“Not terrible,” Bryn told him. “It only hurts when I laugh or look around too quickly.”
“That’s to be expected. You’re a lucky young lady! You’ve got a bit of a concussion, but a very minor one. We want to keep you overnight for observation, but we’ll let you go home tomorrow. How’s that sound?”
“I could probably go home now—”
“But it wouldn’t be wise.” He tucked the sheets back around her and began to make a tsking sound of irritation. “These hit and run things! How anyone could cause an accident and then drive off—Well, it’s just beyond me! The police are going to want to talk to you, but I’ve fended them off for the day. You just lie quietly, young lady and tomorrow, everything will look a whole lot better!”
“Thank you,” Bryn murmured, lowering her lashes. Hit and run? No, it hadn’t been a regular hit and run. And she knew how Lee had felt all along; she couldn’t believe he hadn’t decided that enough was enough and told the police the entire story from the beginning.
“I’ll see you again in a couple of hours,” Dr. Kelten said, walking briskly toward the door.
“Wait!” Bryn begged, calling him back. She kept her lashes halfway over her eyes. “I understand there’s a problem with my nephews coming in. Doctor, they’ve been through a lot. It’s important that they get to see that I’m all right, especially the little one….”
Dr. Kelten interrupted her with a friendly laugh. “You can see the little boys, Miss Keller. Mr. Condor has managed to get my entire staff eating out of his hands. But only for a few minutes. If you want me to release you tomorrow, you have to toe the line!”
Bryn smiled. “Only for a few minutes!” she promised.
The doctor left the room. Bryn made a grab for the wheeled tray, searching for a flip-up mirror in the slender drawer beneath it. She found it and anxiously scanned her features.
She was very pale, but otherwise she looked remarkably well for a woman with a concussion. Her forehead was bruised, but she could brush tendrils of her hair over it with her fingers….
There was a tap at her door, and then it opened slowly. Lee was there. Tall, commanding, his eyes a golden shimmer of anxiety. He smiled at her slowly, ruefully.
But he never had a chance to say anything. Adam was pushing past him. Adam, with his blond curls, cherubic cheeks, and tear-filled green eyes.
“Aunt Bwyn!”
She didn’t feel a bit of pain as she sat up and caught him to her, sweeping his little form into her arms.
“Adam, oh, Adam! Precious! I’ve missed you so! I love you; oh, Adam, I love you—”
“Are you going to get well, Aunt Bwyn? Are you? Do you promise?” He crushed himself to her. She hugged him ferociously.
“Yes, Adam, yes! I’m going to get well. I promise. Your silly aunt just let another car get too close, that’s all. Oh, Adam!”
She started to cry, just clutching him, unable to let him go. Then she opened her eyes and looked over his shoulder, and saw Lee standing there. Then she knew that he had understood that the greatest medication she could receive was this time with Adam….
“Thank you,” she whispered to him.
She might have whispered, “I love you.”
Because she did. She had never known how completely until that moment.
CHAPTER 12
“I was a hit on purpose, wasn’t I?” Bryn asked Lee. He was standing at the window, staring out, though at what she wasn’t sure. All that could be seen was part of the roof and a lot of power lines. And it was dusk, so not even that dubious view was a good one.
It was the first chance they had had to be alone. Brian and Keith had followed Adam in to assure themselves that she was all right. At last a pristine nurse had arrived to sternly say that the boys had to leave. They had set up a minor howl, but Lee had promised them that they could play with the drums and the piano, and in a matter of moments Barbara and Gayle had been able to take them away. Lee had promised Bryn that Andrew would stay at his house that night along with Barbara, and that Gayle and her husband, Phil, would also be there. Andrew had spent the afternoon combing the place with an agent from a security company, and all doors and windows were now wired with traps that blared loudly and instantly set off an alarm at the police department. Lee, it seemed, intended to stay with her at the hospital through the night, and neither hell nor high water would move him.
“Lee?” Bryn persisted quietly when he didn’t move.
He moved away from the wall where he had been leaning and came to sit at the side of the bed, idly taking her hand in his.
“Yes,” he told her, his eyes following his fingers as he traced the pale blue lines of her veins. His eyes met hers. “Our whisperer called right before the Highway Patrol did. It was a warning so we wouldn’t call the police now that Adam is back.”
Bryn laughed bitterly. “He doesn’t want the police involved, but the police do become involved in a hit and run accident!”
Lee shrugged, and Bryn was surprised to realize that he seemed uncertain. He always knew exactly what he wanted, and how he wanted to go about getting it. “I admit, Bryn, that I wanted to convince you to call the police the minute you walked back in the door. But now…now I don’t think it would be such a great idea.”
“You think that we should just forget the whole thing?” She wasn’t sure if she was hopeful or furious.
“No,” Lee said, his eyes meeting hers. “Don’t you see, Bryn? No matter what, you’d find yourself living in fear for years and years to come. This person has to be caught and stopped.”
“You just said you didn’t think we should tell the police!”
“At the moment. Because we don’t know what we’re up against. And I don’t think the police will know, either. We have to find out what’s in the pictures.”
“Oh,” Bryn murmured, a chill rippling along her spine. But he was right. Adam hadn’t been able to tell them anything.
“I’ll start as soon as I get out of here,” she said, keeping her eyes downcast so that he wouldn’t know what the words had cost her.
“Good. And I think I know where you should start.”
“The Sweet Dreams motel?”
“Um-hmm.”
“I really can’t believe that Hammerfield could…could—”
Lee interrupted her with a sigh. “Bryn, there are a lot of things in life that aren’t easy to believe. A lot of ugliness we’d rather not see. I don’t want to condemn the man without a trial, but he’s our most likely suspect.”
Bryn grimaced. She didn’t feel much like arguing. She smiled at him, determined to change the subject since she couldn’t do a thing from her hospital bed. “I didn’t know that you had a sister.”
“Two of them, actually. Sally is a few years older than I am; she’s the earth mother of the brood. She moved back to the Black Hills right after she got out of law school, and she spends half her life defending the underdog, half of it raising a passel of kids.”
Bryn lughed. It was easy now. Adam was back. “How many are a passel?”
“Five.”
“That is a passel.” Bryn hesitated for a moment, wondering why she was getting strange feelings about the pretty blonde she had met earlier. “Does your sister Gayle live here in Tahoe?”
“No,” Lee replied a little uneasily, and Bryn was sure that she was right; Gayle was there for a reason—a reason that she might not like.
“Gayle lives in New York,” Lee said. He bit his lower lip with an idle shrug, then gripped Bryn’s hand warmly in his as he met her eyes again with a serious intent. “Bryn, I called Gayle last week, the morning after you broke into my place. I asked her if she and Phil could come out here, then go for a little vacation up to my grandfather’s place.”
Bryn frowned her confusion. “I don’t understand….”
“Bryn, I want you to let me talk, and I want you to listen to what I’m saying. Having to protect someone else is like having an Achilles’ heel. I didn’t want to talk
to you about this until tomorrow, but…Bryn, I asked Gayle and Phil to come here because I wanted you to meet them and feel comfortable with them. And I want you to let them take the boys up to my grandfather’s place in the Hills.”
“What!” Bryn cried out.
“Would you hush!” Lee demanded, smiling crookedly. “I had to fight all the red tape in the hospital to get to stay here; if you scream like that a second time, they’ll come up here and kick me out for sure.”
Bryn lowered her voice. She was unaware that she clutched his arm and spoke beseechingly. “Lee, I can’t send the kids away! They’ve only just become secure with me. Adam won’t go! He’ll think he’s being taken away again!”
“No, he won’t, Bryn. Not if you convince him it’s all right.”
“But, Lee, I can’t let him go. Not now.”
“Bryn, I know that the thought is painful to you. But I’ve thought this over until it’s given me headaches. No one gets near my grandfather’s land undetected. And I have a lot of friends nearby. Blackfoot and half-breeds like myself who are deeply into their heritage. I’m telling you, nothing could move against those kids in the Hills. And it would be great for them.” He shrugged, trying to take a humorous approach to the situation. “Who knows? Maybe Grandfather can convince Adam that throwing food is poor etiquette.”
“Lee!”
“Come on, Bryn! I’m serious. You’re a great parent, but you’re a girl. Playing Indian will be great for the boys. They can fish, ride, swim and have a wonderful time. And we can search through those pictures without having the terrible worry about what might be happening to them. We act normal—finish our video during the day and comb the pictures at night. And I promise you that as soon as we finish the video, whether we’ve discovered anything or not, we’ll head on up to South Dakota ourselves and meet them there.”
Bryn stared at him, both fear and a thrilling curiosity taking hold of her. He kept using the words “we” and “our.” He wanted her with him. For more than a night, more than a brief affair…
“Brief” could be defined in many ways, she warned herself sagely. And he wanted her to let the children go away….
She bit her lip, lowering her lashes. He placed a finger beneath her chin, lifting it. There was tenderness gleaming in his golden eyes when he spoke softly to her. “Bryn, I’m not trying to send the boys away because they might be in the way. I like kids, even ones who throw food. I’m thinking of their safety.”
She could feel her lip quivering. “I believe you,” she said softly.
He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Good,” he whispered huskily. “You don’t have to decide right now. Tomorrow, when you get to know Gayle a little better, you can make up your mind.”
Bryn nodded, feeling pain enshroud her heart. But Lee was probably right. If the boys stayed now, she wouldn’t ever want to open the front door; she would be afraid to take them to school.
Lee drew away from her suddenly, idly picking up the little gizmo that called the nurse and controlled the TV. He flicked the channels, then stopped at a scene of a dark and spooky castle rising above jagged cliffs.
“Ah, great! One of those old Vincent Price horror spoofs. Do you like these?”
“Yes…fine,” Bryn murmured politely. He wanted the serious conversation to drop. Bryn wasn’t sure that she did. She didn’t feel too bad. Her “minor concussion” wasn’t even causing her a headache now. She wanted to grab his arm and pull him back, and tell him that she was scared and angry…and confused. About the pictures. About him. She wanted to demand to know why he had gotten so furious over the piece of music she had picked up, and she wanted him to talk to her. She wanted to know why he could blaze hotter than a raging fire, then turn around with a gentle wisdom and empathy that was rare in any man….
What happened to your wife? she wanted to shout. Why was it that he never mentioned her name, never referred to his years of marriage? It would seem natural for him to talk about it sometimes….
She thought again about the song she had found. Beautiful lyrics, haunting lyrics that he had never sung.
Lyrics…that had something to do with his wife?
Lyrics that Bryn had discovered and thereby made Lee furious.
She closed her eyes for a minute, wondering about the song, about his wife and about Lee. Had he loved his wife so deeply that he wouldn’t ever give his heart to anyone else? Perhaps he had decided to keep moving. He was very independent, affluent and famous. Why would he ever want to be tied down?
She had to be ready to let go if—or when—the time came. Events had swept her along, and now she was with him, in love with him. She couldn’t let go now; she had to take the moments that were offered her, and the man. But she had to be ready. She had to accept the fact that the day would come when he would leave and move on. No man wanted to be saddled with an instant family, no matter how tolerant he was.
He had said he loved her. Was that love real? And did it matter? Love wasn’t always enough.
Lee sank into the hospital chair at her side, warmly taking her hand in his.
Bryn accepted his hand. She said nothing, but turned her eyes to the screen and tried to pay attention to Vincent Price.
In a way it was nice. Sitting there quietly alone together. And she was a fan of Vincent Price….
The night passed swiftly. Right before she felt her eyes flickering closed, she spoke at last. “Lee?”
“Yes?”
“I wish I knew how to thank you and the group. When I saw Andrew in that ridiculous costume…well, it was just so nice. Of both of you to…watch over me so carefully.”
“Go to sleep, Bryn,” he said lightly.
* * *
In the morning Barbara stopped by with clothes. She seemed anxious, but pleased to see that Bryn looked so well.
“How did things go?” Lee asked her.
Barbara rolled her eyes. “Andrew and I are a disaster at discipline. Lee’s house will never be the same, Bryn!”
Bryn bit her lip, wondering how badly the boys had destroyed the place. But Barbara only laughed. “It probably needed a little livening up!”
Dr. Kelten came in and ushered Barbara and Lee out. He examined her, then smiled. “You look fine to me. You probably could have gone home yesterday, but it doesn’t pay to take chances with head injuries.”
“I guess not,” Bryn murmured.
“Well, anyway, the police are here to speak with you. I’ll give you a minute to get dressed, then I’ll send them in and tell the nurse to prepare your release papers.”
Bryn thanked the doctor, then showered and dressed quickly. Was “omitting” as bad as lying in the eyes of the law? She sighed as she waited nervously for the police. She certainly wasn’t going to be lying if she said that she hadn’t seen a thing….
Lee came in with the young officer who questioned her. She answered truthfully when she said that she hadn’t seen a thing at the time of the crash; she had only felt the thud when the car had bashed into hers. The officer thanked her for her cooperation, and she guiltily assured him that she didn’t mind the questioning in the least.
Barbara had already gone on back to Lee’s house, so Bryn and Lee drove alone. He glanced her way as he wheeled his car from the hospital’s parking lot. “You sure you feel okay?”
“I promise you, I feel great,” she told him truthfully.
Lee nodded. He didn’t say much else as they continued on to the house.
As soon as they pulled into the driveway the new front door flew open. The kids came running out to engulf her in hugs, and she hugged them all back fervently.
“You should hear me on the drums, Aunt Bryn!” Brian told her. Adam, who had wedged his way into her arms and now had a death grip about her neck, told her, “Key-tar!”
Lee laughed, plucking Adam away from Bryn despite his howl of protest. “Let your aunt get into the house and sit down, Adam. Then you can crawl all over her.” He grimaced at Bryn. “Maybe we have so
mething profitable going here. How do you like the ‘Keller Brothers Band’?”
Bryn chuckled softly. “It has a ring to it.”
Gayle was waiting for them at the door. Bryn’s smile to Lee’s sister was a little shy, but Gayle was both effusive and down to earth. “Bryn! How are you feeling? Are you sure you’re all right? Maybe you should have stayed another day.”
“No, I’m fine, thanks, Gayle. And I’d have gone crazy in bed for another day.” She found that Lee was looking at her with a sardonic smile tugging at his lips, and she flushed, casting him a murderous glare in return. He laughed and slipped his free arm around her shoulders.
“Did Andrew and Barbara go on over to the Fulton place?”
“Yes, they’re going to film some individual footage of the band. Andrew said it had to be done sometime, and it would keep things rolling.”
“Good,” Lee murmured. “Let’s get in,” he told Bryn.
The first thing Bryn noticed when she entered the house was that every window in the place had new glass. And shot through the glass were a myriad of hair-fine lines. The windows were pretty; they might have been there for their beauty. But Bryn shivered. She knew that the new windows were there for only one purpose: security.
She put that thought behind her because the kids were tugging at her hands and Gayle was saying that she had to meet Phil.
Gayle’s husband was a tall redheaded man with sparkling blue eyes. Bryn felt the warmth of his handshake and the sincerity in his voice when he told her how happy he was to meet her. He and Lee were about the same age, and Bryn could quickly see that Lee shared the same camaraderie with his brother-in-law that he did with the band. She experienced a twinge of envy and nostalgia. God, how she missed her brother at times.
The kids insisted that she come up to the studio and hear them play the instruments. She instantly started to protest their enthusiastic treatment of the group’s equipment, but Lee silenced her with a wave of his hand. She listened to a cacophony of drums, keyboard and guitar, and then insisted that the noise had to die down for a while.
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