

  He looked quickly from Elizabeth to Louie to Ryan. “She’s okay, isn’t she? I mean, when we got her out of the car, she didn’t seem to have any injuries. A scratch or two, kinda shaken up, but nothing else. She wasn’t even crying.”

  “Maybe she was in shock, Austin,” Elizabeth said through set teeth.

  “Where is she now?” He looked around as if he might have missed her in the room.

  “She’s having a CAT scan,” Ryan said, moving to the door. “Why don’t you and I step out into the hall and discuss the arrangements for Jesse. If—”

  Elizabeth was suddenly on her feet. “What do you mean, arrangements?”

  “He means arrangements for taking Jesse home with me,” Austin said with spite. “Where she belongs.”

  Ignoring Austin, Elizabeth appealed to Ryan. “Don’t let him do this, Ryan. If you’d seen her when they left tonight, you’d know that turning her over to Austin is the worst thing that could happen. She’s traumatized already by the accident and by seeing Gina so badly hurt. She needs to be with Louie and me right now.”

  “She needs to be with me!” Austin said, and shook off the hand Ryan put on his shoulder.

  “She screamed and begged Gina not to make her go with her father tonight, Ryan,” Elizabeth said, still ignoring Austin. “Please do the right thing.”

  Austin’s face went tight with fury. “Hey, I don’t have to hang around and take this kind of shit, Ryan. Do any of you realize that I’ve been through hell tonight, too? I’m taking my kid home with me…where she belongs, as I said before. Where she’s always belonged.”

  “Ryan—” Elizabeth’s eyes clung to his. Her hand was at her throat as if something threatened her ability to breathe. “Please believe me. Jesse refused to get in his car just to ride to the restaurant. They finally forced her into Gina’s. She didn’t want to go! What does that tell you?”

  Louie had been silent and watchful, but now he spoke up. “Lizzie’s right, Ryan. I can vouch for that. For some reason, Jesse has been reluctant to see or talk about her daddy lately. It seems best for Austin to leave her in Lizzie’s care just until the first fright of this night has eased somewhat. For the sake of the little girl.”

  “C’mon, Ryan, we’re wasting time here.” Unmoved by anything said so far, Austin took a few steps, but Ryan put up a hand to delay him and spoke to Elizabeth.

  “When I mentioned arrangements for Jesse, it was my intention to suggest she stay with you, Liz. I—”

  “What the hell!” Austin exploded, looking ready to square off to Ryan. “Who’re you representing here, for chrissake?”

  Ryan’s stare would have stopped a speeding train. His patience with his client was wearing thin and it showed on his face. Austin must have seen it. He swallowed whatever else he wanted to say and turned away in disgust. “Give me a few minutes with Austin, okay?” Ryan said to Elizabeth.

  She finally nodded reluctantly, then watched as Ryan urged Austin ahead of him with a not-so-gentle nudge. Austin, sputtering and furious, shifted away irritably, then as if to demonstrate he wasn’t going to be maneuvered, picked up his pace and stalked off down the hall. With a last apologetic backward glance, Ryan followed.

  Neither Austin nor Ryan noticed as Lindsay stepped hurriedly from the elevator. She paused to get her bearings, breathing hard as if she’d been running. Spotting the waiting room, she rushed directly to it, startling Elizabeth and Louie. She dropped her shoulder bag on the floor and went to Elizabeth.

  “Megan called me,” Lindsay explained, putting a hand on her heart. “’Scuse me, I’m out of breath. I jogged all the way from the parking lot.” Pushing aside an old issue of Time magazine, she sat down beside Elizabeth. “She told me about Gina’s accident. I got here as soon as I could. How is she?” She reached for Elizabeth’s li
mp hand and brought it to her cheek. Her blue eyes were soft with sympathy. “I’m so sorry. Have you heard anything?”

  Had the accident to Gina happened a few weeks ago, Elizabeth would have been cool to Lindsay for just showing up and assuming she had a right to be here. But tonight, she was too bombarded with emotion. Sympathy and concern on the part of her sister was hard to resist. Later, when she had more energy, she would reestablish boundaries. “No, we’re still waiting,” she said.

  “That’s so tough, isn’t it?” Lindsay was now stroking Elizabeth’s arm.

  “Yes.” Elizabeth felt tears start to her eyes. She should move away, but somehow…

  “Maybe Megan can give us an update,” Lindsay suggested in the tone of someone used to demanding results. “Have you seen her?”

  “Yes, but it’s been…awhile. I think she’s with Gina…in surgery.” She touched a tissue to her nose and blew gently. “Right now, we’re waiting for someone to tell us about Jesse.”

  Lindsay frowned. “Megan said Jesse was okay. Has something happened to change that?”

  “Who knows?” Elizabeth said.

  “I’m afraid we’re out of the loop,” Louie said.

  Lindsay glanced at him as if seeing him for the first time. She smiled, but it was nothing like her usual celebrity-bright greeting. There was curiosity with a hint of puzzlement as she noted the ease that existed between the old man and Elizabeth. She leaned forward, putting out her hand. “Hello, I’m Lindsay Blackstone, Elizabeth’s sister.”

  “Hello, yourself.” Louie got to his feet, ignoring the polite sounds she made that it wasn’t necessary and took her hand. He studied her face with the same intense look he’d given Megan. “Louie Christian, Elizabeth’s neighbor.”

  “I’m glad there’s someone here to be with her,” Lindsay said, before turning back to Elizabeth. “A hospital waiting room is a lonely place, isn’t it?”

  “Very.”