Memories Of You (15 page)

His expression had changed from one of flirtation to pain, yet through his own discomfort, he was trying to reassure her. Charlie’s heart melted. She didn’t care if her partner saw her this vulnerable or not. She was worried about Seth, but extremely thankful Julio had been with her during the worst day of her career.

“How is he?” she asked the attending EMT.

The woman smiled. “If he’s well enough to make eyes at me like he’s been doing, he’ll pull through just fine and have a couple of battle scars to impress the girls.”

Charlie glanced back at Seth. She’d dared not look at him too intently before then, primarily because she didn’t want to fall apart. Now, however, she couldn’t have looked away. His pallor had changed, even during the past few minutes. He looked gaunt, and his lips had changed from pale pink to gray.

She glanced sharply at the machine monitoring him. His blood pressure was falling, and the machine started beeping.

The other EMT in the back of the van asked her to move away while he ripped open Seth’s shirt and reached for the defibrillator, all the while talking to the other attendant and speaking to Seth in quiet, even tones. “We’ve got a bleeder! Stay with me, man.”

Charlie gasped. The EMT’s next few words swam in her brain. Transfusion. Tremendous loss of blood. Seth was going into cardiac arrest—he could die right there in front of her, and she was unable to help him.

Her heart thundered in her chest, and she flinched with every movement the medic made. She closed her eyes momentarily, unable to watch. She could barely breathe. The man she loved was dying? How could this be?

The next few seconds were a never-ending nightmare, fraught with fear, laced with dread and intensified by the montage of scenes unfolding before her. Seth—smiling at her over dinner that first night. Seth—making love to her, holding her, reassuring her that he’d be back soon from Mexico. Then Seth as Mason, Mason as Seth, the two images blurring and smearing her soul’s canvas, coloring her world with shades of the unknown. Finally, just Seth, her lover, her friend, the one man to whom she could tell anything.

The piercing sounds of the machine as his heart stopped completely. Another sound, that of someone screaming—her. She opened her eyes and flew forward, shoving aside the shocked EMT, pounding Seth’s chest.

“No!” she raged, her hands flying everywhere, thumping his chest, slapping his face. “Seth, don’t you die on me, damn it! You do not have that right—you come back to me. Do you hear? Seth!”

Both EMTs grabbed her, one from behind, the other in front, and they ordered her aside, pushing her practically onto Julio’s lap to get her away from the listless man on the opposite gurney.

Suddenly a new sound, that of beeping, a weak but sure sign of life coming from the dying man she’d just whacked.

“What?” The male EMT leaned closer toward Seth, and he shushed everyone else in the van. “What did you say, sir?”

Charlie listened, breath caught in her throat. One word—repeated—she listened, disbelieving, then burst into giggles as Seth said it again, his voice barely a fractured whisper.

“Nag, nag, nag.”

“One bullet tagged the fleshy party of his upper arm, another grazed his temple. He took two to the chest, and one pierced his lung, but we have him patched up.” The male nurse pointed a thumb over his shoulder toward Julio’s room. “He’s not going anywhere for a few days.”

Sam came to stand behind his daughter. “And Seth?”

One of the doctors entered their circle. “Are you the Vargases?” Once Charlie and Sam nodded, he continued. “Mr. Taggart signed the consent forms to discuss this with you and give you power of attorney. We have him scheduled for a series of MRIs. He has multiple abrasions and lacerations to his head, hands and hips, and a dislocated shoulder that has seen better days. We removed the bullet from his leg that nicked his femoral artery.” He frowned. “You know about the shunts, right?”

Charlie and Sam shook their heads.

“He’s agreed once he’s stable to let us relieve some of the pressure from his brain by inserting shunts.” The surgeon explained how they’d run tubes from Seth’s skull down to his stomach, where the fluid would be emptied. “Of course, they’ll have to be cleaned now and then, but he shouldn’t need replacements for a couple of years or more.”

When Charlie sobbed, the doctor patted her shoulder. “Your fiancé should be fine in a few weeks.”

“Oh, he’s not—we’re not—engaged.” Charlie recovered her shock at being mistaken for Seth’s bride-to-be long enough to respond.

The doctor looked perplexed. “He’s asking for you, you know?”

Charlie shook her head.

“Once the nurse leaves his room, you may go in,” the doctor told her. “Just don’t get him overly excited. He’s had a rough day.” He nodded curtly as he left to talk to another nurse at the center desk.

“Why do doctors always talk in understatements?” Sam complained. “Rough day? Not like he woke up, stubbed his toe and got a headache.”

Charlie pointed toward Seth’s glass-walled room, where she could clearly see Stone talking to Seth and the nurse writing something on a clipboard. “Why does he get to go in there, but I’m told to wait?”

“Maybe something to do with insurance?” Sam shrugged. “Does it matter? The man’s alive. That’s more than I can say for the guy whose neck he broke.” Sam chuckled. “Damn, I’d like to have seen that fight.”

“Daddy!”

Sam’s eyes widened. “Sorry, kid. Forgot I wasn’t talking to just any cop but the one that’s in love with him.”

Charlie waited impatiently for Stone to leave Seth’s room so she could visit. She glanced at her opaque reflection in the glass. She looked like she’d been through a war, clothes disheveled, face blotchy from crying, her hair standing out at all angles. Had she ever looked worse? She doubted it.

And Seth—dear, sweet man. He was as handsome as ever, even if he did have tubes running into him from all directions and that little plastic thingie in his nose so he could get oxygen.

Stone stepped aside, and Charlie saw Seth smile, and her throat ached from a lump she couldn’t manage to swallow, shutting off her air for a moment. She finally sobbed, the lump dissolved and she was able to breathe. Weakly, she pressed her face against the glass and looked through it longingly.

Soon the two men saw her. She stepped away from the glass and dabbed her eyes as a fresh onslaught of tears threatened to burst.

Stone motioned for her to come in, and to her surprise the man hugged her briefly. He didn’t say anything, but the look in his eyes made her wonder at what the two men had been discussing. Stone looked like he knew something she didn’t.

“Hey, you.” Seth’s voice wasn’t strong, but it was steady, almost cheerful. “I’ve missed you.”

Charlie walked tentatively toward the bed, his expression coaxing her forward until she was at his side. She took his hand in hers then bent and held it to her cheek. The damned tears she’d struggled to keep from him flowed freely.

Seth’s hand moved against her skin, and he stroked her face, wiping away the drops as they fell against his fingers. “Care to sit with me for a while?” he whispered.

Charlie dropped into the chair beside the bed, unable to speak. She was overcome with relief that he was alive. She didn’t care what he said as long as she could hear his voice, reassuring her that he was still with her.

“I still have a job,” Seth said, struggling for air, measuring his words carefully. “Washington office told Bill—Stone—that I can have one of the desk jobs in the Houston office if I want it.” He paused before continuing. “What do you think?”

Charlie blinked, sniffed, found a tissue and blew her nose. “Whatever you want. You don’t need my permission.”

Seth cleared his throat. “Sorry. Hard to talk.” He smiled ruefully. “Don’t need you to validate my decision, but it’d be nice if…the woman I loved…was okay with it.”

She took a deep breath.
The woman he loves?
“Seth.” His name was a whisper on her lips.

“I love you, Charlie.” This time his voice was ragged with emotion.

Charlie grabbed both his hands and squeezed. “I love you, too. I don’t care if you can’t remember us—you know? The past.”

“Ah. But I can.” He returned the pressure she exerted on his hands. “Not everything, but most of it, I think, and I have you to help clear up what is fuzzy. It’s funny, but what’s there is at least solid. It’s a foundation for something, don’t you think?”

She wasn’t sure what he meant, but she nodded. “Sure.”

He chuckled. “You don’t have a clue what I mean, do you?”

Charlie shook her head slowly. Now wasn’t the time to play games with him. If she’d learned anything the past few days, it was that total honesty with him was more important than pretending.

“Maybe we’d better get your father in here,” he suggested.

“You want to speak to Sam?”

“Well, in a minute. He’s an old-fashioned guy. He might like it if I did this right and asked for his blessing.”

Charlie was dumbfounded. “What?”

“I can’t go on like this,” Seth explained. “Life is too short as it is, and I don’t want to spend another day without you in it, by my side. I don’t care if you work or not, if you’d rather wear a gun or a teddy to bed, if you talk about nothing but criminals or babies, sit on your butt eating chocolate and gaining weight, or if you’re out running down bad guys. I don’t want to live without you.”

Charlie burst into tears. “You’re proposing to me while you’re lying in a hospital bed?”

“I’d rather have been in front of you on bended knee, but I imagine you’ll have me in that position soon enough.” He winked.

It took a moment for Charlie to catch his suggestive meaning. “Ha. Okay. Just remember that while you’re down there…”

Seth guffawed then bent forward with a groan. “Ow. That hurt. Don’t make me laugh.” He recovered then gave her a serious look. “Does that mean yes?”

“Of course it does!” Charlie rose to throw herself on top of him, mindful of his wounds and the oxygen tube. “I love you—I love you—I love you!” She kissed him on the lips, the cheeks, his eyelids and forehead.

They remained like that, holding hands and kissing one another, until it seemed Seth was having trouble breathing. Charlie moved away apologetically. She sniffed again and wiped her face, which was drenched with tears. “I’m a mess.”

“You’re beautiful.” His eyes shone with love.

“I don’t see how you can find me attractive,” Charlie confessed, not fishing for a compliment. “This has been the worst day of my life, and I show it.”

Seth sighed. “I’m feeling the pain killers they gave me right before you came in. Maybe it’s time we called Sam in here while I still have the strength to ask his permission to marry you.”

Charlie nodded and motioned for her father to join them. When Sam entered the room, she beamed. “Daddy, Seth wants to talk to you. And if you say no, I’ll kill you.”

“What are you looking at?” Charlie knew her tone was cranky, but she had the worst case of wedding day jitters she could imagine.

Julio put his hands in his tux pockets. “No offense, but I’ve never seen you in a dress.”

“So?” Now she was not only a sourpuss, but snappish.

“No dress means I’ve not seen your legs—I was beginning to think they were made of wood or titanium or something since you’ve always been such a hard ass.” Julio’s face reflected mild amusement.

Charlie stuck out her tongue. “You wouldn’t be looking at my legs now if I wasn’t bent over and didn’t have my head between them. I don’t want to ruin my gown. I’m ready to upchuck, and I haven’t eaten anything all morning. And here you are, standing in as my maid of honor, and all you can do is make jokes about my body?”

“Your disposition,
querida,
not your form.” He flashed her a toothy smile, his eyes twinkling. “You look adorable. If Seth hadn’t already grabbed you, I’d whisk you away on my motorcycle and show you what you’re missing by not being with a hot-blooded Latino.”

Charlie clutched her stomach. She didn’t dare risk laughing for fear she’d get sick. The dress wasn’t tight, but she wasn’t used to wearing anything with a cinched waist that showed off her cleavage and curves. She felt like a doll, waiting for someone to undress her and put her back into casual slacks and pullover shirts.

Julio took her by the hand and led her to the cheval mirror in his parents’ dressing room. He’d talked Charlie into saying her vows at their country estate south of Houston. The setting was perfect. Spring flowers and trees blooming, a riot of color and greenery outside where the ceremony was to take place. A lovely master suite where Charlie could prepare for her wedding.

“Look,” he said, helping right her and pointing at the mirror. “Don’t you know how beautiful you are, and that Seth wouldn’t care if you were wearing jeans as long as you showed up in front of that preacher?”

Charlie had to admit he was right. She’d never looked better. Weeks of work without hassle, days of being pampered at the best salon and day spa in Houston, courtesy of Julio. Stress-free and happier than she’d ever been.

She glanced at their reflection. He was grinning widely. His bandages, like Seth’s, were gone, leaving scars from where he’d been shot. They were all lucky to be alive.

“Feel better?” he asked when she sighed deeply.

“Yeah.” Charlie nodded. She looked more closely at their reflection. He’d had so many stitches and an operation to remove shrapnel from his head, so he’d kept it completely shaved. “How’s the noggin’?”

He turned her to face him. “Look at me. I’m fine. Stop worrying about me. I hear your father outside talking to my dad. Did you catch what they said?”

She shook her head.

Julio held up a finger. “Hear it? The organist has started her music. It’s time for us to go downstairs.” He offered her his good arm.

A soft rap on the door…her father’s voice asking if she was ready. Charlie took a deep gulp of air and blew it out slowly. “Let’s do this.”

Seth had barely noticed when Julio took his place in the garden where normally a bridesmaid or maid of honor would have stood. At first, when Charlie had asked Julio to be her closest witness to their marriage, it had seemed strange, but then nothing about Charlie could be considered the norm, and it was fitting that her partner stand beside her today, even though she had friends who could have done so.

All he could see was his beautiful bride, walking on her father’s arm toward him, toward their future. He swelled with pride. His best friend, his soul mate, the love of his life. With Bill Stone as his best man, a small group of friends and family as witnesses, and him as ready as ever, the day was perfect. Life, for one brief moment in time, was perfect.

The words they both uttered, the clergy’s needless encouragement for them to love and honor one another, the music…everything fell away, and Seth felt as if he was in a wonderful trance, leaving a troubled past behind and walking into a future bright with promise and passion.

Then he blinked. It was real, all right, but his bride’s words… Seth couldn’t believe what he’d heard. He played them over in his mind like a recording.

“I, Charlene Andrea Vargas, take you…Seth Benjamin Taggart, and whatever aliases you may have…as my lawfully wedded husband.”

Members of those seated in the garden sniggered. Her father choked, coughed, recovered. Her mother gasped and closed her eyes with embarrassment, and Julio chuckled. Seth bit back a grin, but it was of no use. Charlie blinked through tears of laughter and smiled up at him, heart in her eyes, a mischievous smile on her lips.

And when it came time for him to kiss his bride, Seth swooped her into his arms and planted the biggest, most heartfelt kiss he’d ever given on her lips, crushing her to him, wedding gown and all, his soul bursting with pleasure.

The music started, and typical of Charlie, she’d surprised him by asking for something other than “The Bridal March.” Seth laughed as he heard the fast-paced strains of an old cop show theme song being played on the organ. He could even imagine the drums, the trumpets and gigantic waves crashing all around them.

“Are you announcing to everyone where we’re going on our honeymoon?” he teased, kissing the tip of her nose.

“Dad and Julio will be the only ones who get it.” Charlie grabbed his arm and led him through a shower of rose petals and rice that pelted them on their quick-paced exit from the ceremony to the reception dinner.

Seth clasped her hand in his, grinning as Julio and Sam started laughing and the rest of the crowd cheered. Half of those who’d witnessed their wedding were cops, and Charlie was wrong—most of them seemed to catch the significance of the song.

“Book ’em, Danno!” called Sam as the theme from
Hawaii Five-O
filled the air.