Hers To Remember. Karen Barrett Lawton

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      She kept her eyes closed and tried to will it away. A useless endeavor, the effort only made it worse.

      Exhausted, she lay absolutely still and tried to relax. Even the act of breathing in and out made her feel as if she’d been strapped to some medieval torture device. She knew she needed to do something, but what, when even the tiniest movement sent pain screaming through her head?

      Aspirin might help, though it seemed a pitiful answer. If only she could reach her purse. Gathering what strength she could find, she willed herself to move.

      Voices dashed her effort. Fear warred with pain. As hard as she’d tried to move, she now concentrated on remaining motionless.

      The hushed whispers faded in and out and came from different directions, as if the people who spoke moved around her.

      “How is she? Will she be all right?” a new voice demanded. It sounded deep and male and edged with panic. “She’s got to be all right!”

      “She’s still unconscious,” another man answered. “Now that you’re here, I’m sure she’ll respond. But you have to be calm.”

      Their voices sounded distorted to her ears, as if the men who spoke stood at one end of a tunnel and she at the other. Who were they? she thought frantically. Not him. She would have known his voice anywhere. Wouldn’t she?

      Someone took her hand. Her stomach dropped. I can’t move. I can’t let him know. Then she realized that the hand engulfing hers was big and roughened by work. Relief made her dizzy. Not his hand. Manual labor was beneath him.

      “Open your eyes, sunshine. It’s time to wake up,” a deep, gentle voice urged. “Come on, honey, open your eyes and look at me.”

      The underlying note of desperation made her try all the harder to respond. She had to wake up. To get up, and run. She wasn’t dead. Once he found out…She tried to lift her eyelids, but they felt weighted. She sobbed. How would she lift her legs if she couldn’t even do that much?

      “Everything will be all right, darling. I promise. Now, open those beautiful green eyes for me.”

      Since opening her eyes seemed futile, she tried to squeeze the hand that still held hers. Her fingers felt boneless. What’s wrong with me? she cried, but the words sounded only in her mind.

      “What about the baby?” the man asked.

      Baby? What baby?

      “They did an ultrasound. The baby’s fine,” the other man answered, his tone calm and somehow professional-sounding. “But the doctor says she probably has a concussion.”

      Panic seized her. There can’t be a baby. I’ve been so careful. It’s impossible.

      “I should never have gone to that trade show.”

      “You can’t seriously be blaming yourself for her accident. She slipped on a cord and hit her head on the vacuum.”

      “I should have hired a housekeeper, then she wouldn’t have been vacuuming.”

      The words swirled around her. None of them made sense. Vacuuming? She hadn’t been vacuuming. She’d been running, afraid he’d found her in spite of all she’d done to get away.

      “You have to calm down, Sam. This isn’t going to help any of you.”

      Sam? Who was Sam?

      “Don’t you understand? I could lose her and the baby, because of my own stupidity!”

      Oh, God, a baby! He’d never let her go now. “Please, no baby, no baby.” She’d finally found her voice, though she spoke in a mere whisper.

      A hand cupped her face. “Shh, honey, the baby will be fine, and so will you. I’m going to take care of you both.”

      I won’t be fine. Not if I’m pregnant. A dream, that’s it! This has to be a dream. Or a nightmare. My worst nightmare. Oh, God, I tried so hard. Please, God, please let me wake up.

      “Come on, sunshine, that’s it. I’m right here.”

      The voice drew her. Slowly, she opened her eyes. A man’s face hovered above her. At first creased with concern, it soon brightened with a relieved smile. And she knew God had answered her prayers. For this was truly the face of an angel.

      Golden hair fell across his tanned forehead. Deep blue eyes the color of twilight sparkled with tears of joy. “Hi, sunshine.” He touched her face with gentle fingers. Then he turned his head. “Get the doctor.”

      “Am I dead?” she asked the golden angel who touched her so tenderly.

      He smiled down at her. “No, thank God, you’re alive. And now that you’re awake, you’re going to feel better every minute.”

      She believed him. He sounded so sure, so confident. She wished she felt the same.

      She licked her dry lips. “What happened? Where am I?”

      “In the hospital. You had an accident. Can you remember?”

      “An accident?”

      The door opened and a man walked into the room. Tall, with reddish-blond hair, and nearly as handsome as the man sitting at her side, he grinned. “Well, it’s about time you woke up, little sister. The doc will be here in a minute.”

      Little sister? Why would he call her that? She didn’t have a brother. She looked from one man to the other and felt only confusion. She didn’t know these men. They looked as though they could be brothers. But not hers. She was an only child.

      “Casey’s the one who found you,” explained the man who’d called her sunshine. She guessed that made him Sam. “Can you remember what happened?”

      She took in the concern on both men’s faces and wanted to cry. Who were they? Why were they here? What did these strangers care what had happened to her? She didn’t want to be so suspicious, but thanks to Vaughn, she didn’t know who to trust anymore. She searched her memory, trying to remember what had put her in the hospital.

      “Don’t strain yourself, sweetie. We have plenty of time,” Sam said gently.

      “I’m okay,” she assured him. “But I’d like to sit up a little.” The sooner she got back to normal, the better. She couldn’t fight Vaughn if she didn’t know what had happened.

      He pushed a button on the side of the bed that raised the mattress behind her back. The movement caused the pain to intensify. She closed her eyes until the dizziness went away.

      The memory came suddenly. “I was running.”

      “Running? Was the phone ringing?”

      “No, I was outside. It was dark, so dark. There was no moon. I could barely see. I must have stumbled over something. There were lights, bright lights, blinding me. Then I fell…That’s all I remember.” She reached up to touch her forehead and felt a bandage instead of skin. “I guess I must have hit my head.”

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