Hideaway Hill (10 page)

That sickened Blake. He could feel his rage
intensifying. As Doctor Simms emerged from the observation room,
Blake took a step forward.

“
Mayor Darwood, is
something wrong? I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Doctor Davis Simms moved to Surpatch in the
last six years, so he wasn’t aware of Veronica and Blake’s
history.

Inclining his head toward where Veronica
laid, Blake said, “I came to see how she’s doing?”

“
Ms. Klark? She’ll be fine.
Sore, but fine. Talking to Deputy Miller here, he said she has no
next of kin, and with her concussion, I’ll be keeping her overnight
just to keep an eye on her. Besides the broken arm and a few
bruises, she’ll be able to get back to her normal self in no time
at all.”

The doctor glanced at her chart again before
walking away.

“
Can I see her?” Blake
called.

Dr. Simms stopped, and gave Blake a puzzled
look, but agreed. Blake pulled the curtain back, and his heart
dropped into his stomach at the sight of Veronica lying in the
hospital bed. The right side of her face was bruised, and she was
cradling her right arm close to her chest with her back to the
door. She hadn’t noticed Blake’s entrance. He cleared his throat
and Veronica turned slowly to see who entered the room. Blake knew
Miller was behind him, but Miller hadn’t said a word yet. Rolling
onto her back, Veronica seemed to be mortified to see Blake
standing there. He sensed she was fighting the urge to cry. He had
always thought it was silly the saying her father had ingrained
into her. Yes, there was no point in crying over spilled milk, and
no, you couldn’t change something that has already happened. But
sometimes it just felt good to cry—to let it all out. Blake made
his way further into the room, and reached for her hand.

He wasn’t sure if she would let him touch
her, but as their skin came in contact, she quickly wound her
fingers around his hand. He could feel slight shivers move through
her body.

“
Are you cold? I could ask
the nurse for another blanket.”

“
No.”

Her voice was very quiet. He wanted to get
closer to make sure he didn’t miss anything she said, but there
were no chairs in the room.

“
Do you want me to get you
anything else?” He tried to keep the stress of seeing her broken
out of his voice.

She smiled at him, and he hated to see her
that way. Half her face was swollen, but her smile was still
beautiful. In that instant, Blake wanted nothing more than to have
Arthur Stentson in the room with him so he could show him how it
felt to hit someone.

“
Thank you for coming,
Blake.” Veronica’s voice still wasn’t much louder than a whisper,
but he knew she meant it. She seemed happy he had come to be by her
side.

“
I told Miller not to call
anyone, but he insisted. I wasn’t sure who he would call. I’m
surprised you came.”

Their eyes shifted to Miller, who bowed his
head slightly. Blake knew Miller had always been fond of Veronica,
and would do anything for her. Miller stepped forward and stopped
at the foot of the bed.

“
Vee, we haven’t found him
yet, but when we do, we’re still going to need a statement from
you.”

Veronica closed her eyes and shook her head.
Blake sensed the act of moving her head and neck hurt her. The
movement was so slight that he almost missed it. He wondered if she
was going to have a sore neck also in the morning. Before he was
able to convince her that she needed to give Miller a statement,
the curtain flew back, and standing looking like a crazed mad man
was Arthur.

“
Veronica, there you are!
Darling, I’ve been so worried. I’ve looked all over for
you.”

Arthur took a step into the room, and Miller
blocked him. Placing a hand on his chest, Arthur stopped and looked
at Miller, as if he was confused by why his body had stopped
moving. Miller’s larger frame obstructed his view, and Arthur had
to practically jump to make eye contact with Veronica.

“
Veronica, what’s going on
here?”

His voice was a little harsher. It appeared
he had forgotten about the whole altercation earlier that night.
Until then, Arthur’s eyes were only focused on Veronica. Blake saw
the moment Arthur realized he was not only standing in the room,
but holding Veronica’s hand. Miller must have sensed the change
too, because the moment Arthur tried to lunge forward, Miller had
him up against the wall.

“
What the hell is he doing
here, Veronica?” Arthur spat, “So this is how it’s going to be?
You, filthy whore! You called him?” He grunted and struggled to be
free. “Here I was worried sick about you, and you’re sitting here
all cuddled up with him!”

He was no match for Miller. Although Arthur
fought to be released, Miller didn’t budge.

Blake had enough of the nonsense. He began
to let go of Veronica’s hand. For that moment, he didn’t want to be
the Mayor of Surpatch. No, he wanted to be the man who was going to
defend Veronica’s honor. Trying to pull away from her hand, she
only held on tighter. Blake glanced at her, and knew she was
terrified. If it was possible, she’d curled into a smaller ball.
Her eyes hadn’t left the thrashing Arthur, and her whole body was
shaking. Blake knew then he couldn’t let her go—even if it was to
go beat the snot out of the angry, little man. Getting control of
his rage, he knelt down to be eye level with Veronica.

“
Veronica, I promise you I
won’t let him hurt you.” Blake gave her hand a soft rub before
calling over the commotion to Miller. “Miller, get that fool out of
here before I completely forget I’m the Mayor.” Veronica pulled his
hand closer, and he gave her a weak smile before continuing. “I
don’t care what you hold him on, just make sure he stays the night
in jail.”

Miller grunted in response, then twisted
Arthur around, slamming him face first into the wall, before
handcuffing him. As Miller walked him out the room, Blake tried his
best to tune out the obscenities Arthur was using towards
Veronica.

With his free hand, Blake
stroked her face.
I hope she’s not going
into shock.
Veronica’s eyes were huge with
fright.

The uproar Arthur caused had Doctor Simms on
high alert too. Walking swiftly back to Veronica’s room, he stopped
when he saw Blake attempting to comfort her.

“
Is she okay? He didn’t
touch her again did he?”

Blake and Veronica had been staring into
each other’s eyes, and he didn’t want to break eye contact with
her. It seemed to help calm her down. He’d forgotten how pretty her
eyes were. Even in the midst of everything else going on, her
honey-brown eyes were mesmerizing him all over again.

“
Yes, doctor, she’s fine.
He frightened her, but he didn’t come close enough to touch
her.”

Dr. Simms didn’t respond. Although Blake
didn’t want to leave Veronica’s side, he needed to talk to the
doctor. As he began to stand, Veronica gave him a pleading look,
asking him not to go, but he still broke away.

He stood and gave her a reassuring smile.
“I’ll be right back.” Blake promised.

Walking out of the examination room, Dr.
Simms followed.

“
I know you were going to
keep an eye on her overnight, but if I’m able to do so, will it be
okay if I check her out? I’ll bring her back if there’s any signs
of her not doing well. I think she needs to be in a real bed
tonight. She has already been through enough.”

Dr. Simms gave Blake an approving nod and
said, “Of course, Mayor. Melinda gave me an update. Well, I guess
more of a history lesson before all of the hullabaloo. There is no
reason for you to explain. Let me fill out a few prescriptions, and
we can get her checked out.”

Any other time it might have unnerved Blake
that others were talking about his past with Veronica, but not now.
Right now, all he wanted to do was get her home—to a safe
place.

After getting all the information needed and
promising Dr. Simms he would call if he thought something was
wrong, Nurse Melinda Williams helped wheel Veronica out to the car.
Melinda was Miller’s cousin, and though she gossiped a lot, she
kept all her questions at bay while she helped get Veronica on her
way. Veronica hadn’t spoken a word in awhile, and the drive back to
Blake’s house was quiet. Blake was grateful for the quiet time. It
gave him time to think. In a matter of minutes, his life was
flipped upside down. He wasn’t sure what path he was about to walk
down, but he knew he was no longer on the course he woke up on that
morning. He could only imagine how Veronica felt.

Pulling his car into the driveway, Veronica
slowly turned and gave him a baffled stare. He knew what she was
thinking before she could ask him. There was a house built for the
Mayor and his family. It might as well have been the Darwood family
home since their family had always occupied it, but when Blake
became Mayor, he chose not to move back in. Instead, he let his
parents remain there. It had been their home for so long that he
couldn’t see kicking them out.

“
I didn’t have the heart to
make them move. This place is a good size for me, plus I feel more
connected to the community here.”

Veronica stared back at the
house and didn’t respond. The porch light was on, but the rest of
the house was dark. Getting out of the car, he moved to the other
side to help her out. Being who she was, she attempted to get out
of the car by herself. Blake could tell she was sore, because he
was able to get to the door and open it before she could unfasten
the seatbelt. With the door opened, he knew it would be out of the
question to carry her into the house. So instead, he gingerly
helped her out of the car and to the house. As he unlocked the
door, he wondered why Veronica hesitated in the
doorway
. Does she not want to walk into a
dark house?
Turning on the entryway light
first, he walked ahead of her and flipped on all the lights for her
to see. With the lights vanishing the darkness away, Veronica made
her way into the house. Blake thought about guiding her to the
living room, but changed his mind. Instead, he directed her to the
stairs. Again, she hesitated at the foot of the stairs. He was
holding her by the elbow of her good arm, and he could feel her
slightly shaking. Knowing most of her injuries were caused from the
fall, Blake once again thought about picking her up. He suppressed
a sigh. Blake knew he should just be happy she wasn’t fighting him
about bringing her back to his house or trying to take care of her.
With his arm wrapped around her waist, he urged her up the
stairs.

Blake whispered in her ear, “I’ve got you. I
won’t let you fall, Veronica.”

The stairs were a slow process. When they
made it to the top, he ushered her to the guest bedroom. Blake made
sure to turn on the light before she walked in, and then he
assisted her to the bed. They’d removed her clothes while at the
hospital, and he assumed her garments were damaged sometime that
evening. So when he decided to bring her home for the night, the
nurses found extra scrubs for her to wear. Blake figured she
wouldn’t want to sleep in the hospital attire.

As he helped her sit on the bed, he said,
“I’m sure you don’t want to sleep in those. If you like, I can get
you one of my shirts and a pair of shorts. They’ll be big on you,
but it’ll work.”

Veronica gave him a weary smile that Blake
accepted as a yes. It didn’t take him long to retrieve the clothes.
He reentered the room, and placed his favorite tee shirt and shorts
on the end of the bed before turning to leave. He wanted to give
her privacy as she changed.

“
Dr. Simms gave you some
pills that need to be taken with water, go ahead and change. I’ll
bring the pills and water up.”

“
Blake?”

It was the first time she spoke in over an
hour, and she sounded tired. He spun to see what she needed.
Veronica’s face was flushed with embarrassment.

“
Yes?”

She pointed to her broken
arm and said, “I’m not sure if I can, umm, change my clothes by
myself.” Understanding now why she looked embarrassed, he felt his
heartbeat speed up. He took a deep slow breath
. It’s only Veronica, not some strange woman. I know her. It
won’t be that strange, will it?

“
Oh, yeah, of course.”
Blake’s voice cracked. He felt like a teenager about to make-out
for the first time all over again.

Veronica noticed Blake’s reaction and
dropped her eyes.

“
I’m sorry. I don’t mean to
make you uncomfortable. It’s okay. I think I can figure it out on
my own.”

Damn, I’m an idiot. What
was the point of me bringing her here if I can’t help her?
She had already begun to stand. Blake walked over
and he put his hand under her chin to lift it. He hated to see that
she wasn’t as confident as she used to be. In some ways, Veronica
was not the woman that left Surpatch. He wanted to punch Arthur for
what he had done to make her even think about not holding her head
up high.

His hand slid from her chin and he took both
hands and gently pulled the green top off. The sleeve opening was
just big enough to get her cast through it. Veronica winced as he
pulled her arm through the hole. As the shirt came off, Blake
noticed that she had nothing on under the top. His breath caught in
his throat, and it took all of his willpower not to look down. At
that same time, Blake had been so careful with removing the tight
shirt, that he must have missed Veronica trying to hold the bottoms
up, because the moment the tight top came off, the pants slipped to
the floor as well. The universe was playing a sick joke on him—or
at least it appeared that way. Veronica began to blush. It moved
from the base of her neck up to her cheeks. She bit her lower lip
and dropped her eyes to the floor again.