The Daughter Dilemma. Ann Evans

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СКАЧАТЬ so sorry, Kari,” she said in a thin, quavering voice. “My fault. Not rechecking the weather service was such a stupid mistake. It’s basic.”

      “What are you talking about?” Kari reproached her. “You were magnificent. We’d never have survived this if you hadn’t been so calm and in control. Besides, it’s really my fault. I’m the one who took advantage of your kindness.”

      Addy gave her a faint smile. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

      “No, I’m to blame here. My father was the most spontaneous man you’d ever want to meet, but even he used to complain about how impulsive I am, how disorganized. I could have planned this whole trip so much better. I could have come up here when I had more time to devote to it.”

      “So why didn’t you?”

      “Because…” Kari hesitated, then decided to tell the truth. After what she and Addy had just been through, the woman deserved nothing less. “Because today is the two-year anniversary of the day my father hiked into Elk Creek Canyon. I wanted to experience the same set of circumstances he did. Know exactly what he saw. It just seemed important somehow. A way to help me understand…how he could have died there.”

      “I’m sorry,” Addy said again, sounding a little woozy.

      “It’s all right,” Kari reassured her. Lightly she pressed the final piece of tape around her splint. “This is the best I can do under the circumstances. Let’s just rest now. There’s no point in beating ourselves up for what’s already done.”

      That seemed to help a little. They settled back in their seats. Addy kept her eyes closed. Kari just kept staring out the front of the helicopter. Her temple throbbed. Muscles in her back began to protest. The only sounds were the soft exhalations of their own breaths, calmer now, no longer quick and charged with panic. They were cocooned in a puddle of light inside the aircraft, but outside everything looked as black as a deep well. At least the rain had let up.

      Help will be here soon. Just rest. Wait for it.

      A few minutes passed. Kari dozed.

      The next thing she knew, the helicopter seemed to be shaking again. Her eyes flew open. She felt disoriented. In the darkness beyond the helicopter there seemed to be bright lights everywhere. For a moment she thought the lightning was back. Then she realized that the lights were the twin white beams of car headlights.

      Shouts. Movement. We’ve been rescued.

      Someone tugged on the door next to Addy. It held stubbornly for a moment, then gave with a squeal of protesting metal. Kari squinted, trying to give features to their rescuer’s face, but all she could make out was the silhouette of a man.

      Please, please let it be a policeman, she thought. A paramedic. A fireman. Anyone but—

      “Addy, talk to me!” Nick D’Angelo demanded. His tone was tart, frantic.

      No such luck. Big brother Nick had found them.

      Kari had a feeling the crash was only the beginning of her problems.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      “JUST TELL ME you’re not mad,” Addy pleaded around another sniffling sob.

      “I’m not mad,” Nick repeated for the third time.

      Addy’s face crumpled and she bit her lip. “I don’t believe you.”

      Oh, brother. Somebody get me out of here.

      Addy looked pale and miserable against the stark white environment of the emergency examining room. Nick hadn’t left her side since the ambulance had brought both women into the small hospital. His fear for his sister’s injuries had subsided and his heart no longer beat as if he’d been running. But his nerves—his nerves were still jangling.

      He almost wished the doctor would order him out of the room and back to the anonymous safety of the waiting area. Not much chance of that. The fresh-faced resident looked pretty meek, no older than Tessa’s biology partner in school.

      His sister, usually relentlessly upbeat, was an emotional mess. She didn’t seem to mind the pain of a broken left arm and a sprained right wrist. She hardly looked at the nurse slipping an Ace bandage over her fingers. But she’d been crying off and on for five minutes—five long minutes—and nothing Nick said seemed to help. Frankly, he was running out of reassuring words and sympathetic looks.

      This is all that Churchill woman’s fault.

      The doctor had told him that the woman was going to be fine. Lucky lady, the doc had said. No more than a small bump on the head.

      I ought to go down to the end of the hall and throttle the life out of her.

      He wouldn’t do it, of course. How could he when his own guilt was eating away at him like battery acid? Because when it came right down to it, he was the one responsible for this latest disaster.

      He should have known his headstrong sister would be looking for any excuse to take up one of the Ravens. All it had taken was a little friendly persuasion from a smoothie like Kari Churchill to push her into defying him.

      He should have brought Addy along faster in the business. He should have made her understand that all the “ground school” flying time in the world didn’t mean diddily if she couldn’t read the sky, didn’t know how to smell a stormfront just by sniffing the air. Her instincts needed to be honed until they were razor-sharp.

      But he’d been dragging his feet. All the annoying little problems he’d had to deal with lately, plucking at him like greedy children. Zapping his time and energy. It had been easy enough to fall into the comfortable pattern of treating Addy more like a secretary than a fellow pilot. No surprise that she’d gotten tired of waiting and jumped at the first opportunity that presented itself.

      With nearly tragic results.

      “I know you’re mad,” Addy croaked. “That’s why you look that way.”

      “What way?”

      “Like you’ve been sucking lemons.”

      Nick blew air through his cheeks. He rolled his eyes in the doctor’s direction, but the man just gave him a sympathetic smile and continued scribbling on Addy’s chart.

      “All right,” Nick said in a firm voice. “I am mad. Don’t think you’re getting away with this stunt. You and I are going to have a long, serious conversation about who’s in charge at Angel Air.” He softened his words by running the back of a quick, affectionate finger down her flushed cheek. “But not right now. Not until you’re healed and feeling yourself again.”

      Sobering momentarily, Addy nodded. “I understand. I take full responsibility for what happened, Nick.”

      “Oh, believe me, there’s plenty of blame to go around.”

      “You mean Kari?” his sister protested. “She’s not at fault here. It was my idea. After we were up and saw the first signs of rough weather, she even suggested we turn around and come back.”

      Addy had misunderstood just who СКАЧАТЬ