4 Malice in Christmas River (12 page)

As I gazed through the window at the two of them, I realized I was gripping the wheel so hard my knuckles were turning white.

How could Kara do this? And do this so plainly in sight, for the whole neighborhood to see?

She knew how talk got around in Christmas River. How could she be so cruel to John?

I knew that I should have been on her side. I was her best friend, and that meant offering support, no matter what.

But this was hard to stomach. John really loved Kara. He’d been there for her for these past two and a half years. And it seemed like she had loved him back.

But I guess she’d had a change of heart.

Kara had every right to break up with John if she wasn’t happy with him anymore. But to cheat on him? That was the cowardly way out.

Almost equally as offensive was how she’d kept this from me too. Her best friend, of all people.

How could she just shut everyone in her life out like that?

How could she—

Suddenly, the sky lit up with a bright flash. A few moments later, there was a loud splitting crash that echoed through the quiet neighborhood. Kara and Brad glanced out the window at the lightning and thunder.

I suddenly realized they were looking in
my
direction.  

A normal person might have gotten out of the car then. But clearly, I was far from normal.

I panicked. I turned the ignition and put a foot to the pedal, inadvertently doing the exact thing that would draw more attention to myself.  

I pulled out and sped down the street, getting as far away from her place as fast as I could.

I glanced up in the mirror and just shook my head at myself.

I was pretty sure they had seen me.

Chapter 25

The window panes shook as a crack of thunder ripped through the air outside.

Huckleberry was barking at the edge of the bed.  

I woke up in a cold sweat, my heart beating faster than the wings of a hummingbird.

I sat straight up in bed. Every muscle in my body felt strained and my throat was drier than the dusty Rodeo fairgrounds.

I reached for the glass of water on the nightstand. I turned the lamp on, and downed the liquid.

I couldn’t remember what I’d been dreaming about. Only that it must have been bad. The feelings leftover from the dream felt like they were still running roughshod over me. There was a bad sensation in the center of my chest.  

Maybe it was the thunderstorm that caused the bad feelings. All that electricity hanging in the air didn’t make for restful sleep.  

I grabbed my phone and checked the time. It was late. Daniel hadn’t called. But I did have two messages.  

Did you come by the house earlier? I thought I saw your car out front
the first message read.

It doesn’t matter… Cin, I have something to tell you. Can I come by tomorrow a.m.?

Caught red-handed, Kara no doubt wanted to tell me about her affair with Brad.

I’d respond in the morning.

Even though it was warm in the house, I grabbed my robe and wrapped it tightly around my waist. I slid my phone into one of the pockets. I sat back down at the edge of the bed for a moment, stroking Huckleberry’s soft fur.

He was tense from the storm, standing on edge, waiting for the next crack of thunder. He let out a few low whines. 

“It’s okay, Hucks,” I said, in a soft voice. “It’s just a little thunder. Everything’s okay.”

After some coaxing, his ears relaxed. He lay back down on the bed, looking up at me with big, unsure doggy eyes.

I kissed his little head, reassuring him that there wasn’t anything to worry about.  

I went out into the hallway, flipping on lights as I walked through. I got to the kitchen, and filled the teapot with water. I placed it on the stove.

I gazed out the kitchen window into the black soul of the night. The wind was railing against the house something awful, but so far, it didn’t seem as though there was any rain to go with it. A dry thunderstorm had descended upon us. Something that wasn’t all that uncommon for August up in the mountains, but something that was unheard of in September.

I crossed my arms and leaned against one of the counters, waiting on the tea.

Lightning suddenly brightened the meadow. A few moments later, there was another loud crash that caused the ground to shake.  

Hucks came running out of the bedroom, barking again in no direction in particular. I grabbed a bacon dog treat from the cupboard and gave it to him. Then I kneeled down, petting his head again, trying to calm him down.

Trying to calm myself down.

I liked thunderstorms. During the day. But at night, they became something different.

It made me think of a time I cared not to remember.

The days after my mom’s accident, Christmas River was hit with an unusual bout of thunderstorms. I remember lying in my bedroom looking up at the ceiling as the storm raged on outside, gripping my teddy bear, scared to death at each crack of thunder.

I didn’t know if I ever felt so alone in all my life as I did during those nights. Warren had been there with me, but I still felt so alone, knowing that I’d never see my mother again.

Knowing that she was gone forever. 

I gripped Huck’s soft fur and tried to push the memory out of my mind. He seemed to sense my fear, and let me just hug him there for a while.

“It’s all okay,” I said.

I wished Daniel was here.

I tried to think of something else. But it didn’t work.

My mother’s funeral suddenly flashed across my mind. The image of her lying there in the—

I bit my lip, shaking my head.

The night sometimes had a way of opening up the floodgates to every bad memory you ever had.

I jumped as my phone started vibrating in my robe pocket. I pulled it out, expecting to see the caller ID show that it was Daniel.

I was surprised to see that it wasn’t.

I furrowed by brow at the name that came up on the screen. A moment later, I answered.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Peters?”

His voice cracked in the middle of it, and something sounded very off. I suddenly felt my stomach plummet like an anchor cut loose. 

“Yeah, Trumbow?” I said quietly.

“Uh… Ms. Peters, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but there’s been…”

“No…” I said, knowing where the sentence was headed. “No…”

“There’s been an acciden—”

All I could hear was the screaming of the teapot.

Chapter 26

There were no tears.

Just a terrible numbness that wound its way through my body like a python. Like my blood, my veins, the tendons of my muscles, had all been injected with Novocain. Like everything was enshrouded in a thick cloud of poison gas.

I didn’t remember driving to the hospital. I couldn’t even say what I was thinking. Only that it was probably a miracle I didn’t crash the car.

Trumbow had offered to come by and get me, but I was already out the door a minute after hanging up the phone.

I rushed through the sliding doors, up to the receiving desk. Mindy Berenger, someone who was in my high school class, was sitting there in nurse scrubs.

“My husband…” I croaked out, my voice hoarse and ragged.

I didn’t have to finish the sentence. She knew who I was, and she knew who he was.

“Third floor. Ask the nurse at the desk when you get there.”

My stomach lurched like a sinking ship.

I went to the elevator, but I had no patience to wait for it. I found the stairs and ran up, feeling like one of those firemen in those stair climbing challenges. Except instead of carrying firefighting gear, I was carrying the heavy shackles of fear.

I got to the third floor, completely out of breath. I ran through the doors, down the hall, to another nurse station.

The lady at the front desk was on the phone.

“Daniel Brightman,” I said loudly. “Where is he?”

She glanced up and held up a finger to me, as if to say “Just a minute.”

I wasn’t a violent person. But I could have strangled that woman and not given two thoughts to it at that moment.

“WHERE IS H—”

“He’s in surgery, Ms. Peters.”  

I turned around to see Deputy Trumbow standing there, holding his hat.

His face was bright red. Sweat had darkened some areas of his uniform. His mustache twitched and there was a large crease between his eyebrows.  

“What happened, Trumbow?”

My mind had already gone through all the possibilities on the way to the hospital. Daniel had been run over by a drunk driver. He’d been shot by someone he’d pulled over. He’d been—

“He, uh, well, Ms. Peters…” he trailed off, wringing his hat between his hands.

“WHAT, Trumbow?” I said, my heart threatening to burst right through my chest.

He looked down, unable to meet my crazed eyes.

“It was an accident,” he said. “One of the horses got loose from the trailers. One of the broncos, uh, one of the broncos trampled him some.”

My knees turned to butter. I almost lost it altogether, but Trumbow caught me in time. His big tree trunk arms held me up for a moment, then guided me over to one of the chairs in the hallway.

I plopped down without feeling a thing.

“He got a real nasty kick to the head and his leg got busted up pretty bad,” Trumbow said quietly. “Compound fracture. They’re in surgery right now trying to fix it.”

“Is he…?” I stopped, my voice too weak to carry on.

I looked up into Trumbow’s beady eyes, searching for an answer.  

“I don’t know,” he said. “The doctor’s haven’t told me a thing yet.”

I put my head in my hands.

I wanted to sob, but nothing came out.

Just empty air.

Trumbow placed a hand on my back. I only vaguely felt it. Everything was still underwater, still numb. Still clouded with poison gas.

What would I do… How could I live…

Without him?

Chapter 27

His right leg was wrapped in a thick cast and was suspended in midair by a sling. A white bandage encircled his head. There were some dark red blood stains here and there, staining the wrap.  

His face was marred by bruises, scrapes and a row of stitches that started from somewhere underneath the bandage and crept down to the middle of his right cheek.

I closed my eyes, the image of what happened playing over and over in my mind.

The horse had come bolting out from one of the trailers, catching Daniel unaware in the darkness of the night. It had knocked him over. Then the animal trampled Daniel as it galloped away.

Trumbow said it probably had been the thunder that spooked the horse and caused it to bolt.   

I sat in the chair next to the bed, holding Daniel’s hand. Telling him it was okay. That it was all going to be okay.

Or maybe I was telling myself that. Just like before, with Huckleberry and the thunder. Saying the words, but not really believing them.

How could I, when my husband looked like this?

Daniel’s eyes were closed, and his breathing was heavy and labored. Tubes were coming out of his arm. They’d given him enough pain medication after the surgery to knock him out cold.

The doctor had said they were able to set the leg and that if everything healed properly, it would eventually be okay. But she had been concerned about the head injury. Daniel had a concussion, and she said they would be monitoring him closely to make sure it didn’t turn into anything worse than that.

She had mentioned that the brain could swell and cause…

I swallowed hard.

Though it was now dawn, and hours had passed since I got the call from Trumbow, I still couldn’t believe this was happening.

I still hadn’t cried, either. I was just a bug, trapped in an oil slick. Helpless, unable even to express my own sadness.

Daniel stirred slightly, moving his head. His eyes stayed closed, but I could tell by his expression that he was in pain.

“Can you hear me?” I said, leaning closer.

He mumbled something inaudible.

“I’m here,” I said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Trade—” he muttered.

I stroked his hand.

“It’s okay.”

He moved his head in my direction, letting out a soft noise of pain as he did.

“Trade winds.”

Then he slipped into a heavy sleep again and began breathing heavily.

Chapter 28

“Cin, why on earth didn’t you call me sooner?”

Kara pushed a steaming paper cup filled with coffee from a hospital vending machine into my hand, and took a seat next to me in the hall.  

Normally by this hour, I would have been throwing a fit if I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet. But I’d been wide awake in a nightmare for hours already, and coffee wasn’t going to make a difference one way or another.

“I would have been here right away,” she said. “I would have—”

“I know,” I said. “And I’m sorry. Things were just… It was all happening too fast. Trumbow was here for a while, and I… I’m sorry.”

I thought back to Kara sitting on the sofa the night before with Brad.

She stirred her own coffee with a short plastic straw and looked at me nervously.

“How’s he doing?” she asked.

I told her what the doctors had said. About what Trumbow had said had happened.

She took it all in, nodding calmly. When I had finished, she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“He’s going to be okay, Cin,” she said. “They’re going to take good care of him here. Besides, he’s got you, and if there was ever a reason to get better and heal up fast, that’d be it.”

I bit my swollen and chewed-up lip again, letting out a short sigh.

“I just didn’t think something like this would ever happen,” I said. “I mean, I worry about him getting hurt out there. I can’t help but worry. But now that it’s actually happening, I just don’t…”

I trailed off. But I didn’t really need to complete the sentence anyway. I could tell Kara understood.