Rocky Mountain Memories. Lois Richer

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СКАЧАТЬ Celia Shane from the Canadian embassy in Lima. You are?”

      Unease skittered across his nerves. An embassy official had escorted Gem? Because she couldn’t manage the trip on her own or...?

      “Jake Elliot. I’m here to take Gemma home.”

      “I was told someone, um, older would meet us.” Celia’s phone pinged. She checked it and returned a text. “Apparently there’s been a change. May I see some credentials?”

      Jake fumbled for his wallet to show her his driver’s license.

      “Thanks. Hello, Jake.” Celia’s calm demeanor offered some serenity to Jake’s whirling thoughts and apparently to Gemma, too, because her scared look eased. “Now, let me explain. As we notified the family, Gemma was at Machu Picchu with a tour group when the earthquake occurred. Subsequent to that notification, we learned she’d been struck by tumbling rocks, had fallen and, as a result of that, she’s lost her memory. Because her head injury was minor and she’s otherwise in good health, the hospital released her. They feel she’ll recover best at home. Besides, they need the beds.”

      “Lost her memory?” Jake was stuck on that.

      “Temporarily.” Celia smiled. “Her doctors are convinced her memory will return in time.”

      “Will she—?”

      “You two do know I’m standing here, right?” Gemma interrupted indignantly. “I can speak for myself.”

      Ah, that was more like the feisty woman Jake had known.

      “Sorry, Gemma.” Celia smiled at her. “Hazard of the job. I tend to take over.”

      “I am fine.” Gemma’s eyes met Jake’s with the same directness she’d always employed. “I have a cut on my forehead and my brain is a little dinged up, but as Celia said, supposedly things will return to normal soon. In the meantime, I’m sorry but I don’t know you.”

      “Sure you do. I’m Jake, your foster aunts’ handyman.” To his dismay, even that brought no flicker of recognition to her lovely green eyes.

      “My foster aunts?” She studied him curiously. “Not my parents or my family?”

      “They are your family, Gem.” He hesitated, but maybe more information would reassure her. “Some years ago Tillie and Margaret Spenser brought you and three other foster girls to their home, The Haven, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.”

      “Um, okay.” Gemma’s blank look remained so Jake pressed on.

      “Your sister Victoria lives at The Haven permanently, with her husband and family, and the aunts, of course. Your sister Adele and her husband and kids live next door, while your other sister Olivia and her husband and family live on a nearby acreage.” Still no comprehension. Jake added a little desperately, “They can all hardly wait to see you again.”

      “You’ve known me for a while?” she murmured, her expression pensive.

      “I came to The Haven six years ago when you were seventeen. I’ve been there ever since.” Jake caught Celia checking her watch. “You need to leave?”

      “That text said I’m to fly to Ottawa in an hour to accompany someone back to Peru.” She glanced at Gemma. “If you’re all right?”

      “She will be as soon as I get her home.” Jake glanced around. He saw only a battered backpack and a small duffel. “Luggage?”

      “Duffel’s mine. The other is hers.” Celia indicated the battered canvas with its multiplicity of stickers. “Authorities found it at the site. The hotel where Gemma and—where she was staying was flattened.”

      Gemma and Kurt. That’s what Celia had been going to say. Why had she pulled back?

      “The embassy will be certain to forward anything else they recover.” She touched Gemma’s arm. “Is it okay for me to leave you with Jake?”

      “You have to go. You need to do your job, help someone else. I understand.” Clearly summoning her pluck, Gemma thrust back her narrow shoulders.

      Jake noted the thin cotton shirt she wore was far too large for her lithe frame and not at all her usual style. Well, it hadn’t been, but things changed. Then her smile faltered and he forgot about what she wore as compassion for her suffering welled.

      “You’re going to be fine, Gemma.” Celia must have sensed her uncertainty, too.

      “Yes, I’m sure I will be.” She cast him a sideways glance. “With Jake.”

      He didn’t think Gemma looked or sounded fine. She appeared nervous and uncertain, but in these circumstances, who wouldn’t? Though Jake had wished many times for God to blank out the horror of his own past, he couldn’t begin to imagine how it must feel to have forgotten everyone and everything. It would take time for Gem to feel secure again.

      “You’ll feel better once you’re home.” He hoped she could relax. “It’s a long drive to The Haven. If you need to make a stop here, get some coffee or lunch, we’d best do that before we leave.”

      “All I want is to freshen up. The flight was long and tiring.” She automatically headed for the ladies’ room, as if she’d done it a hundred times before.

      “How did she know where to go?” He stared at her retreating figure.

      “Some things she does from rote. I guess that part of her memory is intact. Recent events are a blank though.” Celia shrugged. “She can recite tons of information about lots of different locales she’s taken tours to, but she can’t tell you anything about the earthquake, what happened before or after it, or her personal past. Which reminds me, I need to talk to you before she returns.”

      “Okay.”

      “Gemma doesn’t remember that she was married,” Celia warned in a low voice. “She doesn’t remember Kurt at all.”

      “How could she forget her own husband?”

      “It’s part of her injury, I guess.” Celia shrugged. “Anyway, you need to be aware that she also has no idea that he died in the earthquake. My office contacted her family as soon as they found out, but apparently you’d already left to come here. I didn’t feel it was my place to tell her,” the woman explained.

      “Why not?” he asked, brow furrowed.

      “I couldn’t gauge what her response might be. I was worried that if she reacted badly, there wouldn’t be anyone to support her.” Celia chewed her bottom lip. “Of course, hearing of Kurt’s death might trigger her memories, too. Either way, I believe she needs someone who knew them both to help her through her loss and grief. The important thing, according to her doctors, is that with her type of brain injury, the fastest way to recovery is no stress.”

      “You want me to tell her.” Jake’s heart sank as he read between the lines. “You don’t think her aunts should do it?”

      “It’s your decision, of course, but I do think it should be you, for several reasons.” Celia frowned. “Gemma will find it СКАЧАТЬ