Comes the Dark by Celia Ashley

Author:Celia Ashley [Ashley, Celia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensignton Publishing Corp.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

“I don’t think I can recall hearing such a creatively verbalized string of invectives before.”

Maris heard the statement as she was being wheeled around the corner to the emergency room cubicle where she’d started out before being sent for x-rays. She didn’t recognize the voice, but she enjoyed the woman’s turn of phrase.

“Ah, here’s the queen of potty mouth now.”

“What? You meant me?”

The nurse nodded with a Cheshire cat grin. “I’m sure you don’t remember. You weren’t fully with us in this world.” Dan stood behind the ER nurse, his face ashen.

“How’d you get here?” Maris asked him.

“I drove.”

“I mean, how did you find out?” Maris winced as the portable bed bumped the wall, jostling her. “Who called you? Oh, wait, you heard on the police scanner?”

Dan said nothing, waiting until the nurse had finished hooking all the wires back up to the nearby machines. Maris tipped her head to look at the nurse beyond the fall of the woman’s curly hair.

“Can I leave soon?”

The nurse laughed. “No.”

As soon as she’d gone, Dan yanked a chair up to the side of the bed. He grabbed her hand. “I didn’t hear on the police scanner. I heard the whole thing live. Seems you were in the process of calling me when you got hit. The bastard didn’t stop. Hit and run. Witnesses are being questioned.”

Maris studied the moisture glistening in his eyes. Not crocodile tears. The real thing. For her. Her throat closed. She cleared it with a small cough. “Are you all right?”

“Me?” he yelled, then lowered his voice. “You’re asking how I’m doing? Don’t. Don’t even worry about me.”

“That had to be terrible, hearing something like that…”

“Oh, for the love of God. Not as terrible as following the sound of sirens until I found you. I didn’t stop to call the station. I had Jamie do that. I just held the phone to my ear, listening to make sure…to make sure—”

“I was alive?”

“Yes.”

Several tears skimmed down Maris’s cheeks as she considered how that must have been for him. She looked down at her body loosely wrapped in a hospital gown, name tag on her wrist, pressure cuff on one arm, intravenous tube in the other. A warmed blanket had been flipped over her by the nurse before she departed. Maris would really like one of those cabinets for home. Nothing like a heated blanket.

“Dan…” She felt slightly disassociated from her surroundings and wondered if the hospital personnel had given her something for pain.

“Yes?”

“You really do care, don’t you?”

“Fuck. Of course I do.”

She pulled her hand free of his grasp and cupped the side of his jaw. He kissed her palm. His skin felt damp.

“You’ve been crying, haven’t you?”

“Maris, would you just shut up?”

“Sure.”

“I don’t mean that.”

“Yes, you do. I’m an idiot and you’re…you’re a nice man.”

He made a face and rolled his shoulders. “I’ve been called worse.”

“I wasn’t even looking…I just stepped out in the street. How bad is the damage? Did somebody tell you, at least? Because they’ve said nothing to me.

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