Chapter Twenty-one
It was one of the longest nights of Maddy’s life, and by eight o’clock that morning, it still wasn’t ended. The storm continued to rage with hurricane-force winds and torrential rain, and even though it was well past sunrise, it could have been midnight for how dark it was outside. The nursing home still had power, but they couldn’t get any television or radio stations, and even their cell phones had stopped getting out. Maddy was beginning to agree with Maureen; it felt as though they were completely cut off from the rest of the world.
And there still wasn’t any sign of William.
Or the tiger.
Nobody had come into work at seven, and the residents weren’t waking up!
It was as if time had simply stopped.
Hiram continued drifting in and out of sleep; he’d wake up, discover he was still alive, and close his eyes and start softly snoring again. When he did stay awake for more than two minutes, he was quite lucid—considering he was telling Maddy stories about all the people in the room that only he could see. But then he asked if there was anything she wanted him to tell her daddy, just in case he happened to run into Charlie Lane in the hereafter.
Maddy had nearly lost it right then and there, but had somehow managed to give him a thankful smile, and told him to tell her daddy that she loved him and that everyone was doing okay. But then she’d remembered to have Hiram also tell him that Rick was following in his footsteps, and becoming a fisherman just like he’d hoped.
And then she’d said she needed to use the bathroom, and that was why she was standing out in the hall right now, bawling like a baby.
“D-did he pass?” Maureen whispered, rushing up to her.
Unable to speak, Maddy just shook her head.
A pair of large hands turned her into a broad chest, and two well-muscled arms wrapped around her. “Easy there, Miss Kimble,” Dr. Lewis said, patting her back. “I can see how difficult this is for you, but Mr. Fields seems to be waiting for that gentleman to show up, and I don’t think he’s going to let go until he does.”
Utterly mortified to be crying all over a doctor—not to mention a complete stranger—Maddy forced her emotions under control and tried to step away.
Only his arms tightened and his patting turned to gentle rubbing. “If it’s any consolation, I believe Hiram is actually enjoying himself,” he said, his warm breath fanning over her hair.
Maddy stiffened, suddenly uncomfortable. It might be unprofessional to cry on a doctor, but it was really inappropriate for him to be soothing her like . . . like . . .
“Maddy, I think we should start waking up the residents,” Maureen said. “I’m starting to really worry about them.”
God bless the perceptive woman! Forcibly pushing on the hand holding her head down, and with Maureen actually helping by pulling at her, Maddy finally managed to step free. “Excuse me, Doctor,” she said, smiling apologetically, “but we really need to see to the others. I’m sorry; that was very unprofessional of me.”
He smiled, his green eyes glinting in the dim hall lights. “Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on sometimes, Miss Kimble, so please don’t apologize. As for the residents, why not let them sleep in this morning? It will be a lot less stressful for them than waking up to this terrible storm and then learning that Mr. Fields is dying.”
“But it’s unnatural,” Maddy said tightly, restraining herself from visibly shuddering because she could still feel his arms around her—probably because he was still embracing her with his eyes. “Especially that they’re all asleep at eight in the morning. If you will excuse us, Dr. Lewis, we have work to do,” she said, pivoting on her heel and heading toward the nurses’ station.
“Madeline,” he said ever so softly as she walked away, making her stop to look at him. “I believe we can drop the formalities now. Please, call me Aslan.”
Maddy went perfectly still, not even daring to breathe.
Aslan.
The Chronicles of Narnia.
C. S. Lewis.
One missing green-eyed, face-licking tiger.
And a way-too-forward stranger claiming to be a doctor, who very conveniently showed up when they needed one, with not a drop of rain on him.
“Aslan is a very uncommon name,” she said, staring down the hall directly into his bright green eyes.
“It’s from C. S. Lewis’s book The Chronicles of Narnia,” he said. “Maybe you’re familiar with it? My mother was fascinated by all the talking creatures and named me Aslan after the lion. When I was . . . oh, almost ten, I think, she and I read it together.”
Maddy’s heart started pounding.
“Hey, isn’t that the book you and Sarah are reading together?” Maureen asked.
“No, we read it when she was eight,” she blatantly lied.
Aslan Lewis nodded, the glint in his eyes intensifying. “I believe I’ll sit with Hiram while you tend to your other residents, then,” he said, shooting her a wink and then walking into Hiram’s room.
“He’s the one acting unprofessional,” Maureen said, looping her arm through Maddy’s and leading her toward the nurses’ station. “Doctors do not hug nurses, and they sure as hell don’t wink at them,” she added, stopping to face her. “What in hell is going on here, Maddy? I feel like we’re standing in the middle of the Twilight Zone!”
“I honest to God don’t know, Maureen.”
Maureen glanced down the hall and visibly shivered. “Yeah, well, that guy gives me the creeps. Do you think it’s okay to leave him alone with Hiram?”
Maddy shrugged. “He’s been alone with him several times this morning while we were checking on everyone. And Hiram seems comfortable enough with him.” She straightened her shoulders on a deep breath. “Come on, let’s get everyone up, and maybe this place will start feeling normal again. We can let Charlotte and Lois and Elvira loose in the kitchen, and they can conjure up some scrambled eggs and toast for everyone,” she said, inwardly wincing at even uttering the word conjure.
“Okay,” Maureen said, also stiffening her spine. “You get Charlotte and Lois, and I’ll head in the other direction and wake up Elbridge.” She smiled. “He might be eighty, but it’ll feel good to have another man around.” But then she frowned. “I just wish I could get through to my husband on his cell phone. I can’t believe he hasn’t shown up here looking for me by now.”
“But you told me Doris said all the roads are blocked by trees and downed wires.”
Maureen went back to smiling. “Sean would walk the whole six miles if he had to, figuring I was stuck someplace between here and home. I swear, if I’m so much as ten minutes overdue, he’s in the truck coming after me.” She laughed. “That’s what forty years of marriage does to a couple; if he doesn’t call from the woods every three hours, I usually go looking for him,” she finished, heading toward Elbridge’s room.
“Maybe someday I’ll be lucky enough to have that problem,” Maddy said with a chuckle, heading in the opposite direction toward the room Charlotte and Lois shared.
It took more effort than usual to get everyone up and dressed and ready to face the day, and their one bed-ridden resident, Mem, was quite put out that she couldn’t watch the morning news to get the latest on the storm. Charlotte and Lois and Elvira, acting as though she’d just given them the keys to the kingdom, had practically run to the kitchen to cook breakfast for everyone.
Charlotte had been wearing enough flour to make a loaf of bread when the women had rolled out a cart almost an hour later, loaded with enough divine-smelling food to feed a small nation, and Maddy figured it was going to take the kitchen crew a week to clean up the mess the women had made. Janice and Samuel and Elbridge had immediately gone to Hiram’s room, and Hiram was sitting up in bed, holding court, telling them about his ethereal visitors. Feeling bummed at not being part of the party, Mem talked Maddy and Maureen into putting her in a wheeled recliner, and they’d pushed the frail woman into Hiram’s room with everyone else.
Now they were all sitting around in wheelchairs or on the spare bed, eating perfectly cooked eggs and homemade biscuits, a small island of people weathering both the storm outside and the one in their hearts as they all tried to comfort a dying friend.
Only Hiram seemed oblivious to both storms. “Maddy girl,” he said, scowling at her as he set his fork on his empty plate. “This is a right nice get-together, but it ain’t exactly the party you promised me.” He waved at the room. “You didn’t put up any of them streamers, and you forgot the balloons.” But then he smiled at her. “I’ll let it go, though, if’n I can have a piece of my apple spice cake. You got candles for it, I hope.”
Maddy didn’t know what to say; forget the candles, she didn’t have a cake!
“It’s not your birthday, Hiram,” Mem scoffed before Maddy could say anything. “You only put candles on birthday cakes.”
Hiram went back to scowling, only at Mem instead of at Maddy. “I’ve had ninety-one birthdays, woman, but I only intend to have one dying day. And I think I should get to blow out some candles.” He looked at Maddy and smiled again. “Only I just need one, okay? I don’t think I got enough wind in me to blow out any more than that.” He rubbed his belly. “But I got plenty of room for lots of cream cheese icing.”
Silence descended, and it was all Maddy could do not to burst into tears. She didn’t have an apple spice cake with cream cheese frosting, because this party wasn’t supposed to happen until Monday afternoon.
“Would you like me to help you carry Hiram’s cake from the kitchen, Madeline?” Dr. Lewis asked, standing up. He smiled at Hiram. “Because if your cake is the one I saw in the cooler, Mr. Fields, it’s going to take two people to carry it.”
Hiram’s face lit up. “Is the icing thick, and it’s all decorated up fancy?” He suddenly scowled. “Not with flowers, I hope. I don’t want one of them girly cakes.”
“The icing was at least an inch thick,” their mysterious guest said. “And the cake I saw was decorated with a forest of trees. I do believe there was even an axe and crosscut saw on it. Is that appropriate for a man who spent sixty years in the woods?”
Honest to God, she was going to kill him. They didn’t have a cake, and this . . . this bastard was building Hiram up for a huge disappointment.
Maddy stood up. “Yes, Dr. Lewis, I believe I would like your help,” she said tightly, spinning around and heading for the door.
“There’s some streamers left over from the Fourth of July,” Lois said, following.
“And there’s still helium in the tank,” Charlotte added, also following.
Maddy smiled at the two women as they rushed toward the sitting room.
But then Lois suddenly stopped and turned to her. “I never saw a cake when we were cooking breakfast, and I must have been in that cooler twenty times this morning.”
“That’s because there is no cake,” Maddy said.
“Then why did Dr. Lewis say there was?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.” Maddy forced herself to take a deep breath and let it out slowly, hoping to calm some of her anger. “Maybe I can whip up some frosting and spread it over bread or something. Meanwhile, we can at least put up streamers and balloons,” she finished, gesturing for Lois to continue her mission. “That will ease some of his disappointment.”
Lois gave her a concerned look and then headed after Charlotte, disappearing into the sitting room. Maddy stood with her arms crossed and waited for Dr. Lewis.
“What in hell do you think you’re doing?” she hissed the moment he stepped into the hallway. She grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him away from the door. “Why did you tell Hiram you saw a cake in the cooler? Now he’s going to be heartbroken when I have to tell him there isn’t one.”
“Is that cake for someone else, then?” he asked. He suddenly reached up and touched one of her curls. “You have got the sexiest eyes I’ve ever seen on a woman, Madeline, and when you’re angry they positively snap with fire.”
She jerked away so quickly that she bumped up against the hall railing. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you are out of here,” she growled, pointing toward the entrance. “Now!”
He arched a brow. “And just what are you going to do if I don’t leave? Shoot me?” He shook his head, and his eyes crinkled with laughter. “Apparently you’re no more afraid of me than you are of your boyfriend.”
“What in hell are you talking about?”
He crowded her back against the handrail, the heat of his body sending shivers down her spine. “Isn’t Killkenny expecting you to be waiting in his truck for him when he gets back?” He rubbed her curls between his fingers. “Where I come from, women do as they’re told or suffer the consequences.”
“W-where exactly are you from?”
“Not Narnia, that’s for hell sure.” He leaned closer, bringing his mouth within inches of hers. “You’re not really all that enamored with Killkenny, are you?” he asked softly. “Because I happen to know he’ll never be able to give you what you need. Come with me, Madeline. Walk away with me right now, and I will give you the world.”
Maddy wasn’t sure where she got the nerve, but she smiled ever so sweetly. “Thank you, but I believe I’ll stick with a man who has the balls to go fight a pack of demon wolves instead of hide in a nursing home with a bunch of old people.”
He straightened away, his scowl fierce enough to turn her to toast.
Maddy kicked her smile up another notch. “William Killkenny has already given me more than I even realized I wanted. And I’d run off with . . . oh, let’s say a dragon before I would with someone lower than pond scum who tries to poach another man’s girlfriend the moment his back is turned.” She stepped out from between him and the wall in the direction of the kitchen, but turned back. “I’m going to put a candle in a loaf of bread, and if you’re still here when I get back, I do believe I will shoot you.”
Apparently Maddy had been standing in front of the open cooler so long that Maureen had decided she’d better come save her from Dr. Lewis again. But as soon as the woman turned to look in the cooler herself, she gasped.
“Where did that come from?” she whispered, reaching out and touching the cake. She blinked at Maddy. “I . . . it . . . I swear that wasn’t there two hours ago,” she said, waving at the cooler. “It’s so big it takes up an entire shelf!”
There was even one big fat candle shaped like a pine tree sitting smack in the middle of the damn thing. Maddy decided she really was going to have to write all this down the moment she woke up, because it was simply fantastical. Only she probably wouldn’t include Pond Scum’s lecherous proposition, since this was going to be a children’s book.
Maureen plopped down on the stool beside the center island and dropped her head in her hands with a tired sigh. “I’m getting too old to be working the night shift,” she muttered. “I swear I’m losing my mind.”
Maddy wrapped her arm around her, also giving a deep sigh, only hers was more resigned than tired. “One of Hiram’s invisible visitors must have put it in the cooler.”
Maureen looked up between her fingers. “That is not funny.” She suddenly dropped her hands and grinned drunkenly. “Because it’s probably true.”
“Maddy! Maureen! Come quick!” Elvira shouted, running into the kitchen. “William’s here, and he’s hurt.”
“William!” Maddy cried, chasing after Elvira, who was already running back down the hall. “Where is he?” she asked, catching up with her, Maureen also following at a run. “How badly is he hurt?”
“They laid him on the bed in Hiram’s room. He’s covered in blood!”
Maddy used the door casing to pivot around and came to a sliding stop. “Let me through,” she said, carefully pushing past the sea of people crowded around the bed. “Oh, William!” she cried, reaching out for him.
Kenzie caught her hand. “It’s not all his blood,” he said quietly enough that only she could hear as he turned her to face him. He gave her a shake to make her look at him. “But Trace thinks he might have a cracked collarbone, and there’s a deep slash on his arm that needs to be sewn shut. They said there’s a doctor here.”
“He’s not a real doctor, and I’m not letting him anywhere near William,” she hissed, pulling away. Then she had to shove Trace out of her way. She gently brushed her fingers through William’s wet hair as she studied his pupils, and she smiled when she caught him studying her back. “Don’t look so worried, big guy,” she whispered. “I’m a much better nurse than I am a driver.”
“It looks like the ligaments haven’t been damaged,” Maureen said, having unwrapped the bloody rag covering the lower half of William’s right arm. “But it’s going to need several layers of stitching.” She looked at Maddy. “We have to get an ambulance here; we’re not set up for the kind of care he needs.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Trace said. “None of the roads are passable, and the storm isn’t showing any signs of letting up.”
“Maureen, you worked as a trauma nurse for several years,” Maddy said.
“Fifteen years ago.” Maureen straightened and threw back her shoulders. “But I guess it should be like riding a bicycle. I’ll go see what I can scare up out of the supply cabinet. Come on, people,” she said, looking around. “We all need to pitch in and get organized. You two men,” she said, looking at Kenzie and Trace. “I need you to wheel Mem back to her room—no, take her to the sitting room. Janice and Elvira, you go with them and take Samuel with you. Elbridge, you find a cart and put several pans of hot water on it and wheel it back in here; then you can sit with Hiram. Charlotte, get us more sheets and lots of towels. Lois, you come with me.” She looked at Maddy. “You get him undressed, and I’ll send Lois back with supplies to clean him up.” She looked around as if checking to see if she had everyone. “Have you seen Dr. Lewis?”
Maddy shook her head. “I found out he’s not really a doctor.”
Maureen looked at Trace and Kenzie. “There’s been a man here since around three this morning, but he seems to have suddenly vanished. Could you two search the building for him after you drop off Mem?”
“We will,” Kenzie said, taking hold of the back of Mem’s recliner.
“I’m going to stay and help Maddy,” Trace said. He grinned at Maureen. “With your permission, ma’am.”
“You can help her undress him, but then clean yourself up,” she said, glancing at his wet and muddy clothes. “How much of that blood is yours?” she asked, touching the gash on his arm.
He shrugged. “Not enough of it to worry about right now.”
“Mr. Gregor?” Maureen asked.
He stopped in the doorway and looked back at her. “I’ll survive until after you tend to William,” he said before wheeling Mem out into the hallway.
Everyone else had already headed off on their assignments, and Maddy turned her attention back to William when she felt him pat her bottom.
“I seem to remember telling ye to stay in the truck until I got back.”
She started unbuckling his belt. “I left you a note.”
“Ye also left the door open. The whole interior was soaked, and your note is probably halfway to Ireland by now.”
“Trace, get his boots off,” she said, unbuttoning William’s shirt, only to suck in her breath when she saw the ugly bruise just above his left pectoral muscle.
“William,” Hiram hollered. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes, Hiram, I am. I have a good nurse.”
“Ain’t she, though?” Hiram said. “She came all the way here through this storm when Maureen called and told her I had started in dying.”
“You’re dying?” William said, trying to lift his head to look over at the other bed.
Maddy held him down. “He can wait a bit longer.”
“My whole family’s here, William,” Hiram continued. “Just like you said they’d be. Only I think they’re getting impatient.”
“You tell them they’ve waited all these years,” Maddy said, working William’s wet pants down with Trace’s help. “They can wait another day or two. And if you want a piece of your beautiful cake, you’re going to have to wait until William is all patched up, so he can have a piece with you.”
When Maddy saw the knife Trace had taken from William’s boot and set on the nightstand, she scoffed it up and stuck the blade in William’s shirtsleeve, stopping to smile at him. “Let’s see how you like having your clothes cut off.”
He actually smiled and relaxed back into the pillow. “Have at it, lass.”
Trace covered him with a blanket, and Maddy grabbed her cousin’s sleeve just as he turned to leave, pulling him to lean over the bed. “That guy Maureen mentioned,” she whispered so Hiram wouldn’t hear. “I think he’s the . . . tiger William left me with,” she said, glancing at William and then nodding at his frown.
She took a deep breath. “Maureen called my cell phone when I was in the truck, and told me Hiram was dying. And the tiger heard our conversation, and he somehow opened the door and started walking to the nursing home . . . taking his bubble of light with him.” She glanced at Trace to see his reaction, only to find his expression unreadable. “I came inside and the tiger sat down by the front door, but while I was changing into my scrubs, this guy suddenly showed up at the nurses’ station, claiming he was Dr. Lewis and that his car was stuck in a ditch down the road. Only he wasn’t wet from the storm, and when I went to look, the tiger was gone.”
“Did he say anything in particular,” William asked, “that would make ye think Dr. Lewis was really the tiger?”
Maddy felt her cheeks grow hot. “I-I just have a feeling. He mentioned something I’d said to the tiger on our walk here.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Madeline?” William asked. “What did he do?”
She went back to cutting off his shirt.
Trace stopped her. “Okay, I need to know why you aren’t totally freaked out by what’s going on here.”
She gave a humorless laugh and went back to cutting off William’s shirt. “I’m saving up for a total mental breakdown later.” But then she grabbed Trace’s sleeve when he started to leave. “Um . . . just don’t shoot the tiger, okay?” She smiled tightly. “He might be a jerk, but I do believe he’s on our side.”
“Our side?” Trace softly repeated, his storm-gray eyes searching hers.
She took another deep breath. “I became a member of your exclusive little club by default last night, don’t you think?” she said, glancing down to find William staring at her just as intensely.
He nodded ever so slightly.
Trace pulled her across the bed to kiss her on the forehead. “Welcome to the magic, Peeps,” he whispered, straightening away and walking out the door.
Maddy set down William’s knife and gently pulled his shirt out from under him.
“When are ye going to tell me what the tiger did to you?”
She straightened with a laugh and threw his shirt on the floor. “When you’re too old to even lift your sword.” She suddenly sobered, staring directly into his eyes. “You are going to grow old, aren’t you?” she whispered.
He shot her a wincing smile as he reached out and patted her backside again, and then cupped it with his large hand. “Aye, Madeline, we will grow old together.”
“And you’ll show me what’s in the box you gave me last night when you picked me up, that you had me run up and slide under my bed?”
He arched a brow. “Is your box under there with it?”
Her throat closing with emotion, she merely nodded.
“And are ye ready to show me what’s inside yours?”
His hand on her backside rubbed her soothingly when she started to tremble, and Maddy slowly nodded again.
“Then we will open them together.” He scowled. “And then you will tell me everything that happened after I left the truck.”
Elbridge walked in rolling a cart loaded with tubs of steaming water sloshing over the sides, followed almost immediately by Charlotte, her arms stacked so full of towels and sheets it was a wonder she could see where she was going.
Maureen came in looking ready to do battle, shooed everyone but Elbridge and Maddy out, and then went to work on William. It took them an hour and more than sixty stitches to close no fewer than five wounds on his body—most of the stitches in William’s handsome, muscular right forearm.
All the time she worked, Maureen kept trying to decide what had caused the gashes, unable to believe William’s explanation that it was merely flying debris from where he’d been caught in the storm. Personally, Maddy thought some of them were claw marks, and she’d swear the deep gash on his arm was from a sword.
She was a little disconcerted that William remained so calm through the entire procedure, considering they didn’t have anything stronger than a topical anesthesia to take the sting out of the needle being pushed through his flesh, and only a couple of pain pills that didn’t seem to make him even a little bit drowsy. But more often than not, it was William patting her bottom to reassure her that he wasn’t in any pain—although he did give her a good squeeze every now and then while Maureen was working deep in his arm.
A half hour after they tied off the last stitch, they had him bandaged and lying on clean bed linens, and Maureen was off with her supplies to tend to Kenzie and Trace.
“How are you doing over there, William?” Hiram asked, having just woken up from another nap.
“I’m right as rain, Hiram,” William said. “And you? How are you doing?”
“I’d be doing better if I could have a piece of my cake.” He looked at Maddy expectantly. “Can we get back to the party now that William’s all patched up? I feel myself fading, but I don’t want to go before I get my cake.”
She looked down to find William smiling at her. “Every man deserves to die with his belly full of sugar,” he said. “And come to think of it, I’m having a hankering for something sweet myself.” He arched his eyebrows. “So unless you’re willing to crawl in this bed with me, I suppose I’ll have to settle for some of Hiram’s cake.”
Hiram chortled like a teenager. “You be careful about flirting with our Maddy girl, William. When Doc Lewis stopped in to say good-bye, he told me to make sure I stay on Maddy’s good side, or she just might help me along before I’m ready.” He laughed again. “The Doc said she’s got a tongue sharp enough to cut a man clean in half, and I reckon you don’t need any more stitches right now.”
William snapped his gaze to Maddy.
But it was Elbridge who spoke first, as he stood up from his chair beside Hiram’s bed. “Did Dr. Lewis bother you, Maddy?” he asked. “You should have come and gotten me, and I would have escorted him out, storm or no storm.” He suddenly frowned and looked at Hiram. “When did he come say good-bye to you? Almost everyone’s been in here with you all morning.”
Maddy saw Hiram frown in confusion. “I don’t remember,” he said, glancing from Elbridge to Maddy. He gave a confounded snort. “Maybe I just dreamt he came in.”
“I’ll go get your cake, Hiram, and tell the others to come in and watch you blow out your candle,” Maddy said.
She started to turn, but William caught the hem of her shirt and pulled her to a stop. She reached out and placed her hand on his forehead. “That’s quite a frown you have going there, Mr. Killkenny. Are you in very much pain? Maybe instead of those pills, I should give you a big fat needle full of painkiller.”
“I will find out, ye know.”
“And then what?” she whispered, leaning down so Elbridge and Hiram couldn’t hear. “Believe it or not, William, I am quite capable of defending my own honor—if I happen to be feeling honorable, that is.” She leaned in so that her lips were just brushing his ear. “But if I’m feeling dishonorable toward a man, I have been known to blow his stockings all the way to Ireland.” She straightened, gently pulled his hand off her scrubs, and laid it over his stomach. “Any more questions or complaints?” she asked, throwing his words from the cabin back at him.
“Can I have ice cream with my cake?”
“And sprinkles,” Hiram piped up. “And whipped cream.”
“Hiram, you’re going to overdose on sugar!”
He chortled again. “That’s my plan, Maddy girl.”
Maddy rolled her eyes to cover her horror that they were discussing his dying so casually, and turned and headed out of the room. “Come on, Elbridge. I’ll get the cake while you get the others. I’m sure these two . . . gentlemen can babysit each other.”