Maggie's Mountain

by Mya Barrett

  Hale nodded as he stopped at the first door.

  “Mr. Warrick, your mother is—”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  “But Mr. Warrick—”

  Trent hurried past him. “I’ll check on our mother.”

  The receptionist, looking slightly harassed, didn’t seem to know what to say. “But you aren’t immediate family.”

  Hale stared at her, daring her to tell him not to go in. “I’m her fiancé.”

  “Oh…oh!” Her eyes went wide.

  “Hell of a proposal,” Trent called back over his shoulder, laughter in his voice.

  Hale didn’t reply; instead he slid open the door to Maggie’s room. He nearly collapsed when he saw her lying on the bed, her eyes closed, but her face flushed with life. It took him a full minute to realize Jolene was sitting in the mauve chair beside the hospital cot.

  “Seems like we keep meeting here.” Jo sent him a reassuring look, stating without words just how terrified he must look.

  “Maybe you and Ben should come over to our house for dinner. Break up the monotony.” His voice was still shaky, but at least his heart was slowing.

  Jolene raised her eyebrows at his statement. “Our house?”

  “We’re getting married.”

  The pretty blond bit her bottom lip, as if she were trying to hold in a laugh. “Does Maggie know that?”

  “She will.” He walked over to the bed, laid a hand on her arm. Her skin was warm underneath his palm; she was alive and breathing, and that’s what mattered. “What happened?”

  Jo let out a long breath. “To be honest I’m not exactly sure. Some idiot stole a dually truck from the Blackburn place, and then somehow managed to drive it into the cabin. Took out the fireplace and most of the living room wall.”

  But she was okay. Now that he was closer, he could see the scrape on her cheek, the shallow cut on her neck, the bruise on her jaw. Her arm, which was resting on top of the green blanket, was wrapped in a sturdy ace bandage from her hand to her elbow. Her leg was uncovered, as well; it was encased in a cast, her delicate toes peeking out from the bottom, her swollen, bruised knee anchoring the top. She was beat up, yes, but she was alive.

  The door opened, a muted sound that announced the scrub clad doctor. He was consulting the chart in his hands as he stepped inside. He looked, Hale thought, to barely be out of school, with his white blond hair and unlined face screaming collegiate frat boy.

  He looked up, his expression encouraging. “Her labs look fine.”

  “What are her injuries?” Hale asked, holding Maggie’s hand in his own.

  “I’m sorry, you are…?”

  “Her fiancé. Her husband just as soon as I can get a judge here.”

  The young man turned questioning eyes to Jolene, who simply shrugged. “Oh, well, uh, Mrs. Brannon has a broken leg, some bruised ribs, and torn ligaments in her forearm. Otherwise, she’s in good condition, especially considering the circumstances.”

  He knew the doctor was trying to reassure him, but Hale couldn’t keep the roaring concern from his head. “Shouldn’t she be awake?”

  “We gave her pain medication just a few minutes ago.”

  “But what about a concussion?”

  Jolene interrupted with a soft voice. “Hale, they made sure she was okay to take the medicine before they gave her anything.”

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willing himself to find calm. “Of course, I’m sorry. Thank you.”

  “Glad we could help.” The doctor smiled kindly. “We’ll keep her overnight for observation.”

  “A private room,” Hale said automatically.

  “I’ll let them know.”

  The doctor left; several beats passed before Maggie’s friend said anything.

  “You should see your mother, Hale.”

  “I will.” But he wasn’t quite ready to leave Maggie yet.

  Jolene seemed to empathize, because she gently tucked Maggie’s exposed arm underneath the blanket instead of insisting he leave.

  “Does she know you want to marry her?”

  He shifted his weight, kept his eyes on the woman in the bed. “I’ve told her I want to be with her.”

  “But you haven’t actually proposed?”

  He fought between laughter and fear as he met Jo’s gaze; the laughter won. “It’s crazy, huh?”

  Jolene grinned back at him as she shook her head. “Not when it comes to you and Maggie. Don’t let her think too much or for too long, Hale.”

  “I won’t. I meant it when I said I was going to marry her tonight.”

  “Oh, she’ll just love that. Married in a hospital gown. I realize I said not to let her think about it too long, but don’t scare her, either. It’s a fine line, Hale, and you’ll have to walk it.” She gave him a searching look before she continued. “Since you’re going to be as good as a brother-in-law, can I give you a piece of advice?”

  He nodded. “Sure.”

  Jolene gave his forearm a soft squeeze. “Let her have time to enjoy being engaged to you. And you will be; I can promise you right now Maggie will say yes. But let her wallow a little, let her buy a box full of bridal magazines and make a binder full of ideas.” She shrugged as the corners of her mouth twitched. “Okay, maybe let Maggie and me and do that; it’s what best friends do.”

  “Sounds like a lot of waiting,” he groused.

  “Yeah, it does, but you’d be surprised how fast a few months can fly by.” She laughed quietly at his annoyed look, then her gaze became serious. “Maggie didn’t get to do all the things brides usually do when she married Chris. Oh, she said it was because she didn’t want all the fuss, and maybe that was a small part of it. The real reasons, though, were her mother’s health and fear of the animosity in town. I’m not saying she wanted a huge ceremony with hundreds of guests; that just doesn’t fit her personality.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” he said, and gazed back down at the woman he loved.

  “Trust me when I say I understand how you feel; but Maggie…you should give her a chance to be a bride, Hale.”

  He stroked the top of Maggie’s hand with his thumb. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. She can have all the flowers, all the guests, all the goose liver pâté she wants, or we can stand outside in her garden and have preserves and homemade cake. It doesn’t matter, I don’t need the trappings; she can have whatever makes her happy.”

  Jo smiled again. “She just might take you up on that garden offer…but your mother might object if you skip the lavish do. Truthfully, she might object, period.”

  He let loose a deep grumble, caught between love for his mother and love for Maggie. “My mother…I need to go check on her.”

  “I’ll stay here. If she wakes up while you’re gone, I’ll let you know.”

  With a final squeeze of Maggie’s hand and a quick thank you to Jolene, Hale eased out of the first exam room and down to his mother’s. He opened the door to his brother holding Cordelia, cradling her against his chest. She was disheveled, her clothes dirt stained and torn, her hands skinned, her bun hanging slightly lopsided as hair escaped willy-nilly. Hale was so shocked by the picture that he wasn’t sure what he should do.

  Trent didn’t give him a chance to retreat. “Hale’s here.”

  Their mother looked up, tears welling in her red rimmed eyes as she motioned him closer. “I’m so sorry; I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t seem to stop crying.”

  Hale pulled a tissue from a nearby box, handed it to her, and watched as she dabbed at the tears on her cheeks. “Are you all right?”

  Cordelia gave a jerky nod. “I’m…I’m fine. Oh, Hale, it was awful. Maggie…she threw me out of the way. If she hadn’t turned me around—but she did. She pushed me away and took my place. She took my place, Hale. She saved me.”

  Trent brushed a wild curl of hair from her forehead. “You thought she’d let you get hit?”

  “After what I did, what I said, how I acted
…I don’t know if I could have blamed her.”

  Hale didn’t want to add to his mother’s obvious upset, so was careful with the anger rising just beneath his concern. “What did you say to her, Mom?”

  Cordelia had the grace to look away for a moment before she replied. “I went to her house to tell her to leave you alone. I was going to give her a check.”

  Trent interrupted the explanation with a quick laugh. “And she refused to take your money, right?”

  “As a matter of fact, she told me she didn’t want it, or my life, or even the prestige of our name. I…was having trouble believing it.”

  “And then the truck,” Hale put in.

  She nodded. “Then the truck. I couldn’t believe it. She didn’t have to do that. If she’d let me stay there, I would have…the truck would have run me over. She wouldn’t have had me standing in her way.”

  Hale let his mother’s complete confusion ease some of his anger. “I’ve tried to tell you, Mom, she’s not the person you think she is. She never has been.”

  Cordelia didn’t reply; she patted Trent’s hand and wiped at another stray tear.

  “I’m asking her to marry me, as soon as she wakes up.”

  His announcement brought total silence. Trent was staring at him, a mix of admiration and shock on his face, and his mother was gazing at him as if he’d lost his mind.

  “Hale, you can’t! You barely know the girl.”

  “I know enough.”

  Trent shook his head. “Well, big brother, I have to admit it sounds a lot like you’ve lost your mind.”

  Hale grinned, unabashed. “Maybe I have. But the fact is when I think about my life in a year, five years, twenty years from now, I can only see myself with Maggie.”

  Cordelia huffed. “She’ll never agree, and I won’t give you my blessing. If you do this it will be against my wishes.”

  His mother’s shoulders were straight now, her jaw set in staunch determination, but there was something desperately sad in her gaze that belied her posture. He wished he could change her; he wanted nothing more than to somehow make her see she was only hurting herself. He supposed the years living with his father, and the years believing she’d been wronged by an innocent woman, made it almost impossible for the situation to be easily resolved.

  Hale reached and covered her cold fingers with his hand. “I’d appreciate your blessing, Mother, but I won’t insist. I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t want to pressure you, either. I know this is hard, and I don’t expect you to change your mind when you’ve had it made up for nearly thirty years. I love you and you’re important to me, but so is Maggie. It’s your choice.” Hale turned to Trent. “Are you okay with all of this?”

  “I like her; I think you’ll make each other happy.”

  Their mother gave a little jerk of her body, stiffening against his brother. Trent ignored her attempt to pull away, instead holding her closer.

  “Thank you.” Hale paused, then placed a kiss on his mother’s cheek. “I’m going back to take care of Maggie, but I’ll be back later to check on you.”

  Cordelia, flustered and overwhelmed, fought back another bout of tears. “This whole situation…how am I supposed to explain it to my friends? It all just sounds so absurd.”

  “It’s romantic,” Trent protested. “You’re just upset because you know Maggie won’t give you a chance to drape tulle over every available surface; but if you play your cards right, you might be able to talk her into a sit down dinner reception at the club.”

  “Enough of your nonsense, Trent. Your brother is about to make a colossal mistake.”

  “Hale’s made plenty of mistakes, mother. This may or may not be one of them. Why don’t you give him enough room to figure that out for himself?” Trent looked at Hale and smiled. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

  “Let me know if you need anything,” Hale replied. “Mother, try to get some rest.”

  He turned and left the room, his mind already sorting through the words he wanted to use when he asked Maggie to marry him.

  Chapter Twenty

  Maggie woke slowly, her head groggy and her body strangely light. She felt as if she were just floating on the edge of reality, an edge that compelled her to continue gliding along. It was a nice place to be, this not quite in the world feeling. She wondered how long she could linger here.

  “Come on, sweetheart. Time to wake up for good. You’ve been teasing us with your in and out routine all night.”

  Hale’s voice pressed its way into her thoughts. It was nice to have his voice here with her. It added a happy warmth to the world.

  “Oh, no, baby, come on back to us. You drifted off in the middle of our last conversation.”

  Back to him…that thought brought bliss. There was a giggle from somewhere; a moment later she realized it was from her own throat.

  “Laughing is a good sign.” Her friend’s voice added to the cozy atmosphere. Jolene actually sounded as if she were going to burst into laughter. It was good that her friend was feeling as blissful as she was.

  “Great, you two are laughing at me now. Fine, make me the butt of your jokes all you want, just open those gorgeous eyes.”

  He thought her eyes were gorgeous. That sent an electric thrill along her sluggish bones. Maybe she should do what he was asking. After all, she did enjoying looking at him. He was just so handsome. She tried to pry her eyelids up, but they were more reluctant than she’d anticipated. She couldn’t imagine why she couldn’t open her eyes; she’d had plenty of sleep the night before. And it had been so comfortable, so lovely, to lie curled in Hale’s arms.

  She should really wake up; she had a long day ahead, and Mac could do with an afternoon hike in the woods. Those odd dreams she’d been having, half nightmare, half dreamscape, played along her mind, provoking her just enough to raise her curiosity. She should really talk to Hale and Jolene about the odd dreams filled with grotesque sounds and staccato voices. She managed to get one eyelid up a fraction of an inch before it fell shut again. This was crazy, she thought, and forced her eyes half open.

  “There’s my girl.” Hale was staring down at her, grinning. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.”

  “Hi there, Maggie.” Jo’s pert face came into sudden focus.

  “Hale…” Her throat was so dry she nearly choked. He hurried to hold a straw to her lips, and she took a long sip. “Why is Jolene here?”

  “Mags, you don’t…we talked a few times, remember? When you woke up?” Jo nibbled her bottom lip as she waited for a response.

  Hale slid down to sit beside her. “Maggie, sweetheart, wake up a little bit more.”

  She took another sip of water when he offered it, then let her head fall back to the pillow. Obviously she was supposed to remember something, but what? Wait, where was she? She turned her head, saw the sterile walls, the paint by numbers picture, the small dry erase board just under a corner mounted television. This wasn’t the cabin, this was—

  “The hospital,” she managed.

  “Yes,” Hale confirmed.

  “But I don’t understand—”

  The memories came flooding back, snapshots of scenes as they played out. Hale’s mother coming to her house, having to close Mac in the dining room, the insulting offer of money. Then…she creased her brow in concentration. A truck. There had been a truck and it had—

  “The cabin!” She tried to sit up, but pain shot through her like hot serrated blades.

  “Easy, Mags.” Jolene hurried to her other side, helping Hale to ease her back down. “You have bruised ribs. I guess you’re still a little addled from the pain killers they gave you a few hours ago.”

  “Oh, God, Hale, your mother.” She turned wide eyes to him as fear coursed through her blood. “Your mother, is she okay? I thought she was okay. You said she’s all right, didn’t you? I tried to get her out of the way.”

  He stroked her hair to calm her nerves. “She’s fine thanks to you, remember? That’s one o
f the first things you asked. She has a few bumps and cuts, but she went home last night.”

  “Last night? Then I…wait, I remember the E.R. I have—” She stopped and stared down at her heavy leg. “I broke my leg, and hurt the ligaments in my arm. Mac!”

  “He’s okay, too,” Hale reassured her. “I asked Trent to go pick him up and take him to the farm last night.”

  She let out a long sigh of relief. “Everyone’s okay? That’s right, they are. You told me when the nurse woke me taking my vitals. What about the person who crashed?”

  Hale and Jolene exchanged a loaded look, one that spoke volumes. She didn’t need to hear an explanation to know what had happened.

  “He got away,” Jo confirmed. “I’m sorry, honey; somehow he managed to bail out without anyone seeing or stopping him.”

  “But they know who did it,” she said, hoping she was right but afraid she wasn’t.

  It was left to Hale to break the news. “No, they don’t. Apparently the truck was stolen from the Blackburn’s sometime yesterday morning.”

  Maggie didn’t say it; she didn’t have to. Whoever had done it had targeted her house. It was just one more act of escalating violence which couldn’t be denied. She had hoped the fervor would die down, but it was plain that someone must know about her and Hale. And whoever knew didn’t like it.

  “I called your insurance this morning, like I told you I would.” Maggie vaguely remembered her friend writing on a legal pad sometime in the night. With her practical business sense, Jolene had been quick to make a short list of what needed to be done. “They said they’ll be sending someone out this afternoon to take a look at the damage.”

  “I want to see it.”

  Hale stilled his movements as leaned over to stare into her face. “No. You aren’t leaving this hospital until they say you’re good to go.”

  Maggie wet her lips and tried her best to sound authoritative. “Just give me a few minutes to completely wake up and I’ll be fine.”

  “Damn it, Maggie, will you please listen to me about this?” His swearing at her might have been grating if she hadn’t seen the dark worry swirling in his eyes. “It isn’t safe there right now, whether you’re alone or not.”