Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (30 page)

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

“I
was filling up the car after I left Danni’s
.”

“Ben, who is this
boy
Danni
?” 

“
Her
. It’s a girl.
Her
name is
Dannilynn
. She’s a friend. I was headed home when I stopped for gas and this guy was beating up on a girl. Reminded me of you and what’s-his-name, the guy who got you pregnant
.”

“
Okay
. So, you stopped this guy from hurt
ing
a woman—after you left a friend’s house
.”

The feel of Danni in his arms
when she’d hugged him came back to him
.
Thank God it wasn’t Danni.
A si
lence l
onger than he wanted to h
ear followed.

“
But the woman who was being hurt wasn’t a
friend.
You didn’t know her?
” More prolonged silence, the pregnant kind.

“
No
. But you know how I feel about guys who, you know, take it out on girls.”

Juli
anne
’s voice was cool. “I remember.” She drummed her fingers on something hard.

“How good a friend is she?”
Julie
finally asked.

“
Who?
No. I’
d
never seen her before
.”

“T
he other one.  Danni.”

“Oh.”
His throat constricted before he replied, “
She’s pregnant.”

“
Really
.
” More drumming.
“
Then she must be a close friend.
” Silence hummed, but not quite as long as before, though
Julie
’s voice
seemed
disarmingly calm
when she asked,
“Is the baby yours, Ben?” 

“Of course not
.
” He took a quick breath before continuing.
“
I’d like to be more than friends, but she’s not ready for that. I
have a feeling
she thinks I
only
care about her because she’s pregnant
, like you were. Y
ou know, with
Mark
, before you met
Jason
.”
He took a drink of water to clear his throat.
“
S
he’s
Joel’s
vet
assistant
.
She
went back to school, and she had a problem wit
h her old boyfriend. A
real creep
.
She
reported him to the cops
a few weeks ago
. Anyway, when I saw
the guy
going after this other woman
, I saw red and that’s when I
took
him out. I’ve about wrecked my hands
.
Joel is really pissed about that and—”

“Ben, slow down. Joel
’s the vet you’re
externing with, right?”

“Yes.”

“
Okay
, I think I get the picture, but you said you’re in trouble. Other than your wrecke
d hands, what kind of trouble?
Were you
arre
st
ed
?”

“No. I told a guy to call 9-1-1 right
after
I left the scene.
Probably shouldn’t have done that
. L
eft, I mean,
” he mumbled more to himself than to his sister, seeing again the man sprawled on the beach.
“After I thought about it, I called
the cops and gave them a
description.” He gulped again and nearly choked.
“
I scared myself when I couldn’t stop hitting him. I don’t want to lose my externship and I’m afraid
Danni
won’t ever
speak
to me again
if she finds out
what I did
.
I don’t want to go to jail
like Dad.”

“Ben, you’re jumping to conclusions.
Dad killed someone. You didn’t
.”

I
hope
.
He
rose from his chair and paced, rubbing his face near the bruise. He didn’t know for sure, though he’d scanned the paper and the internet for local news and there’d been no report of someone finding a body on the beach.

“D
oes Joel know what happened?”
Julie
asked.

“Not really—he knows about my hands, obviously.
But
he didn’t give me the th
ird degree except to say I ca
n’t do it
again. T
his was
uh … sort of th
e
second time, only it was both hands this time, not just one, like before.”

Julie
seemed to be humming to herself before she interrupted the tune in mid-note and said,
“
Danni. This girl. Your friend.
When are you going to see her again?
”

“Thanksgiving
. She invited me
, and I have a feeling she’s
going to ask me about my hands. T
hey’re pretty bad, and I’ve got a couple of scrapes on my face, too.”

“You know how I feel about this fighting thing
, Bennie.
You are so tall and so strong—why can’t you simply use your size to intimidate, if that’s what needs to be done?”
When he didn’t respond
,
she
added, “And, honesty is always best—with everyone. You know that.”

He sighed. “I figured you would say that.”

Her voice rose in pitch.
“Then, why did you call me
if you knew what I was going to say?
Now you’re making
me
mad.”

“I know, I know. I shouldn’t have let him get to me. I just saw red, and then—”

“S
top babbling. It doesn’t become you. Why don’t you
just
admit what you did
when you see Danni
? She’
ll probably think you
’re
a
hero in shining armor
for standing up to that man.
”

He started to protest again.

“Don’t interrupt me, little brother. You have to take care of your hands so you can
keep that precious externship.
And, I think you need to go
back
to the police and admit what you did. At the very least, you’ll have a clear conscience.
Even if they do arrest you.
”

“I’ll think about it,” he said, sighing. “
Julie
?”
he murmured.

“Speak up, Ben. I can hardly hear you.”

“I thought I was over letting my temper run my life. I don’t want to ha
ppen to me what happened to Dad
.”

“
I
hear
you
. But, you did stop,
and you admitted, at least to me,
that you did wron
g. That’s a good thing. N
ot like Dad
. He
never took
responsibility
.
You know that.”

They were both silent, remembering what
their father
had done and where he had been for the last
seven
years.

“So, what are you going to do,
Bennie
? If you were here, I’d bind up your wounds and give you a kiss on both cheeks and send you to bed without dinner—as penance—and then we’d go to the police together.”

“I
figured that, too
. Thanks for listening
.
”
He
looked
at his watch. “I’ve got to go. I promised Joel I’d do a late check on one of our surgical
pat
ients.”

“You do that. One more thing.”

“What?”

“I
love
you, and I have a feeling
Danni
does, too
, for the help you’re giving her, even though it isn’t your baby.”

He
didn’t know what to say to that, but his heart speeded up at the thought.
“I
love
you, too. Hugs to the kids. I’ll be in touch.”

After hanging up with his sister, Ben flopped onto his bed.
Is she right? Does Danni love me?
Aside from the
occasional
hugs they’d shared
since she’d left home without telling her folks she was pregnant
, Danni hadn’t given him a
single
hint
about
how she felt about him. Maybe she was just being extra careful, after what had happened with her old boyfriend.

Ben had never even kissed her, at least not like a boyfriend might, just a
few
friendly peck
s
on the cheek. She probably thought he was
just
trying to
help
her because she was pregnant. Because he’d said pregnant girls needed protection—like he’d been with
Julie
.
Maybe
Danni
wouldn’t want him to kiss her
like a boyfriend
, to be more than a friend
.

He rolled over in bed, unable to get comfortable with his thoughts about Danni, and what he should do about his growing feelings for her. He continued to ponder what
Julie
had
said before finally falling a
sleep.

Chapter
9

Joel
twirled his fork, clenched and unclenched his jaw muscles, then scratched the back of his neck. “I need to get a haircut,” he mumbled.

Angela’s eyebrows rose. “Something’s on your mind, Joel.”

How does she do that?
He shrugged his shoulders
and reached for the pasta dish she set before him.
Forget trying to be subtle. It never works, anyway.

“
Babe,
I know I can’t ask you specifics about your
pat
ients
…
”

“
Then, why are you trying
, hon
?” Angela
smil
ed
benignly
at him
between bites of penne pasta.

“
I have a problem.”
Joe
l
emptied his wine glass
in two quick gulps
. “Ben
came back
earlier this week
from what I gathe
r was a visit with your
pat
ient, named
Dannilynn
,
and he was all beat up. Correction. He had a bruise and a bump on the
head,
said
one shoulder was killing him
—I felt a huge lump there—
and his hands
a
re a mess. L
ook
s like he
had a fight with someone
. I hate to think what the other guy must
look
like
, after seeing
Ben and watching him trying to contain groans when lifting
anything
weighing
more than twenty pounds
.”

“What’s that got to do with my
pat
ient?”

Joe
l
took a deep breath and
cut to the chase.
“What’
s their relationship
these days
?”

“You’ll have to ask him. She doesn’t talk to me abo
ut anything
but
the baby.
” Angela poin
ted to her wine glass, and he
filled it.

“H
m
m. So, what about the baby?”

“As of her last visit, s
he
’s
keep
ing
it.”