Love Imagines (Sully Point, Book 6)

by Smith, Nicole

  Almost conversationally, she continued talking. "See, this won't be so bad once we get the occlusive dressing in place. There, he can breathe now. That's it Ben, just breathe. You'll be okay. In fact, you may heal up in time to be in the play. Never really expected to be doctoring at a barbecue, but then I guess this means they can arrest Suzanne at least."

  Ben opened his eyes. He squinted up at her. "Do all models know how to deal with stab wounds?"

  "I seriously doubt it, but I'm not a model. I'm a doctor, which, it turns out, is beneficial for you."

  Ben appeared to be confused, and closed his eyes again.

  Doc Watson appeared at her side. "Nicely done, Doctor. The ambulance is almost here. If you want to go with him, I've gotten permission for you at the hospital to do what's needed."

  "Thanks. Yes, I do want to go with him."

  She sat back on her heels and looked up to find they were surrounded by everyone at the party. Applause started and got quite loud before she could quiet them down.

  "Hush now, all of you. He needs quiet. Make a path there for the emergency techs to get through," Rose said.

  The ambulance ride was quiet, as the paramedics worked on Ben with Rose looking on. They left her makeshift dressing in place until the surgeon at the hospital could be there to treat the wound.

  Rose sat with Ben's wrist in her hand, fingers on his pulse for the whole ride. She was reassured by how steady it seemed. A part of her, deep inside somewhere, below the doctor persona, was freaking out about what had happened. But Rose knew herself well enough to know she could hold her reaction together, keep calm and cool, as long as the emergency lasted. Later on when she was back at home, once she was certain he'd be okay, only then could she let herself feel everything.

  One thing, however, had become crystal clear to her. She was truly in love with this man.

  * * * *

  Rose was a doctor.

  The phrase stayed in his head, repeating over and over. Ben knew he'd been injured. He knew Suzanne had done it. But he couldn't seem to care about any of that when compared to the puzzle of the sentence 'Rose was a doctor.'

  It occurred to him that he might be avoiding the trauma of what had happened. But it did seem very strange to him, someone who was a doctor hiding their line of work. All this time, it hadn't made sense to him that she was a model. She was gorgeous enough for it, but she had a depth to her that hadn't fit that job. And she'd never been as concerned about her looks as he would have expected.

  He felt a twinge of pain, and then more of a deep ache. The pain med must be wearing off, he thought. Just as well, since he didn't want to get hooked on anything.

  "It's about time for your pain medication, Ben."

  His eyes popped open. Rose was sitting in a chair by his bed. She looked a bit tired with dark circles under her eyes.

  "How long have I been here?"

  "Since yesterday. It's around one in the afternoon of the next day."

  "Was I unconscious?"

  "For a bit after they worked on you. Then you were just asleep."

  "How did you know about the pain med?"

  "You were frowning, kind of flinching. I'm used to seeing signs of pain on people's faces."

  He took in her body posture. She didn't seem tense so he must be going to be all right. As if she was reading his mind, she started talking.

  "You're going to recover fully. Since you were in such excellent shape, the healing process is going to move quickly. Later today, they'll have you take a short walk."

  "What about Suzanne?"

  Her eyes flared wider but her voice remained calm and steady.

  "Suzanne is in the local jail at present. Her agent got her a lawyer who is already talking about her mental state. The expectation is that she will land in a facility for mentally disturbed criminals, eventually. The judge last night ruled no bail. She won't be coming after anyone."

  She stopped and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Sam and I have talked and agreed that we'll keep the security guys around until Suzanne is locked up somewhere else. I don't want to risk her somehow getting out. The sheriff and the guards have all said that it's over, but...I don't feel like we're safe yet."

  "I agree. I want to know she's been convicted and permanently locked up somewhere," he said.

  Rose smiled at him. "I'm glad we're in sync on that issue."

  "Why did you do it, Rose? Why lie about being a doctor? Something that is so clearly fundamental to who you are, and you pretend to be a model?"

  She sighed. "Would you believe I planned on telling you the truth yesterday? Then everything happened. The whole thing started back when we met. You assumed I was a model and I was...burned out from my work. I was coming to Sully Point for a rest and to re-think the direction I was going in. It seemed like a fun thing to do, pretending to be someone else. But everything got much more serious than I ever thought it could be. Once the Suzanne thing came up, I felt uncomfortable about pretending to be a model, and I've been trying to find the right time to tell you. I know it was stupid, and I apologize to you."

  "You seem different. And yes, apology accepted."

  "Different how?" she asked.

  "More serious, or calm or something...maybe it's your bedside manner as a doctor. Is my Rose still in there?"

  "Yes, it's all me, but being a doctor, working as a doctor, I've cultivated a certain persona. A way of being that is reassuring to patients. Confident, self-assured, caring, calm and steady no matter what is going on, with no signs of weakness or uncertainty. And I guess that is who I am when I'm at work. Over the years, it has sunk into my personality. But I've enjoyed being able to not be the doctor all the time since I've been here. I wasn't living very balanced before, with no personal life."

  A nurse came in with an injection to go into his I.V. and Ben frowned. "I don't want to get hooked on this stuff."

  "You won't," Rose said. "After this time, it will be in pill form on an as needed basis and at a much lower dosage. But you need to let your body heal, and it does that much better if you aren't in pain."

  "Have you stayed with me here the whole time? That's the same sundress."

  She smiled at him again. "Where else would I be?"

  The nurse left the room and Rose stood up. She leaned over the side of the bed and gently kissed him. He was already beginning to feel woozy from the drug.

  "I'm going to go home now and get some rest," Rose said. "Kevin and Leo are on duty right outside, so you can relax and sleep and heal. I'll be back later, okay?"

  "Yeah, okay. Rose...I'm glad you're a doctor."

  She chuckled. "Me too."

  "Rose..." He was having trouble holding onto his thoughts now, but one was very important to say.

  "Yes, Ben?"

  "Gotta tell you. Important. I love you."

  As he slipped into sleep, he heard her say, "I love you, too."

  * * * *

  Sophia was waiting at her apartment. Rose took one look at her mother and rushed into her arms. The sobbing was a release of all her terror, concern, worry, franticness and tension of the past twenty-four hours. Sophia had walked her over to the couch, and Rose's head was on her mother's shoulder.

  "I hope this wasn't silk," Rose said, touching the material of the blouse. "I cried all over it."

  "No, it's fine."

  "I've been so scared, Mom. I can barely believe it all happened. If Ben hadn't jumped on her, she was going to stab me."

  Sophia shuddered. "Thank goodness for that man. He was very brave."

  "I know. I don't think Mel and Owen would have reached me in time. They were running towards us, but Ben got there right as she had started to move her hand with the knife."

  "Darling, you must have been terrified."

  "Yes. And then I was even more scared for him, and it turned out I had a right to be."

  "But you did so well then, taking over, telling everyone what to do to help."

  "Maybe. Doctor Rose functio
ns well in a crisis but as you can see, she falls apart afterward."

  "I think that's healthy. You don't want to keep all this emotion bottled up inside. That can't be helping you."

  "I did though. I kept it all inside for the past year at my old job. No wonder I was so burnt out. But I've decided, Mom. I'm going to stay in Sully Point and work with Doc Watson."

  Sophia hugged her and then searched her face as she pulled away and began to dry her eyes.

  "You're sure?"

  "Yes. No matter what happens with Ben, I need to work as a doctor. Stepping into the hospital here was like coming home. I want to be around all of you, all my family. And I like this town."

  "When will you tell Ben?"

  "When he's recovered enough to hear it."

  She stood up and looked down at her mother. "I'm going to make some coffee. Want some?"

  Sophia shook her head. "No, darling, and neither do you. Have some juice or water. You need to sleep. This isn't trauma central where you have to have caffeine to keep going. Sleep now so you can visit Ben later."

  Rose laughed. "Yes, Mom. I promise, no caffeine."

  Sophia stood up. "All right then, I'm going to go, if you're okay."

  "I am now. Thanks so much for being here. I needed my mother today."

  "I thought as much." She hugged Rose. "I love you, sweet girl."

  "You haven't called me that since I was twelve."

  "Doesn't mean it isn't still true. I'll call you later."

  Rose walked her mother to the door and opened it. Mel was standing on the landing and nodded to her.

  "Watch over her," Sophia said. "Bye-bye, darling."

  Rose stood at the top of the stairs and watched until her mother drove off.

  Mel said, "We'll be standing guard while you sleep. Me and Owen."

  "Okay sure. Here," she said and took her cell phone out of a side pocket in the dress. She handed it to him. "I don't want to turn it off. Tell anyone who calls that I'm sleeping, unless it's the hospital with news of Ben. Then come wake me up, okay?"

  He smiled at her. "Yes, ma'am."

  She walked in, shut the door, and decided she could forego the drink. All she wanted was sleep. She took off her sandals and headed for the bedroom. When she saw the bed, she didn't even bother to undress but just lay down and let the darkness of sleep take her.

  * * * *

  She woke up screaming. Mel came rushing into her bedroom.

  "Rose! You're safe!" he said loudly.

  She stopped screaming and sat up, shivering. "I was back there and she was stabbing me and then Ben, over and over."

  "It's all over now. Bad dreams may come for a while after a trauma like that, though."

  "Yes, I know. I just didn't expect to get any. I've been around a lot of trauma."

  "But not with someone you...uh...care about."

  She thought about it. It changed things, loving someone.

  "Thanks for coming to the rescue, Mel. I think I'll get up and have some juice."

  "Here's your phone back. A few people called but they all said they'd call back when you were up. I'll be right outside the front door."

  After he left, she took off the extremely wrinkled sundress and tossed it across the hamper to be cleaned. She pulled on some lounge pants in a caramel color, made out of some kind of stretchy yet silky material, and put on a scoop-necked white tee to go with them.

  Once she reached the kitchen, she realized she was ravenous. She discovered her fridge had been filled with leftovers from the barbecue. It occurred to her that she didn't know if they'd continued with it after the ambulance left or what.

  She filled a plate with grilled chicken, and grilled asparagus. She didn't bother heating any of them, but dug in and ate it all cold. For dessert she found the fruit salad someone had made, with fresh pineapple, pitted cherries, blueberries, strawberries and blood oranges.

  Finally she made a cup of coffee, walking with it in her hands to sit in the living room. She sipped her coffee and remembered to check the time, only to find out she had slept for eight hours and it was now ten at night. She quickly called the hospital to check on Ben. The nurse in charge reassured her and said that Ben had eaten a bit and then slept more, and that he hadn't been awake enough for her to have visited him.

  Rose set the phone down with a sense of relief. She sat there looking back over the past day and a half and knew they'd been lucky it hadn't been worse. Her phone rang.

  "Maggie? What are you doing calling me this late? Don't you go to bed early now that you're pregnant?"

  "After everything that happened, I took a long nap this afternoon, so I could be up tonight. I figured you had to be awake by now. I wanted to know if you'd like to come over here for the night. We can sit up and eat brownies and drink milkshakes and talk, and you can sleep here."

  She thought about what Maggie was offering. After her screaming nightmare, she thought she might like to be around people.

  "Okay, I'm heading right over. I'll just throw some clothes for tomorrow in a bag. See you soon."

  "Cool! I'm putting the brownies in the oven as we speak. See ya."

  Rose went to the front door and let Mel know she was going to spend the night at Maggie's house. Then she gathered up jeans and a shirt with sneakers for tomorrow and slipped on some sandals for going out. She didn't bother changing clothes from the lounging wear.

  Owen had the car waiting and they headed off to Maggie's. On the way there, Beth called proposing the same deal. When she heard about the brownies and milkshakes she told Rose she'd be right over, too.

  Within just a few minutes, Rose found herself being hugged tightly by Maggie. As they walked into the kitchen, arm in arm, Maggie said, "It could have been you in the hospital, Rose."

  "Yes, I know. And unfortunately, it's Ben. But he's going to heal and be okay."

  "Brilliant. Glad to hear it. Eric, did you take some of those brownies?"

  Her husband turned innocent emerald eyes to her. "Who, me?"

  She advanced on him, and he took off at a jog for his computer lab, laughing.

  "He's all caught up in some breakthrough, so it will be just us."

  Hearing a knock on the door, Rose said, "And Beth."

  The sisters sat at the big rustic table in the kitchen and had chocolate milkshakes and chocolate brownies. Rose was sure she'd burst, but it all tasted delicious.

  She learned that some people had left after the incident at the barbecue but all the family had stayed, albeit with a much more somber mood. Evidently Frank and his daughter, Holly, both thought they would need a celebration party when Ben got out of the hospital, so they were planning a dinner or something at Holly's big house.

  "Guys, don't go all overboard about Ben. We don't know yet where it's going to end up," Rose told the two women.

  "But—you love him! It's as obvious as—" Maggie began saying, to be interrupted.

  "Okay, Rose, we won't push," Beth said firmly and gave Maggie a look. "How's Ben taking the news that you aren't a model?"

  "He seems fine with it. Like I told him, it was just some silliness. I can't stop being a doctor. That much I've realized since I've been here."

  "Will you go back to Philadelphia?" Maggie asked.

  "No, I won't. I'll have some news about what I'll be doing when we have the celebration party."

  "Aw, c'mon, tell."

  Rose laughed. "You sound about ten years old, mom-to-be. I need to talk with someone first."

  "Ben, I bet," Maggie said, nodding wisely.

  Rose didn't say that it was Doc Watson she was thinking of talking to.

  They all went to bed around midnight, Beth staying over, too. Rose laughed upon hearing about Beth's first stay in the automated house, when the room woke her up in the morning with blaring music. Maggie showed them how to set the alarm at a more reasonable sound level in their rooms.

  As she fell asleep, Rose pondered on how much it helped to be with family. It was definitely the right c
hoice to stay in Sully Point. The question of where Ben would be living would get resolved somehow.

  Chapter 10

  The morning light colored the white hospital sheets as it filtered through a prism in the beveling of the window. Ben glanced at it curiously, thinking how odd it was that a hospital had beveled windows.

  He felt a dull ache in his chest, but it wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday's pain level. As he yawned widely, the nurse came into his room with a pain pill.

  "Don't worry. This one is much milder than the pain meds you had before. It won't knock you out."

  "Alright." He took the pill. "When will I see a doctor?"

  "Oh, Doc will be here in just a few minutes. He's making rounds now, and I just saw him. Your Doctor Rose called a little while ago and said she'd be in about now as well."

  "Rose called you?"

  "Yes. She didn't want to wake you up."

  "Are all the doctors called 'Doc' around here?"

  "Well, mostly it's just Doc Watson. We have others that might be here as specialists, or when Doc goes on a vacation, but he's the main doctor. Of course, there's the surgeon, the one who worked on you, but we share him with another town's hospital. Now, what would you like for breakfast? We can get you whatever you want."

  Bemused, Ben asked, "Do you have pancakes? I feel the need for something decadent like pancakes."

  "I don't know how decadent they are, but sure, the cook can whip them up for you in no time. What else? Something to drink?"

  "Orange juice, some milk, those go well with pancakes and syrup."

  "Okay, I'll go put in your order. Doc should be here soon."

  As she walked out of the room, he thought he'd never heard someone placing an order like they were in a restaurant, when in a hospital.

  "How're you feeling, Ben?" Doc said as he came into the room.

  "Much better. I'm surprised at how much better."

  "You slept a lot and that helped. Plus, the wound was very straightforward. How does the idea of a walk sound to you today?"

  "I think I can do it. How long will I be in here?"

  "That depends on how the walking goes," Doc said with a smile. "First we'll have you sit in a chair, and then we'll do the walk. If you handle those tasks okay, I'd say you might leave tomorrow. That is...if you think you could go home with someone. I don't want you alone at this stage."